Washed, Sanctified, Justified: Why the Church’s Internal Life is its Greatest Public Witness

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:00:59] Please join me in standing as the one true living God calls us to worship this Lord's day.
[00:01:14] Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and maidens together, old men and children, let them praise the name of the Lord,
[00:01:34] For his name is exalted alone. His majesty is above earth and heaven. Indeed, let us join in all creation in praising our God and King as we sing together hymn 116, For the Beauty of the
[00:01:49] Earth. Let's pray together. Almighty God, we do come before you this morning to praise your name, to praise you and your creation in the midst of the sun and the moon and the shining stars and
[00:04:38] the highest heavens as they all cry out to you in praise. We praise you this morning because you are the one who has created all things, you have established all things, and you are at work in
[00:04:53] the world powerfully. You are the God who sends the rain to accomplish its purpose, to water the earth and to bring forth life. It's a reminder of the way that your word fulfills its promises in the world as well. We thank you that you are at work in our hearts and minds by
[00:05:14] the power of your Holy Spirit. And we thank you this morning as we meditate on this truth of what it means to be your people. We thank you that not only have you saved us out of our sin and misery
[00:05:25] through the work of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior as individuals, but you have saved us to a glorious purpose, to be your people together, to worship you in spirit and in truth, to support,
[00:05:40] love, and encourage one another here in this local expression of your church. And so we do thank you that you are the giver of every good gift. We thank you for the gift of your church
[00:05:52] gathered, and we pray that you would be with us and lead us by your spirit so that all that we do and say during this time may be pleasing in your sight. We pray these things in Jesus' name,
[00:06:03] amen. Please remain standing and turn with me in your hymnals for our corporate confession of faith this morning. It'll be the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 26, and we'll read the first two paragraphs together. That's on page 864 in the back of your hymnals. In this chapter 26 of
[00:06:36] the Confession of Faith speaks to us about the church and what God is doing in our midst in the communion of saints. Let's read together these first two paragraphs. All saints that are united to Jesus Christ their head by his spirit and by faith have fellowship with him in his graces,
[00:07:00] sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory, and being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other's gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward
[00:07:26] man. Saints by profession are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification, as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities
[00:07:52] and necessities, which communion, as God offereth opportunity, is to be extended unto all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus. Please be seated. Our Old Testament this morning is Psalm 133. I'll invite you to turn there with me in your Bibles. Psalm 133 is a
[00:08:27] short psalm. We will sing it in our middle hymn this morning out of the Psalter selection. It's an insert in your bulletins. And it's one of my most beloved psalms. And part of that is
[00:08:40] it happens at the end of Presbytery or Synod when all the business is concluded. And so that means our job is done. But it's also beautiful to hear all of our brothers and fathers in the faith
[00:08:53] singing this psalm of unity together. And so the imagery here is of one of being set apart, that's the imagery of the sanctifying oil, but also this refreshing dew that comes upon us when we are living our lives in God's rightly ordained way in unity with our brothers and sisters. Let's
[00:09:14] hear this reading from the Old Testament Psalm 133. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity it is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard on the beard of Aaron running down on the collar of his robes it is
[00:09:40] like the dew of Hermon which falls on the mountains of Zion for there the Lord has commanded the blessing life forevermore the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God and all of his promise will stand forever. Amen.
[00:10:00] At this point in time, we'd like to invite forward Deacon John Lael for his service of

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:10:10] installation this morning. For those of you who were here last week, you know that we ordained and installed most of our deacons and newly elected elder. John was not able to be with us last week, so we are sort of catching up with him this morning. As you know, John has previously
[00:10:38] served in the role of deacon within this congregation, and so he is being reinstalled to the office today. And John, before I put to you the vows that are required of you and a vow
[00:10:50] to the congregation as well, I do just want to remind you that the office in which you are re-entering, the office of deacon, we're told is one of sympathy and service after the example of
[00:11:01] Jesus Christ. That Jesus himself, as he was ministering to people, didn't just teach, but he also took care of needs. He took care of the felt needs of the people with whom he interacted.
