Reminders of God’s Grace

Transcript

GR 2339
02/27/2022
Reminders of God's Grace
1 Corinthians 1:4-9
Gil Rugh


We're going to the book of 1 Corinthians in your Bibles, 1 Corinthians, and we're in the first chapter. As I mentioned when we started this book, we'll just see how far we go. I mentioned the professor that I had in Bible college who recommended that we do this book early in our ministry because it covers so many of the areas that come up in the local church. So I thought we'll do it toward the end of my ministry also. So that's where we are. I don't want you to think I'm anticipating completing all 16 chapters, if we get through chapter 1 that will be good, if we get through chapter 4 that will be fine. We'll just see step by step, and if the Lord comes this week, we got through verse 9. I'm anticipating.

So 1 Corinthians 1 in your Bibles. Paul gave his introduction to that letter in the first three verses and identified himself as an apostle and appointed by God, he was an apostle by the will of God. He didn't pick this gift and this particular ministry, but he was one by God and Acts records the call of the apostle. The Lord directly intervened in his life, as He does in every one of our lives. Perhaps not in the same striking way He did with the Apostle Paul, but in the own unique way each individual who comes to know Christ, it's a result of the gracious intervention of God in the life. And he wrote to the church of God which is at Corinth, in 1 Corinthians 1:2, “To the church of God which is at Corinth,” and then he identified, it's “to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling.” And we are joined with everyone, those at Corinth are joined with us but they were joined in their day with those as the church is growing. It started in Acts 2, that was the total number of the church, those that were saved on that Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, but then it grew.

So let me just review with you a little bit of what we did the last time on 1 Corinthians 1:2-3, where he was writing to the church of God which is at Corinth. #1. The local church is the physical manifestation of the church of God in a specific place. That's crucial. We have to understand who we are. This is not my church, it's not your church, it's our church but it's our church under the authority and leadership of God who has called us together. And our local church is to be a manifestation of God's church in a specific place. That's what a local church is.

#2. It's made up of those who have been set apart in Christ to belong to God. It's the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. We've been set apart by God for Himself, sanctified, saints, holy ones. All from the same basic Greek word conveying the same idea. We have been set apart in Christ for God, we belong to Him, He ultimately is sovereign over everything that takes place in this local church.

#3. The members of the church are saints by virtue of His call. So we've been set apart, we've been called by Him; each individual believer has been called by Him. 2 Timothy 2:10 would elaborate on that a little bit.

#4. All who call upon the name of the Lord become part of the church. So God sovereignly intervenes in our lives to draw us to Himself and the result of that is our initial salvation. We call upon the name of the Lord. And when we do we become part of the church. That is to be manifested.

Go back to point 1, the local church. I don't understand that people think I'm a believer, I'm part of the church universal and . . And what local church do you belong to? Do you attend? Do you go to? If you don't then we back up. Unless there is a physical reason that you are not there, maybe you are not able physically to attend, that's fine, but we identify with a local church. That's part of our identity.

#5. All who call upon the name of the Lord come under the lordship of Christ. This takes us back to where we started. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord comes under the lordship of Christ. It's not just a name without a meaning. We call on the name of the Lord, we come under His oversight, His sovereign control and leadership. And that's true for the local church. We have a local board of elders who has been appointed by God to govern and oversee the local church under the lordship of Christ. It's not just they make up rules and regulations and do whatever they see fit, it's they function under the authority of the Lord and His Word which we have as our Scriptures.

