1 Corinthians 1:1

Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took it upon themselves to call over those who had evil spirits. They invoked the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." There were seven sons of Sceva, a Jew and a chief priest, who did so. The evil spirit answered and said to them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?" The man in whom the evil spirit was leapt on them, overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled the house naked and wounded. This became known to all the Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus. Fear fell on all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

Many who believed came forward, confessed, and showed their deeds. Many of those who practiced curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men. They counted the price of the books and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

Now, after these things were ended, Paul purposed in his spirit that when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, he would go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome."

Let's pray. Lord, as we open Your word and open our hearts to Your word, we pray that You would speak to us. We know that Your word is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. You use it to sanctify and cleanse us, to transform our thinking. As this world desires to conform us to its way, we pray that You would transform us by the renewing of our minds and conform us more and more into the image of Your Son, the likeness of Your Son. Speak to us, we pray, today. Give us insight and understanding. Quicken our minds, we ask. In Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, "Amen." You can be seated.

As we have been following the journey of Paul,

We know that on Paul's second missionary journey with his traveling companion Silas, they came to the city of Corinth in Acts chapter 18. God worked great works through them there, and so they stayed for a year and a half. After departing from Corinth, they went towards Jerusalem and stopped in the city of Ephesus. Paul was only in the city of Ephesus for maybe one week for a Sabbath. While he was there, the Jews of the synagogue of Ephesus requested that he stick around, but he said, "I have an appointment to keep in Jerusalem, and if the Lord wills, I'm going to return and come back to you."

At the beginning of Acts chapter 19, we see that it was the Lord's will that they would return to Ephesus. Paul spent a period of three years in the city. He began his ministry there in the synagogue, as was always Paul's case. He ministered in the synagogue for three months, reasoning from the Scriptures regarding the kingdom of God. It was while he was reasoning from the Scriptures that a group of Jews rose up against him and requested that he leave. The same group that had requested he come now asked him to go.

Paul shook the dust from himself and left the synagogue at Ephesus, but he knew that it was not God's will for him to leave the city. He found a place to continue to teach and preach the word and the gospel of the kingdom of God. An open door was given to him at the school of Tyrannus, a lecture hall probably owned by a man named Tyrannus. So he began to teach at the school of Tyrannus after three months in the synagogue. The Scriptures tell us in Acts chapter 19 that he would go on to spend three years speaking there.

So prolific was the ministry of Paul in Ephesus that people from all the surrounding cities started to come to hear him. Churches began to be planted, not specifically or directly by Paul, but by those who were being ministered to by him, or perhaps even by the seven key apostles or seven key disciples of Paul that we will meet in Acts chapter 20. They may have been used by the Lord to plant the churches. Whatever the case, God was doing a great work in Ephesus. During the time that Paul was ministering there, he received word from Corinth that things had taken a bad turn at the church he had planted there several years before.

And Paul, we're told here in Acts 19, verse 21, was stirred in his spirit to go and visit the churches of Macedonia and the churches of Achaia. Corinth was the capital of the region of Achaia. We wonder what it was that stirred Paul's desire. Perhaps he had already planned to visit the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, which I believe is the case. When Paul went out on his third missionary journey, he stopped first. Acts 18, verse 23 tells us that he stopped first in the churches of Galatia and Phrygia. Those were the churches he had planted during his first missionary journey.

When he went to the churches in Galatia and Phrygia, he went there to strengthen the disciples, as Acts 18, verse 23 tells us. It is very likely that Paul planned to go to Galatia, then Phrygia, and then come down into Ephesus. After working in Ephesus, he intended to visit the churches further out west in Macedonia and Achaia, which would include Corinth. However, it is also very probable that while Paul was spending three years in Ephesus, believers from Corinth came to tell him that there were serious problems happening in the city and within the church.

During that lengthy stay, we know that at least one believer from Corinth had come, and probably two, as we see in this passage. One of them is Sosthenes. Back in Acts 18, verse 17, when Paul was in the city of Corinth, there was a ruler of the synagogue by the name of Sosthenes who was beaten because of the work that Paul did there in the synagogue. Apparently, Sosthenes became a disciple of Christ, a follower of the Lord, and a key asset of the Lord's kingdom in the city of Corinth.