[00:11:13] And that ministry is now entrusted to the deacons of the church. It's a mercy ministry. And so I want to remind you, as well as your other fellow deacons that are in the room this morning, that
[00:11:23] that is your primary call in this church. There are other things that will naturally come along in the course of business, things like preparing a budget or taking care of our buildings and grounds. But the number one obligation of the deacon is the people of the church, this church
[00:11:38] family. And so as you prepare to re-enter into that office, be encouraged, be reminded that your task is to love these people well. And I would encourage you in that way. John, I just have three
[00:11:50] questions for you this morning as you are reinstalled. Do you accept the office of deacon in this congregation? And do you promise to perform faithfully all the duties of the office?
[00:12:02] And do you promise to endeavor by the grace of God to live your life in Christian witness before the church and in the world? Do you promise to submit in the spirit of love to the authority
[00:12:16] of the session and to the higher courts of the church? And do you promise in all things to promote the unity, peace, purity, and prosperity of the church. I also have a question for those of you
[00:12:30] who are members of this congregation. Do you, the members of this congregation, acknowledge and receive this fellow member as deacon? And do you promise to give him all the honor, encouragement, and assistance in the spirit of love to which his office, according to the Word of God
[00:12:47] and the standards of this church, entitles him? If so, please indicate by standing together.
[00:12:53] Let's pray together.
[00:13:00] Well, Lord, our God, as we stand before you this morning, and as John in particular prepares to reenter the office of deacon, we are reminded that your design for the church is laid out for us in Scripture.
[00:13:14] And it is to the office of deacon that this ministry of mercy is assigned, being aware of the needs of the church, the felt needs of the members of the congregation.
[00:13:25] and so we would pray as John and his fellow deacons take up this work even as they have their first meeting of the year in just a few days time that they would be they would be mindful
[00:13:36] of this ministry that while there are other tasks assigned to them that have to do with buildings and budgets and those sorts of things that they are to be first and foremost about the people of
[00:13:46] the church and their model their example for this is none other than Jesus himself who looked after the needs of those around him. And so, Father, we pray for John. We pray that you would be a
[00:13:58] work within him, that he would be a blessing to our deacons, that he'd be a blessing to our congregation. We pray that as he serves in the next several years, that you would also protect him and his family from any attacks that might come from the evil one. Lord, we thank you
[00:14:13] for John. We thank you for men that you appoint and call to these works. And we ask, Lord, that this congregation would be blessed because of their faithful endeavors. And we ask it all in
[00:14:23] Jesus' name. Amen. John, welcome and congratulations. Thank you. I would invite you to remain standing as we do turn now to our second hymn of the morning. You'll actually find this inside your

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:14:34] bulletins. It's an insert, and it'll be singing together Psalm 133. Let's pray together.

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:16:01] O Lord, our God, we do thank you for the blessing that is ours, that we are united together as brothers and sisters in christ and we thank you father that this means that we are we are bound
[00:16:13] together just as we are bound to our savior jesus we thank you for the fellowship that we are able to enjoy we are thankful for an opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder in worship this morning
[00:16:25] and we thank you too for an opportunity now to return to you your tithes and over and above that with our offerings well we recognize that you call us to this in your word and this is an opportunity
[00:16:37] for us to walk in obedience, but also in joyful giving. And we pray, Lord, as we return these gifts to you this morning, that you would be pleased to receive them and that you would use
[00:16:47] them, Father, to advance the gates of your kingdom throughout this world. We ask it in Jesus' name.

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:16:53] Amen. You may be seated. You may be seated. As we go to the Lord in a time of prayer together

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:19:30] this morning, I want to provide a few updates on some situations that we mentioned last week.
[00:19:36] First of all, I mentioned a couple of the young men in our church who were facing various things.
[00:19:40] I have good news to report from the Shogar Front.
[00:19:43] Our son Joseph did very well through his heart procedure last Tuesday.
[00:19:47] And as of yesterday, has freedom to do whatever he wants to do now, a clean bill of health.
[00:19:51] And so thank you for your prayers for our family and for Joseph.
[00:19:54] Also continue to pray for Anthony Ziegler, who has been at home this week with a drain in after his appendix ruptured last week.
[00:20:01] He's got another follow-up appointment tomorrow, and doctors will sort of set the schedule for going forward as well.
