…has been absent for some years. And yet, in my prayers, you are always remembered.
Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians? First Corinthians 1:4-9.
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.
First Corinthians 2:1-5.
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.
And then finally, 1 Corinthians 16:13-14.
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
Let all that ye do be done in love.
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for getting 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 ask 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. So another saying was going on during that time: “They live like the Corinthians.”
Now, faced with people both eloquent and corrupt, 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 the Corinthians needed was Jesus Christ and the cross of our Lord Jesus.
In Acts 18, we find that he spent a year and a half in Corinth. He reasoned with them. He ministered to them. He had opposition. He was in fear.
And the Lord had to appear to him in a vision and say, “Do not be afraid. Keep on, for I have many people in this city. Nobody will really seize you.” During those 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. They received the word, and they 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 for these Corinthians—a tremendous beginning.
But not many years 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 Saviour. 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 we find, 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 carnal.
As we read 1 Corinthians, if you want to use one word to write upon that letter, that word would be carnality. Through the letter, you find many symptoms showing how carnal these Christians were.
First of all, Paul mentioned 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—strangely, before Paul answered their letter concerning the different problems for which they wanted help, Paul thought that this actually was the first problem, the most important one.
So in the beginning, Paul started this letter by mentioning the matter of division, 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.” And some said, “I am especially of Christ.” Paul’s answer to them was, “Is Christ divided?”
Now, division is natural to the world. So far as natural man is concerned, that is the norm. It would be a surprise if we could be united as one. But for God’s people to continue in that kind of spirit, it is a great surprise. It should not be.
Why? 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.”
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.
And this is the most ancient fellowship, the most everlasting one: the Son’s fellowship with the Father, and the Father’s fellowship with the Son. It is all in the Spirit.
It is the most beautiful, the most harmonious, the sweetest, the most peaceful fellowship 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 you find that perfect fellowship—oneness.
And nobody actually can join that fellowship. You know, in this world we have clubs, fraternities, and golf clubs, maybe. If you want to join, you may have to pay a lot of money or try many means to get into it.
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.
At the same time, unto God it pleased Him to extend that fellowship to man. I think this is the most wonderful thing.
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 you are in a fellowship with which no fellowship, no club, no fraternity can compare? Are you contented with it?
It pleased God to open up that fellowship to 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 man. When we receive the Lord Jesus as our personal Saviour, we have not only our sins forgiven—and that is great—but do not forget: you are born into the 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 breaking of bread and prayers. That was their life.
They continued in the teaching of the apostles. Now, have you noticed here that “teaching” is singular, while “apostles” is plural? There were twelve apostles, or more, but only one teaching. How can that be possible?
We would say that Paul had his teaching, and his teaching was in direct opposition to James. Even Martin Luther thought that way. He thought very highly of Galatians because, he said, “Galatians is my wife, my Catherine. I am married to it.” With Galatians he fought the battle of the Reformation.
But with James he said, “I have no use for it. It is an epistle of straw. I cannot fight with it.”
But, brothers and sisters, the Bible says, “the teaching of the apostles.” Whether it is Paul, James, Cephas, or Apollos, they have their emphasis, 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 taught what they were taught by the Lord. It is the teaching of the Lord, and that is why 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, “We report what we have seen and heard to you, that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son.”
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 with the Corinthian believers, even though they were called into this one fellowship—and that is the testimony of Christ—yet among themselves they acted as men, as people in the world. There were strifes 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.” Others said, “I am helped by Apollos’ teaching, so I belong to Apollos.” Others said, “We will go even further back to the original twelve, and here is Cephas.”
Some people said, “We are more spiritual than all of you. We belong to Christ exclusively.” And 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, because 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?” Why do you think so highly of them? Paul is nothing. Apollos is nothing. Paul may plant, Apollos may water, but it is God who gives the increase.
So why are you so small? Do you not know that Paul belongs to you, Apollos belongs to you, and Cephas belongs to you? Everything belongs to you, and 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 said 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.
There is one body, one Spirit, and one hope of our calling. 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.
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. These three are related to the Spirit.
There is one Lord—our Lord Jesus—and no other lords; one faith; one baptism, baptized unto the name of our Lord Jesus; and 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. All we need to do is to keep it diligently.
If we keep it diligently, in spite of all the differences—we may have different interpretations of Scripture, 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 fellowship with one another, one day we will arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
So 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 been called.
