1 Corinthians 12:12-31 "IS CHURCH MEMBERSHIP BIBLICAL?"

Our text teaches us that: 

(i)               V.12 The church can be compared to a human body with its many constituent parts (members). 

(ii)             V.13 The Holy Spirit is the One who brings about the new birth into that membership. (VERY IMPORTANT!)

(iii)           V.14 Although the body is one being, yet the body has many components (legs, arms, torso, various organs and sub –parts such as  foot, ears, eyes  etc.)  

(iv)            Vv.15 -17 each part serves a different purpose, but all exist for the good and benefit of the whole. No part exists (nor can it exist) for its own benefit.
(v)             Vv.18 -26 God arranged the members of the human body, as He sovereignly chose. Our bodies are His design. This design is not based on a single body part, but on a variety of body parts, and no body part is indispensable. No part of the body can say, ‘I don’t need you’. Paul repeats this again and again. There can be no thought of division of the body (v.25) and mutual caring of the members of our body is assumed. In fact, if one  part of the body suffers, all parts suffer; if one part rejoices, all  rejoice (v.26)

(vi)            V.27 So this analogy  of the  human works well  to describe  the  workings of the church.

(vii)          Vv. 28-30 In the church, which is made up of all those  who were baptized into one body by the Holy Spirit  there are various members with varying spiritual gifts, working together for the common good.

(viii)        V.31 and Chapter 13:  the attitude in which the body of Christ lives and works together is called ‘the more excellent way’ by Paul. In Chapter 13 Paul warns us that mere giftedness (13:1-3) is not what keeps a church unified. The gifts and individual talents of people must work by the rule of 13:4-7. This is the love that animates and produces true body life – true church life! 

I trust that from this text the Holy Spirit has immediately convinced you that membership in a church is a biblical concept. 

And it is essential.  According to this text you cannot say that you are a Christian, but not a member of the church.  Take careful note of this! To be ‘baptized by one Spirit into one body…’ (v.13) means that you are born again (for that is what Spirit baptism is) into one body  (the body of Christ – the church). 
The new birth = baptism by one Spirit. 
The Holy Spirit baptizes us into Jesus, but this is not where it ends. The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Jesus – the church! 
You therefore cannot say, Jesus – YES, church - NO!   
You cannot divide that which God has joined together.   
If you have been sceptical, then I trust that the Holy Spirit inspired Bible has won the argument today. If you say that you trust Christ, it also follows that you  must obey Him.  
You cannot detach yourself from the body of Christ  if you claim to be His follower any more  than an  eye or an ear or a leg  can detach itself from your body, and survive!

There are many people in our day who are sceptical about joining in a church membership. Some say 'it’s not in the Bible’, using the common argument, ‘where in the Bible is there a membership list’?Others say that they have been previously hurt in a local church (and that is a problem that needs to be dealt with!) and like a divorced person they are now reluctant to commit themselves again to such a relationship in membership.  They use this argument to keep the church at a distance, whilst perhaps attending church services.  But that is it. No commitment, no accountability to the body.

But here is the painful reality and it is ironic.  There are members of any given local church that actually do the same. Whilst they are members, their participation in the body of Christ is not evident. They do not exert their spiritual gift in a meaningful way and with joy. They do not pray with the church in any visible way. Their fellowship is limited. They do not participate in the gospel ministry of the church. From our text we see that the membership that Paul envisages is   an integrated, committed, serving-one-another, loving, involved membership – just like the picture of the human body and its constituent parts, work in real sympathy and real support.  

So then, the concept of biblical church membership needs to be thought through.  And before we talk about being added to  a  membership list of our local church  we need  to be clear that  we are right with God.  Sometime  ago  a member  of our church came to me and said that they wanted to resign from membership, because  they felt that they were not  involved in the church  in any meaningful way, and did not attend regularly, and  did not serve the church. That was all true, and we have reason to believe that there was more to that conversation  than meets the eye, but  the bigger question in my own heart was this,  “Is this   dear soul really converted?”   How can you leave that which Christ loves supremely, unless of course your church is not a true church? 

The basis of biblical membership is being right with God. Last week Pastor Brits laid the foundation for today’s message when he preached from John 3:1-8,  ‘You must be born again’. The new birth, being born again from above  is foundational to being and becoming  a member of the church. Whenever this first principle has been disregarded in the life of the church, she will quickly lose her first love. Unconverted members kill the church, because there is no spiritual life in an unconverted person. Unconverted people do not love Jesus. They love an organisation that meets their needs, and helps them when it comes to dealing  with the vital  rituals of life – birth, marriage, death.

