1 Corinthians 1:4-8b

Introduction

This morning I want to give our attention to the reasons Paul thanked God on behalf of the Corinthian Christians in 1 Corinthians 1:4 (“I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ”).

The main emphasis will be on three verbs:

Grace Given

Enriched

Confirmed

Each verb is in the passive voice meaning that the Corinthians received the action. They did not get grace, enriched themselves or exhibited activity that confirmed their faith. Instead, God by Jesus Christ gave grace, enriched and confirmed them. The reason Paul thanked God is without God actively working in the Corinthian lives, they could not have enjoyed grace, enriching or confirmation.

Grace given by Jesus Christ

1 Corinthians 1:4 “I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;”

“Grace of God” means the grace that was given to them by Jesus Christ belonged to God. He is the possessor of grace that saves and transforms a persons life. Peter references Him as the (1 Peter 5:10) “...the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”

Seeing that God is the possessor of the grace that saves sinners, His grace will accomplish the mission. At the end of 1 Peter 5:10 God of all grace Himself makes us perfect (The word means to repair. God has perfectly and completely repaired and restored our relationship with Him), establishes (Cause a person to be immoveable in their faith), strengthens and settles us (Provides a firm foundation).

In order for God’s grace to accomplish the mission of 1 Peter 5:10, God must be absolutely sovereign over all of creation. If He is not completely and unquestionably sovereign over creation than there is not any full assurances that grace can fulfill the mission. Isaiah 46:8-11 affirms God’s sovereign rule over the universe.

Isaiah 46:8–11 “Remember this, and shew yourselves men: Bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, The man that executeth my counsel from a far country: Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”

The theme is these four verses “is the uniqueness of God among all the beings of the universe. He is in a class by himself. No one is like him. The issue is what it means to be God.” God gives two answers on what it means to be Him: first, He declares the end from the beginning; second, He declares the beginning to the end. He is God because He knows everything from every possible angle. There is nothing that God does not know in the past, present or future. Before In the beginning God, He knew all that would transpire with His creation. In theological terms this speaks of God’s foreknowledge. God is God because of His foreknowledge.

However, the main thrust that makes His foreknowledge deity qualified is why He knows. The answer is what makes God the King if kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15 “Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords”). If He knows because He foresaw all that would transpire with His creation then He may be omniscient but omnipotent. His knowledge would be based upon creation determining the outcome of the universe.

God says in Isaiah 46:10 why he knows the end from the beginning, and the beginning to the end: “...Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure:” God’s foreknowledge flows from His counsel and fulfilling His pleasure. John Piper wrote: “In other words, the way he declares his foreknowledge is by declaring his fore-counsel and his fore-purposing. When God declares the end long before it happens, what he says is, ‘My counsel shall stand.’ And when God declares things not yet done long before they are done, what he says is, ‘I will accomplish all my purpose.’

Linking this back to the “God of all grace.” The reason God’s grace can complete the mission by making us perfect, establishing, strengthening and settling us is His counsel stands and He fulfils His pleasure, and there is no one who can stop Him.

God’s grace was given to you. Who were they before God’s grace was given to them? The church was a multi-cultural church. They had both Jews and Gentiles. Keeping in mind there diversity, the Bible gives us two answers:

The first answer more than likely deals with the Gentiles.1 Corinthians 6:9–11 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

The second answer speaks primarily to the Jews. The Jews were self-righteous. “Many first-century Jews believed they could obey the law unto justification—the Lord's verdict of righteousness—although few if any of them confessed that perfection was required.” Paul writes on their self-righteousness: Romans 2:21–23 “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?” The epitome of a self-righteous person is one who sees the flaws in others but cannot or will not see their own flaws.

Therefore, the church in Corinth was made up of overt and covert transgressors of God’s word. In spite of who they were, God’s grace impacted their lives.

