Sunday, July 17, 2011 - Straighten Up and Fly Right
I sure miss you guys when we are gone.  Brian was involved in a mission trip report with the Haiti team from Marysville
Berean Church last Sunday.  We will get Brian ready soon to share with us about his experience for a month in Haiti.  
But I am really glad to be back here at home with all of you.  Glinda and Dorothy were right – there’s no place like
home.  Your faces and your lives are a major blessing to me.  And I need you – all of you!  God has made each of us
specifically for being involved with Him as He builds His Kingdom here in Plattsmouth.  Your part is an encouragement
to me and to many.

I know it probably isn’t nearly as exciting for you, but starting a new series in a book of the Bible is always exciting for
me.  It is probably more exciting for me because I have been reading and studying the book, thinking through things we
can focus on and apply.  And 1 Corinthians has lot that we can apply.  I’m not sure when I first heard the saying,
“Straighten up and fly right.”  I know it was as a kid – probably from my dad or grandpa.  I don’t think it was
specifically directed at me – although it could have been – when I was doing something stupid or annoying.

But if you have ever read 1 Corinthians, Paul doesn’t pull any punches with this group of believers.  And God included
this letter in His Word – so there are things He wants US to hear, too.  I can already warn you that our toes will get
stepped on in this series.  There are areas God wants to change and improve in our lives.  But I also want you to know
that I did not choose this book because of YOU specifically – I didn’t think about any one person and say to myself,
this person needs to hear from God from 1 Corinthians.  

This series – Straighten Up and Fly Right – is for US.  All of us.  There are things in all of us that need attention.  We
may hit – and hit pretty hard – on areas that you are struggling with.  But it’s not just you.  It’s ME – it’s ALL of us.  
And it will come in love from our Father who doesn’t want us to continue to be defeated and struggle in areas of sin and
failure.  Our Father wants us to live victoriously – powerfully and holy – in this life.  We recently saw how the Lord
Jesus lived a REAL human life.  God wants us ALL to live lives like Jesus lived.

PRAY

I wonder if we all struggle with the tension of living life on earth in these human bodies while indwelt by the Spirit of
God, led by our loving Father, yielded to the living Jesus.  It sounds good on paper, but often, we all know, the living
out of it is tense.  Paul summarizes life for us pretty well in Romans 7 as he deals with the tension.  Romans 7:15-24.  
READ.  Deep down inside, who we REALLY ARE, we WANT to, we DESIRE to, we are DRAWN to do things
that show God’s presence and power and purpose and plan.  But on the outside, we are easily dragged away to sin.

The solution to this tension is what kind of baffles us most of the time.  The solution is the next verse in Romans 7:25.  
READ.  I think we would all shake our heads in agreement that Jesus Christ living in us is the solution to the problem of
sin in our lives.  We hear in church – from ME a lot – that we are to let the risen Jesus live His life in us and through us
and around us, yield ourselves totally to Him, be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.  And we all WANT to.  

But we often don’t see it – we fail.  We sin, we lose it.  And we either feel like total failures OR we excuse our sin and
chalk it up to the way it is or the way it has to be.  Again, I remind you that we have been wrongly taught for years
about the place of the sin nature in believers.  We will deal with this misconception as we go through 1 Corinthians.  
Romans 6 tells us – and the whole rest of the Bible tells us that believers are free from sin.

But there is probably for each of us at least one area of sin we struggle with over and over.  And we DO feel defeated.  
And we LIVE defeated – especially in that area.  And, if I am right – if what I keep saying is correct – fully devoted
followers, free from sin, Jesus living His life in us – if all that is true and correct – I OUGHT to BE free of this since
Jesus lives in me.  But I’m NOT.  

So what’s the problem?  I WANT freedom.  I have TRIED to live the way I hear talked about.  Most of us, when we
fail, our first response is to blame others.  And in this area, we blame God.  Adam did it.  Eve did it.  WE do it.  (Read
Genesis 3 some time and listen as God asks Adam and Eve what happened – how they blame GOD for their failure.)  

So it must be GOD’S fault – I have been putting forth the effort to do what He says has to be done.  HE is the one who
is not there and is not listening and is not helping.  He is weak, He is lying, He doesn’t care.  …   We know none of that
is true, but we can’t figure out any other explanation.  1 Corinthians will help us explain these areas of failure and, more
importantly, DEAL WITH IT.