Let me help you to see this briefly by appealing to church history. When the early church embraced the practice of baptizing their children, the church  in the afterglow of  the plain  teaching of the apostles grew steadily  lukewarm  as baptized  children became church members  without necessarily experiencing  the new birth.  The church grew, so to speak by infant baptisms rather than by conversions. The  so called  dark  ages which  followed (roughly from the fall of Rome in 496 AD until the Renaissance  – 1500 AD)  were dark because  the church had become  a lukewarm, nominal entity, ruled by a corrupt  regime of popes and political power-brokers.  With few exceptions the reading of the history of the church of that time, including the 9 crusades (1095-1272 AD) doesn’t make for pretty reading. Religious zealotry akin to the Pharisees combined with political idealism ruled the day.   Please understand:  The unconverted heart can only do what it does, and in the hands of Satan the unconverted heart is the most powerful tool to subvert the holiness of the church.  That is why the Reformation was such a tonic. It was a spiritual awakening, and central to that awakening was the preaching of the gospel.  Men like Luther and Calvin and many others preached the gospel, and the Holy Spirit was pleased to blow liberally and many were converted.   Baptists, if we include the  Anabaptists of the  Reformation,  in their nearly 500 years since the Reformation  have substantially believed in the necessity of the new birth as the primary  requirement for  church membership. Conversion would then be followed by baptism and church membership. This is the New Testament practise, and this is where we stand today.  A healthy church is where  people are truly  converted  and  added to the church  by  signifying this in believers baptism.

Returning to the  Metaphor of the Body

Church membership is implied in the metaphor of the body in 1 Corinthians 12:12–31.   There is a unity and organic relationship implied in the imagery of the body. There is something unnatural about a Christian attaching him or herself to a body of believers and not being a member of the body.

That is God’s plan for us and for this church. That is what we mean by membership. The membership list, and going through a series of membership classes  are secondary matters, but they do follow from that great principle of the body metaphor in 1 Corinthians 12. 

So when you are asking, ‘Where  do you find a membership list in the Bible?’  you are asking the wrong question. And  if you are saying, ‘...but I have been hurt in the church  and will not  commit  myself to another’,  then you are  letting  your negative emotions rule  over the truth as it is in Jesus. 

The answer is this - Find a church that  most closely exhibits the true marks of a church   (e.g. Acts 2:42). And if you say, ‘But I am a member of the universal church  of Christ, I don’t need  to belong to a local church‘, then I want you to consider that Paul was writing this letter not to the members  of the universal church, but the local church at Corinth. And he wrote a letter  to the Roman church, the Ephesian church, the  Galatian and Thessalonian churches, the Philippian and Colossian church, as well as the letters to Timothy, Pastor of the local  church at Ephesus.     

Final Appeal

The New Testament knows of no Christians who are not accountable members of a local church in the sense that we have just seen.  The  New Testament indicates  that  to be excluded from the local church was to be excluded from Christ, as in the case of the church discipline  found in 1 Corinthians 5.  Are you committed to discipline and being disciplined according to biblical standards? How can you exclude some from the membership of the church, if they are not recognised as a church member?  

Do you see yourself and your gifts as part of an organic ministering body?

And how do the leaders of a local church know who they are accountable for? 

Have you publicly declared your willingness to be shepherded and to be led by the leaders of a local church?

So then, are you an accountable member of a local church?  The question is not, ‘Is your name somewhere on some membership list?’ It should be.   The question is, are you actively engaged as a member of your local church? Have you said so by way of a public affirmation?   

After all is said and done, remember  that  Church membership begins with the work of the Holy Spirit. He applies the  work of  Jesus  (a blood bought gift) to your heart and He unites you  to other  brothers and sisters in your given locality.  More than most of us realize, it is a life-sustaining, faith-strengthening, joy-preserving means of God’s mercy to us.

1 Corinthians 2:2 The RESOLUTION behind all New Years Resolutions !

Have you  made any   New Years resolutions?  Ought you to make new years resolutions?  Whatever your  opinions are regarding this matter, there is, I believe much merit  in thinking carefully and prayerfully  about the year ahead.  We, at Eastside Baptist Church  use most of the month of January   to do this,  culminating our  desires and plans   for the year ahead with  a prayer week.

