1 00:00:05,118 --> 00:00:08,058 We're almost starting a series in James this morning. 2 00:00:09,068 --> 00:00:11,728 In fact, some of you might have come this morning expecting a series in James. 3 00:00:12,538 --> 00:00:13,488 And James is a great book. 4 00:00:13,648 --> 00:00:15,178 I, I have no qualms with James. 5 00:00:15,178 --> 00:00:16,007 I'm not like Luther. 6 00:00:16,007 --> 00:00:17,687 I don't think it's, uh, an epistle of straw. 7 00:00:17,698 --> 00:00:19,398 I don't think he's disagreeing with Paul, any of that. 8 00:00:19,627 --> 00:00:20,617 Uh, James is great. 9 00:00:20,948 --> 00:00:22,067 We'll get into James eventually. 10 00:00:23,237 --> 00:00:25,257 But I pushed back and I started to think, "Okay, what does our 11 00:00:25,257 --> 00:00:26,348 church really need, though? 12 00:00:27,247 --> 00:00:29,147 What do we really need at this moment?" 13 00:00:29,157 --> 00:00:33,698 Y- you may know, but, uh, August 6th, uh, that happened this last week, was 14 00:00:33,698 --> 00:00:35,558 our, our third anniversary as a church. 15 00:00:36,548 --> 00:00:40,408 So again, 9:00 didn't clap at all for that. 16 00:00:40,418 --> 00:00:41,767 You guys are, are the winners. 17 00:00:42,097 --> 00:00:42,677 Good job. 18 00:00:43,427 --> 00:00:45,388 Uh, yeah, it's 30 anniv- three years ago. 19 00:00:45,527 --> 00:00:47,238 Three years ago, August 6th, we opened our doors. 20 00:00:47,238 --> 00:00:48,197 We were down in Frisco. 21 00:00:49,257 --> 00:00:50,718 But we'd even been meeting before that. 22 00:00:50,718 --> 00:00:52,837 We were meeting at Frisco First Baptist Church, and we were in 23 00:00:52,837 --> 00:00:55,788 a, a portable, and there were sometimes 25 of us in that portable. 24 00:00:56,898 --> 00:00:59,527 But I started thinking, three years into this, what, what do we really need? 25 00:01:00,718 --> 00:01:03,037 And I think a lot of ways we're, we're doing well as a church. 26 00:01:03,737 --> 00:01:05,808 Like I said, we started in a portable with about 25 people. 27 00:01:05,808 --> 00:01:08,567 We're, we're running, you know, two services now, and God's continuing to 28 00:01:08,567 --> 00:01:11,308 grow us, and He's bringing more people here, and the Word is being preached, and 29 00:01:11,597 --> 00:01:15,077 we've got community groups launching, and we've got student ministry happening, an 30 00:01:15,078 --> 00:01:18,827 adventure club, and we've got all these good things happening, and baptisms. 31 00:01:19,917 --> 00:01:20,967 And this is all really good. 32 00:01:21,118 --> 00:01:27,066 There's nothing wrong with any of that But I started to wonder, okay, but are we as 33 00:01:27,126 --> 00:01:29,126 healthy as, as God really wants us to be? 34 00:01:29,726 --> 00:01:32,895 If we're not just gonna be here for three years, but for 30 years or for 300 years, 35 00:01:32,895 --> 00:01:37,246 if the Lord waits, then what does it look like for us to be a church that's ready 36 00:01:37,746 --> 00:01:39,166 for everything that God wants us to do? 37 00:01:40,526 --> 00:01:43,146 I started to wonder, are, are we the church that God wants us to be? 38 00:01:43,155 --> 00:01:44,866 Are we doing the thing God wants us to do? 39 00:01:44,886 --> 00:01:47,465 Are we not doing something that we should be doing? 40 00:01:48,765 --> 00:01:50,416 What should we look like as the church? 41 00:01:51,935 --> 00:01:55,765 It was those questions and that desire, a- along with some conversations with our, 42 00:01:55,765 --> 00:01:59,104 our other pastors, that led me to say, "Okay, what we really need right now is 43 00:01:59,104 --> 00:02:00,295 we really need the Book of 1 Corinthians." 44 00:02:02,185 --> 00:02:06,905 The Book of 1 Corinthians, this is at least the second of four letters that 45 00:02:06,906 --> 00:02:08,476 Paul wrote to the Corinthian church. 46 00:02:08,976 --> 00:02:11,915 Uh, we know that because in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, he references, "In the 47 00:02:11,915 --> 00:02:13,426 letter that I wrote to you previously." 48 00:02:14,185 --> 00:02:17,036 Now, we've got 2 Corinthians, and so if you're looking in your, your 49 00:02:17,036 --> 00:02:19,454 Bible for 3 and 4 Corinthians, and you don't see it, don't worry. 50 00:02:19,456 --> 00:02:20,556 You don't have to throw your Bible out. 51 00:02:21,005 --> 00:02:21,435 It's okay. 52 00:02:21,435 --> 00:02:24,386 We don't have those letters, and that just reminds us that God has 53 00:02:24,386 --> 00:02:27,445 preserved for us in the canon those books that he wants us to have. 54 00:02:28,204 --> 00:02:30,175 And so we don't have every letter that Paul wrote. 55 00:02:30,355 --> 00:02:31,996 We don't have every letter that Peter wrote. 56 00:02:32,035 --> 00:02:34,085 We don't have every letter that James wrote, for that matter. 57 00:02:34,086 --> 00:02:37,345 We have the letters that God wants us to have as they were preserved, 58 00:02:37,345 --> 00:02:40,345 as the church circulated them amongst themselves, as they began to be 59 00:02:40,675 --> 00:02:42,585 recognized as th- this is from Paul. 60 00:02:42,595 --> 00:02:45,846 This is authoritative, and so it got sent from the church in Corinth to the church 61 00:02:45,846 --> 00:02:49,435 in Colossae to the church in Ephesus to the church in Philippi a- and this began 62 00:02:49,435 --> 00:02:53,235 to be circulated around all the churches because there's information in here that 63 00:02:53,235 --> 00:02:54,805 God wanted all the churches to know. 64 00:02:55,735 --> 00:02:59,765 And so this is likely the second of four letters that Paul wrote 65 00:02:59,825 --> 00:03:00,935 to this church in Corinth. 66 00:03:01,476 --> 00:03:03,805 The church in Corinth was founded by the Apostle Paul, and we read 67 00:03:03,805 --> 00:03:05,305 about that in Acts chapter 18. 68 00:03:05,665 --> 00:03:10,176 On Paul's second missionary journey, he came to Corinth, which is located at the, 69 00:03:10,195 --> 00:03:14,585 the mouth of what's now modern-day, uh, southern Greece, a region called Achaia. 70 00:03:14,815 --> 00:03:19,365 Paul came there in Acts chapter 18, and he met two people, one Pris- Priscilla 71 00:03:19,406 --> 00:03:22,755 or Prisca sometimes, and another, Aquila, that were already there, and 72 00:03:22,755 --> 00:03:26,445 Paul joined forces with them, and from that union came the Corinthian church. 73 00:03:26,445 --> 00:03:29,505 We read about it in Acts 18 verse 7 and following. 74 00:03:29,505 --> 00:03:32,755 It says, "Paul left there and went to the house of a man named 75 00:03:32,825 --> 00:03:35,045 Titius Justus, a worshiper of God." 76 00:03:35,703 --> 00:03:37,284 His house was next door to the synagogue. 77 00:03:37,863 --> 00:03:40,814 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together 78 00:03:40,814 --> 00:03:44,503 with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians, hearing 79 00:03:44,503 --> 00:03:46,143 Paul, believed and were baptized. 80 00:03:46,503 --> 00:03:49,663 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, 81 00:03:49,663 --> 00:03:53,383 but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no 82 00:03:53,384 --> 00:03:54,893 one will attack you to harm you. 83 00:03:55,143 --> 00:03:59,903 For I have many in this city," that is, in the city of Corinth, "who are my people." 84 00:04:00,333 --> 00:04:02,813 And Paul stayed there a year and six months, teaching 85 00:04:02,813 --> 00:04:03,903 the Word of God among them. 86 00:04:04,483 --> 00:04:05,563 So that's the, the foundation. 87 00:04:05,563 --> 00:04:06,323 That's the genesis. 88 00:04:06,323 --> 00:04:10,803 That's where this church came from, is Paul, Priscilla, Aquila doing the 89 00:04:10,804 --> 00:04:12,383 work in the ministry there in Corinth. 90 00:04:12,413 --> 00:04:15,244 In fact, Silas and Timothy join Paul there a little bit later as well. 91 00:04:15,703 --> 00:04:18,613 But the reason for Corinth is because it was a, a strategic city. 92 00:04:18,832 --> 00:04:22,332 This is a, a map of that region, the Mediterranean region there, and 93 00:04:22,332 --> 00:04:25,193 right in the middle of that map in that red box is the city of Corinth. 94 00:04:25,683 --> 00:04:28,224 Now, you'll … Just to get your bearings, on the left side of the map 95 00:04:28,224 --> 00:04:31,784 is the Italian boot there, and, and Rome is up in the left corner of that map. 96 00:04:32,104 --> 00:04:36,113 Over on the right edge of the map there is the region that we know as Israel. 97 00:04:36,214 --> 00:04:38,823 And so that's the, the Mediterranean Sea there, so over on the bottom 98 00:04:38,823 --> 00:04:41,564 right there, you'll see Mount Hermon, and you'll see Beit She'an. 99 00:04:41,582 --> 00:04:42,374 That's Israel. 100 00:04:42,664 --> 00:04:45,203 And so Corinth is kinda right there in the middle of the map. 101 00:04:45,204 --> 00:04:46,153 It's located right there. 102 00:04:46,153 --> 00:04:47,563 It's in southern Greece. 103 00:04:47,653 --> 00:04:50,473 And when we get in even closer on this map, we're just zooming into Corinth 104 00:04:50,524 --> 00:04:54,423 now, it was so strategic because of what was going on geographically here. 105 00:04:54,893 --> 00:04:57,193 And so Corinth had access to these two harbors. 106 00:04:57,193 --> 00:04:59,164 You'll see one there on the right and one on the left. 107 00:04:59,594 --> 00:05:03,624 And so Corinth really helped control the sea trade in the Mediterranean region 108 00:05:03,624 --> 00:05:05,193 there, especially for southern Greece. 109 00:05:05,613 --> 00:05:06,994 But it wasn't just the sea trade. 110 00:05:06,994 --> 00:05:10,204 You'll notice that Corinth is right there at the mouth of that isthmus, 111 00:05:10,204 --> 00:05:12,813 and that opens up into southern Greece. 112 00:05:12,984 --> 00:05:15,793 So Corinth not only controlled the sea trade, but it also controlled 113 00:05:16,014 --> 00:05:18,774 the land trade for all of southern Greece, the region of Achaia. 114 00:05:19,332 --> 00:05:22,854 And so all of that led Rome to say, "This is a significant city." 115 00:05:23,213 --> 00:05:24,793 Rome had conquered Corinth ba- back in, in 144 BC, or 146 116 00:05:27,103 --> 00:05:31,384 BC rather, and, and rebuilt it in 44 BC as a Roman colony. 117 00:05:31,643 --> 00:05:34,683 And one of the reasons they rebuilt it is because of its strategic position. 118 00:05:35,014 --> 00:05:38,563 They said, "Hey, we need to have something here that's gonna be a, a capital city 119 00:05:38,563 --> 00:05:40,433 of this region," and that became Corinth. 