[00:20:08] But we continue to pray for the Ziegler family and particularly for Anthony during this time.
[00:20:14] I also remind you to keep praying for the Goodrum family as Ruth remains under hospice care.
[00:20:18] Continue to pray for Freddie and for Casey.
[00:20:22] And I would also encourage you all to be praying for the Donnelly family as well.
[00:20:25] Kathy's mother passed away yesterday morning at the age of 100.
[00:20:29] just a couple of weeks away from 101 so please be praying for kathy ron please let her know that we're praying for her and for both of you and the rest of the family in this time of grief and then
[00:20:42] of course finally as as karen has reminded us this morning today is sanctity of human life sunday here in our nation as christians we we recognize we acknowledge that all of life is sacred because
[00:20:52] all of life is ordained and given by god particularly human life in which all of us men and women boys and girls are made in and after the image and likeness of god and he alone has
[00:21:03] the prerogative for the length of our days from the moment of conception to the moment that we are laid in our graves that is god's prerogative and and as a race as a nation but really as a
[00:21:15] world we have we have sinned greatly in that and taking that prerogative to ourselves not only in the issue of abortion but even at end of life issues as well um and so we as a people do well
[00:21:26] to hold forth and to remind the world that all of life is sacred because all of life is given to us by God.
[00:21:35] So that being said, let's go to the Lord now in a time of prayer together.
[00:21:45] Lord our God, we come before you this morning and we do so celebrating the fact that we are your people and that we are wonderfully and fearfully made.
[00:21:57] the psalmist reminds us that each and every one of us was knit together in the secret place in our mother's wombs and that in your book were written every one of them the days that were
[00:22:13] formed for us even when as of yet there were none of them father we acknowledge this morning that you are the creator and as creator you are the one who possesses the right the only one who
[00:22:28] possesses the right to decide when life begins and when life should end. That You have given dignity, that You have given value, You have given worth to us as people. And Father, we are grieved
[00:22:43] to know that we live in a world in which that dignity is often disparaged and that worth is often rejected father as a nation on behalf of this nation we would ask for your forgiveness
[00:23:00] we would ask that you would cleanse us we would ask that you would purge from us these stains not only in matters of abortion but in euthanasia and and deciding when someone is valuable and when
[00:23:15] they are no longer valuable lord i pray that we would not just grow accustomed to this but that as your people we would be outraged by this each and every time but that we would also be for life
[00:23:26] as well and we thank you for an opportunity even as we've been reminded this morning to to rally around our local community pregnancy centers where not only are women in crisis counseled to choose life but then are also encouraged and supported after a child is born lord i pray that
[00:23:45] as Your people, as Your church, we would be supportive of all of life, in all stages of life, from the cradle all the way to the grave. Father, we thank You that this is a church that values
[00:23:57] this. Father, we thank You that this is a church that recognizes Your prerogative in all of these matters. And we thank You, too, that this is a church that cares for the lives of one another.
[00:24:08] We thank You for the opportunity we have, week in and week out, to pray for one another in the courses of our lives, particularly in times of grief, in times of illness, in times of crisis.
[00:24:20] And we thank you that as we cry out to you, you hear us and you respond. And so we thank you for answered prayers. Lord, I thank you that for my family and for seeing Joseph through his heart
[00:24:30] procedure last week. We thank you for sustaining Anthony Ziegler over the course of the last week.
