THE BOOK OF 1 CORINTHIANS: Boasting in the Lord
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by DaVinci Resolve (with edits)
Really, as I was reading through—and especially chapter one—the book of Corinthians, it is amazing how relevant it is still for the church today. Paul could have just wrote that letter for us and said, “Here, here is for Salem. Here for the church in America.” A lot of amazing principles. And I’m grateful for the things that this church experienced and the things that they did well and the areas that they failed because we get to learn from them. And so hopefully we can go and apply some of these things in our own life.
And this morning, I want to encourage you (and every Sunday) to bring your Bible. You’re not allowed to use your cell phone this morning, because I know the Vikings is playing, so I’m worried you’re gonna look at a score and not look at your Bible app this morning, so just use the Bible. And I want you to highlight, in a sense—maybe as we’re going through chapter one, maybe there’s one thing that the Lord is speaking to you. And then I want you to really just take that to heart and ponder and reflect on it this week and allow the Holy Spirit to bring transformation and affirmation and transformation to you this morning.
The City of Corinth
Well, as we look at the city, I thought it’s important, you know, to look at the backdrop and the context of a city, because that really plays a role to understand the challenges of that time period, the things that happened in the city.
And so even when we look at Duluth, right, it’s like, if you get opportunity, there’s a lot of visitors this time of the year, in the summer, and we brag about Duluth, right? So what are some of the things that we will share? We’ll probably take them to Lake Superior. We one time had some friends, they’re from South Africa but they live in Texas, and they came, and we took them out to Lake Superior, and it was like foggy all week. And it’s like, I promise we do have a big lake out there. Nobody could see it, right? But we’ll talk about Lake Superior. We’ll talk about how that impacts our weather, right? We’ll talk about the numerous hiking and bike trails that we have. Maybe we’ll talk about all the new restaurants, like the burger joints, right? Or maybe you’ll take them out to the colleges and show them UMD. And so a lot to share and things that impact our culture in Duluth.
And so Duluth has a certain vibe, right? There’s certain things, all of these things that kind of impact us and shapes us in the way that we think and we do life in Duluth. And the same is true when we look at the city of Corinth.
So a couple of things. There were two ports in Corinth, one in the north and one in the south. And these ports were crucial to the Corinthians’ economic prosperity, enabling it to thrive as a center of trade and commerce. And so when you look at kind of in Corinth—it’s based in Greece, right, in a unique area—the way that the city was shaped, so they had a port in the north and a port in the south. And so several options, as ships were coming in on the north, then they would kind of park their ships there and unload. And then there would be some other ships on the south end, and then they’ll transport their goods instead of going around. It would be about 200 miles to travel around the city. And so sometimes, depending on probably the size of the boat and the type of goods that they had, they would sometimes even lift up the ship and put the ship on rollers and then kind of push the ship over that three to four miles to the south end of the harbor to kind of cut out that 200 miles. Because when you look at commentaries, we see that this was a very dangerous area. So it was much easier to go this route than to actually go around and risk maybe drowning, right? And losing all of your ship. And so obviously, with the way that Corinth was located, where it was located, they were really thriving. A lot of money and a lot of trade that was going on.
The city’s location facilitated commerce and wealth, making it one of the wealthiest cities in the ancient world. It was famous for luxury and materialism, which influenced the social and moral landscape of the city. When you read—and again, some commentaries, you know, modern commentaries and stuff, they’ll say you almost have to think about Corinth as Southern California. I thought that was an interesting picture. But kind of when we think about Hollywood and the influence that has on our culture today, in the same way, Corinth had that type of influence.
The city’s location facilitated—we talked about that.
Corinth was a melting pot of eastern and western cultures, attracting a diverse population, including Greeks, Romans, Jews, and many others. So you can imagine, again, kind of just the different religions coming together and the different views on different things that was going on.
The city was particularly famous for the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And we know that in this temple, they had about a thousand prostitutes, and at night, these prostitutes would go down into the city and obviously practice their trade.
We also know about the Isthmian Games that was held. This was a major athletic competition, second only to the Olympics. So when we look at Paul’s sermons and how he’s using sport, we then realize that there were probably some of these things that influenced some of the examples that he uses in his teaching.
So just a little bit to understand some of the things that were happening in the city.
