Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: We only have one life to live and it will soon be past. The only thing that will last is what you do for Christ, period. That's why Paul, in his letter, says, "Paul, called to be what? An apostle of Jesus Christ." You know what an apostle is? It is one to be sent out. To be sent out with what? With the message of Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today our 1 Corinthians series continues with a role model and a personal challenge. Pointing to the Apostle Paul's dramatic spiritual conversion, Raul will urge us to consider whether others can see God's transformative work in our hearts and lives.

As part of Raul's teaching, we'll learn that the Bible says we're temples for the Lord, called to a high standard of holiness. Now, with today's lesson, here's Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: If you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. This evening, the title of my message is "Paul's Greeting to the Church." When you think about the greeting that Paul gives here, what a job Paul had to the church of Corinth. With all of the problems and all the carnality that this church possessed, it was very hard for Paul to come and spend almost a year and a half, 18 months he spends in Corinth.

But before he comes, he begins to hear of the situation and the problems that were happening in the city of Corinth. We went over how they had divisions. They had people who were taking other Christians to court, not settling out of court. They were coming to a place where they were abusing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Then, at the same time, there was this guy living in the church in a sexual relationship with someone's wife, and the church, the pastor, and the leaders were not doing anything about it.

They were letting it go by, actually allowing it in the church to have that. So when Paul hears about it, Paul really becomes upset and he writes a letter to them. This is 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and we have another letter that was lost. We don't have that letter, but Paul writes and shares with them what they need to do biblically if there's such a person in the body of Christ in the house of God, especially in these days that we're living in.

Think about the freedoms that people take upon themselves. This is one of the reasons that we have no power in the church. It is carnal and not spiritual when it comes to looking at a real church. Yet, no wonder the Holy Spirit can't work effectively in the life of the church. When I say the life of the church, I'm speaking about not a building, but about the body of Christ, the believer.

At the same time as I become the body or the temple of the living God, in the Greek, it says that I become the holiest of holies where God lives. In the Old Testament, the only one that could go into the holiest of holies once a year was the priest with a rope tied to his right ankle. If he had sin in his life, God would immediately kill him, and nobody could go in there. They had to pull him out with a rope.

So it's really important that we understand the responsibility and accountability that we need to have to the world. Why? Because the world is watching you and watching me. So when Paul now begins his letter, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 1 to 3, he starts out by giving us information as he's writing.

He says, "Paul," and who's that? The writer. So you want to take notes, that's the writer. The one that is writing. Now, when we write a letter, we don't put our first name first in the letter. It is "Dear so-and-so," and at the end of the letter, what do we do? We write and sign our name. Not among the New Testament. They always would insert their first name, the one who was writing the letter.

What's incredible is that after Paul is saying, "Here is Paul, me, the one that is writing the letter," he says, "called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ," speaking of his call of God, through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother. So he gives us a real good introduction here. I want to spend some time now giving you some insight and background to Paul the Apostle.

He is a very important person to know. Why? Because he wrote 14 letters. He gave us half of the New Testament. When you think of Paul the Apostle, the one that was persecuting the church in Acts chapter 9, remember, in chapter 6, he stands before them as they're not only demeaning and prosecuting Stephen.

Then Stephen in chapter 7 gets up and gives this big old speech. He gives the word of God to them and he gives them the greatest sermon ever preached in Acts. There in chapter 7, when Stephen gets through with his sermon, they rush him, they take him because they got grieved. What do they do? They take him and throw him over the side of the wall and they throw stones at him and they kill him.

But before he dies, he stands up and he sees Jesus standing. Jesus says, "Come up, Stephen, I'm taking you in." Paul the Apostle was there when Stephen was killed. Paul the Apostle, his name was Saul, not Paul yet. Saul was his name given to him. Saul was constantly persecuting, prosecuting, and he was like a bounty hunter. That's what he was.

He was out going out after Christians and getting them and hurting them and even killing them. Then all of a sudden, in chapter 9 of Acts, on his way to Damascus, on the road to Damascus. If you've ever been to Damascus, I've been to Damascus. Now it's closed, you can't go there, but back in the eighties, I went to Damascus. It's an amazing place.

On the road to Damascus, as he was on his way to persecute the church, he heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Then he said, "Is that You, Lord?" Then Jesus began to reveal Himself to him. The men that were with Paul never saw Jesus, but they heard a voice like thunder. There is where Paul the Apostle got transformed and converted on his way to Damascus to persecute and prosecute Christians.

Incredible. It's an incredible story. Each one of us individually here tonight has our own story of conversion. That's the testimony that God gives to us. So when we share with our friends who know us very well, but even our family knows us even better, when there is a transformation and a change divinely by the power of the Holy Spirit, what happens is it blows people away.