[00:24:34] And we would pray that you would give doctors wisdom as they continue to map out the best way forward for him. And then we pray in the near future, he would be back to normal and would
[00:24:44] have a clean bill of health. We continue to pray for those who are in places of grief, and we think of the Goodrum family as they continue to wait by Ruth's side as she is under hospice care. Lord,
[00:24:56] we pray that you would sustain this family and minister to their hearts and minds. We would pray for the Donnellys as well as they grieve the loss of Kathy's mother, Miss Mary, yesterday. We thank
[00:25:07] you for giving her such a good long life, a hundred years. What a thing to celebrate, but we also thank you more than that that she was a child of god that she loved her savior jesus christ and we
[00:25:18] pray that that would give this family great peace and great hope in this time of grief well we pray for all the people that are gathered here today surely all of us have things that weigh heavily
[00:25:29] on our hearts and minds things that concern us and we thank you that by your spirit's power you know each and every one of those things and so we pray that you would attend to them and that as you

[00:25:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:25:40] do that we would give you all glory and honor we pray this in jesus name amen thank you choir

[00:27:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:27:29] well i invite you to turn with me in your bibles this morning to first corinthians as we continue our look at this letter of paul we come to chapter six and we're going to be looking at verses
[00:27:40] 1 through 11. one of the challenges that we can see that was facing the corinthian church was learning what it meant to be disciples of Jesus Christ. As we've noted in the course of our study, many within this congregation had come out of the paganism and the idolatry that was so
[00:28:07] rampant in the city of Corinth. And as we work our way through this letter, we see that they were having trouble of letting go of these old habits and these old patterns they weren't fully embracing
[00:28:22] and leaning into their new identities in jesus christ in other words they weren't demonstrating ongoing progress in their obedience and sanctification and so paul's concerned about that we've picked up on his concern all throughout this letter we know that jesus calls the church
[00:28:42] He calls us to be a city on the hill, to be a light of the world that pierces through the darkness and points others to the hope of the gospel. And yet what the Corinthians were putting
[00:28:56] on display to the world was anything but that. They were not demonstrating light. They were not demonstrating hope. We saw that in the first four chapters as they were behaving according to worldly wisdom instead of godly wisdom. They had all of this infighting amongst themselves,
[00:29:11] trying to outdo one another in importance and in rank.
[00:29:15] And then here, in the middle of chapters 5 and 6, we see that some of their old ways, their old patterns, were still cropping up.
[00:29:24] Last week, we saw the evidence of sexual immorality that was being tolerated within the church.
[00:29:30] And this morning, we're going to see all kinds of conflict that really sprung from greed and infighting.
[00:29:37] And all of this was on very public display.
[00:29:40] And so when their neighbors saw them, what they saw was dysfunction, disorder, and disagreement.
[00:29:49] And what's attractive about that?
[00:29:52] As the world looks on at a church, if all it sees is dysfunction, disorder, and disagreement, what's the appeal of that?
[00:30:00] The world can find that anywhere and everywhere.
[00:30:04] You see, if the church of Jesus Christ isn't publicly demonstrating the transforming power of the gospel then we have failed in our witness now this doesn't mean that we then just kind of put on a fake face that we pretend like we've got it all together because friends we don't have it
[00:30:22] all together but it does mean that we strive to live according to the holy standard that's been set before us by jesus christ so that when the world does see us they do see something different
[00:30:36] something attractive something that can't be explained by human reason something that can only come about by the grace of god and so i want you to pay attention as i read this text this morning i want you to listen out for for three particular parts of this passage as paul works
[00:30:54] through yet another problem within this church i want you to listen for him as he points out the problem, and then as he points out their poor public witness, and then reminds them of the power
[00:31:07] of the gospel at work within them. So hear now God's word, 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
[00:31:14] When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is
[00:31:29] to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more then matters pertaining to this life? So if you have such cases, why do
[00:31:43] you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers? But brother
[00:31:56] goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers. To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
[00:32:09] But you yourselves wrong and defraud even your own brothers. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor
[00:32:30] drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you but you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God let's pray together and ask God's blessing on the reading and studying
[00:32:53] of His Word. Lord our God, we come before You this morning as we open up Your Word, as we have heard it read, and we understand that Your Word often acts as a mirror, reflecting back to us truths
[00:33:10] about us and about our own lives. Even as we look at a letter written to a Corinthian church 2,000 years ago, we pray that by Your Spirit's power, You would help us to see and find our place
[00:33:24] in this passage? Where is it in our lives where perhaps we have forgotten that by Your grace we were washed and we were sanctified and we have been justified through Jesus Christ?
[00:33:37] So Lord, we pray that You would search our hearts and our minds today, bring conviction where conviction is needed, build us up where we need to be built up, and be glorified through it all.
[00:33:49] We ask in Jesus' name, amen.
[00:33:53] All right, so if you've been around this church long enough, you know that I am not your typical three-point kind of preacher.
