I Corinthians 1:4-9 –

⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ⁶even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Introduction

I grew up in a home with a dad who had a lot of stamina to finish a project. My dad and I would often work on cars. Far too often we were making repairs that were not going as well as we had hoped. When I was younger I would be along side of dad watching—as I got older I would begin to help—but I soon found out that I would grow weary and quit, but my dad would keep on working until the job was done. My dad was amazingly patient and persistent. I always had full confidence that the car we were working on would get fixed no matter how difficult it was. My dad was one of those guys who if he didn’t have the right tool—he would fabricate one to work perfectly. Dad would persistently stay with a repair until it was done.

In a much greater way, our text for this morning tells us how God persistently stays with us to finish the work that He started! And here is why this truth is so important.

Have you ever battled sin or trials and wondered if you were going to be able to make it to the end?
Have you ever felt weak, as if you may not have what it takes to make it and to remain strong to the end?
Have you ever faced discouragement to the point where doubt dominated your thinking?

I hope that at some point in your life you have felt weak and incapable of going on to the end! You might be thinking—Darrel, that is not the encouragement I was looking for this morning—but let me explain. Paul, in II Corinthians 12:9 records the words of the Lord Jesus when He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. Paul continues: That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong”. You see, hardships remind us that we need God’s grace! Why do we need hardships? Because we are so prone to be self-sufficient and to think that we can make it on our own!

Paul is writing to the church of Corinth, a church that was loaded with problems. But what is at the heart of their problems? Commentator Gordon Fee helps us understand one significant root of their problems when he states “The Corinthians are genuinely gifted, but as the letter reveals, they are self-satisfied and creature-oriented, boasting in mere human beings.” (NICNT, p. 36). Fee also states that “their problem lies not in their gifts, but in their attitude toward these gifts”(NICNT, p. 36). It was their inordinate attention on self and others—rather than God—that caused many problems within the church. Paul writes to them in I Corinthians to help redirect their focus.

Today we will focus upon verses 4 through 9. In typical fashion for Paul, he expresses thanksgiving to God for the Corinthians. But if you have read through the letter to the church in Corinth, you know all the problems they had, and you might appropriately ask—what do the Corinthians have for which can be thankful? Well, what the Corinthians have, we have also been given—and because of that we too should be very thankful to God! But for what is Paul is thankful? Three things. First…

I. Give thanks to God for what He has done (v. 4-7)

In verse 4, Paul says “I always thank God for you because…” and then he gives us three reasons why he is thankful. The first reason is this…

A. God has given you grace in Christ Jesus.

Here “charis” is the Greek word for grace, and it refers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus is God’s grace to His people. The Father sent His Son, Jesus, to this earth, and ultimately to the Cross to purchase our redemption. Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the penalty for our sin was paid in full. Today, if we are the recipients of God’s unmerited grace by faith, we are counted as righteous before God. We have peace with God. If you are “in Christ” by grace through faith, then there is absolutely no condemnation upon your life. Not now. Not ever again! God’s grace that is given to us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ sets us free from sin and death. That also means that the power of sin was broken. Born-again believers are no longer slaves to sin. We don’t have to keep sinning. We are set free from sin to live in obedience to Jesus Christ. This grace given to us in Jesus Christ also includes the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gives us power to live our lives for God’s glory and others good. We don’t have to keep on living proud, self-sufficient, and self-serving lives. We can, because of the grace given to us in Christ, begin to find our greatest joy in loving God! And, because we are no longer held captive to sin, and because we have experienced God’s great love in Jesus, we can begin to love others in right ways. We can place ourselves at the loving service of others for their good and for God’s glory! Because the grace given to us in Christ Jesus, the penalty for our sin is paid in full, and the power of sin in our lives is broken. But that’s not all! God’s grace given to us in the Gospel gives us great hope for eternity. We are given a great hope that when we leave this earth, we will spend eternity with Jesus Christ without the presence of sin. Because of God’s grace given to us in Christ Jesus, the penalty of sin is paid in full, the power of the sin is broken, and we have a Gospel-infused hope that one day we’ll be entirely removed from the presence of sin, and we’ll see Jesus face to face.

For what is Paul thankful? It is not what the Corinthians have accomplished. Rather it’s what God has accomplished in the lives of the believers through the Gospel of His grace. As Leon Morris states, “Mere human achievement means little to Paul”. Morris continues, “Paul doesn’t thank them for qualities such as faith, hope, and love (as in I Thess 1:2-3), but for what God’s grace has in fact done in them”.

You see, Paul is beginning to redirect their focus from man to God. Imagine for a moment if I was standing next to the Mona Lisa in Paris, France (a picture I actually had the privilege of seeing on a business trip). Pretend that I stood next to the enclosed case and talked with tourists as they came by—and as I talked with them, I talked with them as if I had been the one who had painted the Mona Lisa. What would happen to me there? I would get booted out quickly because everyone knows that Leonardo DaVinci painted the Mona Lisa in 1506. It would be absurd for me to try to take credit for something a famous artist had done centuries before. So to, it is wrong for us to take credit for something that God has freely done in our lives—the Corinthians were squabbling about following Paul, and following Apollos—they were fascinated with all of what man can do, but Paul keeps reminding them all the way through the letter that we are just clay vessels—their focus was on man, and it should have been on God—so Paul is at work to redirect their focus—from man to God

But let us continue, for what else is Paul thankful to God? Here it is…

B. God has enriched you in Christ Jesus.

Paul is thankful to God for how they have been enriched in every way. The idea here is that the Corinthians have been “made rich” or “richly furnished” in every way. But then he gives two specific ways in which they have been made rich:

1. In All Speech: This is kind of funny because one of the Corinthians problems was an inflated view of their speech. Yet, Paul begins by saying he is thankful to God for the way He has made them rich in ALL speech. As we will see later, Paul did not place a high value on rhetorical eloquence. Paul didn’t proclaim the Gospel in lofty words of wisdom. Instead, Paul’s preaching of the Gospel was made effective by the power of the Holy Spirit. Neither did Paul place a great value on the act of speaking in tongues if it wasn’t done in love, or the good of others. In fact, Paul said that if you speak in tongues without love its like an obnoxious clanging noise. Silence would be better than that. In chapter 14 Paul puts a huge emphasis upon speech that builds up the church. Paul was big on the body of Christ being edified. Paul would address their abuse of speech, but here in the beginning of the letter, Paul gives thanks to God for how their lives have been enriched in all Speech. This probably includes edifying speech they had received from him, and it would have certainly included edifying speech they have been able to give to one another in the church. The bottom line is this: Paul is thankful to God f...