Him
January 20, 2001
How many of you are gardeners? This is the time of year when we start to think about gardens. It seems that when the snow is deepest and days are coldest, days are shortest and nights are longest, we get out seed catalogs, if we received them, or start to look longingly at displays that begin to appear in Canadian Tire and other stores. We long to be getting outside into our gardens.
All gardeners have experience with getting new plants going. It’s quite a process! It’s, in fact, one of the most exciting parts of gardening, and, to a great degree, what gardening is all about!
I’m not the greatest gardener- in my family, Lynn is more the gardener than I. But last summer, I planted an apple tree in our backyard. It’s not very big, but it has grown and I hope to get an apple or two in a couple more years- if it survives this winter and gets another good growing season ahead.
The hardest part of getting a new plant or tree growing is getting it rooted. I had to dig a hole. But the soil wasn’t the best, so I had to put in some good soil to put the tree roots into to start, at least (it seems trees can put roots down and out to get whatever they need, but at first, that’s difficult!) I carefully put the tree into the hole with new soil and covered it and it’s my hope that the tree has rooted well- it seems to have because it did grow some last year.
It’s hard to root a plant in stony soil. It’s hard to root a plant in clay. It’s hard to root a plant in sand. But whatever soil we have in our gardens, we know that rooting is the most important part in adding a new plant to the garden.
This is true, too, when it comes to adding a new plant to God’s garden. It’s not easy to get rooted. In fact, there’s a parable- remember the sower and the seed- we find that story in Matthew 13? That story tells us how difficult it can be to get seeds rooted in various kinds of soils and conditions. Rooting was the difficult thing in the story. Not all soil is terrific and there’s a lot against a seed or plant getting properly rooted in some soils!
The great NT writer named Paul was concerned with getting some people rooted. He had been involved in beginning the congregation that lived in the Greek city of Corinth, and he’d had to leave. And things didn’t go all that well early on in the life of the church there, so Paul became aware of this and wrote a letter in which his principle concern was getting them properly rooted. The whole letter is concerned with this, but he begins this message and builds this message right from the beginning.
Please turn with me, today, to 1 Corinthians and we’ll focus today on the first 9 verses- that’s all! We’re going to look at the entire book over the next several months and I hope you’ll gain a great appreciation for the richness of this personal letter to this congregation. Keep in mind what Paul wanted to do throughout it, as you read through this letter and look over Paul’s shoulder and get some insights into Paul’s mind as he expressed the deepest of concern for these newer Christians!
I want this to be simple, today, too, so I’ll tell you what I see in these 9 verses- and why the title I chose is “Him”. Paul’s focus is on Him- on God- who has made it all possible for the Corinthian Christians. From the beginning to the end of this section, and from the beginning to the end of this letter, Paul is ‘high’ on God! He is ‘high’ on Him! It was a tremendously important lesson for those people. It’s a message that might have some relevance for us, in Cornwall/Montreal in 2001, too! We’ll consider that a little later.
v. 1- Paul recognized that he was all he was because of God- because of Him! He knows he was not who he was because of something in and of himself. So, he begins, in a standard Paul-type greeting, which was rather typical in letters of the time, and he declares who he was and how he got to be who he was! This is rather telling. He was called, and in the NT, that refers to a ‘call obeyed’. He had received a call- an invitation- a hearkening, in some way (dramatic, in his case), and he had obeyed that call. That’s fortunate for him, of course. That call came from the highest source!
This is inauguration day in the USA and thousands of people gather in Washington, DC today for the inauguration of George W. Bush as the president of the United States. Those who get to go to the actual inauguration received invitations; they were called by the president-elect (or a representative of the president-elect) to come and to be part of his glorious day. I doubt many refused such invitations. I wouldn’t, if I’d received one!
Paul did receive such a high-level invitation, and he reveled in that and in knowing where it came from. He was who he was because of Him! Paul knew his identity was what it was because of God, not because of some human. He’s focusing right at the beginning!
And he is writing not just to a bunch of friends. He’s not writing to a gathering of people in Corinth. This isn’t for a group of people gathered at the local ‘watering hole’. This is not for any collection of people who happened to be in the market -square on the day this letter arrived in Corinth. This letter is to the church of God-the church that had been formed by and belonged to God. He’s telling them that they were who they were for the same reason he was who he was- Him! Because of Him they got in on this letter- and others, in Corinth, didn’t; because of Him, Paul got to write this letter!
v. 2- Paul goes on to say a bit about who they were- they were sanctified in Christ. This means they were very special. The NEB says “claimed by him as his own”. They were special people. Paul is turning them, right at the beginning, to remember where they came from and that they were persons separated by Him to be His people! As such, they bore the rather special title of ‘saints’ and, as such, they were part of a very special group that was not just in Corinth. They were part of the local expression of a universal society. There were other ‘saints’ and they have in common that they call on the name of Jesus Christ who is Lord and Master of all of them!
This is something to know and to appreciate. And it’s part of their being rooted. They were who they were because of Him, and He has lots of others in the world who are also who they are because of Him! This is still reality for those who have accepted the Christian calling- this is worth remembering!
v. 3- They were blessed because of Him! Paul pointed them to the source of grace and all goodness in their lives, and that source was Him- Father and Lord Jesus. And that grace never stops (v.4). It never runs out and it never stops coming- it never even slows down! God is not only the source of their identity, but He is the source of all that is given them by Jesus. Their grace does not come from themselves. It wasn’t the result of their seeking or their study or their fasting and penance or their praying or their worshipping. And that grace kept on flowing and growing. Paul was always thanking God for the out-pouring of grace toward them, and that was necessary because the grace never stopped and it was new every morning and all day long. That grace evolved and changed. It was in the past and IS in the present (“which IS given you by Jesus Christ”). We sing about this sometimes- “The steadfast love of the Lord lasts forever….. it is new every morning, new every morning….” But, it all goes back to Him- no other source- Him.