They say, "How can that happen so quickly and so soon?" It's only through the power of the Holy Spirit that can happen. It's when you and I submit our will to the will of the Father, like Jesus did. "Father, not my will. You want me to go to the cross, then I'm submitting to go to the cross. Not my will. I don't want to go, but I'll submit."

I think that that's something that we need to understand because when you're young and you're naive and you really haven't grown up in life and you really haven't been hurt enough yet, you begin to learn that a lot of times, young kids think they know more than their parents. I thought I knew more than my parents. I used to say, "Man, they're stupid. They don't know what they're talking about."

Sure enough, as I became older and I went through my life, and now in my old life, looking back and looking at my kids and looking at my grandkids, it's amazing to know that God surely has a lot of grace for each one of us individually. Because you know what we deserve? We deserve hell. Hell. Yet God has been patient. God's long-suffering is patience, that none of us have perished but that all of us came to repentance. We received the grace and the love and the mercies of God in our lives and He gave us eternal life.

The guarantee that if you and I should die today, we would go to heaven. That's amazing to me. Paul the Apostle to me, and I'm hoping to meet him when I die and go to be with the Lord, has been a great influence in my life, in my conversion, in the things that I've learned in his 14 letters that he gives to us.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. As you look for ways to glorify God through the witness of your life, visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible-based resources. You can also email Raul your questions about the Bible. His address is pastorraul@somebodylovesyou.com. Let's continue with the final part of our study, Paul's Greeting to the Church.

Raul Ries: Paul the Apostle was not only a theologian, but he was one that worked with his own hands. He was a tentmaker and never asked for money, but always, always preached Jesus. Always. So Paul has a very incredible testimony and an incredible life in the Lord. Then when his name from Saul was changed to Paul, the name Paul means "little one."

It's incredible because when you think of the size of Paul the Apostle and his epistles, he's a pretty amazing apostle of Jesus Christ. What's incredible about Paul the Apostle here is the way his name is given to him and then the way he was called. Saul was his name. He was called Saul of Tarsus first before his name Paul was ever given to him.

In Acts 9:11, it says, "So the Lord said to him," this is when his conversion happened, "Paul, get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one who is called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. He is praying." Then in chapter 13:9, it says, "Then Saul, who also was called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intensely at him."

So we begin to see the transformation in his life. Not only by his name, but literally spiritually speaking, this transformation that Paul had. Because he was born in Tarsus of Cilicia, Acts 22:3 says, "Then he said, 'I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers' law, and was zealous toward God as you already see today.'"

Who was this man by the name of Gamaliel? He was one of the great Jewish teachers that Paul sat under his feet and learned from him. One of the great teachers. Paul here gives recognition to Gamaliel and how he taught him the word of God. Then Paul the Apostle was born also a Roman citizen. A Roman citizen. Remember when later on he gets himself in big trouble after preaching all those years and they arrest him?

He's trying to appeal to Caesar before that and they take him and they whip him. They said, "Hey, how can you beat a Roman citizen?" Romans cannot beat other Roman citizens. When they found out he was a Roman citizen, they freaked out. They couldn't believe it. So then he said, "Well, do you want to appeal to Caesar?" He said, "To Caesar I appeal, to Caesar you shall go."

So he went to Caesar. Think of Paul the Apostle as a Roman citizen being a Jew, but also a Roman citizen as God had given him that right to do that. In Acts 22:25, he tells us, "And as they bound Paul with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, 'Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?'"

When the centurion, the Roman centurion, heard that, he went and told the commander saying, "Hey, be careful what you do, for this man is a Roman." Then the commander came and said to Paul, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" He said, "Yes, I am." Then the commander answered and said, "With a large sum I obtained my citizenship." Paul said, "Not me, I was born a citizen." Wow. You bought yours, I got mine through birth.

By that time, they didn't want to touch him at all. He was a Roman citizen. So Paul could cross the borders. He could go to the Jews, he could go to the Romans, the Jew and the Gentile. Then he was also, by Jewish nature, from the tribe of Benjamin. Remember that tribe? Who came from that tribe? Paul the Apostle, but also Saul in the Old Testament, the king of Israel.

Think about that. So it's really important that we understand in Philippians chapter 3:5, he says, "circumcised in the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, I was also a Pharisee." Remember the Pharisees? There's something interesting about the Pharisees. There were 6,000 Pharisees. 70 made the council, which was called the Sanhedrin, like the government of Israel.

It's interesting that among the Pharisees, you had to be married. You had to have a wife. Paul the Apostle had no wife. What they tell us is that Paul the Apostle either was married before, his wife died, or when he came to Jesus Christ, his wife left him. Paul never got married again. He got married to the Lord.

