Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
The Christian life could be described as a journey of highs and lows. Some of you will have read Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan, which paints a very vivid picture of this up and down journey. Sometimes you and I wake up eager to go church while other times there are 10 other places we would rather be. Sometimes we are strong and secure in the Lord but at other times we are very conscious of our sin and guilt and filled with doubt. And sometimes struggles in the church can really rattle our sense of eternal security. And indeed, highs and lows are typical in congregations. Churches can go through times of strife and times when things are clam. Sometimes churches grow rapidly, but sometimes they lose members rapidly.
Well, what we are going to see from this passage is that what Paul says about the congregation in Corinth has implications for our eternal security as individuals. It’s very easy, you see, to read the word “you” in the Bible, like we see in v4, and start applying what we read to ourselves as individuals. But the “you” in this verse is the congregation of Corinth that Paul writes to. So we will first have to see what Paul says to congregations before we can see what this means for us as individuals. And it will be well worth our time because there is wonderful encouragement for us as individuals in this passage, that is enriched by what is said about the congregation.
These verses are a prayer of thanksgiving. And as we consider this prayer we see that PAUL SPEAKS WITH ASSURANCE ABOUT CHRIST’S CONGREGATION. And we see this as Paul speaks POSITIVELY about the congregation’s PRESENT RESOURCES and then as he speaks CONFIDENTLY about the congregation’s FUTURE WELL-BEING. So let’s look at each of these in turn.
I. First of all then, in Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving he speaks positively about the congregation’s present resources.
A. Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth. He had planted this congregation about 3-4 years before he wrote this letter. It was a congregation where there were significant problems that needed Paul’s attention. So Paul’s prayer begins with thanks for the GRACE of God given to the Corinthian congregation in Christ Jesus. Now, his thanking God for His grace to the Corinthians is NOT SOME GENERAL POINT OF THANKSGIVING. The Greek word that translates as “grace” shares the same root as the Greek word that translates as “gift” in v7. And later on in 1 Corinthians, we learn that a major area of friction and trouble in the Corinthian congregation was what Paul calls “spiritual gifts.” So while Paul is giving thanks for the totality of Gods grace to the Corinthians, he is already laying a foundation for the specific issues that were troubling these believers.
B. And he puts another layer of bricks on that foundation by mentioning “all speech and all knowledge” in v5, two key parts of the spiritual gift issues the Corinthians were fighting about, and that the Corinthians were “not lacking in any gift,” in v7. You see, the Corinthians were fascinated by the spectacular and the supernatural and the miraculous. They were a NT church without a complete NT. So they loved the spiritual gifts of new revelation. Their worship services were an absolute cacophony, which means a chaotic noise, with men and women shouting over each other with tongue speaking and prophetic utterances and words of wisdom and interpretations. Daily life included efforts to heal and perform miracles. And one person was claiming that his spiritual gift was more important than her spiritual gift, or that real Christians could do this amazing thing. We even see in the next part of ch. 1 that factions were forming that had different ‘spiritual gurus’ at their head. And these factions were claiming that only they possessed true knowledge, so you should belong to their group. And these factions were affecting many areas of congregational life.
C. So Paul is very eager to pull the rug out from under this wrong way of thinking. And he does this in two ways: The first way, which we are considering at the moment, is to remind them of their present resources. HE WANTS THEM TO SEE THAT THEY ALREADY HAVE ALL THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS THAT THEY NEED; they should not be looking for the new and the amazing and the extra. That’s why he says to them in v7, “you are not lacking in any gift.” You have everything you need to grow in the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
1. He says to them, in v5, “In every way you were enriched in all speech and all knowledge.” As we said a moment ago, speech and knowledge were at the heart of the extra-special gifts controversy that was causing so much trouble in the congregation. But in reminding them that they were enriched in all speech and all knowledge – even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you,” Paul is EMPHASIZING THE PREACHING AND TEACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD AND THE INWARD WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT CHANGES LIVES IN RESPONSE TO THE WORD AS THE WAY THAT GOD GATHERS AND BUILDS UP HIS PEOPLE. He is reminding the Corinthians that they experienced this when he, Paul, ministered among them. That is why he speaks in the past tense – it was given you, you were enriched, Christ was confirmed… Paul; is saying, You (Corinthian congregation) are already fully endowed with all the gifts of God’s grace. You should be thankful for your present resources rather than looking for a guru, or something extra and new and different and exciting. All you need is the preaching and teaching of the unsearchable riches of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. For that is how the Spirit reveals the gifts God has given to the congregation and the riches of life in the congregation of God’s people.
