1 Corinthians, and this is chapter
1, and of course, we looked at some of these verses last week.
I'll read some of those. It says, Paul called to be an
apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes,
our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth,
to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. with all that in every place
call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God
always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you
by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by him in all
utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift, waiting
for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm
you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were
called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the
same thing, that there be no divisions among you, but that
ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. For it hath been declared unto
me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every
one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas,
and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified
for you? Or were you baptized in the name
of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none
of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had
baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the house
of Stephanas, besides I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved it is the power of God." Paul, of course, began this introduction
to this letter as he does with most of his letters in exalting
the name of Christ and pointing his followers to Christ. Now Paul was evidently a not a commanding presence. Some have suggested he was a
small man. Some have suggested that he was
a man with physical afflictions and that this was kind of one
of the reasons why he grew up perhaps with a chip on his shoulder
and was Psychologically speaking, as the Lord, we know, designs
all these things, but this was one of the reasons why that he
was so vehement in his determination to destroy Christians was because
he was, just like I say, he had a chip on his shoulder and that
was a good place to get some of that out. Now, whether or
not that's true or not, I don't know, but from many of the things
that he says in his letters, it would appear that he was not
a great orator. He didn't sway people because
he knew how to win friends and influence people and how to make
a phrase in such that people would be attracted to it. Now,
in the flesh, we gravitate towards those who have abilities to hold
our attention and say things that make us either feel good
or feel some way. You know what I mean? We expect
for somebody to do something. We don't want somebody to just
say stuff that we can read in the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Of course, I don't even know
if Sears and Roebuck still makes a catalog. They probably don't.
But anyway, But oration and the ability to speak is not the greatest
thing that there can be. Now, unfortunately, in the thinking
of men and down through the ages of time, this has come to be
the focal point of most gatherings of God's people when they come
together. is that we come together, the
mindset is we're coming together to hear someone preach or teach. Now preaching and teaching is
a good thing and it is definitely a useful thing to the people
of God, but it is not the reason that God's people come together.
Now throughout the book of Corinthians, I believe Paul addresses this
this matter. And it begins here in this, right
shortly after the beginning of this chapter, where he says that
he heard there were contentions among them. Now, these were not
contentions over doctrine. They were contentions over personalities,
because he says, some of you say I'm of Paul. Now most preachers
would be glad, would they not, for people to say, well, I'm
following Paul. Paul didn't care about that.
He said, look, I don't care if you say you're of Paul. Some
say you're of Apollos. Now Apollos, we know Apollos,
he was a great orator. I mean, from what we read in
the Scripture, I mean, he was one of these guys that could
get up and hold you spellbound. And that's certainly not a bad
thing for the Lord to use to Paulus. But, of course, you remember
how that he had to be taken aside by Priscilla and Aquila, and they
opened up to him the way of God more perfectly, that he might
have some understanding. So the Lord brought these things
together. And so the Lord can most definitely
use the ability to have an oration of certain types, and that's
not a bad thing, but it's certainly not the thing God is... He's
not bound to do that. And it's not necessary for a
church to have great orations in their midst in order to be
blessed of God as they meet together and minister one to the other.
And so, as we look at the church and the purpose of it, it always
comes back to the same thing that the purpose of the Christian
life is. Because the church is just kind
of a picture of the Christian life in the unity of the brethren. But the Christian life has one
goal. It has one purpose. It's not
so that we'll feel good. Now, most churches today, they
want to get you in by making you feel good, feel at home.
I mean, all those things, you know, the coffee is hot and the
doughnuts are fresh. And we want you to just come
in. We want you to have a good time. We want you to be entertained. We want you to go away saying,
man, I can't wait to get back down there and get me some of
that coffee. But see, that's not what the Christian life is
about. I mean, Paul said, for me to
live is Christ. to die is gain. Paul wasn't talking
about just as far as preaching is concerned. He was talking
about his life. He was talking about himself.