Paul the Apostle. That's why here he says not only a Hebrew of Hebrews concerning the law, but a Pharisee. Remember, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were the ones that were constantly coming against Jesus and accusing Jesus Christ when He was here on the earth. Then Paul the Apostle, also a citizen of Tarsus, Acts 21:39, "But Paul said, 'I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city, and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.'"

He's asking for permission to give them the gospel. Then Paul was a member of the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, Acts 26:10. He says, "This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I, Paul, cast my vote against the Christians." Notice he gives testimony: "I voted to kill Christians. I, Paul."

But now he's Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ. Then he consented with Stephen's death in Acts 7:58, chapter 8 verse 1, chapter 22 verse 20, he gives this testimony. He says, "And they cast him out of the city and stoned him," Stephen. "And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man by the name of Saul, Saul of Tarsus," who's that? Paul the Apostle.

Chapter 8:1, "And now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution rose up against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." So the apostles went through a lot of heavy persecution. Heavy persecution.

There were 12, one the betrayer, he went out and hung himself, Judas. The other 10 died horrible, horrible deaths, except for John the Beloved. He's the only one that was shipped over to the island of Patmos. He gave us the Book of Revelation while he was there. He wrote the Gospel of John, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and the Book of Revelation.

When he wrote that at the age of 90-some years old, he died of natural causes. He's the only one. But the other 10, they were persecuted, they were beaten, and they were killed and massacred. Peter himself was crucified upside down. Paul the Apostle was beheaded in Rome, as Peter was crucified upside down also in Rome.

So when you read their autobiographies, it's amazing when you hear of all the things that these men went through. Then at the same time, if they went through some heavy things, then why should we not go through heavy things too if we're the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? When I think of Paul the Apostle and the beatings, "Three times I was beaten," he says. "I was shipwrecked. I died and came back." Remember on the way, they stoned him and he died and he went to heaven and then came back.

He said, "I can't tell you what I heard and what I saw because there are no earthly words to tell you exactly what was said. It was so beautiful." God gave him what? A thorn on the side to keep him simple and humble that he would never brag about that. Amazing. Then in chapter 9 of Acts, verse 1, he was converted on his way to Damascus.

It says, "Then Saul, still breathing threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus," that's in Syria, "so that if he found any who were of the Way," notice it wasn't called Christianity, it was called the Way, "whether men or women, that he might bring them bound to Jerusalem."

"And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell down to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' And he said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.' And then he said this, 'It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'"

Paul the Apostle, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Get up and go into the street, and you will be told what to do." Isn't that neat how conversion came? God had a hold of his life and just took him, molded him, shaped him, and then made him one of the greatest apostles of all time, Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, as we notice in the verse, he uses the word "called" now. Paul, notice, an apostle, called. What's really cool in that letter as he's writing, notice again verse 1, "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ." So the next word we want to look at is the word "called." That is our call is described by what? Number one, it was a heavenly call to Paul.

Not an earthly call, a heavenly call. In the Book of Hebrews, as he writes to the Hebrews, he writes in chapter 3:1, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ." So he is saying that the calling of God is a heavenly calling to us.

Secondly, it is a holy calling. 2 Timothy 1:9, "knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers." So it's really important that we understand that if God calls us, it's not for the undefiled.

It's not for those that are in the world and they're sinning against God. It is for those that are converted and come to Christ and they become holy as He is holy. The call of God also, thirdly, it's a high calling. A high calling. Whatever God may call you—a pastor, teacher, evangelist, to witness, whatever it is—there's no real order. Just to be a Christian is a high calling.

To call yourself a Christian is a high calling. Philippians 3:14 says, Paul says, "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Notice that "I press for that high call of Jesus Christ to serve Him, to love Him, to be obedient to Him." Then the call of God is irrevocable.

Romans 11:29, "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." Irrevocable. You can't do it again. That's it. It's irrevocable. Then, again, it's by the grace of God we're called. The grace of God, Galatians 1:15, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me," notice, "through His grace." Through His grace, unmerited favor that God's given to us.

It's incredible when you think of the call of God in our lives. Yet we only have one life to live and it will soon be past. The only thing that will last is what you do for Christ, period. That's why Paul in his letter says, "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ." You know what an apostle is? It is one to be sent out. To be sent out with what? With the message of Jesus Christ. First, you become a convert. You become a servant. Then you become, not an apostle—there are no apostles today—but the word "sent out." You get equipped and then you get sent out with the message. Every one of us can be used like that.

Guest (Male): We hope you've been inspired by the radical change that Paul experienced after his conversion and will look for ways to live faithfully as a follower of Jesus Christ. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries.

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