BENEFITS OF BEING A SAINT
I Corinthians 1:1-8
I. Grace that exceeds
II. Gifts that equip
III. Guarantee that encourages
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The troubles of the church at Corinth have been well-documented. They were divided over personalities, tolerated immorality, abused Christian liberty, suing one another in civil court, perverted the Lord's Table, and misunderstood the gifts of the Spirit.
Yet, despite their carnality Paul addressed them as "...sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints." Paul was not ignoring their spiritual condition but was speaking of their position in Christ.
We are saints not because of our work for God but because of God's work in us.
Though their lifestyle was not becoming of a saint, they were saints nonetheless.
Paul establishes their identity in Christ as the basis for his exhortation that is coming later in his letter.
He told them they needed to start acting like saints. Now that is not possible unless you already are a saint. So many people are trying to live the saintly life without having the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. They try to be what they are not, but the Corinthians were not being what they were.
Paul opens with a a few lines to emphasize the benefits of being a saint.
Just exactly what is involved in being a saint? Is it just a title or are there actual benefits of being a saint?
The benefits of being a saint cover all of the periods of a life: yesterday, today, and tomorrow. For the past there's grace, for the present there are gifts, and the future there are guarantees.
What it boils down to is your past is forgiven, your present is taken care of, and your future is guaranteed. You can't beat that. That's the greatest kind of policy there is. Takes care of all the past mistakes, gives you all you need to live in the present, and secures absolutely your future.
I. For the past there is grace that exceeds (4)
I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
There was once a notorious bar that had been turned into a church. Out front a sign was placed that read, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”
A. Grace - Reason For Our Joy
I thank my God … for the grace
Grace literally means undeserved, unrecompensed kindness. Grace always in Scripture is a free gift, unearned.
Whatever is earned is not grace. Grace cannot be reckoned of debt.
Grace is always free. We cannot merit it because it is a total provision from God in Christ. There is no merit, no obligation, and no work necessary to appease
God.
Human merit is an attempt to pay for sin by personal effort. God does not expect us to pay Him back because grace is permanent and irreversible from God’s standpoint. We will never have debt before God because Christ paid it all; all to him we owe.
If we were to earn forgiveness, it would be a human work. God’s view of human merit is the exact
opposite of grace (Roman 4:4 - Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt).
The reason the gospel is good news is that it rests wholly on grace. Grace is at the core of God’s glory. If we do the doing, we get the glory. If God does the doing, God gets all the glory.
B. Grace - Rendered By Jesus
given you by Jesus Christ
Grace is always “given.”
Christ Jesus is the sphere through which grace comes. Everything rests on the work of Christ.
2 Corinthians 8:9
We serve God out of gratitude and not out of obligation.
II. For the present there are gifts that enrich (5)
As believers we have not only been given grace but we also have been enriched by the gifts of grace.
When our children were small, it seemed as if every
toy we brought for Christmas or for birthday contained these discouraging words on the box: “Batteries not included.” That was always frustrating to me, and I always wanted to ask the manufacture of the tosys, “Why are you selling me this thing without giving me the power to make it work.” Well, when you got saved the batteries were included! GRACE IS A COMPLETE PACKAGE!
That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge
The word “enriched” comes from the Greek word plutocrat [ploo-tuh-krat]. A plutocrat is a very wealthy person.
Corinthian believers were not self-made; they were God-made. God enriched the Corinthians at the point of their salvation. They were in a state of poverty and utterly destitute until they came to Christ. Now they possess great spiritual wealth as plutocrats.
However, the possession that enriched them did not make them spiritual. They were gifted but not spritiual!
“in everything” is a qualified everything. It doesn't mean you have everything, literally everything everything. It means you have everything that you need. Does a Christian lack anything? Not, according to II Peter 1:3.
We are gifted by God.You have everything you need.
God withholds no spiritual blessing or provision to the believer but many do not live like it!
Our lives may not reflect the riches God bestowed on us. We may live as spiritual paupers if we do not understand and apply God’s spiritual riches to our lives. Some wealthy people do not live according to the standard of their wealth. This can be true of us spiritually.
A. What we are given is not positionally deserved
The word "gift" comes from the word grace. These gifts are gracious endowments. They are not earned nor deserved by us. They are not given based on what our status is. They are not given to us based on whether we are spritual or not.