He said, I want to magnify Christ. I want Christ to be exalted in
me. I want to set forth the example
of Christ for me to live as Christ. I want Christ to be demonstrated
in every action that I set forth. And so when we come together
as the church, gathered together in one place, it's not for anything
else but that, that Christ might be exalted, that He might be
lifted up. And there are many ways in which
that can take place, but we must not consider that it has to take
place and always will take place through orations, as useful as
they might be in certain situations. But it is rather that we come
together with one mind. Now that's what Paul said, did
he not? He said there, And I beseech you, brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing. Now
we don't all have the same understanding of doctrine. So he couldn't be
talking about doctrine. But he said, I want you to speak
the same thing. Now what's the one thing that
all of God's people share? It is a desire to glorify Jesus
Christ. And so it doesn't make any difference
what understandings we may have, what likes or dislikes we have
or whatever, the one thing that holds us together is a desire
that Jesus Christ be glorified. And not simply Jesus Christ be
glorified, but that He be the only one glorified. Now, a lot
of the thought process in modern religion is that they want to
glorify everybody. God's people are glorified as
Christ is glorified. And so we're not interested in
patting one another on the back in that respect. Now the church
comes together to build one another up, but not just to build one
another up and make us feel good about ourselves, but to build
one another up in the most holy faith. And what is the object
of our faith? It's Christ. It's Christ alone. And so how are God's people encouraged
by lifting up Christ? I mean, that's the only way.
I mean, I can't lift you up if I don't lift up Christ. If you're
looking for Christ, now if you're looking for something else, if
you're looking for hot coffee, then the only way I'm going to
lift you up is to fix you a pot of hot coffee and some donuts
or whatever it is that you're looking for. But if we're looking
for Christ, then that's the only thing that's going to do us any
good. I mean, you know, if you've got your mind and heart set on
eating Chinese food and you go into a Chinese restaurant and
the only thing they've got on the menu is pizza, you're going
to be disappointed, are you not? Now, you might like pizza. But
if you're wanting Chinese food, you're going to be disappointed.
That's the same thing. You see, when we come together
as God's people, we're looking for Christ. And if we don't find that, then
we're going to be disappointed. Are we not? But whatever it is
that people are looking for is the place they gravitate towards. I mean, whatever it is that makes
you happy or makes you satisfied is the thing you'll seek out.
And so it is that Paul said, I don't want you to speak but
one thing. I want you to all have the same
mind. And he doesn't say it in so many words, but he says it
throughout the preaching that he sets forth is that this is
the one thing that you're going to always agree with. on all
of those who are truly the followers of Christ. Now, I didn't say
everybody that claimed to be the followers of Christ were,
and I certainly am not the one to go out and say who is a follower
of Christ and who isn't. But I know this, the followers
of Christ have one desire, and that is to see Jesus Christ glorified,
however that is. Now, so that's what he's saying
here. As he says here, I thank my God
always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you
by Jesus Christ. Now we are encouraged with one
another because we know that the work that is done in God's
people can only be carried out by His grace according to His
mercy as He is pleased to benefit the people of God. And He builds
up the people of God in the faith that in everything ye are enriched
by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge. The things that
we speak, the things that we know, they are unto the glory
of Christ. And we are enriched by those
things. And we are to enrich one another
by the things that we know. Now, does everybody know the
same things as far as the details? Of course not. See, you know
details that I don't know about the working of Christ, because
the Lord works in us both willing to do of His good pleasure, but
He doesn't work in me in exactly the same way that He works in
you, because He's teaching you things that He maybe hasn't taught
me yet. And I'm not talking about doctrine.
I'm talking about seeing Christ brought forth in our lives. I
mean, the daily things that occur in our life as the Lord teaches
us things in our relationships with people and how that He is
able by His grace and mercy to show us our own corrupt nature
and to give us the Spirit of Christ in dealing in those relationships. Now, sometimes He teaches us
that by our failure to live up to that standard, does He not?
