Sunday, January 25, 2015

Foolish Living (or, “Wise Living”) I Corinthians 1:18-31

Foolish Living (or, “Wise Living”)
I Corinthians 1:18-31
Introduction:  We return this week to our study in I Corinthians, and the passage seems to expose the root of the problems the church in Corinth was facing. But their problems are not so different from our problems in the 21st century church.
       The English word “philosophy” is derived from two Greek words, phileo, “to love,” and sophia, “wisdom.” So at its etymological core a philosopher is a “lover of wisdom.”  The Greeks at the time of Paul were certainly “lovers of wisdom,” and they were proud of it!  Philosophy was where one would look for answers to the big questions of life and where one would seek to find meaning and purpose. Though philosophy certainly still influences many arguments and debates, it may be that today “science,” or more properly secular science, has taken the place of philosophy as the place to which many people, especially in western culture, look to answer life’s big questions.  Remember back to “Creationism” debate last year and the “I am a reasonable man” argument of “Bill Nye the Science Guy.”  Like most that embrace evolutionary thinking, that debate reflected the perspective of many who accept the presuppositions of secular science: we have to explain the universe without resorting to a God we cannot see or to the idea of the supernatural. The universe is just the result of chance, random, processes.  As Justin showed in his message last week for Sanctity of Life Sunday, in truth it is unreasonable to a priori reject the idea that God exists and that He has spoken. The Bible begins with the statement, “In the beginning God created…” He is the uncaused first cause, the Creator, the Master and owner of the Universe, and He has spoken. He has revealed himself to humans in history, and He inspired men to write His Word in a Book. This Book calls us to recognize who He is, to see the depth of our need, and to put our trust in His amazing grace.    
The Big Idea: The Lord deserves all the glory and our salvation is wholly of His grace.
I. We can’t boast in our wisdom: The Folly of Enthroning Human Reason (18-21).
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.  18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
     - The Gospel may be incomprehensible to the lost, nevertheless it is powerful and true (18).  There is a word play between v.17, “wisdom of word,” and v.18, “the word of the cross.”  The context will go on to contrast “eloquence” (and supposed “human wisdom”) and the truth of the Gospel which the natural man simply cannot understand (look ahead to 2:14). The perception of two distinct groups is highlighted, “those who are perishing,” and “those who are being saved.” The present passive participle reminds us that salvation is past (we were saved, at a particular point in time), present (we are being saved, that is we are God’s and He is working in us and leading us toward our sure hope), and future, we will be saved (when ultimately we receive our resurrection bodies and enter into the new heaven and the new earth). Every human is on one path, in one position, or the other. To those who are perishing, the gospel is foolishness, moronic, nonsensical.  To those who are being saved, it is the “power” of God.  That is the truth that is powerful to save, as Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

     - God has set his revelation over and against the limits of human reason (19). The quotation in v.19 comes from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, in a context that points to judgment and revelation,
14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden."  15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, And their works are in the dark; They say, "Who sees us?" and, "Who knows us?"  16 Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, "He did not make me"? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"? (Isaiah 29:14-16).
The foolishness of creatures thinking that they know better than the Creator! Paul is carrying over that same argument in I Corinthians. Some think they are wise, but in truth they are fools, they think the Gospel is foolishness, but it is absolute truth!  Surely, we can’t boast in our wisdom, God alone is God, and His wisdom exceeds our understanding.  He deserves all the glory since salvation is wholly of His grace.

