What is a Christian? 1 Corinthians 1:1-3

Hey Salt Church, good to see you this morning. I hope you're doing well and having a great time just gathering together in your homes or wherever you are. Maybe you're listening to this later on in the week. Maybe you're not a member of Salt Church and you've just tuned in, but so glad to see you. Let us know in the comments section that you're here.

Go ahead and post there. Let us know. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Good morning, everybody.

Interact. We'd love to hear from you this morning. Just an update. The reason why we're online, as you all know, is that the hotel didn't have any available space for us. And beginning in February, we are going to lose our space.

So we have been looking for space diligently. We've got a few places we're looking at. I promise you that we will let you know in the next few days where we're going to be. As for this coming Sunday, we will be back at the Wyndham for one final Sunday. So we will be there.

We will be there. So show up next week ready to worship in person once again. But we will give you an update on where we will be. It's been a very difficult few months just trying to figure all of this out, especially since we found out right before Christmas that we didn't have a space available. But God's a provider and I'm trusting that he's going to have us in the place we need to be in this season.

So let's just keep the faith. Keep praying. It's a season of prayer and fasting. So let's just seek God for a permanent home. But in the meantime, we want to continue to minister, continue to reach people for Jesus, whatever means that might be.

Church is more than just a Sunday morning gathering. It is a gathering outside the church with friends and family. It is in the workplace. It is in the community. Wherever you go, you are a follower of Christ.

You are called by God wherever you go. So I'm going to share a little bit in scripture with you today. We've been going through a series in First Corinthians. First Corinthians, we've been walking through these different chapters and we're in chapter one this week. We're going back to the beginning, the very beginning, chapter one, verses one and three, if you want to turn there.

And while you're turning there, if you're new with us, why don't you fill out one of those online connection cards for us? And we would love, love to connect with you right down in the comments. We'll have it there, saltchurch.org slash card. You can connect with our website if you need prayer.

Any way you want or need to be ministered to, we have that available for you. So let's look at scripture. Let's look at the book of First Corinthians. Again, we're going back to chapter one, verse one. And to give you a frame of reference where we are and what we're looking at is we're...

Paul had planted this church in Corinth, a very affluent city, a place that everybody probably wanted to live, particularly young professionals, and he had won a lot of young people to Jesus, planted a church there, and then he left to do another work. However, a letter came back to him with a lot of issues that were going on in the church. So Paul is addressing these issues throughout the different chapters in 1 Corinthians. But in chapter 1, it's very significant today because I want to talk about what a Christian is. What is a Christian, you may ask?

What is a Christian? Is a Christian just somebody who does all the right things? Is a Christian somebody who attends church on Sunday? Is a Christian someone who's baptized or is a Christian someone who does good and does more good than they don't? Is a Christian someone who prays before their meal or someone who quotes scripture really well?

Is that a Christian? Truth is, we are better prepared to answer why we are Christians rather than what a Christian really is. We can answer on the spot why we are Christians, but the question is, can we tell people what a Christian is? What is a Christian? Defining it is so important because if we don't define what a Christian is, the world will define what we are.

And what does the world say? The world defines us by what we do or what we have, think about it. Marketing, marketing campaigns all the time. Focus on those things. Think about this, the credit cards for a second.

What are the slogans for credit cards? What's in your wallet? Or makeup, Maybelline. Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline.

Who knows, right? Well, if she's born with it, she has it, it looks good, right? Or Toyota, let's go somewhere. You know, if I have a Toyota, I can really get somewhere. Or Mercedes, the best or nothing.

You know, like I'm going to have the best, I'm going to have nothing. If I'm the best, I got to have the best. Or Peloton, their mission statement is empowering people to be the best version of themselves. Everybody wants to be the best version of themselves. So people are defined by what they do or what they have all the time.

And that's how the world defines people. But how do we define Christians? Well, what is a Christian? Well, based on 1 Corinthians 1, we are defined by our relationship to God. I want us to look at 1 Corinthians 1.

1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus rather, and our brother Sothenes. So Paul starts out his letter, as he does all his letters, with this definition of who he is in relation to God.

Not based on what he's done, or what he has, or his accolades, but who he is in his relationship with Christ. He shows us a few things here that I want to share with you today. Number one, what is a Christian? A Christian is called by God. A Christian is called by God.