On a more personal level I  also wish to recommend to you  a  helpful set of questions  compiled  by  Don Whitney, which I have been using for a few years now  to  help me to get focused  on the  year ahead. Here are his  first ten diagnostic question:

1.      What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2.      What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3.      What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4.      In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5.      What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6.      What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7.      For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8.      What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9.      What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10.  What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

These are  all very good and relevant questions and  I  want to encourage you and I  to  put these diagnostic questions  to  good work, for we  will surely benefit  much  on a  personal and also  on  a church -corporate level  if we seek to get these things right.

There is one  problem however. We might take these questions  and treat it as a “to do” list, and  use it as an end in itself  and become  legalistic  about it  and in the end,  loose  the joy and the heart  in it all, and worse still, give up  good resolutions such  as these.   What I want to do  with the help of God’s Word therefore  is to  provide you with the most essential  and fundamental motivation to keep good  going!

I will put it to you like this: We need no one less  than  Jesus Himself  to be our Motivator. 

My model for this thought  is the apostle Paul  who  himself had expressed many desires  and  goals  in the writing of His letters. The book of Acts reveals that not all of Paul’s plans  came to fruition e.g.  Acts 16:6ff, where the Holy Spirit  re-directed Paul who was desiring to go to Asia  to go to Macedonia instead. This  re-direction  by the Holy Spirit  led to the conversion of Lydia and of the Philippian jailer  and  the establishment  of the Philippian church. 

What I am saying is this; Paul had goals, ambitions and desires, but these were always subject to  the direction in which God  the Father  and the Holy Spirit and Christ  would direct him. Paul was primarily a slave  or  servant of God. God could change his agenda at any time.    He saw himself as an apostle (messenger)  of God  and Christ,  always led by the Holy Spirit  to  do the work to which Jesus had called him  on the road to Damascus  (Acts 9).

Paul’s  resolutions were  motivated by his deep love for Christ. A classic expression of his love  for Christ is found  in   1 Corinthians 2:1-5, and in particular in verse 2: “For I decided  (NIV “resolved”) to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”  

Now whilst this was not Paul’s  new year’s  resolution, it was nevertheless  a fundamental resolution which undergirded his life and  which  therefore his motivated  his actions. This is what  I want you to see.  Underlying our resolutions  is a primary  resolution. It may be  called “our heart’s desire”, and that heart’s desire will determine how   you apply  your new year’s resolutions. Paul’s  one desire was Christ.  See this also in his letter to the Philippians:

·         Phil. 2: 21 ” For me to live is Christ…”

·         Phil. 3:7-11

Paul’s commitment  was   driven by  the  central place that Christ occupied  in His life! That is really the secret to making Christian resolutions that will last.  The rest of the information  contained in our Scripture  reading in  1 Corinthians 2 flows from that  primary resolution! Let us use this  as an illustration  to show how Paul’s love for Jesus moved his resolution to share the gospel in the Corinthian context.

1 Corinthians 2:1–5

Paul reminds them from his first  visit  (Acts 18:1-17), when he planted this church,  on what resolutions  this church was founded! 

First, notice  what Paul did not do in establishing this church:

•          V.1  “ I … did not come proclaiming   to you   the  testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom …”

•          V.4   “my speech and my message  were not in plausible words of wisdom…”. Here he  basically repeats what he had already said in 1:17. 

What is the point that he is trying to make? Well, the Greeks   loved   wisdom …persuasive oratory. They delighted in debate and in speech contests. But Paul is eager to make the  point that the gospel is not  primarily  about human wisdom or pervasive speech.  So, his goal was not to become better trained  as a public speaker in order that he might get through to them and  to be ‘culturally more relevant’.  The gospel of God  is about something far greater! Do  think that Paul did not have reasoning capacities?  Of course   he did  (Phil. 3), but it was not this  capacity that he employed  and trusted  in, in order to plant or to maintain a church. 

Second, notice  his strategy  for establishing this  church!

•          V.3: "I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.”

•        V.4:  “… my speech  and my message  were… in demonstration of the Spirit and of power"

What is Paul trying to prove here?  From a  worldly  perspective  this resolution seems  to be a recipe for disaster.  A man  who is weak, uncertain  and trembling must after all  have low self- esteem!   In 2 Cor. 10:10 his opponents were saying this of him: "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is of no account."   Evidently Paul in his person did not have a very strong, appealing appearance. In fact there may have been something physically  wrong with Paul – something  which made him chronically weak. We have a hint of this  in  Galatians 4:13–14  where he tells us, "You know it was because of a bodily ailment [or weakness] that I preached the gospel to you at first; and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God."