When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, Sosthenes was not in Corinth but with Paul. It is very likely that while Paul was teaching for three years in Ephesus, he received word from Sosthenes about the problems in the church that needed to be addressed. Additionally, if you look at Acts 19, verse 22, it says that Paul sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus. It is believed that Erastus was also from Corinth.

Thus, it is possible that these two individuals, Sosthenes and Erastus, came from Corinth and shared with Paul the issues occurring in the city, matters that he, as the apostle of the Lord to the Gentiles, needed to address.

But although Paul was stirred to return to the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, he had a new pressing desire to go to Rome. We read in verse 21, "I must see Rome," said Paul. However, he knew that his work in Ephesus was not finished. The Lord had not called him to leave that city yet; he still had much work to do there.

The conditions in Corinth had reached a point that required immediate apostolic attention. Something was required of Paul to go there. Therefore, Paul would write them a letter. In 1 Corinthians 5, verse 9, we learn that he wrote them one letter that we do not have. It is not included in our Bibles today. When you read through 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, those are actually Paul's second and third letters to the church. So, 1 Corinthians should actually be considered 2 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians should be regarded as 3 Corinthians.

Now that I have completely confused you, we want to look closely at these letters and consider what Paul was communicating to this church. Again, Paul's clear desire was to return to Corinth to set right the things that had fallen apart there among the church. However, 1 Corinthians chapter 16 tells us that God had opened an effective door for Paul in Ephesus, so he wasn't quite ready to go.

At this very time in the book of Acts, Paul will write the letter we have in our Bibles called 1 Corinthians. As we have been going through the book of Acts, we have been detouring to look at the letters in the New Testament, as most of the New Testament is comprised of letters written to churches and individuals. We have been following the timeline of the book of Acts while examining the specific letters in their entirety as they were written.

We have already looked at the book of James, which was written by the Apostle James around the time of Acts chapter 15. From there, we examined Paul's first letter, the book of Galatians. The letters in the New Testament are not arranged in chronological order. Paul's first letter was to the Galatians, written just before he visited the church a second time in Acts chapter 16. Then we will look at Paul's third letter, the book of 1 Thessalonians, and his fourth.

Paul's second letter and his third letter, 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians, were written while we were in Acts chapter 18, during Paul's time in the city of Corinth. However, when we come to Acts chapter 19, this is when Paul's next letter, 1 Corinthians, was written to the church at Corinth. This occurred around the year A.D. 55 or A.D. 56. I have mentioned this several times as we have been studying through the book of Acts because I want to reiterate that these events actually happened.

The book we are reading, the book of Acts, and then 1 Corinthians, which we will examine, are not just fictional essays written to encourage people. These events truly took place. There was a man named Saul of Tarsus who was converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus and changed his name to Paul. He became an apostle of Christ and went out to bring the gospel of Jesus to all the known parts of the world in his day. He really lived, and these events really happened. There was indeed a church in the city of Corinth that faced numerous issues and problems. Paul, addressing those issues, sent a letter because he was somewhat held back in the city of Ephesus. God still had work for him to do.

In fact, turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, the last chapter of 1 Corinthians, and notice what Paul says there in verse 5. He states, "Now I will come unto you when I shall pass through Macedonia, for I plan to pass through Macedonia." He continues, "I do pass through Macedonia. I'm going to come and visit you when I visit Macedonia after that. It may be that I will abide with you; I may even spend the winter with you, that you may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. For I will not see you now by the way, but I trust to tarry a while with you if the Lord permits."

In verse 8, he adds, "I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost." This shows us that Paul was in the city of Ephesus when he wrote 1 Corinthians. Somewhere around A.D. 55 or A.D. 56, he mentions that he will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost has passed. Remember, Pentecost is one of the feasts that the Jews held.

