Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians? First Corinthians, chapter 1. We will read from verse 4 to verse 9.
I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
that in everything ye were enriched in Him, in all utterance and all knowledge;
even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
— 1 Corinthians 1:4-9
Chapter 2, from verse 1 through verse 5.
And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
— 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
And then finally, 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verses 13 and 14.
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
Let all that ye do be done in love.
— 1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together here tonight. We do realize that we are standing on holy ground. We do sense Thy presence here with us, and we want to remove our shoes and bow before Thee as the Lord. What hast Thou to say to us? Speak; Thy servants hear. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Before the Apostle Paul came to Corinth, he made a decision before God. And I believe that this decision came not from himself, but from God. He decided that when he came into the midst of the Corinthians, he would know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
The Corinthians at that time were noted for two things. They were noted for their eloquence. There was a saying going around at that time: “He speaks like a Corinthian.” In other words, a Corinthian could speak logically and convincingly. But at the same time, the Corinthians were noted for their moral corruption. There was another saying during that time: “They live like the Corinthians.”
Now, faced with people both eloquent and corrupted, what are you going to say to these people to really help them? That is where the Spirit of God led the Apostle Paul to decide that, when he was among them, he would know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
He would not match his wit with their wit, or his eloquence with their eloquence, because he realized that this was useless. He realized that the only thing a Corinthian needs is Jesus Christ and the cross of our Lord Jesus.
In Acts 18, we find that Paul spent a year and a half in Corinth. He reasoned with them. He testified to them. He met opposition. He was in fear, and the Lord had to appear to him in a vision and say, “Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. I have many people in this city. Nobody will really seize you.”
During that year and a half, he faithfully preached nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When you read the beginning of this letter to the Corinthians, you find Paul mentioning that, when the word of God first came to these Corinthians, when the testimony of Christ was announced to them, it was so powerful that they received the word and were enriched in knowledge and in gifts.
They were almost prepared for the revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul had such hope for them that, when Christ should be revealed, they would be unreproveable before the Lord. What an expectation Paul had with these Corinthians—a tremendous beginning.
But not many years had passed, and we find that the Corinthians, instead of growing steadily to maturity, remained as babes in Christ. They had received the Lord Jesus as their Savior. They had their sins forgiven. But somehow, they failed to accept the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Master.
They received the forgiving power of the blood, but they failed to receive the deliverance that came from the cross of our Lord Jesus. Paul, no doubt, preached a full gospel, but they received only a part of it instead of the full gospel.
Because of this, they were not growing as they should. They remained as babes in Christ, and they acted according to men, not according to God. As Paul said, “Ye are yet carnal.” They still lived according to their flesh, even though they were saved, gifted, and knowledgeable. Yet in their lives they did not allow the cross of our Lord Jesus to work deeply in them. This is the reason why they remained so immature.
When we read the letter of 1 Corinthians, if you want to use one word to write upon that letter, that word would be carnal. Throughout the letter, you find many symptoms showing how carnal these Christians were.
First of all, Paul mentions the matter of the spirit of division. Even though, in their letter to Paul, they did not mention this problem, perhaps to them it was no problem. But, strangely, before Paul answered their letter concerning the different problems they had and for which they wanted his help, Paul saw that this actually was the first problem—the most important one.
So, in the beginning, Paul starts this letter by mentioning the matter of division and the spirit of strife among these Corinthian believers. Some said, “I am of Paul.” Some said, “I am of Apollos.” Some said, “I am of Cephas.” Some said, “I am of Christ.” Paul’s answer to them was, “Is Christ divided?”
Division is natural to the world. So far as natural man is concerned, that is the norm. It would be a surprise if people could be united. But for God’s people to continue in that kind of spirit is a great surprise. It should not be so. Why? Because it is a violation of our very calling.
Paul said:
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
— 1 Corinthians 1:9
We are called into a fellowship, and this fellowship is called the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. In other words, it is the fellowship of God’s Son with His Father in the Spirit.
This is the most exclusive fellowship in the whole universe, because in this fellowship there are only three members: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is the most ancient fellowship, the most everlasting fellowship. The Son has fellowship with the Father, and the Father has fellowship with the Son, and it is all in the Spirit.
It is the most beautiful, the most harmonious, the sweetest, the most peaceful fellowship that you can ever imagine. I do not think we can really fathom the perfection of this divine fellowship. This fellowship is a fellowship of life. They share the life together. There is no shadow, no shade, no changing, but perfect fellowship and oneness.
Nobody actually can join that fellowship. You know, in this world we have clubs, fraternities, and perhaps golf clubs. If you want to join, you may have to pay a lot of money or use many means to try to get into them. But this fellowship, called the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is beyond any payment. No matter how you try, you cannot enter it. It is very, very exclusive.