120 00:05:41,553 --> 00:05:43,343 And so Corinth was a, a strategic city. 121 00:05:43,343 --> 00:05:47,023 Its population that, that was there around Paul's time was probably around 122 00:05:47,082 --> 00:05:49,084 80 to 100,000 people, give or take. 123 00:05:49,664 --> 00:05:53,603 And so Paul was, was ministering in and amongst these other, uh, 124 00:05:53,634 --> 00:05:56,114 Christians that were there, Priscilla, Aquila, and some other people, 125 00:05:56,873 --> 00:05:58,332 but they had a, an uphill battle. 126 00:05:58,863 --> 00:06:02,194 And the reason they had an uphill battle was because this area was also 127 00:06:02,194 --> 00:06:04,564 littered with a, a lot of pagan temples. 128 00:06:05,063 --> 00:06:09,673 And so the city of Corinth, they found, uh, the, the, uh, archeological 129 00:06:09,673 --> 00:06:14,333 ruins of temples devoted to Aphrodite and to Apollo and to Poseidon and 130 00:06:14,333 --> 00:06:18,233 to Hermes and to Heracles and to Athena, among many other gods. 131 00:06:18,563 --> 00:06:20,323 Beyond that, there was also the worship of the emperor. 132 00:06:20,323 --> 00:06:24,093 The imperial cult had a strong hold and a strong grip there in Corinth. 133 00:06:26,072 --> 00:06:29,282 Outside of the idolatry, the other thing that was going on in, in 134 00:06:29,282 --> 00:06:32,342 Corinth was that the city was known for its rank sexual immorality. 135 00:06:33,132 --> 00:06:37,192 In fact, the ancient Greek comic, uh, Aristophanes once coined a 136 00:06:37,192 --> 00:06:39,232 term, that is, to Corinthianize. 137 00:06:39,832 --> 00:06:42,292 To Corinthianize was to commit sexual immorality. 138 00:06:43,521 --> 00:06:47,402 This is the, the city, this is the region, this is the place where 139 00:06:47,402 --> 00:06:49,381 the Corinthian church was founded. 140 00:06:49,392 --> 00:06:53,451 A- a- and this is the place into which Paul was going to write, and, and 141 00:06:53,451 --> 00:06:57,482 some of the things contextually that prompted this letter, uh, were that 142 00:06:57,482 --> 00:07:01,362 he had already written to them once about some of that sexual immorality. 143 00:07:01,902 --> 00:07:04,832 See, some of the sexual immorality was beginning to, to creep its way 144 00:07:04,832 --> 00:07:07,232 into the church, and we're gonna see that, that they still had some 145 00:07:07,232 --> 00:07:08,912 lingering when we get to chapter 5. 146 00:07:09,841 --> 00:07:12,431 And Paul was writing to them a- a- against that, saying, "Hey, this is, 147 00:07:12,472 --> 00:07:14,821 this is who you should be in Christ. 148 00:07:15,071 --> 00:07:16,341 You shouldn't be doing these things." 149 00:07:16,621 --> 00:07:18,011 So he's writing for that reason. 150 00:07:18,691 --> 00:07:21,261 But he's also writing because, as we find out in verse 10 of chapter 151 00:07:21,261 --> 00:07:25,471 1, that somebody there named Chloe and her people, it says, reported 152 00:07:25,472 --> 00:07:28,411 to Paul saying, "Hey, Paul, the, the church is beginning to split. 153 00:07:29,031 --> 00:07:33,101 Some people over here saying that, that they love Paul, and others over, over here 154 00:07:33,102 --> 00:07:36,442 saying they love Apollos, and some people are saying, 'Well, we love Cephas.'" 155 00:07:37,102 --> 00:07:39,791 And so she's writing, and her people are writing, saying, "Hey, Paul, we need 156 00:07:39,791 --> 00:07:44,061 you to, to correct this divisiveness that's taking place here in the church." 157 00:07:45,261 --> 00:07:47,572 Outside of that, the, the church had written and asked Paul 158 00:07:47,572 --> 00:07:48,681 to weigh in on some things. 159 00:07:49,481 --> 00:07:51,712 Chapter 7, Paul's gonna say, "Hey, regarding the matters 160 00:07:51,712 --> 00:07:52,682 with which you wrote to me." 161 00:07:53,632 --> 00:07:56,081 So there are a lot of people that believe that chapter 7 all the way 162 00:07:56,081 --> 00:07:59,541 through chapter 14, if not chapter 15, are Paul answering the questions 163 00:07:59,541 --> 00:08:00,791 of these Corinthian believers. 164 00:08:01,581 --> 00:08:04,422 So in chapter 7, they're saying, "Hey, r- regarding marriage and 165 00:08:04,422 --> 00:08:07,291 divorce and singleness, how should we think about these things now 166 00:08:07,291 --> 00:08:08,521 that we're following Jesus?" 167 00:08:09,191 --> 00:08:12,261 Uh, chapter eight, "Hey, Paul, all of these idolatrous temples are here. 168 00:08:12,371 --> 00:08:13,261 What do we do? 169 00:08:13,261 --> 00:08:16,231 W- we go to the market to buy our groceries, and the food, the meat that's 170 00:08:16,231 --> 00:08:17,632 there was first sacrificed to idols. 171 00:08:17,632 --> 00:08:18,851 Paul, can you give us some wisdom? 172 00:08:18,852 --> 00:08:19,731 What should we do with that? 173 00:08:20,191 --> 00:08:21,821 Some of us are okay with it, others aren't." 174 00:08:23,141 --> 00:08:27,491 Chapter 10, "Hey, hey, Paul, uh, uh, the, the Lord's Supper, I know we're 175 00:08:27,492 --> 00:08:30,691 supposed to do it, but it's, it's really begun to become a source of division 176 00:08:30,691 --> 00:08:33,221 in the church because some people are showing up and they're eating a lot, 177 00:08:33,221 --> 00:08:36,341 and then others with less are showing up and there's not much for them left over. 178 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:37,792 Can you weigh in on that for us?" 179 00:08:39,551 --> 00:08:43,280 Chapter 11, chapter 12, get into spiritual gifts in chapter 12, "Hey, 180 00:08:43,282 --> 00:08:46,022 Paul, ca- can you help us understand these things called spiritual 181 00:08:46,032 --> 00:08:47,701 gifts, how we should utilize them? 182 00:08:47,901 --> 00:08:49,022 What's the proper way? 183 00:08:49,151 --> 00:08:50,561 What gifts should we be practicing? 184 00:08:50,562 --> 00:08:53,001 What, what should we be pursuing and, and how should we do this?" 185 00:08:54,222 --> 00:08:56,752 "Hey, Paul, can, can you help us understand loving each other?" 186 00:08:57,651 --> 00:09:00,441 Chapter 13, "Can, can you help us understand what it looks like? 187 00:09:00,441 --> 00:09:01,522 What is biblical love? 188 00:09:01,532 --> 00:09:03,831 Because we've got this Temple to Aphrodite here that's talking about 189 00:09:03,831 --> 00:09:06,561 a love that we know we shouldn't have, that we shouldn't be pursuing. 190 00:09:06,782 --> 00:09:08,301 What does biblical love look like, Paul?" 191 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,310 Chapter 15, "Hey Paul, can you give us some insight into the bodily resurrection? 192 00:09:13,939 --> 00:09:16,790 Because when we talk about that with some of the other people in Corinth here, they 193 00:09:16,790 --> 00:09:19,530 look at us like we're crazy to think that there's gonna be a bodily resurrection. 194 00:09:19,890 --> 00:09:20,720 Are we crazy, Paul?" 195 00:09:21,850 --> 00:09:23,449 And so this is a lot of why Paul wrote. 196 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:25,789 This is a lot of why Paul wrote. 197 00:09:25,819 --> 00:09:27,589 But why 1 Corinthians for us then? 198 00:09:28,100 --> 00:09:29,529 I mentioned we're three years in. 199 00:09:29,540 --> 00:09:31,850 We wanna make sure that we're a healthy church, that we're ready to be what 200 00:09:31,889 --> 00:09:37,466 God wants us to be And it's kind of ironic that in r- studying a letter 201 00:09:37,466 --> 00:09:41,186 written to one of the, the most, I don't know, out of line churches in 202 00:09:41,186 --> 00:09:44,106 the, the New Testament, y- you've got 1 Corinthians is a pretty strong letter. 203 00:09:44,106 --> 00:09:45,536 Galatians is a pretty strong letter, too. 204 00:09:45,536 --> 00:09:48,965 But, but this is not a church that we would grade highly as far as how 205 00:09:48,966 --> 00:09:50,475 they're doing in, in pursuing the Lord. 206 00:09:50,475 --> 00:09:52,576 A- and so it's a little bit ironic that we're gonna look to 207 00:09:52,586 --> 00:09:54,995 this letter to say, "This is what a healthy church looks like." 208 00:09:56,135 --> 00:09:58,026 But really, I think it, it does make sense, doesn't it? 209 00:09:58,805 --> 00:10:01,735 Because Paul's writing to say, "Hey, this is where you're at. 210 00:10:01,795 --> 00:10:02,735 This is where you should be." 211 00:10:03,856 --> 00:10:07,015 And so thankfully, I'm here to tell you I don't think we're where the Corinthians 212 00:10:07,036 --> 00:10:10,906 were at, but I also wanna make sure that we're, we're where we should be. 213 00:10:11,986 --> 00:10:14,315 And so as we study this book together, we're gonna find out 214 00:10:14,315 --> 00:10:15,536 about the power of the gospel. 215 00:10:16,036 --> 00:10:20,006 We're gonna be called to unite together, to not be divisive, to not 216 00:10:20,006 --> 00:10:21,816 be split up into different factions. 217 00:10:22,106 --> 00:10:24,255 We're gonna find out about purity and why purity is so 218 00:10:24,255 --> 00:10:25,946 important to the bride of Christ. 219 00:10:26,565 --> 00:10:29,036 We're gonna find out about marriage and divorce and singleness in the 220 00:10:29,036 --> 00:10:30,065 church and what that looks like. 221 00:10:30,795 --> 00:10:34,825 We're gonna talk about freedom in Christ and Christian liberties, and 222 00:10:34,825 --> 00:10:37,736 how do I make sure that I love my brother or my sister in Christ, the 223 00:10:37,736 --> 00:10:38,865 weaker brother, the stronger brother? 224 00:10:38,866 --> 00:10:40,275 How do I navigate all of those things? 225 00:10:41,425 --> 00:10:45,075 We're gonna talk about getting into the, the, the Lord's Supper and what's 226 00:10:45,076 --> 00:10:47,815 the purpose of it and why do we do it, and how should we approach it? 227 00:10:48,686 --> 00:10:50,025 We're gonna talk spiritual gifts. 228 00:10:51,045 --> 00:10:52,105 What's still operative? 229 00:10:52,106 --> 00:10:53,076 What's the purpose of them? 230 00:10:53,076 --> 00:10:54,026 How do we pursue them? 231 00:10:54,026 --> 00:10:55,575 What should we be looking for in this? 232 00:10:56,595 --> 00:11:00,305 We're gonna talk about the, the idea of the, the bodily resurrection of Christ 233 00:11:00,305 --> 00:11:03,545 and why that's our hope as Christians, as followers of Jesus, and, and why 234 00:11:03,545 --> 00:11:07,315 that's the, the thing that we're here to gather to, to celebrate e- every single 235 00:11:07,315 --> 00:11:08,606 Sunday morning that we show up together. 236 00:11:09,815 --> 00:11:11,416 And so this book is gonna be formative for us. 237 00:11:12,326 --> 00:11:15,536 It's gonna be super practical in some areas, and it's gonna be 238 00:11:15,536 --> 00:11:18,745 doctrinal other areas, but at the end of it, it's really gonna help 239 00:11:18,745 --> 00:11:22,585 us make sure that we are a, the, the church that truly belongs to Christ. 