#6. The Father and the Son provide grace and peace for those who belong to Him. Verse 3 says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Interesting that he would write that to the church at Corinth when there is going to be so much that needs to be fixed and adjusted in the church at Corinth. But he says, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” We have people who profess to be believers but they have no peace, they are not functioning within the grace of our Lord. We have to back up and say, are you sure you are a believer? That doesn't mean there is not turmoil, there is not stress. I think of, as I look at what is going on in our world, in certain places in our world would be very difficult at this time to be a believer and trusting the Lord, not knowing what the next hour brings, let alone what the next brings or the next year. But grace and peace -- Paul, right at the beginning of this letter that we identify with the problems in the church, he says grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But by the time we get to verse 10 he will say, “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you… For I have been informed…” verse 11, “that there are divisions among you.” So he starts out by saying here is what you are in Christ. Now that is not always manifest in the way we are functioning, in the way we are conducting ourselves. And so that's why we have this letter, so that we can make the adjustments under the lordship of Christ, because remember this is the church of God. It belongs to Him, He has brought it together and it's under His authority—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The first three verses of this letter just gave what we call the salutation, somewhat of an introduction to the letter. And then in verses 4-9 where we want to focus our attention today he's going to develop the introduction, if you will. He is going to cover some of the things that he will develop in the letter. So it's a part of the introduction, the first three verses form a basic greeting that are true of the letter. And then in verses 4-9 he is going to give further elaboration. But it won't be until verse 10 that he gets into the nuts and bolts, if you will, but it's crucial to understand and appreciate what God has done among the Corinthians. Before we get into the problems, the divisions, the areas that need fixing and adjusting and correcting, let's just be reminded that God has done a work of His grace in your lives. And I am thankful to God for what He has done in your life. That's what Paul says to the Corinthians. It's amazing, you think he's, well, I have so many things that I have to write about and it's a long letter. But let's settle our minds first that you are the work of God.

So he is going to begin in 1 Corinthians 1:4, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ.” We're going to have one long sentence by the Apostle Paul, it's going to go from verse 4 down through verse8, verses 4-8 form one long sentence. Then verse 9 will sort of pull it together. And as you read it, if you read it just as a sentence, you think this just goes on and on. But then he'll conclude, “God is faithful,” and a reminder that it is God's work that has brought them together. So that lays the foundation for what he is going to say. There are some problems in the church, there are divisions in the church, there are factions in the church, there are areas that need addressed. They are not disciplining a rebellious believer in chapter 5 when we get there.

There are all kinds of problems, but let's not lose sight of the fact, God has done a work of his grace, verse 4, in the life of the Corinthians. And the Corinthians need to be reminded of that to start. It's amazing what God has done. We think of the church at Corinth and we think of problems. This was the man that I had as a professor many years ago, he said do the book of 1 Corinthians early in your ministry, it covers all the problems and all the issues you have. But we don't want to lost sight of the fact, we are dealing with a church that is a testimony of God's grace. He has brought them together and now there are areas that need correcting, but Paul can say, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you.” Always, “I thank my God always.” Every time he prayed for them he thanked God for them.

That's a good way for us. We have different opinions, we have different backgrounds, we have different issues that face us. It's good for us when we pray for one another, start out by thanking God for His grace. Think of those you have the most problems with in the church and say, I'm going to start out by saying thank You, God, for Your grace that has worked in their lives. Their problems haven't discouraged Paul, he's going to come sharply, firmly that they have to be dealt with. But that hasn't softened the basic gratitude to God he has for the work He has done in the lives of the Corinthian believers. What an encouragement it is to see the Apostle Paul -- we have 16 chapters as we have it broken down in our Bibles -- but he's going to start out by saying, “I thank my God always concerning you.” Always concerning you. He's writing under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he writes this, so it's not just you have to say this to be nice, but this is true. I do thank my God always concerning you. Now I'm concerned for you that there are things that need to be fixed, but that doesn't change my appreciation to God for the work of His grace in your lives.

So “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus.” And that's what we want to be careful we don't lose as we become problem focused, as we become taken up with the issues among these people. And he's going to get into those when we get to 1 Corinthians 1:10; he's going to tell them, I've heard about the divisions among you. Let's get this straight first, I thank God that He has done a work of His grace in your lives. Now I want that grace to continue to grow and develop, I want the correction to be made, but that doesn't nullify . . . Sometimes you visit with people who are having problems with what is going on in their local church and all they can see is the problem, the problem, and it just overwhelms them. Maybe we ought to stop and think, first thing I want to do is get aside with the Lord and thank God for His grace in the life of that believer that I am having a problem with, that I have a disagreement with. The issues that we have to face.

