1st Corinthians 1:1-9 REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE Christians don't blend in well with the world, neither socially, politically, nor religiously. When God works in a person's life, the changes are unmistakable. Paul was dramatically changed from one who opposed the Gospel of Christ to one who was an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. He was designated as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ after the Lord had ascended into heaven. He was the only one appointed an apostle in this way. Not every believer comes to Christ in the same way. The background of a person born into a Christian home and taught the way of salvation and the truth of God from infancy would make it seem to be normal for that person to come to know the Lord in early life. One like Paul, who persecuted believers in Christ even to death, would certainly have a dramatic change in life when God saves them.
The call to apostleship was not because Paul chose to change occupations from an enforcer of the Jewish tradition to a preacher of the Gospel, but because of God's will for him. God told Ananias that He had prepared him to take the Gospel to the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. Paul himself knew it was God's will for him to go to the Gentiles so that they would be "turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God." It would be a great privilege to participate with such a "chosen vessel" in the work of the Lord. Sosthenes was such a person. I have had the privilege to share in Gospel work with some of the finest preachers of a past generation, whom God has used remarkably in the salvation of many souls. It is to be expected that when called by God to further His work, we are going to be marked out and avoided because such work goes contrary to the ambition of those who pursue the world's agenda. Our responsibility in the work of God is to be available and ready to do whatever is God's will. Paul was known as an apostle. Sosthenes was known as a brother. Whatever is the role God gives us, we can be content in it and not seek to take the place of our own choosing.
Those believers who are part of a church have not only been called out of the world but have also been called to a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. These "called out" people have been called to be a company of believers who form a local church that belongs to God. There is "a life" in such a body that is not found in an organization but is in an organism. Such ones have been set apart by God and for God. God calls believers to "be ye holy for I am holy." It is not just something one joins, but a living body of believers to which we have been joined. To be part of a church of God is not just a membership but is to be an integral part of something, like a finger or an eye is part of a body. To be such a member is an act of God's grace.
This uniqueness is not only in one place, but everywhere God calls His people to be joined together in a local body under the authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each body has unique characteristics, and yet each body has similar characteristics. The body of a bird, fish, or animal is easily distinguished from that of a human. Each human body has similar parts but unique features that make it different from other human bodies. The same is true of an assembly. Corinth was different from Ephesus. Thessalonica was not identical to Berea. But every place and person had experienced the grace of God. Peace was to be a characteristic of each group, and both grace and peace come from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
That grace was not given to us because God owed it to us. It was given to us because we are accepted in the Beloved in Christ Jesus. For His sake and because of Him, we have received what is needed to be effective in our calling "in Christ Jesus." Gifts, the supernatural abilities that have been dispensed to us by God, are not for us to be proud of but are to be used effectively for the reason God gave them. They are to be a blessing to others and a benefit to the proper function of the body of believers who gather together under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a cause to thank God for when we see the operation of the gifts producing the desired effect among God's people. God has given us what we need to do all He desires of us.
To witness for God in an ungodly place where we do not blend in, we need the divine enablement of the spiritual gift He gives. The strength and will to perform what He has in mind are there constantly to draw on. His strength is what is needed to not quit when the going gets tough. The description of 'blameless" may not always be seen in God's people. It may not be seen in the performance of the work we have been called to do, although it is to be expected that one who belongs to the Lord will avoid any compromising of the commission we have been given. On a future day at the Judgment Seat of Christ, only those things that have manifested God's glory will be seen. The lives and service of the saints will be assessed appropriately by the One who has called us into fellowship with Him.
Fellowship with the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is such a privilege that the challenge to be loyal to Him who loves us and washed us from our sins in His own blood is to be grasped firmly. He is God's Son, He is Jesus our Savior, He is Christ - the Messiah from heaven, He is our Lord and our Master who has supreme authority over us and everything we do. No wonder we are thankful people in spite of the ungodly world we live in.
To be a part of the brotherhood of saints in this ungodly world is unique We have already experienced the grace and peace that the world does seek There is a purpose to our life, we already know, we don't have to wait and wonder God in His wisdom has gifted His own so that in the ecclesia they blend together.
To the world around, we're a square peg in a hole made round to fit everyone They want us to be as much like them as possible so we won't spoil their fun But one who has been called to be holy and call on the name of Jesus the Lord Doesn't fit in the system at all, where committed Christianity is abhorred.
God has given us what is needed to fulfill His divine will for us Anything else we attend to doesn't have much more value than dust. The things we speak about and know that have value come by grace alone. When used in the ways God intends, He will be glorified in the work that is done.
By being part of a local church, there is a place for God-given gifts to be used The necessary ability and strength are from Him who originally His servants did choose When giving diligence to labor by faith, we use what He has given in trust The results of being in fellowship with others make it possible for others to bless.
Our fellowship with the Lord's people is precious; we need to nurture it each day Through using the spiritual gifts God gives, we strengthen each other on the way We have also been called into a fellowship that is higher than we could conceive Our fellowship with God's Son, Jesus Christ, begins when in the Lord we believed.
Now, day by day, in our walk as those sanctified and called to be holy We find ourselves separated from the world when we gather in His name only All over this world, there are those who gather in like manner as we
What a day of rejoicing and blessing when together our Savior we see.
"Father, as I begin to focus my attention on the local assembly of saints as taught in this book of 1st Corinthians, may I learn the value of not blending in with the world. May I again commit myself as one who, with others, calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ alone, to never compromise Thy word for the sake of being well accepted by any or all who may challenge what we seek to do for Thee. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."