The Corinthian Church
So now let’s look at, if you have your Bible—we’re not gonna read through that, but to understand how the early church came about, you have to look at Acts 18. Acts 18—so actually when you look at 1 Corinthians, just make a note for you, write down “read Acts 18” because that’s gonna give you the context.
And we see Paul, through his travels, he ends up in Corinth, and he’s teaching in the synagogues. Right? And he stirs up a lot of trouble, like always, and now he gets kicked out. And he starts a church right next to the synagogue. In a house right next to the synagogue is where he’s starting this early church. And so then you’ll see there’s different names, people that come to know Christ, but it’s a great location for Paul in the city with everything that’s going on because he’s able to reach the world with everything that was going on there. And then he starts a church right next to the Jewish synagogue. And we actually see that the original person that was overseeing the synagogue, him and his family get saved. First he created trouble, and then he hears the gospel, and his family gets saved and transformed. And we will see this as we go on.
Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians
So let’s look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. We’ll start in verse 1.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, …
So he, again, is now the person that replaced the person that was the leader of the synagogue. And we will see that he later gets a whippin’ in trying to protect Paul. So he also gets saved. So all of these leaders that’s in charge of the synagogue, Paul is messing with them, and the gospel gets them, and they get saved. Right? And so it’s like, now you have new leaders the whole time. It’s like amazing how the gospel is impacting lives. So:
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 4:
I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, I just want to highlight a couple of things that really spoke to me as I was reading through that.
You Will Be Blameless
First of all, I was just so excited to see how God prepared the church. And Paul is telling them, he says, “You lack nothing. You can be successful. You have every good gift. You have every spiritual gift to be successful as the church.” Now, I got to believe that this is true for us as well in the church today, that God has given us the gifts and talents so that we can be successful as the church until Jesus returns. Can I hear an amen? Okay, do you believe that? Like, some of you are like, “No, I don’t know why I’m sitting here. I didn’t realize I have gifts and talents.” Hey, we can be successful! Amen? As a church. God has blessed the church from the get-go. We see that Paul is reminding them, he says, “You have all the tools. You have all the tools to make an impact in your city.”
And he says, “He will also keep you firm to the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God is faithful, has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, again, kind of looking at the tense here, it says, “You will be blameless.” Are they blameless in that moment? Interesting, so kind of the whole kind of theme here, he’s talking about sanctification, and he’s talking about righteousness and justification. And so he is telling them in a sense here to say, “You are not perfect, but you will be presented blameless on the Day of Judgment.” When Jesus comes, you will be presented blameless, right? And you have been made righteous, and you get to experience as believers the sanctification work of Christ in our lives.
Do you know that in the natural, if we listen to each other’s stories, that you are not perfect? Do you know that? Some of you are surprised by that. Have you looked at your kids lately? I have. My own daughter, and exchange student. Not your kid, sorry, that… Yeah, I don’t have any secret camera in your house, like, ugh. Those Möllers are messing up again, right?
But this is something beautiful then, what Paul is giving us some good theology here, and just saying, “Hey, yes, in the natural, we are sinners. We have issues. We all fall short. But because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross for us, we are made righteous, and we’re forgiven,” right? And then when we are face-to-face with Christ (which I’m very excited about), he is gonna present us blameless. Because I think it is easy for us—when we don’t understand these principles, it is easy for us to get nervous when we think about, “When I stand in front of God, what is he gonna say?” Right? And we judge each other that way, and we judge ourselves today. We think, “Oh, depending on if Jesus comes tonight, how did I do today? How did I perform today?” And it has nothing to do with our performance. It has everything to do with what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us. And so we are made righteous, right, and we’ve been justified through Jesus Christ, and so should we—kind of the whole thing falls apart tonight with everything that’s happening in the Middle East, and suddenly here’s Jesus and it’s trumpets and angels and it’s gonna be exciting, whatever that all looks like. I don’t know what that’s all gonna look like, right? And so then we don’t have to be nervous to think, “Oh man, I was mean to Hailey. I was mean to Venessa. I can’t face God now in this moment.” It’s like, “Lord, okay, don’t look at my sins and all my shortcomings.” No, that’s not what that’s gonna look like. Jesus is gonna present us blameless because of the blood of Jesus Christ that’s on us. Amen? And so that’s great news. So we don’t have to be anxious; we don’t have to be concerned; we don’t have to have fears to stand in front of our God.
And so this is what Paul is telling them. He says, “And so that we will stand firm to the end, so that we will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has you into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our God.”