“I thank my God always,” every time I pray I thank God for you. And it's for the grace of God which was given you in Christ. There are people in the church at Corinth that Paul is not sure are true believers, but even with their problems Paul is convinced that the bulk of the church at Corinth is made up of people who have placed their faith in Christ. So I want to thank God for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. We've been brought together by God's grace, the church at Corinth was brought together by God's grace. Now that grace has not yet reached its perfection in us so we may have differences, we may have disagreements, but we want to be careful that they don't overwhelm and stifle the grace of God. Come over to Ephesians 2, verses that many of you have probably memorized, verse 8, “For by grace you have been saved,” that's what Paul is thankful for. I'm thankful for the grace of God which has been given you, It's God's sovereign action here. So I don't want to lose sight of that, otherwise I get taken up and your problems become so big I fail to appreciate that God's grace is evident in your life. It wasn't evident consistently in the Corinthian church, but it was evident. So I thank God for the grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,” that salvation is not of your own making, it is God's gracious gift. “Not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them,” we who have been saved by His grace.

That doesn't mean that in a church, a larger church… We don't know what the size of the Corinthian church was, but there were people who were not functioning as they should. And Paul will rebuke them, and rebuke them strongly at times and raise an issue of have you truly experienced the grace of God. Something is wrong here. But as the church we are the recipients of God's grace, we are here because of God's grace. And it was given to us, it was not earned, “we are His workmanship,” Ephesians 2:10 says. Paul is going to elaborate a little bit on that, we'll pick it up while we are here. We “were created in Christ Jesus for good works,” so getting the order right makes everything accurate. Over time the church begins to emphasize the good works to the extent that soon churches become good works centered and they forget it takes the grace of God, the workmanship of God to make a person new. And if we're not careful we have generation and then another generation and pretty soon they conform so they are believers. But we're talking about the result of the workmanship of God. He has been at work in the life of the church at Corinth. You think of all their problems, all their issues, but they are God's workmanship, they are a result of God's grace. They have been saved by grace, they are His workmanship created for good works, the works that God appoints in His Word. So we can't get the order reversed, nor can we drop out. Good works are essential. A person who professes to be a believer and doesn't produce good works, Paul is going to deal with it. He's going to deal harshly. I wonder whether I have labored over you in vain, he's going to mention to them, because something is wrong, the works aren't there, they don't conform to the character of Christ. So maybe you are not believers, maybe I have worked and done all this in vain. Something is wrong. You had better examine yourself, is the idea.

Turn back to Romans 11, just a reminder. He again has to deal with issues but in verse 5 he says, “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice,” according to His election of grace. His choice was on the basis of His grace. If “it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” So I want to say, if you are truly born again, you were born again as a result of God's sovereignly choosing you, His grace being bestowed upon you that you came to faith in Christ. I never want to stop thanking God for that and for the grace that has been manifest in your life and that grace at work. So want to be careful when we talk about the good works, they have to be in order. We're talking about the works that are a result of God's grace at work in a life.

Now if you just have good works but it's not a result of grace, that's just man's effort. And we see that, we look at that, we get involved politically in our country one way or another, but we're dealing with unbelievers. We're dealing with unbelievers normally, not that there are no unbelievers involved, but primarily there are decisions made by people we agree with or disagree with and that's fine. But we don't want to get so involved that we lose our perspective. We're talking about the good works that are a result of God's work of grace in a life. Everything else is nothing. And this is where the Jews have come and why they are now under the judgment of God. Over time they thought, we are the ones who keep the Law. So we are God's people. Period. Wait a minute, you are God's people by His choice, but you are in rebellion against Him and your good works are nothing.

