Grace Given to the Weak
September 8, 2024
Preached by Ron Smith
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Today we begin our series of 1 Corinthians. We have titled it: The Wisdom and Power of God: How the Crucified Christ Shepherds a Fractured Flock. Of course, there are reasons for the words chosen in that title that I hope will become clear as we move through this series.
When we first started preparing for this series, I honestly didn’t know what to think. We were going through Jeremiah which is a pretty hard book in terms of lots of judgement, and 1 Corinthians is a hard book as well in the sense of there’s a lot of rebuke and correction that Paul is doing here. But as I got more into it, I realized that just like we saw in Jeremiah, there is more than correction going on. There are lots of themes he touches on. And so, it leaves us with a rich resource of how the church is to function and how we are to live our lives as Christians in this world. In this letter we find a discussion of how God’s wisdom is foolishness to the world, there are issues dealing with church discipline, there is instruction on missions (“I have become all things to all people” 9:22), there are instructions on the partaking of the Lord’s Supper (we read every time we have the Lord’s Supper), there is the famous chapter on love, there is a long discussion on the spiritual gifts, there is an entire chapter on the resurrection, and we even find the most succinct statement of the gospel: Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
I hope that in some way excites you for what lies ahead.
There is an age-old question that Christians have wrestled with through the centuries. That is, how do we engage the culture around us when that culture stands against the Biblical principles we hold so dear? How do we engage? To what degree can the church use the things of the world?
Thinking about more recent times, meaning the lifetime of some of you in the room, we can think of the issue of rather or not drums should be used in the church. Why bring rock-n-roll into the church? Or think of the advent of the internet. How does the church respond? Do we embrace it? Do we reject it? Of course, both of those issues or not even issues today. So, what about Chat GPT? How do we engage with technology in general? What about LGBTQ+ movement? Abortion? Poverty? Racism? Politics? How do we engage with these things? To what degree do we allow the things of the world enter the church?
Well, as we start our series on 1 Corinthians, what see is the struggle this church was having in answering these questions. It wasn’t going so well. To be blunt, they were failing. Most of this letter we will find Paul correcting them in some way. They were caught in the pressure between the cross and the world and they were cracking and became fractured. How do we avoid that happening to us? What is it that we cling to as we navigate the challenges we face in the world that will take us in the right direction? We need something firm, something solid, to grasp hold of, or even better – something to grasp hold of us so that we do not crack or fracture.
Paul starts off this letter letting us know what that something is. Let’s turn our attention to the first nine verse of 1 Corinthians. What I would like to do with you this morning is to break it up into 2 chunks. The first chunk, verses 1-3 we will see a church caught in the cross pressure between faith and the world. And then we will look at verses 4-9, a church captured by the grace of God.
A Church Caught in the Cross Pressure between Faith and the World (1-3)
What I would like to do is use these verses of greeting as a way to introduce us to this letter that will help us get a sense of the pressure this church was feeling. We’ll get to that pressure in a minute, but first let’s look at Verse 1 again: Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
We see right off the bat that Paul is the author of this letter. And as he usually does, he identifies himself as an apostle. One who has been set apart by God to serve the church in a foundational way. The effect of Paul referring to himself as an apostle is that it sets up his authority to speak in a unique way into the situation the church finds itself in. Imagine walking past a group of people arguing. It is so bad you try to intervene. But there is one question they have for, “who are you? Why should we listen to you? Mind your own business.” If you are simply a concerned citizen, you might see it wise to shut up and keep on moving down the road. But if you are an undercover police officer, you will show your badge. You’ll establish your authority. In a way that is what Paul subtly does here.
Of course, this is not an authority that he claims in some sort of power grab, but it rests in Jesus – he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And being an apostle is something he has been called to. This role was not something he was seeking out; it is not something he would even say that he was worthy of. But despite this, God called him. And this calling was by the will of God. This is something that God has orchestrated. It originates with him.
We may be tempted to skip over these words like we skip over a genealogy, because they are simply words associated with a normal greeting. But with these few words we see God’s positioning of Paul to be used to shepherd his flock. Our eyes are taken off Paul and lifted up to the One who has called him.
