Gratitude for God’s Grace

Transcript

GR 1294
05-15-05
Gratitude for God’s Grace
I Corinthians 1:4-9
Gil Rugh

We’re looking into the book of I Corinthians together in our study, and we’ve really just begun the study of the book. We’ve looked through the first three verses. The first three verses comprise the first section of the introduction to the book. And letters of that time, of all kinds, not just what are found in the Bible but non-religious letters, they followed the same pattern, just like our letters do. Basically the letters we write follow a similar pattern, no matter what the subject matter. And Paul has dealt with what we call the salutation in the first three verses. And there he mentioned who he is as the writer, those that he is writing to. And then he gave a word of greeting in verse 3. So Paul the Apostle is writing to the church of God which is at Corinth, and he sends greetings. Grace and peace to you from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second part of the introduction is what is called usually a thanksgiving. And in secular letters it would include maybe a note of thanks that the author writes about something that has happened to him, some personal notes regarding himself, as well as those he is writing to. And in verses 4-9 of chapter 1 we have the thanksgiving portion of Paul’s letter. He doesn’t talk about himself in this portion of the letter, but he does focus attention on what he is thankful for in the lives of those that he is writing to.

This thanksgiving is part of almost all of Paul’s letters. I believe there may be two of them that don’t include this aspect. In I Corinthians the thanks that Paul offers is longer and more extensive than is normal for him. And that’s surprising when you consider the character of the letter to the Corinthians. Paul wrote two letters to the Corinthians that we have in our Bibles—I and II Corinthians. There is a lot of material there. This is a church that is a problem for Paul. There are problems in the church; there are problems between Paul and the church. There are some in the church at Corinth who don’t even want to recognize Paul as an apostle who has authority in the ministry of the church. In fact usually when we think of the church at Corinth we think of what? Problems, trouble. But you know when you think of the church at Corinth you should think of the church that is most fully set out for us in detail so that we should know what we should do and shouldn’t do. And it is a glorious church. One thing Paul will do in these verses where he focuses on his thanks to God for them, he will remind them and us of what a mighty work of grace God has done in creating His church. For remember, according to verse 2, this is the church of God, the church that belongs to God. It’s the church according to Ephesians which He purchased with His own blood. For the church is made up of all those who have come to understand their sin and sinful condition, and turned from their sin to place their faith in Christ as their Savior. Those people come to belong to God through faith in Christ. They comprise the church. And the local church at Corinth is that assembly of God’s people meeting in Corinth. And the grace of God has worked mightily in the church at Corinth, as it works in every church. And the grace of God will be encompassing. He’ll deal with what has been demonstrated in the past in God’s grace, the present manifestation of God’s grace and the culminating impact of God’s grace when we are presented in the very presence of God’s glory as those who are without blame, beyond reproach.

Verse 4 begins this thanksgiving section, and verses 4-8 form one long sentence as Paul wrote it in the Greek text. We sometimes talk about having to simplify our communication, because we as preachers are told we have to simplify things. Speak in simple sentences because people aren’t used to complicated expressions today. So think about it in Paul’s day. They didn’t have the advantages we have, of the books available and so on. And here Paul writes to them in these long, complicated sentences. And they didn’t have their own Bible to follow along, they just had to sit there and listen while the person up front read to them this letter. And you’re trying to follow a sentence that starts in verse 4 and goes to verse 8. Now what was the subject of that sentence? Where was the verb in that sentence? Did you get what he was saying today? I can imagine people in the church at Corinth raising their hands and saying, would you read that again? And they’d say, we’ll never get through this letter if I keep rereading everything. We are blessed to have this Bible in our own hands. You look at as I teach it to you; you have it to take home with you and sit down and look at it. How blest we are with the Word of God.

The word governing this entire thanksgiving section is, as you might think, I thank my God, and there’s the verb I thank, I give thanks. This is what he is doing. And his thanks to God focuses on the grace that God has manifested in the church at Corinth. But before we see the problems and trouble in Corinth, we want to see the church at Corinth as a marvelous work of God’s grace, a work in progress, but a work that God guarantees will be effective. He has secured it to its appointed end.

