But we live in a culture that has made it clear that it embraces all manner of evil. With the redefinition of marriage just 10 years ago, the promotion of sexual immorality in schools, the funding of the slaughter of children in the womb, And much more, this culture has proven that it is trying to move away from God. And even as people stand up and try to speak up, as we have seen this week with the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk, people do not want to hear Christian truth. They do not want to hear the truth of the Bible applied to our society. Now, it didn't used to be this way. In fact, in our country and Western society as a whole, we were founded on the bedrock principles of scripture and the wisdom that arose from the Protestant Reformation. It's only as our societal house has shifted off of the foundation laid for us over time that we've begun to demote the role of church in society and promote evil and wickedness everywhere we turn. Sadly, Not only are we seeing that in society, we are seeing that inside the church as well. This worldly thinking has seeped into our seminaries, and from the seminaries, it has then emerged in many pulpits. More voices that used to proclaim truth now promote compromise. There are major denominations that no longer believe the Bible, but they will preach the social cause of the day. Rather than being an influence on society, the church instead has become enculturated. Now, as grievous as all of that is, there is one thing that we can say. This isn't new. And in fact, the Bible talks about this. Christians have always struggled with one of two things. Either they've struggled with bringing in worldly notions into the church, or they've adopted ideas from the world after coming into Christ, after coming to Christ, and then they brought into the church. This was true, for instance, of the Christians in Corinth. The city of Corinth was a city of great sin. We'll talk a bit about that today. Even the pagans negatively referred to certain Corinthianized behaviors. But Christians in the church brought some of these behaviors with them into the church, and that prompted Paul to write these letters. Now, as we read these letters, we are wrestling with something that we also struggle with. Because here's the truth, we all struggle, all Christians suffer from certain worldly and sinful notions. And we need to change for the glory of God. We don't always live up to the standard that we should, and that's the sad reality of life. But we do have hope of change in this life. And that change comes in Jesus Christ. This is why Paul writes, not to wag a finger, but to show them that they can change, they can grow, and that they have what they need in Christ to change and to grow. This is what we need to see as well, as we want to have holiness arise from our messes. And so as we consider the Corinthian church, we can see something of ourselves in that church in four ways. And we see that here in these two verses. First, the Corinthians had problems. And we all have some problems, amen? If you can't say amen, you can say ouch. We all have some problems. Second, we see that the Corinthians also had something else. They had sanctification. That's something that we don't always think about. That's not something that is always at the forefront of our minds, but it's true. They had sanctification, and we need to also consider that as well. Third, the Corinthians had communion. Ah, again, when we see divisions in the church, when we see factions and cliques and different schisms within the church, we need to remember that we have communion with Christ and with one another. And here's the fourth thing. The Corinthians had divine grace and peace. They had peace and grace that only comes from God. And that's something that we have as well. We can change for the glory of God. And let's see that as we examine these Corinthianized saints. First, the Corinthians had problems. The Corinthians had problems, and we will consider that as we just look at the opening words of verse two, to the church of God, which is at Corinth. Now, this is more than just a standard line of address. In fact, there's a little bit of a punch here, especially as we understand the context in which Paul is writing. We may not live in that day and in that world, but we can read and understand where they were, and anyone who saw this would understand, okay, he's writing to a group of people in court. They're gonna have some problems. This was expected. Let's break it down. First, let's think first about that word church. Church, because we are a church and they are a church. What does that mean? Well, the word comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which just means assembly. It is a gathering of people together for a purpose. And that's interesting because When we think of church today, we often think of it in terms of a building, a place you go to, but that's not the meaning that is used in scripture. In fact, as one commentary says here, in scripture, believers are not said to go to church. Instead, they meet with the church. The church regularly gathers to worship God and edify each other through preaching the Bible, performing baptisms, celebrating the Lord's Supper, and practicing church discipline. And so the church is a gathering that, yes, takes