Sustained by the Faithfulness of God
Originally delivered at New Hope Community Church on June 6, 2021.
Today we’re going to be in the first 9 verses of 1 Corinthians. While studying these verses, I came across a story that I’d like to share with all of you.
Oliver Cromwell
It’s a story of Oliver Cromwell. If you’re unaware of who he is, I’ll give you an extremely brief summary: he was a political and military leader in 17th century England who served as Lord Protector, or head of state, of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland for a five-year period until his death in the mid 1600’s. When he was having his portrait painted, as people in a position like his would do, that when the portrait was painted, he looked at the picture and he said, “Where are my warts?” And the painter said, “Well, I thought you’d be glad that when I painted you, I took your warts off the painting…” And that’s when Oliver Cromwell made that famous statement, “A portrait should include warts and all.” And that made me think, how many of us, if we were having our portrait painted, would say something like, “No! Make me look better than I am.” I personally would want to ask, “Could you give me some more hair?”
“A portrait should include warts and all.”
The Warts of the Church in Corinth
And I say that because that’s exactly what we have in 1 Corinthians. Paul is painting a portrait of the church in Corinth. And he includes all of the warts.
Let’s look at just a few of the “warts” that Paul includes in his portrait about the church of Corinth.
The church in Corinth had the problem of division. They were a divided church.
“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. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.”
2. They were a defiled church.
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.”
So you can see how this is one messed-up church. Scholars and theologians believe that this type of relationship that Paul is talking about is with a stepmother, but the problem here is that the church thought it was okay.
3. They were a disgraced church.
“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?”
What this is saying is that members of the church were suing each other. Sounds like a healthy congregation with good fellowship going on, right?
At this point you might be wondering, how can all this be? Well, the problem isn’t that the church was in the town of Corinth. The problem wasn’t that the church was in a town full of sin and corruption, but the problem was that Corinth was in the church.
The church is in the world, but the world is not to be in the church.
Or think of it this way: a boat is out to sea. The boat is in the water, the boat is floating in the water, and all is good. But it’s when the water gets in the boat that what happens? It sinks.
So you might be saying, “well what’s the big deal about Corinth?” Well, I'll put it this way. Corinth is the ancient equivalent of Las Vegas.
An Internship
I’ll explain a bit what I mean by that. You see, in the summer of 2013, I lived in Las Vegas. I was an intern at a church there, Central Church. It was an absolutely incredible experience and it was the place that I truly realized that I really wanted to work, and devote my life to being in the church. However, I also learned that when you live in the heart of the city, you’re able to see a lot of what goes on. I lived in a building about 100 yards from the Strip called Panorama Towers.
Also, it’s important to my mom that you all know that it’s because of a family friend’s generosity that I was able to stay here. As you can see, while that was obviously an incredible place to live, it was incredibly nice, convenient, and had absolutely amazing views , and crazy security, I quickly learned firsthand why Vegas has the nickname of the town that doesn’t sleep.
It was unbelievable the hours that some of the residents that lived near me kept. From doors opening and closing all night, to some neighbors that decided 3 am was the perfect time to listen to bass-heavy electro-music. However, for me, what was unbelievably awesome was that if I was awakened any time during the night – because I was hungry and not at all by bass-heavy electro-music – there were tons of options. I actually looked up the restaurants within a 10 block radius that are open 24 hours and stopped counting at 40. But you get the point.
But beyond just people not sleeping and something as simple (and awesome) as restaurants staying open late, when I say that Corinth is the ancient equivalent of Las Vegas, I mean that in every sense of the word. If you were alive in the times of the New Testament and wanted a party town, Corinth is your place. Every kind of vice, sin, pleasure, was in the city of Corinth. Like Vegas, Corinth was a big city. But unlike Las Vegas, was in Southern Greece.
The History of Corinth
Here you can see where Corinth is, and that it divides northern Greece/Macedonia from Southern Greece, Achaia. And we have the Ionian Sea on the left and the Aegean sea on the right. And if people were sailing from the Ionian Sea to the Aegean Sea, they wouldn’t go all the way around the Achaia, instead, they would sail to Corinth. There, the boats would cross this small, four-and-a-half-mile stretch of land, called an isthmus, on a level track known as the Diolkos, and then push off into the water in the Aegean sea. If you were to go there today, they’ve cut a canal that boats sail through, but this is how it was done back when Paul is writing his letter to the church.