240 00:11:22,635 --> 00:11:27,045 We are the, the bride of Christ, that we are Christ's church, and 1 Corinthians 241 00:11:27,055 --> 00:11:28,305 is gonna be instrumental for us in that. 242 00:11:29,185 --> 00:11:31,395 So this morning, I just want us to look at the first three verses together. 243 00:11:32,085 --> 00:11:33,625 The first three verses are gonna be up on the screen. 244 00:11:33,625 --> 00:11:34,276 Let me read them for us. 245 00:11:34,276 --> 00:11:38,826 It says this: Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, 246 00:11:38,835 --> 00:11:43,696 and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those 247 00:11:43,696 --> 00:11:47,105 sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who 248 00:11:47,106 --> 00:11:51,685 in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and 249 00:11:51,705 --> 00:11:56,265 ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 250 00:11:57,035 --> 00:12:00,676 In these first three verses, Paul greets the church, and he defines the church. 251 00:12:00,686 --> 00:12:06,085 In fact, this is the, the most robust definition of the church that we find in 252 00:12:06,125 --> 00:12:08,055 any of the openings of Paul's letters. 253 00:12:08,505 --> 00:12:10,956 A lot of times, Paul will greet the church and say, "To the church in," 254 00:12:10,975 --> 00:12:13,605 "To the church of Jesus Christ," or, "To the saints in Christ," or to… 255 00:12:13,615 --> 00:12:14,125 those things. 256 00:12:14,546 --> 00:12:17,085 But what he does, especially in verse two, which is gonna be the meat of 257 00:12:17,085 --> 00:12:20,835 our time together this morning, is he expands upon what he means by the 258 00:12:20,835 --> 00:12:24,516 church and really gives us a firm understanding of what the church is. 259 00:12:25,495 --> 00:12:27,435 And so that's why this morning, that's what we're here to do. 260 00:12:28,024 --> 00:12:30,704 We're here to ask and answer the question, what is it? 261 00:12:30,974 --> 00:12:31,664 What is the church? 262 00:12:31,814 --> 00:12:33,764 If we're gonna be a healthy church, we first need to stop 263 00:12:33,764 --> 00:12:34,914 and say, "What is the church?" 264 00:12:35,844 --> 00:12:37,104 And this is not gonna be exhaustive. 265 00:12:37,113 --> 00:12:40,213 There's a lot of other things we could say about what the church is, but this 266 00:12:40,214 --> 00:12:43,324 is gonna be transformative for us to, to really get down to the nuts and 267 00:12:43,324 --> 00:12:45,883 bolts and say, "Okay, if nothing else, we need to make sure that we have an 268 00:12:45,883 --> 00:12:48,264 understanding of these three things that Paul's gonna lay out for us in 269 00:12:48,264 --> 00:12:50,303 verse two about what the church is." 270 00:12:51,623 --> 00:12:54,573 But first, his greeting, and it's related here. 271 00:12:55,434 --> 00:12:56,053 His greeting. 272 00:12:56,434 --> 00:13:00,713 He says in verse one, "Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of 273 00:13:00,723 --> 00:13:03,734 Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes 274 00:13:06,190 --> 00:13:07,650 Paul introduces himself as an apostle. 275 00:13:07,650 --> 00:13:10,630 He does this as well in 2 Corinthians, in Romans. 276 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,140 He does it in Galatians, in Ephesians, in 1 and 2 Timothy. 277 00:13:13,140 --> 00:13:14,180 He does it in Titus. 278 00:13:14,470 --> 00:13:15,670 He, he does it in Colossians. 279 00:13:16,590 --> 00:13:17,530 But he doesn't always do it. 280 00:13:18,150 --> 00:13:20,520 Other times, he writes saying, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ." 281 00:13:22,542 --> 00:13:25,592 But this time what he's doing is, is he's appealing to his a- his apostleship 282 00:13:25,632 --> 00:13:27,392 because his apostleship carried authority. 283 00:13:28,852 --> 00:13:32,642 A- an apostle was, big A, an apostle was an eyewitness to the 284 00:13:32,642 --> 00:13:36,552 resurrected Jesus Christ, and commissioned by Christ to do his work. 285 00:13:36,761 --> 00:13:41,311 That's why today, y'all, there are no more official big A apostles. 286 00:13:41,942 --> 00:13:42,252 Okay? 287 00:13:42,532 --> 00:13:44,842 The word apostle comes from a Greek word that means sent one. 288 00:13:45,581 --> 00:13:49,141 And so in a sense, we could all say that we are lowercase A apostles. 289 00:13:49,141 --> 00:13:51,411 We have been sent with the gospel message to reach the lost. 290 00:13:52,011 --> 00:13:55,661 But we don't say that we are apostles with the authority that Paul is 291 00:13:55,661 --> 00:13:56,842 saying he is an apostle here. 292 00:13:57,632 --> 00:13:59,671 Now, Paul was not one of the original disciples, one of the 293 00:13:59,672 --> 00:14:00,991 original followers of Jesus. 294 00:14:01,411 --> 00:14:04,561 In fact, Paul was a persecutor of the church until Acts chapter 9, 295 00:14:04,652 --> 00:14:07,781 he's knocked off his donkey and Jesus shows up to him and says, 296 00:14:07,781 --> 00:14:09,711 "Paul, why are you persecuting me?" 297 00:14:09,792 --> 00:14:11,032 Paul says, "Who are you, Lord?" 298 00:14:11,152 --> 00:14:13,902 And Jesus says, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." 299 00:14:14,402 --> 00:14:17,951 And so this is the moment that Paul becomes the apostle because he has an 300 00:14:17,952 --> 00:14:21,991 encounter with the resurrected Jesus, and then is commissioned by Jesus with 301 00:14:21,991 --> 00:14:25,401 the authority as an apostle to do the work that Christ has for him to do. 302 00:14:26,222 --> 00:14:29,571 And so that's why Paul begins this letter saying, Paul, a- 303 00:14:29,612 --> 00:14:31,322 an apostle of Christ Jesus. 304 00:14:31,451 --> 00:14:34,162 He is an apostle by the call of God, through the will 305 00:14:34,162 --> 00:14:35,402 of God, for the Son of God. 306 00:14:35,402 --> 00:14:36,121 That's what he says here. 307 00:14:37,222 --> 00:14:40,801 I'm an apostle by the call of God, through the will of God, for the Son of God. 308 00:14:41,112 --> 00:14:46,472 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. 309 00:14:46,771 --> 00:14:49,601 Why is this authoritative introduction necessary? 310 00:14:50,601 --> 00:14:54,251 Well, because Paul's gonna write with a lot of correctives for this church, 311 00:14:54,821 --> 00:14:57,691 a lot of saying, "Hey, here's where you're at, here's where you need to be." 312 00:14:58,001 --> 00:15:01,611 And so he's laying the groundwork for why they should hear him out on this, 313 00:15:01,621 --> 00:15:03,361 why they should heed what he has to say. 314 00:15:03,972 --> 00:15:06,281 But the other reason is, is because Paul has to make a little 315 00:15:06,281 --> 00:15:07,491 bit of a defense for himself. 316 00:15:08,091 --> 00:15:10,271 We're gonna find out in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 that some of the people 317 00:15:10,271 --> 00:15:14,221 there were judging Paul as inferior, as not worthy of, of being the 318 00:15:14,222 --> 00:15:17,111 one to have the authority to, to guide them and, and lead them. 319 00:15:17,841 --> 00:15:20,351 In fact, even in chapter 9, he has to defend himself so much he, he 320 00:15:20,351 --> 00:15:22,141 says this in 1 Corinthians 9:1. 321 00:15:22,141 --> 00:15:23,131 He says, "Am I not free? 322 00:15:23,641 --> 00:15:24,882 Am I not an apostle? 323 00:15:25,391 --> 00:15:27,721 Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? 324 00:15:28,091 --> 00:15:30,222 Are you not my workmanship in the Lord? 325 00:15:30,721 --> 00:15:34,881 If to others I'm not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the 326 00:15:34,881 --> 00:15:36,731 seal of my apostleship in the Lord." 327 00:15:37,421 --> 00:15:39,131 In other words, he's appealing to this Corinthian church, to 328 00:15:39,131 --> 00:15:42,891 the Corinthian believers there, saying, "I, I, I helped found you. 329 00:15:42,952 --> 00:15:44,381 I planted you. 330 00:15:45,042 --> 00:15:47,932 Like if to anyone I'm an apostle, I'm an apostle to you 331 00:15:49,051 --> 00:15:50,011 because of my history with you." 332 00:15:51,012 --> 00:15:54,971 And so Paul begins with this authority to, to greet the church here, to 333 00:15:54,971 --> 00:15:58,581 say, "I, I, I'm an a- an apostle," again, "by the call of God, through 334 00:15:58,581 --> 00:15:59,641 the will of God, for the Son of God." 335 00:16:00,911 --> 00:16:03,721 And then he also says, "And, and by the way, there's this guy Sosthenes with me." 336 00:16:04,941 --> 00:16:09,011 We're not entire- entirely sure who Sosthenes is, but it's, it's possible, 337 00:16:09,012 --> 00:16:14,096 if not likely, that we do read about him back in Acts chapter 18 'Cause after the 338 00:16:14,096 --> 00:16:17,606 crowds stirred everybody up and, and, and were looking for Gallio, the, the Roman 339 00:16:17,606 --> 00:16:22,986 official there, to do something to, to get rid of Paul because he was causing 340 00:16:22,986 --> 00:16:26,646 people to turn away from the idols and everything, uh, the, the Roman guy there, 341 00:16:26,655 --> 00:16:27,986 Gallio, said, "No, I'm not gonna do this. 342 00:16:27,995 --> 00:16:29,435 I'm not gonna get involved in all of this." 343 00:16:30,515 --> 00:16:31,735 And then what did they do? 344 00:16:31,736 --> 00:16:34,485 They turned and they grabbed a guy who's connected to the synagogue there, whose 345 00:16:34,486 --> 00:16:38,726 name was Sosthenes, and they brought him out in front of Gallio, and they beat him 346 00:16:38,726 --> 00:16:41,195 there in front of Gallio, thinking that that would cause Gallio to do something. 347 00:16:41,195 --> 00:16:41,675 Well, it didn't. 348 00:16:43,045 --> 00:16:47,836 But it's likely possible Paul's writing to the Corinthian church there from Acts 349 00:16:47,836 --> 00:16:50,145 18, and he references now Sosthenes. 350 00:16:50,756 --> 00:16:53,365 Wouldn't that be cool of God to take the guy that all of a sudden was drug 351 00:16:53,365 --> 00:16:56,515 in there and beaten there and, and say, "Hey, now I'm gonna, I'm gonna save you, 352 00:16:56,995 --> 00:16:58,205 and you're gonna do ministry with Paul"? 353 00:16:58,955 --> 00:16:59,355 Maybe. 354 00:16:59,455 --> 00:17:02,616 Aside from that, we don't really know who this guy is, but the Corinthian church 355 00:17:02,616 --> 00:17:04,375 did, and that's why Paul used him there. 356 00:17:05,765 --> 00:17:08,464 Paul's establishing this, and he's establishing his authority, but he's qui- 357 00:17:08,515 --> 00:17:12,365 quickly gonna get off of his authority now to then get to God's authority. 