II. We can’t take credit for our salvation: Because humans will not believe apart from God’s grace, He has chosen to use the preaching of the Cross to save those who believe (22-25).
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,  23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,  24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…
Jews demand signs... Even though we saw in the ministry of Jesus repeated requests for a “sign,” it’s clear that despite the evidence they would not believe without a supernatural intervention on the part of God in their hearts. Remember the healing of the man born blind in John 9? It would be comical if it wasn’t so sad, the healed man stood there before the authorities, they questioned him, they questioned witnesses, they questioned the man’s parents, they questioned the man again, still they could not believe what had happened!  Even after Lazarus was raised from the dead in John 11, the leaders plotted to kill him since they could explain what had happened. It seems to me that in cases like these they refused to believe because the implications were more than they could bear. The relation between “signs” and “faith” is a theme that carries through John’s Gospel, and it is clear that faith is not the result of being convinced by the eyes. There must be a supernatural opening of the heart that allows us to believe, to take God at His word. It’s not through “seeing” but rather through “hearing and believing” that we are saved. Jews demand signs, and…
Greeks seek wisdom…  What we know about Corinth indicates that it was a fast growing economic center, it was almost proverbial in terms of immorality, but like most of Greek society they were “lovers of wisdom,” philosophers in the broadest sense. There was some rivalry with generally more sophisticated Athens. In the book of Acts we read of a confrontation Paul has with some Greek philosophers in Athens before he came to Corinth (Acts 17:16-21):
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.  17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.  18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, "What does this babbler wish to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities"- because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.  19 And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean."  21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new…
Initially this openness gave Paul an opportunity to speak, until, that is, he came to the subject of the resurrection in Acts 17:32,
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, "We will hear you again about this."  33 So Paul went out from their midst.  34 But some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Some scoffed, some seemed to be considering, apparently only a few believed. They like to talk and debate, but the idea of a God who has acted so directly in human history—that they were not prepared to believe.  It seems for all is “love of wisdom,” Paul had just a few converts during his time in Athens.
Has the human heart changed much since Paul’s day?  Now I am not sure we would say most Americans “love” philosophy or wisdom.  But they do highly value “reason” and “science” to tell them what is true and how we should think. Many people have a kind of “folk spirituality” that they base on what seems right to them. Others deify human intellect and put science on the throne to tell us what is true. Like Athens and Corinth, America is full of idols.  Listen, we can choose what we believe, but we can’t choose what is true!  It’s not what I think about God but what God is really like that matters. The “My God isn’t like that…” or “My God wouldn’t do that…” arguments don’t hold water if your God is something you have made up in your own mind!  Whether or not you believe it, this is fact: The God who is, has spoken. If the Bible is true (and it is), we are fallen creatures, our intellect is not the neutral, open, objective evaluator of facts that we think it is.  We desperately need God’s intervention to open our understanding, to illumine His truth, to give us the ability to take Him at His word.
            “…We preach Christ crucified…” A stumbling block to the Jews—how could the messiah have been nailed to a cross? The Scriptures said the one who is hung on a tree is cursed of God (Deuteronomy 21:22,23)!  How could the Messiah be cursed of God? That would be an impossible contradiction! A crucified Messiah?  Now that would be an oxymoron! Or would it? By the first century most Jews had lost the full Old Testament picture of the Messiah, so to them “Christ Crucified” was a scandal, a stumbling block that they could not get past. 
The message of the cross was foolishness to the Greeks—or to the “Gentiles” [non-Jews]. They ask, “What does the death of a Jewish preacher outside of Jerusalem have to do with me today?” That is where many people are today. They like to say that Jesus was a good teacher, that he taught some good things and told some stories like the “Good Samaritan” that should inspire us. But talk of his miracles, his substitutionary death, and his resurrection, those ideas are just fables they say, and certainly irrelevant to reasonable, scientific, 21st century Americans. The Word of the Cross, the Gospel, is a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks, but…
But to those who are called—power and wisdom, “…but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God…”
“…to those who are called…” or “…but to the called…” The word “called” here is an adjective that Paul uses only seven times, 4 in Romans and 3 in I Corinthians.
Romans 1:1  "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God…"
Romans 1:6-7  "…including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,  7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Romans 8:28   "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
1 Corinthians 1:1   "Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus…
1 Corinthians 1:2   "To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…"
1 Corinthians 1:24  "...but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
Paul twice uses the adjective to describe his own calling to be an apostle (Rom 1:1; I Cor 1:1). In every other of these uses Paul is using the adjective to refer to those who have been effectually called into relationship with Christ. He also uses the noun “calling” in a similar way. For example:
I Corinthians 1:26, “For consider your calling, brothers…”
2 Timothy 1:8-9  8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,  9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…
You see the idea? It’s all of grace. The Gospel of Christ makes sense to us because God has called us and opened our hearts to see the truth. We recognize our sin and we see His grace, the love and mercy that led from the manger to the Cross and the power that was revealed in the empty tomb! God’s plan might seem foolishness, but it is wisdom and absolute truth.  We can’t take credit for our salvation; “of Him” we are in Christ Jesus. The Lord deserves all the glory since salvation is wholly of His grace.

