1 Corinthians 1:1-9
"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." -1 Corinthians 1:8
There are few things that stand off of the pages of Scripture more than the pure waywardness of the church at Corinth. I was taught early in my training to read whatever book of the Bible that I was studying twice completely before I began to study. This is a good example of why. As soon as we read verse 8 we see something rather odd. A letter that is full of correction and seeming disapproval at every turn contains this strange statement of God's faithfulness to this seeming failure of a church.
One of the most popular reasons that I hear for people not wanting to attend church is that it "is full of hypocrites." I have news for us all, the world is full of hypocrites. I was the worst of hypocrites before I surrendered to Christ. I wore masks at work to hide problems at home. I wore masks at home to cover my true desires and the selfish plans that I contrived to get my way. When I began attending church I was not made a hypocrite, I was revealed as one.
These men and women of Corinth have slipped into deep sin. Chances are they never really crawled out of their pagan forms of worship completely before joining the church at Corinth. They struggle with unity, purity, and fidelity to the gospel. These are the core of any church. Yet how often are they achieved? The truth is that Corinth is far less the exception but is rather the rule.
God answers this wayward group of misfit believers that would find it hard to be accepted in any of our churches today. He has a name for them...Christian. God's faithfulness is not thwarted by our waywardness. The one whom has called you will keep you till the end. The sin that I deeply want to rid myself of reminds me that I am not complete...yet. I long for a day when I can worship my God without erring thoughts, when he is the center of my orbit, when he saves me from myself.
Until then...God is faithful, God's grace will keep this sinner, and I wait.
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