place somewhere, By the grace of God, we can actually still have the freedom to buy buildings and have a place where we can gather together and worship. But it could be anywhere. The church is not just a building. It is a gathering of people. Now it is more than just that. It is also a gathering of the universal saints as well as the local ones. And let's think about that. Universal Church encompasses all of believers all through time and all through space. What does that mean? That may sound strange to you. Well, let's put it in this way. The Corinthians, the Corinthian Christians that Paul wrote to, they lived a really long time ago. obviously, and they live really far away from where we live today. And yet they are just as much a part of the universal church of God in Christ as we are today. This is true of any other church that is meeting in the name of Christ, calling upon the name of the Lord today. We are all part of this universal gathering. We'll talk more about that in a little while. But there's also a local expression of that universal gathering, and that is a visible gathering of saints. That's y'all. That's us. We are a visible gathering of the universal church. And Paul's address reminds the Corinthian assembly here that it is part of something larger and yet it exists in a very troubled locale. He also reminds them that they, as a church, belong to God. It is the church of God. And I don't mean that as the denomination, of course, because there is a church of God denomination. This is defining ownership. This is a divine ownership. This is a church that belongs to God, that has been bought by God, that has been assembled by God, and by God it should assemble. It should do what God commands. Let's put this a different way. Paul does not write to the Corinthians and say, the church of Paul, Ooh, right? It's not Paul's church. He does not say the Corinthian church of y'all. Of course, if he had good Southern diction, he would say y'all sometimes. But it is not the gathering of y'all. It's the gathering of God, right? The Corinthians don't own the church. Paul doesn't own the church. Apollos doesn't own the church. Peter doesn't own the church, so we're gonna talk about that. Some people don't like that. Peter's not in charge of the church. This is the church of God. This is the church of God. And that already provides a corrective to some of the problems in Corinth, as well as some problems elsewhere. Because if we're honest, there are some problems when people think that the church exists to serve them. In fact, as one writer notes here, we often speak too loosely of my church or our church. This is a healthy corrective. To know Paul's example, many problems in a church, in fact, revolve around a selfish possessiveness by pastor and congregation toward its life and activities. Sometimes a pastor can build a church around himself, and it can become almost a cult of personality. Maybe he doesn't even realize he's doing it, but it does become that. And sometimes it's the opposite problem, I guess you could say it's the opposite problem, where the church makes it about them. And maybe they're trying to protect against the cult of personality, but they say, this is our church, not your church. Those are two errors, those are two ditches to fall into. This is Christ's church, this is God's church. That's how we're supposed to see it. That's how the Corinthians are supposed to see it as well. And for all true churches around the world, they must have this set of them. They are God's church, and so are we, and so are we. Now, I've been saying that the Corinthians had problems. Why am I saying that? Well, because we have to consider Corinth itself. Corinth was a hotbed of immorality and worldliness. And we noted last time how it's situated. We said that it was situated on that little isthmus that connected the mainland to Greece. It's kind of hard to see there, but here you can see Acacia and you can see just that little piece of land right there And right in between Athens and Sparta This is Corinth right there And we see an illustration of what the city may look like or may have looked like back then and Corinth itself was a bustling seaport city with two harbors that facilitated trade from east to west. Its location made it a melting pot of sorts for culture with population of 150 to 300,000 Roman citizens and about 460,000 slaves. As one source describes, Corinth was, quote, known for its banking industry and incredible wealth. Shrines to deities of Greek, Roman, and even Egyptian gods have been discovered, and cult prostitution was common. And on that note, the Temple of Aphrodite housed a thousand prostitute priestesses who, quote, plied their trades in the street. Worship of Apollo in Corinth encouraged homosexual practices. And then they had the biannual Isthmian Games, second only to the Olympics, which drew crowds and celebrated Poseidon, adding to the city's pagan festivities. Now Corinth not only had all of this idolatry going on and immorality, it had so much of it going on that it became proverbial in the ancient world. To the pagans, to Corinthianize meant to engage in gross immorality and drunkenness. So even unbelievers were condemning this. As one commentary notes, Corinth valued impressive public speakers, status, greed, immoral