Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

It’s been said that we (in twenty-first-century America) live in a post-Christian culture.

There is no doubt that western civilization is grounded in biblical principles, and it has been influenced greatly by biblical morality and instructions.

And yet, all around us we see a culture in decline.

Traditional notions of marriage and family are not just passé, they are denigrated in media, academia, and politics.

Traditional ethics (honesty, hard work, loyalty, responsibility) seem to be the stuff of a bygone era, and some even want to argue that these are the characteristics of an oppressive culture that has too often abused those in the minority culture.

If we’re honest, there was never a “golden age,” one that was marked by genuine virtue and real prosperity at every level.

Since Genesis 3, all civilizations have exhibited their share of wickedness and sin.

But there is a pessimism and escapism common in our day that seems far worse than generations past.

Even within many local churches, we can notice the loss of the biblical standards of ethics and doctrine.

The Church of England appears to be headed along the same path as many other Christian denominations before it.

Anglican leaders are presently considering gender-neutral pronouns for God, and they’ve recently approved of blessing same-sex “marriages.”

Closer to home, from evangelical churches in America, we hear one story after another of church leaders deconstructing or leaving the faith, being exposed as long-time sexual deviants, and/or calling into question the very doctrines upon which Christianity is grounded.

I know of one church within an hour’s drive of here that is being torn to pieces because a former Senior Pastor was exposed as an adulterer who had been sexually promiscuous for decades.

Many church members want to pretend it isn’t so, and many others are suffering heartache and confusion over the church’s inability to face the sin head-on.

The whole community is affected by the hypocritical and perverse actions of people who claim to follow Jesus but who act just like those who follow their impulses.

In such a context, what are Christians to do?

How can any church re-center itself upon the historic Christian faith?

How can a church fortify itself against such errors?

How can Christians be equipped to deal with sin in their own lives and be prepared to offer non-Christians a faithful witness of Christ Jesus?

Well, it’s a good thing we have letters like 1 Corinthians in the Bible!

The Christians in first-century Corinth were living in a completely pagan world, with unbelieving political and economic leaders.

And they even dealt with unrepentant sin within the church.

Human nature was the same in the first century as it is today, and the truths and commands we read about in this letter are the biblical solutions for the same problems we face.

These first three verses of the letter, which we will consider today, provide a foundation for all that comes after it.

This rich and practical letter begins with a profound greeting, full of doctrine with huge implications for all of life.

May God encourage our hearts as we think together, and may He grant us grace and courage to listen and to obey.

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 1:1–3 (ESV)

1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 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: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Main Idea:

Christians are recipients of genuine grace and peace from God, through Jesus Christ, who sanctifies undeserving sinners.

Sermon

1. From Paul (v1)

In one sense, Paul’s opening greeting in this letter is very much the same as his greetings in other New Testament letters.

To the Christians in Rome, Paul wrote, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God… To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace… and peace…” (Rom.

1:1-7).

To the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus… Grace… and peace…” (Eph.

1:1-2).

And Paul’s greeting in his second letter to the church in Corinth is nearly identical to the one we’re reading today.

Clearly, this greeting is not substantially unusual.

But this does not mean it is less important.

The fact that such a greeting is common from Paul makes it more fundamental as a starting point for the communication that follows… whether to the church of Corinth, to the church of Ephesus, or to those churches in Rome.

So, what do we learn here about Paul in this common greeting?

Well, the main thing we learn is that he was “an apostle of Christ Jesus” (v1).

This is no ordinary title or office.

We learn what an Apostle is in Acts, chapter 1.

The word “apostle” simply means messenger or ambassador or one who is sent out.

But the way the New Testament uses this word is more specific than that, and the way Paul was using it here is explicitly so.

Paul was “an apostle of Christ Jesus” who was “called” to that office “by the will of God” (v1).

And also note that “Sosthenes” was a “brother” in Christ, but he was most definitely not “an apostle of Christ” (v1).

Paul said that he was writing this letter with Sosthenes, but Paul alone claimed to be “called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus” (v1).

So, what does it mean that Paul was a New Testament “apostle,” commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ (v1)?

The first time the word shows up in the New Testament is in Matthew 10.

Matthew tells us that Jesus “called” together “his twelve disciples,” and He “gave them authority” (as apostles) to do the miracles that He Himself had been doing (Matt.

10:1).[i]

This delegation of authority is central to the role of an Apostle, and we have recently seen (in Acts) how the same miracles that validated Jesus as the Messiah also validated Jesus’s special witnesses as capital “A” Apostles.

The beginning of the book of Acts puts a big emphasis on the twelve Apostles, and it’s there that we learn clearly what an Apostle is and why there were twelve.

Most of you will remember that the book of Acts records that period of history which immediately followed Jesus’s resurrection and ascension.

After Jesus was raised from the dead, He remained with His disciples 40 days, until He was “lifted up” to His seat of highest authority in the universe (Acts 1:9).

