Sermon Notes (1 Cor. 1:1-3), part II

I recently preached a sermon in Spanish at my home church, Enfoque. I based my sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:1-3. Here are the verses and a few quotes (translated and lightly edited):

(1) Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, (2) To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: (3) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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In this church to join the membership you have to be baptized. And when I say baptized, I am speaking… of biblical baptism. Because baptism communicates a truth about the gospel that we cannot lose, we cannot forget. … Immersion in water shows that you have been buried and after, when you rise, that shows the resurrection of Christ, and we want to announce it. We do not want to hide the gospel.

“To those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus.” That sounds like something that you can hear in a church. When you go to work you won't hear your boss say something about sanctification. When you go to a soccer game you won't hear someone say something about sanctification. It seems like one of those words that only exists in church, and in most instances, it is. Not because it is a religious word, but because it is a word that speaks of our relationship with God, and the world around us does not care about the things of God. That is why they won’t talk about sanctification.