Episode Transcript
[00:00:18] Let's open our bibles to the book of First Corinthians. I cannot tell you how excited I am to say that tonight. I've been looking forward to this all week. We're beginning our journey through the book of First Corinthians tonight. And to understand this book, we need to understand the context in which it was written. There are many different aspects of the context, the geography, the history, archaeology. And we're going to talk about just a few of those things as I introduce this, Corinth is an absolutely beautiful place on this planet. I don't know how many of you have seen it. I know that Brooke and Logan were just over there, close to that. And, I mean, this is just. I'm ready to go right now. I think we need to do a missions trip right now. All in favor?
[00:01:03] So it's just a beautiful place. And there's another picture where it shows back out from the city. And this is modern day Corinth. And the city is located beside an isthmus, which is a strip of land, or a land bridge that is connecting two larger bodies of land. And this isthmus divided the Adriatic Sea from the Aegean Sea. As you can see on that picture. This was an important place for commerce and for naval warfare.
[00:01:31] It was treacherous to sail around the southern tip. The saying of the day was, if you were going to sail around the southern tip of Greece, make a wheel, that's how treacherous it was, especially at certain times the year. And it's interesting that in scripture we read of different shipwrecks and things that Paul was a part of. I was actually digging into that a little bit this week and looking at where he was at and where that would have been located. To avoid going around the southern tip of Greece, they would unload their ships on one side of this land bridge, the isthmus, and then they would reload them back on the ships on the other side. They would move it from one ship to another. And this road, called the Dialcos, was used to transport on a rail system all of the cargo, but they would actually load smaller ships, merchant ships. This is the father of the modern railway. This is where it began. They had that road that you saw a minute ago, which is actually a remnant of the original road. And they had this primitive rail system, and this, all of these things together made Corinth very rich. It was the center of commerce for the ancient world. They actually talked about a canal as far back as 602 bc, many. King Periander was the first one to come up with it and wasn't able to accomplish that. But many other greek rulers throughout history began this discussion of cutting a canal through layer after layer of rock. But the task of digging a four mile canal was difficult, and the superstition of the day regarding Poseidon, who was the greek God of the sea, kept it from happening. In 67 ad, Nero actually began construction on a canal. But after there was a rebellion and he had to return to Rome and eventually died, it was abandoned. Fast forward to the 18 hundreds.
[00:03:41] In 1869, construction started on this canal, and digging began in 1882. It became operational in 1893, which still makes this a very key place for trade.
[00:03:56] Corinth is the location of many important ancient sites, many of which we hear about in scripture. The temple of Apollo was built in the 6th century BC. We still have remnants and ruins from that temple that you can go see today. The Bema seat that Paul talks about and John the revelator talks about in scripture. The actual judgment seat where Paul was put on trial. The bema seat is in Corinth. You can still see the ruins of that. The agora, which was a public space that was used for assembly in a marketplace, is still there. You can still visit the ruins. And the temple of Aphrodite was one of the marvels of the ancient world there. The historian Strabo said that the temple of Aphrodite was so rich that they had over 1000 cult temple prostitutes, which lets us know why this place became the word Corinthian became a verb. To act like a Corinthian meant to practice fornication.
[00:05:05] We don't have to stretch our imaginations too far to think about places that are known for their immorality.
[00:05:14] A corinthian girl was a synonym for a harlot in the ancient world. So let's talk a little bit about the history of the greek and the Roman Corinth, because there's not one Corinth. There's two separate Corinths.
[00:05:29] The original Corinth that was a greek state, city state was actually destroyed in 146. The Romans were conquering the world, and Corinth, along with several other greek city states, launched a war against Rome, which was a really foolish thing to do in the rise of the Roman Empire. The roman army devastated the greek army, enslaved the people, looted the city, and destroyed Corinth. The location was so important that in 44 BC, Julius Caesar, months before his assassination, ordered the rebuilding of Corinth, which actually made it possible for the apostle Paul to visit there in his missionary journeys. The New Testament Corinth was a roman city. As you can see in this artist's depiction of the city, there was roman architecture, roman customs, roman politics.
[00:06:29] Latin was used there. It was populated by roman citizens. Augustus made Corinth the capital of the province of Achaia. So it's an incredibly important city. And this Corinth, Roman Corinth, again, was very, very wealthy, but there were also many slaves. So elitism was a reality. In the city of Corinth, class distinction was part of their life. The very rich and the very poor coexisted together. There was also a jewish community there that has been proven by archaeology, and we see that written about in scripture as well, including a synagogue, which is most likely the synagogue where the apostle Paul would have shared the gospel.
