Together with Those Who Call on Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:1-3)

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, [2] To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: [3] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:1–3)

I. Differences in Togetherness

For reasons you may be aware of, I was thinking recently about the relationship between two ideas: serving on a jury and being together. When I think about jury service, I can think of three distinct ways in which the word “together” can be applied. First, before you are selected as a juror you are together with a lot of different people, sometimes in a small room. Together. Second, when you become a juror, you are now together with that select group of people, sitting together, listening together, serving together in that official capacity. Together. Third, though you may be together for days or weeks or months, only at the very end of the trial are you allowed to actually discuss the case. Those discussions are called jury deliberation. The goal, of course, is to work toward standing together in terms of a verdict. Together.

Now think about those shades of difference when it comes to how the word together is used in the different phases of jury service. The same word is appropriate for all those contexts, but deciding the legal fate of another human being involves a different kind of togetherness than simply occupying space in proximity to other people, right? As we turn to God's word this morning, let's watch for this same word, “together”, in our main text. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1:1-3.

II. The Passage: “Both Their Lord and Ours” (1:1-3)

This morning, I'm excited to begin a new series in this book, Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. That is, of course, the book's traditional title, even though 5:9 of this letter makes it clear that he wrote an even earlier letter to these disciples. So to be more accurate, “First” Corinthians is actually the first letter to this church that God preserved for later generations (like us).

When was this letter written? Well, we don't know for sure, but, in all likelihood, it was composed at some point between 53-55 AD. The book of Acts (chapter 18, to be specific) records how Paul initially brought the message of Jesus to the city of Corinth a few years earlier, in 49 AD. Corinth was about 50 miles west of Athens, positioned strategically on the narrow isthmus that connects the rest of Greece to the large, southern peninsula, known as the Peloponnese/Peloponnesus.

We'll talk more about Corinth and Paul's ministry there in the coming weeks. But I don't want you to miss the astounding fact that within 20 years or so of Jesus' resurrection, there were now Greek disciples of Jesus... Jesus of Nazareth... Greek disciples in Greece; not only in Corinth, but in places like Philippi, and Berea, and Thessalonica as well.

But let's look at how this letter begins. We heard the passage read for us a few minutes ago, so let's go line by line and do our best to understand both the meaning and significance of Paul's words. Look with me verse 1: “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes...”. This is the top left-hand corner of the envelope, isn't it? That is, this opening verse indicates who the letter is from. It's from Paul and a Christian brother named Sosthenes. But please don't miss how Paul identifies himself here: not simply as an apostle of Jesus, but as one who was “called by the will of God to be an apostle”. As we continue in this letter, we'll see how some in Corinth had begun questioning Paul's apostleship. Maybe that's why he succinctly reminds them here about the truth of the account in Acts 9: Paul, like the other twelve, was divinely appointed “to be an apostle of Christ Jesus”.

But what about this other name in v. 1? Who was Sosthenes? Well, the reason he may be men-tioned here is that he is, in fact, one of their own. In Acts 18:17, Luke tells us about a Jewish man named Sosthenes who was a synagogue leader in Corinth. Because this man we beat up by an angry crowd of Jews, we can assume that he had confessed Christ as a result of Paul's preaching. So for whatever reason, (if it is him) this same brother was now with Paul in Ephesus (250 miles due east, across the Aegean), the location from which Paul wrote (1 Cor. 16:8).

But let's move now from the top left-hand corner of the envelope and consider the center of the envelope. Look at the 'address' in 1:2...

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Okay. Did you see that key word? The word we talked about at the outset? “Together”. “...called to be saints together with all those who... call upon... Jesus”. In that one statement there is a wealth of truth about who we are as God's people. So let's take some time to dig deeper into what Paul is saying here, and how it can help us with this idea of together.

First, I want you to notice that the word “called” is repeated here. Not only was Paul divinely called to be an apostle, but everyone who calls upon the name of Jesus has been, as Paul makes clear in verse 2, divinely “called to be saints”. Just as Paul did not appoint himself to be an apostle, none of us appoint ourselves to be saints, that is, holy ones of God. If you truly belong to Jesus Christ this morning, then you also have a Damascus Road experience. No. There may not have been a blinding light and an audible voice, but as with Saul/Paul, the Lord Jesus powerfully intervened in your life to call you to himself. Do you recognize that?

The Corinthians would have understood this. Why? Well, I'm guessing Paul shared with them the vision he had in Corinth, a vision preserved for us in Acts 18:9-11. As he dealt with rejection and resistance from the Jews in Corinth, this is how Jesus encouraged his newest apostle...

And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, [10] for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” [11] And he [Paul] stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Why did Jesus want Paul to continue preaching the gospel in Corinth? Because He had “many in [that] city who [were his] people”; that is, they were his elect people, but they had not yet been called. That's why Paul could not be silent. Through the Apostle's gospel-filled voice, the voice of the Good Shepherd was going out, calling his Corinthian sheep home. We too have been called.

