The Fellowship of the Used to Be

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.     (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

I started thinking about this passage the other day. Now, I know that some of you think you know where I’m going with this and are either beginning to get angry or are thinking, “Yeah, yeah, heard this before.” But stick with me, I believe you will be surprised and find a blessing.

I see three things in these verses:

1) We get an insight into the message Paul preached.
“Oh yeah, what is that?” The kingdom of God. We tend to overlook the kingdom of God. I mean, John the Baptist and Jesus talked about it but it seems to have gone away. Yet here is Paul preaching the kingdom in Corinth. And this is very common in the Book of Acts:

 As Clement, Bishop of Rome, wrote in his epistle to the Corinthians (AD 96), “the apostles went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand.”

And it looks like he also preached repentance, the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Maybe something like, The kingdom of God is coming and you are not ready for it. You must turn from your idols and your sins. Now let me tell you about Jesus who will forgive your sins . . .

2) We see the kind of people Paul attracted with the preaching of this Gospel:
fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners What a list!

As I mentioned, it seems to me that Paul’s preaching included warnings of judgment and calls to repent of sin. He liked to make lists in his epistles, reminding the readers of behavior that will keep one out of the kingdom:

Paul preached the gospel concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ and people responded. And what a motley crew this gospel drew!

3) We see the transforming power of the Gospel
the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God... And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Amen! and such were some of you. That’s what you used to be. The Gospel calls all people, accepts all people, but, and here’s the good news, it doesn’t leave them there! No, Jesus saves us from sin! The Church is The Fellowship Of The Used To Be. You don’t come to Jesus and continue in your sin. And that’s what Paul continuously warns us about, the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. No, I must repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. But it’s not just me trying my best to be better, no, ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins. Amen! When you get a hold of Jesus, or rather, He gets aholt of you, you will be transformed and you will join The Fellowship Of The Used To Be!

That we being delivered 
out of the hand of our enemies 
might serve him without fear

in holiness and righteousness before him
all the days of our life.