Building Faith in a Modern Day Corinth

1 Corinthians 1.1-9

It was around the year 50AD that the Apostle Paul started a new church in the city of Corinth. He preached the good news of Jesus, led a few people to Christ, and organized a congregation. Most of his converts knew very little about living a God-honoring lifestyle. They had grown up immersed in a culture full of materialism, sexual confusion, and self-centeredness. In short, it was a world much like most of us grew up in.

So, when these new converts came into the church, they brought with them some of the questionable lifestyle practices they had always known. This created big problems in the church. Bad stuff began to appear. An incident of incest occurred. A few church members continued to frequent houses of ill repute. Factions formed between rival groups in the congregation. The rich among them did not choose to be very generous. Arguing and bickering broke out, fueled by pride and self-promotion.

It was a huge mess. The people was messing up big time. So Paul wrote the book of 1 Corinthians to correct the abuses and straighten things out.

But how should one start such a letter? Paul chose to begin very graciously. He affirms the church people and notes the things they were doing well. He references their good beginning in the faith. And he declares his confidence that they will keep the faith till the end. His confidence comes from his belief that God will keep them strong and blameless.

We too are people who mess up. We sin. We fight. We get carried away. We are sexually confused. We're too connected to our stuff. We don't share. We think we're the best. We are mess-ups.

But God believes in us and wants us to have a glorious future. He has plans for us beyond our wildest imagination.

If God believes in the wild and crazy Corinthians, then he surely believes in you.

Check out these supporting scriptures:

Acts 18.1-17
Romans 7.7-25
Matthew 16.17-19