So we start in verse 4 of chapter 1, I thank my God always concerning you. His thanks is not directed to the Corinthians. He doesn’t focus attention here on something he is thankful for that the Corinthians have done, but he is thankful to God for what God has done in the Corinthians’ lives. And this thanks is offered always. I thank my God always concerning you. That doesn’t mean that’s all that Paul every prayed about, the Corinthians, but what he does say is every time he prays for the Corinthians he included this element of thanks to God for His work in the Corinthians’ lives. I thank my God always. Every time he prayed he expressed thanks to God for the Corinthians. What a great reminder. You know there are problems that have to be dealt with in the church at Corinth. But you know a good thing for us to remember, when we pray for each other individually, when we pray for our church, it is good to start out our prayers by reminding ourselves of what we are thankful about in this person’s life, in this church’s life. What has God done here that we want to thank Him for? And that will put everything else in proper perspective.

I imagine this was a great encouragement to hear Paul start out like this. This letter is read to the Corinthians and to start out they hear Paul, who has written, I thank my God always concerning you. What an encouragement, what a blessing to know that Paul expresses regularly his thanks to God for us. The particular area that he is thankful for is for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. God’s grace, the grace of God. This is the church of God, according to verse 2, so naturally is has been the recipient of the grace of God. Grace by definition is something that is undeserved, unearned, unmerited. It refers to our salvation in all of its parts, it is by grace. Ephesians 2:8-9, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that salvation is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God. Not of works so that no one can boast. Paul reminded the Romans in Romans 11:6, if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. You understand, and this is an error that most people in the world fall into, most religious systems and practices—Protestant, Catholic and otherwise fall into the error of thinking salvation happens as a combination of what God does and what I do. But that means you are trying to mix your works with God’s grace and God says then it would no longer be grace. Because as soon as you put a little bit of your works in you have corrupted grace so that it is no longer grace. So when God says we are saved by grace through faith; that means it is all of His doing. All we do is receive what God gives us by faith, by believing that what He says is true, that we are sinners and that His Son has died for us to pay the penalty for our sin. We believe that He is our only hope, our only Savior, and we trust Him alone.

Now they initially experienced this grace when they trusted Christ as their Savior. That’s when we enter into the saving grace of God. You’ll note, I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you. Aorist, passive tense. Aorist tense in Greek usually refers to something that happened in the past. The passive voice refers to something that happened to you. The grace of God was given you at some time in the past. In Christ Jesus, and that tells us when this happened. When they placed their faith in Christ it was the grace of God at work that brought them to that salvation, that brought them into Christ. That is present; we’ll talk about that a little bit later. So he carries them back to, if you will, when they heard the gospel from him and responded in faith and were saved. And it’s I thank God for the grace that He gave you, which enabled them to become the church of God in Corinth. And that grace is only given in Christ Jesus.

Emphasis in these opening verses, really through the first ten verses, Jesus Christ is named by name in nine of the first ten verses—Christ, Christ Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ—nine of the first ten verses. The only verse that doesn’t name Him by name is verse 5, and it refers to Him with the pronoun, in Him or in Whom. So this is all about Jesus Christ, because when you talk about the grace of God you have to talk about Jesus Christ the Son of God. In the Gospel of John chapter 1 John wrote, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. God’s grace to bring salvation to fallen, sinful human beings came through the provision of His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin.

Now God’s grace not only includes our initial salvation or the initial aspect of our salvation. We often refer to it as justification where we believe in Christ and God cleanses us from our sin and declares us righteous in Christ. It includes the present aspect of our salvation that we often refer to as sanctification, or progressive sanctification. We talked about this word in a previous study where God has set us apart for Himself and He is in the process of maturing us, which means He is making us more and more like Himself in our character in preparation for the ultimate end of our salvation, which is glorification, when we will be presented before the presence of His glorious throne as those perfected in His Son, Jesus Christ.

So I thank my God for the grace which was given you in Christ. And he goes on in verse 5 to say that in everything you were enriched in Him. Now it’s true, according to II Peter 1, maybe you should turn to II Peter, I don’t like to read too many of these verses for you because then you don’t get to see them in your Bible. II Peter, all the way toward the back of your New Testament. II Peter 1:2, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. You see that’s when we enter in to the grace and peace that God bestows on us, in Christ Jesus. Note verse 3, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. That emphasis on God calling us will come out in Corinthians in a moment. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises. You see what we have in God’s grace? He has granted to us everything we need for a life pleasing to Him, for a life of godliness.