But He always teaches us what we are and who He is, even when
He shows us our fault. And in retrospect, as we look
back on how we handled the situation, And we say, you know, I probably
didn't do exactly like I should have. I probably should have
held my tongue. I probably should have been more
kind. I probably should have helped somebody that I turned
a deaf ear to or whatever. But you see, those are the things
that the Lord is working in His people. Sometimes people read
that He works in you both willing to do of His good pleasure, and
they think that it means He's just always teaching us to do
the right thing. I mean, we're always out here
doing the right thing. No, we're not always doing the
right thing. That's how He's teaching us, is it not? I mean,
how do we know how weak we are except He shows us how strong
He is and vice versa? I mean, Paul said, when I am
weak, then am I strong. Why? Because I know who it is
from whence my strength comes. Now, how can I know that in your
life and the things that you have learned unless you are relating
that? The Scripture says, confess your
faults one to the other. Now, I've heard people say, well,
we need to get up and tell one another our sins. No, please
don't tell me your sins. I don't want to know them. I've
got enough of my own and they've about overwhelmed me. So I sure
don't need to know about yours. That's not what that means. It's
not about confessing our sins to one another, but confessing
our faults. Now how do we know a fault because
the Spirit of God has shown it to us? What are our faults? Losing our temper? Being selfish? Not loving? our neighbors, ourselves. I mean, those are our faults.
Now, how can we build one another up in the most holy faith if
we just go around all the time telling all the things we did
wrong? No, that's not the point. The
point is that we teach one another that it's only Christ and Christ
alone. and that we see the glory of
Christ often in contrast to our own self. Brethren, that's an
encouragement to the brethren. That's a building one another
up in the most holy faith. And that can't be accomplished
simply by somebody standing up and taking a text from the Bible
and giving an oration. and saying, this is what the
Bible means. Well, it's good to know what
the Bible means. I hope we learn. I hope one day
I can learn what the Bible means. You know, we want that, but that's
not the goal. Our goal when we come together
is not to find out what the Bible means. You ought to be studying
it at home to find out what the Bible means. Now, the Lord clarifies
things and He teaches us things through the gifts that He's given
to other people, surely. But we don't come together primarily
just to be taught something, or at least we shouldn't. What
we're coming together for is to build one another up in the
most holy faith by that mutual part of the body that's supplied
by every part, as it is as the people of God minister one to
the other. And so he said, I thank my God
always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you
by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by him, in all
utterance, in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you." Now, what is the testimony of Christ? It
is the work of Christ in His people. What is the testimony
of Christ? What was the testimony of Christ
when the Ethiopian eunuch was in the chariot? He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. That was the testimony of Jesus
Christ. You see, that's the testimony of Jesus Christ of each one of
those who believe in Him. And we confirm that to one another
through various means and ways in which the Lord would lead
us, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. Now, it's confirmed in us. And
confirmed, that simply means it's demonstrated, it's set forth,
it's established. And how is it established? I
believe that it's established by the work of the Spirit, but
I believe one of the ways in which he establishes that is
through the ministration of the body one to the other, as we're
confirmed in the faith, because we see the Lord working in other
people. I mean, that's one of the benefits
of gathering together with God's people, is that we see, yes,
the Lord is working. Do you ever get the feeling like,
well, Lord, I'm just kind of spinning my wheels. I'm kind
of going down the same old road over and over again. And what
a blessing it is to get around somebody else and find out that
they were stuck in the same mud hole. You know, their wheels
were spinning too. But the confirmation of the faith
is that we both know that we can't get out of that hole by
ourselves. It's the glory of Christ. It's
Christ alone. And we encourage one another
in that way. So as the testimony of Christ
was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift waiting
for the glory or for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, I don't want you to be lacking in gifts. Now, if there's probably one
thing that has been abused over the years, it is preaching and
teaching on the gifts that God gives to His people as though
these are things, number one, that you can attain through some
effort of yours. Now, if it is a gift, that means
it is something that was given to you. It is not something that
