This sermon (1 Corinthians 1: 4 - 5) was preached at West Ewell Evangelical Church, Surrey, on Sunday 28 September 2014.
Introduction
As mentioned before in the two previous sermons, this letter is to be seen through the prism of grace and peace (verse 3).
The Corinthian church was very much like us – surrounded by a society that had no moral compass and where there was a religious maelstrom.
So, in the midst of this situation, Paul encourages and praises the church when he can, although there was much amiss as we shall discover in future weeks.
We moan whether it be about (for example) state of our nation, the service in shops, our jobs, our marriages, our family (including in-laws), the Church worldwide, our local church; and will moan to our neighbour, on Facebook, on twitter, or basically to anyone who will listen.
But Christians have more to be thankful for than anybody else because one of the purposes of being a saint (one who has been rescued from sin by the Saviour) is to be thankful to the One who gave his life for us.
There are three principle reasons for thanks:
1. God’s given grace
2. In Christ Jesus
3. Enrichment
1. God’s given grace
The source of the right relationship with God is God Himself, as there is no other way that can come to Him.
Romans 7: 18 declares ‘I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.’ Our human achievement means very little and is certainly no admission ticket to heaven.
We can often come to God with shopping list. We should not even thank for things that happened to us, but to start our conversation with Him by just being thankful for His immeasurable grace toward us.
We should be constantly thanking Him for bringing us into His family.
He had us in our hearts before creation: ‘For He chose us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.’ (Ephesians 1: 4)
We are to remember that we are called ‘holy’ (see verses 1 - 3), that is separated from sin, i.e. all that grieves God. This is because God looks at us and sees the righteousness of Jesus covering us.
As we saw before, sanctification is work already completed if have trusted Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour. However, the work is still underway for us to have our minds transformed and for our bodies to do what the Holy Spirit wants us to do as this will be achieved through the transformation of our minds.
When we are sure of our standing before God by His grace, we have everything to be thankful for. It is not a matter of feelings or emotions as these can be fickle.
As we have stated before, the purpose of the church is to call upon the Lord in adoration and praise.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us: ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ We can so often be caught up in the transient that our eyes are locked on earth.
John Mark Comer reminds us : ‘God Himself is more beautiful and satisfying than any of the things we want from Him.’
Jonathan Edwards (a pastor during a time of revival in USA) stated : ‘God is the highest good of the reasonable creature; and the enjoyment of Him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.’
We are to lift up our heads and be thankful to God.
2. In Christ Jesus
In this letter, Paul speaks of the trinity: God the Father who initiated the plan of salvation, God the Son who fulfilled that plan on Calvary, and (as we shall see later) God the Spirit who makes that plan a reality in our own lives so it is more than intellectual consent but our experience.
Salvation can only be found through the finished work of Christ on the cross. We cannot add to it as it was the evident error creeping into the Galatian church.
The Cross is at the centre of history, even Moses looking forward to that time: ‘He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward’ (Hebrews 11: 26). Moses did not know how the promise given to Abraham would be fulfilled or how the Law given to him would signpost to the Messiah, but we have no excuse as on this side of history.
As ‘in’ Christ, nothing can move us. There is the illustration of feather, which in the open hand can easily be blown away but if it is in the clenched hand, we cannot move feather unless we move the person.
Question: how sure of our security as go into next week? Nothing can surprise God and He has us firmly in His grasp, even in direst of circumstances.
Edward Mote wrote in letter to ‘Gospel Herald’: ‘One morning it came into my mind as I went to labour, to write a hymn on the ‘Glorious Experience of a Christian.’ As I went up Holborn, I had the chorus, ‘On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand.’ In the day I had the first four verses complete, and wrote them off. On the Sabbath following I met brother King as I came out of Lisle Street Meeting…who informed me that his wife was very ill, and asked me to call and see her. I had an early tea, and called afterwards. He said that it was his usual custom to sing a hymn, read a portion, and engage in prayer, before he went to meeting. He looked for his hymn-book but could find it nowhere. I said, ‘I have some verses in my pocket; if he liked, we would sing them.’ We did, and his wife enjoyed them so much, that after service he asked me, as a favour, to leave a copy of them for his wife. I went home, and by the fireside composed the last two verses, wrote the whole off, and took them to sister King.’ So was a dying woman reminded that she was safe in the arms of Jesus.
Whatever circumstances – whether it is in hardship (such as bereavement) or in good times – if we have trusted in Him, we will certainly be kept safe in Jesus.
3. Enrichment
There will be enrichment in every aspect of our lives when God works in and through us.
Paul highlights in this passage the specific areas needed for evangelism, that is speaking and knowledge.
It is the introduction of some of the themes that will occur later on.
Speech and knowledge was important to the Corinthian society. The nearby Isthmian Games included speech contests and knowledge that were associated with philosophical knowledge or the ability to speak at drop of hat on any subject.
However, Paul spoke in this passage of spiritual gifts, not natural ones.#
This passage is speaking to all of us. We are reminded in Romans 10: 14 – 15: ‘How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet who bring good news”.’
In case we should think ‘I cannot preach,’ the word used in the Romans passage is one for spreading good news (which is where we get the word ‘evangelical’) so we are to be like a herald. We cannot be an evangelical unless we are also evangelistic, for the Bible injunction is that we are not just to receive the good news but we are to also share it, e.g. chattering to neighbours, friends, colleagues, etc. It is the part of spiritual armour for us to be equipped for fulfill this task: ‘your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6: 15), which we are all supposed to wear or else not properly on duty and doing what the Commander of the army of the Lord wants us to do. How beautiful are your feet?
Sometimes God uses us in unusual circumstances. It can be illustrated by Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsy were kept at the Ravensbruck Nazi concentration camp as punishment for their family helping Jewish refugees. The barracks were extremely overcrowded and flea-infested. They had, by a miracle, managed to smuggle a Bible into the camp, where they were reminded of the good things they were to be thankful for, which decided included thanking Him even for the fleas. Over the next several months, a strange but curious thing happened – the guards never entered their barracks, meaning that the women prisoners were never assaulted. It also meant that they were unable to do the unthinkable: hold open Bible studies and prayer meetings at the heart of the Nazi concentration camp. Through these meetings, countless numbers of women came to faith in Christ. Only at the end did they discover that the guards left them alone because of the fleas that Betsy had been thankful for.
In addition, we are be soaked with scripture - it is never too late to start. Part of the purpose is so that we are ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have.’ (1 Peter 3: 15)
James 1: 5 – ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.’
We are to use the resources that God has given, e.g. sermons, books, media (e.g. radio, magazines), conferences, apologists (such as Josh McDowell or Lee Strobel who can give clear evidence of what we believe and why). There are also housegroups where we can be interactive in learning together.
This passage has been described as having a) utterances – telling the truth and b) knowledge – the grasp of the truth. The combination of these two is found in 12: 8 ‘To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit’
Warren Wiersbe wrote that: ‘ God doesn’t bless us just to make us happy; He blesses us to make us a blessing.’
Conclusion
As Paul had been thankful that many in the Corinthian church were living in Christ and that they are testifying, what about us?
Faithful and obedient Christians should also be thankful Christians.
There can be all sorts of ways in thanking Him, such as song (Psalm 69: 30 – ‘I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving’), poem, just sending silent words of praise and thanks – just do it.
Questions:
a. Have you known God’s saving grace?
b. Has faith in Jesus changed you? – thinking, actions, speech
c. Has knowing Jesus led to speaking about Him to other and knowing more about Him?
In these moments of silence, give thanks in your hears for God’s saving grace, for being in Christ Jesus and for His enrichments in your life.