We are gifted whether we are spritual or not!
See verse 7. They came behind in nothing. They had everything they needed. You and I as a saint have got everything we need to be what we ought to be.
When a Christian falls it is not because he has a lack of anything. It is because he's not appropriating what he already has. You do not need something else.
B. What we are given is not preferentially distributed
God does prefer one person over another. All saints are complete in Him; all are gifted by Him.
If there's a failure in your life it isn't a divine one, it's a human one. God has never failed, and He never will fail.
See Colossians 2:10.
The word "complete" is quite an interesting word. It is a word that was used to speak of a ship that was totally fitted, and ready for a long voyage. There were not any necessities that were lacking to make the journey complete.
So it is with us who are saved. The Lord Jesus becomes our Captain, our Chart, our Course, our Compass, and our Conquest. He is all we need. We need not look anywhere else, or to anyone else to make our lives complete.
If I may be honest with you, it took me a number of years to come to the realization of the fact that my life was not complete in codes, creeds, and conduct. My life is complete in Jesus Christ. My life is not complete in rituals, routines, and religion. My life is complete in Jesus Christ. My life is not complete in what I do, what I say, where I go, or what I wear. My life is complete in Jesus Christ alone.
He gives us everything we need to be complete, because He is everything we need to be complete.
I am reminded of William Randolph Hearst, a renowned millionaire newspaper publisher. He was an avid collector of rare pieces of art. Over the years, he had collected tremendously beautiful works of art that cost thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars.
One day, he read about a particular collection of art work that he wanted desperately to get his hands on. He notified his agent, and told him to find those rare works of art. His agent began a world-wide search for the collection. He went to sales exhibits, trade shows, and art museums looking for these pieces. In about a month the agent had found the art that he was sent to look for. He found it in William Randolph Heart's own warehouse. Mr. Randolph had the art the whole time.
I know many Christians who are looking for treasures that they already possess, but they don't even know it. They are looking in every place except the only place that it can be found, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why don't you let Him be to you, for you, through you, and in you what He wants to be?
He's all you need!
III. For the future there is a guarantee that encourages (7-8)So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The future for the child of God should encourage us. One day Jesus is coming for us! THAT WHICH WAS THE HOPE OF THE EARLY CHURCH HAS BECOME THE LOST HOPE OF THE LATTER DAY CHURCH.
His first coming was the truth of history; His second coming is the truth of prophecy. The second coming of Jesus is not a doctrinal invention; it is a doctrinal revelation. It is not incidental but fundamental to the faith of believers.
One of the benefits of being a Christian is hope, isn't it?
I have hope. It is a blessed hope! I'm waiting for Jesus to come, and I believe He's coming.
Christians have the great hope of Christ’s coming.
Are you sure about that? Verse 9, do you know how I am sure? God is what? Faithful. In the Greek it's inverted because it's emphatic - Faithful is God.
A. It is a day for which we look
"Waiting" - means to welcome or receive. It implies and looking and longing for. Don't give up hope, Jesus is coming.
B. It is a day for which we live
"blameless" – means charge-less or unimpeachable. This is a forensic term and expresses an inability to be accused - above accusation.
What a day that will be!
This is how I should stive to live in light of the second coming of Christ. See John 2:28.
C. It is a day for which we labor
To the Christian the BEST IS YET TO COME.
One verse in every thirty in the NT refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ. A preacher once brought a tremendous message on the second coming of Jesus. When he had finished one of those modernistic, liberal preachers approached him and said, "I want you to know that I can't get the second coming out of the New Testament."
The wise preacher replied, "You sure can't, sir. It's in there to stay."
IT WILL BE WORTH IT ALL WHEN WE SEE JESUS!
For the saved, the future holds glory; for the lost the future holds gloom. For the child of God the future holds pleasures forevermore; for the child of the devil, the future holds pain forevermore.
The believer’s future lies in the faithfulness of God (9), and not in our merits or our ability.
CONCLUSION
There are benefits for being a saint:
grace that exceeds
gifts that equip
guarantee that encourages
When upon life's pillows you are tempted tossed
When you are discouraged, thinking al is lost
Count your many blessing name them one by one
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
