The Worst Church (A few words on Corinth & Easter)

At the end of his first letter to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reminds the believers of the foundation of their faith. Here was a church in Corinth that had all sorts of problems. They had a pride problem, they had factions and divisions in their midst, they gossiped and allowed malice to run rampant in their fellowship, they dishonored the Lord’s Table, they were perverted in the use of their bodies, they had the most awful, dysfunctional worship gatherings, they didn’t practice forgiveness or repentance, and they showed favoritism rather than faithful love to one another. 

The Corinthian Church may have looked something like Elaine from Seinfeld realizing she had turned into George when they read Paul's first epistle to them. 

We might think it strange that a church with so many problems would be worth the time and effort of the Apostle Paul to correct. Why not tear it down and start again elsewhere? Sometimes it is cheaper to rebuild than to repair. Sometimes it is easier to tear down than to patch up. Sometimes a tree is so far gone pruning is no longer an option. If there ever was a church that was too far gone, it was the church in Corinth. 

They had awful leadership, terrible teachers, infighting, unfaithful spouses, horrible doctrine, a serious absence of love for God and one another. By nearly every measurable, observable Spiritual fruit they were a miserable church. So why didn’t the leadership of the early church say “I’m done praying for that church!” or “Just leave that church to itself” or “we won’t bother using any more resources to help that church”? 

The church in Corinth was an awful church that deserved to be left to its own demise. But it was not left to its own demise. Why not? The Apostle Paul explains why not in verse 3. Because of what Paul had received he passed on to them. Paul had received the truth of God by the grace of God. The solution for a torn apart, gossip riddled, ridicule obsessed, sexually immoral, unspiritual, malice ravaged church, was the grace of God poured out through the Son of God in his atoning death on the cross for the sins of his people and his promised resurrection on the third day. 

Paul knew this because he himself was a person who was too far gone. He had experienced as a person who was a corrupt murderer, that the truth of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection was the foundation of redemption. Why did Paul use his time in a far too miserable church in Corinth? Because the Lord used his time on a far too miserable a sinner in Paul. 

What Paul had received is what he reminded the Corinthian church. In verse 10 were told “by the grace of God I am what I am”. Paul had received grace, and he then shared of that grace with the Corinthian church. Grace means to receive something undeserved. Paul, a murderer, didn't deserve Christ’s, the people of Corinth didn't deserve Christ’s love. 

What Paul deserved, and the people of Corinth deserve, and us gathered here today deserve, is the full and unchecked wrath of God. The holy God who has revealed himself in time through scripture cannot abide sin. The mystery of God is his grace given to undeserving, corrupt, sinful people like Paul, like the people of Corinth, and like you and me. 

This is tremendous news for people who are undeserving. For people who are broken, who have in their lives been sinful and rebellious against God’s Word and ways. There is a path to forgiveness, a path to restoration, a path to being made whole. It is not the path of “living your best life now”, it is not the path of living “a purpose driven life”, and it is not a path of unlocking the “best version of you”. It is a path that you don’t walk on. It is a path that was walked on by a Jewish man who was proclaimed as the Son of God. It is a path that was walked from Jerusalem to Calvary. It was on that path that the king of the universe, the God of all creation, submitted himself to be crucified for the atoning death of all who place their faith in him. 

If you are only an Easter Christian, if you only attend worship on Christmas and Easter, you may wonder why it is that you keep hearing about the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It’s because as Paul says this is of “first importance”. For us Christian’s this is our faith. Our faith is not bound up in a moral teaching. Go to Islam for that. Go to Rome for that. Go to Mormonism for that. Our faith is not bound up in spiritual connectionism to a different plane of existence, go to Buddhism for that, go to Confucianism for that. Our faith is not bound up in the service of countless deities, rights, rituals, and reincarnations, go to Hinduism for that, go to Pantheism for that. 

Our Christian faith is bound up in God himself taking our treason, our offenses so seriously that he allowed his son to be sacrificed to pay for that treason and those offenses. 

Now if that was where Paul ended his letter to the Corinthians, Christianity would be a miserable confusion and would contain no truth whatsoever. If God’s power, justice, wrath, grace, mercy, and love ended at the Cross in the death of Jesus, then there would be no gospel, there would be no good news. This religion would be false just as every other religion is false. Paul himself writes to the Corinthians that the hope Christians have would be in vain (12-17). 