III. A Lesson in humility: Take an honest look in the mirror. We have no room for boasting! Salvation is wholly of grace (26-31).
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;  28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,  29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.  31 Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
            “…not many wise according to worldly standards….” God does not only choose the most brilliant or the best looking, or the great athletes, or the most popular…  Now Paul does not say there were no wise or noble among them, simply “not many.” Their genealogy, or their social standing or their education, none of that was the basis of God’s electing grace.  Sometimes we think we could do a better job than God in calling some to Christ. How often do we say or think, “if only so and so could get saved—think how God could use them!”  God knows what he is doing!  He chooses all kinds of people from every walk of life. He chooses ordinary people like you and me.
God chose what is foolish…” (27-29). Or, what men might call a foolish choice. Think about it:  God chose Moses, who scripture calls the “meekest man” on the earth. Finally God relented and sent Aaron along to be at his side and to speak for him.  After the time of the Judges the people asked for a king “like the nations around them,” and God gave them Saul to be their leader as they had asked.  But then God showed His choice to replace Saul: He raised up David, the youngest of the sons of Jesse, calling him from tending sheep to one day lead the nation.  When Jesus chose his disciples he didn’t go down to the local seminary (or rabbinical school!) and ask for the brightest and the best. Instead, He chose some fishermen, and a tax collector. Ordinary people, from different walks of life, unique in that they were chosen by God.
Verse thirty says, “He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus… – literally, “…of Him you are in Christ…” It is not what we did, and certainly not because we are something special—as Mark K. will sometimes say, “God didn’t get a bargain when He chose us!” But that is grace: it’s not what we are or what we have done, He is our life, He is our Lord!
       Notice the description or exposition of our “life” in Christ in the second part of v.30, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God -- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” Our new position, “in Christ,” has opened our eyes to the truth, God’s wisdom in the Gospel. We are justified, declared righteous, because of Him, we are sanctified, “set apart” because we are His, we’ve been redeemed because He paid the price, as our substitute, for our freedom. He is the source of the forgiveness and life that we have.  This is one of the more difficult truths of biblical doctrine.
What is God saying to me in this passage? Need a lesson in humility? Read this passage, and then take a slow, honest look in the mirror. We have no room for boasting, we can’t take credit for our salvation, and we certainly can’t boast in our wisdom. The Lord deserves all the glory since salvation is wholly of His grace.
What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Do you take God at his Word? If He said it, does that settle it for you?  Remember the context. The Corinthians were allowing divisions to creep into the body.  They were proudly asserting their allegiance to one human teacher or another. Is Christ divided? Do you really think you are so smart? Jesus did it all. All to Him I owe. That is grace. AMEN.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

New Blog for NT Survey Class

If you follow this blog I thought you might be interested in checking out a new blog that I started this week for the students in my New Testament Survey class at New England Bible College. You are welcome to visit or even follow "The Bible, God's Story, and You" at...
http://drnashnebc.blogspot.com/

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Follow THE Leader - I Corinthians 1:10-17