So come back to 1 Corinthians 1. “I thank my God always,” not sometimes, “always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus.” It's not earned, it's not merited; God reached down, took hold of your life and drew you to Himself. Now it not only provided for our initial salvation but it provides for our sanctification, our holiness of life, our godliness, and it will result in our glorification. And in these verses, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Paul is going to include our salvation in the past, our present sanctification and our future glorification. Verse 7, just to jump ahead, “so that you are not lacking in any gift, waiting eagerly the revelation.” So that's our present tense. So he has talked about our past tense, the grace of God which was given you in verse 4; he'll talk about the present, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you are waiting eagerly. That's what we are doing now, looking forward to the coming of Christ and living in light of that. And verse 8, “who will confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ,” when Christ finally comes. So past, present and future are included in God's grace. But when we get them out of order and think good works, pretty soon we have canceled out grace and we have people think they are saved because I conform to what everybody else does in this church, therefore . . . There may be some of them at the church at Corinth, Paul is going to mention that as you move through the letter. But by and large the church is made up of people who are truly believers, who are living and growing and becoming more and more conformed to the character of Christ and anticipating the ultimate day when we will be brought into complete conformity to our Lord Jesus Christ.

All right, verse 5, “That in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge.” In everything. Now you read the letter to the Corinthians you have to come back to 1 Corinthians 1:4-5 to appreciate they were in everything enriched in Him. So their problems now are they are out of step, out of sync with what God has done for them and to them in Christ. “In everything you were enriched in Him.” Come over to 2 Peter 1:2, he's writing to those who have believed, who have the same kind of faith as we have. Then verse 2, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” 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. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” So you see he is writing to people who are truly saved, that means they are not perfect yet. He is writing under the direction of the Spirit to provide the perfection, the added growth, maturing. So that's why we use that analogy, and the Scripture uses that analogy of being born again into God's family. And then growing so that His divine power, verse 3, “has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.” That's God's grace, His divine power.

I'm not what I am because I have just worked hard and blah, blah. No. Doesn't mean I'm not supposed to work, be diligent about what God has said, but it is His enablement, it was His salvation initially that changed me and made me new, that changed my desires, my interest so that I might grow. And it's when I get off-track and begin to confuse my selfish, self-centered interests with God's interests, then we get the divisions Paul is going to have to deal with when he picks up with 1 Corinthians 1:10. So we want to be careful that even believers, if we don't stay biblical, then we get this mixture and it becomes hard to tell with some people. Am I dealing with believers or unbelievers? I can't tell, God can and He will make the decision. I deal with them on the basis of their testimony, but some people… I trusted Christ but I don't attend a church but I know I'm saved. How do you know you are saved? You've rejected what God said when He said don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Well, I know but . . . But what? I mean, what's he writing to the Corinthians for? He's writing to the church of God which is at Corinth. That's the assembly . . . Well, I might be part of that church but I just don't go. Oh you have some kind of physical ailment? Well, no. Does your job prevent you? Well, no, but I just don't go. Well, then, I think you need to back up. Maybe I'm not really saved. He's enriched you in everything.

Now you come back to 1 Corinthians 1 where we are in verse 5. When he gets to verse 7, “that you are not lacking in any gift,” “that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,” so that you would be discerning, you would know, you would grow. Remember this is one long sentence in verses 4-8, particularly in the gifts, in the exercising of the gifts you have. How do you exercise the gift you have when you aren't part of a body? The body is the local church. Well, I'm part of the universal church. Well, you are part of the universal church because you are part of the local church. The New Testament knows of no unbaptized believers who are not part of a local church. That is just the way it is. Well, if you are a believer you will be baptized, and you're baptized you are part of a local church. Now the danger comes and we get confused when people think I go to church, therefore I'm a Christian. No, you can go to church, you can be baptized at a church, but it's all tied to faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work for you on the cross. Then out of that everything comes. The devil picks up pieces but if he picks out the foundational piece, the faith in Christ and His finished work, everything else is nullified