Everything in the Christian life is built on that foundation that we are called by God. Before addressing the problem of anything that's going on in the Corinthian church, and Paul has a lot of problems to address, he starts off by telling them who he is in Jesus. What is a Christian? He says, I am called by God. A Christian that's called by God.

Called out of darkness into the light of Jesus Christ. Loved by God. That God reached out to him. And it wasn't his doing. It wasn't something that he decided.

This was what God decided. He called him. God beckons us. Whether we know it or not, we may have made the decision on the day we gave our lives to Jesus. But ultimately, Jesus had been calling us and preparing for us long before then.

He's the one that calls us. And he says this. We have been called by God. And as you know, Paul wrote most of the New Testament. He was an amazing apostle.

He was an amazing church planter. He could write well. He was just a great leader altogether. But before Paul was Paul, he was Saul. He was a murderer of Christians.

He was a zealot that went out and persecuted Christians. And he wasn't a follower of Jesus at all. He was probably the worst of the worst at the time. But what happened? God called him.

He was walking on the path to Damascus. And that day when Jesus showed up on the scene, he says, why are you persecuting me? And he calls him to follow him. Paul wasn't deciding that day. He didn't wake up that day and say, well, I'm going to decide to follow Jesus.

Jesus met him. Jesus found him. And Jesus called him. We are called by God. And the same way God changed Paul's life is exactly the same way he wants to change our lives.

No matter what we've done, no matter where we've been, God can change. If he can change Saul, he can change us. It's not impossible. And because of that, we don't have to wonder about our value. We don't have to wonder about our worth because we know that our worth is in Christ.

Our worth is in God. And when we find God, we aren't defined by anything else in this world, like what we have or what we do. Or our jobs or that car in the driveway or our abilities. None of that defines us. Really what defines us is that we are a child of God.

He called us and he died for us and he set us up to be children of God, followers of Christ. That's what a Christian is and you can be confident in your salvation and that he who began a good work in you will complete that good work in him. His salvation is available for us and it's a calling. It's more than just making a decision. It's a calling.

So a Christian is called by God. The second thing is a Christian is called to holiness. A Christian is called to holiness. Look at verse 2. It says, to the church of God that is in current, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be.

Right? Right? Sanctified. A Christian is called to holiness. We are called to holiness.

What does sanctified mean? It means to be set apart. When you place your faith in Jesus, you are sanctified. At that moment, that very moment, you found Jesus. When Jesus came and called you to himself and you made a decision to be with Jesus, you were set apart.

You were sanctified. Set apart from what? You were set apart from the world. You were set apart from Satan's dominion and you were transferred from a kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of darkness, to the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God. At that moment of salvation, you are sanctified.

And out of that abundance and out of that goodness of what God has saved you from, we practice holiness and we practice righteousness. It's not the other way around, okay? We often think about sanctification and righteousness and holiness as a process. And it is to some extent. So I don't want to throw that out and I'll talk about that in a minute.

But what I want you to understand the context of what Paul's saying here is that you have been sanctified at the moment of salvation. That at that moment, you have been set apart. You don't get fit and then go to the gym, do you? No. No.

You go to the gym to get fit. You've got to get up and go to the gym first. So when we are saved, it's the same way. We're not sanctified first and then we find God. God calls us and then we are sanctified.

And there's a few things we are set apart for. The first one is we are called to a holy place. We are set apart to a holy place. That's God's church. Look at what it says in scripture.

To the church of God that is in current. God's church. It's not a person. It's not a person's church. We like to often associate churches with pastors or churches with leaders.

It's not that. We often like to associate churches with denominations and certain movements, but it's not that. This is God's church. This is nobody else's church, but God's church. And we are called to worship and be together as a church, as a local body of believers, growing together and ministering together.

The second thing we are called to in sanctification, we are called to a holy position, that we're positioned in Christ. When we give our lives to Christ, you are no longer your own. Christ, who died for you, lives inside of you. And your natural life is now fused with the spiritual life, with Christ. That's why baptism and communion is performed.

It symbolizes that we are now in Christ. We are one with Him in Christ. And when you stand before God, this is what's beautiful. One day, when you stand before God, and you've probably heard it said that you're going to be judged one day, and you're going to stand before God, and you're going to have to be accountable for everything you've done in this life. But you know what?

