The sermon provides an overview of the issues faced by the Corinthian church as addressed in the Book of 1 Corinthians. It highlights the divisions, immorality, and confusion within the church, such as arguments over leadership, sexual immorality, and disorder during worship. The speaker notes that while many romanticize the early church, the Corinthians' problems reveal the challenges they faced. The sermon emphasizes that Paul's letters, now readily available, offer guidance and correction, urging modern believers to learn from these historical issues. The speaker stresses the importance of being unified in Christ and warns against division, using Paul's relationship with Sosthenes as an example of reconciliation. The sermon concludes by calling the congregation to embrace reform and unity, drawing strength from the transformative power of the Gospel.

1 Corinthians chapter 1 beginning in verse 1. It allows the congregation to stand as God now speaks. Hear now the word of our God. Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sostanese our brother, to the Church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May God bless the reading and now the preaching of this perfect word. Amen. Amen, you may be seated. Brothers and sisters, if there was ever a book that was perfect for getting a pastor in the most possible trouble, probably this one. Why?

To put it in the modern vernacular, it's quite punchy. Chapter one, there's disunity in the church at Corinth. They're arguing with each other. The church at Corinth is full of division. Chapter two, there's spiritual immaturity in the church at Corinth.

Chapter three, they're literally fighting with one another over who their favorite preacher and Bible teacher is. There's jealousy and strife. Chapter four, quarrels over leadership and people wanting to lead that shouldn't and questioning authority, arrogance. Chapter five, a man is having sex with his mother or stepmother. There's no church discipline.

Chapter six, Christians are suing one another to having pagans give judgment instead of dealing with it in the church. They sue each other and instead of dealing with it together, they go outside and say, let's let pagans judge. Also in chapter six, men are having to be told that sleeping with prostitutes isn't in fact okay. Chapter seven, questions on marriage and divorce and celibacy and what widows should do. There's confusion on circumcision, confusion on how God views children in the church.

Chapter eight, there's all kinds of confusion about what to do with idols. Are they real? What about the stuff sacrificed to the idols? Can we eat that stuff? We've got a city full of idols.

What do we do with it? Chapter 9, divisions over whether you should pay your pastors. Chapter 10, abusing the gifts of God. Chapter 11, people are getting drunk at the Lord's table. Getting drunk during communion.

Abusing the Lord's table, not waiting for each other, not partaking in the table rightly, and as a result people are suffering people are getting sick big-time also in chapter 11 head coverings that's an easy one women not doing right in the church feminism in the church chapter 12 abusing the spiritual gifts of God tons in prophecy and rampant disorder in the gathering. Chapter 13, problems with love. Chapter 14, more problems with worship, more problems with disorder in the church chapter 15 confusion about the resurrection Which means confusion about the very gospel itself? Chapter 16 difficulties in submitting to elders. I mean talk about a church that has issues.

Now I've heard people say before and I'm sure you've heard this maybe you've even said it yourself and I know you've meant it rightly. I'm not at all making fun of anybody that said this. But you maybe have heard or maybe you've said, I just wish that we could get back to the early church. I just wish we could be more like the Christians in Paul's day. Men sleeping with their mothers and stepmothers, Christians suing each other and asking pagans to be the judge, people getting drunk during communion, going to be with prostitutes is commonplace in your congregation.

Your worship service is a nut house because there's complete chaos and disorder. I just wish we could get back to the early church. I don't think so. No, if anything, as we are introduced to this book, it should make us rejoice and be glad that we have such a huge advantage that the Corinthian church did not have at this time. We don't have to wait for letters to come in the mail to tell us what we're doing wrong and all the ways that we need to reform.

Now we have Paul's letter and letters, plural, right here, right now. And not only do you hear it on the Lord's Day, you can then take it home with you, you can take this home with you, and you can read it, you can meditate upon it, you can plead with God to work it into you, that it come out. We have 2, 000 years of New Testament church history and tradition, and an additional 4, 000 years of Old Testament church history, so that we might know the truth, believe the truth, and obey the truth about God and how we're to live in his world as his church. Right here at Crossroad. So saints hear me.

You just heard the litany of problems, the litany of issues that Paul addresses in this letter. It's very punchy. 1 Corinthians without a doubt is going to ask you and it is going to ask us as a church to change By God's grace, I am not aware in this church of anyone getting drunk during communion. It'd be very hard with the Jews. God is going to call us to change.

We're not going to be able to make it through this book without being punched. Some things will just rejoice and be glad. That's not a problem for us. But let it not be a problem. Let's run away from it.

