The Effects of God's Grace
The Effects of God's Grace
1 Corinthians 1:4-9
August 10, 2008
Tonight, we jump back to the Church at Corinth
Corinth was the church in turmoil.
[Background on Corinth and The problems of the Corinthian Church]
They were a church in turmoil.
And so Paul began the letter by revealing to them
That such behavior was not appropriate for who God had made them.
1 Corinthians 1:2 “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:”
God had saved them, and sanctified them.
He had moved them from the position of sinner to saint.
And as we said last Sunday night, the Church at Corinth
Simply needed to realize who they were.
Paul is challenging these carnal Christians to get their act together.
Tonight we see one of the only positive elements in the letter.
The only other comes in chapter 11 in which Paul says:
1 Corinthians 11:2 “Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.”
Aside from that brief statement,
The text tonight is the only other positive section to the letter.
The text tonight is written to reveal to the Corinthians
Why they have the power to stop looking like the world,
And to be who God intends for them to be.
Notice what he says in verse 4,
“I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,”
Notice Paul DOESN’T say, “I thank you”,
For certainly he is not thankful for anything they are doing.
Rather Paul says, “I thank my God concerning you”
WHY?
“for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,”
Paul is remembering back to what happened while he was in Corinth.
Acts 18:9-11 “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city." And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”
God had promised that there were many elect in Corinth,
And that if Paul would stay there for a while,
He would see God’s grace pour out in that immoral city.
No doubt Paul had no desire to stay in such an immoral place,
But God was about to do something amazing there.
And He did.
God poured out his grace and started the Church that is in Corinth.
In the midst of that wild and spiritually dark city,
God lit a candle and called it the Church of God which is at Corinth.
AND PAUL IS THANKFUL FOR THAT
“I thank my God concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,”
Wednesday night we talked quite a bit about God’s amazing grace.
Ephesians 2:1-9 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
That was precisely what God did at Corinth.
He reached down into that darkened city raised the dead to life.
AND WE ARE AWARE OF THAT TYPE OF GRACE.
In fact, most of the time when we talk about grace,
That is commonly all we talk about.
BUT GRACE DOESN’T STOP THERE.
God’s grace continues in our lives, even after salvation.
It has a past, present, and future work in our lives.
Later in this letter Paul will write:
1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”
Paul spoke of grace that saves, and then grace that equips.
God’s grace extends beyond salvation.
God’s grace also equips us to live like He intends for us to live.
And it is this that Paul is reminding the Corinthians of here.
God did not send His grace just to save them and then leave them.
Grace is also there to help them be more than what they’ve become.
Tonight, 5 benefits of grace.
#1 ENRICHING
1 Corinthians 1:4-5
Paul is thankful for grace, namely “that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,”
Now please notice the verb tense here.
“you were enriched”
Paul is not talking about something God is presently doing,
But rather is referring to something God already did.
GOD MADE YOU RICH.
Now God didn’t make you rich with gold, or silver, or diamonds.
God didn’t build you a house on the beach, or give you a BMW.
God made you rich “in all speech and all knowledge,”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
WHAT DO WE USE “speech” FOR?
To communicate.
WHAT DO WE USE “knowledge” FOR?
That is what we communicate.
ILLUSTRATION: Internet commercial
“Nobody wants to look dumb”
And commonly that is our fear about evangelism.
Quite possibly that was the Corinthians fear.
“If we try to live for Christ in Corinth, we won’t know what to say, and then we won’t know how to say it.”
But if you believe that, then you failed
To understand what God has done in your life.
“that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,”
When God saved you, and then asked you to be a light in darkness,
He did not withhold the tools from you.
God has already given you everything you need to live for Him.
To the Ephesians Paul wrote:
Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”
The moment you were saved, God gave you all of Himself.
God gave you every blessing.
God gave you access to all knowledge.
God gave you the ability to speak it.
HOW DID GOD GIVE ME ALL KNOWLEDGE?
I know people who know more about God than I do.
1 Corinthians 2:9-13 “but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”
God placed His Spirit within you.
And the Spirit knows everything,
And He reveals to you everything you need to know.
Remember what Jesus taught about Him?
John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
John 16:12-13 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”
The Holy Spirit was given to explain everything to you.
If you don’t know it, it is not because God hasn’t given it to you,
It’s just because you haven’t cashed the check.
God has given you “all knowledge”
He has also given you “all speech”
Meaning He has equipped you
To share the knowledge He has given you.
Some say, “Oh no, He hasn’t. I don’t like public speaking”, or “I get all clammy talking to people.”
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”
Remember what Jesus taught us?
Matthew 10:19-20 "But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. "For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”
God has “enriched” you “in all speech and all knowledge”
Paul wanted the Corinthians to know
What tremendous grace God had poured into their lives.
The second they were saved, they instantly had the ability
To become experts about God.
And did you know that is what you are?
You have the ability to be an expert about God.
God has given you inside knowledge that no scholar has access to.
He has given you His Spirit.
And all those in the world without His Spirit,
Can never know what you can know.
1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
God has given you everything you need to serve Him properly.
2 Peter 1:2-3 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 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.”
Do you get the point?
There is no excuse for you not to live for God,
You are more than equipped to take His truth to the darkness.