So when he says in I Corinthians 1:5, that in everything you were enriched in Him, it is true: we have been enriched in everything in every way. But Paul’s concern in this section is not primarily on the initial part of our salvation, we would call justification, but it’s on what God has done in providing for us in our salvation the gifts of the Holy Spirit to enable us to function as we should as His church in these days. So in everything you were enriched in Him, down in verse 7 he says, so that you are not lacking in any gift. And the real area of our enrichment that he is going to focus on here, and the real area of His grace as manifested in us, is in the gifts that have been bestowed to enable us to function under the control of the Spirit for His glory and the maturing of the church of Jesus Christ.

In everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge. He pulls out two gifts or two categories of gifts here—speech and knowledge. These will be developed more fully along with the other gifts in I Corinthians 12-14, where he goes into an extensive discussion of the gifts. In this area, the whole introduction, the first nine verses of chapter 1, Paul covers things that will be unfolded through the rest of the letter. And that’s true on the matter of the gifts,. They will get detailed attention later in the letter. There is more detail on the gifts in I Corinthians 12-14 than in any other portion of the New Testament. Here he just pulls out the areas of speech and knowledge, because for the Greeks, and Corinth is a Greek city, remember, this was a great area for them. In Greece rhetoric was important. Remember later as Paul will write to the Corinthians, he’ll refer to the accusation of some that Paul was a very poor speaker, contemptible in his speech. Because the Greeks held in admiration those eloquent, fluent speakers. And wisdom and knowledge, the Greeks love wisdom, he’ll talk about in chapter 1.

Now these areas of gifts become a problem for the Corinthians, because they failed to keep in their mind that when God gifted them in the areas of speech and knowledge, that was His grace. It was not to elevate them or their own self esteem and self pride, but to be used for the glory of God. And these gifts will become a cause of division in the church, as is often the case. The grace of God brings blessings, and even some of those blessings are things that the world looks at in some form or another and pretty soon we begin to adapt to the world’s thinking and begin to corrupt the grace of God in functioning with it in a worldly way. So the Corinthians have been enriched in all speech and all knowledge. The problem wasn’t with the gifts that were given, nor the grace that bestowed the gifts. The problem will be that the Corinthians didn’t always function as God’s grace had provided for them in the way that they should.

You are enriched in Him in all things. Verse 6, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. The testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. Now in verse 4 the grace of God was given you. There it is passive, referring to something that happened to them in the past. You were enriched in Him, aorist passive. Something that happened to them in the past. Verse 6, the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. All three of those statements refer to what happened to them at a time in the past. They entered into God’s grace and became the recipients of God’s grace, if you will, when they placed their faith in Christ. And their faith in Christ was a result of that grace. And when they entered into a relationship with Christ through faith, the Spirit of God entered into them so that they were enriched in everything. And particularly when the Spirit came to dwell in them, as Paul will develop in I Corinthians 12, He manifested His presence by giving them these special abilities to function in a proper way as members of the church, the body of Christ. When he says the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed, was established, was guaranteed in you or among you, he’s referring to the fact when Paul came to Corinth and he preached the gospel, the good news concerning Jesus Christ as the Savior, that was confirmed among the Corinthians, both in the gifts that Paul demonstrated that validated his apostleship, and those gifts that were communicated through him and his ministry in them. So that they gave evidence of God’s saving work in their lives through the gifts that the Spirit now produced in that church. That word confirmed was used early in secular Greek of contrast that was guaranteed. God guaranteed or authenticated Paul’s ministry of the gospel with the gifts that accompanied his ministry, the gifts that were still evident and manifest in the church at Corinth, which demonstrated the power of God’s saving gospel in transforming them and making them part of the body of Christ.

