TRANSFORMATION #2 - CALLED TO BE HOLY!

 I love Paul's tact and strategy.  He begins his letter to the Corinthians by affirming and reminding them of some very important things:

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...[v.2]

Just a few verses later, he reminds them again that they are called:

 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.  [v.9]

Eugene Peterson - in THE MESSAGE - paraphrases verse two:

I send this letter to you in God's church at Corinth, Christians cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life.  [v.2]

Sanctified = cleaned up

Called = set apart for a God-filled life!

The Corinthians needed to be reminded of these facts.  So do we!

In his introduction to this letter, Peterson writes:

When people become Christians, they don't at the same moment become nice.  This always comes as something of a surprise.

Conversion to Christ and his ways doesn't automatically furnish a person with impeccable manners and suitable morals.

The people of Corinth had a reputation in the ancient world as an unruly, hard-drinking, sexually promiscuous bunch of people.  When Paul arrived with the Message and many of them became believers in Jesus, they brought their reputations with them right into the church.

Paul spent a year and a half with them as their pastor, going over the Message of the "good news" in detail, showing them how to live out this life of salvation and holiness as a community of believers.  Then he went on his way to other towns and churches.

Sometime later Paul received a report from one of the Corinthian families that in his absence things had more or less fallen apart.  He also received a letter from Corinth asking for help.  Factions had developed , morals were in disrepair, worship had degenerated into a selfish grabbing for the supernatural.  It was the kind of thing that might have been expected from Corinthians!

So, Paul writes them a letter - reminding them first of all that they were cleaned up by God and set apart to live God-filled lives!  

That's always the starting point!  I need to be reminded of these two things frequently.  Don't you?

Left to my own devices, atrophy sets in.  My nature - like a rubber band - tends to return to its natural position.  I need constant input to keep me growing and becoming.   The inputs that are most helpful to me include:

• reading the Word
• talking with God
• worship
• sacraments
• fellowship
• study
• acting out my faith
• meditation
• accountability

When I ignore these practices - I cease moving forward.  I become luke-warm.  I back-slide.  I need an intervention!

Paul's letters were interventions.  Fortunately for us, they've been preserved for two thousand years!  

Need an intervention in your life right now?  Open to I Corinthians and let the Apostle Paul speak into your heart!