Sermonstudio

Try to visualize yourself on the way to church. Not too difficult? Let's make it a little harder. Imagine that the year is 55 A.D. and that the place is the city of Corinth in Roman Greece. You are a member of the thriving church that has grown up there and you are on your way to a meeting at the house of Gaius. Lots of people will be gathering both from the church that usually meets at the house of Gaius and also from the churches that meet in the houses of several other Christians. News has been passed around that a letter has come from Paul and everyone is eager to hear what Paul will have to say about the things that are going on in the church.

It is late afternoon and you are walking from your house on the edge of the city nearest to the harbor to the house of a prominent citizen near the center of the city. A gentle breeze blows in from the gulf. You reach a high point on the road and pause to look around. You are surrounded by very fine buildings. Some remnants can be seen of the buildings of the old Greek city that the Romans destroyed before refounding it again a hundred years later. You look back toward the gulf to see the sun setting over the water. The harbor is crowded with ships. Corinth is located on a narrow isthmus between two major bodies of water. Many shippers choose to drag their ships overland the few miles between the two or to off--load and then reload cargo to make their trip shorter and safer. The port is busy. Corinth has become the business and commercial center of Greece. It will never become the intellectual and cultural center that Athens is, but it is probably the second most important city in the country. This is a busy and prosperous new city. There is little old aristocracy. There is opportunity to move up in business. There is an openness to new ideas and new people. There are many people from many parts of the world here. It is an interesting place to live.

As you turn back to continue your walk, you look up and see the high mountain, Acrocorinth, hovering beyond the city. On it are the ancient fortifications and ornate temples. One of the most prominent is the famous temple of Aphrodite that has made Corinth famous for giving a religious sanction to the sexual permissiveness that is a part of the Greek culture of the day. That is a problem for the church. It is only one of the many problems that come from living in a pluralistic culture.

Finally, you arrive at the house where the church will be meeting. It is a beautiful villa with a large courtyard. The church at Corinth is unique among the early churches in that it has among its members a few of the wealthy and prominent citizens of the city. Of course most of the members, like most of the early Christians in other places, are poor, hard working servants. Some are well educated and hold responsible positions, but they are still clearly of the lower social and economic classes. Some of the newer members of the church still feel awkward about coming into this fine home. Most are not accustomed to being welcomed into the homes of the prominent, except possibly as servants. But all are welcomed. Paul, who was the founding apostle of this church, made it clear that there should be no distinctions among the followers of the way. Everyone remembers that he said, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).

Paul was a very important person to most of the members of the church in Corinth. You remember Paul. He was an intense and energetic person, very deeply committed to what he was doing and saying. He had once been a devout Jew who actually persecuted the church. But after his conversion, he became the chief missionary to the non--Jewish world. He had learned how to articulate the teachings of the Christian faith and to interpret them to people from all sorts of national and religious origins. You remember when Paul came to Corinth. It was a number of years ago. He was on one of his missionary journeys and he recognized the openness to the gospel and also the strategic importance of this place for the spread of the Christian faith. He was clearly excited about the possibilities he saw in the church in Corinth. He spent a year--and--a--half here preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, instructing the converts in the Christian faith and life, and training the people in churchmanship. Paul made a large investment of his energies in this church before moving on. Clearly, he thought it had an important mission to accomplish in the spread of the Christian faith throughout the world.

But Paul left several years ago. Things have changed at Corinth. Some of you who remember Paul are fiercely committed to his teachings. But other teachers have come. Divisions have grown up in the church. Some people are being influenced by the culture and trying to incorporate Gnostic philosophy into the faith and others are trying to interpret Christian freedom in ways that would sanction irresponsibility and even immorality. Some are getting carried away with the ecstatic aspects of the faith and behaving as if it is all about speaking in tongues. Some have real questions that need to be answered about how to live as Christians in their pluralistic world. And some are confused about what to believe about the resurrection. Tensions have developed between the church and Paul. Paul is living in Ephesus now, doing there the same kind of work he did in Corinth. Everyone knows that the letter will address these issues. Although you are all anxious to hear what he will say, there is a certain amount of dread in your anticipation. Paul is known for speaking plainly and you all know that there are some things going on in the church that Paul does not like.

You enter the courtyard and greet the other members of the fellowship. Most are a little more reserved than they usually are, especially those who you know disagree with you about some of the issues Paul is sure to address. Ordinarily, there might have been a love feast or a time for the sharing of witnesses. But this time the letter from Paul will be the primary order of business. Everyone joins in singing some psalms and someone leads a prayer. Then one of the church leaders announces the letter, unrolls the scroll, and begins to read. The anticipation is electric.