So “that in everything,” 1 Corinthians 1:5, “you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge.” So they know, they've heard because verse 6, “Even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,” when Paul preached the Gospel to the church at Corinth, to that which made up the church. He went to Corinth and began to preach. Some people heard the Word that he preached and believed it and they formed the local church that Paul is writing to. “The testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you.” That word ‘confirmed’, Greek word there, was used in the legal sense of a guarantee. We would have it today, buying a house or doing something legally. You sign a document, that confirms it, that settles it, that guarantees it. So that's what Paul is talking about here.

Come back to Hebrews 2:3, note here, it's important. It's not enough that you hear the Word. Verse 2, “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” So the initial giving of the Word of God, in addition now, not only the Old Testament but the New Testament, new covenant along with the old covenant, God assured us that they were genuine, that Paul was genuine. He is writing to the Corinthians, he'll tell them in later writing that the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all signs, wonders and miracles. So God confirmed His Word. We don't have certain gifts present today because the Word of God is complete. We have everything we need for life and godliness contained in this book. So “God also,” verse 4, “testifying with them, both by signs, and wonders, and by various miracles,” that was . . . Even the writer of Hebrews indicates he may not have been one of those. Debate over who wrote the book of Hebrews, but he writes “God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles.”

Come back to 1 Corinthians 1. When he said in verse 6, “even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,” that word ‘confirmed’ is an aorist passive tense, it's something that was done to a person at a time in the past. At their salvation, when they placed their faith in Christ, believed the message that Jesus Christ died for their sins according to the Scripture, that He was raised from the dead on the third day… they believed that, and they were confirmed in their salvation. It was confirmed, that testimony in them.

Now verse 7, they are waiting eagerly, “not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” You are not lacking in any gift. A gift is basically a form of the word we have translated ‘grace’. So it's just a different form, you put a different ending on the word and so on. So you have “you are not lacking in any gift.” Charis is the word ‘grace’, charismatic is the word ‘gift of grace’. Come back to verse 4, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you.” The grace, and that grace included their initial salvation, that grace included gifting them so they could now serve. So if we were reading this in the Greek text as Paul wrote it, ‘you are not lacking in any grace gift’ because it's the same basic word as the word translated ‘grace’ in verse 4, “for the grace of God which was given you.” And you are not lacking in any grace gift. The gift that you have is a result of God's grace which was given you.

That's why it is so crucial. They are given by God's grace, they are not earned, they are not work. That was given when you believed. Now you may not have recognized it, none of us basically did. We placed our faith in Christ, therefore I am a teacher, I am this, that or one of the other of the 19 or so gifts that Paul will talk about when we get to 1 Corinthians 12-14 or you are familiar with them. They are a result of God's grace. I didn't realize when I trusted Christ as a younger person that my gift would be in the area of teaching the Word. I did a variety of things, that was good for me, that was part of God developing me. And then it became clearer as I became older that this is the area where God seems to be using me, where He has appointed me to serve Him. But everybody who is a believer is gifted, there are no ungifted believers. There are ungifted people who may attend this church, but there are no ungifted believers attending this church because God's grace is given and I serve. It may not be in the same visible way, obviously I'm serving in a more visible way than most of the people in this church, but your gift is just as real and just as necessary and just as important. So verse 7 says, “you are not lacking in any gift,” in any manifestation of God's grace to enabling you, “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So the church there, as he writes to the church at Corinth, they have every gift necessary. So that's where we say the local church is the manifestation of the universal church. But every local church is sovereign and independent. Paul doesn't say to the church at Corinth, you are part of what you have but you need to be joined to the Philippian church and the Thessalonian church and other churches in Greece. No. “You are not lacking in any gift.” So as the church grows God adds to the people and He adds the gifts that are needed for that church. And that's true of the smaller church. With all the problems the church at Corinth has, they are not lacking in any gift, they have all the gifts necessary for that church to mature and grow. Now if it continues to grow numerically it will add gifts and those gifts are there. But they are not lacking in any gift. So every church is a complete entity. We want to be careful, there may be denominational churches and so on, but that doesn't affect what we are saying here. Each church if it's a true church comprised of believers. Unbelievers may attend but they are not really making that church. They are just observers of what is going on. You may have been raised in this church, you may have been born in this church and grown up in this church but that doesn't make you part of the church. Well, then I'll go to another building and go to another church. You can do that but you won't be part of the church of Jesus Christ until you place your faith in Him. When you place your faith in Him then you are incorporated into the body of Christ which is manifested in a local church. When I meet a person and I say what church . . . Well, I don't really go. I assume I'm talking to an unbeliever or I'm talking to a believer who is really in rebellion against God and should know it and be uncomfortable with it. Believers sin but a person claims to be a believer and not attend a local church, it's just not biblical.

