OUR TRIUNE GOD BRINGS BLESSINGS (Outline)
May 30, 2010 -
Pentecost 1 (Trinity) -
1 CORINTHIANS 13:11-14
INTRO: Blessing is the word that describes gifts from God. Our lives are filled with God’s blessings. We are showered abundantly with daily gifts from God – blessings. As believers we gratefully recognize that all that we have and are we owe to the Lord God Almighty. Our gracious God lovingly, freely pro-vides for us here on earth. Even more importantly our gracious God makes sure that believers are blessed with eternal gifts. "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness" (2 PETER 1:3). We have all that we need.
OUR TRIUNE GOD BRINGS BLESSINGS.
I. Free grace. II. God’s love. III. Fellowship
I. FREE GRACE
A. The believers at Corinth struggled greatly. They lived in the wickedest city of the known world.
1. These new believers also faced difficulties inside the church with doctrinal issues.
2. God inspires Paul to write a second letter of clear instruction and harsh encouragement.
3. “Finally, brothers, good-by”. They heard God’s words. Paul comes to the end of the letter.
B. “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ…be with you all”. God blesses these believers with grace.
C. Everyone is born into this world with sin. Adam and Eve sinned. This original sin is our dreadful in-heritance from the very moment of our conception (Psalm 51:5). Our desperate need from the instant our lives begin is forgiveness. Only by the grace of Jesus Christ our Savior does anyone have forgiveness. Rejoice that our triune God brings blessings. "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" (ROMANS 5:15). Sin came to all. God’s grace more so.
D. Grace is God’s undeserved, free gift of love for mankind. Sadly too many today try to make God’s grace into a work. Mankind cannot earn God’s grace. No one deserves the forgiveness that Jesus freely provides by his life, suffering, death, and resurrection. Nor can we purchase forgiveness for one single sin. Rather, forgiveness is freely given as a gift of grace from God. Jesus freely forgives. Such is divine grace. "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (COLOSSIANS 1:19,20).
OUR TRIUNE GOD BRINGS BLESSINGS by the free gift of grace from Christ, our Savior.
II. GOD’S LOVE
A. Paul says good-by. The grace of Jesus Christ was their only motivation for living lives of faith.
1. Therefore Paul adds: “Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal”. God’s grace changed lives.
2. They learned of perfection from the life of Jesus. God’s love by faith bound them together.
B. God’s blessing emphasizes the success of the word of God on and for these believers.
1. “May… the love of God… be with you all”. God’s love was preached to them in God’s word.
2. God’s love is in the grace of Jesus Christ who died for them. God’s love would be with them.
C. The love of the Lord God Almighty is closely connected with Christ our Savior. We are reminded that the Triune God is intimately connected in carry out divine plans for the benefit of a sinful world. Trinity means three Persons – only one God. God’s love is almost beyond our human understanding. "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved" (EPHESIANS 2:4,5). Out of love God sent his Son to die for us. Us – who still sin daily and sin much! Rejoice, our triune God brings blessings.
D. We are coming to that time of the year when weddings flourish. June is that month when many cou-ples come before God’s altar and proclaim their undying love. Later, realities set in. So sadly, all too many think their undying love has died. The love of mankind grows cold. This is not the case with God.
"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 JOHN 4:16). Think about it – God lives in us. The sinless dwells in the sinful. Love!
OUR TRIUNE GOD BRINGS BLESSINGS as seen in the love of God through Jesus our Savior.
III. FELLOWSHIP
A. Faith brought these believers together. Faith kept these believers worshiping together.
1. These believers were made up of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.
2. Paul writes: “live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you”.
3. Though of very different backgrounds these believers had peace by their fellowship with God.
B. The fellowship of the local congregation of believers was also shared with believers from far away.
1. “Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send their greetings”. Faith united all.
2. God’s guarantee was once again heard and seen by the blessing that Paul wrote to them.
3. “May…the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”. Faith from Holy Spirit united them.
C. Our fellowship with God angers Satan. The devil tries during our entire earthly lives to sever our bonds with the Lord God Almighty. God’s grace and love are far greater and stronger than the evil de-sires and working of Satan. It is by faith that we believe and are saved. Faith is God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. It is by the working of the Holy Spirit by faith in our hearts that changes our lives forever. "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers" (HEBREWS 2:11). Consider how great that blessing to be considered a member of God’s family. God is our Father. Jesus is our brother. Eternity is our inheritance.
D. Thankfully we are connected to the only God who provides us with absolutely everything eternally needful. Our God is the source of our life and breath and salvation. Without God we are nothing. With-out God we are lost – forever. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (JOHN 15:5). It does not take long for a broken branch to have its leaves turn brown. Apart from the tree or vine all life is gone. Maybe you have noticed the same thing in your life whenever you have wandered away from God.
CONC: The trinity is a teaching that Scripture reveals in its sacred pages. Now, some would say that the Triune God is only a teaching made up by man. After all, the word triune or trinity is not used or found in the Bible. True. Still the teaching of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is interwoven in God’s word from the beginning (Genesis) to the end (Revelation). (Please study the readings listed below.) It is only the Triune God that is the true God. It is only the Triune God who brings blessings for all mankind. "Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come" (2 CORINTHIANS 1:21,22). Notice again the teaching of the Trinity. God’s love is seen in the grace of Christ guaranteed by the Holy Spirit by faith. OUR TRIUNE GOD BRINGS BLESSINGS: free grace, God’s love, and fellowship (with God and with all believers). Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
PENTECOST 1 rdgs:
NUMBERS 6:22-27;
ROMANS 5:1-5;
JOHN 16:12-15;
(PSALM 150)
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