One of the celebrations that they, as a people, kept was also a celebration that the early church observed. It was on the Feast of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts chapter 2, that God poured out His Spirit upon the church. Paul mentions this to the Corinthians at the end of his first letter, stating that he is going to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost.

Why? In the next verse, he explains, "For a great and effective door is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." Paul recognizes that a great and effective door has been opened to him, despite the presence of many adversaries. This is interesting because we often think of a great and effective door as one that has no opposition. However, Paul understood that the adversarial conditions in Ephesus were proof that God wanted him there.

We often get detoured from the very things that God wants us to do because challenges arise. Yet the Lord encourages us to press on. So, there was Paul in Ephesus, facing many adversaries. In fact, as we continue in Acts chapter 19, verse 23, we see that the adversarial conditions in the city of Ephesus escalated to the point of a great riot, with the people wanting to destroy Paul. When he says, "A great and effective door is open to me, and there are many adversaries," he is being very honest about the situation. There were people who were in direct opposition to the work that God was seeking to accomplish through the Apostle Paul in Ephesus.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse 10, Paul continues, "Now if Timothy comes to you, see that he may abide with you without fear, for he works the work of the Lord as I also do." While Paul was in Ephesus, he received word of problems in Corinth, prompting him to write this letter, 1 Corinthians. He sends Timothy and Erastus ahead of him, as noted in Acts 19:22, while he remains in Ephesus, in Asia. It is very likely that Timothy and Erastus were the ones who carried this letter to the Corinthian church.

Now, we will take a detour once again and look at 1 Corinthians. If you wouldn't mind turning in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I say "detour," but it is actually going to...

It will take us a little while. The letters we've covered so far have been relatively short by comparison. James was five chapters, Galatians was six chapters, 1 Thessalonians had five, and 2 Thessalonians had three. But now, when we come to 1 Corinthians, we have 16 chapters before us. It might be a while before we get back to the book of Acts. So, that little ribbon you have in your Bibles, go ahead and mark it off in Acts chapter 19. We'll be back someday. Maybe the Lord will return before that; I don't know.

Paul is going to write what we really have as an epic letter to this church. You see, when Paul writes to this church that he founded, he is writing to a church that has wandered from the way. Although he planted it and gave them a very good foundation, they had departed from that solid foundation. We might say they had built something new upon that salvation. He planted the church about three or four years before this point and spent a year and a half tending to it, but they had drifted.

It's a very easy thing to do to drift. Living here in Southern California, just minutes from the beach, we understand the concept of drifting fairly well. When I was a kid, we moved to England and lived just outside of London for a year. I was in about the third grade, and I remember going to school and telling the kids where I came from. I said, "I'm from San Diego, California." Their concept of San Diego was that everyone there spends every day at the beach. They would ask, "Do you go to the beach all the time?" Well, not really. A lot of us, although we live close to it, don't spend a whole lot of time at the beach.

But how many surfers do we have here this morning? Raise your hands high. A number of surfers understand this maybe more than anyone else. However, all of us, at some point in time, have visited the beach. Maybe you go out to surf or body surf, whatever it may be. You enter the water at lifeguard tower 5, and three or four hours later, you look up and find yourself in front of lifeguard tower 12. You have drifted. Now, you didn't intend to drift, but you drifted.

Because there is a current pulling you in a certain direction, we all understand the idea of drifting and the understanding of these currents that take us a certain way. You really have to have a determined effort to fight against the current. In the world in which we live, there is also a current. The Apostle Paul speaks about this in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2. He says that this whole world has a certain course or current, and the enemy, our adversary, the devil, is also directing this course. If you do nothing, you'll just drift along that course, which the end thereof, the Scriptures say, is death. There is a wide road to destruction, but the way that Christ has called us to is completely contrary to the course of this world.

If we are to follow Christ on that narrow path, then we are going to have to do so with a determined effort. The church at Corinth was kind of just drifting, and as a result, they found themselves in a totally different area than God had called them to, completely separate from what Paul had originally set them to when he planted the church there. They had drifted and wandered from that established foundation that Paul had set up.