[00:07:23] So Corinth, just to get our mind wrapped around this place, it was a center for commerce, it was a center for sports. Every two years, they had the corinthian games, which rivaled the greek Olympic games. And it was very, very important to them. It was a center for worship, for leisure. It was a place many people would go to take vacations. It was a center for sexual Immorality that was celebrated.
[00:07:53] Many modern people have drawn a parallel between Las Vegas and Corinth in the time of the apostle Paul.
[00:08:02] So the author, as I've already mentioned, is the apostle Paul. He wrote first and Second Corinthians. This man was an enemy of Jesus Christ. He hated Jesus Christ. He was a jew, but he did not believe that Jesus was the messiah, and he hated Christianity until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. He became the apostle to the Gentiles.
[00:08:28] I want to pick up the story. You can turn to acts chapter 18, if you want to. If you want to turn back a few books to acts chapter 18, I'll actually have it on the screen as well. This is the story of how the apostle Paul went to Corinth in his second missionary journey.
[00:08:46] The Bible says, after this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, and he found a jew named Aquila. A native epontas, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla. Because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome and he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked for. They were tent makers by trade. And Paul reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads. I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. And he left there and went to the house of a man named Tydeus Justus, a worshipper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his whole household. Imagine the impact that would have made the ruler of the synagogue, who usually was totally against everything that had to do with Christianity and the way Paul did a great job. And through the word of God and through the spirit of God, the leader of the synagogue was converted. Absolutely amazing.
[00:10:09] Along with his entire household and many of the Corinthians. Hearing Paul believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you. For I have many in this city who are my people.
[00:10:34] Does that just jump out and grab you the way it does me?
[00:10:37] Jesus said, I have many people in this city who are my people.
[00:10:44] I believe that about Asheville. I believe there are many people here who haven't heard the gospel or who have heard the gospel. They haven't surrendered. They haven't believed it yet. But through this church and through other churches, through our lives, through our testimonies, they are going to come to know Christ. They are his people.
[00:11:02] Amen.
[00:11:05] I'll continue reading if I can find my place.
[00:11:09] Verse eleven. Thank you, Travis. And he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, this MaN is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. But since it is a matter of questions about the words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. So again, the JEws are the ones that are stirring this up against PauL.
[00:11:50] He said, I refuse to be a Judge of these things. And he drove them from the tribunal, and they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Galio paid no attention to any of this. After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him, Priscilla and Aquila. And I'm gonna stop reading right there. So we believe that after Paul left, over the next few years, we believe that Paul wrote four letters to this church, two of which are obviously inspired scripture and have been preserved for the benefit of the church throughout all ages. Two of the books we no longer have. It is possible that maybe one day we will find those books. But I personally believe that those books were not preserved because those books were not scripture. They were just a letter from the apostle Paul to the people. Some people disagree with that, but God has promised to preserve his word, and I believe he has always done that. So Corinthians is also the longest portion of Paul's writings to a single church. It's hefty. It's a lot. As I was praying through this and felt like the Lord was drawing me to this book to teach through it. As I began studying it and looking at it and seeing how complicated it was, and I kept coming across commentators that were like, this is the most difficult book in the Bible to preach through, I was like, Lord, are you sure this is what you're directing me to teach through? And I feel more than ever that this is the book that we need to spend time together. As a matter of fact, I don't think there's any book in here that's wrong. I think we could teach through any of these books. The Holy Spirit didn't show up on my door and give me a vision and say, this is the book I was supposed to preach through. He simply led my heart through prayer and reading and knowing the context of this city and knowing the state of our church. I believe that the Holy Spirit led me to this, and I pray that he will bless it. But Corinthians is the longest portion of Paul's writings to a single church. Paul first visited Corinth about 50 AD during the last phase of his second missionary journey, and he planted a church there. This letter was written about five years later on his third missionary journey, because he was in Ephesus and he had people from the church come tell him how messed up this church was, all the problems that were going on in this church. So I want to give you an outline of the book of First Corinthians. It's very simple to outline. There are a lot of disagreements. I saw a lot of people who had more complicated outlines. But as I've studied this book myself in its entirety over the last few weeks and in the last month, this is what I believe is the most accurate outline of this book. Chapters one through six show us problems and solutions. Paul is dealing with actual problems, divisions in the church and giving them solutions. Then chapters seven through 15 are questions and answers. Paul constantly says now, concerning these things, Paul is addressing specific questions from the church. But the thing that is evident is that the church at Corinth was a church divided.