358 00:17:13,105 --> 00:17:13,984 Pick up in verse two. 359 00:17:14,244 --> 00:17:17,545 He says, "To the Church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified 360 00:17:17,556 --> 00:17:21,165 in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every 361 00:17:21,165 --> 00:17:26,906 place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours." 362 00:17:27,896 --> 00:17:30,926 Paul's definition of the Church here is really not Paul's definition 363 00:17:30,926 --> 00:17:33,746 of the Church, but rather it's God's definition of the Church. 364 00:17:34,095 --> 00:17:37,686 Our big idea this morning is this: God is the one who gets to define this 365 00:17:37,695 --> 00:17:39,666 place, what this is, what we're doing. 366 00:17:40,296 --> 00:17:44,446 God gets to define the Church, and that's what he does for us here through the pen 367 00:17:44,446 --> 00:17:47,875 of Paul in verse two of 1 Corinthians. 368 00:17:47,875 --> 00:17:50,145 And so as we get into verse two of 1 Corinthians, we begin with 369 00:17:50,146 --> 00:17:53,025 this opening phrase, "To the Church of God that is in Corinth. 370 00:17:53,975 --> 00:17:55,356 To the Church of God that is in Corinth." 371 00:17:55,385 --> 00:17:56,836 Let's just stop there for just a second. 372 00:17:57,335 --> 00:17:58,246 The Church of God. 373 00:17:58,265 --> 00:17:59,825 Prepositions matter. 374 00:18:01,216 --> 00:18:05,265 In 1 Thessalonians 1:1, uh, we read this, "Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to 375 00:18:05,265 --> 00:18:08,125 the church of the Thessalonians in God." 376 00:18:09,076 --> 00:18:09,396 Okay? 377 00:18:09,756 --> 00:18:11,415 The church of the Thessalonians in God. 378 00:18:11,826 --> 00:18:15,485 Similar in F- Philippians 1:1, we read this, "Paul and Timothy, servants of 379 00:18:15,485 --> 00:18:19,305 Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi." 380 00:18:20,195 --> 00:18:24,825 But to the church in Corinth, he writes, "To the Church of God at Corinth." 381 00:18:26,286 --> 00:18:28,536 Uh, the reason this matters is because that preposition 382 00:18:28,536 --> 00:18:29,396 is communicating something. 383 00:18:30,036 --> 00:18:33,026 It's small, but it comes from the, the original language there in the Greek. 384 00:18:33,306 --> 00:18:38,236 It's in a, a case that suggests that this is a possessive word, the 385 00:18:38,236 --> 00:18:41,896 Church of God, meaning this is God's church, is what Paul is saying here. 386 00:18:42,456 --> 00:18:45,856 So as Paul opens up with this authoritative statement about his identity 387 00:18:45,856 --> 00:18:50,226 as an apostle, he transitions to the true authority, which is the authority of God 388 00:18:50,226 --> 00:18:52,756 over the church, to the Church of God. 389 00:18:52,756 --> 00:18:56,585 In other words, that, that this is not Paul's church, that this is not the, 390 00:18:56,606 --> 00:19:01,535 the church of, of anyone else, but this is God's church, and it belongs to him. 391 00:19:02,626 --> 00:19:05,295 Point number one this morning, if you're taking notes, is this: 392 00:19:05,585 --> 00:19:08,035 recognize the Church belongs to God. 393 00:19:08,876 --> 00:19:12,105 Recognize this reality, that the, that the Church belongs to God, and it does. 394 00:19:12,106 --> 00:19:15,396 It, it comes from this first preposition that we find here, to 395 00:19:15,396 --> 00:19:17,695 the Church of God, that it's his. 396 00:19:19,126 --> 00:19:23,036 The church as an institution belongs to the one who instituted it. 397 00:19:24,565 --> 00:19:26,845 Paul's gonna build on this in 1 Corinthians 3:9. 398 00:19:26,856 --> 00:19:29,385 He's writing, remember, to a group of people that were beginning to 399 00:19:29,385 --> 00:19:31,245 say, "Well, I, I'm of Apollos. 400 00:19:31,256 --> 00:19:31,965 I'm of Paul. 401 00:19:31,985 --> 00:19:32,706 I'm of Cephas." 402 00:19:33,415 --> 00:19:36,256 In other words, they're, they're saying, "I love Cephas' church. 403 00:19:36,335 --> 00:19:37,446 I love Paul's church. 404 00:19:37,565 --> 00:19:39,245 I love Apollos' church." 405 00:19:39,815 --> 00:19:41,595 Not exactly, but that's the idea there. 406 00:19:41,966 --> 00:19:44,346 And so this is one of the reasons why Paul begins by saying, "Hey, 407 00:19:44,436 --> 00:19:45,615 first, let's get things straight. 408 00:19:45,705 --> 00:19:47,315 This is the church not of Paul. 409 00:19:47,705 --> 00:19:49,115 This is not the church of Apollos. 410 00:19:49,545 --> 00:19:50,625 This is not the church of Cephas. 411 00:19:51,335 --> 00:19:52,295 This is the Church of God. 412 00:19:52,756 --> 00:19:54,206 This is the church that belongs to him." 413 00:19:54,536 --> 00:19:57,495 And so in 1 Corinthians 3:9, he's gonna say similarly, "For 414 00:19:57,495 --> 00:19:59,316 we are God's fellow workers. 415 00:19:59,475 --> 00:20:01,655 You are God's field. 416 00:20:01,775 --> 00:20:03,805 You are God's building." 417 00:20:04,615 --> 00:20:05,426 You belong to him. 418 00:20:06,705 --> 00:20:07,805 He is the one. 419 00:20:07,865 --> 00:20:09,485 He is the Lord over the church. 420 00:20:09,665 --> 00:20:13,765 In Acts 20:28, we read here, it says, "Pay careful attention," Paul 421 00:20:13,765 --> 00:20:16,685 is speaking to the Ephesian elders there that care for the church there. 422 00:20:17,036 --> 00:20:20,935 "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy 423 00:20:20,935 --> 00:20:26,115 Spirit has made you overseers to care for the Church of God," there's our phrase 424 00:20:26,115 --> 00:20:31,286 there, "to care for God's church, which he, God, obtained with his own blood." 425 00:20:32,885 --> 00:20:37,175 And so God bought this place, this church, and every church through the blood of 426 00:20:37,175 --> 00:20:39,116 Jesus Christ, so it belongs to him. 427 00:20:39,745 --> 00:20:40,895 It belongs to him. 428 00:20:40,905 --> 00:20:42,025 It doesn't belong to a pastor. 429 00:20:42,036 --> 00:20:43,225 It doesn't belong to a congregation. 430 00:20:43,235 --> 00:20:44,516 It doesn't belong to a denomination. 431 00:20:45,405 --> 00:20:48,255 The Church belongs to God in its purest form 432 00:20:50,286 --> 00:20:53,406 That means, y'all, that even though I may have the title lead pastor, 433 00:20:53,406 --> 00:20:56,866 senior pastor, whatever you wanna call me, uh, that doesn't mean that 434 00:20:56,866 --> 00:20:59,006 I get to decide what the church is. 435 00:21:00,826 --> 00:21:03,496 In other words, I can't stand up here next week and tell you, "You know what? 436 00:21:03,516 --> 00:21:07,095 I was thinking about it this week, and, uh, because I'm the lead pastor of the 437 00:21:07,095 --> 00:21:09,886 church, I'm, I'm gonna decide that we're not gonna preach the Bible anymore. 438 00:21:09,895 --> 00:21:11,645 Instead, we're gonna preach Aesop's Fables 439 00:21:14,382 --> 00:21:18,612 In fact, if I do that, somebody who's bigger and stronger than me, which is 440 00:21:18,612 --> 00:21:21,912 not hard to find in the room, just come pick me up and just carry me out and have 441 00:21:21,912 --> 00:21:23,202 Pastor Rod come up and finish the sermon 442 00:21:29,152 --> 00:21:29,292 And he should preach a different sermon than whatever I had there. 443 00:21:29,292 --> 00:21:32,622 I can't do that 'cause it's not my church, right? 444 00:21:32,702 --> 00:21:35,542 And, and just like that, I, I also can't step back and go, "You know what? 445 00:21:35,582 --> 00:21:40,492 I'm gonna decide on, on the doctrine that I want to believe in because 446 00:21:40,492 --> 00:21:43,691 the doctrine that the Bible lays out for me, that God has given me to, 447 00:21:43,692 --> 00:21:46,592 to follow as part of God's church, I don't like some of this 'cause the 448 00:21:46,592 --> 00:21:48,632 culture doesn't really like it, so I'm gonna set that aside and not do it." 449 00:21:48,791 --> 00:21:51,072 So in other words, "Next week I'm gonna announce to you that we're no longer 450 00:21:51,072 --> 00:21:53,941 gonna be complementarian, but we're gonna just have women pastors because I 451 00:21:53,941 --> 00:21:55,481 just wanna change what the Bible says." 452 00:21:58,668 --> 00:22:01,237 I also can't stand up here next week and, and tell you, "You know what? 453 00:22:01,507 --> 00:22:03,048 It's really hard to share the gospel, isn't it? 454 00:22:03,227 --> 00:22:05,138 It gets really awkward to talk about sin, doesn't it?" 455 00:22:05,747 --> 00:22:09,768 So from here on out, the gospel doesn't have to mention sin. 456 00:22:10,848 --> 00:22:13,778 All you have to do is go tell people how much God loves them, that He loves 457 00:22:13,788 --> 00:22:17,038 them just the way they are, that He, He cares for them, and, and you know what? 458 00:22:17,288 --> 00:22:19,127 You don't have to change anything about your life. 459 00:22:19,368 --> 00:22:21,947 Just add a little Jesus into your life and you're gonna be good. 460 00:22:23,007 --> 00:22:27,598 I can't stand up here and tell you that next week because the gospel's not mine. 461 00:22:28,597 --> 00:22:29,787 Doctrine isn't mine. 462 00:22:30,157 --> 00:22:31,417 The Word of God isn't mine. 463 00:22:32,347 --> 00:22:33,407 This church is not mine. 464 00:22:34,428 --> 00:22:34,997 It's His. 465 00:22:36,257 --> 00:22:36,687 It's His. 466 00:22:36,697 --> 00:22:40,138 The church does not belong to a pastor or a group of pastors. 467 00:22:40,138 --> 00:22:42,837 This is not the church of Pastor PJ or Pastor Rod or Pastor 468 00:22:42,838 --> 00:22:44,407 Marc or Louis or any of us. 469 00:22:45,227 --> 00:22:46,747 It doesn't belong to the congregation. 470 00:22:47,607 --> 00:22:51,227 It doesn't belong to the, the person here who's the squeakiest wheel in the room. 471 00:22:51,677 --> 00:22:54,558 It doesn't belong to the loudest among us or the wisest or the 472 00:22:54,558 --> 00:22:56,447 smartest or the richest among us. 473 00:22:57,638 --> 00:23:00,638 The church doesn't belong to anyone who has the, the most 474 00:23:00,638 --> 00:23:01,937 degrees behind their name. 475 00:23:01,947 --> 00:23:05,498 It doesn't belong to the person who's the most popular or the most friends. 476 00:23:05,678 --> 00:23:08,548 The church here belongs to God. 477 00:23:08,587 --> 00:23:09,488 It's His church. 478 00:23:10,538 --> 00:23:13,747 Now, God has tasked the elders of the church, the pastors of the church, 479 00:23:13,748 --> 00:23:18,398 with leading the church, and so we do that faithfully, but we do that as the 480 00:23:18,718 --> 00:23:20,857 under-shepherds of the Chief Shepherd. 