Sermon Tone Analysis

What’s your favorite -ology?

Maybe you don’t have an -ology you prefer over the next.

I’ll tell you mine; whereas I love theology (the study of God) and eschatology (the study of the end times), soteriology (the study of salvation) and hamartiology (the study of scumbaggery/sin), my favorite -ology has to do with the Church—the nature and structure of the body of Christ.

My favorite -ology is ecclesiology—the study of the church, the ekklesia, the gathering of God’s called-out people.

I love the Church.

I love to study Church history and its movements, how it ebbs and flows; the ins and outs of a church denomination or of a particular church.

If ever I was to write a book, it would have something to do with ecclesiology.

It’d be a history or maybe a memoir.

In my (almost) exactly 8 years as your pastor, you fine people have given me enough fodder to fill a dozen books about the church.

It was October 3, 2010 when I came here full-time.

You’ve put up with me for more than 8 years, and for that I am ever-thankful.

Heading into my 9th year and anticipating my 39th year, you should know how grateful I am for you, how much Meghann and I love you, how my family looks forward to spending the rest of our lives serving Christ alongside you.

You are the reason I love the Church so much.

You have taught me.

You, church, are my role model for love and faithfulness.

You have shown me, over and again, what the Church is supposed to be.

The Church is of the Spirit, Not the World.

This is something I’m going to repeat throughout the sermon (and probably beyond).

And this would not be the worst thing you could repeat, especially as different issues pop up, when you disagree with another Christian, when you don’t care for something, we must remember: The Church is of the Spirit, not the world.

The Church is not a product of men.

The Church is God’s idea.

It’s His—His grace, His gifts, His people.

The Church is of the Spirit, not the world.

>We know that the Church is of the Spirit and not of the world.

Therefore, we must:

Act like it

There was no Christian community, no Christian church in Corinth until Paul went there as a missionary.

Corinth, remember, is a pagan hub.

Temples for and idols of and worship to false gods consumed the city, the entire Corinthian population.

And so, here comes Paul into Corinth, preaching the gospel, the Good News about Jesus, the message of the cross.

And the Lord was pleased to draw many of the Corinthians into a relationship with Himself.

The Corinthians were brand new Christians, first-generation Christians.

Paul was with them for a year and half, teaching them, instructing them, modeling for them the way of Christ.

Paul worked with the people of God there so that they would know how to be the people of God amid a pagan culture with all its influences.

And then Paul left, crossed the Aegean Sea, and made his way to Ephesus.

From Ephesus, Paul heard some disturbing news: the Corinthian church was in trouble.

They knew Jesus.

They had been instructed in the way of Christ.

They were the church there in Corinth.

Problem was: the Corinthians weren’t acting like the church.

So Paul continues his letter (you’ll find 1 Corinthians 3 on page #1,772 in the Red Pew Bible in front of you):

Paul begins this section of his letter by addressing the Corinthians as family.

This is more than just something to say; this is absolutely crucial for them to hear: they are Paul’s brothers and sisters.

He loves them.

They have a familial bond with Paul.

He is speaking to them as one who cares about them deeply.

Brothers and sisters…this is so important for them to hear.

And it’s good for us to hear, but not for the same reason quite.

We need to hear that Paul is calling them brothers and sisters because we need to realize that these people—though they are messing things up royally—they’re still Christians, kept by the Lord, secure in their salvation.

Brothers and sisters...

And then Paul really gets at it.

He makes some important distinctions: the Corinthians are not spiritual, they are worldly.

They aren’t mature; they’re infants (nepiois, in their ‘nappies’, still wearing diapers).

They are (as in 1:10ff) quarreling and jealous, acting like mere men, picking teams, taking sides.

They are not pneumatikois, but rather sarkinois.

Their actions are not characterized by the Spirit, but by the flesh.

This is Spirit versus Flesh; Spiritual vs. Worldly.

Galatians 5 details the fruit of the flesh an the fruit of the Spirit

Paul says the Corinthian church is characterized more by the acts of the flesh than they are by the fruit of the Spirit.

He says, in essence: “This is what ordinary men, men without Christ, men without the Holy Spirit are like!

You’re acting like mere men.”

I wish this wasn’t so applicable.

I wish I struggled finding how this applies to the church here today.

Last week, I thought “So what?

What’s the point?

How does this apply?”

Leading up to this morning I’ve been thinking: “Oh, man, this hits pretty close to home.”

I’m not sure which is worse...

The Church in the USA, the Church in Missouri, the Church in Rich Hill tends to act very little like the Church.

Do any of these every creep up into the lives of the Church?

Sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy?

Yes to all.

There’s so much of that in my own heart.

When the Church looks virtually no different from the world around it, when the church behave according to the flesh and its sinful desires, when the Church acts like it isn’t, we betray our very calling.

Paul says, “Act like the Church!”

The Church is of the Spirit, Not the World

If the Church is of the Spirit, each individual church body must exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.

All the quarreling and jealousy, the politics and pragmatism and partisanship; all the xenophobic and racist tendencies, the hateful attitudes and permissive attitudes; all the idolatry and immorality—all those things that belong to the flesh, to the world, to the old nature must cease.

We are to be characterized by the Spirit.

We belong to the Spirit.

We must act accordingly—so that the world might see our Heavenly Father and praise Him because of us.

Church, act like the Church.

We know that the Church is of the Spirit and not of the world.

Therefore, we must:

See our leaders rightly

Paul’s addressed this before, but it’s one of those issues that isn’t going to go away on its own; it’s one of those issues that is a perennial problem in the Church, in fact.

As we know, Paul was the Corinthian church’s first preacher.

He planted the church.

After he left, Apollos came to minister to them.

So, naturally people gravitated toward one or the other of them.

But when they started picking sides, choosing teams and Paul heard about it, they were going to hear from him.

To say “I follow Paul…I follow Apollos” is to show their worldly nature.

They are characterized by the flesh.

They are acting just like the world.

They are siding with their favorite personality just like the pagans would side with whichever god or goddess they prefer.

Paul reminds the church what he and Apollos actually are.

The very wording of his question in verse 5 hints at what he’s saying.

He doesn’t ask, “Who, after all, is Apollos?

Who is Paul?”

Paul asks, “What..is Apollos?