I was once like...Sosthenes

Acts 18 gives us a surprising preface to the Corinthian letter.

Sosthenes is the synagogue ruler who leads the charge against Paul.

When the case collapses before Gallio, the crowd turns on him and beats him.

Gallio, like the world often does, “showed no concern” (Acts 18:17).

But the Christians did.

Next Verse - 18 “Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time”

Sosthenes I was once like you…

Somewhere between Acts 18 and 1 Corinthians 1, Sosthenes becomes a brother—and Paul includes him in the opening greeting:

“Paul… and Sosthenes our brother…” (1 Cor 1:1)

That greeting is a sermon.

The world may beat you, abandon you, and decide you’re not worth caring about—but the church, when it is being the church, does the opposite.

The church gathers up the bruised, the broken, the overlooked, and gives them a family, a future, and a hope.

Sosthenes stands as a living testimony of what the church is meant to be.

In our look in the scriptures today we examine what is the vision for the church God desires. We learn from this letter to the church in Corinth some of the perils to ovoid and some areas that we can be too similar and need to repent.