Listen to Hebrews 2. There the writer of Hebrews says that those who received the Word of God from God had that confirmed, and there is our word, Hebrews 2:3. This was confirmed unto us by them that heard the Lord. God also bearing them witness with signs and wonders and miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His will. So the truth of the testimony of Christ was confirmed by these gifts of the Spirit. That happened when Paul came to preach the gospel. So these first three verses focus on what happened to them in the past, and of course what happened in the past is to affect our lives in the present, because it is inseparably tied to the goal or end that God has established for those that enter into a relationship with His Son. We say even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you so that, verse 7, you are not lacking in any gift. If in verse 5, you were in everything enriched in Him, that means you are not lacking in any gift. We’re saying the same thing, one is a positive way of saying it—you were enriched in Him in everything. To say that negatively—you are not lacking in anything. Because if you are enriched in everything, you are not lacking in anything. In other words, this church has all the gifts necessary to be and to do all God intends. It is complete. When God gifted the church at Corinth, He provided for them everything necessary for them to be everything He wanted them to be as his church at Corinth and to do everything He wanted them to do as His church at Corinth. That doesn’t mean they had every gift in and of itself, because as far as we know there was no resident apostle present at Corinth. Paul functions with apostolic oversight to the church at Corinth. Apostolic truth is studied at the church at Corinth as Paul writes his letters. But they had every gift they needed to be everything God intended them to be as a church.

The word gift, we talked about the word grace. Verse 4, I thank my God always for you concerning the grace of God which was given to you. The word for grace is charis. The word for gifts is charismatic. You can see it’s the word grace with an ending on it. We talk about charismatic gifts today. Charismatic gifts are gifts of God’s grace, the special enablements of the Holy Spirit given to each part of the body. So each part, when a person trusts Christ they are placed in the body of Christ. This special enablement of the Spirit enables them to function in the way that God intends them to function as the body so that the church of God in this place will be complete. Now note the church of God at Corinth is complete. It’s not lacking in any gift; it is rich in everything. I say that because remember back when we talked about the church of God which is at Corinth, it’s not just part of the church of God which is at Corinth, it is the church of God which is at Corinth. It doesn’t need to join with the church at Thessalonica or the church at Philippi, other churches in Greece so that it can be a complete church. God has provided for His church wherever He establishes it to be a complete entity. So it has within itself the ability to function in such a way that it can develop and grow to maturity. We’ll talk more about the details of that when we get to the doctrine of the spiritual gifts in chapters 12-14.

But crucial here, we see this church at Corinth, a church with all of its problems, all of its shortcomings, it is a church that is an abundant testimony to the grace of God. When Paul thought of the church at Corinth, the first thing he thought about was not problems; the first thing he thought about was grace, what God has done in His grace in and to and for these people. That’s why it’s so serious that they are not being what God intends them to be. His grace has provided the sufficiency.

Now it’s interesting in verse 7. He immediately carries us to the end, the future. Look at verse 7, so that you are not lacking in any gift. That’s their present situation and condition. You might think he’d go on to talk about that present condition and situation, but he doesn’t. He says you are awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. So presently they are not lacking in any gift and they are a people with an eager anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ, eager anticipation, eagerly awaiting. A good translation of the word. Denotes an eagerness, an expectancy as they are looking for and anticipating the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the apocalypse of our Lord Jesus Christ. We think of the book of the Revelation, which is the apocalypse, because that is the Greek word translated revelation. An apocalypse is a revelation, an unveiling. And the church as the recipient of the grace of God, as the people of God living in that grace are eagerly expecting the unveiling of Jesus Christ, when we will be called into His presence and we shall see Him as He is. I John 3 says we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And that’s what he’s going to talk about.

