1 Corinthians 1-3 Called To Be Holy!

1 Corinthians 1-3  Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ — their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul's introduction in his letter to the Corinthians reveals his beliefs about Christians.  First, they are sanctified in Christ Jesus or set apart as Jesus' holy body, known as the church.  They are made holy by Jesus Christ, for they are hidden within his holiness.  They are not only made holy by the work of Christ; they are also called to be holy in their interactions with all people, especially when dealing with everyone in the body of Christ.  As Jesus said, You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14-16)  We are made holy through the work of the cross.  Our faith in HIS FINISHED WORK at the cross makes us acceptable to God.  Because of Christ's work, all of us are brothers and sisters IN CHRIST.  But for us to be holy or right in our daily lives, we must live as Christ lived, with love and concern for others and integrity in our actions, doing that which we know is acceptable and pleasing to God.  To be holy in our daily lives is a process and an action, not just a condition.  Yes, we are saved, but we must be righteous.  Do our acts of goodness or rightness save us or make us acceptable to God?  No, only Christ is pleasing to God.  The voice of God from the cloud on the Mount of Transfiguration said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him!  (Matthew 17:5)  Our faith and reliance in Jesus pleases God.  Vicariously we live through Jesus Christ's work and not our own works.  But that does not permit us to be irresponsible in our daily lives.  We are to live in a holy manner: called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This same demeanor of right living should be seen by the secular world surrounding us.  They should know that we are Christians by our love, our choices, our actions, and our willingness to do good to others, regardless of who they are or their circumstances.

There is no substitution for God's miraculous work, for what Jesus accomplished for us: He makes us holy, acceptable to God.  Hebrews tells us the law did not accomplish holiness: “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.  By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  (Hebrews 10:8-10 NKJV)  People might behave correctly, giving the appearance they are holy or good, but their outward appearance does not mean they are intrinsically holy and pleasing to God.  Only Jesus Christ is the gate to that domain of holiness.  Good works, sacrificial works, will not make you right with God.  God's work in a Christian is a transforming work.  A spiritual lobotomy has been performed to separate the old man from the new creation.  Our minds change, our attitudes change, our focuses in life change when we accept Christ.  We no longer live for ourselves, for our will; we now live for our Lord, to fulfill his will.  We are no longer living the old man's life of entrenchment in this world.  We have a heavenly point of view, an eternal perspective.  We do not speak the negative, despairing talk of the world; we sing new songs: songs of praise, deliverance, life everlasting.  We know we are aliens, here for a while, waiting for our heavenly home.  When the writer of Hebrews describes the life of Abraham, telling how he and his descendants lived in tents, the Bible says, For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  (Hebrews 11:10)  Abraham had faith in the promises of God, but he was the citizen of a heavenly city.  Likewise, we understand that we have been made new, formed by the Creator himself: Christ Jesus.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  The old is gone and the new has come because we now are in the household of God, an integral part of the Body of Christ, designed to function efficiently and effectively.  Because of our new position IN CHRIST, Paul can say to us as he said to the Corinthians: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  God is satisfied with us.  Breakfast reader, God is pleased with you!

The template for our living here on Earth is the life of the Son of Man.  He alone fulfilled God's plan for humankind.  He always did God's will.  When Jesus prepared to go away, He told his disciples the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.  (John 14:31)  Jesus lived in fellowship with God: He lived every day for the Father.  The Son of Man lived a perfect, sinless life: the epitome of a righteous man.  He alone fulfilled the covenant of righteousness that God made with man: the law.  He was the perfect "faith" man.  Nevertheless, the perfect man, legitimately the Son of Man, perfection from the womb, was given over to death on the cross that we might find life eternal.  When He died, He set the captives free and loosed those who were bound.  We became free to become children of the Most High.  The perfect man, the Son of God in the flesh, was raised from the grave, his work finished.  We, also, will be raised when our work is finished, forever known as the children of God.  Paul knew in this letter of correction to the Corinthians, that those who were living by faith were sons and daughters of the Most High.  But the theme of this letter is about their need to be holy in their daily lives, to live out the holiness Christ has planted within them.  Without such lives of holiness, they were becoming an anathema to the message of the cross.  Paul wanted the best for them in Christ.  He wanted them to understand Jesus as he described him to the Colossians: He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  (Colossians 1:17-20)  If he was nothing else, Paul was a reconciler.  He wanted to remind this body of believers of who Christ is and who they were in Christ.  He wanted to stir up their faith in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  May the Lord grant increased passion for Jesus as we study the Word.