sex, personal rights, and idolatry. And it was a combination of New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Now you might wonder, given all that, why would the apostle Paul go to such a place? Well, here's the answer. They need Jesus too. Right? They need Jesus too. You might remember that while Paul was on his second missionary journey, he had a vision. This is recorded in Acts 16. Acts 16.9, specifically, we read about a man of Macedonia who was standing and appealing to Paul and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. He saw that vision and that transformed the rest of his missionary journey. He decided to make a change to his plans. And from there, he decided to go to Philippi, Thessalonica, to Athens, And he eventually came to Corinth. We read about that in Acts 18. And there he ministered for at least 18 months, sharing the gospel in the synagogues. People were coming to Christ and the young church of Corinth was planted there. God worked out the gospel success that he had in these cities. And so this was all according to the plan of God. But here's the sad thing that a lot of Christians can attest to, maybe you can attest to it. I can attest to it as well. Coming to Christ doesn't mean that you don't have your own cultural and sinful challenges to overcome. There still are going to be problems. Problems that Christ has to overcome, and that happens over time. The sins that Paul addresses in this letter, idolatry, sexual immorality, divisions, lawsuits, misuse of spiritual gifts, all of these mirrored the Corinthian culture. That's why Paul needed so many contacts with the Corinthian congregation. We noted last time that he wrote not one, not two, but four letters to the Corinthians, two of which were lost. And then he visited them a total of at least three times. We'll note also in this letter that Chloe's people, and this is in verse 11 of chapter one, Chloe's people reported that there were divisions in the church, and then he got another delegation who brought questions, that's in 1 Corinthians 7, 1. And so he had to write, and he wrote. And then he had to visit them, and that followed 1 Corinthians, a painful visit. And then he had to write them another severe letter that was carried by Titus. That letter has been lost. But the good news is that Titus was able to return after that with a favorable report, and that's what triggers Paul writing 2 Corinthians. And so that's why there's such a difference in tone between 1 and 2 Corinthians. But through all this, Paul is addressing them not as just sinners who are rotten, who just don't get it. What is wrong with you people? I should just wash my hands of you. He instead addresses them in this way. You are the church of God. You are the church of God. This reminds us that problems don't disqualify us from God's ownership. Problems don't disqualify you from God's ownership. As we consider the history of the church, we'll also see that it's possible to overcome our problems in Christ. We can recognize and correct problems when we remember whose we are. And that brings us to the next point. Not only did the Corinthians have problems, they had sanctification. They had sanctification. Verse two again. He not only writes to the church of God, which is at Corinth, he further defines them in this way, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called as saints, called as saints. We have a word here you might have heard if you've been in church for a while, but maybe you don't know what it means. Sanctification. Sanctification. I don't know if everyone knows what it means. I don't know if Carly knows what it means. Sanctification. What does it mean? Well, it means this. To be sanctified means to be set apart as holy. To be set apart as holy. To be made holy. To be made holy. Think about how the vessels were made and consecrated for use in the tabernacle and later the temple. They were sanctified, they were set apart, right? For use, for God, for his purposes, in his ways. Well, it's not just talking about vessels, it's talking about people here. And the Lord sanctifies people. Just like the brazen labor was sanctified, well, the Lord sanctifies and washes us and prepares us for his service. Now, when I use the word sanctification, and I say that the Lord sanctifies, there are three ways in which we could be referring to this. How are we made holy? But the Lord could sanctify us first in the past. And this is through the finished work of Christ. In other words, we have been sanctified in Christ on the cross. That's past sanctification. Present sanctification is a little different. This is how we are gradually being sanctified. We are being made even more whole. We are being made even more set apart for God's purposes. And that's something that's happening to us in time. And that's something that's happening to the Corinthians, and that's something that can happen to us as well. Third, we could be talking about sanctification in the future, where we will finally be sanctified or transformed into holiness by Christ's return. Now, which of these is this referring to? Well, this is referring to the first one, past sanctification, because if we look, it says, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. This is not talking about what's currently happening. No, he is reminding them of