Let's pursue righteousness. But we will not be able to go through this book without getting punched, without being called to reform, without our feelings getting hurt. That's going to happen. It's very highly probable that one of these Sundays might leave you a little bit upset, which is really good for your pastor if he has any kind of people pleasing left in him. There it is.

It's in the text that God's preaching. So as you come, As we come to this text, you can either come to this text given to you by the very breath of God, and you can be humbled by it, and you can be softened unto the Lord, and be transformed, or you can be hardened by it. One of those two things is going to happen. You can be softened or you can be hardened. Children, you can be softened or you can be hardened.

To be hardened is like a rock. It's unchanging, and it will sink to the pit. But to be softened is to be raised up to newness of life with Jesus Christ himself. So we can be softened. We can receive this letter as Church of Crossroad and we can say together with Paul in the Holy Spirit yes and amen thus saith the Lord thus we will do that's my prayer for us We can be made more like Jesus or we can be like the Corinthians, who we learn in 2 Corinthians, at least in some areas, didn't listen very well.

And as a result, Paul had to write to them another letter with tears in his eyes, and it caused the Corinthians much grief. It was a severe letter. We find that in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and 2 Corinthians chapter 7. He had to visit them again, And it was a painful visit. I'm going to read about that in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and chapter 7.

Church, that can't be us. It can't be us. It cannot be like the Corinthians there. So children, I have a question for you. Children, Listen to me please.

When you have, when your parents children say hard things to you, when your parents ask you to do hard things, is it sometimes difficult to obey? Children, can I see some yes? Yes. When your parents ask you to do a hard thing, sometimes it's very hard to obey, isn't it? But even though they ask you to do something very hard, Does that mean you don't get to obey?

No. No, you obey even when it's hard because that's what God says is right. And why else children? Because the hard things that your parents ask you to do end up usually being the thing that makes you the most happy and the strongest. Church, that's what we've got to be.

We've got to be children of God that do not put God to the test and instead say you call us to this thing, you call us to something hard, this reform is not easy, but it will make us happy. It will be best for us. So are you up for that? Are you up for giving yourself to reform in this church if God calls us to it? Are you up for a holy punch in the gut most Sundays?

It's going to hurt sometimes, but it's the kind of punch that will leave you the happiest people on Earth. Man, sign me up for that kind of punch. Amen. For happy are the people whose God is the Lord, the Lord of first Corinthians. So that's an introduction to the introductory sermon that I'm preaching.

And I've already given you a chapter by chapter outline briefly of what's going on in this book. So, in the time that we have left, I want to answer three questions this morning as we get a grip on this letter. Three questions, very simple questions. Who's the author? Who's the audience?

And what's the aim? Author, audience, aim. Question number one, who's the author? Who's the author? Now talk about an easy question.

It's the first word in our text this morning. I love it when it's the first word. What's the first word? Paul. Paul is the author of 1 Corinthians.

Even the most liberal theologians are like, yeah, he wrote it. Now it's kind of confusing though that we call this book 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians can give you a wrong kind of vibe because it's actually not Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. It's the first letter that we have, but it's not Paul's first letter. I'm going to show you that.

Look at chapter five. So in your scripture journal or your Bibles, 1 Corinthians chapter five, look at verse nine. 1 Corinthians chapter five, verse nine. Paul says, I'm looking at verse 9. First Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9.

Paul says, I wrote to you In my letter, which letter? It's a different letter. It's a different letter than this one. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. So Paul wrote an earlier letter to the Corinthians before he wrote this one, possibly more than one letter to the Corinthians.

It ought not to surprise us that a man like Paul, an apostle, is writing to the churches multiple times. He loves these people. That's one thing that's very clear throughout 1st Corinthians and 2nd Corinthians that although it's hard things that Paul is saying, he loves this people, loves them. Not to be surprising that Paul has written to the Corinthians before. If you look same chapter but verse 11 He says it again.

Look at verse 11. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 11, but actually I wrote to you, that's past tense, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person. So are you seeing that? This isn't the first communication that Paul has had with this church. He's written to them before, and we don't have those earlier letters.

Why? Because God doesn't want you to have them. You don't need them. God didn't intend for you to have those earlier letters. He intended for you to have this one.

And so you do. And praise God we got it. Praise God we got it. So Paul's been communicating with the Corinthian church before this point, and the Corinthians have actually been communicating with him as well. So look at chapter 7.

Look at chapter 7 verse 1. Chapter 7 verse 1. Look at what we see there. Chapter 7 verse 1. Now concerning the things about which you wrote.

Do you see that there? Now concerning the things about which you wrote. It's not, It is good for a man not to touch a woman. They've written to Paul. They've written to Paul.

