GIVE THANKS FOR THE GRACE OF GOD

I Corinthians 1:1-9

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

November 26, 2006

On this past Thanksgiving Day, I trust that you had several reasons for which to give thanks. In this or in any season, there is always cause for giving thanks. But there can be no greater cause or reason for thanksgiving than that of God’s grace. It is an “amazing grace” by which we have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved in Jesus Christ.

In our passage for this morning, we find the theme to be precisely this. When Paul wrote this passage, the Corinthian church was in trouble – serious trouble. This church that Paul had founded had some very serious concerns and issues. But before addressing each of these critical issues, Paul began his letter with a note of gratitude for the grace of God, a grace that was still at work in their individual lives, and in their life together as a church.

As we look at what Paul said to the Corinthians, we can also relate to such thanksgiving ourselves. The reason for this, of course, is that the amazing grace that was at work in the Corinthians is the very same amazing grace that is at work in us.

WE CAN GIVE THANKS FOR THE GRACE OF GOD

IN OUR CONVERSION.

“I always thank God for you

because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus.

For in Him you have been enriched in every way –

in all your speaking and in all your knowledge –

because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.”

There is no greater work of God than that done in the human heart. By God’s grace and power, the heart of a person can be so changed as to yearn for Jesus Christ and to trust in Christ.

In the book of Romans, we are told that “there is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away …” [i] Do you hear the emphasis on “no one”? We do not understand, seek or turn to God all on our own. God has to do some spiritual surgery on our hearts before we even begin to think of Christ. Then grace continues in leading us to faith in Christ.

This is precisely what John Newton had in mind as he wrote:

“Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.”

You see, God’s unmerited love reaches in before we ever reach out to Christ. Before we ever thought of God, God thought of us. Before we ever reached for God, God reached for us. In the thinking, in the reaching, and yes, even in the receiving, there is to be found the grace of God. It is all of grace; all of it!

In the grip of that grace, we are converted as we turn to Christ and make our response to Christ a personal one. Young or old or in-between, Christ will be of no meaning to us until we personally apply the promises of the Gospel. Head knowledge alone will not seal this work of grace in our lives.

Dr. J.I. Packer illustrates this for us in his own life. This Christian theologian and author has made a powerful impression in our world. I have at least twelve of his books in my own library! But it all began with the work of God’s grace in his heart, first in being given the gift of growing up in a solid Christian family in England.

Then, when he attended Oxford, Packer participated in a Christian Union group (similar to our Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in the States). There, one evening, Packer was listening to a sermon given by an elderly Church of England rector. The first half of the sermon left Packer unmoved. But the second half spoke to him deeply, as the minister told the audience of his own conversion.

That’s when Packer came to a rather startling realization. As his biographer tells us,

During this narrative, Packer suddenly – and traumatically, as he recalls – realized that he was not a Christian. Though not a person given to thinking in images, he found a picture arising from within his mind. The picture was that of someone looking from outside through a window into a room where some people were having a party. Inside the room, people were enjoying themselves by playing games. The person outside could understand the games that they were playing. He knew the rules of the games. But he was outside; they were inside. He needed to come in. He had never come in. His mind focused on the thought: ‘I need to come in.’ [ii]

When the preacher closed his sermon with an invitation to personal commitment to Christ, the college student quite willingly stepped forward to do so, making his own personal commitment.

Packer was quite clear as to what had happened to him. He already knew about the basic elements of the Christian faith. He did not need anyone to explain it to him. He had needed to be challenged to ‘come inside’ – to make a full personal commitment to Christ. [iii]

The Good News of the Gospel will do us no good if it only remains in the head and not in the heart. But when we do make that heart commitment and “come inside” - be it as a little child, a teenager or college student or an adult of any age – there comes the realization of an amazing grace that makes the heart leap for joy, and the mouth exclaim the praises of a God of such immense and unconditional love.

II

NOW, FOLLOWING OUR TEXT,

WE CAN ALSO GIVE THANKS TO GOD

FOR HIS GRACE THAT SUSTAINS US

ON OUR JOURNEY.

“Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift

as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

He will keep you strong to the end …”

The God who brings us into the embrace of His mercy and grace has a love for us that will never let us go. It is a favor toward us that, though undeserved and unmerited, is yet tenacious and unrelenting in its grip on us. It will sustain us in the good times and in the bad, in the moments of ease and dis-ease, in the times when we are comfortable, and in the times when we are too comfortable.

Turning to John Newton again, this is precisely what he had in mind in saying:

“The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.

Thru many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;

‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

It is an amazing grace that sustains us when we are weary, one that leads us through the dangers and toils of life and there are many! But it is also an amazing grace that will never be content in allowing us to succumb to the snares of our own making and of our own doing. God will do what is necessary to faithfully “lead us home.”

A good illustration of this comes from one of Max Lucado’s books. [iv] He tells the story of a flight over Missouri he was on. Because of air turbulence, the flight attendant told everyone to take their seats. But the passengers weren’t very responsive, so she warned them once again: “The flight is about to get bumpy. For your own safety, take your seats.”

Most of passengers obeyed the order, but a few didn’t. That’s when she changed her tone: “Ladies and gentlemen, for your own good, take your seats.” Lucado thought to himself, that everyone was seated by then, but he was wrong.

That’s when he heard the voice of the pilot. “This is Captain Brown. People have gotten hurt by going to the bathroom instead of staying in their seats. Let’s be very clear about our responsibilities. My job is to get you through the storm. Your job is to do what I say. Now sit down and buckle up!” Just at that precise time, the bathroom door opened, and a very embarrassed, red-faced man came out and took his seat.

Apart from some humor that can be found in this incident, there is also the lesson to be learned. Far from being thoughtless or insensitive, the pilot simply wanted the man to be safe and unharmed, and able to complete his journey. As Lucado puts it, “Good pilots do what it takes to get their passengers home. So does God.”

Remember in life the words of the captain, dear friends. Our gracious God and Father has taken it upon Himself to get us through the storm. Our responsibility is to trust Him, and to do what He says. And in doing so again and again, we will find ourselves giving thanks for a grace so sustaining, that it truly is utterly amazing.

III

LASTLY, FOLLOWING OUR TEXT, WE CAN GIVE THANKS FOR A GRACE

THAT WILL BRING US AT LAST INTO HIS PRESENCE.

“He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless

on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship

with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”

The God who brings us into a relationship with Himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ, is also the God who will sustain us and guide us on our journey; and this same God will not prove Himself to be anything but faithful in bringing us at last into His presence. We will be brought into His presence as “blameless” or “guiltless” only insofar that by faith, the perfect obedience of Christ and the perfect sacrifice of Christ has made us so.

Here, we turn to the final stanza of the hymn:

“When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise then when we’d first begun.”

Have you ever wondered to yourself, perhaps in singing these lines: “How could I ever be shining brightly as the sun?” “How could I ever stand in God’s presence like this?” All of my faults and sins, the things I’ve done and failed to do – how could I?

Well, the Bible tells us how. In Malachi 4:2 we read: “For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” As we trust in Jesus Christ, the “sun of righteousness,” we shine with His righteousness before the Father. God the Father sees us already shining in the righteousness of His own Son, credited to us through faith. That is His word of promise now, and we can go Home believing it to be so.

One of the great servants of God in the history of the Scottish Kirk is a man by the name of Robert Bruce. He suffered much in his ministry for Christ at a time of persecution of the faithful in the Kirk, but 4-5,000 grateful souls attended his funeral.

Just before Bruce died, his daughter was giving him breakfast and was about to give him another egg when he said to her, “Hold, daughter, hold; my Master calleth me.” He then asked that the family Bible be brought and that the second half of Romans 8 be read to him, as his eyesight had become so poor. Of course, the words of this great passage include the promise that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It was at that moment that Robert Bruce then asked his family, “Set my finger on these words,” and then added, “God be with you my children. I have breakfasted with you, and shall sup with my Lord Jesus this night. I die believing these words.”

A plain flagstone lies where he is buried, with his initials, and in Latin the words of Philippians 1:21: “Christ in life and Death gain.” [v] Yes, for the Christian, death is gain!

Oh, there are so very many reasons for which to give thanks! But there is no reason greater than a grace that saves the lost and the blind, takes them safely through dangers, toils and snares, and leads them safely home. Thanks be to God, and all through Jesus Christ our Lord!