Paul wants the Corinthian Christians  to see that  they were not born out of human strength or resolution  or  strategy. They were born out of human weakness, but this weakness (not only in Him, but in them also)   was  used by God  to bring about a wonderful change  in the lives of  these Corinthian Christians. We  can see this in  in 1:26-29:

“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

The  end effect of  this is  that we must ask  “well if this is not of Paul… then what is it?“. The answer is,  this is by  the power of God!  A man or woman becomes a Christian  not because they are persuaded by human speech or personalities. They are not converted because they are  clever enough to understand  the gospel.  People become Christians  when God’s power,  through the agency of the Holy Spirit  makes them alive  to see  Christ for who He really is!

And it goes further.  In this case Paul’s goal or resolution was  to restore a church that was hopelessly divided. What must a weak  preacher do  to  bring a  divided church  back  to  its  senses? Here is Paul’s  primary resolution:

V.2  “I decided (resolved)   to know nothing  among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

This doesn’t mean that all Paul  spoke about  was the Lord’s death on the cross. We know from his letters that he spoke  about many and practical  things pertaining to  living the Christian  life, even the things that I am encouraging you to think about today,  but  the fact remains  that  all this  was  subject to Paul’s primary  desire: His love for Christ and His  work on the cross! 

All he ultimately did  was  related  to  bringing  people  to the  Christ of the cross.  His tent making profession by which he kept himself  financially supplied was ultimately so that he  could bring people to look at the Lamb of God. His teaching and preaching  ultimately was  aimed to   bring  people to the word of the cross.  His relationships  were  conducted towards that end (1 Cor.10:24). Even his eating and drinking was to the glory of God (1 Cor.10:31)

The secret of  the power  of  Paul’s message  was not  found in Paul, but  in something  external to Paul. The secret  power of the  Christian  gospel  lies not in the messenger, but in the Lord of the message. That is why Paul calls himself  an apostle (a messenger)  of Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:1).  Paul’s life changing message of the cross  is found  in  the fact that he is   a messenger in the hand of the Holy Spirit, and therefore that message  through him  will be  a  powerful, inspired, God breathed authority that  comes   with life giving force to  its hearers. 

So,  even though Paul  was a well trained as a Pharisee, he did not allow  his own wisdom or the conventional  wisdom of the day  to get into the way.  All he  did was to  preach  Christ crucified,  and thus he became  a vessel  that  the Holy Spirit  would  use so very   powerfully in His day and even today. Many people today are still converted by the words  of Paul.

I have shared this message with you  on this first Sunday in 2016  to show you two things:

1.       That it is good to make  godly resolutions  when new beginnings arise.

2.      That we need   a solid foundation  for these  resolutions  i.e. Christ at the center and the heart of our lives and therefore of our convictions. If we merely use our human willpower,  then our resolutions usually do not get very far.

Now go back to the  10 resolutions, and  humbly, and  with the help of God and rooted in Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit  ask God to bless your year as you  abide in Him,  seeking to glorify Him in all that you do.

Amen! 

1 CORINTHIANS 13:4 - 7 “HOW TO REALLY LOVE ONE ANOTHER!“

Faith, hope and love. 
Paul says, “...the greatest of these is love”. 
A.W. Pink says that “Love is  the queen of all the Christian graces”[1].  
Whatever gifts we do not have - if we have love,  then  we have that which matters most.   The Bible says that if love  is not at the heart of all that we are and do, then we are  just  a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Cor. 13:1). That is a strong language, and  it  is good that  we should examine ourselves in this regard.

The apostle Paul  writes  this great ‘love chapter’   against the context of manifestations of  terrible immaturity in the church. This immaturity  manifests itself in terms   of  man centredness. The Corinthian Christians  were  looking for human heroes  and human wisdom (1:10ff; 3:1ff )  rather than  for the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:18-31). This mentality is the mother of  all conflict   in the church, and it arises  from  the age old problem of self –centredness  i.e. me-at-the-center.   It is  rooted  in  the  human fall, and has become  our human default thinking. Every single person  needs to be delivered from this.  

Our great example of  a self-less man  is the Lord Jesus Christ. (Phil 2:1-11)   

In terms of the  immediate context,  the apostle   Paul addresses  the   problem of the self -centered use of  spiritual  gifts  (1 Cor. 12). Spiritual gifts were never given by the Holy Spirit for  self - glorification, but always  for the mutual benefit of the church – “for the common good” (1 Cor.  12:7) and ultimately always to the glory of God.

Self- centredness issues from  pride. When pride  is  not  properly checked, it always leads to division in the church.  Division in turn leads to deadness for the Holy Spirit is grieved.  When a church is dead it is not because the spiritual gifts aren’t practiced. It is because  the  heart  of love is  not beating! 