Upon Paul's exodus from Corinth, other teachers visited the Corinthians. You may remember a couple of weeks ago when we were at the beginning or the end of Acts chapter 18; we were introduced to a man by the name of Apollos. Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria, Egypt, who came into Ephesus when Paul was down in Jerusalem. He began to speak and preach at the synagogue of Ephesus. When he did, two companions of Paul, Aquila and Priscilla, heard what he had to say and realized that this guy didn't have all the information. He was a great speaker, but he didn't fully know the gospel. They brought him aside and shared the gospel with him. Apparently, he received it and went on from Ephesus to Corinth.

When he showed up at Corinth, they grabbed hold of him. Apollos was a great orator; he was excellent in his speech. Paul was not. Sometimes we don't recognize that because when we read through Paul's letters—Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians—we see the logic.

Paul writes with great power and persuasion, leading many to believe he must have been an expert speaker. However, this does not seem to be the case when we study the Book of Acts. Paul could write very well, but apparently, he was not as skilled a speaker as Apollos. He tells the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, "When I came to you, I didn't come with excellency of speech declaring to you the wonders of God. I came to you just preaching Christ crucified." He had a very simple message, delivered in a straightforward tone, without a lot of fireworks.

When Apollos arrived and shared the word eloquently, the people began to drift toward him, expressing their admiration for this gifted speaker. I would suspect that many of those who favored Apollos were of a more Greek background, as the Greeks valued wisdom, knowledge, and the ability to deliver a compelling declaration. They loved great rhetoric.

Not only did Apollos come to Corinth after Paul left, but the Bible also tells us that the Apostle Peter showed up in the town. Imagine the excitement of having the Apostle Peter come to share the word of God with you. There was undoubtedly great expectation in Corinth when he addressed the church. It would be something akin to Billy Graham coming to speak to us, but even that comparison falls short. The Apostle Peter was with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration; he witnessed the Lord glorified and saw the risen Lord. He received the Spirit in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 2 and preached to thousands, seeing 3,000 come to faith in one day.

When the Apostle Peter came to Corinth, it seems he performed miraculous works among them, while Paul did not. The Book of Acts does not record any miraculous works performed by Paul during his time in Corinth. As a result, divisions began to form within the church. Some members declared, "I am of Apollos; I love the way that guy speaks." Others said, "I am of Peter, or Cephas; did you see the miracles that guy performed?" Then there was another group that claimed loyalty to Paul. Thus, within the church in Corinth, there were at least three different factions.

Some were the Paulians, the faithful ones. Then there were the Apollosians, those who loved the dynamic teaching of Apollos. Additionally, there were the Peterites. The church in Corinth likely did not gather in a large group like we do today, as they did not have the availability of a large gathering place. For the most part, the church was broken up and met in homes. In these homes, some people would gather and express their preference for Apollos, while others would insist, "Oh no, we like Paul," or "Oh no, no, no, we like Peter." This led to division within the church.

Not only was the church at Corinth divided, but as we read through 1 Corinthians, we see that it reveals many of the problems they faced. They were also filled with snobbery and had become somewhat snooty because of their divisions. When the church would gather together in larger groups, they would sometimes have what the scripture calls agape feasts or love feasts. It was during these times that they would partake of the Lord's Supper, but it resembled a church-wide potluck. Who doesn't like a potluck? It was no different 2,000 years ago.

However, it seems that when they would get together, they would again divide themselves. People would only hang out with their social group, and this group would only associate with their own. Corinth was a city with all kinds of different groups gathered together. As a result, you would have the group from Rome hanging out together, while another group from the northern parts of Macedonia would stick together. There may have even been some Syrian Christians who would form their own group.

Not only were there different groups of people ethnically, but there were also different social classes. In the church at Corinth, some were slaves, while others were masters of slaves. Some were traders and very wealthy. When you looked around the church, you would see these divisions into little cliques and class groups. Paul addressed this issue, stating that such snootiness is carnal and fleshly. To say, "I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas," or to dismiss someone because they are a slave is unloving. This is an interesting concept because the church at Corinth thought...