So “you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So this is the past, present and future. “The grace of God,” in verse 4, “which was given you in Christ Jesus.” That goes back to initially and that aorist tense, there is a past tense, it was something that happened. And now we are not lacking in spiritual gift. We are presently “enriched in Him” in verse 5. We are not lacking in any gift, we have every gift necessary. Now if we have believers who are not functioning then we need to figure out what we need to do because to that extent we are not functioning properly. That's what the letter to the Corinthians is about. And we are awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. This puts everything in perspective. I realize what God has done for me in the past and I am waiting, and in the meantime I am exercising the gift. We are not lacking in any gift. So he is writing to a specific local church and he says they are not lacking in any gift. So we are not lacking in any gift.

Now there are areas of opportunity for service, areas of need for service that may not be fulfilled. Maybe it's because we have people who are believers who are not functioning. God didn't bring any believer here not to function. I just come because I like the teaching and then I go home after the morning service and wait until next Sunday. Well, we're glad to have you but you may not be a believer because a believer wants to function. You are not lacking in any gift in one way or another. It doesn't have to be I have to get someplace spectacular. No, your being here is number one. I get concerned, part of the rollover of the church as I see it comes we want to be together less and less and that becomes less opportunity for the gifts to function and that's why usually the third generation, as I've been reading on this, begins the rollover so that pretty soon we just have an organization meeting. We call it the church. I was reading something from the Methodists back in the middle 1800s. My goodness, it could have been written about our church. Being formerly Methodist, we didn't hear the Word anymore, something happened. They still meet together and call themselves a church but there is no spiritual life there.

So we are not lacking in any gift, you are not lacking in any gift. Paul writes to the church at Corinth, you are not lacking in any gift. And you are awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are in the world but we are not part of the world. We go to work, we buy food, we do all those things, but our life now has a different focus, a different function. We are focused on what God has done in our life, what He is doing and anticipating His return. And when He returns He “will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In verse 6 he told, “even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you.” Now we are told that there is a future confirmation in verse 8, “who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That's a future tense there. They are secure in Christ, blameless. I like what one person wrote, it implies not merely acquittal but the absence of even a charge or accusation against a person. “Blameless in the day,” there are no charges to be brought against me because Christ has paid it all, past, present and future. I'm “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will confirm you to the end.”

Philippians 1 also stresses that same focal point. Blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Come over to Colossians 1:22, verse 21 for the background, “although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds.” That's what you were, not what you are. If that's what you are, it's not what you were. “Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” It's amazing—holy, blameless, beyond reproach. Then you can stop at Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Same emphasis. God began the work, God is doing the work today and He'll bring it to completion tomorrow and the future. It's settled, it's done. There are those who seem to start out well but they veer off, they just reveal they never really experienced the life-changing grace of God. That doesn't mean . . . The Corinthians are going to stumble, stumble, stumble, but Paul is writing to get them back on track because you can't live like the unbeliever. If the Spirit of God dwells in you there is a change. I want to emphasize that. It's not enough that you attend this church. Have you really, truly believed in Christ and had your life changed?