Now he’s talked quite a bit about what happened in the past, and the grace of God was given to them; they were enriched, the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed. So that, presently, they are not lacking and presently they are eagerly anticipating the return of Christ. And now he wants to say something about that unveiling of Christ when Christ will return. Verse 8, the revelation of Jesus Christ brings us to that one who will also confirm you to the end, that confirmation that for them, on the human level, started when they heard and believed the gospel. Remember verse 5? That in everything you were enriched in Him in all speech and knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. That settled guarantee and assurance. Now we’re told of a future assurance and guarantee, that Jesus Christ, the One who will be unveiled will also confirm you to the end, guarantee, assure your security to the end. And the end is the revelation of Jesus Christ. He explains it. What does that mean? That we will be confirmed, secured, guaranteed until the end. That means we will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remarkable. The work of God’s grace that began in the Corinthians’ lives, when they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and believed it, will continue and is continuing as Paul writes, you are not lacking in any gift. But the focal point is not the now, the focal point is the anticipation. We are living for the time when we will be called into the presence of Christ and He will be unveiled as He is before us. And I am guaranteed, secured unto that end. That means that when that day occurs I will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Greek dictionary has this definition of the word blameless: it implies not merely acquittal, but the absence of even a charge or accusation against the person. Now that means I am not there as someone who could be demonstrated to have been acquitted. I am there as one against whom there can be no charges brought. Back up to Romans 8. Tremendous section, God’s ongoing work on behalf of those that He saves. Verse 28, we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. So He calls us, we’ll see that again in a moment, in the past, and he’s assured our future. And His present work is causing all things to work together for good. Come down to verse 31, what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Verse 33, who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. The word justifies means to declare righteous. Now that’s what it means when I stand in the presence of Christ, in the fullness of His glory, before the throne of His Father in heaven, there will be no charges brought against me. Who will bring a charge against me? God has declared me righteous. Someone going to overrule God? Will they say, you’re wrong, I have a charge against him? No. Who brings a charge against God’s elect? He is the ultimate judge, the final judge, the only One whose judgment counts. And in Christ He has declared me righteous. So I, in Christ, am confirmed, guaranteed, secured to the end. I will be blameless, unchargeable in the day of Christ.

Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, rather He was raised, who is at the right hand of God who intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? You understand this is only in Christ. There are an overwhelming number of people who will stand condemned one day in the presence of Christ, charged and condemned at the Great White Throne, in Revelation 20. Because it is only those who have entered into a relationship with Christ through faith, so that the death of Christ is applied to them personally. Christ died for me, and now through faith I have been cleansed by Him. Who can condemn? Christ died for me. He died for me. He paid the penalty for my sin. God says that satisfied the demands of His holiness. He declares me righteous. That settles it. I will be blameless in that day.

Philippians 1:6 says, He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. He began a good work in me when I heard the gospel and believed it, and His grace began that saving work in my life which continues on now. He will continue that work until He’s done with it. That’s why Paul is confident about the Corinthians. They have a lot of problems; they have failed to be what they ought to be in a number of areas. Paul’s confidence is not in the Corinthians, in their faithfulness and their abilities. His confidence is in the God who saved them by His grace, who is working in them on the basis of His grace, and because of His grace has guaranteed that His salvation will be complete. You understand when we enter into the grace of God in salvation through faith in Christ, that’s the beginning of a life of grace. It’s not like well here is a package, grace. All right now we just go on and struggle on, now here we hit another time of grace in our life. No you understand, we enter into the grace of God and that grace encompasses our salvation. Salvation really has three dimensions—our justification, initial faith, we are declared righteous; our sanctification, that ongoing work of progressive sanctification in preparing us for glory; and then glorification. That’s why we are secure in Christ, because it is His work from beginning to end, and it is a work of His grace, not our works. Our works are a result of His grace, not something we can do to earn His grace. Because if we earned His grace it would not be grace, because grace by definition is unearned, unworked for. It is His grace, that’s why He gets all the glory. His grace has done it all.

Come back to I Corinthians 1. Did you ever think about that? Any wonder Paul is so grateful and thankful for the Corinthians? Here were a group of wretched, vile sinners who had heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and they had marvelously, by the grace of God, placed their faith in Christ. And the grace of God had done a work of salvation in their lives. And they had the gifts of the Spirit that evidenced His work. And Paul had the full confidence, that you will be blameless. This church that we think of as guilty of so many things, that he will have to rebuke for so many things, when they stand in the presence of Almighty God in glory on that day, the day of Christ Jesus, they will be unchargeable, blameless. That’s what Paul thought about first when he thought about the church of Corinth—a work of God’s grace.