481 00:23:21,937 --> 00:23:25,207 We always do that saying, "Lord, we wanna lead the way that you want us to lead. 482 00:23:26,068 --> 00:23:28,447 We wanna go, Lord, where you want us to go." 483 00:23:30,838 --> 00:23:34,538 We can be so prone to getting comfortable with the way thing, w- 484 00:23:34,548 --> 00:23:36,078 we, we like things the way they are. 485 00:23:36,078 --> 00:23:38,038 We don't, we don't always like change, do we? 486 00:23:39,288 --> 00:23:43,288 I went to a, a serve at a church after seminary that had been around for a long 487 00:23:43,288 --> 00:23:47,867 time, and, uh, a- any time you go into a church that's been around for a long time, 488 00:23:47,868 --> 00:23:51,888 there, there are what's known as sacred cows, things that you, you better not, 489 00:23:52,288 --> 00:23:55,468 you better not touch this thing because you're gonna be in a whole lot of trouble. 490 00:23:55,677 --> 00:23:59,347 Well, I was young, and I was impetuous, and, and, uh, Christmas time came 491 00:23:59,347 --> 00:24:02,408 around, and all of a sudden, right center stage, they put up one of the 492 00:24:02,408 --> 00:24:06,258 most gaudy, tacky nativity scenes that I've ever seen in my entire life. 493 00:24:07,638 --> 00:24:09,598 Like, it put Hobby Lobby Jesus to shame. 494 00:24:09,598 --> 00:24:10,908 It is that level, okay? 495 00:24:12,017 --> 00:24:15,487 And I was sitting there going, "Why, why is that there?" 496 00:24:16,357 --> 00:24:19,777 And so I, I led a little bit of a revolt to remove the, the nativity. 497 00:24:19,827 --> 00:24:21,817 Well, you would have thought I changed the name of the church 498 00:24:21,818 --> 00:24:23,327 to First Muhammad Baptist Church 499 00:24:25,454 --> 00:24:28,573 It became a thing because this is their church, don't change… 500 00:24:28,624 --> 00:24:29,904 Now, I, I played a part in that. 501 00:24:29,914 --> 00:24:31,614 I was foolish, I was young, admittedly. 502 00:24:31,884 --> 00:24:36,014 But what, what caused the conflict was the mentality, even my own mentality, 503 00:24:36,014 --> 00:24:37,423 right, of saying, "This is my church. 504 00:24:37,423 --> 00:24:39,013 I want things to be the way I want them to be." 505 00:24:40,394 --> 00:24:41,383 No church is my church. 506 00:24:42,684 --> 00:24:43,654 It's God's church. 507 00:24:43,854 --> 00:24:45,963 Listen, l- l- let me put it this way. 508 00:24:46,033 --> 00:24:49,193 We want every single one of you to have a sense of ownership in this church, 509 00:24:49,194 --> 00:24:53,373 but to also acknowledge this, that none of us, none of us own it, okay? 510 00:24:53,673 --> 00:24:55,974 So we all want a sense of ownership in what we're doing. 511 00:24:56,233 --> 00:24:56,893 Buy-in. 512 00:24:56,993 --> 00:24:59,613 We wanna be in the mission, reaching people for Christ, teaching people 513 00:24:59,613 --> 00:25:02,364 f- uh, to, to be like Christ and, and training people to serve Christ. 514 00:25:03,114 --> 00:25:04,403 We all want to own that. 515 00:25:04,474 --> 00:25:08,453 We want to own l- loving one another and serving one another and being 516 00:25:08,454 --> 00:25:09,583 in community with one another. 517 00:25:09,583 --> 00:25:12,433 We wanna own that, but also to recognize that, that none 518 00:25:12,434 --> 00:25:14,763 of us actually own the church. 519 00:25:15,713 --> 00:25:16,293 God does. 520 00:25:17,134 --> 00:25:17,743 It's His. 521 00:25:18,123 --> 00:25:19,623 This is the bride of Christ. 522 00:25:19,954 --> 00:25:22,453 And so we all want the mentality that says, "Lord, whatever it looks 523 00:25:22,454 --> 00:25:25,543 like then, for us to be a faithful lampstand that's gonna be effective in 524 00:25:25,543 --> 00:25:28,464 reaching people for Christ, teaching people to be like Christ, and training 525 00:25:28,464 --> 00:25:30,013 people to serve Christ, so be it. 526 00:25:30,823 --> 00:25:31,293 Let's go." 527 00:25:32,573 --> 00:25:34,363 And so what that might mean for you is that maybe you're gonna 528 00:25:34,363 --> 00:25:38,374 be asked to serve the church in a way that isn't your top choice. 529 00:25:40,223 --> 00:25:42,543 And for you to be able to say, "Okay, but it's not my church, it's God's church. 530 00:25:43,384 --> 00:25:46,974 And if this is how I can help God's mission in God's church, then so be it. 531 00:25:46,974 --> 00:25:47,414 Let me do it." 532 00:25:48,903 --> 00:25:51,563 Or maybe what that's gonna look like for you is, is we're shifting from one 533 00:25:51,564 --> 00:25:54,304 service to two services now and, and you sit there and you go, "Yeah, but 534 00:25:54,304 --> 00:25:55,863 I liked it better with one service. 535 00:25:56,814 --> 00:25:58,693 I liked my church that way." 536 00:26:00,433 --> 00:26:02,233 Okay, but wait a minute, it's not my church. 537 00:26:02,253 --> 00:26:03,333 It's, it's God's church. 538 00:26:05,163 --> 00:26:07,053 Or maybe that's gonna look like you saying, "Okay, I, I 539 00:26:07,053 --> 00:26:08,303 like the size of our church. 540 00:26:08,303 --> 00:26:11,163 I hope we don't get too big because I really like the smaller church. 541 00:26:11,163 --> 00:26:12,273 I don't like the big church." 542 00:26:13,293 --> 00:26:14,973 But God, it's your church, it's not my church 543 00:26:17,058 --> 00:26:20,108 Or maybe you're going, "I wanted to study James, not 1 Corinthians." 544 00:26:22,478 --> 00:26:24,148 But God, it's, it's your church, not my church. 545 00:26:25,108 --> 00:26:28,158 I, I promise you that your shepherds, your pastors, your elders, we don't 546 00:26:28,168 --> 00:26:31,048 sit together on Tuesdays and, and rub our hands together and be like, "How 547 00:26:31,048 --> 00:26:32,358 can we make life miserable for them? 548 00:26:33,418 --> 00:26:36,887 What can we do to really just make them uncomfortable or frustrated?" 549 00:26:37,558 --> 00:26:38,428 I know you trust that. 550 00:26:39,837 --> 00:26:42,907 And so hopefully that, that any time, and, and stick around long enough and, 551 00:26:42,908 --> 00:26:45,528 and I will make a decision or one of your ministry leaders will ma- will make 552 00:26:45,528 --> 00:26:48,917 a decision or, or Pastor Rod will sing a song and you'll be like, "I, I don't 553 00:26:48,917 --> 00:26:51,667 like that one," or, "I, I didn't like that decision Pastor PJ made," or, "I 554 00:26:51,667 --> 00:26:53,458 didn't really agree with this over here." 555 00:26:53,648 --> 00:26:56,378 But listen, at the end of the day, if you can extend the grace to us to believe 556 00:26:56,378 --> 00:26:58,927 that we are seeking to shepherd the, the, the flock, that we are seeking to 557 00:26:58,928 --> 00:27:02,698 pursue what God has for us because we recognize that we are under shepherds 558 00:27:02,698 --> 00:27:05,948 to the chief shepherd, and that, that this place first and foremost before it 559 00:27:05,948 --> 00:27:08,097 belongs to anyone else belongs to him. 560 00:27:09,187 --> 00:27:10,607 And so we're here to serve him. 561 00:27:11,447 --> 00:27:14,587 We could open up this letter by reading, "This is God's church," to 562 00:27:14,647 --> 00:27:20,696 Compass Bible Church, the Church of God that is in Prosper, Texas See, 563 00:27:20,696 --> 00:27:22,396 we're not built on a, a personality. 564 00:27:23,056 --> 00:27:24,346 We're not built on a denomination. 565 00:27:24,606 --> 00:27:26,236 We're not built on personal preferences here. 566 00:27:26,956 --> 00:27:32,116 We're here as Christ's church to do Christ's work by accomplishing Christ's 567 00:27:32,176 --> 00:27:36,225 mission, and that looks like us saying, "God, it's not mine, it's yours." 568 00:27:37,676 --> 00:27:42,295 So this is God's church, and we recognize that, but then as that continues, what, 569 00:27:42,315 --> 00:27:46,385 one of the things that that means is that if this is God's church, then God gets 570 00:27:46,385 --> 00:27:51,015 to define what the church really is, who makes up the church, and that's where we 571 00:27:51,016 --> 00:27:52,715 go next in the second part of this verse. 572 00:27:52,726 --> 00:27:56,675 He says this, "To those sanctified in Christ Jesus." 573 00:27:57,145 --> 00:27:59,075 To those sanctified in Christ Jesus. 574 00:27:59,296 --> 00:28:02,025 Uh, this is Paul continuing his argument, continuing his thought. 575 00:28:02,265 --> 00:28:05,346 This is in a separate subset, so he's not saying, "To the church of God in 576 00:28:05,346 --> 00:28:08,925 Corinth, oh, and also to those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." 577 00:28:09,285 --> 00:28:13,085 Rather, what he's doing is he's saying, "To the church of God in Corinth, namely 578 00:28:13,596 --> 00:28:15,666 those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus." 579 00:28:15,915 --> 00:28:20,225 So he's further explaining for us what it is to be part of the church, and that 580 00:28:20,225 --> 00:28:23,126 is to be sanctified in Christ Jesus. 581 00:28:24,096 --> 00:28:26,426 It's no shock that, that I love the Texas Rangers. 582 00:28:26,935 --> 00:28:31,225 I bleed blue and red and, and I, I would love to be able to go to every 583 00:28:31,225 --> 00:28:32,496 single one of their, their games. 584 00:28:32,585 --> 00:28:34,055 It's really impractical for me. 585 00:28:34,055 --> 00:28:34,766 I can't do that. 586 00:28:35,395 --> 00:28:38,325 But e- even if I could, let's say I did that for the next 30 years, went 587 00:28:38,325 --> 00:28:41,575 to every single Rangers game, home game at least, and I cheered them on, and 588 00:28:41,575 --> 00:28:44,445 I stayed the whole time, and I wore all of the swag, and I knew all of the 589 00:28:44,445 --> 00:28:48,225 stats and everything else, and I even met the players because I was the most 590 00:28:48,235 --> 00:28:50,115 diehard fan, and they gave me an award. 591 00:28:51,066 --> 00:28:52,205 Guess what I still wouldn't be? 592 00:28:53,515 --> 00:28:54,225 A Texas Ranger. 593 00:28:55,725 --> 00:28:57,495 I'd be a fan of the team, but I wouldn't be on the team. 594 00:28:58,645 --> 00:29:03,995 And so just being around the team, just being around something, being 595 00:29:04,055 --> 00:29:07,795 at an event, doesn't mean that, that I'm part of it necessarily. 596 00:29:08,655 --> 00:29:13,136 And so Paul zooming in on this kinda concept, this idea there, his second 597 00:29:13,185 --> 00:29:15,975 trait of the church that we need to understand and we need to see is this. 598 00:29:16,175 --> 00:29:22,345 We need to see that the church consists of Christians, and I don't 599 00:29:22,346 --> 00:29:25,486 mean Christians the way that our world uses Ch- the word Christians. 600 00:29:25,486 --> 00:29:30,276 I mean those that are truly in Christ, those that are genuinely 601 00:29:30,345 --> 00:29:35,262 saved So he says to those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. 602 00:29:35,522 --> 00:29:38,632 Again, not a, a new subset, but continuing his understanding, 603 00:29:38,632 --> 00:29:40,012 his explanation of the church. 