Scripture Text (NRSV)

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

(1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

1:2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:)

1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus,

1:5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind

1:6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you

1:7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:9 God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Comments:
 

Here is a text which I think follows well on the Baptism of the Lord. As we consider the significance of our baptism, Paul reminds the Corinthian church, and us, that we are "gifted" by God and are saints, holy people. We have everything we need for living, maybe not individually, but collectively. We have the promise of sustenance until the "revealing" of the Lord Jesus. And we are called into a community a "koinonia."

In a commentary by Hayes in the Interpretation series, he quotes Bonhoeffer in "Life Together" as saying that the church is not the ideal which we are to create, but rather the reality given by God in Christ in which we are invited to participate.

Seems like this text gives us a perfect opportunity to celebrate, with Paul (to give thanks), for God's grace giving the church everything we need to sustain our life together and to witness to the world until the "revealing" of the Lord.

Paul will focus on problems later, but now is the time for thanksgiving for the theological truth . . . Mark in NC

This text identifies the most difficult theological question that any preacher/pastor will face in his/her ministry.

Someday, and this will happen to everyone, someday each of us will step into the pulpit, look over the congregation, see someone, and for whatever reason, will ask "How can that person be a child of God?"

God faced the same question in the wilderness......how can these people be MY PEOPLE? But the truth is, they are!!

Paul....to the church....to those who are sanctified.....who are Gods's children....even though they have done and engaged in all of the stuff that the lettdr goes on to talk about....They are Children of God!! Declared to be by God himself.....

The Greatest Heresy.....to believe that we can do something so bad that God Himself cannot love us and will disown us!!!

DP in DL

In a fit of inspiration (as I my mind is focused primarily on ordination questions!) I discovered what I will use as an outline for this passage: (1) We are called (2) We are Sanctified (3) We are Blessed and Equipped (gifted) (4)We are Kept. Boy, if that doesn't sound like a United Methodist sermon! Just thought I'd share that with you all as I now work on expanding my ideas. By the way -- I'm thinking of a particular story that Corrie Ten Boom tells I think -- where her father told her something about our being "kept" -- as a coin in her pocket or something. Is that vague enough? Anyone know what I may be thinking of? RevKK

I agree with Mark in NC on the timely follow up to last week's "Baptism..." (In fact, we're all leaning in a similar way so far). Why does Paul give thanks for his people (or Corinth)? Because they're his "best buddies"? Because he likes them so much? Because they have donated so much to his ministry? Because they give him something to do (e.g., responding kerygmatically to all their conflicts and controversy)? Verse 4 says he is thankful because of "the grace of God that has been given" to them. Given in Baptism (albeit, not only via baptism). This is a lesson for all of us loving one another--not always (maybe never) "liking"--but loving, as we look upon "the other" and see a child of God, "graced" by the same generous God who has called us into existence and willed us to be adopted as God's children (Eph. 1:4). Might preach on loving and being thankful for all "others". Peter in CA

I'm also just in the first stages of thinking about this text. I had to turn in a sermon title. It is " What a Body?!" Also thinking of using the difference in Paul's praise and then the later discussions to hold the two in creative tension. I was told once not to equate the church with God. Also, it seems some use of C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape letters when Screwtape discusses the church as the great army...and to have the patient to see the church as the butcher who places his thumb on he scale or the one with squeeky shoes. Also, Nouwen's , The life of the Beloved, as in our baptism,each and of us, God claims us as the beloved daughters and sons. This is UM Human Relations Day . This text seems to fit that as we consider that reality that all are God's beloved...