It’s because of it’s location that Corinth was also a major city of business. From the port for ships to producing world-famous pottery and “Corinthian brass” (which was a mixture of gold, silver, and copper). Further, famous athletic contests known as the Isthmian Games (which were second only to the Olympian Games) were held at the temple of Poseidon in Corinth every two years. Beyond just having a temple to Poseidon, Corinth also had temples to Athena, Apollo, Hermes, Isis, Serapis, Asclepius, but most prominently was the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And it’s in this temple that they had 1,000 “religious prostitutes.” Part of the worship of Aphrodite included prostitution. Yeah, let’s let that sink in for a second. So then at night, the prostitutes of Corinth would leave the temple and “do their thing.” So again, back to the map – you can see that this town is on a major trade route from north to south and east to west. Think of it as a type of sailor town, party town, again very much an ancient equivalent of Las Vegas.
In fact, the worship of Aphrodite was so prominent in Corinth, that the term Korinthiazomai was a well-known term in the Roman Empire. It literally meant to live like Corinthian. In fact, the Greek writer, Aelian, even tells us that if a Corinthian was ever shown on the stage in a Greek play, he was shown drunk. Theologian Gordon Fee sums up his analysis of Corinth by saying this:
“All of this evidence together suggests that Paul’s Corinth was at once the New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas of the ancient world.”
Keeping that in mind, Leon Morris describes Corinth as:
“Intellectually alert, materially prosperous, but morally corrupt.”
These two quotes really help to paint a great picture of what this city was like.
Paul's Greeting
So it’s with that, that we now get into our first 9 verses today. And in these verses, we see two main divisions.
Verses 1-3 are Paul’s Greeting/Salutation
Verses 4-9 are Paul’s Gratitude/Thanksgiving
“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.”
In verse 1, Paul tells us three things about himself.
He’s an apostle.
He’s called.
He’s an apostle by the will of God.
This is important as this means that he was not self-appointed, but instead, he points to the divine origin of his apostolate. “by the will of God”
Next, he includes the name of a man: Sosthenes.
This isn’t the first time in the Bible that we’ve seen this man’s name, even though we aren’t entirely positive who he is, but he is also included in Acts 18:17 when Paul is first establishing the church in Corinth. If this Sosthenes mentioned here in 1 Corinthians is the same as the one in Acts (Sosthenes was not an uncommon name back then), who was the chief-ruler of the synagogue in Corinth. He was beaten by the Greeks before Gallio (who was a Roman senator). If it’s the same Sosthenes, then something pretty incredible is going on here. If it’s the same man, he is now a Christian. It’s pretty incredible how God could use something like this to bring a person to Christ, and he’s now with Paul on his third journey in Ephasus and we see his name here listed next to Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, because they absolutely would have known who he was. And he addresses him as a brother.
Third, Paul greets the church. Verse 2, again, starts with, “To the church of God that is in Corinth…”
As we read this, I want you to see the layers of what’s being revealed here in these early verses.
We have Paul – a man responsible for writing much of the New Testament, and who was divinely appointed to be an apostle by Jesus on the road to Damascus
Writing a letter with Sosthenes – who again, if it is the same one as in Acts, is now a Christian convert from being the chief ruler of the Synagogue in Corinth
to the church of God that is in Corinth. – I just thank God that there was a church in this wicked, corrupted, city.
There is no city that is too corrupt, or too wicked for God to be able to have a witness.
Seven Freshmen
As we continue, I have one more story to share with you.
While I was at my internship at Central in Las Vegas, I was there to be a graphic designer for the High School ministry at the main campus in Hendersonville (which is just a few miles east of Las Vegas). In my head, I was there to be a graphic designer – and only a graphic designer. So, when I was asked one day by my boss, one of the Youth Pastors, if I wanted to be a counselor/sponsor for a group of high-school guys during their camp in Arizona, I pretty quickly told him I wasn’t really interested in doing that.
His response was: “Well, I wasn’t really asking.” He told me I was going to love it, and that I needed to do it. Even though I didn’t believe him, I agreed and told them I was on board.
My group consisted of 7 freshmen, and at our first bible-study that week, I learned a number of them were self-proclaimed atheists and “have no interest in doing any of this, my mom made come to camp.” I told them that I wasn’t going to force anything on them, but that when we broke out for our group bible study each night, they had at to least sit at the table with us and listen. And maybe answer a question from time to time, because I was genuinely curious about what they thought about certain things.
Well, as the week continued, I noticed something pretty cool was taking place. What started out as a group in which a number of them didn’t want to be there, turned into a group where those same students were answering and asking more questions than the others. Some questions I couldn’t answer and told them so, others were just curious about the Bible and what it was that we were studying, but throughout all of that, I could sense something stirring.