Straighten up and fly right – God truthfully IS doing His work.  And He is doing it PERFECTLY.  If things are messed
up, it is someone else who we need to take a long look at.  It is ourselves – as we have always suspected and have felt
like failures.  Are WE doing what we are supposed to do and are we becoming who we are supposed to become?  
Unlike US, God is not interested in holding that against us (we try to hold it against Him – even though it is not His
fault).  God actually gives us insight and help to fix the problems that plague us.  So let’s get to it!

First Corinthians is written by the apostle Paul.  Most of us know that Paul’s real name is Saul and he was from the city
of Tarsus up in modern day Turkey, near the southern coast on the Mediterranean Sea.  Saul was trained and schooled
as a Pharisee and after the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, took it upon himself to try to destroy this rag-tag band of Jesus
followers.  In Acts 9, we see the account of Saul coming to Christ.  And his life immediately changed.

As time went on, this new brother gained a nickname – Paul.  In our day, his nickname would be “Shorty.”  That’s what
“Paul” means.  So he was either fairly short or really tall.  I tend to think he was short.  But that’s what he became well-
known as.  And he referred to himself that way, too.  Let’s read the opening of this letter from our brother Shorty.  1
Corinthians 1:1,2.  READ.

Before we get too far, we have to be reminded of who Paul is writing to – “the church of God at Corinth.”  And then
Paul goes on further to describe the people who make up this “church of God at Corinth.”  We will talk in more detail
about that description in a minute.  The point here is that these people are saved – they are believers.  First Corinthians
was written to people who had believed in Jesus already.  So we are not focusing on how to GET saved – the focus is
on how to LIVE saved.  

There is one thing you and I and anyone do to gain justification before God – BELIEVE.  We are talking about the
follow up to being made right before God – the part we live with everyday after being made right with God.  And
truthfully THIS is the part we ought to call “salvation.”  Being made right with God is “justification,” made just as if we
have never sinned.  Salvation is living the human life here on earth being rescued by God every moment – our lives on
earth are SAVED by the indwelling Spirit of God living the life of Jesus in us.  Once we are justified by faith, it is clear
that God’s plan is for us to experience Jesus Christ Himself living His sin-free life in us.  And again, that’s where we
struggle.

What Paul says in the opening 9 verses sets the stage for everything else he says in this letter.  And it all sounds pretty
positive.  We read the first two already.  Paul says that he was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of
God.  An apostle is someone who brings the Good News to people who have not heard it before.  And these early
apostles also had the added benefit of literally seeing the risen Jesus face to face.  

It was God’s will that Paul go through life as an apostle – God called him to live that life.  God broke into human history
and into the life of Saul of Tarsus to extend a call – an invitation – an assignment – to him for his life.  At the time he was
called, in Acts 9, Saul was angrily persecuting people who believed in Jesus Christ.  He was seeking to terrify them and
even participated in killing some of them.  God, in His way of doing things that is completely opposite of what WE
would do – as we will see later in chapter 1 – took this persecutor and invited him to become a participant in spreading
the message he once tried to destroy.

So the same Jesus Christ whom Saul had denied, rejected and determined to destroy is the one who he now
represents.  And it was God’s will for this – Paul knew it and he tells us.  And there is another writer of 1 Corinthians –
a guy named Sosthenes.  Turn to Acts 18:1,17.  READ.  Sosthenes was a ruler in the synagogue in Corinth when Paul
arrived in Acts 18.  Apparently he got saved – Paul refers to him as “brother” – and now was with Paul as this letter
was being written.  This is all we know about Sosthenes – he was from Corinth, he had been a ruler in the Corinthian
synagogue, he became a believer, and was now writing a letter with Paul.

Can we learn anything from verse 1?  Is there any applicable spiritual truth for us?  Absolutely – every word of the
Bible is God’s Word, and according to Hebrews 4:15, is powerful and valuable for change in our lives.  What can we
learn and apply from verse 1?  One thing – Paul was not only useful for God’s purposes, but God actually called Paul
from a life of “antichrist” living to Christ living.  Can God use you?  Even with your past failures and mess-ups?  
Certainly.  

Another thing from verse 1 – it was and IS God’s will to work in people who have past failures.  So those people and
even you yourself, who we think might be beyond hope of salvation or God’s use, we need to step back and (1) look
at Paul and (2) look at ourselves.  We don’t see things like God sees things.  God sees huge potential and possibilities
in each of us.  As we was this week in R12, He made us precisely how He wanted us for precisely His purposes.