Oh, the stability and security that comes from this reality! I don’t know if you’re beginning to get this picture that Paul is giving these precious saints of God. It’s a message of encouragement. It’s a message of centering. It’s a message of stabilizing. It’s the message about who they are, how they are, and how they continue to be who they are. Their identity and their grace is rooted in Him! They, like new plants, have been put into the best of prepared soil, and have been securely put into that soil and can freely grow because of being well rooted!
v. 5- I want to draw attention to the middle verse of this passage, which is verse 5. They were enriched in everything! This is important. This says that ‘it’s not the same anymore once God is in the picture.’ Everything changes once God is in the picture- everything is made richer than it was. Paul draws attention to two very important areas in which they were enriched- and this points to two gifts which the Corinthian Greeks valued- speech (telling forth of truth) and knowledge (grasping of truth). These were important values of their society and culture and when they responded to Him in their calling, whatever they had in these areas was enriched. Those activities which society valued were different for them now that they were saints, and now that God had put them on a new stage.
For us, in Canada, we might speak of how our understanding of rights, tolerance, and debate are enriched by Him! Or, as people seem to be more concerned about just getting their own way, this is moderated, significantly, in Christianity- or should be, at least! These are values we appreciate in our democratic nation. How we view these and how we approach these subjects is enriched by Him! We understand the true source of all rights, and tolerance is raised from just being a matter of human tolerance- we understand the idea of all being made in God’s image- and we understand how futile some debates actually are, among other things, because of Him! Everything changes because of Him! Everything gets better when anyone is put on the stage of the spiritual. Sometimes people don’t have the insight or vision to recognize this and only see the changes in a negative light. It’s important to constantly remember that God extends only grace- everything God does flows from His grace- even difficulties, as He works with individuals and communities toward their joining Him in His family!
Remember that little word ‘everything’. What is NOT included in ‘everything’? Nothing! Everything is enriched by HIM!!
v. 6- Verse 6 might seem a bit difficult, but it isn’t really. Goodspeed puts it this way: “So your experience has confirmed the testimony that I bore to Christ.” In his work with the first Christians in Corinth and teaching the early church there, Paul had clearly expounded Jesus- that was His entire intent and ministry and focus. He had told them the kind of things Christ would do in their lives, and He had and has done those. Again, he is reminding them of that vital rooting link back to Him! Coming to God is not just something we ‘do’. It is something that leads to incredible changes, which can be predicted with certainty and actually followed as they unfold. Past activity can be translated into foretelling, which will eventually become His-story in the lives of new saints! Paul had told them that they would be enriched, and they were! Wow! But sometimes people forget that sequence and fail to make the connections between what they heard and what transpires in their lives once Christian.
What about you? What was foretold to you? I hope not only trials and difficulties. That’s not what I heard, alone. What I heard has transpired! It has been an upward trending line toward the kingdom!
v. 7, 8 - All this happened so that they would not be lacking in anything that was necessary for them. They weren’t less than any other Christians; neither were they more. Christ worked in them and continued to work as He was leading them toward the day of His coming again. They, as Christians in Corinth, hadn’t ‘arrived’ yet. This is an important idea that Paul puts forward- again pointing them to the fact of God’s sovereignty and that they are rooted in Him, not in themselves anymore. They are going ‘unto the end’ and to ‘the day of our Lord Jesus Christ’. They were to keep going, and not stop, because everything that was to be done was not yet done in them and toward them. They had no lack of Godly gifting and never would; they had received salvation first of all, and then other spiritual gifts as needed for the work they had and the growth they had ahead.
v. 9- Paul brought them right back to God, yet again, as he concluded the introduction to this letter. The focus is not on Paul, but on God. The focus is not on the Corinthian Christians, but on God. ‘God is faithful’. Phillips puts it: God is utterly dependable. Williams says: God is entirely trustworthy. What an incredible message in any age when nothing is utterly or entirely dependable!
God is the One who had called them somewhere and who had given them a new community and a new identity! They were called somewhere, and this is an important lesson for all times. Identity, for the Christian, is not in self; it is not in ethnic background. It is not in being English, or French. Identity is not in degrees that might have been attained, or in the car someone gets to drive, how much money they might have, or anything like that. Identity is in God- in Him!
God is the faithful one. He is the One who initiated and enabled the whole matter of coming to Christ and into fellowship with Christ and with God, too! It all goes back to Him!
Back to our gardening discussion. All of us who garden at all know that plants have to be rooted to thrive. They have to have the very best soil and conditions in order to thrive.
Paul understood this about the Corinthian Christians. They needed rooting and needed, in light of what follows, to be pointed right back to the One who put them in the garden. They had to be reminded of Him and of what He had done- of all He had done for them. They needed to remember who they were and how they got to be in this incredible place. They needed to remember Him!
How about you and I? It’s the same as for the Corinthian Christians. We are all we are because of Him. We are enriched in everything by Him. Do we see this? Ours is such a positive message and sometimes we get into the down and negative approach to our walk! Don’t! Remember where you came from and how you got to where you are and where you’re going!
Our identity is in Him, as He wants it defined in Christ. We know what was to happen, and it has happened and continues to happen in our lives because of Him. And this is going to continue until He confirms us at the day of Jesus Christ.
It seems to me that it can be said of us, as Paul said of the Corinthian Christians: God is faithful, by whom you were called to the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Wow! All praise goes to the faithful one- to Him!