what they already have. And as believers, we already have been sanctified. Even though we may say, yeah, there's still a lot of sanctification that's left to happen inside my heart. I have already been sanctified by the Lord as well. It's done. It's finished. Christ has paid it all. And that's what Hebrews 10 says, that we have been sanctified through Christ's body, through his body. We have been set apart and this is something that we have to remember that it's already been done We've already received this and we've already received something else here Because this is a state in which all believers come Yes, we have been set apart. We have been set apart for a purpose and So what Jesus was talking about in his high priestly prayer in John 17, we've been set apart for a purpose. We were unclean, but by the love of God, we've been freed from our uncleanness and we have been set aside for divine services. We are sanctified in Christ. If we've been made holy in him, then there's only one word to describe us. that's this word Saints you say wait a minute wait a minute I thought Saints were like these uber super spiritual Christians in the like the Church of Rome right they they've been canonized they've been officially elected by the Ecclesiastical body right in no no not right We are all saints. What does the word saint mean? It means holy ones. If we have been made holy in Christ, then we are holy ones. And the words in the Greek are connected. The words in the Greek are connected. We have been made holy, so now we are holy ones. The Corinthians were made holy, now they are holy ones. This is how we are to view ourselves. This is how we are to understand ourselves. This is how we are to define ourselves. There are lots of ways that people can define themselves. They wanna look to some kind of psychological label, they want to look to an enneagram or some other dumb worldly thing. No, define yourself by this, I'm a holy one of God. Wouldn't that change your behavior if you started thinking of yourself that way? I'm a holy one of God. You might say, I don't know if I could call myself that. Well, in Christ Jesus, you've been made holy. Wouldn't it change your behavior, though, if you started to think of yourself in that way? You'd say, yeah, I would have to stop doing some things. Uh-huh. And maybe you wouldn't be a Corinthianized saint. You would just be a godly saint. That's how we should start to think of ourselves and that's how they should start to think of themselves as well. But this is something that they are to see has been done. The problem isn't that they aren't holy. The problem is that they are not living like they're holy. They're not applying the holiness that they already have in Christ to their lives. They're holy ones living like unholy ones. This is where our problem is so often. This is a problem in our country where we have lots of Christians. Most people in our country claim to be Christian. Well, maybe not as many today as used to be, but I can tell you not many people who claim to be Christian live like a Christian, right? We are holy ones. We need to start living like it. And this is how Paul is addressing them. You have sanctification. Believe it and live like it. Now, how do we know that we're not just talking about the Corinthians? Maybe they were the super spiritual ones. Well, you probably, if you ask that question, you probably haven't read 1 Corinthians, but that's okay, because we're gonna get through that together. But this says also talking to us, and this is addressing us, and that brings us to the third point here. The Corinthians had communion. The latter part of verse two, he says, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. This is a reference to all believers. This is a reference to all believers. Why? Because believers are the only ones calling on the name of the Lord. First Corinthians 12.3, take a look there. What does he say? Oh, these pages flip so nicely. I love it. First Corinthians 12.3. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus is cursed, but here's the important part for us today, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Who are the ones calling upon the name of the Lord? Those who have the Holy Spirit. Who are the ones who have the Holy Spirit? Christians. Christians. We're talking about all Christians here. And this is, again, a reminder of the fact that we are owned by the Lord. He is the Lord. He is the Yahweh of the Old Testament. And this is a term for Christians invoking Jesus' name as Lord in their worship and in their submission. This connects all of us together as a universal church. Because it's all believers. It's all believers in every place, he says. And so the 1689 London Baptist Confession says this. All persons throughout the world professing the faith are and may be called visible saints. Going back to what we said a moment ago. If you are professing the faith, you are and may be called a saint. We are all connected because we have communion with Jesus and we have communion with one another. Now think about how that would affect the church if they saw that, okay, all these divisions that happen inside the church, all of these schisms, all of these factions, perhaps even all of these cliques inside the church, Maybe we should stop thinking of ourselves as part of some