So, Paul is the author and as is his custom, he quickly names the people he is writing to. In this case it is the church of God that is in Corinth. Before we talk about the church, let’s explore Corinth a bit.
Ancient Corinth was situated in Greece along the coast. It was well positioned for trade – both land and sea routes went through the city. This made the city busy with business and helped it to flourish economically. The population was cosmopolitan being made up of Romans, Jews, and Orientals. All of these things made the city strategic for the spread of the gospel.
But unfortunately, they also set up various roadblocks to the gospel as well. Idolatry flourished being intermingled with official state functions. Citizens were expected to participate in various festivals to these gods in order to prosper. Often times this meant practicing immoral behavior. It was a city known for its lack of moral constraint. Being such an important prosperous city and the capital of the province, it attracted all kinds of people. One such group were professional orators. These folks would show up in the city, organize an event, charge for tickets, then wow people with their fancy eloquent words. They would often give advice for how to live life. I suppose we could think the TED talks we have today. Not necessarily wrong, but not pointing people to Christ either.
In this context there is a church to whom Paul is addressing this letter. This church needs to live out their faith in the midst of all of it. Paul planted this church on his second missionary journey that you can read about it in Acts 18. He spent 18 months there laboring alongside Aquilla, Priscilla, Silas and Timothy. It appears that two rulers of the synagogue became followers of Christ. One is named Crispus, who will be named in the verses we look at next week, and the other Sosthenes, who is named as a coauthor of this book.
There is a glorious start to this church, but something has happened. It has not matured the way it should have. As we read this letter, we realize that the pressures this young church was facing was more than it could handle. The immorality of the culture they lived in was seeping into the church. The one upmanship that marked this economically charged city was raising its ugly head among them. There was a fascination with these golden tongue orators who came to town, more eloquent than Paul. The church was looking more worldly than churchly. They were really into, it would seem, the glitz and the glamour and yet at the same time wanting to hold on to their Christian faith.
Don’t we as a local church and part of the broader evangelical church feel this pressure too? How do we live out our faith in an immoral culture; in a culture where money is worshiped, and we struggle to keep up with the Jones’; in a culture where communication seeks to be so persuasive in 1 minute slick video clips, and “fake news” abounds? Do these things seep into the church today?
The result for the church at Corinth was a cracked and fractured church – fractured in many ways. They had a weak theology, a disregard for holiness, and a congregation divided. They were failing. This explains the wide variety of topics that Paul addresses – there were just many problems.
Let this serve as a warning for the church today. Anytime we begin to accommodate the things of the world that are not in line with the gospel, it destroys the church from within. So, as we go through this letter looking at the various topics Paul address, we should examine ourselves to see if there is just even a seed of these things and get rid of it if it is. Next week we will see the division that was in the church and while we might not be divided like that, we should always ask ourselves if there is division on a small scale so that it doesn’t become something much worse.
The good news is that where we get the strength to not crack under the pressure is very clear as Paul will point us to the gospel on every page.
A Church Captured by the Grace of God (4-9)
With that, let’s turn our attention now to verses 4-9 and see a church captured by the grace of God. Before Paul begins to address the issues that he needs to correct, he starts off stating why he is thankful for them. Look at verse 4 again, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus. Paul is thankful not because of the great things they have done or because they are really special people. He thanks the Lord because they have been given grace. God has shown them favor. God has done something for them they could not do for themselves. They didn’t deserve it, but God gave them grace anyway. It was given to them by God in Christ Jesus. At the beginning of this letter Paul wants the Corinthians to get their eyes off themselves, off the culture, and onto Jesus. 9 times in 9 verses Jesus is mentioned. 6 times God is mentioned.
If the Corinthians are going to turn the ship around, they are going to need to remember the grace they have received in Jesus. That grace they received - the gospel – the good news that Jesus died for their sin, was buried, and was raised again. These people that Paul is writing to are Christians. Now, remember that as we go through this study because we are going to be getting to some verses that are going to be make you wonder if they were saved. But they are. He calls them a church in verse 2, he calls them sanctified in Christ Jesus, he links them to all the other churches ‘in every place’ who call upon the name of Jesus. They have received God’s grace.
