Called by His Grace: Knowing your Christian Life I Corinthians 1:1-9

Called by His Grace: Knowing your Christian Life

I Corinthians 1:1-9

Introduction: We’re transitioning from our study in Acts in 2014 to look at Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians this year (we’ll return to the second part of Acts at a future date, God willing). We left off in Acts with Paul serving as part of the leadership team in Antioch (Acts 13) when God directed the church there to set apart Paul and Barnabas for the missionary work to which they were being called.  The church in Corinth was the result of one of those missionary outreaches.  On the second missionary journey Paul and his team passed from Asia minor to Europe, and eventually Paul arrived at Corinth.

            To understand the letters to the Corinthians we need to have an idea of what this city was like when Paul got there. Imagine a city with the wealth of Houston with all that oil money, the commerce and hustle of New York, the city that never sleeps, and the immorality of a party city like Las Vegas, and you’ll get an idea of the city where Paul arrived and set out to plant a church on the second missionary journey. Corinth is located on a narrow isthmus of land connecting Achaia and the mainland of Greece. So it had two ports and was a crossroads of commerce. Like many port cities there was a lot of money and rampant immorality that flowed through Corinth.  There were many pagan temples in the city, most notably a huge temple to the goddess Aphrodite, the so-called goddess of love – where over 1,000 temple prostitutes supposedly served as priestesses. The immorality of Corinth was so legendary that in the Greek language “to corinthianize” came to be a word for sexual immorality.

            Paul stayed there for at least 18 months preaching the gospel of Christ and a church was planted.  It is to that church that Paul is writing in First Corinthians.  Paul is writing to respond to some disturbing reports he had received about the church (1-6; see 1:11) and also answering some questions the church had asked him in a letter that is no longer extant (7-16; see 7:1).  So reading this letter, like reading many of the letters of the New Testament, is a little like playing the television game show “Jeopardy!” We have the answers in First Corinthians, and from the clues in the letter we have to ask what the questions were that Paul is answering in it. One theme seems to run through the letter: the church had a distorted understanding of grace and of the practical implications of grace in the Christian life. Rather than the humility and the heart of obedience that we would hope to see, the church had become prideful, even boastful of their tolerance of sin.  Does that sound familiar?  Does that sound like the evangelical church in the United States today? We live in Corinth! We’ll see in this letter, and even in the opening verses that we will look at today, that the doctrine of grace is foundational to a right understanding of our faith and calling, and has profound implications for Christian living.

The Big Idea:  By grace God has called us into His family and our security rests in His faithfulness not ours. Yet as we understand grace we will live differently.

I. Know your calling (1-3).  Notice 1:1-9 begins and ends with a reference to being called (see 1:1,9). Paul understood his calling, and was reminding the Corinthians of their calling in Christ.

“Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,  ² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:  ³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are called to be His spokesmen – When we write letters, we typically begin with a greeting and sign our name at the end. In the Greco-roman context in which Paul is writing it was typical for the writer to identify himself in the opening of the letter. We see Paul open this letter with a form that identifies himself and his office,

“Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus…”

Paul had experienced some ministry challenges from the beginning of his Christian life, and things didn’t get easier when God brought him to Europe. Throughout Macedonia and Greece, including his time in Athens, he had some response to the gospel, and a lot of resistance and persecution. When he arrived in Corinth in Acts 18 it is clear that he saw the depth of the need and the opportunity to impact this strategic city with the message of the Gospel.  As he now writes to address some problems in the church he reminds them at the outset of his position and calling, given to Him by God.

Paul was called to be an apostle – We’ve spoken in the past about the unique nature of that position and calling. An apostle is “one who is sent” in its most basic sense, but had a more precise meaning in the first century: “one who is sent with a mission as the representative of another.” The one who was sent was like an ambassador or a spokesman, someone with authority to speak in the name of the one he was representing. Paul understood that his was not a position or an office of human origin, he was “…called [an apostle] by the will of God…” Paul understood that God chose him, and God called him.

