Our Identity in Christ
Gospel Living in the Local Church • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsIntro to 1 Cor. Big Idea- Our Identity in Christ Passing out scripture notebooks
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Transcript
Welcome:
Welcome to Hype Student Ministries!
I have one more announcement. Kiel and Jennifer Dossett new Hype Leaders. Please respect them and take time to get to know them.
I’m excited to kick off our new teaching series “Gospel Living in the Local Church” as we study through the entire book of 1 Corinthians. This study of 1 Corinthians will take us through the rest of our ministry year till the end of April. Now I know that seems like a lot, but we will break it down into 5 different sections; identity, sexuality, idolatry, unity of the church, and then we’ll finish with talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now if you were with us last year, we took the entire year to go through the Gospel of John. We learned about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. While studying John we came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is fully God & fully man and that He came to earth to live a perfect life to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. If we believe trust in Him as our savior and commit our lives to following his teachings then we are forgiven of our sins and we can be in a right relationship with God and we have the hope of spending eternity in Heaven after our lives on earth are over. That was a summary of what we talked about all last year. This year we are going to take that teaching and discuss how to live that teaching out as part of a local church.
Introduction
Introduction
Setting of 1 Corinthians
Setting of 1 Corinthians
Don’t read the following slide skip to “set the scene”
Setting of 1 Corinthians
Large city that has a sinful reputation
Apostle Paul started the church at Corinth (Acts 18:1-17)
Paul then writes the letter of 1 Corinthians to the church to address issues that were happening inside the church.
To set the scene for the church of Corinth and the letter of 1 Corinthians, I want you to image a large city that has a sinful reputation.
Think of Las Vegas, a city in Nevada that has the nickname sin city because of various temptations for the sins of lust, greed, selfishness, and more. Image a city like that and with no true church in the city. No one sharing about the good news of Jesus. A situation like this should break our heart and cause us to grieve. An entire city living in sin & not knowing about the gospel of Jesus.
But there might be some of you like, “ I don’t really see the problem here, I really don’t care”.
The problem is that sin separates a person from a right relationship with God and without professing Jesus as your savior and committing your life to Him, when that person dies, they spend an eternity in Hell because of their sin. Here in the town of Corinth we see an entire city of people living in their sin not knowing that the truth of Jesus so that they can be saved from their sin. This should grieve us. This is partially why we do the Operation World portion of our announcements, to show you of the literally billions of people who don’t know Jesus and will end up in Hell because they’ve never accepted Jesus as their savior. This should cause us to live on mission of sharing the gospel with whomever we interact with. It was this attitude, this missional mindset that the Apostle Paul had when he went to Corinth and shared the gospel with others. (Acts 18:1-17)
After starting the Corinthian church, Paul stayed there for a year and a half and then moved to the town of Ephesus to start a church there. It was about 4 years after Paul had left Corinth that he wrote 1 Corinthians to address issues that were happening inside the church.
With having the setting in mind for this letter, let’s start reading 1 Corinthians. Have your scripture notebooks open to 1 Cor. chapter 1. For this evening we will be focusing on the first 9 verses of chapter 1. Jesus is referenced 10 times in the first 9 verses. I want you to underline each time Jesus is referenced as we go through these verses.
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1
Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother:
2 To the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord—both their Lord and ours.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge. 6 In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, 7 so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Transition statement: In these first 9 verses we see Paul bring attention to a believer’s identity in Christ.
A Believer’s Identity in Christ
A Believer’s Identity in Christ
Paul starts off this letter with a statement of his own identity in Christ.
A Believer’s Identity in Christ
v. 1- Paul: called as an apostle of Christ Jesus
Sosthenes (Who’s probably writing on behalf of Paul): Brother in Christ Jesus
v. 2- The church of God at Corinth: Sanctified in Christ Jesus, Called as Saints.
v. 4- Believers: given grace from God in Christ Jesus
v. 7- Believers: not lacking any spiritual gifts while waiting for Jesus.
v. 8- Believers will be seen as blameless in the day of Jesus Christ (End times when world is judged)
v. 9- God is faithful, believers are called by God into fellowship with Jesus Christ.
Needless to say Paul wants to draw the attention of his readers to truths that believers can hold onto about who they are because of Jesus.
There are three main points about a Believer’s identity in Christ that Paul writes in these first 9 verses.