Follow THE Leader
I Corinthians 1:10-17
Introduction: Remember the old Rodney Dangerfield line, “I went to a fight the other day, and a hockey game broke out!”? Hockey may be a violent sport, but conflict between people is not restricted to sports. It’s all too common in families, between neighbors, and between nations. My five younger brothers and I probably had a couple of days without fights when we were growing up. We probably did, but I don’t remember them!  Sadly Christian families and Christian churches are not immune from quarrels and “fights.” Division can destroy marriages, tear families apart, and split churches. Remember the old saying, “To live above with saints I love will certainly be glory. To live below with those I know, well, that’s another story!” James told us where the “quarrels and fights among us” come from,
3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? (James 3:17 - 4:1).
“War” starts in the human heart! The divisive actions of the Corinthians demonstrated that their hearts were not right; they were still walking in the flesh rather than walking with the Spirit.  One writer said “in unity lies the joy of Christian ministry and the credibility of Christian testimony.” If that is true, and I think it is, the disunity in the Corinthian church surely diminished the joy of their leaders and diminished the credibility of the church’s witness in that pagan community. Psalm 133 is one of my favorite passages dealing with the unity of God’s people,
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!  3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore (Ps 133:1-3).
The metaphors are a little strange to us, but think of what they represented: the anointing oil poured in abundance over Aaron’s head, filled the room with its fragrant perfume and witnessed to those who were present that this one was chosen by God. The dew of Herman, the life giving water that descended on the slopes of Mount Herman and collected in the brooks that ran down the mountain, this was one of the signs of the covenant blessings that God had provided to his people. Water meant life in that arid climate! So the psalmist was saying that unity in the community of faith was a testimony that these were chosen and blessed by God. That is reflected in the second part of the statement I read earlier, “….in unity lies the joy of Christian ministry and the credibility of Christian testimony.” If we fix our eyes on Jesus we’ll live in the light of our unity and He will be glorified.

The Big Idea: Jesus is Lord, and if we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be glorified as we carry out our mission.

I. An Appeal for Practical Unity: Jesus is the Head of the church, follow Him! (10-12).
10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.  11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.  12 What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ."
        Notice that Paul has affirmed his apostolic authority in the opening of the letter, now he urgently appeals to them “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” He is speaking to them for the Lord, in His name.  That is a good first question to ask isn’t it when quarrels arise? When something would threaten to divide us, when the world, the flesh, or the devil asserts itself, ask “what does the Bible say,” and “What would Jesus do?” If we know the answer to that question, we should immediately be of one mind. Not my will, your will be done!

       Paul “appeals to them,” parakaleo, exhorts or encourages them. It’s the verbal form of the Word used for the “comforter,” the Holy Spirit, and our “advocate,” Jesus Christ. He is not ordering them in his apostolic authority, but tenderly urging them as a brother, as their shepherd. He’s not beating the sheep into submission, he’s leading them.  It’s the same word that Paul uses in Philemon, verse 9, “…For loves sake, I appeal to you…” We see the heart of Paul, he comes along side and urges them forward in their Christian walk, he knows that at its root their problem isn’t conduct, that is only a symptom. Rather the real issue is their hearts.  So tenderly, he appeals to them as brothers. We know that Paul could be direct and forceful. He certainly was to the Galatians (see 3:1), as he will be at points in this letter! But first he comes expressing his heart, pleading with them as brothers in Christ. Their divisiveness broke his heart as surely as it broke the heart of Jesus.

       He urges, “…that there be no divisions among you…” The word here, schismata, is used to describe a severe rent in a garment, for example in Matthew 9:16, “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.” It is repeatedly used in a metaphorical sense of the division in the people over Jesus (see John 7:43; 9:16; 10:19). Yes, the world is divided over their response to Jesus, but there should be no such division in the church of Christ! 

            Paul exhorts them to “…be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” This word is used by Paul in Galatians 6:1, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” The word katartizo is translated “be united” or “restored,” i.e. “made whole.” It is used in secular literature for setting a broken bone or a dislocated joint. It is used in a literal sense of the activity of James and John when they were about to be called by Jesus, “And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.” The little tears that had started in the fishing nets needed to be fixed, or mended, before they became a rip that challenged the integrity of the net.