God’s grace that was given to the Corinthians was not cheap grace. God is inherently holy, just, loving, wrathful, and merciful. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Daily God demonstrates that He possesses these attributes without much energy expended (I am speaking in human terms). However, to demonstrate that He is grace, God had to become human. God had to identify with man in order to rescue man from God’s wrath. The act that allowed grace possible (Calvary) came at the most horrific moment in human history. God’s creation destroying the physical life of Son of God! The destruction of Jesus’ body was the greatest payment ever made in human history. Even if you combine all the payments that humanity has made over the last six-thousand years, they do not equal a drip of water in God’s amazing grace ocean.

Consider three verses that tap into the painful agony Jesus endured so that grace could be given to the Corinthians:

Peter wrote regarding the death of Jesus: 1 Peter 1:18–19 “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”).

Paul wrote that Jesus had become a curse so that we who were a curse can be redeemed: Galatians 3:13 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.” A pastor entitled these Isaiah 53:4-6: “The Great Reversal.” The catalyst of the great reversal in v.5. His wounding and bruising describe extreme stress that resulted in His death so that our transgressions and iniquities can be forgiven. Our chastisement that was upon Jesus was the most painful of punishments.

God’s grace could not have been given without the punishment of man’s sin being completely satisfied. Every bit of God’s infinite wrath had to be fulfilled before God poured out grace upon our hearts (Romans 5:5 “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” ). The only person eligible and capable to complete this mission was Jesus.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book The Cost of Discipleship contrasted cheap grace with costly grace. He highlighted several reason grace is costly. “Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, (This is the point I want to latch upon) it is costly because it costs God the life of His Son: ‘ye were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered Him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

Does your life treat grace as a inestimable treasure like the man who sold all that he had to purchase the field with the hidden treasure (Matthew 13:44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field”)?

Enriching them by Jesus

1 Corinthians 1:5 “That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;”

The church in Corinth was financially wealthier church than many other churches in the area. Yet, this phrase has nothing to do with materiel wealth. Paul does not thank God for allowing this church to have material wealth; rather, he thanked God they were “enriched” or made wealthy by Jesus Christ in their speaking and knowledge. How different is Paul’s message from the modern day prosperity Gospel preacher who focuses on materiel wealth. in 1 Corinthians 1:5, Paul is thankful that they had been enriched with the knowledge of Christ through their witnessing. The word “by” is the same word translated “in Christ Jesus” in v. 2. In effect, Paul was grateful that God gave this church spiritual gifts to magnify and glorify Him through the assembly and in witnessing outside of the assembly.

This is hard to grapple with because the church had so many self-inflicted problems. How could a church that spoke truth and had a wealth of divine knowledge trip over silliness? We can see the answer by the way Paul phrased his thanksgiving to the Lord. They were made wealthy by and within the sphere of Jesus Christ. The qualifier of them being enriched in everything through their speech and knowledge is when they are in Jesus Christ. Peter wrote 2 Peter 1:3 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:” All the divine power we need for life and godliness is through Jesus Christ. To live our lives outside of the sphere of Christ is to disconnect from the heavenly power source. Christians have the opportunity to have an out of this world power so long as we are within the sphere of Christ.

Within the sphere of God, Esther would courageously, and at the risk of her own life go see the King of Persia on behalf of her people. She said: (Esther 4:16) “...I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.” She could not have done this without out of this world power.

While Stephen was being stoned to death by Jesus hating Jews, he said: (Acts 7:60) “...Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Stephen was divinely empowered to want compassion and grace multiplied in his killers lives. He could not have said this without being within the sphere of Christ. In fact, just before he uttered his last words, he said: (Acts 7:55–56) “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” If you believe this was easy for Stephen to say, consider the last time you prayed that God’s best would marvelously unite your most fierce enemy with Christ. Stephen had an out of this world power directing him to preach grace to his killers!

The reason the church in Corinth tripped over silly and self-centered issues was their pride. Egotism and arrogance removed them from the practical sphere of Christ, stopped them from seeing the glory of God and disconnected themselves from an out of this world power source. They became less thankful and more entitled. The result was they became less selfless and loving and more divisive and arrogant.

Paul wrote that we have been made complete in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:10 “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power”), the Corinthians failed to see this and many times, we are no different!