Wait Eagerly
It is interesting for me, when I look just verse 7, he says, “Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gifts as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” Even back then, Paul was encouraging them to eagerly await. Right? People have been waiting, eagerly awaiting, for a long time. And we just don’t know. They thought maybe Jesus might be coming back pretty soon. So they’ve been waiting a long time, but he says, “Keep on waiting eagerly.”
Are we still waiting eagerly? Right? Maybe we’ve just settled in our hearts to say, “Ah, this is okay. This is as good as it gets. Jesus isn’t gonna return.” The church needs to wait eagerly, but there’s a balance here not to just go, “Oh, I’m eager and I’m excited,” and we’re just kind of looking up, but we don’t actually mean something to the world. There’s a balance, right? One is, we look up, we’re eager, we’re excited, we hope and trust that Jesus will return soon, but in the meantime, as we wait, we don’t just sit back and look up. We also look up, but we also say, “Hey, let me make a difference. Let me be part of the church so that I can preach the gospel.”
Divisions in the Church
Now, I would say, when we read through this book, it challenges one of the main topics or themes that we see throughout this book as he speaks to relationships.
So in Acts 18, we see Paul preaches; he starts this church; he spends about a year and a half in this city; then he moves on.
So now there’s one of the church members, Chloe—somebody, either Chloe or somebody in her household—they write a letter to Paul to say, “Paul, this church that you started, it’s kind of falling apart. They’re messing things up.” What a good reminder that there’s no perfect church. There’s no perfect church, amen? We want to be the perfect church, but you have me, so that’s already a disadvantage, right?
You see, whoever said that, the ushers can just take him outside.
So, Chloe or somebody in her household, they write a letter to Paul, saying, “Paul, you got to do something. This church is falling apart.” And so Paul writes a letter. We see it as 1 Corinthians, but we actually know 1 Corinthians actually should be 2 Corinthians. We don’t have the first letter. But 1 Corinthians—don’t spend a lot of time worrying about that right now.
So, verse 10:
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
And so, Chloe’s writing, somebody in her household is writing, saying, “Paul, we have an issue. People are divided.” Does that sound familiar? Is the church divided today? Okay? At least, even with this, we’re not even hearing about the political piece. We’re hearing them complaining or being divided about who’s kind of serving the right pastor.
So they say, “Well, Peter is our man. We’re only listening to Peter.” Right?
And these other guys, they don’t know what they’re doing.
And then you kind of have the holy group, they’re like, “Oh, we’re only Jesus followers. We’re not gonna listen to Paul.”
Okay, and then you have the Paul group and saying, “Man, Paul, that’s where it’s at.” Right? “Only Paul is correct.”
And so, it wasn’t just disagreements, but this was truly—these little groups were dividing the church. So, this was within pastors or within the different disciples and apostles. And so, they have groups.
And we still see this even today, not just within ministries, but even within the political realm. Nothing is new in this world. Satan has been using division for as long as we know, when we look at his tactics, right? And it is so easy, when we experience division, right, it’s okay, you know—it’s easy for me to just preach about it. But when you’re in a situation and there’s heated conversation, there’s division, that’s not easy to recognize that and to say, “Let’s deal with this. Let’s come together. Let’s be united.” It takes a dose of humility, and it takes an understanding and it takes communication for us to get there. It’s not an easy thing.
And so Paul is just warning them and then to say, “Hey, don’t put the focus on all of these preachers.” He’s warning them. And we still do that today as well, right? We all have our famous preachers, and we kind of put the spotlight on them, and it’s gonna be this guy this week, and next week is gonna be this guy, and it’s all about what he said in his latest book. And everyone else is wrong, right? And right now, all of us are experts because we have YouTube and podcasts and, you know, it’s amazing that you’re sitting here today listening to an African preacher, because you have some of the world’s best preachers, right, available to you.
And so Paul now is gonna warn them. He says, “It is not about Paul. It is not about Peter. It is not about…” (you put in the name). Because now he’s gonna tell them and say, “Did any of these other people actually die on the cross for you?” And Paul is gonna say, “Hey, don’t make it about people. Always make it about Jesus. It’s always about Jesus.” Amen?
Pastors will fail you. If you just watched the last three/four weeks online, you’ve seen again some big names. Pastors will fail you. Don’t build your theology on people. Don’t build your theology on denominations. Build your theology on God’s Word. Amen?