But thanks be unto God that it pleased Him to extend that fellowship to man. I think this is most wonderful. We try very hard to join a club or fraternity and are willing to pay some cost for it. But have we ever thought that we are in a fellowship with which no fellowship, no club, and no fraternity can compare? Are you contented with it?
It pleased God to open up that fellowship and include man in it. The only way to do it was to give His life to us, because there is no other way to join it but to be born into it. Through our Lord Jesus, through His cross, through His death and resurrection, this divine life is given to us.
When we receive the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior, we have not only our sins forgiven—and that is great—but do not forget: you are born into that most exclusive fellowship in the whole universe. You belong there.
In Acts 2:42, the early Christians persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. That was their life.
They continued in the teaching of the apostles. Now, notice here: teaching is singular, while apostles is plural. There were twelve apostles, and more, but only one teaching. How can that be possible?
We may say that Paul had his teaching, and that his teaching was in direct opposition to James. Even Martin Luther thought that way. He thought very highly of Galatians, because Galatians, he said, was “my wife, my Catherine; I am wedded to it.” With Galatians he fought the battle of the Reformation. But of James he said, “I have no use for it. It is a letter of straw. I cannot fight with it.”
But, brothers and sisters, the Bible says, “the teaching of the apostles.” Whether it is Paul, Apollos, James, or Cephas, they have their emphases, that is true, but their teaching is one. Why? Because it is not Paul’s teaching. It is not Apollos’ teaching. It is not Cephas’ teaching. They only teach what they were taught by the Lord. It is the teaching of the Lord.
That is the reason their teaching is one. We need to receive all the different aspects of the teaching of our Lord Jesus through the various apostles.
Then you find the fellowship of the apostles. Again, fellowship is singular, while apostles is plural. The Corinthians tried to make a Pauline fellowship, an Apollos fellowship, or a Cephas fellowship. They thought that each apostle had his own fellowship, gathering a group of people around himself to receive what he taught and nothing else.
Paul said, “No. There is only one fellowship: the fellowship of the apostles.” What is the fellowship of the apostles? If you read 1 John 1, you find that the Apostle John said:
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us:
yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
— 1 John 1:3
In other words, the fellowship of the apostles is nothing but the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. It is the same and one fellowship. Into this fellowship we are called. We belong to this fellowship.
But the Corinthian believers, even though they were called into this one fellowship—and that is the testimony of Christ—acted among themselves as men and as people in the world. There were strivings and emulations. One said, “I am for Paul.” Another said, “I am for Apollos.” One said, “Paul led me to Christ; therefore, I belong to his fellowship.” Another said, “I am helped by Apollos’ teaching, so I belong to Apollos.” Others said, “We will go even further back to the original twelve.”
Then some people said, “We are more spiritual than all of you. We belong to Christ exclusively.” In this way, they divided Christ. The spirit of division is a sin against Christ. It is a sin against the fellowship into which God has called us. It is not a small matter. It is very serious.
It is for this reason that the Apostle Paul dealt with this problem first of all. Unless this problem is solved, the other problems cannot be solved. We have to see one thing: Christ is not divided.
Paul said, “Who is Paul? Who is Apollos, that you think so greatly of them?” Paul is nothing. Apollos is nothing. Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but it is God Who gives the increase.
Why are you so small? Do you not know that Paul belongs to you, Apollos belongs to you, Cephas belongs to you, and everything belongs to you? You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. Do not be so narrow-minded. Enlarge yourselves and see that you are one in Christ Jesus.
How we need to walk according to the calling wherewith we have been called. In Ephesians 4, Paul says that we need to diligently keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
Thank God, we have been called into one fellowship. Thank God, He has already given us this unity of the Spirit. Thank God, there are seven ones that we all share equally together: one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all.
We are one body. In one Spirit we have been baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, and we are all made to drink of one Spirit. Being the body of Christ, what is our hope? The hope is that, when the body is fully matured, then our Lord will come back and claim that body as His bride. That is the hope that we share together.
One Lord—our Lord Jesus. No other lords. One baptism—baptized unto the name of our Lord Jesus. We are one in the Lord. We have one Father of us all.
The Lord has already given us that unity of the Spirit. It is ours. It is not something we have to attain to. It is something already given, and all we need to do is keep it diligently.
If we keep it diligently, in spite of all the differences we may have—we may have different interpretations of certain Scriptures, but we all believe the Scripture; we may have different experiences of the Lord—if we diligently keep the unity of the Spirit and continue in fellowship with one another, one day we will arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. We will arrive there.
