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... -1 Corinthians 1:2
These are the Apostle Paul's opening words to the Corinthian Church in a letter whereby he will rebuke them, admonish them, question their church policy and Christian character, and challenge them to grow up in their relationship with Christ. Although he calls many of their actions into question, he clearly believes that the majority of those within this new church deserve to be addressed as "saints," and he records that they serve the same God that he serves. On this side of heaven, we Christ-followers are in process and when we are following Jesus, even imperfectly, we are truly saints.
I write this because I feel we can at times become overly critical with ourselves due to our lack of progress in the faith. Over the last few Sundays, we have been emphasizing a “slow down and concentrate on your relationship with God” motif. I have emphasized - rightly so I believe - our sin and its costs. We cannot speak of the cross without speaking about sin, atonement, wrath, the curse, pain, suffering, abandonment, and humiliation. At the same time, we cannot forget that it is also about grace, peace, forgiveness, love, obedience, and substitution. We dare not zero in on one aspect of the cross without acknowledging the other. We have called attention to our own sin, our own failures, our own cowardice, and our own propensity to either ignore God’s commands or to move out beyond them (following in the footsteps of the great patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). During this Lenten season, many of us are also pausing and experiencing what it means to abide in Christ. By abiding, we seek Christ and ponder his life, his ministry, his sacrifice, his resurrection, and how we are to live as a result of these realities.
The bad news is that some of us really are not living out our faith as we should. We sin and we make mistakes, sometimes catastrophically. The good news is that saints are sinners who have been, are being, and will be saved by the amazing grace of God displayed to us in Jesus Christ. This is the understanding Paul had, I suspect, in the back of his mind when he wrote to the saints in Corinth, knowing he was about to blast away at their immaturity and lack of Christ-like character. Once he had pointed out their suspect behavior, he answered their questions and taught them how to progress in the faith, because he believed they were Christians. If you have come to trust in Christ for salvation, you have been saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved. You have been saved already from the penalty of sin, you are currently being saved from the power and dominion of sin, and you will ultimately be saved from the presence of sin. I don't just smile when I think about that, I want to shout, "Hey, that's really good news!"
I do not write this to those of you who have no desire to grow in the faith and who like to repeat that faith-deadening and sin-provoking proverb of the Corinthians: "All things are permissible for me" (1 Cor. 6:12). I write this to those of you who are weary in your daily and painful fight for sanctification and feel defeated and hopeless. Do you love Christ in spite of your tendency toward sin? Does your heart cry out as Paul’s did: “In my inner being I delight in God’s law.” Is your spirit willing even though your flesh is weak? You are a saint, sanctified in Christ Jesus, and you serve the same Lord that those whom you admire in the faith serve. Paul's word of encouragement to the Corinthians is his word of encouragement to you: “God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead and will also raise you up by his power.” Not just good news, but really good news!
Do not give up my friends, keep moving higher up and further in.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym