Called into Communal Participation (1 Cor. 1:4-9)

[We apologize for the low volume on this recording]

[Sung Psalm: 44]

“Called to fellowship”

Wow – there’s a sermon that nearly preaches itself! We live in such a disconnected age. And yet, we are more “connected” than ever. We have non-stop connection to entertainment, food, transportation, goods and services.

And yet there is such a longing for ‘real,’ human connection. Singles want to get married – and are surrounded by other singles – but can’t seem to find a connection. We hear reports that people are so busy texting and keeping up with social media that they don’t have face time with other people – except when they’re on Facetime!

Certainly, the Christians in Corinth understood our dilemma. Corinth was a post-modern city in pre-modern Greece!

Corinth is full of self-made millionaires who had risen from nothing – and so naturally were prone to fall back into nothing when their fortunes changed. It was the dot.com city, where people rose and fell overnight.

And so that’s what makes Paul’s statement in verse 9 so fascinating.

Paul will have a lot to say in 1 Corinthians about relationships and “fellowship” – in that sense of the word.

But that’s not what he’s talking about in verse 9. When we hear the word “fellowship,” we usually think of hanging out with friends – playing games – good food – good times…

But here, Paul says, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Christian fellowship is not just ‘having good friends who are Christians.’ Christian fellowship is a communal participation in the sonship of Jesus Christ....