kind of group inside the church and start to think of ourselves as part of this holy communion of saints. This communion that has fellowship with one another and has fellowship with Christ. This is how the Corinthians were to view themselves. This is how we're to view ourselves as well. We are all part of this greater community. greater communion with one another, greater communion with all the churches in the valley, through the United States, through the world, and through time. We are all part of this greater communion. We're bound together in Christ, so we should act like it, by God's grace. That brings us to our final point. Fourth, the Corinthians had divine grace and peace. And so Paul writes in verse three, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, he starts a lot of letters that way. In fact, a lot of letters in the Greco-Roman world started very similarly to this. But Paul modifies it for these Christian church. For instance, letters in the Roman world typically began with a greeting, carine, which means greetings. So you would say greetings in the greeting. But Paul uses a gospel word instead, and he writes of charis, grace. A similar word, but one that is particularly poignant for believers. Paul wanted his readers to experience the grace of God. You might say, well, what is grace? It's favor. It's unmerited favor. Y'all, if the Corinthians had grace from God, guess what? We can have it too. We can have it too. This is one of the great things about reading a letter to some messy saints like this. Hey, wait, I'm a messy saint too. And if they could have the grace of God, so can I. How wonderful is that? And we want to make sure that we have the grace of God. As one ancient writer wrote, David was in favor with God. Absalom was in favor with men. What was the end of each? And which of them gained the most honor? We want to have favor not with man, but with God. And certainly, as we consider what's going on in our own culture, if we want favor with man, we would have to water down the message of the gospel. We would have to shave off the rough edges of divine truth. We'd have to say to people, it doesn't really matter that you live that way, so that they would like us. But what should we strive for instead? Grace from God, favor from God. And in fact, we already have it, thankfully. Because of this favor, because of this grace, we can have our hearts turned on to the fact that we are sinners in need of salvation. That's grace right there. And by the grace of God, we can actually begin to overcome those messes that make us look less holy than we should. That's what the grace of God does. But we don't just have grace from God. We also have peace. We have peace from God. We have peace in the fact that our warfare with God has ended because Jesus died on the cross and paid for our sins. So we can have peace with God. A peace which surpasses understanding, especially as our hearts grow anxious. Well, what about tomorrow? What if someone came in here and began to shoot? We may grow anxious over things. We may grow anxious about our kids. Where are they gonna go? Who are they gonna follow when they get older? But because of the peace of God, that comes only from the Prince of Peace, we can trust him for tomorrow. We can know that whatever happens, we are in good hands. we can have peace. That's why Paul specifies here that this is not just grace, not just peace, but it's grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the way, if you don't have the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't have the grace and peace that comes from God the Father. Because it's grace and peace that comes from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father. But if you have the Son, you have the Father as well. The Corinthians had this grace and this peace. Because of that, they could live differently. And we too, whatever messes that we face, well, we can face them in the sustaining grace and peace that comes from above. Let's consider that as we close. Like the Corinthians, we have problems, especially if you're honest with yourself. Worldliness, in fact, sometimes creeps in, but here's the gracious truth. We have sanctification. We don't have to live like the world anymore. We are set apart as saints so we can begin to live set apart from the world, from our sins. We have communion with all believers under our shared Lord. So we don't have to live in division. And we have divine grace and peace from the Father and the Son. So our goal should not to live, should not be to live as Corinthianized saints. Hopefully we are not living according to all the worst things in our culture. There are good things about America. There are bad things as well. Hopefully we are not imbibing in the bad. Our goal should be to live as sanctified believers, those who are set apart. Our goal should be to live as those who follow Christ, not culture. And that's possible in the grace and peace that God grants us in Jesus Christ. By that grace and peace, we can not only not live like the culture, we can then, in boldness and in faith, speak to the culture. That's only possible when we repent of Corinthian ways and pursue the holiness that comes in Jesus Christ alone. So may we as a church glorify Christ even in our messes because we are transformed by his power.