The Corinthians were very loving, and one of the ways they displayed their loving nature was by feeling that they were very accepting of everybody. Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, where we find a man in the church at Corinth who was involved in very carnal and sexually immoral sin. The church did nothing about it. They claimed, "We're very accepting. It's okay for us to be tolerant of such things. We must be politically correct. We should never call sin, sin, and there is no such thing as church discipline." As a result, church discipline was virtually non-existent in that congregation. They boasted about how loving and accepting they were because they allowed sin to remain within their ranks.

Not only that, but the Corinthians had also become unruly and disorderly in the way they conducted themselves. They even began to question the authority of their founder, the Apostle Paul. Some members questioned whether he was really an apostle and if he could legitimately use that title. Their unruliness was not confined to the church; it overflowed into the community. When they had problems with one another, brother against brother, they did not deal with it in a spiritual way. Instead, they took their disputes before the courts of Corinth, bringing their issues before the magistrates. Essentially, there were brothers suing brothers within the church for trivial matters. Paul pointed out that this unruly nature was not good. Quite literally, the church at Corinth had become chaotic. They were not functioning as God had called them to function.

As we consider the problems and conditions of the Corinthian church, it seems very similar to our churches today. One great Bible teacher whom I respect, Ray Stedman, who has gone to be with the Lord, used to say that the letter of 1 Corinthians could actually be titled 1 Californians. It truly could be, because when you read through the problems of the Corinthian church, you see that they are very similar to the issues faced by churches today.

Many Christians today still find this letter to speak to modern-day problems within the church communities. They really do, because the problems that the church at Corinth faced are very similar to the problems that we face in our day. Therefore, I believe that our study in Corinthians is going to be extremely applicable. I think it's going to be informative for each of us as we go through this passage.

Now, why is it that the condition faced by the church at Corinth was similar to our day? We have to consider the location of Corinth. We talked about this a little bit when we were in Acts chapter 18. Corinth was situated at the northern portion of what's called the Peloponnesian Peninsula in Greece. If you look at a map of the Mediterranean Sea, you'll see that modern-day Greece reaches down into the Mediterranean Sea, where all the Greek isles are.

However, there is this large body of land called the Peloponnesian Peninsula, which would be an island if it were not for a small piece of land called an isthmus that is four miles long, connecting it to the northern part of Greece. It was right on that four-mile stretch of land that Corinth was built and established. It became a great city in the Greek Empire, but later on, the Romans destroyed it in 146 BC.

About 100 years after that, in 44 BC, Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome at that time, recognized that this little piece of land could be a very strategically important property. No one could travel north to south in Greece without passing through Corinth. No one could go east to west without passing through Corinth, because it was very dangerous for ships to travel along the Peloponnesian Peninsula and go out of their way.

It was a perilous point at the end of the cape. Therefore, traders would choose to bring their boats to the east and west ports of Corinth and offload their ships. If it was a large ship, they would take all their goods off the ship at the east port, carry them across the land on carts to the west port, and put them on new boats to take them to Rome. If they were smaller boats, they would actually lift the boats out of the water, and slaves would drag them across the land for four miles and put them back into the water.

So, if you were buying something in Rome that was coming from the eastern part of the empire, such as spices or silk, all of it came through Corinth. If you were buying silver from Tarsus, it also passed through this crucial city.

Modern-day Spain came through Corinth if you were buying it in the east. It was a great place for the trafficking of goods. In the city of Corinth, there were people from every different tribal group, every different people group, speaking lots of different languages and holding various worldviews. All kinds of different religious opinions gathered together in that city, and so all these ideas started to be mashed together.

You had pagan ideas from the north and from Greece, all the gods of Greece and Rome, along with weird pagan practices from the east and from Babylonia. Additionally, all kinds of strange gods from Egypt gathered there in Corinth. Everything was smashed together, much like our own nation today, where different worldviews are brought together.