When you stand before God, Scripture tells us that He sees Jesus, that you're positioned in Jesus, who was perfect, who was without sin. So when God sees us, He sees us as perfect because of Jesus, because we are in Jesus. No condemnation to those who are in Christ, Jesus. And whatever your occupation, or whatever your interaction, or whatever your purpose in life, it becomes sacred. Everything you do is sacred because you are positioned in Jesus Christ.

And the third thing that we are called in sanctification to is we are called to be a holy practice. We are called to be a holy practice, meaning that we are saints. It says called to be saints. We are called to be saints. And when you think of saints, I'm sure you think of people who are just really holy, and have done all the right things, and then they're commissioned.

Some churches even sanctioned people as saints, or commissioned people as saints, or ordained people as a saint because of the things they did in this life. But Scripture says we're all saints. That at the moment of salvation, you became a saint. What is a saint? It is a holy one.

We think of saints as a special class of believers, but the Bible says we are all saints. We are all saints. It's who we are, not something we become, or we have to work for. It's a state of being. And every Christian is a saint.

Everybody. And what's beautiful is he's saying this to the Corinthians. Those Corinthians were not living great. They were doing a lot of things. He was going to have to address a lot of issues in this letter, but he calls them saints.

He calls them holy people. We are to be full-time Christians, true reflections of the image of Christ. And Peter said, He who called you as holy, you are to be holy. And based on your action, let me ask you this, is there evidence, based on your action, is there evidence to support that you are fully sold out to Christ? Let me ask you this, even at a more shallow level, if you are to walk out this door and interact with people day in and day out in your job, at the grocery store, or just in general with customer service or whatever it might be, would you qualify as a Christian?

The things you do every day, would people see you and say, oh yeah, I know that person's a Christian. Would that be you? Very fair question. Our desires should align with God's desires. It shouldn't be contrary.

You are not just a carnal Christian, as somebody said. When you become a Christian, you become fully devoted to Christ. There's no such thing as part-time Christian. It's a full-time, fully engaged, 24-7 in the presence of God, moving in Him, working in Him, growing in Him. It's not a half thing, as many probably would suggest, but it's a full commitment to God.

He who called you out of darkness sets you up to be like Him. We are like Him. We are called to be. We are set apart. The third thing is, a Christian is called to one another.

Paul talks about this in the second part of verse 2. He says, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. So it says, called to be saints together. It's not a me religion. It's a we religion.

It's us together. You are called to be together in a local body, in a church. You are to belong to a family, not just attend an event, but to be part of a family. And we are together as a local church and even a universal church. He's talking about the universal church together here.

But really, it's a local pact or a local family of believers that love each other and walk and do life together. And it says, in every place. That means everywhere. We're all brothers and sisters in Christ. And it says, their Lord and ours at the end of that passage.

It's easy to call Him Savior. I think most people are comfortable call Him Savior. But how many of you would call Him Lord? How many of you have made Him absolute Lord of every area of your life? It's easy to say, oh God saved me from my sins.

It's easy to say, oh God rescued me and He bled on the cross and died for my sins. And we get that far in most cases with everybody. But the question is, is He Lord of our life? Do you surrender your desires to His ways? Are you surrendering your life to Him?

Are you willing to do or go wherever He wants you to go? Do whatever He wants you to do. Are you willing to go all in is the question. That's being under the Lordship of Christ. That not only is He our Savior, He is our Lord.

And is your life centered around the Bible and Jesus' teaching? Is everything you do going back to this scripture here to help guide you in life? Are you walking in Jesus? Because here's the deal. You can experience what is available to you if you don't make Him Lord of your life.

You might be saved and maybe you're walking around as a miserable Christian and you're wondering, what is this peace that is available to me? I haven't really felt it. Maybe you're not under His Lordship. Maybe you haven't made Him Lord of your life. And when you make Him Lord and you allow Him to be in every part of your life, you start experiencing things that can only be experienced, not explained.

That's the mysteries of God. That there is a peace that passes all understanding, which leads me to point four. A Christian is called to peace. We are called to peace. So I ask you, are you peaceful?