604 00:29:40,272 --> 00:29:44,441 The church are full of those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. 605 00:29:45,482 --> 00:29:50,591 Sanctified, the word there, is, is a, a passive participle, which just means this. 606 00:29:50,622 --> 00:29:56,772 It means that it was, it was a, a past event that has ongoing effects. 607 00:29:57,601 --> 00:29:58,961 So it's a, a perfect tense. 608 00:29:58,972 --> 00:30:01,791 So it's a past event, something that happened, that still 609 00:30:01,792 --> 00:30:03,451 has ongoing effects today. 610 00:30:03,462 --> 00:30:07,042 A- A- And so here's what it means that he says that we are 611 00:30:07,042 --> 00:30:09,231 sanctified in Christ Jesus. 612 00:30:09,622 --> 00:30:14,052 At the moment of conversion, there are, are two things that happen, okay? 613 00:30:14,322 --> 00:30:16,521 One of them is known as our justification. 614 00:30:17,212 --> 00:30:21,931 To be justified is to be forensically declared, not just not guilty, 615 00:30:21,931 --> 00:30:25,152 but righteous, innocent with the righteousness of Christ. 616 00:30:25,552 --> 00:30:27,781 That is a moment in time event. 617 00:30:27,951 --> 00:30:29,651 It happens one time, period. 618 00:30:29,901 --> 00:30:31,882 You are declared righteous. 619 00:30:31,901 --> 00:30:34,011 You believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. 620 00:30:34,011 --> 00:30:35,091 You repent from your sins. 621 00:30:35,631 --> 00:30:37,511 You are justified in Christ, okay? 622 00:30:38,392 --> 00:30:43,112 Also, concurrent with that, at the same time, is this concept of sanctification. 623 00:30:43,122 --> 00:30:43,232 To be 624 00:30:46,411 --> 00:30:51,122 sanctified i- is a, a process, in a sense, but there is a, a moment in time 625 00:30:51,122 --> 00:30:54,471 sanctification that Paul has in mind here, and that's why it's in the past tense. 626 00:30:55,011 --> 00:30:58,092 At the moment of conversion, you are not only justified, but you are sanctified. 627 00:30:58,112 --> 00:30:59,351 To be sanctified means this. 628 00:30:59,561 --> 00:31:02,902 It means to be set apart to be used by God. 629 00:31:03,871 --> 00:31:08,521 So you are what we call positionally sanctified when you come to faith 630 00:31:08,521 --> 00:31:09,741 in Jesus Christ as your Savior. 631 00:31:09,991 --> 00:31:11,112 You are justified. 632 00:31:11,351 --> 00:31:12,981 You are righteous in Christ. 633 00:31:12,981 --> 00:31:14,472 You are no longer guilty. 634 00:31:14,472 --> 00:31:15,241 You are innocent. 635 00:31:15,241 --> 00:31:18,072 You are going to heaven because of the righteousness of Christ. 636 00:31:18,451 --> 00:31:23,941 But at the same moment, you have been set apart, sanctified, to be used 637 00:31:23,962 --> 00:31:27,721 now by the Lord in service of Him. 638 00:31:28,171 --> 00:31:30,461 Positional sanctification. 639 00:31:30,462 --> 00:31:34,911 Uh, this is similar to what we found in the, the Old Testament with the temple. 640 00:31:35,921 --> 00:31:39,091 So in the temple, there would have been vessels that were 641 00:31:39,171 --> 00:31:43,241 consecrated or sanctified to be used for the worship of God. 642 00:31:44,002 --> 00:31:48,541 And so those vessels were made, and then they were set apart as holy 643 00:31:48,612 --> 00:31:52,872 to the priests, and they would only use those vessels to worship God. 644 00:31:53,521 --> 00:31:57,041 And so the priest, it's not like he would be at home an- and grab a cup off 645 00:31:57,041 --> 00:32:00,382 the counter and walk into the temple with this cup off the counter and say, 646 00:32:00,382 --> 00:32:03,401 "Oh, it doesn't matter if I use this cup from the counter to worship the Lord 647 00:32:03,401 --> 00:32:05,921 and pour out a drink offering, 'cause I just brought it with me from home." 648 00:32:05,931 --> 00:32:06,721 He wouldn't do that. 649 00:32:06,722 --> 00:32:07,032 Why? 650 00:32:07,281 --> 00:32:08,281 'Cause the cup is common. 651 00:32:08,281 --> 00:32:08,912 It's not holy. 652 00:32:08,912 --> 00:32:09,661 It's not sanctified. 653 00:32:09,661 --> 00:32:13,888 It's not meant to be used by God Similarly, he wouldn't at the end 654 00:32:13,888 --> 00:32:15,518 of his shift go, "Oh, you know what? 655 00:32:15,518 --> 00:32:16,308 I'm pretty thirsty. 656 00:32:16,388 --> 00:32:18,898 Let me just grab the cup that has the drink offering, and let me 657 00:32:18,898 --> 00:32:22,187 dri- take it home with me and use it by my bed stand as I'm falling 658 00:32:22,188 --> 00:32:23,788 asleep tonight to take my pills." 659 00:32:24,667 --> 00:32:25,598 Why wouldn't he do that? 660 00:32:26,707 --> 00:32:29,178 Because that cup was meant to be used in service of the 661 00:32:29,178 --> 00:32:30,718 Lord, not for common things. 662 00:32:31,797 --> 00:32:35,088 When you come to faith in Christ, you are set apart now. 663 00:32:35,248 --> 00:32:39,278 You are now categorically different, but not just categorically different, 664 00:32:39,408 --> 00:32:41,848 you are functionally different now. 665 00:32:42,968 --> 00:32:46,507 And this is why this point matters, 'cause you might be thinking, "W- well, 666 00:32:46,508 --> 00:32:50,147 why does it matter that we define the Church as just consisting of Christians?" 667 00:32:51,037 --> 00:32:56,147 The reason is, is because we may have in this room, let's say, 110 people in the 668 00:32:56,148 --> 00:33:00,847 room, but that doesn't mean that all 110 people in the room are part of the Church. 669 00:33:02,247 --> 00:33:06,267 You may be at church, you may be in church, but unless you are in 670 00:33:06,267 --> 00:33:08,077 Christ, you are not the Church. 671 00:33:09,078 --> 00:33:10,637 And again, you might say, "Well, why does that matter? 672 00:33:10,637 --> 00:33:11,577 Why make that distinction? 673 00:33:11,867 --> 00:33:14,367 That s- just seems overly harsh to press in on that because it seems 674 00:33:14,367 --> 00:33:16,177 like you're excluding some people." 675 00:33:17,897 --> 00:33:21,288 But that's what, what Paul is doing here by defining this, and here's why. 676 00:33:21,297 --> 00:33:22,268 Here's where it turns. 677 00:33:22,958 --> 00:33:27,498 Because it, it's this: the true Church are those that God has saved 678 00:33:27,507 --> 00:33:29,627 in order to accomplish His mission. 679 00:33:31,037 --> 00:33:35,097 And so the only people that can effectively accomplish the mission 680 00:33:35,117 --> 00:33:38,667 of Christ are those that are in Christ, those that are truly 681 00:33:38,668 --> 00:33:40,757 saved, those that are the Church. 682 00:33:42,127 --> 00:33:45,317 And so that's why Paul is writing to the Church saying, "Hey, I'm calling 683 00:33:45,317 --> 00:33:48,867 you to do something, and if you're not in Christ, everything that I'm 684 00:33:48,867 --> 00:33:51,747 writing here in 1 Corinthians, you're not gonna be able to do any of it. 685 00:33:53,348 --> 00:33:55,997 So instead, I'm gonna define who I'm talking about here. 686 00:33:56,458 --> 00:34:00,517 I'm about to write about not being divisive, about being pure, about using 687 00:34:00,517 --> 00:34:04,137 your gifts in a good way, about not causing a brother to stumble, about 688 00:34:04,137 --> 00:34:05,457 what marriage and singleness looks like. 689 00:34:05,677 --> 00:34:08,266 I'm writing about all that stuff, and I'm writing to you who have been 690 00:34:08,277 --> 00:34:11,947 set apart to be useful to God, and I'm writing to you to say, 'This is 691 00:34:11,947 --> 00:34:12,967 how you should be useful to God.'" 692 00:34:14,137 --> 00:34:17,547 And so he's defining the Church, those that are there to accomplish 693 00:34:17,687 --> 00:34:22,387 Christ's mission, Christ's Church about Christ's mission. 694 00:34:23,387 --> 00:34:25,877 So maybe you're, you're wondering then, "So then does that mean, 695 00:34:25,907 --> 00:34:29,398 Pastor PJ, that, that unbelievers aren't welcome on Sunday mornings?" 696 00:34:29,797 --> 00:34:31,117 Not a chance. 697 00:34:32,117 --> 00:34:33,308 I want unbelievers here. 698 00:34:34,708 --> 00:34:35,607 I, I want them here. 699 00:34:35,607 --> 00:34:36,456 I want them under the Word. 700 00:34:36,458 --> 00:34:38,607 I want them seeing the community here. 701 00:34:38,928 --> 00:34:42,197 I want them hearing these sermons, and though they may not understand the 702 00:34:42,197 --> 00:34:46,908 sermons, I want them seeing what's so beautiful about the Church together, 703 00:34:46,917 --> 00:34:50,658 gathering every single week together, that they would say, "I want what you have 704 00:34:52,886 --> 00:34:56,326 That said, I will unapolog- unapologetically tell you that 705 00:34:56,326 --> 00:34:59,626 Sunday mornings are always going to be for Christians. 706 00:35:01,206 --> 00:35:06,016 We gather as the church for the church to equip the saints 707 00:35:06,226 --> 00:35:07,375 for the work of the ministry. 708 00:35:07,855 --> 00:35:10,526 So as I prepare my sermons, am I thinking about an unbeliever? 709 00:35:10,686 --> 00:35:13,415 Yes, but not m- the majority of my time. 710 00:35:13,926 --> 00:35:16,825 The majority of my time when I'm preparing my sermons, I'm thinking of you. 711 00:35:17,686 --> 00:35:22,465 I'm thinking about where you're at and what you're facing and how best 712 00:35:22,465 --> 00:35:26,015 to equip you so that as you have been sanctified, set apart to be useful to 713 00:35:26,015 --> 00:35:30,106 the Lord, you will leave this place more equipped, better equipped to 714 00:35:30,106 --> 00:35:31,446 serve the Lord than you first entered. 715 00:35:32,855 --> 00:35:36,605 And so the church consists of Christians. 716 00:35:38,765 --> 00:35:41,625 The church is, is God's church and he has said that those that 717 00:35:41,625 --> 00:35:44,165 make up the church are his people. 718 00:35:45,116 --> 00:35:47,586 That is those that have been sanctified, those that have been saved. 719 00:35:47,605 --> 00:35:49,885 They've been justified but they've also then been sanctified. 720 00:35:49,885 --> 00:35:51,956 They've been set apart to be useful to him. 721 00:35:52,675 --> 00:35:54,605 And so Paul's laying the groundwork for where he's gonna go later 722 00:35:54,605 --> 00:35:56,105 in the letter by even that idea. 723 00:35:56,366 --> 00:35:58,225 You've been set apart to be useful to the Lord. 724 00:35:58,645 --> 00:36:02,415 The question that, that is introduced there is, is am I being useful to him? 725 00:36:03,496 --> 00:36:06,115 Are we as a church being as useful to the Lord as we possibly could be? 726 00:36:07,015 --> 00:36:11,006 Are we as, as Christians here being as useful to the Lord as we should be 727 00:36:14,702 --> 00:36:15,622 It's God's church. 