At the end of the week, I had built some pretty awesome bonds with several of the students, and each guy who at the beginning of the week told me he was an atheist, told me at the end that they had accepted Jesus. It was incredible for me, who was supposed to only be a graphic design intern, to have these students telling me this. Yeah, I still stay in touch with a few of them.
Again, no city too wicked.
I’m thankful that God saved these guys in my group. I’m thankful that God has saved me from my sin, and you from your sin. I’m thankful He reaches into the darkest pits to drag us out, clean us, and use us to minister to others.
And so, we see here that Paul is thankful for them, for the church in Corinth.
Again, we see the number three here. Just as how Paul told us three things about himself during his introduction, he now calls those at the church in Corinth three things:
He calls them saints – or holy, speaking to their present position in Christ.
He calls them sanctified – or saved, and set apart.
He says they are “with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Notice this, these are not future titles – Paul is describing them in the present. The Christians in Corinth were called, by Paul, saints. This is amazing.
Paul knew the problems of this church. Yet – they’re saints.
Sanctified.
Paul's Gratitude
Let's move into the second section of our text: verses 4-9. Paul’s gratitude.
“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.”
What’s the lesson that we’ve seen here today?
Warts and All
At this point, Paul wasn’t critical, and at no point does Paul give up on the Corinthians. Instead, he listed the things that he was grateful for, and he listed the things that he was thankful for.
We should be thankful for the Church as a whole. We should be thankful for this church, New Hope – warts and all.
I’m thankful that New Hope offered my wife and I the opportunity to come here and serve all of you week and in and week out.
I’m thankful that this church took a chance on a graphic designer out of Texas to come be a part of this incredible family of believers.
I’m thankful as I look out at all of you and have this incredible realization that I actually get to sit on this stage and share with you about who I am and teach about this incredible passage of Scripture.
I’m thankful for all that God is doing here at New Hope, and especially excited as we move into a new era with Sutton and Madison joining us soon.
Is New Hope perfect? No, you go here. I go here. We’re imperfect.
Yet Paul says he’s thankful.
Blessings
He was thankful for the grace of God given to them, as messed up as they were. Let’s look at verse 4.
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.”
Merely human achievement doesn’t really mean much to Paul. In fact, he says in Romans 7:18, in the flesh “nothing good lives.”
So, he’s giving thanks, not for what the Corinthians have done but for what God’s grace given to them in Christ Jesus has accomplished in them.
As messed up as it is, as bad as the problems were that they had, the church had still experienced the grace of God.
I love this quote by Donald Barnhouse:
“Love that reaches up is adoration. Love that reaches across is affection. Love that reaches down is grace.”
You see, this church had God reach down to them and save them through his grace. And although they had their warts, their living was better than their previous pagan behavior. What a blessing.
The second blessing they have is in verse 5. They were enriched. Let’s read:
“that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge”
What Paul is saying here is that the moment you were born again, you were born rich. It’s in Christ that we are continually enriched in everything.
But the word I want us to look at is the word "in." We are enriched in everything…in Him. What does this mean? We have everything that Christ has to give, and He gives everything that we need – and among the most important of these things are all speech and all knowledge.
We have all the speech and knowledge necessary to accomplish all God wants us to do. We will be able to say all that He wants us to say and to know everything He wants us to know.
His will is concurrent with His enablement.
One of the most common excuses that I think Christians use when speaking for their Lord is something like, “I don’t know what to say” or “I don’t know how to say it” or “I just don’t think I can do it.” Paul shatters this.
We are enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge.
All knowledge doesn’t mean that we know everything. But we are given everything that we need to know to speak effectively for the Lord. Or in other words, God has given us enough revelation and will give us enough understanding to speak His truth to the world.
The third thing Paul was thankful for is their confirmation. And this is an interesting statement.
“even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you”
This word confirmed stands out. And here’s what basically what Paul is telling them: your life confirms that your testimony is real. It’s our testimony about Christ that points to the derivative nature of the Gospel.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
How do you know Christianity is true? Just look at someone with a changed life. When you’re born again you get a front-row seat to God changing you. Your speech is changed, your desires change, your attitude is changed. It’s like your eyes are opened! And that’s the confirmation of Christ in you.
So Paul is saying that the changed lives of the Corinthians, specifically their “speaking” and “knowledge” (as we saw in v. 5) demonstrated the validity of the message of the Gospel. We have all of the speech and knowledge necessary to accomplish all God wants us to do. The effects of the preaching were the guarantee of its truth.
The fourth thing that Paul is thankful, is the He (God) has given them (the Corinthians) gifts.