So I just want you to get the full picture here. Not only has Paul written to them, but they've written to Paul, and that helps us realize that a large part of 1 Corinthians is a response to all that they've asked of Paul. Paul's written to them, they've written back to Paul, Paul's written to them, they've written back to Paul, and here in this letter, which kind of operates like one side of a phone conversation that you're listening to, oh, it makes sense now. He's responding to all the things that they've asked him. So when he goes from topic to topic to topic to topic and you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you just keep going.

It's not as confusing because you realize, well, they know what they've asked him. These are the things that they've asked him about. So Paul has written to them, they have written to Paul. This isn't Paul's first communication with Corinth. So when you come to 1 Corinthians, I just don't want you to think that this is Paul's first rodeo with him.

In fact, you're going to learn in just a bit that it's Paul is the one who planted the Corinthian church in the first place. Paul planted this church. He spent considerable time with this church, considerable time. He knows what's going on there, because he's been there, and because he's been writing to them, and because he's been hearing reports. He's been hearing reports.

He's been hearing reports about all the sin and division going on in that church, And I want you to see that too. I want you to see that too. So go back to chapter 1. Go back to chapter 1 We've seen that he's been writing letters. We see he's been getting letters and now he's also been getting reports 1st Corinthians chapter 1 look in verse 11 verse 11 for I have been informed concerning you my brethren by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you I've been informed concerning you by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you so Paul has people on the ground in Corinth or nearby Corinth, Chloe's people.

We'll talk more about her when we get to verse 11. But this is a people that he very much trusts and they have been Paul's eyes and ears in a way into the health of the Corinthian Church. So let's just put all that together to help us kind of approach this letter. Number one, Paul has been there with the Corinthians himself. Number two, Paul has been writing to them.

Number Three, Paul has been getting letters from them. And number four, he's been hearing about them from those he trusts. That's what you have here in your hands, 1 Corinthians, which is a culmination of all of that information in Paul responding to it. That gets helpful as we approach this book. Now, sometimes when I'm reading books of the Bible, especially the epistles, I can get confused about chronology.

Can anybody else struggle with that? Oh man, now the ninth commandment, we just did that. Nobody else? Okay, well you're not going to like the next part of the sermon. When did Paul write this letter?

How does it fit into the missionary journey in the book of Acts? I'll read a letter and I'll go, man, where was that in Acts? It'd be really helpful to know what was going on in Acts because it'd probably really inform the way I understand this text. Wouldn't it be nice to know? So I was thinking, how is the best way to introduce this book?

And I thought, well, I'm gonna give them what I would want. So I'm gonna take you to the book of Acts. We're not gonna be confused about what's happening in Acts and how 1 Corinthians relates to the book of Acts. I want you to know exactly what Paul was doing in the book of Acts when the Corinthian Church was planted. I want you to see it.

Wouldn't that be nice? Good, good. Let's go there together. Let's go to Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18.

If you're taking notes, write that in big letters. Acts 18. This is the context in which the Corinthian church is planted. We're Asking the question, in Acts 18, how did the Corinthian church come about? What's the context that surrounds the beginning of this church?

And how does that help inform our understanding of this passage, this book, this letter? So Acts chapter 18, beginning in verse one, we join Paul on his missionary journey Corinth look at verse 1 of Acts 18 After these things he that's Paul left Athens and went to Corinth So at the end of Acts 17, he's in Athens and he's delivering his famous sermon, that Mars Hill sermon at the Areopagus in Athens. That's the end of Acts 17. He leaves the Athenians and he goes to Corinth verse 2 and he found a Jew named Aquila a native of Pontus Having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. Who was Claudius?

He's the Roman Emperor who at the time was tired of the Jews. I think he probably thought they were lazy. Man, they take a break every seven days. I don't like it. I don't know.

I should probably know more why he didn't like the Jews. But that's one option. So he sends all the Jews out of Rome and as a result Paul meets this Manoquilla and his wife Priscilla and they're of the same trade as Paul. What was Paul's trade? Verse 3, he came to them.

Yeah, you guys got it right. Verse 3, he came to them and because he was up the same trade he stayed with them and they were working for by trade they were tent makers tent makers verse 4 and he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks Now that gives you an idea of what kind of people there are in the church at Corinth. That clues you in. There are Jews and God-fearing Greeks. I want you to notice that.

Notice there are Jews and Greeks in the synagogue. So these aren't quite the same kinds of people that were in Athens in Acts 17, people that just wanted something new. These are people that were God-fearers. These are synagogue people. There was some kind of fear of God in them, but they don't know him yet.

