Sanctified in Christ Jesus

"to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, whith all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. . .." 1 Corinthians 1:2

     In reading through the letter of 1 Corinthians, you can really hear the concern and love that Paul has for these people.  He has been a year and a half with them.  Which was an unusually long time for him to stay in one place.  He has developed a love and concern for them.  And even though he will address many problems in this letter, the overwhelming tone in the first few verses is positive.  In the last part of verse 2, he indicates he is not just writing to them, but to all who call upon the name of our Lord.

      Despite the fact that there are divisions and lawsuits and sins in the church of Corinth, Paul reminds them of who they are in Christ.  They are those who are sanctified.  The word "sanctified" here means to be "set apart" for God's own possession or use.  In other words, God has a purpose and a plan for their lives and works for them to do.  He has called them out of something, but also towards something.  Much like it says in Ephesians 2:10

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, whcih God prepared beforehand,, that we should walk in them."

     I like also how Paul reminds them that one day God will confirm them.  This is due to God's faithfulness and not because of what they have done.  The word confirm here is a technical legal term which means a guarantee security.  That though there is sin in the church now, one day Paul says that they will be blameless verse 8 or chargeless.  Romans 8:1 is one of my favorite verses and it says this also. 

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1, NASV

     Paul also refers to them as "saints by calling" verse 2.  The hierarchy of the church had not yet been fully developed where there was popes and bishops and other leaders.  The church did not call one group saints and another group lesser christians.  All of those in the church, from the most mature to the carnal were "saints" due to the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Those who are born again are looked at in the heavenly kingdom as redeemed, forgiven and cleansed.  There is no more mention of past sins because they have been dealt with.  While there is also a sense in which we submit ourselves daily to Christ and take up our cross and follow Him.  We have to keep in mind that our redemption is assured because of the work of Jesus on the cross and resurrection.

     It's always good to stop and remember during the Christmas season the birth of the Lord Jesus into a human body.  It needs to be remembered though that he came for a reason.  He came to redeem what is lost and to use each believer to do the work of his kingdom.  He came for a reason and he sends us out for a reason.  And the good news is that if he can work through such an immature group as the Corinthian church then he can also work through us.  In fact, as we look into chapter one we see that God delights in using the have nots that he might nullify the things that are  1 Corinthians 1:28.

Corinth - the city of a thousand faces

 I am starting a study of the books of 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.  In doing so, it is important that a person who is studying the Bible consider the culture, the history and the context of a passage or book.  It helps us make sense of what we are reading and why the author wrote the way that he did.   In 1 Corinthians, we see Paul write as a pastor.  He spent 18 months in Corinth ministering to the people there and starting a church there.  We see the story of Paul founding this church in Acts 18:1-17.   It is important to realize what the church of Corinth was like and why Paul wrote to them like he did.  Paul most likely wrote this letter from Ephesus 1 Corinthians 16:8 around 55 A.D..  The letter of 1 Corinthians is most likely the second letter Paul wrote to Corinth, the first has been lost (1 Corinthians 5:9).

      The city of Corinth had been destroyed back in 146 B.C. and rebuilt by Julius Caesar as a Roman colony in 46 B.C..  It was known for its three harbors (Lechaeum, Cenchrea and Schoenus), so it was rich in commerical history.  This means that a majority of the people who heard Paul would not have been Jewish.  It also made it a strategic city to get the gospel out to other parts of the world since people who arrived in Corinth would travel all over the world. 

      The city of Corinth was also known as a place of depravity.  Just about every single kind of sin you can think of went on in this city.  The Corinthian cult of Aphrodite, of Melikertes and of Athene and other deities were a part of this culture.  This may have been why so much of 1 Corinthians is focused on problems that had developed.  Because the believers in Corinth, though they were saved, were babies in their faith.  Paul's call to the Corinthians for them to grow up in their faith is also a call to us as well. 

     This is also a letter which was to address concerns that Paul had and also that the church had.  Apparently, the church had sent a letter with various questions to Paul.  We can see Paul refer to that letter by his statement "now concerning" which he says in 7:1,25; 8:1; 12:1: 16:1,12.  In this letter, Paul addresses the issues of divisions in the church (1:10-17), sexual immorality chapter 5; lawsuits chapter 6; concerns about marriage chapter 7; the use of christian liberty ch 8 & 9 concerns related to the Lord's Supper ch 11; the veiling of women in worship 11:2-16; the importance of spiritual gifts and the preeminence of love chapters 12,13.  And the importance of the resurrection of Christ chapter 15. 

Some web sites that have pictures and more information about Corinth:

http://www.bibleplaces.com/corintharea.htm

http://www.biblelandhistory.com/greece/corinth.html

http://www.biblestudy.org/biblepic/corinth-apostle-paul-missionary-journeys.html



Between Flesh and Spirit

   At the church I was at this morning, the pastor was talking about God wanting to fill up the empty places in our lives with Himself.  He mentioned that often we are not filled with the Spirit.  We may be living off of last year or last week's message instead of hearing from him today.  Our cup may be half full.  At the end of the sermon, the pastor poured a bucket of water into a small cup and water went everywhere.  The kids were thrilled.

    The Bible does mention a struggle, a struggle that if we are not careful as christians you can become complacent about.  Paul said this in Romans 7:15-18 "For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.  But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For i know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not."

     This was Paul, the man responsible for writing many of the short letters and book of Romans in our Bible.  He is talking about a struggle, that believers go through between the flesh and the Spirit.  And if we are not aware that there is a struggle and that it calls for us to renew our minds daily then we will find ourselves losing the fight and looking much like the world does.  In fact, I believe that is what has happened to much of the church and why we don't see revival in America anymore.  It is because we don't renew our minds and realize we are in a war.

    When I was a pastor, I taught Sunday School because one of the deacon abruptly quit his job.  It was hard to do both Sunday School and preaching, but I did it because there was an absence of spiritual leaders.  Nobody seemed to know their Bible very well.  Being spiritual children who didn't read the word or study it daily they fought like children.  I had no chance at all because the church was still operating under worldly standards.

       How do you renew your mind spiritually.  You do it by getting into the Word of God and letting the Word of God get into you.  Because faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God.  You do it the same way you exercise physical muscles in a sense.  You get up and you exercise those muscles daily.  You pray, you read the Word, you share your spiritual gift, you share what God is telling you.  You love others and you love God and you let God use you. 

    With all due respect to the pastor I heard this morning, God does not just want a moment with you.  Jesus didn't die for a moment.  He wants us to die to self, pick up our cross and follow him everyday.  He doesn't just want a part of us, He wants all of us.  He doesn't just want us to show up for church, He wants us to show up Monday morning.  He doesn't just want us to walk an isle, He wants us to walk a lifestyle.  He doesn't just want a show of hands, He wants us to be willing to die to self.  Part of the problem today is that our commitment level in the church is at such a low level that the New Testament apostles wouldn't recognize it.  Would most likely call what we are doing is pandering to God rather than worshiping Him.