And I would add that this very letter, 1 Corinthians, is a letter of grace to the church at Corinth. They are not doing well. And God, through Paul, through this letter seeks to lovingly shepherd them, to bring them back to the right path.
Paul is thankful because they have been given grace. And this grace has a past, present, and future aspect to it. Grace does not stop working when you believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. It continues to work in the life of the believer until Christ returns.
Notice the past aspect in verse 5. Paul says, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge. God’s grace enriched them. And it enriched in two areas: speech (speaking what is true) and knowledge (understanding what is true). What is interesting is that they are also the two areas that we will see that the Corinthians struggle with. Paul will say in 8:2 that knowledge puffs up. In the love chapter, 13, he makes the point that you could have all knowledge and all prophecies, but you if you don’t have love, you have nothing. What am I trying to say with this? You have probably heard the expression “our biggest strength can also be our biggest weakness”. That seems to be the case with the church at Corinth. They were a little arrogant with regard to their knowledge and speaking gifts, and Paul will have to correct them. However, here in our verses for today, he is genuinely thankful that they have these gifts. They come from God. They are a fruit of the grace they received.
Then we see the present aspect of grace in verse 7. The enriching work of grace is so complete, that he says “you are not lacking in any gift.” That is the abundance of grace that we find in Christ. He lavishes it upon us whatever we need to live for him until he comes back. That means in whatever situation, in whatever context we find ourselves living in, his grace enriches so completely that we don’t lack what we need. Maybe you find yourself thinking “I just can’t. I can’t keep going on. It’s too hard.” You are surrounded by people who don’t support your commitment to Jesus - family, friends, colleagues. Maybe at school, you are the only believer, and people are always putting pressure on you to conform to the world. We must remember that while we can’t, God can. His grace is sufficient. Paul knows this from personal experience. When he was planting the church at Corinth, he faced a lot of opposition. People reviled him, attacked him. And in the midst of that God spoke a personal message to Paul that we have recorded in Acts 18:9, And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” This is a physical pressure that Paul was feeling. But God encourages hm to keep on going. God will complete the work that he called Paul to do. That’s grace!
This work of grace in the life of the believer has a future aspect as well. At the end of verse 7 and verse 8, Paul brings in the return of Christ. 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. The effect God’s grace has on the life of the believer is to be kept guiltless in the day Jesus returns. That is a day of judgement. You want to be found guiltless on that day. And the only way is by God’s grace. God will sustain you. That word sustain that Paul uses here means ‘to put something beyond doubt.’ You could also say confirm, establish, strengthen. This a strong word. If you are resting in God’s grace, there is no need to worry when Jesus returns.
That is grace – past, present, and future. And the good news is that it doesn’t depend on us. It depends on God. And he is a sure foundation. Verse 9, God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. He is faithful, he won’t let us down. We are in fellowship with Jesus. By God’s grace we are freed from sin and brought into a relationship with him.
An underlying message through these verses is that the same grace that saved them will keep them all the way until the end. We never outgrow our need of grace. Grace will never let us down. Cling to it! Don’t let go! Or better yet, let it take hold of you! Grace is given in abundance to the weak, wounded and wayward.
To the believer: rest in God’s grace. He has enriched you with every with everything you need so that you are not lacking anything and will be prepared for the day of Christ. Lift your eyes off of yourself, off the culture and world around you, and look to Jesus. I don’t know what that would look like for you, but I can almost guarantee it involves spending more time with the Lord.
If you are here and not a believer and feel the struggle of trying to make it through life and the pressure that this world and our culture puts on us to conform to ways that are not natural, and you just want something solid to hold onto, grasp hold of Jesus today. Let go of all the things that are pressuring you to try and live life without him. He is a wonderful Shepherd. Just look at how he is pursuing a fractured flock like the Corinthians were. That is love.
Sermon Discussion Questions
What do you know about 1 Corinthians? What are some favorite verses in this letter?
Why should we study 1 Corinthians if we are not a church that is that bad off?
How does grace help us to answer the question of how the church should engage the culture? How does it prevent us from accommodating worldly ways?
How might Paul’s thanksgiving for the Corinthians help us respond to Christians who are not walking in line with the gospel?
What are the pressures we face today? How should we respond?
How do you rest in grace?