Here you find the Apostle Paul first of all dealing with this matter of unity—oneness in Christ Jesus—that we may not be divided and sin against this holy calling, against Christ, and against that fellowship into which we have come. This is the first symptom of carnality.
Then, from chapter 5 to chapter 9, you find Paul dealing with another question: sin against the righteousness of God. God is righteous, and he who practices righteousness is of God. You find that in 1 John 2.
God is righteous, and because He is righteous, we who have been reckoned as righteous before God ought to practice righteousness in our daily lives.
Among the Corinthian believers, there were situations in their lives directly violating the righteousness of God. In chapter 5, you find there was a sin among the Corinthian believers—an incestuous sin that even in the world you would hardly hear of. Yet it happened among God’s people.
When this happened, the church as a whole did not deal with the situation. They tolerated it. In other words, they felt they were being broad-minded. When Paul heard of this, he was so exasperated. He said, “I am not with you bodily, but I am with you in spirit, and there with you I am dealing with the situation.” Why?
Because the church is celebrating the feast of unleavened bread. Christ is our Passover. We have received Christ Jesus as our Passover Lamb, and after we have received Him, we are now in the feast of unleavened bread.
Immediately following Passover, there are seven days of the feast of unleavened bread. During those seven days, there shall be no leaven found in all the borders of Israel. If there was leaven found there, you would be excommunicated from the commonwealth of Israel. No leaven should be found.
Paul said that if you allow leaven to remain there, it may begin very small, but a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Only unleavened meal can be presented to God as a sacrifice, as a new offering. There should be no leaven there—not leaven of malice and wickedness, but the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
It is more than merely dealing with a particular sin. That sin is in direct opposition to the very character of the church, because the very character of the church is to be free from leaven. It is an unleavened bread. That is the character of the church. If there is any leaven in it, it has to be dealt with.
From what we gather, most people believe that Paul tried to arouse the conscience of the church. Thank God, eventually the conscience of the church was aroused, and they began to deal with the situation. Thank God, that brother repented and was restored, because discipline is for restoration.
Here you find sin against the righteousness of God. Today, among God’s people, the sense of righteousness is a little bit blunted. It is not that sharp. One reason is because of the condition of this world. The world is going down and down, becoming so wicked and so unrighteous that, when there is unrighteousness, people do not feel that anything is wrong about it. It begins to influence God’s people.
Being carnal and living according to the flesh can fall into such depths. Paul was trying to help them be delivered out of this kind of situation.
In chapter 6, you find believers accusing one another and prosecuting one another even before Gentile judges. Paul said, “Where is your dignity? You are supposed even to judge angels, and you are not able to judge anything among yourselves. You have to go to the Gentile world that we despise and ask them to help. Why is it that you are not willing to suffer and to be defrauded?”
Again, it is a violation of the righteousness of God. Further on, they wrote to Paul about the whole matter of marriage. There were evidently marriage problems, and Paul tried to help them. In other words, they found themselves not under control of their passions and lusts.
Then came the question of eating meat offered to idols. They loved social activities, and in the old days social activities were usually carried on in the temples. The best meat sold in those days was often meat that had been offered to idols and then sold in the market. It was the cheapest and the best.
Because of the lusts of their flesh, they liked to have the best at the cheapest price. They said, “What is an idol? An idol is nothing. We believe in one God and one Lord. All these idols are nothing, and things offered to nothing are nothing. So just get the best of it and enjoy yourself. Go into the temple—it is nothing. Enjoy the social activities.”
But unfortunately, there were people whose consciences were troubled. In Corinth, most believers were Gentiles, not Jews. Because they were Gentiles, they had been accustomed to going to temples and offering to idols, and their consciences were bothered.
When they saw others who said they had knowledge and went right ahead, they followed. But they followed with a wounded conscience, and that is sin. Paul said, “Where is your love? Where is your life? Are you willing, for your brothers’ and sisters’ sake, even to forfeit your right and not eat meat? Are you willing to do that?”
Brothers and sisters, what happened in Corinth was because they did not allow the cross to work in their lives. They just wanted what their flesh desired, and the result was that they sinned against the righteousness of God. This is another symptom you find with the Corinthian church.
Then, generally speaking, from chapters 10 through 14, I would say it is sin against the body of Christ—against the body. Why? Because Paul reminded them that when we take the Lord’s Supper, we are in communion with the blood of our Lord Jesus.
The cup is communion with the blood of our Lord Jesus. How can we have communion with the Lord’s cup and then have communion with the cup of demons? We cannot do that.
How can we take the loaf, which before it is broken represents the body of Christ broken for us, and yet, after we have each taken a piece of it, fail to see that, when God looks down from above, He still sees that one loaf in us?
