Is the Church in the world as it should be or is the world in the Church? This is the crux of the matter that Apostle Paul deals with in his first letter to the Church at Corinth. The message though written 2000 years ago, is still relevant today especially to the Church in a post modern, meritocratic and prosperous society like what we have in much of the developed world. This message is certainly relevant to us here at BKC in Singapore.
In Jesus’ prayer for the Church, he said that “I do not as that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them (the Church) into the world” (John 17:15,17,18). Clearly, Jesus meant for the Church to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The Church, purchased and cleansed by the blood of Jesus is called upon to be distinctive in her Christian lifestyle so as to influence the world and win the people over to the eternal kingdom of God.
Instead, there were serious issues in the Corinthian Church in the Apostle Paul’s days. This was a gifted but immature Church in the Greek city of Corinth. Corinth was affluent and thriving, being a commercial hub of trading serviced by two harbours allowing goods to flow between Italy and Spain in the West to Asia in the East. It was a developed city with the infrastructure of banking, shipping and legal systems in place. It was also a confluence of different religious systems including the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. The culture was permissive, transactional and hedonistic. Sadly the Church in Corinth reflected the culture of Corinthian society. There were divisions and quarrels, sexual permissiveness and immorality and legal disputes amongst the Christians. The world has not just crept into the Church but invaded it to the extent that if these problems was not immediately corrected will result in their Christian testimony being drowned out by worldly standards. Paul deals with this and sets out instruction on how the Church should conduct herself and fulfil her role as the living witness to the world and her destiny as the blameless and spotless bride of Jesus. In response to the questions from the Church, Paul also gives instructions on marriage, Christian liberty, worship and spiritual gifts. The first Corinthian letter concludes with a discourse on the topic of Resurrection which is the Christian’s hope in Jesus.
As we worship in the weeks to come in 2017 around the study of 1 Corinthians, let us be attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in teaching us, rebuking us, correcting us and training us in the way we should live and thus present BKC as a living family and community vibrant with new life in Jesus and shining as a beacon of light in our neighbourhood, in Singapore and the whole world.