            Notice also that he is specifically “…an apostle of Christ Jesus…” There were a group of men in the first century, chosen by God, sent to bring the word of Christ to the fledgling church. Jesus wasn’t physically present so He sent these men as His spokesmen. The New Testament was only in the process of being written, so typically the letters had a very specific context and occasion that they were addressing.  That’s where we need to play Jeopardy! Even so we’ll see principles that extend to the church in every age.  Paul, the human author of this letter was writing to the church in Corinth, but God guided him to write, and the church preserved this letter which is His word to us as well.

            So Paul understood his calling—he was writing with authority given him by God to instruct, rebuke, and correct both the understanding and the application of God’s truth to the Christian life.  We are not apostles in the sense that Paul and the original disciples of Jesus were. Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11 make it clear that the apostles had a unique, foundational role in bringing the word of Christ to the New Testament church. We have the teaching of the apostles in written form in this book, the New Testament. We are not apostles, but in another sense we are sent, as His witnesses, to bring the Gospel to the world. We were reminded as we read through Revelation on Wednesday night that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.  Ready or not the day will come when every human will stand before Him, either as His child, saved by grace, or as a sinner who will be judged. Our calling is to urge humans on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. What a high and holy calling we have!

We are a family—Paul is writing this letter, as he did in many cases it seems, with the help of a scribe or amanuensis, Sosthenes by name, who he calls, “our brother.” Now this is only an implication of Paul’s language here, but notice that he sees his scribe not only as an equal, not only as a friend and co-worker, but as a brother.  We are not only “like a family,” we are a family! We have the same Father after all! I think there is a sense of closeness in our church, a commitment to watch out for each other, to love each other, to hold each other accountable, to forgive each other. (By the way, we are creatures of habit, we tend to sit each week in the same area. Nothing wrong with that. But look around, is there someone missing that usually sits near you when they are here?  You already care about them, why not let them know by giving a call and letting them know you missed them?).  The New Testament is full of “one another” statements and we’ll see some of them in this letter. Sometimes biological families have feuds and divisions and broken relationships, none of us wants that, and even more must we, the recipients of grace, extend grace and seek peace with our brothers and sisters.

God designed and ordained the church. “…to the church of God in Corinth…” God’s design is clear as we read the book of Acts and see the results of the missionary outreaches: The gospel is preached, people believe, they are gathered into local assemblies, elders are appointed to teach and to lead, repeat… God has ordained the local church. We are the body of believers in a locale, gathered together for worship, mutual edification, and mission.  We have church membership here as an acknowledgement that we are a part of this body and will seek to use our gifts for the building up of others, we’ll look for guidance to the elders and other leaders God raises up, we’ll hold one another accountable and be willing to be held accountable. Friends, there is no “lone ranger” Christianity in the New Testament. God has designed us as a community, as a family, as a body, we are His church.

 We have a new position and are called to live differently. Notice the rest of verse 2, an epexegetical “filling out” of the meaning of the term “church,” that is, “…to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours…” We have both a verb and a noun here from the same root, “sanctified” and “saints.” The root meaning of these terms is to be “set apart” or “holy.”  Now if you jump ahead in this book you know that this is not a church that you might describe as particularly spiritual, quite the contrary, they are described by Paul as “carnal”!  This is explained by a repeated theme we see in the New Testament, where we see juxtaposed with an indicative statement of our position in Christ, an exhortation, an imperative statement calling us to live in the light of that position.  So we are holy, or “set apart” by virtue of the New Birth, justified, declared righteous by grace through faith. That is who we are and what we have in Christ.  And we are called to live worthy of the calling with which we have been called, to “reckon ourselves” dead to sin and alive to God in Christ, to put off the old man and to put on Jesus. Paul says this is who you are, now act like it!

            Notice also there is both the local idea of the church, and the church universal, “…those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours…” Why does Paul emphasize the universal church? In the following context, the divisions that had come to the church in Corinth will be mentioned—here Paul is saying all who call on the Lord Jesus belong to him and are part of his church. He is laying a foundation for what will be problem number one in this letter. Do you see the importance of both these truths? God has established and ordained local churches in every locale. This is where the rubber meets the road, where we learn and are accountable and develop and use our spiritual gifts for the edification of the body. We are also a part of something much bigger: the universal church, believers in Boothbay and Boston, Moscow and Malaysia, Sao Paulo and San Francisco, Budapest and Botswana. He is building His church from every race and tribe and nation. He is their Lord and ours!