728 00:36:16,712 --> 00:36:19,572 It's made up of those that are, are God's people, in other words, 729 00:36:19,572 --> 00:36:20,892 Christians that He has saved. 730 00:36:22,102 --> 00:36:24,711 But then the, the other thing that is so important for us to understand 731 00:36:24,712 --> 00:36:29,301 is where Paul goes next, and that is that we are only one church in a, 732 00:36:29,392 --> 00:36:34,612 a broad, broad horizon of a lot of faithful churches that exist out there. 733 00:36:35,511 --> 00:36:38,671 And rather than being threatened by that, we need to celebrate that. 734 00:36:39,421 --> 00:36:41,511 Look at where he goes next at the end of verse two. 735 00:36:41,932 --> 00:36:45,072 He says this, "Called to be saints together," we are those 736 00:36:45,072 --> 00:36:48,131 that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. 737 00:36:48,132 --> 00:36:50,821 In other words, c- we're set apart as holy, called to live 738 00:36:50,832 --> 00:36:52,701 holy, called to be the holy ones. 739 00:36:52,711 --> 00:36:53,691 That's what saint's there. 740 00:36:54,182 --> 00:36:56,722 Maybe you've got a Roman Catholic background or a liturgical background 741 00:36:56,722 --> 00:36:58,701 that thinks about canonization, St. 742 00:36:58,702 --> 00:36:59,301 Matthew, St. 743 00:36:59,301 --> 00:36:59,501 Mark. 744 00:36:59,511 --> 00:37:00,852 That's not what Paul's talking about here. 745 00:37:01,882 --> 00:37:05,232 Saints was one of Paul's favorite terms for Christians, because 746 00:37:05,232 --> 00:37:07,762 it's the same root word that goes back to those that are sanctified. 747 00:37:08,321 --> 00:37:09,292 So we are the holy ones. 748 00:37:09,292 --> 00:37:13,172 We're called to be the holy ones, notice here, together with all those who in 749 00:37:13,211 --> 00:37:19,322 every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. 750 00:37:20,151 --> 00:37:23,822 What Paul's saying here and where he goes now is he's saying this, church in, in 751 00:37:23,822 --> 00:37:25,442 Corinth, you guys don't stand on your own. 752 00:37:26,571 --> 00:37:27,551 And, and guess what y'all? 753 00:37:27,602 --> 00:37:28,152 Neither do we. 754 00:37:29,761 --> 00:37:32,091 A- as the church in Corinth there may have been tempted to think, "Well, well, 755 00:37:32,091 --> 00:37:36,782 we have … Paul planted us, and we, look at, we, we had Priscilla and Aquila here. 756 00:37:37,191 --> 00:37:39,771 And w- we've interacted with Apostle, and we've ac- interacted with Cephas." 757 00:37:39,911 --> 00:37:43,602 He's writing to kinda knock them down a couple of notches there 758 00:37:43,602 --> 00:37:45,311 and go, "Hey, don't forget. 759 00:37:46,071 --> 00:37:48,552 Don't forget, you're calling upon the name of the Lord with, with a whole 760 00:37:48,552 --> 00:37:50,512 lot of other people that are calling upon the name of the Lord, too." 761 00:37:51,632 --> 00:37:54,051 And so he's reminding the, the church there of something that's good for us 762 00:37:54,051 --> 00:37:56,461 to remember, too, and it's the third part of our, our, our definition of 763 00:37:56,461 --> 00:37:59,911 what is the church, and that is the, the church is, is not just one place. 764 00:38:00,341 --> 00:38:01,941 But the church is bigger than any of us. 765 00:38:02,761 --> 00:38:05,111 Our final point this morning along those lines is this, realize that, 766 00:38:05,111 --> 00:38:06,451 that the church is bigger than us. 767 00:38:07,481 --> 00:38:09,171 The church is bigger than us. 768 00:38:09,172 --> 00:38:10,691 It's bigger than any one body. 769 00:38:10,691 --> 00:38:12,411 It's bigger than any one congregation. 770 00:38:12,671 --> 00:38:16,491 It is those that have called to be the saints that God has redeemed, that God 771 00:38:16,492 --> 00:38:20,611 has regenerated, that God has drawn to Himself through this irresistible calling. 772 00:38:20,921 --> 00:38:25,921 And He has made us a part of the church, and we are the church together with 773 00:38:27,041 --> 00:38:32,042 those who in every place, which in Paul's original day there, they would have 774 00:38:32,161 --> 00:38:36,931 understood that as in every church, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ 775 00:38:38,968 --> 00:38:43,658 Y'all, our commonality with the church in Corinth or with the, the Baptist church 776 00:38:43,698 --> 00:38:46,978 down the street or the Presbyterian church around the corner or Lighthouse 777 00:38:46,978 --> 00:38:49,687 Church where we just had our men's Bible study and women's Bible study yesterday, 778 00:38:49,687 --> 00:38:53,378 our, our commonality with them comes back to this, and that is we all call 779 00:38:53,378 --> 00:38:56,658 upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 780 00:38:57,648 --> 00:39:00,247 What does that mean, to call upon the name of Christ? 781 00:39:00,497 --> 00:39:05,487 Does that just mean that we mention Jesus a few times, that we have Jesus in the 782 00:39:05,487 --> 00:39:06,877 name of our church or something like that? 783 00:39:06,878 --> 00:39:08,397 No, it doesn't mean that. 784 00:39:10,157 --> 00:39:12,978 In Romans 10:13, Paul says, "Everyone who calls upon the 785 00:39:12,978 --> 00:39:13,958 name of the Lord will be" what? 786 00:39:14,517 --> 00:39:15,177 Saved. 787 00:39:16,427 --> 00:39:19,588 And so i- in one sense, to, to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus 788 00:39:19,588 --> 00:39:21,978 Christ is to express faith in Christ. 789 00:39:21,978 --> 00:39:23,267 It's, it's saving faith. 790 00:39:23,677 --> 00:39:27,117 And, and so Paul is saying, "We join together with all of those who have 791 00:39:27,118 --> 00:39:32,717 saving faith in Jesus," that the gospel is there, it's genuine, that they've 792 00:39:32,717 --> 00:39:35,267 repented from their sins and they've put their trust in Christ as their savior. 793 00:39:35,787 --> 00:39:39,377 But then notice it's also this, that it's to call upon the name of the what? 794 00:39:39,397 --> 00:39:40,117 Jesus Christ. 795 00:39:41,087 --> 00:39:42,417 The Lord Jesus Christ. 796 00:39:42,947 --> 00:39:45,787 So it's also the fact that, that these are churches that have submitted 797 00:39:45,788 --> 00:39:49,987 themselves to the lordship of Christ, that he governs, that they understand 798 00:39:49,987 --> 00:39:53,328 what we've already talked about this morning, that that church is Christ's 799 00:39:53,388 --> 00:39:58,167 church, and so we are here to submit to him and to follow him and to obey him. 800 00:39:58,318 --> 00:39:59,697 And so we're gonna follow his word. 801 00:39:59,697 --> 00:40:00,648 We're not gonna tamper with it. 802 00:40:00,657 --> 00:40:02,738 We're not gonna, we're not gonna mess around with it. 803 00:40:02,748 --> 00:40:04,778 We're not gonna teach something that doesn't accord with it. 804 00:40:06,407 --> 00:40:09,047 And so these are kind of the, the litmus test for Paul here. 805 00:40:09,687 --> 00:40:13,467 Hey, as long as you can look at them and say, "That church is calling upon the name 806 00:40:13,477 --> 00:40:17,357 of the Lord Jesus Christ," and understand that that's more than an intellectual 807 00:40:17,358 --> 00:40:22,637 ascent, but that is a surrender of oneself in faith to the character and to the 808 00:40:22,647 --> 00:40:26,278 nature of Christ as Lord and Savior, as long as you look at a church and you would 809 00:40:26,278 --> 00:40:29,997 say that they've got a biblical gospel and they are preaching the word of God and the 810 00:40:30,007 --> 00:40:34,047 doctrine is intact there, then, then we can say, "Hey, we're gonna cheer you on." 811 00:40:36,110 --> 00:40:39,890 You know who does that really well, and you've been recipients of it if you've 812 00:40:39,890 --> 00:40:43,210 been part of our men's Bible study and women's Bible study, is Lighthouse Church. 813 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,320 When we came here to, to, to move into this facility, they used to meet in 814 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:50,220 this facility until they built the building that's a stone's throw away. 815 00:40:50,230 --> 00:40:54,530 A- and the pastor reached out to me after we, we moved in here, and he 816 00:40:54,530 --> 00:40:55,909 said, "Hey, can we grab lunch together?" 817 00:40:55,909 --> 00:40:56,670 And I said, "Sure." 818 00:40:56,670 --> 00:40:58,829 And then I thought to myself, "Oh, he's not gonna be happy maybe 819 00:40:58,829 --> 00:41:00,750 that, that there's another kinda like-minded church that's here. 820 00:41:00,750 --> 00:41:01,590 Hey, this is my turf." 821 00:41:02,489 --> 00:41:03,920 He's like, "Dude, I, how can I help you? 822 00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:07,589 We, we, we met in the same room that you're in. 823 00:41:08,729 --> 00:41:09,759 We love that you're here. 824 00:41:09,909 --> 00:41:10,669 How can we help you? 825 00:41:11,689 --> 00:41:12,579 Use our facility." 826 00:41:13,999 --> 00:41:14,299 Awesome. 827 00:41:14,299 --> 00:41:15,999 Are you using it on Sunday mornings by any chance? 828 00:41:17,639 --> 00:41:18,129 They are. 829 00:41:19,829 --> 00:41:22,250 But man, that, that's, that's a church that's saying, "I, I get it. 830 00:41:22,729 --> 00:41:24,919 Hey, you're calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 831 00:41:25,069 --> 00:41:26,359 We're together with you." 832 00:41:27,489 --> 00:41:29,700 Y'all, we need to stop trying to score points against 833 00:41:29,700 --> 00:41:30,889 churches that are like-minded. 834 00:41:30,899 --> 00:41:36,089 A- a- a- and so I, I, I don't ever wanna be the church that's up here badmouthing 835 00:41:36,099 --> 00:41:38,959 a pastor down the street if, if that pastor is preaching the biblical gospel. 836 00:41:40,190 --> 00:41:42,469 Now, I will warn of wolves in sheep's clothing, yes 837 00:41:44,526 --> 00:41:47,145 But, but I'm not gonna take a tier two issue and make it a tier, 838 00:41:47,406 --> 00:41:52,826 tier one issue a- and, and slight a pastor whose congregation is 839 00:41:52,835 --> 00:41:54,665 with us reaching people for Jesus 840 00:41:57,550 --> 00:41:59,010 The, the, the stakes are too high. 841 00:42:00,430 --> 00:42:03,930 Like I said, we've got Muslims building mosques and Hindus building temples 842 00:42:06,328 --> 00:42:08,758 Not to mention the cultural Christianity that already plagued the area 843 00:42:11,256 --> 00:42:12,456 We can't be fighting with each other. 844 00:42:14,146 --> 00:42:17,086 We've gotta remember that a mark of the church is to realize, hey, we're here 845 00:42:17,086 --> 00:42:21,716 to take our spot, yeah, and to, to, to plant our flag and to do the work in 846 00:42:21,716 --> 00:42:25,876 the ministry alongside all the others that are doing the work in the ministry. 