At His departure from earth, Jesus commissioned His disciples to be His “witnesses,” and He said the Holy Spirit would empower them (Acts 1:8).

Jesus had established a New Covenant between God and man, and He was sending out His followers as the New Covenant people… And like Israel of old, Jesus also had twelve “sons” (or Apostles) who formed the foundation of His new “nation.”

Unlike the old one, Jesus’s new “Israel” would be populated by repenting and believing people of all “nations” or ethnicities… and these people would be included, not by family lineage or obedience, but by turning from sin and trusting in Jesus as the Christ, the Lord and the Savior.

Friends, if you want to learn more about what the Bible teaches regarding Jesus as the Christ, or about what it means to turn from sin or to trust in Jesus, then let’s make a plan to discuss this stuff more after the service is over.

Right now, let’s get back to the issue at hand – defining what an Apostle is and why there were twelve.

I’ve just alluded to the purpose of the number 12… it’s because Jesus was the fulfillment of all that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… and Jesus established a NewCovenant, with a new people, who were citizens of a new kingdom… not an earthly one located in the Middle East, but a heavenly one that stretched out across the entire globe.

The twelve Apostles were a tangible indicator that Jesus was establishing the New Covenant people of God, and not just anyone could be an Apostle.

Acts 1 is where Judas Iscariot was replaced by another disciple named Matthias, and we won’t get further into the details here, but we do see three qualifications for Apostles.

In Acts 1, beginning with v21, Peter said that Judas’s replacement had to be (1) someone “who [had] accompanied [the disciples] during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up” (v21-22); (2) someone who was a “witness to [Jesus’s] resurrection” (v22); and (3) someone who was explicitly commissioned by Christ to fill the office of Apostle (v24-26).

Now the reason we’re spending this much time on Paul as an Apostle this morning is because Paul was not numbered among the twelve, and he later called himself an Apostle “untimely born” and “least of the apostles” (1 Cor.

15:8-9).

In fact, Paul’s apostleship was regularly questioned among those who sowed division in the churches Paul himself had established (see Galatians and Philippians).

And this was exactly what was happening in Corinth.

Paul’s apostolic authority was one of the two major issues that provoked this letter.

It is no coincidence, then, that Paul said (at the beginning of this letter) that he is “an apostle of Christ Jesus” who was “called” to that office “by the will of God” (v1).

And it’s also no accident that Paul’s authority was one of the two major issues causing problems in Corinth.

Anytime a person or group wants to break free from God’s design, God’s word, or God’s commands, he or she must necessarily pick a fight with those who submit to and call others to submit to God’s authority.

Today, we don’t have capital “A” Apostles walking around, but we do have the divinely inspired record of apostolic teaching.

We have the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments), which is the very word of God written in verbal and grammatical form, such that anyone who reads the language can understand the major teaching and message of it.

When it comes to life’s biggest questions and those areas of greatest moral confusion in our day, the Bible is actually quite clear.

Therefore, most people who disagree with the Bible don’t argue against the substance of it… we all know (or at least we can know) what the Bible says.

Instead, people who don’t want to submit to God’s word attack its authority.

“Is it really God’s word?” or “Is that what it means, or is that just your interpretation?”

Friends, the Bible is God’s word, and it deserves our careful consideration.

Because the Bible is God’s word, we should do our best to know what it says and to submit ourselves to it in every area of life… We should believe what it teaches and do what it commands… because it is the highest authority over us.

In first-century Corinth, the church was in chaos, and one of the biggest reasons was that they weren’t listening to good authority.

They were following leaders to suit their own preferences, and they were dividing up along lines of social status, economic ability, and even spiritual gifting.

2. To the Church in Corinth (v2)

Cassie and I once lived in a town called Corinth in North Texas, just south of Denton.

There was a church in our neighborhood called The Church of Corinth, and I always used to wonder why in the world a church would want to name themselves after this first-century church.

The two New Testament letters we have from Paul to this church are not flattering at all.

In fact, they present a picture of a church that was completely out of order, a church that was acting just like the world outside, and a church that was notorious, not exemplary.

However, Paul began this letter to such a church by reminding them of who they truly are and the high and central calling of their existence in the first place.

And it’s actually a pretty big encouragement for disordered or hypocritical churches today that we find a letter like this in the Bible.

It reminds us that there is hope for reform… no matter how bad our church has become… so long as we remember the Savior who purifies us, the God who owns us, and the purpose or calling which motivates and guides us.

Paul said that this church was made up of “those sanctified in Christ Jesus” (v2).

This is fancy church and Bible language that might fly over some of our heads, so let’s take a moment to slow it down.

The word “sanctify” means to make holy or to consecrate something to the service of God.

Only a holy fire was to be burned in God’s house.

Only a holy sacrifice was to be offered upon God’s altar.

Only a holy priest could approach God’s presence.

And only a holy people could enjoy God’s blessings and avoid God’s curse.

All of this Old Testament imagery was designed to show that God can and will only accept holy things and holy people.