            Do you hear what Paul is saying? “I’ve gotten reports about you, that tears are beginning to form, destructive rips that threaten the integrity of the body. I am pleading with you, stop fighting, ‘mend the nets’ before it rips you apart. It’s not about Paul or Apollos or Peter, nor should one group pridefully be saying ‘we’re the true Christ followers, NOT YOU!’ Be united in the same mind, in the same judgment.  WWJD?”   Paul made a similar plea for unity in Philippians 2:2-3, “…complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Remember, Jesus is Lord, and if we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be glorified as we carry out our mission.  That brings us to…

II. A Basis for Practical Unity: The Church is Positionally One (13). Paul uses a series of three short rhetorical questions to make his point, to give a basis for practical unity,
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1:13).
First of all, “Is Christ divided?” The implied answer, “Of course not!” The language that Paul uses elsewhere for the church indicates that we are “in Christ,” we are his building, his temple. He also says that we are his body. Christ is not divided, even as theologians describe the deity and humanity of Jesus, they are two natures in perfect union in one person. The sense of the rhetorical question, re-worded as a statement would be: “You obviously know that Christ is not divided!” The first question invites the readers to realize that division and quarreling cannot be the will of God, it is contrary to his very nature and contrary to his design for the church. If we are his, we are part of his body, and so is the brother that we are arguing with! Is Christ divided? Absolutely not!

Secondly he asks, “Was Paul crucified for you?” The tendency we have to divide over personalities or minor disagreements over doctrine is putting our will or our leader on a pedestal where it doesn’t belong.  A recent example has been the sudden resignation of Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll, which has left the multi-site church reeling, with some of the campuses apparently dissolving.  Humans should be respected for their gifts and calling but not put on a pedestal. That is what some of the Corinthians were doing and Paul was intent on urging them to refocus their hearts on Jesus. Was Paul crucified for you? You know he wasn’t! The cross of Christ is at the heart of the gospel message. Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross. He who was without sin was made sin for us. It is not about us, or any merely human leader, this is the gospel of Jesus, it’s all about Him. Paul is saying, “You know that Jesus was crucified for you, not Paul or any other human leader!” God showed us His love in the cross, delight in Him!

Finally he asks, “Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”  God forbid! They were baptized into the body of Christ of the basis of their profession of faith in Jesus. Paul, Peter, and Apollos clearly did not desire to gather disciples to themselves, they desired making disciples for the Lord. As John the Baptist said, they understood, “He must increase, I must decrease.” Paul’s question implies the idea, “You weren’t baptized in the name of Paul [or any other human leader] but rather, in the name of Jesus, follow him, and follow him together!”  Jesus is Lord, and if we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be  glorified as we carry out our mission together.

III. A Stimulus for unity: Team Ministry that exalts Christ (14-17).
I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,  15so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.  16(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)  17For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power (1:14-17).
            It is clear that Paul is not collecting “notches on his Bible” in terms of those he had baptized.  In the light of the current “party spirit” Paul is thankful that few in the church could boast that he was the one who baptized them (v.15). Verse 16 is kind of funny, it seems to come almost as an afterthought. We could paraphrase, “…come to think of it, I did baptize the family of Stephanas, but I think that’s about it…” (16).

         Note this: Paul is not saying that baptism is not important. Clearly it is. It is one of two ordinances that Jesus gave the church, a normal, expected, outward sign that testified to the community that this person was a Christ follower. What he is saying is that his calling is not to impress anyone with his style or eloquence or persuasiveness, and he certainly is not out to win followers to himself. He was thankful that he had baptized few of them in case someone thought that it was a special honor or something to have been baptized by him. He wanted them to keep the main thing the main thing, to stay focused on Jesus.  His calling and passion was to preach the life changing message of Jesus.

Ten times in the first ten verses of this epistle Paul uses the name of Jesus, six of those wit­­­­h the full title, “The Lord Jesus Christ.” The phrase “our Lord Jesus Christ” appears four times in the first ten verses, no other book has it more than once in the opening.  That is striking and certainly points the reader away from Paul, or any other mere human, and exalts Jesus. He is our Lord and King. He alone is worthy to be praised. If we fix our eyes on Jesus we’ll live in the light of our unity and He will be glorified.

