The Second Sunday After the Epiphany Year A
A sermon based on 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus.”
So, Paul begins his letter to the church in Corinth by lifting up the people there: “I give thanks to my God always for you”, but Paul’s letter is not intended to be a happy-feely kind of correspondence. The people at Corinth had some real issues: they fought with one another, they didn’t know how to share, they constantly tried to one up each other on who was baptized by whom, they were surrounded by Roman temples, including one to Aphrodite where prostitution was prevalent, and the women wouldn’t stop talking in church.
It’s not surprising then that the very next verse of scripture after our reading today is Paul telling the people that they need to get along with one another:
“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”
It doesn’t always happen, but many times the assigned scripture for the day has perfect timing. This reading seems appropriate when we consider that following this worship we will head downstairs for lunch and our congregational meeting.
I want to take Paul’s words as a warning that despite our differences, our disagreements, and the dangers that surround us that we be of one mind when it comes to our purpose as a church. We are here to bring the good news of Christ Jesus or as our mission statement says, “To proclaim Christ through worship, fellowship, and caring for our neighbor.”
But Paul’s words also offer hope and assurance that we too have been enriched in Christ, in speech and knowledge of every kind… that we are not lacking in any spiritual gifts as we wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we give our worship to God this morning we prepare for the decisions we need to make as a congregation in our meeting. This worship we give to God because worship is primarily a thing we do for God. While it might offer us strength and fellowship, and reassurance of God’s forgiveness it is an act we do to please God.
We worship God, not traditions, or music, or our time together, but God. This can be a difficult concept to understand: we are not here for us, but because God commands it and wants it from us. And strangely enough when we make worship about what we do for God this also becomes a time for us when we are renewed.
I’d like for us to take that same attitude and understanding to the meeting we have and to the time we have during our meal; that we make this time, time that we give to God and decisions we make as we choose our leaders and as we choose how to budget our money, decisions we give to God out of our love for God.
Later in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul writes about love, God’s love for us. He tells us that without love we have nothing.
“1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
We have God’s love, given to us through the grace of God in Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Messiah. It is through God’s grace that we are a church and part of the family of God. It is because of God’s love and grace that we are given purpose and possibility.
May that purpose and possibility be in everything we do, not just in our worship, or in our meeting, or in our fellowship with one another, but in every aspect of our lives so that the love and grace of God might be proclaimed throughout the world.
Amen.
So, Paul begins his letter to the church in Corinth by lifting up the people there: “I give thanks to my God always for you”, but Paul’s letter is not intended to be a happy-feely kind of correspondence. The people at Corinth had some real issues: they fought with one another, they didn’t know how to share, they constantly tried to one up each other on who was baptized by whom, they were surrounded by Roman temples, including one to Aphrodite where prostitution was prevalent, and the women wouldn’t stop talking in church.
It’s not surprising then that the very next verse of scripture after our reading today is Paul telling the people that they need to get along with one another:
“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”
It doesn’t always happen, but many times the assigned scripture for the day has perfect timing. This reading seems appropriate when we consider that following this worship we will head downstairs for lunch and our congregational meeting.
I want to take Paul’s words as a warning that despite our differences, our disagreements, and the dangers that surround us that we be of one mind when it comes to our purpose as a church. We are here to bring the good news of Christ Jesus or as our mission statement says, “To proclaim Christ through worship, fellowship, and caring for our neighbor.”
But Paul’s words also offer hope and assurance that we too have been enriched in Christ, in speech and knowledge of every kind… that we are not lacking in any spiritual gifts as we wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we give our worship to God this morning we prepare for the decisions we need to make as a congregation in our meeting. This worship we give to God because worship is primarily a thing we do for God. While it might offer us strength and fellowship, and reassurance of God’s forgiveness it is an act we do to please God.
We worship God, not traditions, or music, or our time together, but God. This can be a difficult concept to understand: we are not here for us, but because God commands it and wants it from us. And strangely enough when we make worship about what we do for God this also becomes a time for us when we are renewed.
I’d like for us to take that same attitude and understanding to the meeting we have and to the time we have during our meal; that we make this time, time that we give to God and decisions we make as we choose our leaders and as we choose how to budget our money, decisions we give to God out of our love for God.
Later in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul writes about love, God’s love for us. He tells us that without love we have nothing.
“1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
We have God’s love, given to us through the grace of God in Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Messiah. It is through God’s grace that we are a church and part of the family of God. It is because of God’s love and grace that we are given purpose and possibility.
May that purpose and possibility be in everything we do, not just in our worship, or in our meeting, or in our fellowship with one another, but in every aspect of our lives so that the love and grace of God might be proclaimed throughout the world.
Amen.
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