Why? Because they don't know his son Jesus. So Jews and Greeks in the synagogue, verse 5, but when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. So when Silas and Timothy show up, Paul goes, sweet! I've been having fun making tents and working, but now I'm getting full-time gospel ministry.

Now I'm going full-time gospel preaching. He goes full-time preaching and he does this particularly to the Jews first. Verse 6, but when they the Jews resisted and blasphemed he shook out his garments and said your blood be on your own heads for I am clean from now on I will go to the Gentiles. So Paul goes to the Jews they resist him they blaspheme He shakes out his garments and says, your blood's on your own head. I'm going to the Gentiles.

Now this is significant. It's quite the statement from Paul to the Jews. That is a fulfillment of Ezekiel chapter 33. Do you remember Ezekiel 33? Don't expect you to.

God says that there's to be a watchman for the people. And a righteous watchman for the people is to warn his people of coming danger. And when the people don't listen to the watchman, it's not the watchman's bad. The blood of the people who reject the watchman is on their own heads. And Paul says, Ezekiel 33, fulfilled in your midst.

There's going to be blood on your own heads. Becoming judgment on the Jews is their own doing. This is also a fulfillment of Nehemiah chapter 5, where the shaking out of a garment is the way that God curses a people. Now do you remember when Jesus tells his disciples to go to the house of Israel? It says, go to the house of Israel.

Matthew chapter 10. Jesus tells his disciples, and if anyone, as you go to the house of Israel, if anyone doesn't receive you, do what? Shake off the dust of your shoes. This is almost identical imagery, same imagery. Shake out your garments.

Shake off the dust of your shoes. It's the same idea. This was what Jews would do when they came home from a pagan land back into their own country. When Jews returned from being in pagan country, in Gentile land, they would shake out their garments as they entered into their own country as a symbol, we're not bringing in the corruption out there. That's paganness, that's sin, that's evil, that's corruption, we're getting rid of it, we're shaking it out, because we're going into purity.

There's curse out there, there's defilement out there, we're entering our land clean. Now, did you hear that? When Jesus says what he says in Matthew chapter 10, and when Paul says what he says in Acts 18, shake out his garments, When he shakes out his garments to the Jews, he's using the Jews own symbolism against them. Think about what he's saying. You're the pagans now.

You're the cursed ones now. You're the defiled ones now. This is really heavy stuff in Acts 18. This is the kind of stuff that turns the world upside down. This is world upside down stuff.

Wait a minute. The Jews are the pagans now? Yeah, because they've rejected Jesus Christ. Paul says to these Jews, you're the pagans now and I'm going to the Gentiles. And he does exactly that in verse seven of Acts 18.

We'll keep going in Acts 18. So then he left there, Paul leaves there, and he went to a house of a man named Tidius Justice, a worshiper of God whose house was next to the synagogue. So Paul gets to Corinth, he lives with Priscilla and Aquila, he tries to evangelize the Jews, they blaspheme Jesus Christ, he shakes out his garments, you're the pagans now, And he moves in with a Greek, a Gentile, Tidius Justus, who it says is a worshiper of God. Now, in case you're confused, Paul is not mad at Priscilla and Aquila. He didn't like move out of Priscilla and Aquila's house because he didn't think they were doing a good job making tents.

But he was done with the Jews. He was like, I wanna move. I'm gonna go right next to where all the action is. I'm gonna go to the Gentiles. So he moves in with a God-fearing Greek.

And it says in the text that the God-fearing Greek lives right next to the synagogue. Now, I think that detail is very important. Because I think Paul, moving right next door to the synagogue, indicates that God is converting a whole bunch of people in that synagogue, Jews and Greeks. Probably more Greeks than Jews, but regardless, God is saving a whole bunch of people and God's starting a church there, the Corinthian Church. So Paul, an apostle, is going to be right there in the midst of that work.

And indeed, that's exactly what we see in verse 8. Verse 8, Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, the synagogue leader, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing in being baptized. So the synagogue leader is converted. The leader of the Jewish synagogue, which throughout the book of Acts is never friendly towards the apostles. They're not, you know, given the old boom.

No, they are at enmity. And the leader of the synagogue gets converted. God converts Crispus under Paul's preaching. And he repents of his sin. He believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and reigning.

And then it's as if God made the world in a covenantal way, which he did. Because then a whole bunch of people under Crispus in the synagogue repent and are baptized, repent and believe. God made the world with covenant. You live in a world that you just cannot escape covenants. And a covenant head like Crispus can bring blessing or cursing.