[00:15:04] They were divided by many.
[00:15:07] And I just want to, I don't have these on the screen, but I just want to, right up front, give you some of the problems and questions that arose in this book that we're going to be dealing with as we study it chapter by chapter and verse by verse. The first problem they dealt with was hero worship. They were rallying around different men. Paul, Apollos, Peter. Some were saying, Jesus, I'm following Jesus, I'm not following any man. But they were all divided about a leader. They were dealing with hero worship or exalting a man above what they should do. Immaturity was a huge problem in this church. Immorality is addressed throughout this book. Lawsuits between christians, marriage and singleness, offerings to idols is dealt with in this book, which was a big deal in that day. Traditions, head coverings, clothing that they wore. This was addressed in this book. Church operation, how things should happen in the church. The Lord's supper. People were actually abusing the Lord's supper. Imagine getting drunk during communion.
[00:16:17] That's what was happening. Spiritual gifts, false doctrine, denying the resurrection was something that became popular in Corinth.
[00:16:28] And then finally giving and generosity was dealt with. So we have the problems and the questions, but then when we look at the solutions and answers, the list isn't that long. And that is because the gospel is the solution. The gospel is the answer to all of these problems. And Paul does a masterful way of showing us how the gospel applies to each of these problems throughout the book.
[00:16:59] The gospel applies to every problem in this world and every problem that the church deals with. So this is what I'm excited about tonight. That was our introduction. We're actually going to begin some exposition of this book. Turn back to first corinthians, chapter one, verses one through nine. I could not wait to do this. I could have made a entire sermon out of the introduction, but I could not wait to get into these verses. So I want to read one corinthians, chapter one, verses one through nine.
[00:17:33] Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother Sosthenes, 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, grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. I want to lead you, Lord, in prayer one more time before I continue to walk through this passage. Father, I thank you for your word. Lord, I believe that you have a message for your church tonight. Through your word, through the power of your holy spirit. I pray that you would use me to communicate this truth faithfully. And, God, I pray that you would convict our hearts. May we open our hearts and minds to hear and believe, receive and obey your truth. And I ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:19:03] Well, as we look at this, these first nine verses of this chapter in this book that we're going to be covering, I want you to notice the first topic that I see addressed, and that is identity. Paul often starts off his letters by talking about identity. Paul, he says, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. Then he goes on to say, brother Sosthenes, the church of God, that is in Corinth. So Paul is a man who realized his identity was in the gospel. He never got over the power of the gospel. Remember, I said he was a man who was changed from being an enemy of Jesus Christ, an enemy of the church. And he's writing, letting us know that his name is Paul, that he is called by the will of God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. He is a messenger. He is someone who is sentence out on behalf of Jesus Christ.
[00:20:10] Paul never got over the fact that Jesus saved him and changed him. He was converted from being a hate filled murderer to being a love filled martyr, someone who laid down his life for the gospel. This was Paul's identity, and he's reminding the church of, of their identity. This is what defines them.
[00:20:34] Our identity is what defines us as believers. And I know that many of us love to talk about what we do for a living. I talk about that all the time. People ask me, and then I get some weird looks when I tell them I'm a pastor and sometimes I have great conversations and sometimes it goes a really weird direction. But we all talk about what we do.
[00:20:57] Many of us love to talk about our hobbies. Many of us love to talk about sports. There are many different things we talk about. But you can tell when someone shifts from having their identity in Christ to their identity being in something else. And most of the time, especially for christians, it's not in something bad. It's in something good. It's in something that is legitimate. God doesn't mind that we rest. God doesn't mind that we have fun. God doesn't mind that we sabbath, that we have leisure time. God doesn't mind that we play sports.
[00:21:35] But when that becomes your identity, it is an idol. And the apostle Paul finds himself over and over again through other books. And in this book, he starts off by introducing himself, letting the church know who he is, where his identity is found, and where their identity should be found. So number one, identity, this is what defines them. Number two, community.
[00:22:06] He goes on to talk about Brother Sosthenes, who we read about in the book of acts, the Church of God that is in Corinth, he says, called to be saints. What's this word? Together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their lord and ours. So Paul's doing something here. He's giving them his identity, their identity. But then he says, we're a part of a community.