847 00:42:25,885 --> 00:42:29,226 I mean, just think about this for just a minute. 848 00:42:29,226 --> 00:42:31,635 This morning I was, I was thinking about it pre- prepping this week, and it just 849 00:42:31,635 --> 00:42:36,075 was so encouraging me to think about we're in, in the Central … What it, Ce- is it 850 00:42:36,076 --> 00:42:37,226 Central Daylight, Central Standard Time? 851 00:42:37,236 --> 00:42:37,595 I don't know. 852 00:42:37,845 --> 00:42:38,165 Whatever. 853 00:42:38,525 --> 00:42:39,755 We're in the Central … We're in Texas time. 854 00:42:40,185 --> 00:42:40,705 That's where we are 855 00:42:43,278 --> 00:42:46,087 So if you think about the, the East Coast, right? 856 00:42:46,298 --> 00:42:48,727 There are faithful churches there, and they're done for the day. 857 00:42:49,957 --> 00:42:52,758 They've had lunch even after church, and they're back at home. 858 00:42:54,028 --> 00:42:55,788 And now you think about what we're doing here. 859 00:42:56,118 --> 00:42:57,047 We had a 9:00 AM service. 860 00:42:57,048 --> 00:42:59,527 Now, now we've got our 11:00 AM s- AM service right now. 861 00:43:00,207 --> 00:43:02,237 And you think about the other churches in our area where the, the 862 00:43:02,237 --> 00:43:03,487 services are happening right now. 863 00:43:04,327 --> 00:43:07,038 And then you think of the West Coast, those poor souls over there. 864 00:43:08,198 --> 00:43:10,857 And you think of the fact that, that they're still looking at, at church, 865 00:43:10,907 --> 00:43:13,357 another service in front of them or, or their, their service is about to 866 00:43:13,357 --> 00:43:14,447 start over there, whatever it may be. 867 00:43:15,658 --> 00:43:18,127 A- and then I want you to think about Hawaii and all those suffering for 868 00:43:18,138 --> 00:43:21,987 Jesus in Hawaii, and they've still got like four hours before they're 869 00:43:21,987 --> 00:43:23,267 getting up to, to go to church. 870 00:43:24,397 --> 00:43:28,407 And then th- think about Europe for a minute, and the, the, the faithful 871 00:43:28,677 --> 00:43:31,377 lampstands, few them, they, though they may be, but there are some 872 00:43:31,377 --> 00:43:36,227 there that had church this morning, and it's, it's winding into the 873 00:43:36,227 --> 00:43:37,497 late afternoon and evening hours. 874 00:43:38,177 --> 00:43:41,477 And think of Australia, and be jealous that they're asleep already, 875 00:43:42,137 --> 00:43:44,797 except Monday's coming way faster for them than it is for us, isn't it? 876 00:43:46,137 --> 00:43:47,427 But here's what I want you to think, y'all. 877 00:43:48,547 --> 00:43:49,298 All of that 878 00:43:51,768 --> 00:43:56,598 And then you have our Heavenly Father, and He has received the 879 00:43:56,598 --> 00:43:58,368 praises from all of those churches. 880 00:43:59,758 --> 00:44:03,348 As we lifted our voices and sang this morning, we joined the 881 00:44:03,348 --> 00:44:08,738 chorus of voices in all of these different churches praising Him. 882 00:44:10,247 --> 00:44:13,827 As I've opened the Word now and preached these two sermons, I'm adding my voice 883 00:44:13,848 --> 00:44:18,308 to the faithful pastors that have opened up the Word and preached hundreds if not 884 00:44:18,447 --> 00:44:20,598 thousands of sermons throughout the world 885 00:44:23,864 --> 00:44:24,754 exalt in Christ. 886 00:44:26,723 --> 00:44:30,234 We pray together, and as we pray together as a church, God is hearing not only 887 00:44:30,234 --> 00:44:33,814 our prayers, but the prayers of, of Lighthouse, and the prayers of Providence, 888 00:44:33,814 --> 00:44:37,464 and the prayers of Prestonwood, and the prayers of, of other churches all over 889 00:44:37,464 --> 00:44:43,753 the world that gather together on Sunday morning in rehearsal for eternity with Him 890 00:44:47,029 --> 00:44:53,609 We're a part of that, and it's not insignificant, but it's not everything. 891 00:44:55,270 --> 00:45:00,830 It's so good for us to remember that we are one of many, and to pray that 892 00:45:00,830 --> 00:45:04,119 God would multiply and bring more and more and more like-minded churches. 893 00:45:05,099 --> 00:45:06,079 The Church is bigger than us. 894 00:45:07,449 --> 00:45:08,059 It's His. 895 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:11,269 He defines it, and it's way bigger than any one church. 896 00:45:12,039 --> 00:45:15,909 This is gonna be important for us as we get into the letter, because Paul's 897 00:45:15,910 --> 00:45:19,379 going to use some of these very things that he's already talking about before 898 00:45:19,379 --> 00:45:20,680 he even gets into the correction. 899 00:45:20,830 --> 00:45:23,479 When he gets to the correction, it, it's gonna anchor back to this. 900 00:45:23,509 --> 00:45:24,980 Like this, let me give you this example. 901 00:45:25,209 --> 00:45:27,890 He's gonna write to those that have been saying, "I'm of Apollos," and, "I'm 902 00:45:27,890 --> 00:45:29,339 of Paul," and, "I'm a, I'm of Cephas." 903 00:45:29,339 --> 00:45:35,099 And he's gonna say, "No, you're not, because none of them died for 904 00:45:35,100 --> 00:45:38,379 you, and the church that you're a part of doesn't belong to any 905 00:45:38,379 --> 00:45:40,949 of them, but it belongs to God. 906 00:45:41,029 --> 00:45:42,850 You are God's field, you are God's building." 907 00:45:43,019 --> 00:45:45,620 And we're gonna think back to this opening verse and go, "Oh, yeah, that, that 908 00:45:45,620 --> 00:45:46,909 fits with what Paul was talking about. 909 00:45:46,909 --> 00:45:47,649 This is the Church. 910 00:45:48,639 --> 00:45:49,309 It belongs to Him." 911 00:45:49,970 --> 00:45:52,990 Or we're gonna get to chapter 5, and in chapter 5 Paul's gonna say, "Hey, 912 00:45:52,990 --> 00:45:55,220 you've got something going on in your church," and we'll get there and I'll, 913 00:45:55,250 --> 00:45:57,679 I'm gonna send a parent, parental warning probably out before that message. 914 00:45:57,979 --> 00:46:00,499 "But you've got something going on in your church that not even the, 915 00:46:00,509 --> 00:46:02,029 the, the unbelievers tolerate. 916 00:46:02,049 --> 00:46:04,759 They're even appalled by what you're doing, and you're sitting there thinking 917 00:46:04,759 --> 00:46:07,709 that you're super generous and super tolerant, and you're boasting in your 918 00:46:07,710 --> 00:46:11,339 generosity by allowing this sin to just go on unchecked in your church. 919 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:14,299 You should be ashamed and get them out of the church." 920 00:46:14,369 --> 00:46:14,819 Why? 921 00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:19,809 Because the Church is those sanctified in Christ Jesus, set apart to be holy. 922 00:46:20,740 --> 00:46:21,569 This isn't holy. 923 00:46:22,689 --> 00:46:23,159 It should be out 924 00:46:25,390 --> 00:46:28,770 So, so what we've just looked at, verse two, is gonna have a lot to 925 00:46:28,770 --> 00:46:30,100 say about the rest of this letter. 926 00:46:31,310 --> 00:46:34,920 Paul ends in verse three here, and I'll just touch on this quickly. 927 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:37,540 He says, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 928 00:46:38,350 --> 00:46:39,620 It's a familiar greeting of Paul. 929 00:46:40,229 --> 00:46:42,989 He's wishing that they would know the grace of God, the unmerited favor 930 00:46:42,990 --> 00:46:46,320 of God, and to experience the peace that's only found in Christ Jesus 931 00:46:48,844 --> 00:46:50,634 I, I can't wait for this study. 932 00:46:51,634 --> 00:46:53,604 I'm so excited about the book of 1 Corinthians. 933 00:46:54,104 --> 00:46:56,953 I think it's gonna be so helpful for us as a church, formative for 934 00:46:56,993 --> 00:46:59,594 us as a church, really to make sure at the end of the day that we truly 935 00:46:59,594 --> 00:47:03,413 are Christ Church, that we're on the right path, that we are healthy. 936 00:47:03,413 --> 00:47:04,313 I think we're doing great. 937 00:47:04,334 --> 00:47:07,084 I think God is doing great things in and through us, but I don't want us 938 00:47:07,084 --> 00:47:08,894 to, to let off the accelerator on that. 939 00:47:09,683 --> 00:47:10,523 We're three years in. 940 00:47:10,523 --> 00:47:13,753 What are we gonna look like 30 years in, 300 years in, if God waits? 941 00:47:14,064 --> 00:47:14,713 I won't be here. 942 00:47:17,518 --> 00:47:19,398 But I hope that we're still a faithful church. 943 00:47:20,298 --> 00:47:22,268 And so this is an opportunity for us to lay the foundation to 944 00:47:22,268 --> 00:47:23,058 say, "What does it look like? 945 00:47:24,488 --> 00:47:25,388 What is God's church? 946 00:47:26,628 --> 00:47:27,558 How can we be faithful to it?" 947 00:47:28,577 --> 00:47:28,937 Let's pray. 948 00:47:32,504 --> 00:47:35,814 Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that we get to be a part of what 949 00:47:35,814 --> 00:47:36,814 I was talking about earlier. 950 00:47:37,174 --> 00:47:41,254 That we get to be a, a group of voices that are lifting ours to join the 951 00:47:41,254 --> 00:47:44,674 chorus of all the other voices that have already been raised to you or 952 00:47:44,674 --> 00:47:47,904 that will be raised to you this morning to praise Jesus Christ, our Savior. 953 00:47:48,213 --> 00:47:50,084 Lord, we want those voices to multiply. 954 00:47:50,264 --> 00:47:52,153 We want people to come to faith in Jesus. 955 00:47:52,344 --> 00:47:56,494 We want to silence the, the, uh, the false religions of Islam and Hinduism, 956 00:47:56,494 --> 00:47:59,703 not just because we want them to pack up and go, but rather we want to go to 957 00:47:59,703 --> 00:48:03,803 them with the gospel and the good news of Jesus, and we want to see them saved and 958 00:48:03,803 --> 00:48:06,384 to joy th- join the ranks of your church. 959 00:48:06,413 --> 00:48:10,523 We wanna be Christ's church doing Christ's work on Christ's mission as 960 00:48:10,523 --> 00:48:11,904 we seek to reach, teach, and train. 961 00:48:12,143 --> 00:48:14,514 And so, God, I pray that you'd make us a faithful and fruitful 962 00:48:14,523 --> 00:48:15,744 lampstand toward that end. 963 00:48:16,003 --> 00:48:19,313 We love you, Father, and we are so privileged to be yours. 964 00:48:19,343 --> 00:48:23,783 And so we are here this week, and if you tarry, we'll be back, Lord willing, next 965 00:48:23,783 --> 00:48:28,103 week to raise our voices to praise you and to worship you as our Lord and Savior. 966 00:48:28,123 --> 00:48:29,553 We pray this all in Jesus' name. 967 00:48:29,814 --> 00:48:30,254 Amen.