Second, we are not only a called people. We are also, subsequently, (v. 2) a “sanctified” people. What does that mean? It means we are a people who have been set apart from the system of the world and for the service of God. As Paul will tell them in a later letter, that's what the Holy Spirit has done in making us a “new creation” in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). And that's the spiritual reality behind the word “saint”. The New Testament (NT) has no category for an especially pure or an especially faithful or an especially successful Christian. All of us, whatever our spiritual temperature at any given moment, all of us are called “saints”. Even if that English word seems a little antiquated, we should love the truth to which it points, especially on those really hard days: we are those set apart by God's grace, and made (and being made) holy by God's power.

Third, we are not only a called people, and a sanctified people, we are also a united people. No. The word united is not found in v. 2. But the idea is clearly there. Do you see it? Remember that key phrase: “...called to be saints [sanctified] together with all those who... call upon... Jesus”. Together. When God called the Corinthians, when God called you and me, when he sanctified the Corinthians, when he sanctified you and me, he did this not as a series of isolated or siloed events. He did this (and he does this) as part of a mass adoption into his family; as part of a vast mosaic that the Master Artist, tile by tile, is creating before our very eyes. You see, Paul begins this amazing letter to a struggling church by reminding them of three precious and powerful truths: that they have been called by God... that they have been set apart from the world, and... that they have been united to something much, much bigger than themselves; to a global family, to a worldwide movement, to a faith-filled legacy and an eternal hope as the people of God; whether Jew or Gentile, whether slave or free, whether male or female. So...

III. One, But Not One

What do you think of when you hear that word... “church”? A particular place? A particular time?A particular tradition? A certain group of people who share your values? Did you know that verse 2 is Paul simply unpacking that word... “church”? To the “church of God that is in Corinth”. The word Paul would have used is the Greek word ekklesia. What does that word mean? It literally means, 'those called out'. Do you see? Those called by God... and called out of the world. Called. Sanctified. But he also wants them to remember that the church is much, much bigger than just them and their local problems. Yes, without a doubt, their “church” that is in Corinth is precious to God. But it is only one local expression of a universal reality. That doesn't minimize any one church's value. Instead, it grounds every church in really beautiful truths like... we are not alone... this didn't begin with us... the whole thing doesn't depend on us... our way is not the only way... our experience is not the final word... there is unity, but also diversity, both locally and globally... and there is a heritage God wants his chosen people to embrace.

Now... how does all of that help us with this idea of “together”? Every church, whether in Corinth or in Buckeye, must remember that our togetherness begins with these really, really big spiritual realities. Called. Sanctified. United. Like that jury breakdown, we are not together because, at times (like right now), we share the same physical space. We are not together because we have responded to a particular summons and now carry out a particular task. We are not together because we have and do sit together and listen together and even serve together. If we are the church, then we are together because each one of us has been divinely called, divinely sanctified, and divinely united... in Christ, in order to call upon Christ. Called by Jesus, to call upon Jesus.

Why is this so important to remember? Because as we'll see from the Corinthians' struggles, so many other things are competing to be our togetherness; AND, our true togetherness...it is and it will be regularly tested. In this new series, “One Corinthians”, my hope is to explore the very strange (but familiar) truth that the Corinthians were one, but at the same time... they were not one. That's the main reason Paul wrote to them: to help them live out the reality of their oneness.

But... what about us? How are we one... but not one? Upon what is our togetherness as a church built? Is it built on my conceptions or your preferences when it comes to that word “church”? On the familiar and comfortable? On a sense of duty or obligation? Or is it built on the really big, spiritual realities that stand behind that NT word? And what does it look like to be together; like that jury, to ultimately act in unanimity when it comes to our eternally important responsibility, a responsibility that really does affect lives: the call to be light in a truly dark world.

Look around this room. Look at the called. Look at the sanctified. Look at the united... in Christ. So, church, let's call upon Jesus. Let's call upon him with our brothers and sisters near and far. Why do God's called people call upon Jesus? Because as verse 2 tells us, he is “both their Lord and ours”. How can a group of unique and willful and opinionated and anxious and struggling and stubborn and distracted and suspicious and selfish people really be together? Only on our knees... before Jesus Christ. On the cross where he suffered and died, he purchased our unity. Only by His death can you and I be right with God, and then, right with one another.

But if God's people have called upon Jesus and still call upon him, then we know he lives; that He is, as Paul will later describe, our living Head; yes, the head of a worldwide body, but also the head of Way of Grace. So in this 'one, but not one' tension in which we, like the Corinthians, so often live, we need daily grace, don't we? So, church, let's call upon Jesus. And let's allow Paul's word in verse 3 to bless us through the Spirit of God; just as if those words were spoken for us here in Buckeye:

Grace to you [brothers and sisters... grace to us] and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!