If Jesus only died for the sins of his people and remained dead, then none of us would have any hope. Paul puts it plainly in verse 19 “ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”. The payoff of the Christian religion is not in living our best life now. The payoff of the Christian religion is not in experiencing all the joys and benefits of God’s blessing in the present. That is not what scripture says and don’t let anyone on the radio, television, books, pulpits, or one on one conversations deceive you. Our lives are the most miserable lives of all and our faith is the most miserable of them all if Christ did not rise from the dead. If Christ died, but didn’t then also live again, then we can pack it up and all go live as however we each see fit. 

But Christ did rise from the dead. And this is why we Christians make such a big deal about Easter. It has nothing to do with eggs or rabbits, or bunnies, or spring, or daylight savings. It has to do with a person who was dead being alive again. Christ’s resurrection is the most scandalous thing in the history of the universe. 

Death is not robbed. Death takes us all. Not a single person you’ve ever known has escaped death. I hope I’m not bringing you news you didn’t already know, but not a single one of us here will escape from experiencing death unless Jesus comes again first. Death is the one problem that none of us can solve no matter what we try. 

As Christians, we can look forward to with great anticipation when death is done, when it is in the rear view mirror and we will be changed to be like Christ. That is the hope that Paul delivers to the Corinthian church. What he received he passed on to them. That is the hope I deliver to you. That Christ Jesus died accepting the full wrath of the righteous, holy, perfect God the Father, and then he rose from the dead on the third day just as he had promised. 

His life, death, and resurrection secures for us a hope that extends beyond this present life’s cares, concerns, and catastrophe’s. 

I do not say that to trivialize the cares, concerns, and catastrophe’s that beset us. 

We have numerous problems in this world. We have individual problems, we have relational problems, we have family problems, we have local problems, we have community problems, we have regional problems, we have state problems, we have national problems, we have global problems. 

We try to fix these problems. Human beings are, when they are high functioning and motivated, problem solvers. 

But there is one problem we cannot overcome. No amount of discussion will fix this problem. No amount of techniques or therapy will mend this curse. There is one problem that we cannot legislate away. There is a problem that we cannot fix with all the tools home depot, menards, and Lowes have to offer. There is a problem that no physician can cure. There is a problem which no amount of mystical spiritualism, or dieting can solve. 

We cannot elect the right people to do away with this problem. We cannot hire the right contractor, or get the right referral to do away with this problem. 

The fact that we even talk about it as a problem to be solved will no doubt be seen by some as ludicrous. For some death isn’t a problem to be solved but simply is a reality to accept. For some death is just the way things always have been, and the way things will always be. 

We Christians do accept that death has been a part of the way things have been. But we Christians do not accept that death is the way things will always be. Death is on the way out. Death has an expiration date. Death does not have an invitation to eternity. Death is not on the guest list to the everlasting celebration. 

Death is the last enemy to be defeated (v26). Death itself has been conquered by the risen Lord of Creation. The risen Lord has taken a seal and postmarked death with a delivery date. There in that great day Death will be done away with thanks to Christ Jesus’ victory over the grave. 

So the hope of Paul was given to the Corinthian church for eternal life. A life beyond this life, and a life beyond death. The hope I have I share with you here. This life is filled with problems, pain, and temporary pleasures. Through faith in Christ Jesus' life, death, and resurrection there is a life absent of all problems, all pain, and filled with eternal pleasures. 

If you are not a Christian here yet today, then I have one instruction for you. Search diligently in your life for what hope you have. What hope do you live for, what hope do you possess in this life, and beyond. If you find as you search for hope that the things of this world do not satisfy you, turn to Christ Jesus in faith this very day. If you have questions, or would like someone to listen to you, send me an email!

If you are a Christian here yet today then I have two instructions for you today. First, remember that as a Christian, you are an ambassador, you are witnesses of this great and good news. Christ has conquered the grave and he is himself in his bodily resurrection the guarantee of what we shall be. He was raised, and all who have faith in him are guaranteed eternal life. Whether this is your first time worshipping Jesus as your risen king, or the hundredth, be encouraged in your faith that as he was raised, so too you shall be raised. As he has eternal life, so to you have eternal life. Second, I want to instruct you to grow in your faith. Covid-19 has been a challenge and an opportunity for us all to serve the Lord in ways we never previously had dreamed. I want to challenge you and encourage you to plant yourself firmly either in this church, or another faithful church which proclaims the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Plant yourself such that you are a mainstay in your church community so that you might grow and others might grow by your example in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Christ is risen! He is risen INDEED!