January 25, 2015
Morning Service

In 2014 we began with the study of Luke.  Dr. Luke, a gentile, that was a traveler with the Apostle Paul, said that he understood exactly what had happened in the ministry of Jesus, so he wanted to share this understanding with everyone.  So after the gospel of Luke we went directly to the other letter he wrote, which was the book of Acts.  Here we saw many wonderful actions that would build our faith, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  We saw the Lord’s church established, the preaching of the Apostles.  The church growing by leaps and bounds.  The conversion of Saul of Tarsus, later to be named Paul the Apostle.  The cities that Paul visited on his three missionary trips.  Such a great, informing letter. 

Upon recognizing that Paul wrote two thirds of our N.T. and his wonderful work in the missionary field, we went to Galatians to see how he received his knowledge of the gospel that he preached.  This is the only gospel that is to be preached, insomuch, that God, through the Apostle Paul, said whoever would preach another gospel would be cursed.  A very serious statement.  It should stir anyone that is going to preach, to seek out, and find this gospel message.  Anyone can find it, it is clearly laid out Paul’s writings.

We saw the beginning of the church, the message that was to be preached to allow people to enter this church, so then we decided to study the Pastorial epistles of I and II Timothy, and Titus.  Here we saw the instructions from Paul on how people should behave themselves in the house of God, which is the pillar, and ground of the truth, and to set in order the things that are lacking.  So we have these instructions to help, and guide us in proper behavior in the Lord’s church.

So now, as we begin a study of ICor. We will see how, if these instructions were followed, they would not have had the problems they had.  Some of these problems are still existing in the church today, so it should be a lesson for us, and we will know how to handle these problems, by reading, and studying these letters.  We, autonomous fellowships of the Lord’s church, can make changes that need to be made, more readily than the huge denominational fellowships, who are steeped in traditional man made doctrines.

 

Paul wrote letters to 9 cities.  Three of which were very long.  The church at Corinth received two long letters.  In these letters the Apostle addressed problems that had arisen.  In Acts chapter 16, we saw God open the door for Paul to enter Macedonia to preach the gospel.  Paul started in Philippi, then Thessalonica, down to Athens, and then Paul established the church in Corinth after leaving Athens Greece where he preached his famous sermon on the UNKNOWN GOD.  (Acts 18)        

 

Corinth was the capital of Achaia, called anciently Ephyra, and was seated on the isthmus which divides the Peloponnesus from Attica. The city itself stood on a little island; it had two ports, Lecheeum on the west, and Cenchrea on the east. It was one of the most populous and wealthy cities of Greece, and at the same time one of the most luxurious, effeminate, ostentatious, and dissolute. Lasciviousness here was not only practiced and allowed, but was consecrated by the worship of Venus; and no small part of the wealth and splendor of the city arose from the offerings made by licentious passion in the very temples of this goddess. No city of ancient times was more profligate. It was the Paris of antiquity; the seat of splendor, and show, and corruption. Yet even here, notwithstanding all the disadvantages of splendor, gaiety, and dissoluteness, Paul entered on the work of rearing a church; and here he was eminently successful. The two epistles which he afterward wrote to this church show the extent of his success; and the well-known character and propensities of the people will account for the general drift of the admonitions and arguments in those epistles.

Corinth was destroyed by the Romans 146 years before Christ; and during the conflagration several metals in a fused state, running together, produced the composition known as Corinthian brass. It was afterward restored by Julius Caesar, who planted in it a Roman colony. It soon regained its ancient splendor, and relapsed into its former dissipation and licentiousness. Paul arrived there in 52 or 53 ad.      

 

SO LET’S BEGIN OUR STUDY ICOR. 1.

1Co 1:1-8  Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 

·         Paul’s salutation in all of his letters is basically the same.  It is to establish his authority in his ministry.  He has been called of God to be the Apostle to the gentiles.  Jesus Christ Himself, calling Paul to a changed life, and a dedication to preach the one true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

·         In this salutation he introduces the church to one Sosthenes, he calls our brother.

·         Sosthenes = We first see him in Acts 18, where the Apostle spent 1 year, and 6 months preaching the gospel.  Sosthenes was a leader in the synagogue, and upon leaving the synagogue, he was taken by the Jews, and beaten.  He very well could have been converted under Paul’s preaching, and continuing to allow Paul to preach in the synagogue.

·         Now we see him being introduced by Paul to the church where he was over the Jewish synagogue. 

(2)  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: 

·         To be sanctified is to be set apart.

·         Called to be saints = we are called by the preaching of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

(3)  Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  (4)  I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;  (5)  That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;  (6)  Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:  (7)  So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:  (8)  Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

·         Here we see Paul telling the Corinthians that he praises God for allowing the Corinthians to receive the engrafted word that is able to save their souls.  God has granted mercy, and grace to a people steeped in sin.  A people with a lifestyle that encourages sin on every hand.

·         Many received this grace, but there were many that did not receive it, just as it is today.

·         By doing, and living our best for God, there will be no fear when the Lord returns for His church.

1Co 1:9-18  God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 

·         God is faithful.  We that believe in God believe this without challenge.  God is faithfull.

(10)  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

·         How do we all speak the same thing?  We have in our Bible the answer to every question that would arise.  We just have to study, and find it.

·         This was an admirable decision made by those in attendance to the Cain Ridge Revival, in the 1800’s.  They said “we will call Bible things, by Bible names.” Speaking the same things.

·         There is but one reason for division, and that is to separate and for growth reasons, teaching the same doctrine. 

·         This would be done in love, and for the betterment of the church.  There would be a new Pastor for this new congregation, with new deacons to be chosen by the people.  They would become a new fellowship of the Lord’s church, teaching the same gospel message.

This is a simple concept of success, and of pleasing God.  We can see through church history where the corruption started, and caused all the confusion, and chaos in the church.  Greed, and the love of power, are the things that led to the corruption of the early church.  Not speaking the same things, and leaving the simplicity of the word.

ALMIGHTY GOD, HELP US TO ACCEPT YOUR WORD, TO STRIVE FOR THE UNITY OF THE TEACHING.  AMEN.