[00:22:35] And he says, this is a local community, but it's also a global community. This is the visible church, what we can see right now. But there's also an invisible church around the world, people that are worshiping God, people that have died and gone to heaven, that are part of the global church. And that is exactly what Paul is addressing. And he lets us know that our community is the church and the church is a family.
[00:23:04] And Paul starts out by reminding them of this because of their problems and the solutions that he's going to write to them about. They're not acting very much like a family. They're fighting about everything. Well, maybe they are acting like a family. If your family's anything like my family, we can fight about anything. And usually it's the silliest things, but he's reminding them before he gets real, before he dives in. And he's going to throw some pretty rough punches in this book. He's going to address some really difficult issues. He's going to tell the truth. He's going to be extremely blunt, as only the apostle Paul could do in the way only he could do.
[00:23:51] But he's reminding them of the community.
[00:23:55] And when he talks about their identity, this is what defines them. But community is what unites them.
[00:24:02] Community is what unites the church. The enemy divides. Christ unites.
[00:24:11] Do you remember the prayer that Jesus prayed in John, chapter 17, starting at verse? Well, actually it starts in the beginning of the chapter, but I'm going to start reading in verse 20. This is Jesus prayer for the church just before he was crucified and then ascended back to heaven. This is what Jesus prayed to his father for the church. He says, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That's us. That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you. That they also may be in us, so that the world may believe you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one. I in them, in you, in me. That they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous father, even though the world does not know you, I know you. And these know you that you have sent me. I made them. I made known to them your name. And I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them over and over and over. Jesus desire for the church is that they be one. Why do you think the apostle Paul took so much time to write a letter to this church? Probably four letters to this church addressing the divisions in the church, because Jesus desired for the church to be unified.
[00:26:01] Community is what unites us in Christ. Number three. The third thing I see in this passage is charity. I want you to notice how Paul talks about this church. I've already given you a spoiler alert of what's coming. This church is messed up. This church is doing things that we would even question if some of them are even a part of the church. They're doing things that Paul said the world's not even doing. Imagine if people in Asheville pointed at Hope church and said, boy, that is one immoral place.
[00:26:36] That's what was happening in Corinth. They were out doing the world in their immorality. Because in the book of Galatians, the Galatians were being invaded by false teachers who were teaching false doctrine, teaching them that they basically had to become Jews. They were introducing legalism into the church, and we've talked a lot about that. One of these days we're going to go through the book of Galatians. But Paul writes to them fighting against legalism. The opposite problem is addressed in Corinthe. They were saying, hey, we're free in Christ. We don't have to be Jews. We can live any way we want to. We can worship idols, we can go to the temple, we can visit cult prostitutes, we can do anything we want to do, and we're saved, and we're going to go to heaven one day and we're just going to sin more. That grace may abound.
[00:27:33] That's what was going on in this church. So we know how messed up this church was.
[00:27:39] But did you notice how Paul addresses this church in verses one through nine? He doesn't say anything about that, does he? No. Because of his charity, because of his love, Paul thanked God for them.
[00:27:53] I don't know that I could have thanked God for this church if the things were going on here that were going on in that church.
[00:28:05] I had the privilege of planning Hope church, Trenton. And if I heard of things going on there that were similar to the things going on in the church at Corinth, I don't think my prayer would be, thank you, God, for these amazing people. But we see the love and the charity that Paul addresses, and this is not fake. Paul isn't just buttering them up so that he can convince them this is love.
[00:28:33] And I want to let you know something. The church is messy. And I'll be honest with you, this is the main reason I think we need to go through this book, because Hope church, Asheville, is messy. We have divisions, we have differences. We're trying to be a family, but it's real, real hard. It's easy to say hope church isn't like a family. It is a family. But it's a whole lot harder to. To be a family and to love one another and forgive one another.
[00:29:01] Paul addresses this in the famous chapter the Love, chapter one corinthians, chapter 13.
[00:29:08] You remember what he says? Love is patient. Love is kind. We see Paul modeling this. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It's not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoings. But rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends or love never fails.
[00:29:35] We see Paul's love and charity for this church and how he addresses them when he writes to them, thanking God for them, pointing out the good things they're doing. Because no church is all bad, no true christian church all bad. Yes, we have bad things, bad points. We can talk about those things. They've got to be addressed.
[00:29:56] But there's still evidence of grace, even in the church at Corinth, that gives me hope for Hope church, Asheville. And as a matter of fact, I'm so thankful for this church. This isn't to bash Hope church, Asheville. If anything, I'm going to bash myself. Because as I read through this book, I'm convicted. I'm convicted that we become more and more like Paul, more and more like Jesus. So charity, this is what sustains them.