I get… Back when I was in... Now I’m gonna get in trouble here. Back in Fairmont, there was a church, and—great people, great church, did amazing things—but they only had one strong view on Calvinism. And so, this church was always fighting on theology with other churches, like everyone else was wrong except for them with that. And it was like, man, we get in trouble when we’re gonna make it based on just this one view on theology. So, don’t base—it’s not about being Armenian; it’s not being based on Calvinist; like, look at God’s Word, and let’s figure it out together. And so, that’s what Paul is telling them now.
It says:
Is Christ…
Verse 13 then. It says:
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
No! We’re baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen? You’re not being baptized in the name of Steven. You’re not being baptized in the name of the Covenant Church. We’re baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is not about us. It is not about any denomination. God uses those things, but it’s always about Jesus and what He did on the cross for us. If we can keep that focus, we will be a healthy and a well-focused church. Amen?
You guys are so quiet today. A little cold, and then you’re all quiet.
Verse 17:
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
And so here’s Paul. Paul was probably pretty eloquent. He was a smart guy. And he’s saying, “I am just here to preach the gospel. I’m not trying to impress you with my wisdom. I am just gonna preach Christ crucified. That’s it. Because I understand the power that is in the gospel. My wisdom will not add. My wisdom is not gonna transform your life. It is what Jesus Christ did on the cross.”
I really think, as the church, we need to believe in the power of the gospel again. We believe in all kinds of other things: political views; we believe in social justice things—and some of those things can be good, right, in the context of the gospel, but our focus as a church should always be the gospel, and it should always be Jesus, because that’s the power. That’s the power. Nothing else will transform lives if we don’t preach Jesus.
The Foolishness of the Gospel
Alright.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Verse 19, and now he’s gonna quote Isaiah 29:14. You can write that down if you want to, Isaiah 29:14.
For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
And so, again, remember the context. You have the Greek philosophers—they were boasting about their wisdom. They thought it’s all about philosophy. Right? They can figure out everything, every complexity, through philosophy, just being smart or wise or intelligent in that day and age. So that was kind of the Greek philosophers, and that’s why you see some of those different well-known philosophers of that day and age.
And so Paul is saying to them, he says, “It is not about human wisdom. It is not about our philosophies. And all of these things will sound foolish to those that think that they are wise.”
Now, you know, I do try and listen to a lot of podcasts and a lot of Christian podcasts and leadership stuff. And sometimes I get somewhat concerned when you listen to some of these teachings because we create all kinds of different philosophies that take the focus off Jesus, and we think that it’s about our human wisdom and our philosophies. And I really think, and what Paul is telling us—if Paul is preaching it, then it’s okay for me. He says, “Keep it simple and preach Jesus.”
The gospel will always sound foolish to the world. And when you think about it, I mean, yes, it makes sense. Who is this carpenter from nowhere, right, that dies on the cross, that takes our sin, that redeems us, that makes us righteous, and that we’re gonna experience eternity with him? Some of that, in the natural, sounds like you’re drinking or smoking something, right? When we try and do this and solve this in our own minds with the philosophy of this world, it will sound foolish.
But on the other hand, when we listen to the gospel, man, that’s the power, right, to those that believe, to those that are saved. At the end of the day, you and I have two options. Really, that becomes very clear for us when we listen to Paul’s letter here, is to say, “Yes, are you gonna listen to the wisdom of this world, and where’s that gonna lead you? Or are you gonna listen to God’s Word and look and follow the teachings of Jesus and to recognize what he did for us because that’s the wisdom for us as believers?”
But it’s up to us, right? It’s up to each person here and to ask God, say, “God, give me a spirit of discernment. Where is some of the stuff that I’m listening to, the stuff that is influencing me—what is Satan maybe using to distract me and to lead me astray from the power of what Jesus did on the cross for us?”
And we all have it, and the Corinthians’ church was struggling with some of these things, because again, some of the things that were happening in their community that was influencing and impacting them. And the community said, “It’s about your wealth. It is about your influence. It’s about your wisdom.”
And Paul is saying to all of them, it’s like, and to the church, say, “Do not fall into that trap. Be wise. Be wise.” And so for us this morning, be wise. Pray about it. Pay attention. Do we believe in the power of the cross? Do we believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Just the basics. Do you still get excited about that truth in your own life? Amen?
