Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Tuesday, 24 September 2024 06:30

Always Thankful to God for You
by Sarah Wootten Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

Division in the church. Pervasive immorality within the congregation. Lawsuits against brothers and sisters in Christ. Arguments concerning food. A tight hold onto one’s opinions. Pride, arrogance, immaturity, jealousy. You could use any of these words and phrases to describe the sins of the church of God at Corinth, and you would be right. 1 Corinthians was a necessary letter for Paul to write. He was exhorting the Corinthian church as their father in the faith to repent of their sin and stop walking down the path they had found themselves on, which would have certainly led to their destruction (1 Corinthians 4:14-16). And with this background, we read 1 Corinthians 1:4-5, which says, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge” (ESV).

What? With the laundry list of Corinth’s problems in view, it amazes me that the first thing Paul tells them is that he is always thankful for them. Thankfulness would probably not be my posture towards such a difficult congregation. But Paul knew something that I (and the Corinthians and probably you) often forget. That all of the Christian life – salvation, spiritual growth, obedience, particular giftings, and eternity – is all of grace.

God extended His grace towards the Corinthians in numerous ways. First and foremost, He sent His messengers to Corinth to proclaim the good gospel of Jesus Christ and granted salvation to many people. God gave them the Word, and He gave them understanding of that Word (1:5). But God extended other graces too. He confirmed the testimony concerning Christ in and among the people (1:6). Perhaps God did this by sending visual signs, as God often did in the apostles’ ministries to confirm the truthfulness of the gospel message (see Acts 14:3). But certainly, the Holy Spirit did this in their hearts, establishing in them the firm conviction that salvation is found in Jesus Christ. Either way, the Corinthians had a firm foundation in the gospel message and its truthfulness. There was no good reason for them to doubt or to be easily swayed to a false gospel.

Also, God by His grace gave them spiritual gifts in abundance. Verse 7 says that they weren’t lacking in any spiritual gift. God poured out on them every gift that they needed to grow in knowledge of Him and to live faithful Christian lives to His glory and honor. The greatest gifts that Christians receive is certainly those things pertaining to the gospel – union with Christ, forgiveness, eternity, etc. But God isn’t stingy in His gift giving. He lavishes upon us “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 1:3, ESV). I could never make an exhaustive list of God’s gifts and blessings, but certainly this includes prayer, His Word, local congregations, His Spirit, conviction of sin, faith and more. Sadly, believers don’t always appropriate these generous gifts that God has given us, so we don’t realize the greatness of the gifts. But God is still generous in giving the gifts.

Despite their sins, Paul recognized an abundance of God’s grace in the lives of the Corinthians believers; therefore, Paul could always be thankful to God for them. As Paul will say in 1 Corinthians 12, all Christians are part of one body in Christ. It makes no sense for a hand to hate a foot, or for an elbow to pretend like the stomach is of no importance. We are all members of one body together. Because all people apart from Christ are dead in our sins, we are all on equal footing. Our only hope is in Jesus Christ. Therefore, even when relationships are strained or when someone is struggling with an embarrassing sin, for all who truly belong to Christ, we always have reason, like Paul, to be thankful for one another because of the grace that He has extended to us.