Look at verse 9, Verse 9 summarizes what has been said in verses 4-8. God is faithful. That says it all. Even if we are unfaithful, He is faithful, He cannot deny Himself. He is who He is. And God is faithful. The emphasis in this sentence is on faithful. The Greeks, when they wanted to put emphasis, they could rearrange the wording in their sentence. So when they wanted to put emphasis on a word sometimes they would just put that word first in the sentence. You know what the first word in this Greek sentence is? Faithful, faithful is God. Faithful is God. So we talk about the grace of God. I know they trusted Christ, I know they have faith, but I wonder if they’ll make it? Well what’s to wonder? Is God faithful? Oh yes I know God is faithful, but I don’t have near the confidence in them. Well then get your confidence off them and in God. Paul doesn’t say I have confidence in your faithfulness. He that is faithful is God. That’s why this is all going to happen, He’s operating in grace. God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son. There is that word called again. In verse 1 Paul was a called apostle; in verse 2 the church at Corinth was made up of called saints. Now here he says God is faithful through whom you were called. God is the one through whom the call comes. There is what we talk about as the effectual call, the call that is always effective, that always results in salvation. Paul has no doubt the Corinthians, those making up the bulk of the church at Corinth, were those who had been called in God’s grace to salvation in Christ Jesus.

You were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. You go back and read these verses and you’ll note, it’s not only Christ and Jesus Christ, but there is a repeated emphasis on Jesus Christ our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. The church has one Lord, one head; he’ll get into this in chapter 1. What’s the cause of the division in the church? There is only one head; there is only one Lord. What’s this idea he’ll get into later, I like Peter; I like Paul; I like Cephas; I like Apollos better? What kind of confusion is this? We are called into fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Fellowship. We’ve done damage to this word because we use it lightly, and there is an English use of that word, I realize. Fellowship, we’re going to have pie after church tonight, we’re going to have fellowship. It means we’re going to socialize together, enjoy one another’s company. The word basically means and meant, the Greek word koinonia, to share something in common, to share in something, to have in common. We talk about the Greek that the New Testament was written in as koine Greek, the common Greek. Koinonia is sharing in common, having in common. We were called to share in the life of Christ. This is not just socializing with Him, having good feelings with Him. This was an inseparable union with Christ.

Jesus prayed for His disciples and His followers in John 17, just before His crucifixion. Listen to John 17:23, praying to His Father, I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity. You see that we abide in Him and He abides in us and we are bound together in a relationship with Christ, in a relationship with Christ’s Father. And He goes on to pray, Father, I desire that they also whom You have given Me be with Me where I am, that they may see My glory. Same thing Paul has carried us to, the day of Christ Jesus when we will be presented blameless. We were called into fellowship with His Son. This is going to become important doctrine later in the letter. Paul is going to have to deal with a matter of immorality. You know what he says the awful thing about immorality for a Christian is, as a member of the church? He will tell them that the tragedy for immorality in the life of a believer is, you take the parts of Christ and join them with a whore. Oh, that just almost sounds blasphemous to say that. Sin is more repulsive in the life of a believer than it is in an unbeliever. Now sin is sin, don’t misunderstand me. When a believer gets involved in immorality, he takes that which is inseparably joined with Christ; he takes that body in which Christ dwells, the Holy Spirit dwells, and he dwells in Christ and joins it in a relationship of oneness with a whore, as Paul talks about. Such a thought ought to be repulsive. It should, that’s why sin should be so repulsive.

So this doctrine of our fellowship with Christ, it just doesn’t mean we have the kind of relationship we can walk and talk together. Of course we do. We’re talking about something more basic and foundational and intimacy of union that can never be broken. You understand, you never sin without Christ being there with you, because if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. I cannot ask Christ to stand and wait outside the door, because what I’m going to do in here He wouldn’t like. I am in an inseparably eternal union with the living God. An awesome thought. What Paul is saying here is foundational to what he will have to deal with through the rest of the letter. This is the church abundantly blessed by the grace of God. They need to keep that in mind in their living.

You know what’s happened to the church. They have failed to keep their focus in teaching the full doctrine of scripture and all that God has done in the past in justification for us, in the future in promised glorification. So they try to deal with the doctrine of sanctification in isolation, and thus they’re groping around. How do we get the people of God, and they’re dealing with sin in their life, what should they do. You know what Paul says the answer is—I remind you of the grace of God giving you salvation, what that means. I remind you the grace of God that will bring you to glorification, what that means. So in light of what He has done in the past and what He will do in the future, you live now. And without that perspective Christians stumble around like those in darkness. That’s what the Corinthians will need to be reminded of—the awesome grace of God in their salvation.