How does one help such a self- centered church?  

Listen to Paul’s  masterful exposition  and solution to this problem  in this text. Keep in mind that Chapter 13  forms a  part of Paul’s exposition on  the  exercise  of the spiritual gifts. In fact,  this chapter is  right in the middle  of his discourse on spiritual gifts. He is about to make further comments on  the use  of  spiritual  gifts  in chapter  14, but he  stops his flow of thought  and introduces  the more excellent way. This excellent way  is in fact the solution  to  self- centered  thinking  and acting in the church.  

1 Corinthian 13 divides into three parts

(i)               The priority of love  (vv. 1-3)

(ii)             The properties of love (vv. 4-7)

(iii)           The permanence of love  (vv. 8-13)

1.       THE PRIORITY OF LOVE (vv. 1-3)

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,  but have not love, I gain nothing.

Paul  here directs our attention to the fact that  powerful speaking, prophetic  speaking, profound knowledge  and understanding  of mysteries,  a powerful faith  that would move mountains  and personal sacrifice  – all focused on self  and without  the  vital ingredient  called  “love”  - are absolutely  useless!  They  are nothing but an irritating noise in the ear of God.  None of these things are wrong in themselves,  but if love  for God and men  are not  at the heart of all  we do, then we are wasting our time  and efforts. We might as well not  do them.

The apostle Paul is about to  define the properties  of that  love for us in verses 4-7, but before  he speaks  we need to be reminded   that  this love must not be confused with  modern self - centered, feeling based  notions of love. We are  talking here about  a  godly  and  God-like love. The  Greek Word   for this love is “agape”. It is in essence  an ‘other centered’  love.  

The focus  of this love is not ‘self‘  or ‘me’  – but others. 

It begins with love  for  God, and it  continues with  love towards  our neighbour. It is summarized  by Christ  as obedience to  the greatest commandments  (Mk 12:30,31).

The source of  love  is rooted  in God’s  own  love. 

God’s  greatest and grandest attribute  is  His love.  GOD IS LOVE! (1 Jn. 4:8). This is who He is.  The most profound  demonstration of the Love of God  for us  is  the gift of His only Son – the Lord  Jesus (John 3:16) who died on the cross for our sin so that we might  enter heaven. This, according to Jonathan Edwards  is “a world  of love”. [2] 

Being in Christ  means being  grounded and rooted in love (Eph. 3:17). We are told in Romans  5:5 that  God’s  love is  poured  (a lavish  overflowing)  into our hearts  through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. This love not only flows to us, but from us. This is why the apostle John says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 Jn.  4:7).

So then,  the exercise of love, based  on the example  of God’s own love  to us becomes our priority and motive for  all that we do and say. 

Our own church mission statement (1990)  affirms  this priority. 

Eastside Baptist Church exists  to,

• love God (Worship); 
• love one another  (Fellowship); 
• love  a lost World  (Missions & Evangelism). 

 Central to our  church's  mission statement is that word “Love”.  

But what exactly does this love  look like?  Fortunately  we do not have to guess. Paul provides us with a working  definition of love.

2.        THE PROPERTIES OF LOVE  (vv.  4-7)

[4] Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5] or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is  so profound  that it cannot be described or explained in one simple  word.Paul  has to use  15  different verbs   to explain  what love  is or  what it is not.  

Seven  verbs teach us what love is, and  eight   teach us what love is not .