Come back to 1 Corinthians 1. “Who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Blameless, He will confirm you blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ because God is faithful, God is faithful. That sums up what he said in verses 4-8 in that one long sentence, God is faithful. So if I'm not what I ought to be and yet I claim to be a believer, I need to be honest. I can fool the church, I can fool anybody but I can't fool God. Why am I not more interested in the things of God? Why do I not take an interest? I walk out of this church and I am on to other things until next Sunday and then I'll get back and then I'll be all right, then I'll be off. Wait a minute, we're talking about being new, being made new. “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son.” That's the emphasis, faithful is God. That's my assurance. I stumble, I have stumbled, I stumble but God is faithful. That is what is the assurance. When I stumble I want to get back right with God. That's the difference between a believer and unbeliever, an unbeliever just lives a life of stumbles. That's all right. No, it's not all right. We're not perfected yet but God is faithful.

“Through whom you were called.” That word ‘called’, come back to verse 1, “Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ.” He's writing “to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling.” Down in verse 24, “but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” That call of God. Back up in verse 9, “God is faithful, through whom you were called.” God is sovereign in this, it was His work that took hold of you, brought you out of your darkness into light, caused you to place your faith in Christ. Now your desire has been changed, you want to live a new life. “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Fellowship, that word ‘fellowship’ means to share in common. All believers, we have a share in Christ and a share in one another and we have a share in one another because we have a share in Christ.

Two verses and then we'll be done. Come back to John 17:23, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You have loved Me before the foundation of the world.” That relationship… and you can jot it down, 1 John 1:3, “what we have seen and hear we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” You see how John writes. We have fellowship with God, I'm writing so you can have fellowship with us. And it becomes intertwined. That's why we have to go back. If I am comfortable, this is just a place I attend, then I go home until next week… Wait a minute, I've been called into fellowship with the living God and that means I've been called into fellowship with you as fellow believers. That's the way we grow and mature until Jesus Christ comes and we are called into His presence. They’re not in conflict, it's just the foundation. Because then he'll say in verse 10, “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and there be no divisions among you, but that you may be complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Yes, there are problems, there are difficulties. Fix them, get in line because we are joined together, we have fellowship. We are different stages, we are mature in some areas, not as mature in other areas. Together, the person who is more mature in this area is less mature in this area. We contribute to one another, we help one another grow. Anticipation with the time. There is a day when you are going to be perfected and then I'll be able to get along with you better. No, and I'll be perfected and you'll be able to get along with me. We want to see the differences that may come up become opportunities for us to grow together, to mature together. I'll just go to a different church, I'll just go to a different church. Well, because I don't agree with them. Then we need to resolve it and we need to work on it, we need to figure out. That's what Paul is telling the Corinthians.

So all of this, we are together, we are a result of God's work, we are a result of God's grace, we are a testimony of His grace, we are looking forward to His coming when that grace is brought to fullness and completion. In the meantime there are things we have to work on, but first let's appreciate God's grace has been great, He has made us new, He is working now and He is using us in one another's lives so we can grow together in anticipation of the time when we will be perfected in His presence.

Let's pray together. Thank You Lord for the riches of Your Word, thank You for the grace that has brought salvation to each of our hearts and lives. Lord, I pray for any who are here who are simply externally conforming, pray that by Your grace You might convict them that they might see the need and place their faith in Christ to be joined together with Him and with fellow believers. Lord, may we not grow weary of one another and the growing process, may we continue to grow and mature, become more and more like the Savior who loved us and gave Himself for us as we anticipate the time when He'll come to gather us into His presence. Thank You for the riches of our fellowship together, the growth that we have experienced, the growth that we continue as we anticipate the future, whether Jesus Christ comes before this day is over or it is years in advance, we will live every day looking for and expecting His return. We pray in His name, amen.