This is the way God made the world. The leader, the covenant head, really does invite blessings and curses upon a family, upon a church, upon a nation, and even upon a synagogue. That's what we see here in Acts 18. The beginning of the Corinthian church. He converts the synagogue leader and Paul is right in the thick of it.

This is where I want to be. But at the same time, in the very next verse, what do we see? We see that Paul is very troubled. Paul is troubled. Look at verse 9.

The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent. Now, verse nine really encouraged me this week. I was so encouraged by verse nine. You should be encouraged by verse nine. Verse nine tells us that Paul struggled with fear.

Paul was afraid. It's just so good to know that Paul's flesh and blood. And God gives Paul a promise. Verse 10. For I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city." What has Paul been afraid of?

Look at that verse carefully. What's Paul been afraid of? People harming him. It almost undoubtedly means that there's been death threats. We're going to get you Paul.

When you're sleeping in bed, we're going to get you. They want to harm Paul. And that's distressed him. That's troubled him. Paul's scared.

Paul isn't excited about being in Corinth anymore. And Jesus says, Paul, don't you listen to your feelings. Don't you listen to your feelings. You won't come to harm, at least here. You are going to come to harm in other places, but not yet.

Don't you listen to your feelings. You stay here. And so What does Paul do? He doesn't listen to his feelings. Instead he listens to Jesus who is Lord over his feelings.

And he stays there for a year and a half. Now that's standing on the promises. Now brothers and sisters, which is what I mean by punchy, 1 Corinthians is like that a lot. It doesn't matter how you feel about it. It matters what God says.

You don't come to God's word with your feelings and shape the word based on how you feel. No, You shape your feelings based on what God's word says. You've got to do that. It's not very popular in our world. Everybody's just supposed to empathize.

We don't do that. We say, what do you say, God, and let me believe it? That's what Paul does. He stays for a year and a half. Verse 11, he settled there in Corinth a year and six months, 18 months, teaching the word of God among them.

Verse 12, but while Galiel was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, saying, This man persuades men to worship God, contrary to the law. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galios said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or of a vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you. But if there are questions about words and names and your own law, hey, you look after that yourselves. I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters, and he drove them away from the judgment seat. So what's going on there?

In Corinth, the Jews are angry with Paul. People are being converted. The Corinthian church is being established. And they don't like that. Throughout the Book of Acts, the Jews are constantly trying to get the church and constantly trying to get the apostles in trouble.

And who does God appoint to protect the church? I find this fascinating Who does God appoint to protect the church? The Romans The Romans do this throughout the book of Acts. It's very unique Throughout the book of Acts the Apostles are in trouble. The church is in trouble.

Oh, no, what's gonna happen? The pagans show up and they shut it down. Now at some point God does make the Romans into the bad guys again. Emperor Nero, he treated Christians horribly. But a few centuries after Nero, you've got Rome declaring that Christianity is the one true religion.

So I just find all that amazing. God takes a pagan people, He uses them for His eternal purposes. He protected His church in its infancy by using pagan Romans. Now, Christian, the God who made you, the God who saved you, can take a people, if he can take a people who hate him, who are at enmity with him, the Romans, and he can use them for the good of his people and protect his church in the midst of paganism. If God can do that with Romans then, can he not do that today for you?

Pagans are all around you, can he not do that for you? Absolutely. And even more wonderful, he can then take that same pagan people and convert them so that you have a Roman Emperor 300 years later declaring Christianity the one true religion Paul is protected by the Romans here Then verse 17 happens now pay attention here. It's my favorite part the favorite part of Acts 18 pay attention here Verse 17 and they the Jews all took hold of Sostanese. Okay, so Galio is not going to do anything Galio is not going to do anything.

Hey, you guys are being dumb. I'm not gonna mess with the church So the Jews they're mad The synagogue people are mad So they all took hold the Sosnes the leader of the synagogue and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. So there's a new synagogue leader. Do you remember earlier in Acts 18 what happened to the old synagogue leader? He was converted.

So they replaced him. That's what it seems like. Crispus became a Christian, so now there's, Crispus is gone, he's probably a leader in the Corinthian church, potentially. Then you've got Sosthenes, but what happens to him? Well, apparently he's not been hard enough on Paul, he's not been hard enough on the Christians in Corinth, and so he gets beaten by his own people.

But here comes the Romans again. They don't care. But Galio, the Roman leader, was not concerned about any of these things and Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria. With him were Priscilla and Aquila. Now remember verse 17 about Sosthenes.

He's going to come back. I'm going to come back to him. But After 18 months, Paul leaves. That's how the Corinthian church is planted. Kind of got a flavor for it?