The first benefit of grace: ENRICHING
#2 EVIDENCE
1 Corinthians 1:6
Here Paul reminds the Corinthians of something else
That happened at the point of salvation.
“the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,”
WHAT IS “the testimony concerning Christ”?
WHO HE IS
(God, Savior, Redeemer, Messiah)
WHAT HE DOES
(Saves, Redeems, Changes)
And certainly both were confirmed in the Corinthians,
And in all believers.
This world is constantly trying to punch holes in Jesus.
No doubt the Corinthians faced a very intellectual battle in their city
With people about whether or not Jesus really was the Messiah.
And that is intimidating.
HOW CAN I PROVE THAT HE REALLY IS THE SAVIOR?
Some will tell you that you must learn “apologetics”.
Now there is certainly nothing wrong with knowing apologetics,
But I want you to see a far simpler and much more reliable way.
You already have proof that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
God already gave it to you.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS? It is you.
Your changed life is a gift from God to serve you as evidence
That Jesus Christ really can change lives.
And is it ever effective!
In fact, it was one of Paul’s favorite tools.
When Paul gave his defense to the Jews after being arrested in Jerusalem, he didn’t read the book of Romans to them.
When Paul was on trial before Festus, he did not go into apologetics.
Paul used his testimony.
Your changed life is all the proof you need to prove
That Jesus Christ really can set a person free from sin.
He already poured it into you.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
By His grace, He changed your life, and thus He gave you
All the proof you need to confront your culture.
The first two effects of grace
#3 EQUIPPING
1 Corinthians 1:7a “so that you are not lacking in any gift,”
While the first two were past benefits, this is a present benefit.
He equips the church through spiritual gifts.
And we all know what spiritual gifts are.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.”
Spiritual gifts are literally “the manifestation of the Spirit”
They are how God chooses to reveal Himself in your life.
Mine is preaching, for some it is service,
For others leadership, for others giving, etc.
And they are literally what gives us a leg up in the world.
God takes a bunch of untrained ordinary people,
Saves them, changes them, and then gives them a special gift
In order to minister in the world.
It really isn’t fair to the enemy.
And Paul wanted the Corinthians to know this.
Many Christians don’t ever do anything for God
Because they don’t think they are good at anything.
That is a slap in the face to God.
He isn’t asking you to do anything,
He simply wants to do something through you,
And He has equipped you to do it.
And notice what He told the believers at Corinth
“you are not lacking in any gift”
The Church of God has no handy-cap.
If all the members will only function, God has equipped us to do so.
Perhaps you have seen how God ensures this over the years.
Every time we lose a couple,
God replaces them with someone new.
The Church is always equipped for ministry.
Enriching, Evidence, Equipping
#4 EAGERNESS
1 Corinthians 1:7b “awaiting eagerly the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
WHAT IS THIS? This is our motive.
I don’t know how to explain it,
But one of the benefits of God’s grace is that at salvation,
God pours into that person a readiness to see Him.
In fact Paul said that this readiness is a synonym for salvation.
2 Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Why is readiness a fruit of salvation?
1 John 4:17-18 “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
God poured love for Him into our hearts on the day that we were saved,
And it causes us to long for Him.
When Christ returns:
Sin will be defeated…
Satan will be conquered…
Saints will be vindicated…
Salvation will be complete…
And therefore we long for that day.
And this is the Christian motive.
The Christian life is hard.
“But Christians are swimmers, not inner-tube riders.”
The thing that keeps us going is this God-given desire for a better day.
A God-given desire to be pleasing to Jesus when He returns.
Paul is challenging the Corinthians to find that motive.
Enriching, Evidence, Equipping, Eagerness
#5 EXPECTATION
1 Corinthians 1:8-9
And this is truly a beautiful benefit of grace.
It is assurance. It is security.
It is the promise of God, that once you are His,
He will never let you go.
“who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
How do we know God will not decide to hold some new sin against us?
(9) “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The benefit of God’s grace is that since you did nothing to earn salvation,
You are not required to do anything to maintain it.
And that security brings the assurance to know
That I can serve God in this world with reckless abandon.
I can take the gospel to a hostile land, and not fear death,
For my eternity is forever secure.
DO YOU SEE WHAT PAUL WAS SHOWING THE CORINTHIANS?
He was revealing to them why they were able to confront their culture. They did not have to go with the flow.
They did not have to just sit back and take it.
God has given them everything they need
To be an effective church where they are.
His grace has given:
Enriching in speech and knowledge to preach the gospel
Evidence to prove the testimony of Jesus
Equipping to be effective in their ministry
Eagerness to be motivated to do it well
Expectation to know that one day they will go be with Jesus
And what God has done for the Corinthians, He has done for us.
There is absolutely no reason why we should be
Lazy, apathetic, timid, or immoral.
God has done an amazing work…
God is doing an amazing work…
God will do an amazing work…
He is just asking us to realize the benefit of His grace and put it to use.
Paul said:
1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”
And the grace that fueled that tireless missionary
Is the exact same grace that we have today.
Will we use it, or will we be known as a Church like Corinth who was refusing to realize who she was?
She had been sanctified, but she lived like she was a slave of sin.
She had been equipped, but she lived like she was powerless to serve.
She is a picture of wasted resources.
Don’t waste yours.
Realize what God has given you and use it all for His glory.