Are you experiencing peace? Are you at peace? Or is there something that's just eating away at your soul? Is there something inside of you that just doesn't fit right? Something's off all the time.

Do you have that feeling down in the gut of your being that says, man, I'm not built for what I'm doing or the way I'm living or the way I'm acting. Is there something inside of you that that just doesn't fit? That's because you were created to fit in another mold. See, the world has conformed you. In fact, Paul says, be not conformed to the world.

What does conform mean? In the original language, it means to be pressed and shaped in a mold, just just pressed down and made to fit in a mold that you weren't created to be in. And the world conforms us. We've been under the Lordship of the world. But when Christ Jesus stepped into it.

What does He do? He makes us like Him. Our identity falls and rests in Him. And we're no longer conformed to the world, but we're transformed, as Scripture says. We become a new being.

We become born again. And so what I ask you today, while you're listening to this, and as we close this message, are you fully surrendered to Christ? If you look over your life today, and you had to judge yourself based on what you do day in and day out, would you qualify yourself as somebody who follows Christ to others? When others look at you, do they see that you are somebody that is a follower of Christ? Or maybe you've never given your life to Christ.

You don't even know anything about this. Or that peace that passes all understanding that I just talked about that you can only experience in a relationship with Christ. Maybe you want that. You're like, Pastor, I want that. Will you surrender to Him?

Will you give your life to Him? Would you say, Lord, I'm done doing it my way? And would you confess your sin? Would you turn from your sin? And would you repent and receive what Christ has for you today?

Would you do that? And if you are a Christian, and maybe you've stumbled, and maybe you are in the category of, you know what, I know that Jesus is my Savior, but I haven't really made Him Lord of my life. There's no such thing as Him just being Savior. He has to be Lord. I would ask you to rededicate your life, to give your life back to God, and allow Him to have complete Lordship of your life.

Would you do that today? That's what the Apostle Paul wants the Corinthian church to see. He also wants us to see that as well. He wants us to have that relationship with Him. Would you do that?

Would you do that today? Would you pray that with me? Would you pray this prayer? And there's nothing magical in the prayer. It doesn't matter how you pray it.

The Bible says if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, you will be saved. So just confess with your mouth right now, Lord, I'm a sinner. I repent. I don't know you. I know about you, but I don't know you.

I don't know you the way that Christians know you. I see this definition of Christians here. I don't know you that way, but I want to, Lord. Would you come into my life, Lord? I receive your blood.

I receive your sacrifice. I know positionally that I am made whole through Jesus Christ. That when you look at me, God, you'd see my sin no more if I just received Jesus today. So I do that, Lord. I receive Jesus.

Talk to you. I don't know if I can help youimid. As my Savior and my Lord. Those of you who are Christians, and maybe you just need to resubmit today. Let's do that together.

Father, I surrender. I commit. I submit my life. I resubmit my life, Lord. Maybe I've gotten off a track, Lord, but you know, you bring me back on.

You are so forgiving. Over and over and over, you offer grace. So Lord, I'm sorry that I've done it my own way, so I give my life back to you. Today, I'm going to surrender it all to you. I'm going to get in the church, and I'm going to get in the body of Christ.

I realize that I am sanctified. I realize that I am called, Lord, and I'm ready to do your work, Lord. I'm ready to experience the peace that only Christians know and Christians experience, Lord. I want that today, Lord. So I surrender my life.

I'm bringing you into all of it, God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. If you gave your life to Jesus or rededicated your life, let us know in the comments, or you can fill out our online connection card, saltchurch.org slash card.

That is saltchurch.org slash card. Let us know that you gave your life to Christ. We will get you connected with someone, and we will get some information out to you to help you grow. And come to Salt Church next Sunday, we would love to meet you and begin that journey with you of salvation, of the Lord walking with you and helping you.

And you can now experience that peace with us. We love you, and we thank you so much. And for everybody else, we're so thankful that you're here with us today. I continue to pray. I'm praying for you.

I love you. Let's not give up the faith. Let's lean in. Let's trust God. Let's believe that He's not through with Salt Church, with the difficulties of a location to meet.

We believe God's going to do great things, okay? He will. And I trust Him. Let's do this together, because salt always makes a difference, and a little bit of salt goes a long way. God bless you guys.

Can't wait to see you next week. Bye-bye.