A Believer’s Identity in Christ
Believers are sanctified
Believers are strengthened
Believers are secured
Believers are Sanctified
Believers are Sanctified
Don’t read slide
Believers are Sanctified
Sanctified- holy, set apart
Being sanctified is already but not yet
Sanctified is a big word that simply means holy and set apart.
For those who put their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, they are made holy in the eyes of God and are set apart from unbelievers to bring God glory and to be in a relationship with Him.
The truth of being sanctified is something that is already but not yet. I know some of you are like how can something have happened but at the same time not yet happened?
Have you ever been home and you did something wrong and your mom caught you and told you that you were in trouble but then said that she’ll tell your dad what you did. So you know that you are currently in trouble but you know that you will be in even more trouble when your dad comes home.
When it relates to believers being sanctified. There is a truth that we are positionally set apart viewed as Holy by God even though we still struggle with sin. But in the end when our lives on earth are over and we go to heaven. Believers will not only be viewed as Holy but will live perfectly never sinning again in heaven.
Transition statement: But while we are on earth, while we struggle with sin and temptation. Christ doesn’t leave us alone but rather we are told that for a believer we are strengthened.
Believers are Strengthened
Believers are Strengthened
For a moment I want you to imagine that you had the ability to know all the answers to any test you took. Could be a math test, maybe it’s a chemistry test, could be an english test. But imagine that when ever you look at a question, you instantly knew the answer. Who would want that ability? I would’ve wanted that ability when I was in school.
Now when you become a believer, you are given the Holy Spirit, it dwells or resides inside of you and because believers have the Holy Spirit, you have the ability to recognize sin and then say no to sin and say yes to glorifying God.
This means that when we are in a situation, during the day or late at night, maybe with a crowd of unbelievers, or by ourselves and we are tempted to sin, we have the spiritual power and strength because of the Holy Spirit to say no to sin. We as believers do not lack any gifting or strength to say no to sin or to say yes to glorifying God.
Even though this is true, the reality is that we still sin. We focus on a sinful thought too long, we have a prideful thought or attitude. We say something or do something that is hurtful to someone else. We fail to love God and love others perfectly.
Transition Statement: The reality is even though we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, believers still sin daily. Even though we are often unfaithful to God, He is faithful to us because of Jesus Christ. Because of this, we know that believers are secured in Jesus.
Believers are Secured
Believers are Secured
This is the final point here in 1 Cor. 1:1-9.
He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
We can see here clearly that it is by God’s power and will that believers stay in a relationship with Him. God strengthens so that we are blameless. He is faithful even when we chose our sin.
Now this does not mean that our sin is without any consequences. Our sin still hurts our relationship with others around us and when we sin we grieve God’s spirit. When we sin, we hinder the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But when we repent of our sin, we are receptive to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives once again.
Now these three main points that we see in 1 Cor. 1:1-9.
Believers are sanctified
Believers are strengthened
Believers are secure
Transition statement: This the what that Paul is writing to the church in Corinth but now I briefly want to discuss the why.
Why is Paul Writing about a Believer’s Identity in Jesus?
Why is Paul Writing about a Believer’s Identity in Jesus?
Paul is writing this section as a foundation to what he is going to be writing later as he will address sin that is happening in the Corinthian church. Sins dealing with idolatry, sexuality, divisions, false teachings.
This begs the question of why is understanding our identity in Christ a foundational truth before discussion occuring sins in the church.
Here is the big practical takeaway.
When we choose our sin over choosing to glorify God, we have forgotten the truths of our identity in Christ.
This means that when we choose our sin, we are believing lies that Satan is tempting us with that our identity in Christ isn’t good enough, isn’t sufficient, isn’t satisfying. So at the root of a situation where a born again believer chooses their sin, they are forgetting in that moment the fulness of their identity in Christ.
That’s why it was important for Paul to start off his letter to the Corinthians with truths about who believers are in Christ. As Paul will continue to then address various sins that are happening in the church, we will have the truths about identity in Christ to keep in mind as to see what lies people in the Corinthian church are believing.
But for tonight before we close in prayer, I ask you this question,
Do You Find Your Identity in Christ?
Do You Find Your Identity in Christ?
If not, what’s holding you back?
If you do find your identity in Christ, what lies about your identity in Christ are you tempted with that you believe when you choose to sin?
Repeat.
Pray.