[00:34:00] However, when there's three points clearly in a text, you go with it.
[00:34:04] And so this morning, there's three things that I want us to see from Paul's words in this passage.
[00:34:10] And the first, as I mentioned a moment ago, is the fact that Paul is putting his finger immediately on the problem within the Corinthian church.
[00:34:18] It's the same thing we saw him do last week.
[00:34:20] At the beginning of chapter 5, he identified the problem, which was the sexual immorality that was being tolerated and even celebrated within the life of the church.
[00:34:30] Well, as we come to chapter 6, in verse 1, he points out the problem.
[00:34:34] He says, when one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
[00:34:45] All right.
[00:34:46] So if I were to give you a pop quiz and ask you to summarize, what is Paul's issue here?
[00:34:51] What is the problem that he's identified?
[00:34:54] What would you say that it is?
[00:34:56] Is it that there were disputes between the members of the church?
[00:34:59] Is that what Paul is concerned about here?
[00:35:02] Or is it that they were taking these disputes to the local public court of law rather than settling them amongst themselves within the body of believers?
[00:35:15] Well, as you can probably guess, it's that latter issue.
[00:35:19] You see, friends, there are always going to be disputes within the life of any church.
[00:35:23] That's the consequence of imperfect people living in proximity with one another.
[00:35:29] Where two or more sinners are gathered, a fence is bound to follow.
[00:35:34] It's true. It's what happens in the course of our lives.
[00:35:38] And Paul himself was no stranger to this fact.
[00:35:41] Paul was no stranger to the fact of disputes.
[00:35:44] have record of him for instance in the book of acts having a falling out with his gospel partner barnabas they had been on missionary journeys together but then at some point we're told that a sharp dispute arose between paul and barnabas and they parted company we also see in his letter
[00:36:03] to the galatians when he tells of a time when he had to confront the apostle peter to his face because peter was caught up in some kind of hypocrisy and so paul had to confront him about it
[00:36:16] In his letter to the Philippians, he mentions a disagreement that had come between two of the women in that congregation as well.
[00:36:24] And so what we see from all this then is conflict is inevitable.
[00:36:28] We are going to be at odds with someone at some point in the course of our life together.
[00:36:34] But what matters is how we handle that conflict when it arises.
[00:36:41] And the Corinthian church was failing miserably in this regard.
[00:36:45] just as they had failed to deal with the sexual immorality as we saw last week so they were failing to deal with conflicts and disagreements between their members and paul is incredulous over this that's why he goes on in verses two and three reminding them not only of who they are
[00:37:05] but what they are also destined to be he says in verse two do you not know that the saints will judge the world and then in verse 3 he says do you not know that we are also to judge angels
[00:37:19] you see there is a day coming when jesus returns and he sits on his judgment seat that that we the saints will sit alongside him and we also will sit in judgment over the world and over the angels and
[00:37:31] paul seems to be pulling here from what jesus says to his disciples in matthew 19 talking about when the son of man comes on his seat of judgment that they too would sit alongside him in judgment over
[00:37:42] the world and what paul is doing here he's arguing from the greater to the lesser he's telling the corinthians listen if you are destined to be entrusted with this cosmic responsibility surely you can handle the trivial cases that pop up in here and now in life on this side of heaven
[00:38:04] but here we see evidence of the corinthian believers lack of growth of grace and faith and knowledge they didn't they they just were missing the fact that by the empowering of the holy spirit and through the instructions that they had received through paul through apollos
[00:38:24] through peter through the teaching of jesus they already had everything they needed to settle these disputes they simply weren't employing this knowledge and authority now before i go any further, let me provide some clarity here too. Paul makes it pretty clear in his choice of words
[00:38:41] that these disputes that they were taking public weren't matters of great legal complexity. These were, as he calls them in verse 2, trivial cases. He says in verse 1 that these are grievances, another way of understanding that these are personal conflicts. And Paul's point is, didn't
[00:39:04] Jesus tell us how to deal with these things? Haven't you already been told how to deal with trivial cases, matters of personal conflict? We find that, don't we, in Matthew chapter 18.