I hope that's helpful to you. It is very helpful to me. Acts chapter 18, Paul plants the church at Corinth. And if you were to look in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, you would actually see him use those words. I planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the growth.

So if you look at later on in Acts 18, you're going to see a guy named Apollos show up. And Priscilla and Aquila, they help him out, and Apollos helps the church out in Corinth. I planted in Acts 18, Paul says. Apollos watered, and God gave growth. So Paul plants the church, and Then three years later or so, while he's in Ephesus, Paul writes this letter.

He stays with him for 18 months, he's been there, he knows the people, he's planted the church. He leaves three years or so later, he's in Ephesus, and he writes 1 Corinthians. And you might ask, well how do you know where he was I like that question I'll show you go to the very end of the book first Corinthians chapter 16 you don't have to be in acts anymore first Corinthians chapter 16 if you want to see this first Corinthians chapter 16 verse 8. Chapter 16 verse 8. Paul says, I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost.

So where's Paul at when he's writing? In Ephesus. So we have the full picture now. We know how the church was planted and we know where Paul is at as he's writing this letter to the church that he planted all the way back in Acts chapter 18. Okay, go back with me to chapter one.

First Corinthians chapter one. You're going to get really good at flipping through First Corinthians today. First Corinthians chapter one, verse one. We've identified the author. I've tried to labor the point.

Paul called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God We're gonna talk more about those words next Lord's Day. I'm gonna drill down a little bit into apostle So I'm gonna come back to verses 1 through 3 Do more exposition Let's keep going Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and what Sosan is our brother up does that sound familiar does that sound familiar I knew you would like it acts 18 I knew it would be helpful should be He's a leader of the synagogue that got beat up when Paul was planting the church, right? Wasn't that Sostanis? Acts 18, he gets beat up by the Jews because he's a leader of the synagogue. Why?

Why include Sostanis? First, I got two reasons. Reason number one, what does the law say? What does the law tell you? The law says that only by the mouth of two or more witnesses shall a matter be established.

Do you remember what the law says? That's Deuteronomy 19.15. By two or more witnesses, it has to be at least two witnesses, then a matter can be established as true, right. Paul knows God's law. God knows his law.

And so under divine inspiration Paul says, hey it's not just me saying these things. It's not just me. Don't just take my word for it. There are at least two witnesses that bear testimony that what I write is true. And so Paul includes Sosthenes as the second witness who says amen to all that Paul writes in the letter and then he includes a whole bunch of other guys at the end of the letter so there's way more than two witnesses.

Paul wants you to know it is not my opinion. It's not my opinion. This is established truth. So that's one reason why Sosnes is included and that's pretty much consistent with almost every one of Paul's letters. Some of them he doesn't do it quite quite that way but in most introductions, Paul and somebody, Paul and somebody, He's establishing the truth of the matter.

Two or more witnesses. Now there's another reason why Sostanis is included. I'm gonna make you wait. I don't have a lot longer to go. I'm gonna make you wait.

This is my favorite part. So I'll leave it to the end. Okay, so we're gonna come back to that. But remember the end of verse one, Sostany is our brother. He's included because two or more witnesses, but also there's a secondary reason.

In fact, I think even more important reason. We'll come right back to it. Look at verse two. To the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Who is the audience?

It's really obvious. To the church at Corinth. The church at Corinth. That's easy. And as we've seen in Acts 18, this is a mix of converted Greeks and converted Jews, many of them coming from the synagogue.

And you can remember from earlier in the sermon that Paul has to deal with men in the church that are confused About what living as a Christian looks like So there are men in the church many of them coming from even the synagogue that are confused about what it looks like to live as a member of Christ's church. You've got men routinely visiting prostitutes. You've got men and women getting drunk during communion. Sexual immorality, not just prostitutes, you have a man with his father's wife. So it's either his mother or stepmother.

Either way gross, either way covenantally wrong, sin. So it all seems in my mind when I'm reading through first grade it seems really bizarre. I mean, but in terms of the culture there at Corinth, It's actually, to everyone else in Corinth, these things would have been very normal. Very normal. You need to understand the audience a little bit.

You need to understand that Corinth was a seaport, and by nature of being a seaport, it attracts all kinds of travel, all kinds of men going in and out. So it's a city full of vice. It's a city full of vice. It's a, it's a, in Paul's day, to fornicate, to do something immoral, to do something seedy. It was so commonplace in the city of Corinth that to visit prostitutes, to be gluttonous, to do all kinds of seedy things, they called it to Corinthianize.