It is not only communion with the Lord; it is also communion with our brothers and sisters. We are one loaf, one body. If we are one loaf and one body, then we need to wait for one another. We need to think of one another and not try to act as if, “I am myself, and you are you.”
When these Corinthian believers celebrated the Lord’s Table, they had a feast first. It was not like the feast that we have. The feast we have is a love feast, in which brothers and sisters bring their food together and share together.
In the early days, because our Lord Jesus instituted the breaking of bread during the Passover feast, the custom in the beginning was that they usually had a meal, and then, following the meal, they had the Lord’s Table. That is the reason they could have the breaking of bread every week.
But, unfortunately, among the Corinthians, the rich brought their wine and food and ate by themselves. The poor came in with nothing, and they were left hungry. That is a direct violation of the body of Christ.
As a body, all the members of the body share with one another. How can one be drunk while others suffer hunger, and then afterward come and break the bread together? It is a contradiction.
Paul said, “If this is the case, it is better not to have this so-called love feast. There is no love there.” Probably for this reason, later on these two things were separated. Paul said, “What I received from the Lord is very simple—not a big meal, but just the loaf and the cup. We share together in remembrance of Him.” Very simple.
It is a violation of the body of Christ. Not only that, even when the Corinthians met together, they were not meeting for profit. Why? Because when they met together, they all tried to display their gifts instead of thinking how they could edify and build up one another.
Among the Corinthians, the gift they loved most was speaking in tongues, because it was spectacular. They did not mind whether people understood or not, or whether people were edified or not. Everybody was seeking that kind of display.
Paul tried to correct them and said, “No, you are one body, and you are members one of another. You should seek the gifts that would really build up the body instead of just thinking of yourselves.”
Here you find that self had not been dealt with. They were still self-centered. Even though they were saved, they were still self-centered. We need to care for one another, think of one another, prefer one another, and try to encourage and edify one another. This is again a clear sign that they were carnal and not spiritual.
Then, of course, in chapter 15, you find the matter of sin against the truth of God. Paul said, “I received from the Lord, and I delivered unto you, that Christ, according to the Scriptures, died. He was buried, and according to the Scriptures He was raised from the dead on the third day. He appeared to many people.”
Yet among the Corinthians, there were people who said there was no resurrection. They did not accept the word of God, the truth of God.
The church is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. When truth is denied, you lose the very testimony and meaning of the church.
Paul said, “If Christ is not raised, then we who believe in the Lord Jesus are the poorest and most pitiful in the world, because our sins are not forgiven at all.” This is sin against the truth of God.
In 1 Corinthians, these are believers, and they had a good beginning. But, unfortunately, they did not receive the cross of Christ into their lives. They did not allow the cross of our Lord Jesus to work in them.
We know that our Lord Jesus on the cross not only bore our sins in His body so that our sins might be forgiven, but when our Lord Jesus died on the cross, He took you and me—all who were in Adam—and took us all with Him. In Him, we were crucified.
We need to accept this. We need not only to accept His substitution, that He substituted Himself for us as our sin offering; we need to accept Him as our Representative. In Him, we died.
They who are in Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. That is the reason the Apostle Paul said:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
— Galatians 2:20
Dear brothers and sisters, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, there is one thing of very basic importance, fundamental to our lives afterward: How do we look at the cross of our Lord Jesus? Do we accept all that the cross means to us?
Do we realize that we not only need to receive His blood, but also need to allow His life to live in us—that we do not live in ourselves or for ourselves, but live by Him and for Him?
In other words, there needs to be a real presenting of our bodies as a living sacrifice and an allowing of His life to work itself out in and through us. By doing that, we will be delivered from all these symptoms of carnality that we find in the first letter to the Corinthians.
This evening, this is my burden. I feel that we need to remind ourselves before the Lord that there is always the possibility that we will sin against the Lord, against those very basic principles in the Bible.
The only way for us to be delivered is to ask the Lord to open our eyes to see the fullness of His provision in Christ Himself crucified. Christ we have received, but Him crucified is also something that we need to take to heart.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee that Thy redemption is perfect and complete. We have to acknowledge that oftentimes we receive only part of it, and because of this we find ourselves in weakness.
So, Lord, we come to Thee tonight, and again we want to open our hearts to Thee and say, “Lord, do reveal Thy full salvation to us. Show us that not only hast Thou taken our sins away, but Thou hast taken us away.”
Lord, we are willing to surrender our lives to Thee and allow Thee to work out Thy salvation in each one of us, that we may not fall into sin, but may glorify Thy name.
We praise and thank Thee for the sufficiency of Thy redemption, and we come and accept all that our Lord has accomplished for us. We want to thank Thee and praise Thee. Bless Thy people, we pray, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.