LOVE IS	LOVE IS NOT
Patient  (lit. long suffering)	Envious  (lit. jealous) at the root  of envy is  the spirit of covetousness which is forbidden in the 10th  commandment
Kind (Gr. chresteuomai  - good, gracious);  Christ – like	Boastful  (lit. to speak conceitedly; to brag).  If envy is  wanting what my neighbour has then  boasting  is to make others envious of what I have.
Rejoices with the truth: Christian love  is  actively engaged in doing that which is right in  God's eyes ;  it is actively  engaged   in    a deep commitment  to  God’s truth, as it is revealed in the Bible.	Arrogant  (lit. “puffed up , inflated” – NIV “proud”)
Bears all things: There are two aspects  attached to the Greek word "stego".   (i) the idea of "covering "  in the sense of concealing or excusing the   faults of others, instead of gladly disclosing them.  That would   support the translation of the NIV.    (ii) "to bear - to bear in  silence, all annoyances and troubles" (Charles Hodge), hence supporting the  ESV/KJV.	Rude (lit.”acting contrary to form”) -  acting without regard or consideration to others.
Believes all things: Charles Hodge says  that “love is not suspicious, but readily  credits what people may say in their  own defence…”. “Love always gives the benefit of the  doubt”  (Leon Morris). This  doesn't imply that we must blindly and naively swallow all that is  presented to us at face value.  Matthew Henry says it well: "Indeed Love does by no means destroy prudence (caution /discretion). Wisdom may dwell with love, and  love may be cautious."	Insist on its own way  (lit. not selfish). “Selfishness is a very small world inhabited by one man “
Hopes all things:  Christian  hope is not grounded in uncertainty,  but in Him who holds the future and  the destiny of  all people  in His hand. Christian love  hopes the best  with regard to  our Christian brothers and sisters.	Irritable –  the  Greek word  (paroxuno) has to do with sharpness – that  which we sense when our temper rises (NIV – not easily angered)
Endures all things -  NIV “always perseveres”  . The Greek  word  hupomoneō is   a military term -  to sustain  the assault of an enemy.	Resentful –KJV thinketh no evil; NIV keeps no record of wrongs
	Rejoice at wrongdoing : This statement  must be understood  in relation to  all that  is said before. Whenever biblical love sees envy, boasting, arrogance and rudeness, selfishness,  irritability or resentment,  it  cannot be  happy with that.

These 15 verbs indicate a  call to action. 

They are  all  written in the present continuous tense, indicating an ongoing action and a habitual practise,  ingrained  by  constant repetition.  

Dr Wayne Mack reminds us  of  the importance of  sound habits.  He writes,“Habits are learned ways of living. A habit is created when something is done repeatedly , until it becomes a pattern. Habits may be actions, attitudes or patterns of thinking that have become so ingrained, that they are second nature. Hebrews 5:14 for example speaks of people who have become mature, because they “ have  their powers of discernment trained  by constant practise to distinguish good from evil.”[3]   

1 Cor.  6:9–11 describes people whose lives have been characterised by adultery, immorality, homosexuality, thievery, greed, drunkenness and slander. Paul says to these Corinthians, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  

Those sinful lives had  been changed for better!  Through consistent practice, unbiblical habits can be unlearned and biblical habits can be learned. 

We  can learn to love in a biblical way. 

We can learn to be patient, to be kind. 

We can learn not to be envious. 

We can learn not to  be irritable of resentful. 

We can learn not  to rejoice at wrongdoing. 

We can learn  to rejoice with the truth. 

We can learn to bear all things, believe all things,  hope all things, endure all things…  

All these things can become living truths in our lives.  However it is important that we must plan to change in these areas. And not only plan – but put it into practice!  We learn in order to   respond  in God’s way and with God's help.  This is called  discipleship. 

This is a call and reminder  to put the emphasis, where the Scripture puts it.  We can have all the spiritual gifts in the world. That proves nothing about us. The proof  of  an authentic Christian church lies in the fact  that love (defined according to verses 4-7)  is found at the heart of all that we do. 

How are  you doing  in this  regard?

       

We need to examine ourselves in this regard - the priority of love. Much  blessing may yet be absent, because we fail to take seriously the priority of living in biblical  expressions  of agape  love. 

In John  13:35, Jesus  makes this weighty observation: "All men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another."

I submit then to you, that the Spirit of God is saying to our church, “if  you do not have love, you  have  nothing, and that if you do  have love, whatever else we may lacking presently we have what matters most.”

May the grace of our Lord Jesus  be with us all  to hear and obey. 

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[1] Tract by A.W. Pink : “True Christian Love”

[2] Jonathan Edwards : Charity and its Fruit, Banner of Truth, p. 323

[3]  John Mc Arthur / Wayne Mack : Biblical Counselling, p293 

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 "Thank God for the Church!"

Last week   we considered   Paul ‘s introduction  (1:1-3 ) to this  letter. Paul was the human founder of this church (Acts 18) – but  in verses 2 and 3 we  noted that  the  Greater  Founder is  the Tri-une  God.  The church at Corinth is  “the church of God “, sanctified … and called to be saints by the Holy Spirit (for  that is His work) , and it is the church that  is “ in Christ Jesus “. The grace and peace that this church enjoys is a work that  comes from the  Father and the Son (1:3).