Okay? So that's, the city has a slang word so that when people enter into debauchery, they don't even call it debauchery, they say, oh, you're Corinthianizing. That's a pretty rough place. That pretty confused place. That's a pretty pagan place.

And you have men that are coming from the synagogues, God-fearers, who are still confused. So that's the culture of Corinth. Sorted things. They celebrate gluttony, celebrate sexual immorality, they revel in drunkenness. They're Corinthianizing.

And so Paul, throughout this letter, is calling the Corinthians, throughout this letter, out of their sin, out of their old way of Corinthian izing and into righteousness because Jesus has done something as one brother puts it he's telling the Corinthians hey God took you out of the Egypt of your sins. He took you out of Corinth. You no longer belong to this orgy. He took you out of Egypt of your sin, and now you need to get the Egypt out of you he took you out of the orgy of Corinthian izing and now he took you out of that but you've carried that in your hearts We need to get that out of you There's one thing for you to get out of Egypt. There's another thing for Egypt to get out of you.

And so Paul calls them out of Egypt and into righteousness. So you're going to hear Paul doing this. In fact, I just used the example of Egypt and the people of God. And that's actually what Paul, he uses that same example, which is why I used it. So if you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, you don't need to go there.

But he uses Egypt and the Israelites in the wilderness to warn them about leaving Egypt, but taking Egypt with them. He's applying that to the Corinthians today. Hey, I set them free. I literally miraculously brought them out of Egypt. They're on the brink of the promised land.

But they just took Egypt with them. Stop it. Don't you do that too. He's warning them. He's giving them the example of the Israelites in the wilderness say, hey, this is what they did.

You don't do it. Put this to death in you. Don't take Egypt with you. Stop Corinthianizing. You need to stop being like everyone else around you.

Stop Corinthianizing and start acting like the Israel of God. Because that's who you are, Paul says. And actually, that's what verse two is all about. We're going to get to it next Lord's Day, Lord willing. But verse 2 is this is what God called them to be.

This is what God has made them. This is who he has created them in Christ Jesus to be. And that brings us to our third and final part of this introduction. It's the aim. The aim, the purpose of 1 Corinthians.

He wants the Corinthians to stop living like everyone else around them. They are the Church of Jesus Christ. They are the body of Jesus Christ. They are united to Almighty God. They come to His table every Lord's Day by grace through faith and that changes everything about the way they should live.

And being united to Jesus Christ changes everything about the way you should come together as a church. It changes everything about the way you you live outside of here And it changes everything about the way you do things in here as a church. So what is the big deal in Corinth? If I had to whittle it down and say, what is the overarching issue in 1 Corinthians? It's easy.

It's easy. One of the biggest issues right out of the gate in Paul's letters, the biggest issue in Corinth is division, disunity. That's a huge reason. That's the preeminent reason that Paul is writing this letter. Look at chapter 1 verse 10.

Look at chapter 1 verse 10. What is chapter 1 verse 10? I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you may be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. He's writing because there's divisions, and he says there cannot be divisions among you. Christ's body is not divided, neither can you be.

Look at verse 11, chapter one, verse 11, the next verse. He says, there are quarrels among you. For I've been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you. Look at verse 12. What are the quarrels about?

Well, here's one of them. Now, I mean this, that each one of you is saying, I'm of Paul, and I have Apollos, and I have Cephas, and I have Jesus Christ. You got guys arguing about which kind of theology they're following. You got the guy, oh man, I'm a Paul guy. Oh, I'm a Peter guy.

Well, I'm a Apollos guy. Then you got the guy in the back that just thinks He's got the trump card. Hey man, you guys follow man. I follow Jesus like okay, we're gonna deal with that but So you got that going on you got division and Paul says hey you guys stop that Stop that nonsense. He is very righteously upset about this.

It just saturates the letter. Serious division. I mean, you can see it throughout the letter. They're taking each other to court. They're not taking communion together.

That's division. I don't care about you. I'm just gonna get my drink and get my bread and go eat it. I'm gonna take my meal and don't care about the rest of the body. That's serious division.

And Paul says stop. That has to stop. Stop dividing the body of Christ. Christ died on the cross. Listen to this.

Christ died on the cross So that his body would live in union with him with one another Jesus Christ body was broken for you so that you as his body would be made whole. That's 1 Corinthians. So how does Paul start the book? If unity versus division is perhaps the major theme of the book, and it is, how does he start the book? Do you remember how I said remember Sosinus?

Sosinus. Remember how I told you to remember that man that got beat up by his own people? Leader of the synagogue, Sosthenes. He's not hard enough on Paul probably, but you remember him? Well, he's a synagogue leader in Acts 18.

