Sermon Tone Analysis

*Third, it is corporate.

*

Eleven times Paul makes mention of the church as a whole with the use of the plural pronoun “you.”

Paul is not addressing individual believers here.

He is rather addressing the church as a whole.

It is the entire assembly of called out ones who have been given the grace of God, enriched in every way, and are not lacking in any spiritual gift.

It is the entire assembly of called out ones who eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ, who God will keep strong to the end, so that they will be blameless, and who have been called into fellowship with Jesus Christ.

The implication of this is profound.

If we are “to know the fullness of God’s blessing, if we are to experience all the gifts of his grace which are ours in Christ, it has to be together in fellowship” (Prior, 24).

This is a fellowship that begins because of our

a)      Enriched – the second blessing of God’s holy calling

i)        What it means

(1)    “To cause to abound in something, make rich in spiritual blessings.”

ii)       Source

(1)    “in him” – the source of such enrichment is found in Jesus Christ.

(2)    “Christ and his work are the true wealth of the community” (TDNT, ploutizw).

(3)    We are enriched by close communion with Christ

(a)    Read John 15:1-8

(i)      No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine (v.4)

(ii)    You will bear much fruit in Christ (v.5)

(iii)   Apart from Christ you can do nothing (v.5)

(b)   Read Colossians 3:16-17

(i)      How you remain in Christ -

(ii)    Purpose of such enrichment –

(c)    Richly blessed

(i)      Romans 10:12 – “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.”

(d)   Unsearchable riches

(i)      Ephesians 3:8 – “Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

(e)   Glorious

(i)      Phil.

4:19 – “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

iii)     Scope

(1)    In Every Way

(a)    We are not enriched in just one or two ways, we are not enriched just a little bit, but we are enriched in every way.

There is not a single way in your life as a believer that you have not been enriched in Christ.

(b)   Application –

(i)      Riches to Paul are not about material wealth and prosperity; rather it is about the work of God in Christ.

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This is why I despise the health and wealth gospel that teaches if you have enough faith, God will give you great wealth and health.

Nonsense.

If you are in Christ, you are rich toward God! Great wealth and heath mean nothing withour being enriched in Christ and being rich toward God.

(ii)    Christ taught the same thing in Luke 12:16-21

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It is wonderful if God has materially blessed with great possessions and affluences, but that is nothing if you are not rich toward God.

(iii)   We are made spiritually rich in Christ.

This speaks volumes for Scripture is emphatic that before being made spiritually rich in Christ, we were spiritually broken, destitute, and empty.

Yet because of the grace of God given in Christ Jesus, we have now been enriched in Christ.

Let me draw an application here.

John D. Rockefeller's three simple rules for anyone who wants to become rich: 1. Go to work early.

2. Stay at work late.

3. Find oil.

All over the world, people are striving after the riches of this world thinking that will make their lives full of purpose.

All the while, we who are in Christ are made rich not because of anything we did, but because of God’s great grace and mercy.

Indeed, God, who is rich in mercy and grace, has made us rich in every way.

“You say, how am I rich?

I have little money, hardly any possessions, no car, I rent a house, etc.

I am not rich, I am poor.

Here is the beauty of the gospel.

You are made rich in Christ.

You may not have much money, have hardly any possessions, have a car, or own a house but you possess Jesus Christ, the creator and sustainer of the universe, the author and finisher of your faith, whose riches are unsearchable and glorious.

In Christ, we have the hope of eternal life in Christ.

In Christ we are made rich by God.

How much greater this is than any car or house, or possession you could ever have?

What earthly possession could satisfy you more than this?

What earthly possession compares at all to this? Christ is appointed heir of all things, and we are co-heirs with him.

Behold then the rich mercy and grace of God who has bestowed such a wonderful gift to us, that we should be called children of God!

You have been made rich in Christ!

The fleeting, tarnished, corruptible riches of this world pale to the timeless, eternal, priceless, unsearchable riches of Christ that is ours because of God’s great grace and mercy.

Do not put your hope in the riches of this world, but put your hope in God who richly provides us with everything we need in Christ Jesus.

Patrick Henry said,  “I have now disposed of all my property to my family.

There is one thing more I wish I could give them and that is faith in Jesus Christ.

If they had that and I had not given them a single shilling, they would have been rich; and if they had not that, and I had given them all the world, they would be poor indeed.”

- Patrick Henry “In giving us his Son Jesus, God has given us all he has; he can give us no more; we have everything in him” (Prior, 24).

Let me make a second connection here.

Remember, we noticed how Paul has emphasized the corporate nature of the church and pointed out If we are “to know the fullness of God’s blessing, if we are to experience all the gifts of his grace which are ours in Christ, it has to be together in fellowship” (Prior, 24).

This makes clear that we come to know just how mysterious, deep, and glorious the riches of Christ are as we come together in fellowship in Christ.

The deeper the fellowship, the deeper we come to know Christ.

This serves to demonstrate how crucial it is for you and me to be here in fellowship with each other and not to skip out and church hop.

I do not, and God does not, want you here just to fill up the seats.

I want you here, and God wants you here, not to fill seats, but because we are all one in Christ, and we are all enriched with each other’s presence.

When you are not here, you cannot experience just how deep, and mysterious, and glorious the riches of Christ are and neither can we.

We need each other in this way.

We are interdependent upon each other in this manner.

Scripture knows nothing of Christianity in isolation.

It knows nothing of believers who “go it alone” and are rugged individualists.

Scripture is emphatic that we are all members of the body of Christ, each put there by God, each dependent upon each other and the head, which is Christ.

“Believers learn what Christ-likeness is by observing it in fellow Christians.

We see the love of Christ reflected in the lives of our fellow believers; we are enriched by Christ through our contact with them; we hear Christ speaking to us through them.

Believers are inspired by the example of their fellow Christians, sustained by their prayers, corrected by their loving admonitions, and encouraged by their support” (Hoekema, 89, Gods Image).

It is here, as a church united in the name of Christ, that we are enriched.

Please then commit yourselves to being an active participant in this body for your own spiritual enrichment and for ours.

If your passion is to live a holy life, honor God in everything, as well it should be, there is no better place and no better way to do it than here in the fellowship of like brothers and sisters in Christ.

(2)    Word and Knowledge

(a)    With the mentioning of “word” and “knowledge” Paul then focuses on two areas in which the believers at Corinth were made rich in Christ.

(b)   These two words are making reference to spiritual gifts, not every day, natural speech and knowledge.

(i)      “Word” makes reference to all gifts and ministry involving speech, including but not limited to, tongues, prophecy, preaching, teaching, exhortation and evangelism.

(ii)    The word “knowledge” makes reference to all gifts and ministry involving knowledge, including but not limited to, a gift of special knowledge and prophetic revelation.

(c)    Paul singles out these two in particular for two reasons.

(i)      First, he points them out due to the Corinthians great enrichment in them.

Most of chapter 8 is concerned with this special knowledge, and chapters 12-14 discusses, along with many other gifts, both knowledge and speech.

In fact, Paul talks more about the gift of knowledge in this book more than any other book in the NT.

The believers at Corinth were greatly blessed in this area.

1.       2 Corinthians 8:7 – “But just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.”