[00:30:23] You want to know what's going to make this church last?
[00:30:26] We got to love one another. This is the defining mark that Jesus told his disciples would let the world know they belong to him. Our love, our charity, our forgiveness, our compassion, our patience.
[00:30:41] Refusing to be rude, refusing to be irritable. Refusing to be resentful. Believing the best. Bearing all things. Believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things. I've never read that passage of scripture the way I read it this week, studying for the sermon, because I see Paul doing those things he is bearing. What is going on? He's going through it. He's suffering with them. He's believing the best about them, hoping for the best, enduring all things.
[00:31:12] This is what sustains them. Hope Church the christian life does not work without love.
[00:31:20] It was initiated by love, God's love, planning before the foundation of the world to send his son to redeem us. Starting that plan when Adam and Eve fell in the garden, all the way through the Old Testament, with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, moses, all the way through with the prophets, with the coming of Christ, Jesus dying on the cross was the ultimate act of love. Greater love has no one in this. That a man lay down his life for his friends. That's exactly what Jesus did. Christianity was initiated by love, built on love and centered on love. There is no such creature as an unloving Christian.
[00:32:00] That's like saying a non christian Christian. There's no such thing as an unloving Christianity. We can act in an unloving way, and we do, and the church in Corinth did.
[00:32:11] But we can't be unloving if you don't have the love of the father, then you're not born again.
[00:32:20] So we see identity, we see community, we see charity.
[00:32:28] And I tried to stop there, but as I was putting the slides in the computer this evening, right before church, I was just clicking through the verses to make sure that everything went in, and something just jumped off the screen at me. And I said, how in the world did I miss that? And I believe we need to hear this tonight. Number four is gospel centrality.
[00:32:52] Gospel centrality. This book, the book of first Corinthians, is blatantly Christ centered, God centered and gospel centered.
[00:33:03] I just want to start in verse four. What does he say to the church? I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way, you were enriched in him. See how he's given the credit to God? Over and over and over again, you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge.
[00:33:26] He goes on down in verse seven.
[00:33:28] You're not lacking in any gift as you are waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end. Paul had hope that he would be sustained, that the church would be sustained, that these people that were walking in disobedience would be sustained until the end. This is why he was hoping for them. He says, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? I preached a sermon on this a few weeks ago. Because God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord?
[00:34:04] Gospel centrality. This is what strengthens them.
[00:34:08] This is where their strength comes from, from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:34:17] So I want to talk to Hope church, Asheville, tonight, and anyone else who's here from another congregation.
[00:34:24] Do we know who we are in Christ? Have you ever gotten over the fact that you have been saved, changed, redeemed, born again from your sins, brought from death to life? You were a sinner, now you're a saint. You are an orphan. Now you are adopted into the family of God. Do you know who you are in Christ? Is that your primary identity?
[00:34:48] We're called to be in Christ. We're called to identify ourselves. We're called to live out the truth of what that means in our lives. Do we know who we are in Christ? Number two? Are we living into this community?
[00:35:05] Are we truly family?
[00:35:07] Are we truly loving one another, forgiving one another as Christ forgave us?
[00:35:17] Does love define our relationships?
[00:35:20] If you look around this room right now, you're going to be looking at people who are imperfect, people who have flaws, people who will let you down if you hang around long enough to let them. And I will be one of those that lets you down if you hang around long enough to let me do that. But does love define our relationships? We all have off days. We all have flaws, but we should be overwhelmingly characterized by love.
[00:35:49] People that visit here should say, that's a loving group of people.
[00:35:56] And many times, the greatest time to show love and show grace to someone is when they offend you.
[00:36:04] But we're usually in it until we get offended, and then we're done.
[00:36:09] That is the greatest time to show true love.
[00:36:13] And number four, are we a gospel focused church? If we are, this will correct any division that the enemy brings into this congregation.
[00:36:24] As the band comes forward, they're not gonna sing this song, but I just want to quote this song that was in my mind, and it's a song we sing often around here. In Christ alone my hope is found he is my life, my strength my song. Cornerstone. Solid ground is firm through the fiercest drought and storm what height of love, what depth of peace fears are still when striving cease. Divisions abound in the church. My comforter, my all in all here in the love of Christ I stand.
[00:37:03] I'm thankful for who we are, thankful for what God has called us to do. And I'm thankful that the gospel overcomes division.