That is the definition of being at odds with Paul. You got that? Paul and Sostanis were not united in Acts chapter 18. You could say that Paul representing the church and Sostanis representing the synagogue were the definition of disunity and division. But now here in verse one, here's the same two men, Paul and Sosnes, and now they're standing side by side in unity.

Sosnes got beat up and at some point he said, I forget you guys, and he turned to Jesus Christ. And so Paul starts off the book by giving you an example of brothers dwelling in unity. Right at the beginning. Paul and Sosanese, two men once at great odds, now standing together as brothers dwelling in unity. And you're supposed to ask in Verse 1, whoa, how did that happen?

How did that happen? And Paul says in verse 18 of chapter 1, here's how it happened. The power of God happened. Christ crucified happened. Christ resurrected happened.

His body was broken so that his people could and would be made whole. His body was broken on a tree. His was the curse so that his people, his body, would come together around his body and blood and be one. A people eating his broken flesh, a people eating his shed blood are a people made whole. They're a body raised to walk in newness of life, a body that is not divided.

For Christ was divided for them. Christ was broken for them. So that they would be made whole. Do you see what Paul's doing? Paul begins the letter with giving an example of brothers dwelling in unity.

And then he says, this is the opposite of what you're doing. Brothers dwelling in unity, if Paul and Sostanes can get together by the power of the gospel, cannot You? He begins the letter with brothers dwelling in unity. And you know how I like to do this. How does he end the letter?

Wouldn't it be cool if he ended it in the exact same way? He does. At the very end of the letter, do you know what man he names at the end of the letter? He names a number of men, but there's one that should really catch your attention. Because at the beginning of the book they're arguing who's better, Paul or Apollos.

And what does Paul say at the end of the book? You know how you're arguing about like you got some of you like me and some of you like him? Paul says, he's my dear brother. He is so dear to me. Paul could have easily made Apollos at the end of the book out to be his rival.

No, Paul mentions Apollos and he mentions several other men. And what's he doing there at the end of the book? It's the same thing he's doing at the beginning of the book. These are brothers dwelling in unity. At the beginning of the book, the beginning of the letter, an example of brothers dwelling in unity, standing in contrast to the division of the Corinthian church.

At the end of the letter is an example of unity among brothers standing in contrast to the division that exists in the Corinthian church. 1 Corinthians is bookended by brothers dwelling together in unity. What do you think the letter is about? Brothers dwelling together in unity. Sisters dwelling together in unity in Jesus Christ, crucified for them, so that they would be one in Him.

Paul is saying in this letter, stop being divided. I think in our day we could say something like this, stop with the brother wars. Stop with the brother wars. You don't get to excommunicate people until they get excommunicated. That's not your job.

So maybe some of us have got to get off Twitter and get off Facebook and get off YouTube and like love on our kids. Some of us have got to get off that stuff and say, it's not my job to do the excommunication. It's my job to be united with the brethren. Stop the brother wars. I don't want that in our congregation.

I know it goes on like crazy out there in the world. I'm so glad I don't have Twitter. I hear about it as someone that's not on social media. Stop that in here. If that's in here, you gotta stop that.

We're not canceling people out that Jesus doesn't cancel out. I got excited there, sorry. Probably shouldn't be the next time. Stop the brother wars in the church. Stop being divided.

I don't want us to say, I like this guy, and I don't like this guy, and you like this guy, and I don't like that guy. Paul says, quit. Stop it. How? How to stop being divided?

How to stop with the brother wars? How do you do that? Why do you do that? What's the answer? Because Jesus Christ hung on a cross his body broken so that his body the church this body across So it will be joined together as one because the message that is foolish to those who are perishing is the very wisdom of God that breaks the power of canceled sin and sets divisive men free.

It's the power of God that takes enslaved men and makes them freed men, free men who confess their sins, free men who walk out of the tomb, free men who run to Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and reigning. So what a letter. What a gospel. And what a wonderful decade we have in front of us. I'm only halfway kidding.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this year letter. We thank you for this year word. We thank you for the glory of being in the body of Christ. We do not deserve to be your children, your body, but you shed your blood and your body was broken so that we might be whole in him, in you.

Thank you for the gift of faith, for the imputation of your righteousness, for the joy of now, in just a moment, coming to your table and receiving the sign of the covenant reality between us and you that you are our God and we are your sheep of your pasture and we hear you and we follow you and you care for us. We thank you that we belong to such a God the one true living God and we thank you in the name of your son Jesus. Amen.