It's interesting that today, when you begin to talk with someone about spiritual things, they might say, "Yes, I'm a very spiritual person." When you ask them to tell you about their spiritual nature or their faith, they might respond, "Well, I really like Confucius, and Buddha was cool too. Mohammed said some interesting things, and that Jesus guy? He's kind of interesting, a good character, a nice guy. So I kind of believe in a mix of Christianity, Mohammed, Buddhism, and Confucianism." When you ask about the way of salvation, they might say, "Just be real, be real with Christ consciousness."

The culture of Corinth was similar, but not only that; it was also very immoral. One of the most prominent fixtures in Corinth was a great rock hill just south of the city proper called the Acro-Corinth, or the Upper Corinth. On top of the Upper Corinth, about 2,000 feet up, was a prominent temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexuality, beauty, and love. It was said that over a thousand temple prostitutes would come down from the temple of Aphrodite at the Acro-Corinth into the city every single night. These temple priestesses would come down, and the people would worship Aphrodite in very carnal and immoral ways.

But not just Aphrodite at the base of Acro-Corinth; that hill was a temple to Apollo. If the worship of Aphrodite was the worship of female sexuality, then the worship of Apollo was the worship of male sexuality. So, not only was there heterosexual immorality from Aphrodite, but there was also very homosexual worship of Apollo. The city was given to heterosexual and homosexual immorality.

Does this remind you of any nation or any place? The city was wholly devoted to wickedness, so much so that anywhere in the Roman Empire, to be called a Corinthian was to be called a carnal or immoral person. To be labeled a Corinthian woman was to be called a prostitute in the first century. If you were going to go somewhere to live it up, you wouldn't go to Vegas; you'd go to Corinth. As I said before, what happened in Corinth stayed in Corinth.

It was right there that God strategically planted a church. You see, there are some today who have this mindset that the church is to be separate, that the church is to be holy, and so the church just needs to remove itself completely from places like San Francisco or Las Vegas. They think, "To hell with them; let God deal with them." But that is not the case.

The city of Escondido does not take all of the streetlights that we have and plant them down in Grape Day Park. You know it's kind of a dark place, and we want it to be well lit. So, we've decided to remove all the streetlights from all of Escondido and put them all right there. It would be the brightest park in all the world. No, we put those streetlights in the dark corners where people have a tendency to speed and get into car accidents. We put that bright light where it will do the most good.

I believe that God desires to do the same, as evidenced by the strategic planting of the church there at Corinth. However, it was not a church that had everything in order; it was a church that was dealing with a lot of problems, very much like the church we have in our day.

Here in Escondido, but throughout our nation, we see that there is unfortunately immorality and sin that finds its way into the church. Why is that? Well, because God saves sinful people. How many of you say amen? Thank God! When God saves us, He doesn't first tell us, "Hey, listen, go clean yourself up before you come," because if that were the case, none of us, your pastors included, would be here today.

So, Paul writes this corrective and instructive letter to the church. Some of the things in the book of First Corinthians are going to be hard for us to swallow. Paul is not like, you know, how many of you were here a few months ago when we had Al Minconi? Remember Al was talking about how his mom would take that pill, grind it up, and put it in some strawberry jam, or I think he said boysenberry jam, just so that the pill was a little easier to swallow?

What I found as I read through Paul's letters is that Paul knew nothing of trying to make it a little more palatable. They had problems that Paul is going to address, and we have issues that Paul will address. I would ask and pray that each of us, myself included, would have an open heart to those things.

I don't know if you've noticed, but God's Word is not exactly politically correct, nor does it cater to our self-esteem. Actually, the concept and idea of self-esteem were very foreign to God in the Old Testament and the New. It is really an invention of man, something that our own nation has so grabbed onto, especially in the last 60 or so years. This idea of self-esteem means you don't want to say anything that might injure somebody's self-esteem. You can't do that.

As a result, the church has removed words like "sin" because, man, you can't call somebody a sinner and have them go away saying, "Hey, yeah, cool, thanks! I appreciate that. I feel so uplifted." But you wonder, if you were writing to a church like Corinth that was experiencing all these problems—division, immorality, and so on—how might you begin your letter? Well, I would think... I don't know, maybe you're not.