The one fact  that most people  have at their fingertips  concerning the Corinthian church is that  she was in a mess -  a church full of problems, division and heresy.  And yet  she  was in this sense no different  from any modern church. The church  which is a fellowship of saints  (by virtue of the calling and justification of God  in Christ)  is also  a  fellowship of sinners. We do well to remember  this – even as we think of those churches that appear to have  great reputations.  Remember that they too have  feet of clay  . They too are constituted of imperfect   elders and members. Sadly, dissatisfied church members will often naively  assume  that another church in the area will somehow be better than the one they now attend . This restlessness causes the common habit of church hopping.

Today I wish to consider  verses  4- 9 with you  as we consider  Paul’s  profound  thankfulness for this  messy  church.  My  prayerful aim  for this sermon is that  we may see and learn the preciousness of the church   and so  learn to give thanks for her , and  see her  thus as Christ sees her.

We take note of  3 Aspects of Paul’s Thanksgiving for the Church

1. Give thanks to God  for the church : “ I give  thanks to my  God  always for you…” (1:4a)

2. Give thanks   for  God’s grace gifts  given to the church   (1 Cor. 1:4b-7)

3. Give thanks  for God’s sustaining  faithfulness   to the church (1: 8-9)

1. Give thanks  to God for the church

Lets face it. If the first 9 verses were cut out of this letter, it would be difficult for us  to  arrive at an optimistic view of the church!  But what do we see here  in the first place? The letter starts  with a high  doctrine of the church  and with thanksgiving  to God for the church! We need  to let this primary truth sink in. Paul looks at the Corinthian church as she is in Christ, before he looks at anything  else that is true of the church.   Please note that  his thankfulness  is not for anything that the Corinthians have achieved by their own efforts, but for what the grace of God  has achieved in them  (see particularly  1:26-31)  The grace of God  in these imperfect  people  is what  supremely produces  his thankful heart. And this is particularly instructive  when we consider  as to how we should view the church.   Most  of us  would want to  examine the warts  and  lament the woeful deficiencies  of the church. Most people  have no vision  of what God has already done in Christ in the church, because  they lack perspective.

But that aside,  you do not need to wait to see evidence  of God’s grace. You must learn to implicitly trust God with the church!  God  will to complete the work that He began in the church  (Phil 1:6),  unless of course  the church  has become an apostate  church  and has drifted from the gospel, and is therefore in danger of loosing its lampstand (Rev 2:5).  But if this has not happened we have no reason  to become pessimistic  about the church.  It is for lack of this vision  that  church members are perishing. We go either through  the motions  of being the church with no real  expectation  of significant growth into maturity, or otherwise we descend  into a hopeless works based, activity centered approach  to the ministry.   For many  of us, church is merely an event we attend  or an organization we belong to. We do not see it as a calling that shapes our entire life.  

The apostle Paul  looked at the church through Jesus’ eyes – and he gave thanks.

Don’t look  at the church with human eyes. Yes, the church  can be  so disfigured by your and my sin  but God is at work and  He  is pulling  us  out of the muck and the mire  by His justifying  and  sanctifying  grace. He  restores  His image in us   through  Jesus  our Lord –  our  Creator and Re-creator. So, pause  and  give thanks for the church, for she is God’s handiwork.

2.  Give thanks   for  God’s grace gifts  given to the church   (1 Cor. 1:4b-7)

The second  aspect  of Paul’s thankfulness to God  relates  to the fact not only  that God has  invested grace (charis) but that He has invested  “grace gifts“ (charismata ) in the church:   …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… So that you are not  lacking in any spiritual gift…”

Paul reminds the church that they have been enriched (in Christ ) by the addition  of spiritual gifts  -  especially  in speech and in  knowledge. We shall see later in 1 Cor 12-14, that this  spiritually gifted church  was abusing these gifts – primarily by the fact that they were not acting in submission to the body  and for the benefit of  the body ( the church). They  were  also allowing  certain showy gifts (e.g. tongues- which did not provide for clear instruction)  to take precedence over  those gifts that were more helpful by providing  immediate clarity (e.g. prophesying)  for the church.  We will deal with these things when we get to those chapters. But right now  Paul thanks God  that  He has given them  spiritual gifts – particularly those of   speech and knowledge.  It is absolutely essential to have these primary gifts  operating in the church.  Churches without clear  preaching, and churches without  accurate knowledge of biblical doctrine  are indeed poor churches. And the Corinthians have had the wonderful privilege  to have  heard the clear  word and pure doctrine  from the  mouth of the apostle Paul , as he  preached    to them  the testimony  about of Christ (1:6) ….” Not  in plausible words of  wisdom , but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that  their faith  might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (2:6)

It was this spoken testimony  that  gave  the church  knowledge  and  which opened their  eyes   to who Christ was. They were helped by the clarity and quality of Paul’s preaching. The  Holy Spirit used  Paul  to bring  conviction, illumination and faith  in discovering Christ.

