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1 Corinthians 1 v. 1/17

 

Paul was on a missionary journey having visiting Ephesus when he heard of dispute in the Church at Corinth.

This is the first of Paul’s Letters to this Church, which was situated in the heart of Corinth, a trading and manufacturing centre. The city was a cosmopolitan and sophisticated place where there was sexual immorality, which likened it to the Soho of the day.
Tensions had arisen in the congregation when powerful and arrogant men where preventing Paul’s desire to advance the gospel, due to their reluctance to work together with weaker members, and there was a request for Paul to give guidance.. The worldly view of spirituality and morality did not equate with the Church’s standards, but some members were influenced and were encouraged by false teachers. This was causing disunity, and such grieved Paul who disliked Christians disagreeing. This is what caused him to write and give guidance.

It is disappointing and frustrating when Christians are disagreeing, especially as now when the press revel in seeing and reporting.  Then, as now, a major problem was sexuality which is particularly irritating.

We must decide, are we going to follow what God has laid down or not.  The Bible is unequivocally clear in what we are expected to believe and practise. If anyone in Ministry cannot accept, they should cease to minister, and if there was proper leadership, such would be advised. Unfortunately, a number of our leaders are more confused and unfaithful to the Lord. If a kingdom is divided against itself it cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself that house cannot stand.
One issue which all Christians should be concerned, is that of falling attendances. Whilst we have to accept that we live in a godless age, where the Church is a no go area to a lot of people, except of course when it suits their purpose; occasions arise which demonstrate that there is still a lot of feeling for the Church. It is incumbent therefore for the Church to make a supreme effort to attract those people back.  We will not be successful however when it is seen the Church is divided against itself. It is foolish to suggest we should preach the Christian gospel to intelligent people, who can recognise don’t accept it.

I have taken services at over 30 Churches in and around Bedford over the last few years, many in villages,  but congregations are small. The people live in beautiful surroundings with lovely homes, most in good employment, no anti-social behaviour as some people are forced to endure, so it is not unreasonable to expect them to be grateful for such blessings and give an hour to thank God for such. 
We get told there is pressure on combining home and business life, which makes it hard to attend Church on Sundays, but Muslims seem to manage attending their places of worship it without much difficulty. I can assure however you, if letters were sent to the homes of people in these village parishes telling them the Church was closing there would be an immediate outcry.

There are of course Churches which have large congregations, which suggests logically they are doing something right, which other Churches are not, but they seem few and far between.

In the opening verse of our passage, Paul calls on Christians to agree and be of one mind and judgement. We can only achieve this if we are all one in Christ Jesus. He alone is means of unity and the only way to God.
You will note how relevant this Letter has become to us, as the same thing is happening here and other Western nations. Parts of the Church are embracing, encouraging and accepting society’s moral standards, which causes anguish to others.
If we look at Eastern nations in the Orient and Africa, the Churches are growing at massive rate, and China once seen as the anti-Christ, has now more Christians, and committed ones, than any other nation on earth. In those places, they have not been dismantling the Bible.
Jesus Christ said, ‘I will build my Church.’ In Acts we read the first Christian Church was devoted to the teaching of the Apostles, in consequence ‘the Lord added to their numbers daily’. So there is a message, follow the teaching of the Apostles, who were taught by the Lord Himself. God graciously provided us with a copy of their teaching; it is called the New Testament. That is the purpose of the Church, to preach the gospel, not social or political issues. When we do, the Lord will bless and help us, when we fail and follow the world’s agenda rather than God’s Word, we fail.
When we try to please man rather than God; when we depart from the Bible by adding to or subtracting from, we are causing cracks in the foundation of Apostolic teaching; we are building on sand rather than rock.
If we allow ourselves to withdraw from plain speaking of the gospel, we are failing our Lord and reducing ourselves as a Church, to little more than just another social organisation, perhaps with a spiritual touch, in which case we have nothing to offer those lost souls seeking real spiritual help. We have to show that we do have something special to offer which no other organisation can.
Paul then rebukes them for following and favouring particular preachers. It is natural for us to have a favourite one, but there is also a danger that we may become attached to one who is not a biblical teacher. Paul was concerned, and had occasion to warn that some people, who did not want to hear sound doctrine, were turning to teachers who would say what they wanted to hear rather than what they should hear. 
Paul reminds that Christ was not divided, and neither should we be. We can still worship in different ways, as some like much ceremony and others a simpler method, as long as the doctrine of the gospel is the same. 

There are Churches where the practice is to have different preachers each Sunday, which can be most confusing. As a conservative Minister, I could be followed by a liberal one. who would obviously be of totally different preaching.  The purpose of preaching is to help people to understand and appreciate the Bible, and this can only be worthily done by people being built up with consistent teaching.
Paul turns to baptism, where some were boasting of who baptised them, when it is the act which is important not who the baptiser is. We have situations, where people who never attend Church on a regular basis, ask for a particular Vicar because of a past connection of some kind. But baptism in Paul’s day was not the charade it is today, whereby a person enquires about baptism, and is told to turn up at the Church on a certain date.
I have witnessed Churches, where the scheduled Minister was replaced because the parents, who were not even Church members, wanted their own man from somewhere else. Such is completely unacceptable and makes a mockery of baptism.

Baptism is the most sacred sacrament of the Church. In its original form, it took place when a person made a public confession of faith, repented of past way of life, and turned their life to Christ. This was the way people entered the Church. At some point the Church adopted the practice of baptising the children of committed Christian parents, but it was never meant to be of the indiscriminate kind we practice. A major problem is that people think baptism is for the purpose of giving the child a name. Further, it is rare for them to be taught what baptism is either at the time of consultation, or in the service.

People generally have not the remotest understanding of baptism or the sacred ceremony; it is meant to be the admission to the Church by a person who has made repentance of past sin, and is committing to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ.

What is more unacceptable, is we ask them to make vows to bring up the children in the fellowship of the Church by their example, which they promise to do without any intention of doing so, and we perpetuate this falsehood. How rare to find a Church with a Sunday school these days, or the presence of those who made promises.

In the final verse, Paul emphasised the importance of preaching the gospel in simple words so all could understand and believe, so contrary to some preachers who like to show their intellectual abilities. The Church of England had one eminent person who spoke in such convoluted terms few had any idea what he was talking about.
We must be committed to letting people know what the gospel is in simple, unabridged terms. There are so many people with cares and worries and the Bible offers encouragement and hope, but it must be preached without fear or reservation.
There is now a reluctance to be really faithful to the Bible, for fear of being called a bigot, or accused of having some sort of phobia, if one speaks out. If we face up to reality, we have modified Scripture to avoid offending other faiths or none. Secularists, humanists, and followers of Islam will not allow their beliefs to be suppressed, and neither should Christians; 
Believers have a reasonable expectation that the Churches will stand up for them and not surrender to the humanist agenda.
As Christians we have to make sure our nation continues to hear about Jesus Christ, and stop the attempts to push Him out of public life. We have to make sure an authentic Christian message is heard. At the moment people hear many different voices speaking in the name of Christianity, some of which are not faithful to the Bible’s teaching. The Church must awake from its slumbers, for people need to hear that the Christian message.
May the Lord bless us in this task, and may the Church here
be a part by making this place be a beacon of light in a darkened world.

 

We praise God’s Holy Name and pray God will be Glorified