[00:39:16] In Matthew 18, Jesus gives us these instructions. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he
[00:39:30] does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the
[00:39:42] church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. There it is. Jesus provides us a user-friendly, step-by-step process for dealing with these kinds of conflicts. And the first step is to go to the person and try to work it out.
[00:40:05] Notice though who the impetus is on in that passage. In Matthew 18, Jesus says, if your brother sins against you, then you, the offended party, need to go to him. Don't wait for him to
[00:40:17] come to you. The impetus is on you, the person who has been offended. Jesus doesn't say, pick up the phone when you get home from church and talk about what that person did to you he doesn't say find
[00:40:32] your group of friends in a corner somewhere and gossip about the offense no he says if someone has offended you you go to them and tell it to them and friends my guess would be that the vast
[00:40:48] majority of times if you were to practice that you would find the other person either a didn't realize they offended you and are terribly sorry for that, or B, maybe there was another side to
[00:40:58] their story and you're able to work things out. But no matter what, the starting place for any sort of personal conflict is to go to the person and seek to work it out. Now, if that doesn't work,
[00:41:09] Jesus says there's another step you take. You take one or two people with you. The idea here is you've got some people who can speak into the matter, who can perhaps mediate a conversation, and if that goes wrong they can also serve as witnesses for how things went down because if
[00:41:24] that fails then Jesus says the last step is to tell it to the church. Now in our tradition as Presbyterians that means taking it to the elders and letting the elders begin to adjudicate the
[00:41:35] matter. But here's what I want you to see. Notice how all three steps are to take place within the fellowship of the church. Everything is handled in-house, so to speak. We are not to air out our
[00:41:51] dirty laundry for the entire world to see. And we aren't to ask unbelievers to render justice for the saints. The church should be competent to handle such matters. That's why Paul says in verse 5, isn't there someone wise enough among you to settle such disputes between the brothers?
[00:42:18] And this is the expectation that Paul had, not just for the Corinthians, but for all of his churches. I mentioned a moment ago in his letter to the Philippians, how he points out that there
[00:42:26] are these two leading ladies within the congregation who are at odds with one another. They were not in agreement with one another. And Paul mentions it in his letter to that church, asking for the church
[00:42:36] to come alongside them, and he says, help them to agree in the Lord. So it's a church-wide effort.
[00:42:44] All of us have a role to play in maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
[00:42:52] And of course, the purpose of this, the goal of this, is that there might be reconciliation, that the two parties that are at odds with one another can come to a place of peace and unity.
[00:43:02] and imagine if we do that and if we do that well how the church would then be a living example of the power of the gospel because what did jesus come to do he came to reconcile us to god and he
[00:43:19] came to reconcile us to one another that's the heart of the gospel that jesus established peace between men and god and he makes peace between fellow men fellow men and women believers in Jesus Christ. And when we follow that example within our gatherings, then we are showcasing
[00:43:37] the beauty and the heart of the gospel. It's all about being reconciled to one another. But that's not what the Corinthians were doing. And that brings us to the second point in this passage, and that's their poor public witness. Again, Paul's concern isn't that there were conflicts
[00:43:54] in the church, it was how these conflicts were being handled. And remember, these were fairly petty conflicts personal grievances and and trivial cases but what were they doing well they were escalating matters by taking these things to the public courts they were suing
[00:44:11] one another they were filing lawsuits very publicly against one another they were dragging their brothers and sisters in christ to the public courts and before unrighteous judges and when i I say public courts I do mean very public courts in that day and age in the
[00:44:29] city of Corinth these sorts of cases were heard in public forums and these buildings called basilicas and anyone who wanted to attend could they're sort of open air and open invitation anyone who wanted to could come and watch the
[00:44:45] trial and the proceedings and so what happened is this became a form of cheap entertainment for the masses as people would gather to listen to other people airing out their dirty laundry before everyone else and don't think for a
[00:45:01] minute that we're any different today why do you think shows like the People's Court and Judge Judy and other shows like that are so popular because everyone loves a scandal everyone loves to see other people and the mess they
[00:45:13] make of their lives well imagine two Christians members of the same church in in a public forum like that, accusing one another of frivolous charges and attacking each other's character. And then imagine the delight of the watching crowds as this soap opera unfolds before
[00:45:37] them. And then ask yourself, what kind of witness is that to the watching world? It's much the same as we saw last week, another poor example of witness. The pagan culture watching these Christians would deduce that this new religion is no better and no different than any of the
[00:45:57] other religions and other philosophies that had passed through Corinth. And apparently, this guy named Jesus, whom these Christians say is a god, must not be much of a god because he can't even help his people handle personal disputes. And so they would take their cases
[00:46:12] to the public courts and ask unbelieving and unrighteous judges to settle the matter.