Turn to one more passage and we’re done. Titus 2, toward the back of your New Testament. Our relationship together is based upon our relationship with God. John called those that he wrote to in I John 1, what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you so that you can have fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. That’s why the church is made up of believers. Our goal is not to pack the church with unbelievers, but we love to invite unbelieving friends to come and hear the message of truth. But this is a fellowship of believers who have fellowship with the living God. That’s all the church can be, it is the church of God. I am not free to recreate it according to my best intentions. And we have fellowship with one another as believers because we have fellowship with God the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. So John says I preach the gospel to you so that you can have fellowship with us, because our fellowship is with God. And when you enter into a relationship with God, you enter into a relationship with those who belong to God. We are part of the body of Christ. You may be a hand, a finger, an ear, an eye, and somebody else another part. We become part of one another as we become joined with Him.
This total perspective on the grace of God, past, present and future, is laid out clearly in Titus 2, even as he has laid it out in I Corinthians 1. Titus 2:11, and he’s talking to them about how they ought to conduct themselves now. He tells in previous verses how we ought to talk, verse 8 and so on. How slaves ought to conduct themselves. We are to adorn the doctrine of God in every respect because, verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared. The grace of God has appeared, so he’s carrying us back to that provision of God’s grace for salvation in the coming of Christ. Bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. You see the inseparable connection here in understanding the grace of God. He tells us that the grace of God has appeared; it brings salvation; it teaches us how we are to live now in light of that saving grace. It teaches us we live in light of the blessed hope, which is the appearing of the great God, our Savior, Jesus Christ, the unveiling, the end, when we will be presented blameless. And then he takes us back to the beginning in verse 14. This one whose appearing we are eagerly anticipating is the one who gave Himself for us to redeem us.

Somehow the church has forgotten the grace of God. Oh yes, if you mention it, that’s what we believe. But they’re trying to deal with the issues of living now apart from the grace of God. You say I like sermons that are practical; I like studies that are practical; I want to be told how to live. Well you understand first if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you need to understand the grace of God. Secondly, if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ you need to understand the grace of God. Let’s talk about God’s mighty work of salvation. That’s not just a doctrine that is old and musty, that has to do with past things. Without an understanding of that you cannot live today as God intends. And you understand where you are going in Christ and what that means. If you don’t understand that, you won’t live as you should today. The church at Corinth got an overview of the grace of God. Now the rest of the letter will be dealing with the way they are to live in various areas, what they are to do in various areas of life, or the grace of God which is the realm in which they live, which brought them salvation, which provides present enablement, which assures they’re being presented blameless in the presence of Christ.

You know what? That’s true of every church of God in every place. This church is the church of God in this place. We have all gifts necessary in God’s grace for us to function as we should. We are to be functioning in light of that grace that brought us salvation, that provides that present enabling with the eager expectation and hope of the unveiling of our Savior, which will bring this facet of salvation to completion and prepare us for eternal glory. Now anything inconsistent with that grace doesn’t belong here. Anything contrary to that grace should not be practiced here. But we ought to thank God every day for the church of God in this place because it is a display of the grace of God, and we ought to be concerned that that grace is evidenced in our lives personally and in all that we do.

Have you entered into the grace of God? Not, are you sitting in a bench here, but have you ever entered into the salvation that God has provided in His grace? Doesn’t happen by physical things you do; it happens by your hearing the truth of the message of Christ that you are a sinner and He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins. Your only hope is to turn from your sin and place your faith in Him. God, I believe Christ died for me. I want to trust Him alone as my Savior. It’s a supernatural work. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. I can’t explain it. It’s supernatural. And at that moment you enter into the saving grace of God that changes your life for time and eternity. And at that time He enables you to be fitted into the body of Christ, the church, to function in a way that is pleasing to Him as He works in that process of preparing you for the ultimate glory that He has guaranteed and is sure for all who believe in His Son.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your mighty grace, your saving grace; that which we did not earn and did not deserve. We earned condemnation; we deserve the judgment. But you have provided salvation in your grace, provided in your grace that we might hear the gospel of your Son and turn from our sin to believe in Him, provided for us that we might live lives that are pleasing to you as you have gifted us and enabled us to live with the eager anticipation of the appearing of the One who is our great God and Savior. We shall see Him as He is and we shall be like Him because we will see Him as He is. We look for that time with hope and eagerness, without fear, because we know that we will be beyond reproach because the salvation you have provided in grace is complete and you are faithful. We praise you in Christ’s name, amen.