God has given us the revelation of His truth (3).

Ø “Grace to you and Peace…”  A typical greeting, but from the pen of Paul these words are filled with a deeper meaning. Coming from Paul, “grace” has to echo the idea of God’s amazing grace.  “Peace” evokes thoughts of the peace of God and peace with God. So Paul touches in his greeting on the source (grace) and the result (peace) of our new life in Christ. It’s a keynote to Paul’s theology and his concern for the Corinthians.

Ø “…from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…”  Notice this, as an apostle, Paul is conscious of bringing the Word of the Lord as he writes. If the church is built on the “foundation” of the apostles and prophets, what does that mean? It is the revelation of the Word of Christ that they have been given and that they gave to the church.  Think about this, God has spoken!  Have you made a commitment to read the Bible daily? It’s a great time to start! By grace God has called us into His family. Our security rests in His faithfulness not ours. Yet as we understand grace we will live differently. Understand your calling and…

II. Understand the implications of God’s grace in your life (4-9).

“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,  ⁵ that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-  ⁶ even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you-  ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,  ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

  God’s grace is motive for thankfulness (4).  Despite the problems this church was embroiled in Paul was thankful that God was graciously working in their midst. Grace is the unmerited favor of God, or, as one acrostic puts it, “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.”  As a church, and as an individual Christian we can get negative, we can start focusing on our problems, struggles, and imperfections, and forget that whatever we are, we are not once we once were: we are not slaves to sin and to Satan. We were dead, but by grace we are now alive! If by grace we have been saved through faith, then we are children of the King!  That is motive for thanksgiving! That is God’s amazing grace.

 God’s grace enriches us with spiritual understanding (5). “…that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge…” Paul uses a couple of words here, “logos” and “gnosis” (word and knowledge) that seem to be a problem in this church.  The Greeks were enamored with philosophy and wisdom. These things had become a point of division and arrogance in their midst because they were losing sight of the fact that they had all they needed “in him,” that is, in Jesus. That’s where grace comes in. It’s not what we do that matters, it is what a sovereign God chooses to do in us and through us. Paul, even here in his greeting, is calling the Corinthians to recognize that all truth is God’s truth, and that rather than delighting in human wisdom they should be thankful for the wisdom that God has revealed.   

 God’s grace gives us all we need to live the Christian life until He returns (7). “…so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ…” The Corinthians were prideful of the spiritual gifts they had, and even abusing the more visible, flashy ones. There were struggling with factions in the church, but Paul first of all recognizes that God had indeed given them gifts. But he turns them away from the “gifts” as an end in themselves toward Jesus. You have what you need, “…as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ…” They were called to be His witnesses until He returned. A problem in this church was that they were delighting in the gifts instead of delighting in Jesus! Paul says in Titus 2:11-14 that the expectation of His return should motivate us to live differently,

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,  ¹² training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,  ¹³ waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,  ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

It is all about Him! This is His mission, and by grace we have a part in it. We read aloud the book of Revelation on Wednesday night, New Years Eve, I won’t ruin the end of it for you [spoiler alert: JESUS WINS!]. By grace we are a part of that! To God be the Glory!

 God’s grace assures us that we will persevere because He is faithful (8,9). “…who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is an important and practical statement of the security of the genuine believer in Christ. We will persevere to the end, guiltless, because of Jesus. Not because of our faithfulness but because of His!  If you have been saved, by grace through faith, you are in the “Fellowship of the Son,” that is your calling, and nothing can snatch you from His hand. Nothing.

What is God saying to me in this passage? By grace God has called us into His family and our security rests in His faithfulness not ours. Yet as we understand grace we will live differently.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Later in this letter Paul will ask, “What do you have that you have not received? If you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (I Cor 4:7b).  Of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who is both the wisdom and power of God. On the first Sunday of the month we usually celebrate the Lord’s Table. It’s good to be reminded as we enter a New Year that we are saved by grace, and that He who called us is faithful. Do you understand your calling? Have you thought through the implications of God’s grace in your life? Our eternity is sure because He who has begun a good work in us will bring it to completion. In view of what He has done for you, how will you then live in 2015?    Think about that, Amen.