Now despite the fact,  that  this church  shows  abuses  of the spiritual gifts, Paul’s God centered heart, his humble  heart is  grateful  that this church  has God’s gifts.  He will in due course address the problem – but  not before he has  laid  a clear foundation: Jesus Christ the Lord.

All this shows us  that  Paul lives from first principles.   And the   first principle here  is this: God is at work  in my imperfect brother or sister.  Therefore be thankful!

Let me help you to apply this in another practical way:

Many of you have broken relationships – even with other Christians. There are  things  that have created division. Such  things  happen  in this sinful world.  How should we respond  to such matters? Take a page  out of  Paul's great letter and make it your first principle to give thanks and praise to God  for His gracious work in  your  estranged brother or sister.  Paul could have begun with  severe criticism  for this malfunctioning  church , but he did not. He could have attacked  them immediately, but he did not.

His first step was sincere and heartfelt thanksgiving and praise.

I   confess  that I take criticism much better from  people who praise me and give thanks for me than I take it from those who only criticize me. I suppose  that I would  share this  aspect with most of you. This first principle thinking arises  from   how  God  has treated  us. I still remember  so many years  ago when  Romans 5:8 hit me  straight between the eyes : “ … but God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

God loved  me while I was a sinner!  The world doesn’t think like that.  But  God gave  me  His Son when  I did not deserve it.  He called  me   to be  His son   even though  I was  so unappreciative  of His Fatherhood.

God  could spend all His time pointing out  our  faults. But He does not.  

Surely we ought to be like that?

Surely  we Christians  who have been treated so graciously  by our God  should treat  others in the same way? 

Is there a better way to make the teaching about God our Savior attractive?

I ask God that I  might have  a double portion of that attitude.   I  ask God  that  the whole church might  have it. 

Imagine what  amazing  changes would  come into  our marriages, our families,  our friendships,  and into  our church/ our ministry and witness to others, if only we  always displayed  Gods' grace to us in the spirit of thanksgiving and praise.

No wonder  that  Paul exercised the influence  and power which he did. No wonder  that even the hard things he had to say  later,   had  positive  effects.

Paul not only taught us in his letters to be thankful in everything and to think on those things that are noble, true, right, pure and admirable, but he did that himself.  Imitate him in that and you will see how God will bless you for it and others through you.

3. Give thanks  for God’s sustaining  faithfulness   to the church (1: 8-9)

Not only is Paul thankful for the grace of God  poured out  in this church; Not only is he thankful for the  rich  gifts that are enjoyed in the ministry of this church,…but lastly,   he is  thankful  for the knowledge of God’s  sustaining  faithfulness  to the church.

Whatever ups and downs the church may face, Paul is sure that the God who has called them (and us) into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, will confirm / sustain  them (and us) to the end, guiltless (unimpeachable). The basis of this promise  is found in v.9 : “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Please note that God’s sustaining  faithfulness (for which Paul is so very thankful) does not only  relate to our  individual lifespan , but it reaches  even to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ  (v.8) –  the day of judgement  and  into eternity.  His people  will be guiltless on that day, when all the secrets of  men’s hearts will be revealed.

The practical implications of this glorious hope in terms of  our vision for the local church  should be clear.

It means that we should be unreservedly  positive and committed to the church of God  where He has placed us.

We should be  unhesitatingly  confident about  God’s desire and ability to  use the church’s  spiritual gifts  for the good of the church.  

We should be uncompromisingly  certain  of  God’s faithfulness  and sustaining power, for Jesus  has said , “ I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

COMMUNION

So, as we come to the Lord’s table now  let us acknowledge  with thanksgiving the Lord of the church for which we give thanks  to God.  Notice how Paul dwells lovingly in these first 9 verses  on the name of His Saviour. 9 times in these 9 verses he makes use of  His name. Christ  is absolutely central.

Follow me then to the table – to Christ  whose body was  broken and whose blood  was shed, so that we  can give thanks for what  we see today : the church, the body  of Jesus Christ in communion with her Head. Amen!

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[1] The word  grace ( charis) and  spiritual gifts ( charismata ) come from the same roots

[2] Gr . ploutizo   -  from ploutos ( wealth,  riches)  hence “ to make rich” – see also  2 Cor 6:10 ;  2 Cor 9:11

[3] Gr.  logos

[4] Gr. gnosis

[5] GR. bebaiosei  -  to confirm/ sustain / make secure   see also in v.6