What is God saying to me in this passage? Jesus is Lord, and if we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be glorified as we carry out our mission together.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Have you thought about the things that sometimes separate us from other Christians, the fights we pick or the fingers we point?  I am thankful that I see in our church a desire to seek the truth and not compromise. Don’t you agree that we can do that better together? We’ve started a new Sunday School series, “Ballast for your boat,” Dr. B. has called it, but we’re looking over the next few months at what we believe. This is not going to be a dry recitation of Bible doctrine. We want to know God better, and understand more clearly what he desires of us. Our purpose is “To know God and to make Him known.” The source of truth about Him is this book (the Bible). Let’s seek to know Him better, together.
       You’ve heard the saying, “To know Him is to love Him.”  With respect to the Lord that is absolutely true. Jesus is Lord, we want to think about what that means. If we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be glorified as we carry out our mission. “Finally brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you…” (2 Cor 13:11).

Think about that.  AMEN.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Pastor's Report Preview - January 2015

Pastor’s Report—January 2015

                Even as I write the date, January 2015, I am stunned that this next quarter, God willing, Mary Ann and I will finish our fifth year in Boothbay! The last quarter of the calendar year is full of activities that kept many in our fellowship engaged, including the “Trunk or Treat” outreach in October where hundreds of gospel tracts were distributed as well as many Bibles and New Testaments (along with food, candy, and refreshments!). This has become a popular event for many families in our community.  Weather caused our Thanksgiving Eve service to be cancelled this year, but we had an excellent month long celebration of the Advent season, capped by a joint service with Boothbay Region Community Fellowship here at our church on Christmas Eve. Once again on New Years Eve we read aloud through the entire book of Revelation, and sang songs praising our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Afterward those who could stay gathered for a time of fellowship at the parsonage.

                This year has been an encouraging one in terms of the involvement of many in our body in some aspect of ministry.  Our small but committed team of elders are working alongside our faithful deaconesses and deacons to help in both shepherding our church and being sensitive to needs in our community.  We are blessed to have a large percentage of our body engaged in some aspect of ministry in the body and beyond. It’s been exciting to see many participate in leading Bible studies, teaching Sunday School, participating in our music and praise ministry, helping in Children’s Church, taking a turn in nursery, bringing meals to the sick and shut-ins, volunteering time to maintain our buildings and property, removing snow, providing transportation or other assistance to those in need, and many other ongoing ministries that only the Lord knows about. This kind of involvement is healthy Christianity and will over time have an impact on both our church and our community.

I have enjoyed preaching Sunday mornings, occasionally helping in Sunday School, and leading many of the devotionals on Wednesday evening.  I’ve decided this calendar year to take a break from our preaching series in Acts and to now look in depth at Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It’s been 25 years since I did a series on this book, and I think this will be a practical study, as in many respects the underlying issues in Corinth were not too different from some of the key issues we are facing today.  I appreciate your prayers as we look together at this epistle. Our Wednesday evening service includes a devotional time in which we’ve been working through the Book of Psalms, followed by prayer. Mary Ann and I host an in home Bible Study on Thursday evening which uses the study questions from our Sunday message. We’re blessed to have music, prayer, and fellowship as components of that weekly meeting. Counselling for couples and individuals continues to be an important part of my shepherding responsibility, and I am blessed to be available to confidentially help when needed. We are to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” This semester, with the permission of the elders, I will be teaching a class on “New Testament Survey” at New England Bible College. The college allows students to audit one class for free, so if you are available on Wednesday afternoon you would be welcome!

May we continue to grow toward fulfilling our vision of being “a community of Christ followers rooted in the Word, treasuring God as supremely valuable, and proclaiming the riches of His grace to the world.”
Your co-workers in Christ,

Pastor Steve and Mary Ann

Sunday, January 4, 2015

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.