Like me, you might just instantly zero in on all those problems. I hear this, I hear this, I hear this. But notice how Paul opens this letter.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 1, Paul writes, "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ."

He continues, "I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything you are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ."

I find it very insightful and instructive that when Paul opens this letter, he doesn't say, "Listen, you know who I am. I planted the church. I've been with you. I taught you, and I hear some rumors. You better shape up. I'm going to be coming to you in a few months, and when I show up, if things aren't different, heads are going to roll."

You see, Paul did not function like your typical CEO today. He didn't immediately deal with the symptoms, the problems they were facing, although he would. He didn't initially jump in and say, "I hear that this is going on and this is going on." No, you know what he started with? He started with the foundation. He reminded them of the foundation. He reminded them of the very things that he had taught them when he first came to them.

He reminded them of who he was: "I am Paul, no longer Saul." You see, many years before this, before Paul became a Christian, he identified himself as Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

Hebrews, according to the law, blameless, had a whole list of things that went before him. Do you know who I am? That was his mindset. But now he says, "Listen, I'm not Saul; I'm Paul. I am an apostle. I am one sent by Jesus Christ. It was God's will to call me, to ordain me, to send me to bring a message, the gospel. God sent me to speak to His people, to raise up a church."

I'm speaking to you. The gathering and church is just the Greek word "ecclesia," which means the gathering. He says, "You are the gathering of that." We are all one in Christ. It's not that, "Hey, I'm of Paul," or "I'm of Apollos," or "I'm of Cephas," or "I'm of John Calvin," or "I'm of Jason," or whatever it may be. We are disciples of Christ. On the day of Christ Jesus, none of us will stand before God and say, "Well, you know, I want to talk to you about John Calvin." You won't.

So he says, "I'm writing to the church of God that's at Corinth, to those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints." Note that we are sanctified by who? Sanctified in Christ Jesus. He's the one that cleans us; He's the one who transforms us. As He cleans us and transforms us, He also calls us. He says, "You are called to be saints."

Now, some people read that and say, "Called to be saints? Man, I better work a little harder. If that's what God wants me to be, I better be a saint." This reflects a misunderstanding of what a saint is. Some of you come from a Catholic background, where the idea of a saint is more developed upon the instruction of man and not the instruction of God's Word. God's Word reveals that a saint is someone who's been saved by grace through faith. It's an individual that God has worked in to bring them to salvation.

So, if you're a believer and follower of God today, you are a saint. Now, to that, I will say, sometimes we do not always live like saints, and therefore God is sanctifying us. Yet Paul called the church at Corinth a group of saints, even though they were not fully sanctified. I'm so thankful that God sees the finished product and not the current condition.

You are called to be saints with all those in every place that call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, this is a church that was divided into groups, and Paul says, "Listen, you are called to be saints just like all those that call upon the name of the Lord. You are no better, no different than they."

In verse three, he says, "Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." Every one of Paul's thirteen New Testament epistles starts with grace and peace. In Romans chapter five, we read that we are justified by faith, and therefore we have peace with God. In Ephesians chapter two, verse eight, we read that "for by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." We have received the grace of God and been justified, and therefore we now can have peace with God.

So, he says, "Grace be unto you, peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." Now, to this church, many within the congregation were beginning to question whether or not Paul could actually be called an apostle. Some were saying that he was not worthy to be an apostle. Paul responds, "I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything you are enriched by Him in all utterance and in knowledge."

You see, if you have anything today, it's because you've been enriched by God. If you have anything to boast about today, it's because you received it from Him. If there's anything you can put your confidence and your trust in today, it's not of anything that you ever did, but of what He has given to you. In everything, you've been enriched by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.

God has given you all things that pertain to life and godliness. The church in Corinth, in that immoral environment, and we here today, who often struggle with immorality or sin in our own lives, have at our disposal every resource we need.

God has given us every gift that we could ever need to live this life in a godly way. Peter speaks about this in one of his letters, stating that by His divine power, we can, through the Spirit and power of God, live this life in a godly way. If we are not living this way, it is not because He is holding something back; it is because we have allowed ourselves to drift, just as the church at Corinth did.