[00:46:21] Now, I do want to note, and it's important to note this, that Paul in this passage is not saying that Christians are forbidden from ever taking matters before the civil courts.
[00:46:32] That certainly is not the case, because even in the life of Paul, we see evidence that he did this.
[00:46:38] In the book of Acts, when he is being charged with things by the Jewish leadership and he is placed under arrest, you remember what he does.
[00:46:45] Who does he appeal to?
[00:46:46] He appealed to Caesar, because he wanted his case to be heard by Caesar.
[00:46:51] And in Romans chapter 13, he himself is the one who talks about how the civil government is God's gift to us for our good.
[00:46:59] And in that context, he was even talking about the Roman Empire.
[00:47:05] There are complex legal matters that are, by God's design, assigned to the realm of the governing authorities.
[00:47:13] But that is not the situation that Paul is addressing in this chapter.
[00:47:17] What the Corinthians are guilty of is taking these personal disputes and grievances between one another to the public court and bearing terrible witness to the gospel. And as a result, Paul says in verse 7, everyone loses. Verse 7, Paul says to have loose lawsuits at all with one
[00:47:38] another is already a defeat for you. It doesn't matter if you win. It doesn't matter if the judge says, yep, you're on the right, you're on the wrong, you have to pay reparations. You still
[00:47:47] lost. Everyone loses, and most of all, the honor and the glory in the name of Jesus Christ loses because of your behavior. For a Christian to drag another Christian to courts in these situations is to reveal a mindset that is not the mind of Christ. Two weeks ago, we preached out of
[00:48:10] Philippians chapter 2, where Paul reminds us of the mind of Christ, how he was willing to lay aside his rights for our sake. And Paul says, isn't that supposed to be your mindset as well?
[00:48:20] That's why he goes on to say in verse 7, why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
[00:48:28] Similar to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount. If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn to him the other. That's the mindset of Christ. It's not about getting your
[00:48:44] pound of flesh. It's not about rubbing someone's nose in what they did wrong. It's about living the gospel before a watching world. So the church has not done a very good job.
[00:48:57] They have not handled these conflicts very well. They have a terrible public witness. And so what does Paul do? How does he conclude this? Does he wipe his hands and say, you know what, I'm done.
[00:49:09] I'm just going to focus on the Ephesians. That's where he was living at the time he wrote this letter, I'm done with you Corinthians, you're a lost cause. No, he takes them back to the gospel.
[00:49:20] And that's the third and final part of this passage. Look again at verses 9 through 11.
[00:49:27] Paul says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will
[00:49:43] inherit the kingdom of God, and such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
[00:49:57] What's Paul doing here? It's almost as though Paul is showing them a before and after picture.
[00:50:05] He starts off by reminding them, of showing them of who they were and what they were like prior to Christ. And then he reminds them of who they are now in Christ. And so he begins with
[00:50:21] who they were, of the hopeless estate they were in due to their unrighteousness. He begins with those what we'll call the BC days, before Christ, in their lives, when they were counted among the unrighteous, among those who would not inherit the kingdom of God. And he rehearses
[00:50:40] some of the behaviors that marked them in those days. Now in these two verses, 9 and 10, we have this long list of sins, this long list of unrighteous behaviors that really can be categorized
[00:50:53] into two main groups, two main headings. You have your sexual sins, and you have your sins involving money and position. And isn't that really the larger outline for chapters 5 and 6? Last week, Paul took on some of the sexual morality, and guess what? Next week, at the end of chapter 6,
[00:51:10] He's going to return to that issue.
[00:51:14] And then in our passage today, he's looking more at issues of position and power and money.
[00:51:19] These are the two categories that this church was struggling to break free from.