“so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ”
In light of the corruption in the church of Corinth, you may be thinking that it sounds a little strange the Paul says, categorically, they lacked nothing. And this is important to note, that, unlike the churches in Thessalonica and Philippi, the church in Corinth was absolutely lacking in spiritual maturity and in moral purity, as we’ve talked about. But, as Paul is careful to state, they were not lacking in any spiritual gift.
So even though they did not have the same spiritual maturity and moral character as those in the churches in Thessalonica and Philippi, they had all of the same resources.
As Paul was speaking of God’s provisions, and not the Corinthian church’s use of His provisions, we see two things being emphasized in this statement that applies directly to our lives today.
The believers in Corinth, as well as all believers, didn’t need to look for additional special blessings or gifts (which we’ll learn they sought after in Ch. 14). Instead, God already provided every spiritual gift His children need or may have.
The believers in Corinth, as well as all believers, should use the gifts that Lord has given them for the good of the church, the edifying of the church, and the glory of God.
We, as believers, should use the gifts that the Lord has given us for the glory of God, building the body of believers in love.
The Corinthians lacked no gifts, only the willingness to use them.
Charles Spurgeon says this:
“Should it not show us that gifts are nothing, unless they are laid on the altar of God; that it is nothing to have the gift of oratory; that it is nothing to have the power of eloquence; that it is nothing to have learning; that it is nothing to have influence, unless they all be dedicated to God, and consecrated to his service?”
Fifth, he, Paul, was thankful for their preservation. Verse 8:
“who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I want to stress that this word here, guiltless, doesn’t mean perfect. It doesn’t mean sinless. The actual Greek word used here in the original language is ἀνέγκλητος, instead, means that which cannot be called into to account, unreproveable, unaccused, or blameless.
What Paul is saying here is that God sees you, as a Christian, blameless. Again, it doesn’t mean that you’re sinless, or that you no longer make any mistakes. And keep in mind that just because Paul is writing to these “carnal” Corinthians, that you can now go out and be carnal, too, because God will just see you as blameless. No, instead it’s the grace of God and indwelling of the Holy Spirit that motivates us to holiness. By understanding and receiving God’s grace, we should therefore want to live a life pleasing to God. We’re not to presume upon God’s grace (Romans 6:1-4).
And it’s with this understanding that we can rest assured that it’s in Christ that we can stand blameless – ἀνέγκλητος.
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy…”
No charge can be laid against those whom Christ guarantees (we see this truth in Romans 8:33).
The sixth thing that Paul was thankful for, God’s faithfulness, is found in verse 9:
“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
God is faithful!
This isn’t a vain boast. It’s a biblical truth.
These past 8 verses are built upon this. Paul is able to be confident in the Corinthian church with all of their problems because God is faithful. He’s able to be confident that they will be presented blameless on the day of Jesus Christ because God is faithful.
God's Faithfulness
There are a couple of things that I want you to take note of in Paul’s letter here, in these 9 verses. The first is that it is all about what God does for us. Not about our works or what we do.
God is faithful. He’s faithful to save us, to keep us.
Jesus says:
“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
How incredible is this? God is faithful.
We’re unfaithful every day. We sin. But we can rest in the faithfulness of God.
He will never leave you or forsake you. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And it’s upon this understanding that Paul begins and builds upon this letter to the Corinthian church.
The Focus is on Jesus
The second is that the focus is on Jesus. You may not have noticed as we were going through them today, but in the first 10 verses of 1 Corinthians 1, Jesus is mentioned in every verse. 9 times by name. Another number for you, 6 times in the first 10 verses we find the word “Lord.”
This isn’t just some stats that I wanted to throw at you because I think they’re interesting. It’s the point of today’s message: keep your focus on Jesus. Remain thankful for the blessings.
Our identity, as Christians, is not self-made. It’s the result of God’s action on our behalf. We’re sanctified not in ourselves, but “in Christ Jesus” (v. 2). We are “called to be saints” not because we are inherently saintly, but simply because we “call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v. 2). The grace and the peace that we experience in our life is delivered to us “from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 3). The grace we experience was not earned but it was and is a gift given to us “in Christ Jesus” (v. 4). Our speech and our knowledge are “enriched in him” (v. 5). We are confident in our faith because God confirmed the “testimony about Christ” among us (v. 6). In Christ, God sustains us to the end. He has promised to make us-the guilty-“guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 8). And we are absolutely certain of this because “God is faithful,” and he has called us into “the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (v. 9).
And not only was this true for the Corinthian church, but it’s true for every believer. And when you focus your vision on Jesus, you can be truly thankful. You can be thankful for through whom all blessings flow.