You come behind in no gift, and you are waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In these first seven verses, Paul brings them back to the foundation. He says that God called him and ordained him as an apostle to bring the message of the gospel of the kingdom to them. He shares with them that although they are defiled and lost, God has redeemed and saved them. He is the one who has confirmed this work in them. He has gifted them and called them to be saints, and He will one day return.

Why does Paul do this? Why doesn't he just immediately jump in and begin to address the problems they were facing? All those problems were things they had allowed in their lives because of their old past sinfulness. There was a good solid foundation, but they had built a structure on top of it that was in danger of falling apart. Paul says, "Listen, let's wipe that structure clean. Let's get rid of this."

As we go through the book of First Corinthians, we will see that there is a lot of bulldozing of the structure. There is a lot of tearing down of things that are just not right, but the foundation always remains. When the first temple of Israel was destroyed in the land of Jerusalem in 586 BC by Nebuchadnezzar, everything on top of the foundation was wiped clean, but the foundation remained. Then, when the second temple was destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans and Titus, remember Jesus said, "Not one stone will stand upon another; it's all going to be torn down." The structure was taken away because it had become corrupt, but the foundation remains to this day, 2,000 years later.

There are many churches today that have a very good foundation, but the structure has been skewed. For example, some of you may come from a Methodist background. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, laid a good foundation, but if you look at the Methodist church today, it is out of order.

The foundation is good, but the structure needs to be torn down. Even the Episcopal Church, where I grew up, had a good foundation but a bad structure. Things have been built upon it that are not good and not in line with God's Word. The Lutheran Church is another example. If you go down the list of many denominational churches, you will see that the foundation remains. You can go to any Episcopal Church today, and every week they will read from the Book of Common Prayer. I challenge you to find something in there that is doctrinally in error. The foundation is good, but the structure that has been built upon it is bad.

The Corinthian Church had a great foundation, and Paul reminds them of this good foundation. He says, "Listen, the foundation is Jesus Christ, and all this other stuff—Paul, Apollos, Cephas—junk it." I think this is what we need today in our nation as well. This is why the world, non-believers, look at the church and their greatest issue with it is that the church is full of hypocrites. Why is that? Because the foundation is right, but what has been built is contrary to that foundation. They rightly look in and say, "Man, the church is full of hypocrites." You're right. Let's get back to the foundation, back to basics, and scrap the rest.

In verse eight, we read that Jesus will also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that Paul says "that you may be blameless." The church at Corinth had issues; there were things that could be brought against their account for which they could be blamed. Paul will very clearly show that. However, he also reveals that Jesus is the one who is working in us to will and to do His good pleasure, so that on the day of Christ Jesus, we will stand before Him blameless.

I am so thankful for the fact that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. I recognize every single day that I am not perfect—actually, probably about 50 or 100 times a day, and even more so since I got married and had kids. If you're single, just wait. If you don't have kids, man, whoo! All those who are laughing can say, "Yeah, amen." We are imperfect people saved by grace, sanctified by the same grace, so that on the day of Christ Jesus, we will stand before Him blameless.

I am excited to go through the book of 1 Corinthians because I think that God is going to teach us a lot. I encourage you this week to take some time to read through it. Take a couple of chapters a day and see what the Lord might speak to you as He prepares us to go through it.

Let's stand together as we close in prayer. Father, You are a good God, and we thank You that You work in us to will and to do Your good pleasure. We thank You that we can have this confidence that You will finish the work You started. Although we do have work to do, the work is not dependent upon us.

Lord, if anyone here this morning has been drifting, I pray that You would enable us by Your Spirit to put our feet down on the ground and walk forward. If we're standing still, we're sliding back, because the whole course of this world is going in a direction that's contrary to You.

Lord, I pray that we would be lights in a dark world, beacons standing in dark places, shining the direction to You and calling out, as with a great sound of a foghorn, the truth of Your Word, the truth of the foundational principles of Scripture.

Lord, teach us what that foundation is. If there's anything in the structure that we've built that's out of order, tear it down, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank You.