The beauty of Paul’s thanksgiving is God has provided us with all the speech and knowledge we need to accomplish His will! The Lord said to Jeremiah: (Jeremiah 1:7) “But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.” The Lord was responsible for equipping Jeremiah with the tools to complete his prophetic office. The key for Jeremiah was to stay faithful to the Lord: Jeremiah 1:17–19 “Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.”

The same truth is seen in the life of Joshua. The Lord is talking to Joshua when He said: Joshua 1:8–9 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” The Lord was with Joshua so long as Joshua did not turn away from the word of God!

New Testament Christians have the complete revelation of God to man in the Bible, the Holy Spirit guides us into truth (John 16:13 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come”), and gives us divine gifts to complete the mission (1 Corinthians 1:7 “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”). We have the spiritual gifts necessary to do whatever God has willed us to do. Yet, just like Jeremiah and Joshua, we need God to be with us to have success. Or, as Paul says it, we must be within the sphere of Jesus Christ.

Paul was thankful the enriching of speech and knowledge was possible by Jesus Christ. Proof of our thankfulness is staying within the sphere of Jesus Christ!

The idea of Paul thanking God for enriching the Corinthians Christians with words and knowledge links to Jesus exhorting His disciples to be the Salt of the earth and light of the world (Matthew 5:13–14 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid”). We are the salt of the earth and light of the world in what our lives and mouths say that comes from our knowledge of truth!

The testimony of Christ confirmed in you

1 Corinthians 1:6 “Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:”

The “testimony of Christ” was the Gospel that Paul had preached to the Corinthians. The Gospel being confirmed in their lives was revealed through their changed life. Why did Paul thank God for their changed lives that proved the Gospel has been confirmed in their lives? The answer goes back to the verb “confirmed.” The verb is in the passive voice. This means the divine power of the Gospel changed their lives. The testimony of Christ was not confirmed in them through their works but through the Holy Spirit.

Knowing the truth that the Holy Spirit confirms the planting, watering and increase of the Gospel seed in a person’s life, explains why so many Christians are deeply offended by those who view God’s grace cheaply. Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes cheap grace: “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.

“Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack’s wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! …

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” I will add to the list by saying “cheap grace” is without the Holy Spirit confirming the testimony of Christ.

Conclusion

God gave these gifts so that (1 Corinthians 1:7) “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:”

God wants us to use the gifts He has given us. He does not want His gifts to be dormant. In the 80’s the U. S. Army’s ad slogan was: “Be all you can be.” God wants us to be all we can be in Him!

He wants us to await “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In one short sentence Paul goes from present to future. God’s grace, enriching and confirming us allows us to enjoy spiritual gifts for the present and to wait for the Lord’s return in the future.

The word “waiting” carries the idea of “anticipation.” 1 Peter 1:13 “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;” John MacArthur wrote: “The faithful believer cannot help being eschatological. We are grateful for past grace, we seek to be responsible in using present grace, but our greatest joy is looking forward to future grace. We watch, we wait, and we hope for (AND PRAY FOR) the Lord’s next coming, His final coming....The revelation refers to His manifestation without the veil of humanity He wore in His incarnation. At His next coming He will be fully revealed in blazing splendor.”

“The great preacher F. B. Meyer once asked D. L. Moody, ‘What is the secret of your success?’ Moody replied, ‘For many years I have never given an address without the consciousness that the Lord may come before I have finished.’ This may well explain the intensity of his service and the zeal of his ministry for Christ.”

It is hard to imagine that the church anticipated the Lord’s coming while living for themselves. Usually, we think that if a person awaits the coming of Jesus, their lives would be conforming to Jesus. If anything, this problem pointed to their immaturity in the faith.

1 Corinthians 1:8 “Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The reason I believe in perseverance of the saints is God confirms Christians to the end. The word “confirm” means to stabilize. God stabilizes our faith in the sea of uncertainty. God’s stabilizing work will conclude with us being “blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

A summary of Paul’s thanksgiving: 1 Corinthians 1:9 “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” God is faithful to perform all the verbs and promises mentioned in these few verses.