Another thing from verse 1 – we don’t know much about Sosthenes, but God used him.  We don’t know anything
more about him that what we have laid out.  But God knows exactly the impact Sosthenes had on the people of Corinth
and on Paul and on anyone else the man encountered throughout his life.  God can do the same with you and me.  And
Paul even used Sosthenes’ name to give more credence to his message.

In verse 2, Paul identifies the recipients of this letter – “the church of God which is at Corinth.”  CORINTH is a city –
still there today – in southern Greece.  For years, Corinth was a business center – shipping and commerce were a
natural part of their location.  It was also home to a huge cult worship center – a temple of Venus or Aphrodite drew
people into darkness.  And at this time, Paul is writing to a group of believers who have sprung up in the midst of
money, sex and power.  Their struggles relate to all of those areas.

And then in verse 3, Paul gives his usual greeting that he gives in most of his letters.  But in this letter, he builds on it a lot
because of what these people are dealing with. 1 Corinthians 1:3-9.  READ.  Grace to you and peace to you from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  This statement is the basis for all the rest of what Paul says in this letter.  Grace
and peace are what God extends to believers – His children.  We see numerous things in the following verses that show
us what God’s grace and peace have provided for the Corinthians and for us.

Verse 4 – Paul thanks God for the grace given BY Jesus Christ to the believers.  And then he explains what the results
of God’s grace have been.  Verse 5, “you were enriched in everything by Him, Jesus Christ, in all speech or utterance
and knowledge.”  What does that mean?  The grace of God the Father and of Jesus Christ has had impact on these
people that they are now wealthy in what has been spoken to them about the things of God and wealthy in the
knowledge of the things of God.  They have been made wealthy in what has been said and wealthy in what can be
known.  And notice that three times in that verse we see the same word – once translated “everything” and twice
translated “all.”  The grace of God through Jesus Christ has made you wealthy in EVERYTHING – ALL that has been
spoken about of God and ALL that can be known about God.

If that is true – why are they struggling?  If that is true of US – why are WE struggling?  We’ll talk about those questions
as we go through this book.  The thing we MUST keep in mind and trust is that those things ARE true – God’s grace
which comes through Jesus Christ in our lives makes us wealthy in everything that has been spoken about God and
everything that can be known about God.  That is a huge advantage to those who believe in Jesus Christ – to have the
wealth of God’s Word and knowledge.

Through the grace of God the Father which comes through Jesus Christ, verse 6 says that the testimony of Christ was
confirmed in them.  Paul has seen evidence that Jesus lives in them.  God’s grace has been clearly seen in them – and
Paul relates the giving of that grace to the spiritual gifts he has seen in them (verse 7).  He will talk specifically about
spiritual gifts in chapters 12 through 14.  But he is reminding them and us as he starts his letter that the grace of God,
which came through what Jesus Christ did for them, has been clearly seen IN them.

Through the grace of God the Father which comes to US through Jesus Christ, the testimony of Christ is confirmed in
US.  The Lord Jesus is seeking to live His life and do His things in us and through us.  And if you have believed in Jesus,
you have likely seen – at least at some point – evidence that He is there.  God’s grace shows us that He is there and
Paul specifically says that it is seen through spiritual gifts.  We talked about this at R12 this week – if you don’t know
your spiritual gift, you are missing out on a great confirmation of God’s grace in your life.  We can help you identify that
gift.

Paul reminds them that they are waiting for the return of Christ and are to be using the gifts He has given them until
Christ comes.  The grace of God through Christ Jesus – put into practice as God desires, verse 8 – will cause them to
appear before the coming Savior blameless – righteous and fully devoted.  Paul is helping them to refocus on what is
important before he addresses what they HAVE been focused on.

And then verse 9 – you don’t have the power or ability to remain faithful on your own.  It is GOD who is faithful – He is
the one who called YOU (remember that Paul mentioned first off that HE was called).  God called you into a close
personal love relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Fellowship means, “sharing together.”  God calls us into
a sharing together relationship with our Savior.  By His grace, we can know Him, know what He says, know what He
wants us to do and who He wants us to be.

As we start this new series, my call to us is to KNOW JESUS.  Get to know Him and how He works and what He
says and what He wants you to do.  Respond to Him appropriately.  See and know the grace He has given us – the
forgiveness of sins, restoration of a relationship with our Creator, knowledge of His Word, His mission to reach our
family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.  We have stuff to deal with in our lives – but His grace deals with the stuff.  
And He also offers us peace – HIS peace.  Peace with God and peace IN God.

Know Jesus – know His grace – know His peace.  Know His call – know His work that has sanctified us and made us
holy.  When we know Jesus, we can straighten up and fly right.