This is the first symptom of carnality. Then, from 1 Corinthians 5 through 9, you find Paul beginning to deal 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. Because God is righteous, we who have been reckoned righteous before God ought to practice righteousness in our daily life.
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 incest that even in the world you would hardly hear of—and yet it happened among God’s people.
When this thing happened, the church as a whole did not deal with the situation. They tolerated it. In other words, they felt that they were being broad-minded.
When Paul heard of this, he was so exasperated. He said, “I am not with you in body, but I am with you in spirit; and there with you, I am dealing with the situation.” Why? Because the church today 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, you have the seven days’ feast of unleavened bread. During those seven days, there shall be no leaven found in all the borders of Israel, because if there is leaven left there, you will 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 it will leaven 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 truth and sincerity.
It is more than just a matter of 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 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, we feel that among God’s people the sense of righteousness is a little blunted; it is not that sharp.
I think one reason is 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, living according to the flesh, can fall into such depths. Paul is trying to help them to be delivered out of this kind of situation.
In chapter 6, believers accused one another and prosecuted 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, which we despise, and ask them to help.”
Why is it that you are not willing to suffer and to be defrauded? Again, you find that it is a violation of the righteousness of God.
Then, of course, they wrote to Paul and asked about the whole matter of marriage. They had various problems, evidently, and Paul tried to help them. They found themselves not under control of their passions and lusts.
Furthermore, there came the question of eating meat. They loved social things, and in the old days social activities were usually carried on in the temples. The best meat sold during those days was actually meat that had been offered to idols. These merchants would sell it in the market, so it was the cheapest and the best.
Because of the lust of their flesh, they liked to have the best and the cheapest. They said, “What is an idol? An idol is nothing. We believe in one God, one Lord. All these idols are nothing, and things offered to nothing are nothing. So just get the best of it and enjoy yourself.”
They said that going into the temple was nothing, so enjoy the social activities. But unfortunately, there were people whose consciences were bothered. In Corinth, most believers were Gentiles, not Jews, and because they were Gentiles, they used to go to temples and offer to idols.
When they saw these others, who said they had knowledge, going right ahead, they followed—but they followed with a weak conscience, and that was it.
Paul said, “Where is your love? Where is your love? Are you willing, for your brothers’ and sisters’ sake, even if you are right, not to 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.
From chapters 10 through 14, I would say there is sin against the body of Christ—against the body.
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? After we have each taken a piece of it, when God looks down from above, He still sees that one loaf in us.
So 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, one body, then we need to wait for one another. We need to think of one another and not act as if I am myself and you are yourself.
These Corinthian believers, when they celebrated the Lord’s table, had a feast first. Not like the feast that we have. The feast we have is a love feast, where 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 usually to have a meal, and then, following the meal, to have the Lord’s table. That is why, at every meal, they could have the breaking of bread.
But unfortunately, with the Corinthians, those who were rich brought their wine and food and ate by themselves. The poor came in with nothing, and they were left starving.
That is a direct violation of the principle of the body of Christ. As a body, all the members share with one another. How can one be drinking to drunkenness while the others are starving to death, and after that come and break 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. Gather together, remember Him.” Very simple. It is a violation of the body of Christ.
Not only that, even when the Corinthians gathered together, they were not meeting for profit. Why? Because when they met, 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 that was spectacular. They did not mind whether people understood or whether people were edified. Everybody sought that kind of display.
Paul tried to correct them, saying, “You are one body, and you are members one of another. You should seek the gifts that will really build up the body instead of just thinking of yourself.”
It was because self was not dealt with. They were still self-centered, even though they were saved. We need to care for one another, think of one another, prefer one another, and try to encourage and edify one another.
Again, this is a clear sign that they were carnal and not spiritual.
Then, of course, in chapter 15, you find sin against the truth of God. Paul said, “I received from the Lord, and I delivered to 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, and 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 have lost 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, most pitiful people 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 are forgiven; but when our Lord Jesus died on the cross, He took you and me—all who were in Adam—He took us all with Him, and in Him we were crucified.
We need to accept this. We need not only to accept His substitution, substituting for us as our sin offering; we need to accept Him as our representative—that in Him we were dead.
They who are in Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and lusts. That is why Paul could say, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.”
Dear brothers and sisters, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, there is one thing that is very, very basic, important, and 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 not only do we need to receive His blood, but we 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, allowing His life to work 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 may 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.
So 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.
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 that we may glorify Thy name.
We praise and thank Thee for the sufficiency of Thy redemption, and we come to 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.