Good day and welcome to the 5 minute challenge and the start of a new book in God’s Word. We just finished the great book of Romans yesterday so since we move along as the Bible is laid out, today we start 1 Corinthians. This is a letter (epistle) written by Paul to the church in the city of Corinth. Paul, in fact, wrote 2 letters to the church at Corinth and they’re logically named 1st and 2nd Corinthians.
Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus around 57AD while he was there doing missionary work. There were about 400,000 people in Corinth at that time and it was like the Vegas of the ancient world. It was located on an isthmus and the commerce of the world flowed through Corinth. It was a wealthy city and the people of the world flowed there to see and be seen. Corinth was famous for the temple of the Greek goddess Aphrodite (or Venus to the Romans). The temple was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world but it wasn’t known in its day for its stunning architecture. 1,000 women (prostitutes) were placed in the service of the goddess Aphrodite and sex was the trade of the day within the temple. People would ‘worship’ at the temple via sex and then donate money to the goddess. This gross perversion of religion created a very wealthy enterprise. It is here within this center of sin that Paul started a church and it is here that Paul’s letter will be delivered.
As you can imagine, bathed in this city of sin the church was having problems and upon hearing of them over in Ephesus, Paul addresses them via writing. We saw in the book of Acts that Paul started the church at Corinth on his second missionary journey and was there 18 months. (Acts 18:1-8) He then stopped back by at the latter part of his third missionary journey. It is also here in Corinth that he met Priscilla and Aquilla and worked with them in the ministry as well as making tents with them. In fact, yesterday we looked at Romans 16 and Paul mentions them by name as being instrumental in the church at Rome. It's so awesome to work through God’s Word and see it all get tied together right before your eyes!
The keynote of this epistle is the supremacy of Christ. Although Paul mentions several specific troubles the church is having, they all come back to Jesus Christ being the center and as a result the ultimate solution to their problems. This is important to note because it is no different for us today. Jesus Christ is the solution to all of our moral, social, economic and doctrinal problems today. In fact it’s astounding to note that in the first 10 verses of chapter 1, Jesus Christ is mentioned no less than 10 TIMES! Jesus Christ is the very dead center of this message, of this book and of the entire Bible!
In chapter one of 1st Corinthians, Paul quickly gets out of the gate in dealing with a very specific problem that has been reported to him by a woman in the church named Chloe. Before we get into the problem we should look briefly at this woman named Chloe and how she handled this issue. Folks, if you see a problem and you feel strong enough to report it, you’ve got to have your name associated with it. It’s a real problem in our society today. People want to report or tattle on others but don’t want their name used or associated. If your going to accuse someone, you have to come forward, by name. Chloe saw this problem and came forward, by name. I’m sure there was fallout for her but in life you have to personally stand up for what is right and address evil head on. Thank God for Chloe and that she was strong enough to address this problem in the church at Corinth.
The problem? Division within the body of the church. Let’s look at 1 Cor. 1:10-12
“I appeal to you brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgement. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarrelling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each of you says, “I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas (Peter), or I follow Christ.”
So Paul was writing this from Ephesus and he hears through Chloe that the church over in Corinth is having some problems. The people of the church had heard the gospel from several different people and they had formed cliques preferring the people they had heard it from. Paul was a brilliant, intellectual preacher, probably much different than hearing the fiery, emotional, blue collar preaching of Peter. We don’t know a lot about Apollos, he was not an apostle but he was a great evangelist of the day. He would be kind of like their modern day Billy Graham. All three great preachers...but they’re just men. You see, the people were picking their favorite preacher and it was causing great division within the church.
Paul is quick to correct here in saying “was I crucified for you?” “Were you baptized in my name?” (1 Cor 1:13) Paul is redirecting them quickly to see that Jesus Christ is the focus, He is the center, He is the preacher. We should be focusing on Jesus, not any man that is merely delivering the message of God. You know, I see a lot of this problem still today. It should be no surprise, I mean we possess the same human DNA today that the people in the church at Corinth possessed. The people in the Bible didn’t know they were living in Bible times, they were just regular old people like we are today. I see people that will go and join the biggest church in their city because the Pastor is a phenomenal, smooth talking, motivational speaker. Maybe he’s on TV and has 12 books on the bestseller list too. I mean he’s gotta be the best right? We have to be oh, so careful at elevating our preacher above other men or heaven forbid, above Jesus. Our pastors deserves respect, don’t get me wrong, but they're just men that are serving God by giving out His Word. MAN should not be followed, JESUS is the one that should be followed.
What a great lesson from God’s Word today. Division in the church happens when we take our focus off of Jesus and put it on men. Don’t look to men but look to the Lord Jesus Christ for the truth that your life needs. Christ is the center, keep your eyes upon Jesus.
My friends, have a blessed day and I pray your personal time in God’s Word today etches His truth upon your heart.
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