The letter starts in a traditional way. Yes, Paul is careful to state the address in a way that makes it clear that he thinks of himself as an apostle by the will of God. He mentions his Christian brother, Sosthenes, whom you know and who is with him in Ephesus. He goes on to address the church as if he thinks you are all something special, people sanctified in Christ, called to be saints, that is, called to be set apart for the service of God, and parts of a larger fellowship that is developing throughout the ancient world. He wishes you all the very best he knows to wish you: grace, the freely given love of God, and peace, wholeness, and salvation from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The address sets the stage with an affirmation. Then Paul goes on to give thanks for the church. He gives thanks for all of the good things that are happening among you and for the gifts and the promises that God has given to you. He also gives thanks for the faithfulness of God who called you into fellowship with him which, he is sure, will lead you through to the fulfillment of his promise.

You feel yourself relaxing a little. You look around and see that others are relaxing a little, too. One fellow, with whom you recently had a heated argument about one of the big issues facing the church, looks at you and smiles. You all know that the letter has just begun. Paul is still going to have a lot to say about all that is going on among you and it will not all be complimentary. But the context has been set in a positive way. You are the church. God is at work among you. Paul knows that and appreciates it. Paul loves you and God loves you. Now you can deal with the issues that need to be dealt with.

Now stop imagining that you are in ancient Corinth. Remember all of the things we have said about that church, because we will be studying lessons from 1 Corinthians for several weeks and all that we have said will be useful background. But now you can see yourself as a part of your own church in the here and now. How much of what has been said still applies?

Is your church not, like the church at Corinth, a church called into existence by God for the purpose of doing God's work in the world? Have you not learned of the saving grace of God through this church? Have you not been taught the Christian way of life here? And have you not seen to it that your own children and others who came into the church were enabled to learn those things, too? What are the special gifts that have been given to your church that give it unique abilities to serve God? What makes your church special?

What is unique about the community in which your church lives and works? What are the unique stresses it puts upon the lives of those who try to be faithful? What are the greatest needs of the community to which your church ought to respond? What unique possibilities do you see in your community to serve God? How can your church best participate in the worldwide mission of the Christian church?

Can you see that, if Paul had indeed been the founding pastor of your church, he might have some of the same excitement about your church's possibilities that he had about those of the church in Corinth?

But now we have to ask the other question, too. Are there any things going on in your church that are interfering with its ability to carry out its mission? Are any of the same things going on in your church that went on in Corinth? Are there any party divisions within your church? Are there people caught up in the worship of personalities, some who liked the last pastor better than the present one and others who are anxious for the coming of the next pastor because they don't really like any of the pastors they have had. Are there theological differences within your church, some who believe that others just do not hold right beliefs? Are there jealousies between people and groups because each of them thinks that their part of the church's work is more important than the others? Are there arguments about the right way to worship? Are there selfish people who insist upon their own rights without regard to the effect of their exercise of freedom on the lives of others? Are there some who act as if they are either spiritually or intellectually a little better than others? Are there some who are embarrassing the church by not living up to the teachings of the faith? Are there some who are taking liberties with the teachings of the faith? All of these things were going on in Corinth. Are there other things that are going on in your church that hinder the effectiveness of the church in doing its work?

Things like that are going on in your church, aren't they? They go on in all churches. And some of us are very disillusioned because of them. Some of us are tempted just to give up on the church and to withdraw into the "solitary spirituality" that so many in our culture advocate and maybe even to feel superior about doing it. But that is no answer.

Paul will go on in his letter to tell us that we ought not to become complacent about these things. The work that the church has to do in the world is too important for us to tolerate petty little things that detract from its effectiveness in its mission. We ought to be very intentional about working these things out. And we can work them out if we approach them in faithfulness to the Christian gospel and in love for each other.

But the most important thing for us to remember is that the church is the church, the fellowship of those set apart for the service of God and commissioned to do the work of God in our communities and throughout the world. We, like Paul, must be able to take a full and honest look at the church as it is and still give thanks for the church and hold on to the confidence that God, who is faithful, will finally be able to help the church become what God wants it to be and to do what God wants it to do. Commit yourself to helping the church become what God wants it to be. But start by giving thanks for the church. End by giving thanks for the church. And, while you are doing everything in between, give thanks for the church.