[00:51:24] This is what they had come out of.
[00:51:26] This is who they were prior to Christ.
[00:51:28] And even now that they're in Christ, they keep falling back into these old patterns.
[00:51:35] Well, Paul's point is, listen, that's who you used to be.
[00:51:38] and that behavior will not gain you entrance into the kingdom of God.
[00:51:43] So why are you living like that still?
[00:51:47] It's who you used to be, but it's not who you are now.
[00:51:50] And then he brings us back home to the gospel in verse 11.
[00:51:54] Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
[00:52:08] I think this is one of the most beautiful verses about the transforming power of the gospel in our lives because that verse applies to every single one of us who has put our faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:52:18] Such were some of you.
[00:52:20] That's the old self that has now been crucified with Christ.
[00:52:24] And you are called to put on the new self, the self that has been washed, that has been sanctified, that has been justified.
[00:52:33] And just think about those three words just for a moment.
[00:52:35] This idea of being washed, You almost picture in his mind, Paul is thinking of their baptisms.
[00:52:40] As the water of baptism was applied to these people, how it represented the cleansing effect of the blood of Jesus Christ that washes away the stain of sin in our lives.
[00:52:49] Friends, you used to be stained with sin, but you have now been washed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
[00:52:58] The old hymn, there is a fountain filled with blood and sinners plunge beneath it, lose all their guilty stains.
[00:53:06] That's the imagery that Paul has here.
[00:53:08] you've been washed but not only that you were sanctified the word behind this means holy you were marked as holy to the lord last week we talked about the holiness of god and how that
[00:53:23] is god's standard guess what friends you have been marked as holy you are set apart from the rest of the world now those old ways those old vices they have nothing to do with you anymore
[00:53:34] you are supposed to die to those each and every day and live for holiness and that's because you've also been justified it's interesting in verse 9 paul says do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of god but you've been justified which means to be declared
[00:53:55] righteous in the sight of god god has declared that you are righteous in his sight only for the sake of Jesus Christ who died for you. In fact, in his next letter to the Corinthians in 2nd
[00:54:08] Corinthians chapter 5, he'll remind them that it was for your sake that Jesus who knew no sin became sin so that you through him might become the righteousness of God. And friends, what you need to see today is this is who we are. We've been washed, we've been sanctified, we've been
[00:54:29] justified and this is what we are called to display to the world we're not perfect people i don't think anyone in this room would suggest that any of us are perfect and nor are we supposed
[00:54:40] to pretend to be perfect the biggest trouble with christians sometimes is that we try to put on this face like we've got our lives all together when no we don't what is the church if not the hospital
[00:54:49] for sinners if not a place where broken people come to be made whole through jesus christ we don't have our lives all together but we do have a savior who calls us to be holy as he is holy
[00:55:01] and we strive for that holiness and we live our lives together in such a way that will display the grace and the power of the gospel so that as people see us what they're really seeing is the
[00:55:19] power of god at work within us so that they may give glory to our father in heaven friends this the blessing of life together this is what psalm 133 prays for that we might be united together
[00:55:32] that we might showcase to the world the blessing of the grace of jesus christ let's pray together lord our god we do thank you that in jesus christ we find not only unity with one another
[00:55:48] but we also find a call to preserve that union lord we thank you that in your in your wisdom You have given to us the means and the mechanism for resolving things that would threaten our
[00:56:02] union together in Jesus Christ. And we would pray that we would learn a lesson from the Corinthian church, that when these moments arise that we perhaps find ourselves at odds with a brother or sister in this church and in Christ, that we would be quick to seek reconciliation,
[00:56:18] that we would resolve the issue, and that we would be at peace with one another, and in that showcasing the beauty and the glory of the gospel of jesus christ so father help us to be good
[00:56:32] witnesses of that grace we pray it in jesus name amen our closing hymn this morning is a celebration of this sweetness that we share in unity together let's stand together as we sing number 359 we'll
[00:56:47] sing the first four verses of blessed be the tie that binds let's stand together as you go this morning go with the blessing of our great god may the grace of the lord jesus christ
[00:58:40] the love of god the father almighty and the fellowship and the unity of the holy spirit be with you all both now and forevermore amen