Grace That Gives

If you won the lottery this week, how would your life change?

Would you pay off your mortgage or medical bills or auto loans?

Would you move, go on vacation?

Would you quit your job?

One man who recently won a lottery commented that it was ‘life-changing amount of money.’

I’ve often wondered how many who win the lottery become more benevolent or generous to those in need or do they just become more stingy.

Winning the lottery might make us sufficiently well-off from a financial and material perspective but I imagine some of those lottery winners are still susceptible to emotional turmoil and certainly spiritual issues.

A 1978 study from Northwestern University and the University of Massachusetts examined lottery winners and their happiness levels and found that the "thrill" of winning the lottery wears off. They get used to the added pleasures in their life made possible by wealth, and those pleasures contribute to their happiness less and less. Without making a positive contribution to society, lottery winners can become lost souls.

Read More: http://www.grunge.com/82341/why-sucks-win-lottery/?utm_campaign=clip

The point is that winning a lottery does not gain as much in this world, at least not permanently. It may in fact be a stumbling block.

But God has given us a richness of life that surpasses financial riches. Proverbs tells us it is his blessing that makes us rich without the sorrow that oftentimes accompanies financial wealth.

Proverbs 10:22 ESV

The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

If you are a Christian, you have been given a wealth of blessing from God because we see that Paul adds this statement about blessings in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

Ephesians 1:

If we can turn this into an equation of sorts, we might say it this way:

If we have Jesus, we have every spiritual blessing.

If we have every spiritual blessing, we are rich.

So how has God made us a spiritual lottery winner you say? Well in many ways but Paul gives us a few specifics in the next few verses of our study in 1 Corinthians.

We are just getting started in the letter Paul writes and many pastors and scholars recognize this letter as a response to typical problems the early church was facing that might also reflect some of our own contemporary church struggles.

So our series through the letter is about Counsel for Contemporary Christians.

Last week we looked at our identity as believers and today we want to look at Paul’s encouragement to the Corinthians and his prayer of thankfulness.

Read along with me beginning in verse 4.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

1 Corinthians 1:4–9 ESV

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

One of the first things we notice in this letter as with some of his other letters is Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving for the recipients of his letter. He had a special appreciation to the Lord for these people and shared that with them.

1 Corinthians 1:4 ESV

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,

Paul was genuinely thankful that God had saved these people and they had a ministry in the city of Corinth. We might think he is exaggerating a bit here when he says ‘always’ but I imagine that he wants them to know that every time he thinks of them he gives God thanks for their faith.

How often to you give thanks to God for the people in your church here? Do you take time to thank God for just the people you like in the church or for even the ones that you don’t normally associate with (not because you don’t like them)? What about when they do things you don’t like?

Paul is about to chastise the Corinthians a little bit but he is indeed grateful for their faith and lets them know.

But then we get into the heart of the message and his intent of prayer: the grace of God that gives us blessing and a richness of life.

God’s grace gives us blessing and richness of life.

Here are 5 ways God enriches our lives.

How we talk

God has given us grace in how we speak to others.

How do you treat others with your speech?

Colossians 4:6 ESV

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Paul encourages us to be careful how we speak to one another. God has given us an example in Christ as to how we treat others with our words. We should be edifying each other.

The richness of Christ in our lives helps us speak positively toward others, using love as our guide.

What we know

Not only does God enrich our conversations with others but he enriches our knowledge. This doesn’t mean that we suddenly become the smartest person on the planet. Rather, God has given us confirmation of what we know about him and his creation through Jesus Christ.

Romans tells us the attributes of God are clearly seen in creation.

:

Romans 1:19 ESV

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

Romans 1:20 ESV

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Most people do not know how to make sense of the world apart from God’s revealing himself to them.

The fullness of our knowledge is not in the quantity of what we know but in the explanation of what we know. It’s not ‘how much’ but ‘why.’

All of the workings of the universe and the natural laws in the world are explained in who God is and why he has created these things.

Now Paul specifies even to the testimony about Christ because the Jews were hearing for years after Jesus’ death about who he was and how he changed things so they had a knowledge. Their faith and trust in Christ was enriched about God’s plan through him, namely the salvation of the lost.

Every once in a while I like to watch the program How It’s Made. It gives an explanation for things.

God, through Christ, has given us a “Why it’s made” concerning the world.

What we do

As God grants us blessing upon blessing in Christ Jesus, he has blessed us for a reason. We are called to a fellowship with other believers through a local church like this one. When we trust Christ, the Holy Spirit gives us at least one spiritual gift for the edification of others and building his kingdom.

Romans 12:4-

Romans 12:4–5 ESV

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Paul goes on to say that whatever gift we have, use it as God allows and has called you to do so.

1 Corinthians 1:7 ESV

so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

When Paul writes to the Corinthian church, remember that he is writing to the whole community of faith. So when he says as he does in verse 7, they are not lacking in any gift, it is again, not that one person has all the gifts, but that the community of believers have collectively all the gifts needed for accomplishing the task God has given them.

I’ve said it before and it bears repeating: we, like the Corinthians, have the gifts among our people here but some refuse to use their gifts. We cannot be a healthy church when some will not use their gifts for building up his church and kingdom.

Don’t be a stagnant christian; find out how God has gifted you and then use it.

How we endure

Another way God blesses us is by giving us endurance to finish what he has called us to.

1 Corinthians 1:8 ESV

who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He has promised to sustain us through every trial, every heartache, every persecution until he calls us home.

I read of a story of a military chaplain with the SBC who recently would not preside over a military relationship or marriage seminar because two lesbians wanted to participate. So he asked another person to preside over the sessions and he removed himself, all according to the Army’s policy. The Army decided he was discriminating against the two ladies instead of accommodating them. He is currently, as I recall, being investigated for possible punishment, for doing his job and holding his convictions.

God will sustain us through the hardest persecution and trials until we are present with the Lord.

What we hope for

Finally, God has blessed us with a hope for the reunion of saints in heaven with him. Paul mentions here that God is indeed faithful and will sustain us until the end.

1 Corinthians 1:9 ESV

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We don’t hope with anxiety or fear. We hope with trust and faith because God is faithful.

The blessing of eternal life is a promise God has given to each one who calls on the name of Jesus for salvation.

He will not abandon us or leave us to death and the grave but has promised through Christ our resurrection from the dead to everlasting life.