2. And we can learn something from this point, Brothers and Sisters, because this is true of every congregation of the Lord’s people, including ours. Do you believe that we as a congregation are not lacking in any gift? Are you thankful for the present resources that we have? God has placed you in this congregation, God has given you this preacher, God has given you these Elders and Deacons, God has given you these Fellowship Groups and this youth group and these ladies’ and mens’ Bible studies. Are you thankful for these present resources? Or could it be that you looking elsewhere or outside for something more or new or better? Now I hasten to add that none of this is to suggest the people or the activities I have mentioned are perfect and have no need to change or grow. None of this is to suggest that there are not other gifts among us that the Holy Spirit can discover and bring to the fore. The question is though are you thankful for the present resources of the church of Christ at Dovedale?
II. Well, a very important part of our being able to ‘Yes’ to that question is the second part of Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving. For having spoken positively about the congregation’s present resources, in vv8-9, Paul speaks CONFIDENTLY about the congregation’s FUTURE WELL-BEING.
A. The only thing that truly lifts the believer’s horizon from his or her own struggles, whatever they maybe, is the person and work of the Lord Jesus. And Paul does exactly that at the end of v7. He calls on these Corinthians, who were so absorbed with the issues and disagreements and strife in the congregation, to “wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
B. Now, let’s not beat around the bush here, the Corinthian congregation described in this letter was A BASKET CASE OF A CONGREGATION – it had divisions, chaotic worship, drunkenness at the Lord’s Supper table, blatant sexual immorality not dealt with, members suing each other in court, members not seeing anything wrong with the odd visit to a temple prostitute, marriage issues, people wounding each other through the misuse of Christian freedom, and even some who were denying the resurrection! But Paul is full of confidence about the future of this congregation. Whatever ups and downs they might face, Paul is certain that the Lord Jesus Christ “WILL SUSTAIN YOU TO THE END,” as he says in v8. Isn’t that astounding!? And although there were these terribly sinful things going on within the congregation, which surely included every single member of the congregation, in one area or another, Paul says that the Lord will “sustain you to the end, GUILTLESS in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Guiltless! Not less guilty than you could be or less guilty than others, but guiltless!
C. And in v9, WE LEARN THE REASON FOR PAUL’S CONFIDENCE. Is it the Corinthians? Is it their ability to work through these issues? It is their personal godliness? No. He says, “God is faithful.” Paul’s confidence was in the God who called the Corinthian believers “into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” You see, Paul was there when this congregation came into being. He saw these sinners respond to the gospel with faith and repentance. We have been looking at the evidence of a genuine profession of faith in our 1 John morning sermons. Well, Paul had seen it in Corinth. He knew that the Corinthians were God’s children. And Paul knows that God does not go back on His promises; In John 6:40, Jesus said, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” This is why Paul was confident! And Paul knows also that the Father never abandons His children. In John 10:29, Jesus said, “No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” That is why Paul was so confident concerning the future well-being of the Corinthian congregation.
D. Well, the practical implications of this glorious positivity and confidence are surely not difficult for us to see: Where does the Father prepare His children for eternal life? Where does the Father keep His children secure? Where does the Father give His children the resources that will sustain them to the end, guiltless? It is in the church; the congregations of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we must be unreservedly committed to a local congregation. We will encounter ups and downs and sometimes even be the cause of ups and downs. But here He has placed us. And here the unsearchable riches of Christ are being preached and taught and the Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of the members of this congregation. So we have every reason to be unhesitatingly confident about the future well-being of this congregation, because God is faithful.
E. Earlier in the service, we read JEREMIAH 32. Israel was a place of idolatry, immorality, and injustice. Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians were besieging Jerusalem. And Jeremiah knew that exile awaited the Lord’s people. But God told Jeremiah to buy some land. And although it sounded like the silliest thing to do, given the present circumstances, Jeremiah bought the land. And he bought it because the Lord told him that He would one day bring His people back to the Promised Land. And because of that promise of God concerning the preservation of the congregation, Jeremiah the individual could buy the land in confidence.
F. Well, that episode points us through this passage in 1 Corinthians to a much greater and eternal reality. God is faithful. So Believer, if you love the Lord Jesus Christ and the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have every reason to be confident that He will bring you to the greater Promised Land of heaven. Amen.