you figured out. It's not something that you gained
by some effort on your part. It's something that God gave
you. Now, I believe God gives all
of His children gifts. I don't think that they are necessarily
all spelled out in the Scripture. I think that there are many of
them that are spelled out in the Scripture. But the gifts
of the Spirit are those things that he is pleased to bestow
upon his people for the benefit of the body, because there are
no gifts that we have been given that are not given except to
profit withal. That's what he says later on
in this book. He said this is the reason God
gives gifts to his people, is that the body might be built
up by them. And then he goes on later to
give instructions concerning the use of these gifts. He said
if the body is not edified by the gift, why use the gift? What's
the point of it? Because the point is that we
minister to one another, we help one another, we build one another
up. And these gifts are not some
kind of badge of honor. I've been around people, oh,
I've got the gift of the Spirit. Well, brother, I'm glad you do. Well, how did you get it? If
God gave it to you, why do you glory in it as though you have
something that you got some way? I mean, God gives gifts and they
are for useful purposes. And that useful purpose is to
build one another up in the most holy faith. than in everything,
so that you come behind in no gift. Do we want God's people
to be without gifts? No. Paul said, I want you to
be blessed by the Spirit. I want you to be built up in
the faith. I want you to walk in faith. I want you to encourage
one another to walk in the faith. I don't want you to be bringing
up the rear. He says, I want you to be enriched so that you come behind in no
gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we're
all waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again,
I believe that's something God's people share in common with one
another. As they say, even so, come Lord
Jesus. I mean, why? Because this world
is not our home. This place is not that place
that we're satisfied with and we just want things to just go
on. See, most people's vision, the carnal man's vision of what
heaven is, is a place he can just perpetuate what he likes
to do now in the flesh. I mean, that to him would be
heaven. I mean, you know, if he likes
to eat steak, he can just eat steak all day. That would be
what heaven would be to him. But for the children of God,
those who desire to exalt and honor Christ, that would be the
glory of it. would be the exaltation of Christ.
And what we read in the Scripture, that's what heaven is. Because
the Scripture says there is no need for the sun to shine by
day or the moon by night. There's not a temple there. There's
not a house of worship there. Why? Because the Lamb is the
temple thereof. And He's the light of the city.
He's that one that gives glory to it. And that's the thing that
makes that attractive to the people of God, because He's there.
That's the only thing. Waiting for the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall confirm you to the end, that
He may establish you to the end, that you may be blameless in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said that over and over to
His disciples. They didn't really believe Him
or understand what He meant. He said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you that where I am there you may be. And one of
His disciples said, Well, where are you going? We don't know
the way or anything else. He said, I am the way, the truth
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. He said if these things were
not so, He said, I would have never told you that. Brethren,
I find great comfort in the knowledge that the Lord would have told
us if these things were different. You know, isn't that a good thing? Don't you just want somebody
to tell you? Now I know sometimes we don't want somebody to tell
us. what happened. You know, maybe some piece of
equipment tore up or something, and somebody's going to tell
you you don't even want to hear. I mean, you don't even want to
know exactly what happened. I mean, that's kind of superficial.
But, you know, we want to know something, don't we? I mean,
if something's wrong with you, you want to know what it is so
you can do something about it. If something's fixing to fall
on your head, you want to be able to move out of the way.
If there's a rattlesnake on the other side of the log, you want
to know it. You don't want to just step over there hoping that
he's not there. So the Lord said, if these things
were not so, I would have told you. What a glorious thing it
is to know that everything that we need to know down to the last
detail, everything, the Lord has provided. He's told us exactly
what we need to know. And He summed it up when He said
to His disciples there, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Now that's pretty much it, isn't it? The way, the truth, and the
life. There's not anything else. And
He's all of those things. And so it is that He is the sum
total of all that we need, both individually and corporately
as we come together as God's people seeking to magnify His
name and build one another up in the most holy faith.