1 Corinthians chapter 1 Grace upon Grace - JS Gillespie 

The apostle blesses and prays for: 

'Grace' (1:3) 
'Peace' (1:3) 

Yet in blessing them with this, does he not bless them with the blessing they already possess? 

“I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ.” (1:4) 

Why does the apostle bless with the blessing they are already blessed with? 

This seems strange! 

Is it a way of ensuring his prayers are answered, by asking for what he already has? 
Does he speak in faith in verse 4 as though his prayers are answered? They seem to be genuinely enough already enjoying the Grace of God in their Christian life (1:5-7) 

Interestingly this is similar to the way in which Moses blessed the people of God in Numbers 6:24ff: 

“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” 

Moses blesses the people 
This is a people who have the Name of the Lord (cf 1Co1:2) 
Moses asks for Grace (cf 1Co1:3) 
Moses asks for Peace (cf. 1Co1:3) 

Yet did Gods people not already possess these blessings? 

“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:...” 

Had God not preserved them already through the wilderness? 

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” (Deut 8:2-4) 

 “The LORD make his face shine upon thee...” 

Had Gods face not already shone upon them? 

Had they not already known: 

The light of day 
The pillar of fire by night 
The light of Sinaitic law, giving them the privilege of being the only people who knew what pleased the God of heaven? 

“and be gracious unto thee...” 

Had God not already been “gracious unto them?” 

'G-R-A-C-E' 

Great, Riches, At, Christs, Expense. 

'G-R-A-C-E' 

Had these people in the wilderness, not already enjoyed Great Riches At Christs Expense? 

Had they not already enjoyed the manna from heaven and the water from the rock? 

They had already enjoyed Gods Gracious provision. 

Ah but that wasn't from Christ, was it? 

“And were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” (1Co10:2ff) 

So why bless them with a blessing already blessed with? 

Moses blesses Gods people in Numbers 6 at the threshold of a deeper enjoyment of the blessings already enjoyed. 

The promised land lay ahead and could be theirs for the taking 

The tabernacle has been constructed. 

The tent is about to be dedicated. 

New and deeper blessing is just around the corner. 

All they need, they already have, but they must go in for it more deeply. 

They need not pray for any more than they have. 

So this is a blessing to: 

To Get what we have been Given 
To Sustain what we have been Supplied with 
To Handle what we already Have 
To Profit from what they already Possess 

To Get what we have been Given 

They have already been “given” the “Grace” (1:4) 

Yet it is a resource that must be tapped into to enjoy. 

Like Isaac opening up the wells of Abraham his Father; the water was there, the wells had been dug, the earth just needed to be cleared out of them to enjoy those wells again; Genesis 26:18; digging the wells in the days of strife. 

The Grace was there, it just needed to be tapped into. 

Consider David as he approaches Ahimelech for bread and for the sword of Goliath (1 Sam 21). Think of the humility of a King to be, of the deliverer of Israel begging 5 loaves of bread! The provision was there for the asking and with it the sword of Goliath! With it he would deliver Keilah in 1 Samuel 23 and defeat the Amalekites in 1 Sam 30 and deliver the captives of Ziklag and his wife Abigail. 

To Sustain what we have been Supplied with 

Gifts given by Grace must be sustained by Grace 

God does not save and sanctify and set us free to live under our own strength. 

The gift supplied by Grace is the Gift sustained by Grace. 

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5) 

“  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38) 

To Handle what we already Have 

It will take Grace upon Grace for those different gifts to operate together in harmony (1 Co 12 – 14). 

Grace will be needed for: 

the hand not to go in the huff 
the foot not to get up and walk 
the eye to see the bigger picture 
the tongue not to mouth off at every opportunity 

That will take grace to handle the grace! 

This is something which seems to have been lacking at Corinth (1 Co12:15ff) 

What do we call the grace to handle the grace we have? 

Love – 1 Corinthians chp 13! 

To Profit from what they already Possess 

There was a purpose in this Grace that had been given 

These gifts had been given with a purpose in view 

With an “end” : 5056 : “telos” (1:8) 

A 2 fold purpose emerges from the giving of these gifts: 

The giving of Gods gifts (1:4-5) is confirmation of a faithfulness (1:9) which will continue and brings them into 'fellowship' with Christ (1:9) – Relationship. 

  

The giving of Gods Gifts prepares us for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1:7), that preparation is in the form of preserving or confirming us blameless (1:8), ie Christlike? “for we know that when we shall see Him, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” - Resemblance. 

Sometimes, in both the natural and spiritual sphere, when the Lord gives us gifts, blesses in Grace, or shows His mercy in our life we really quite enjoy it! 

We like getting the Grace! 

We miss the point that the Grace is Given for a purpose. 

cf. the parable of the pounds in Luke 19:20: 

“20.   And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: 

21.   For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. 

22.   And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: 

23.   Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? 

24.   And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. 

25.   (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) 

For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.” 

We can have the gifts but fail to use them them with focus and purpose! 

Here is an answer to the divisions at Corinth, over who is the greatest? 

Each believer perhaps with their own natural tendency to prefer: 

Paul – with his dramatic conversion (Acts 9); tales of turbulent service (2Co11:23ff) and missionary exploits (Acts), Paul is a preacher with a passion, living life on the edge. Not that Paul spent his ministry winding people up! There was a depth and a quality to his ministry, measured by its grasp and exposition of Old Testament scripture. Combine this with that the depth of his ministry. There is nothing flippant nor superficial about his exposition of justification by faith in Romans 4 as he draws the truth not only from his apostolic authority but equally from the life of Abraham and positive justification by faith and the experiences of David in the Psalms and negative justification by faith; 'blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute iniquity'. Or consider how he expounds the truth of election in Romans 9 from Gods dealings with Abraham and Isaac and with Jacob and Esau, and the hardening of Pharaohs heart and multiple OT quotations; Gen 21:12; Gen 18:10; Gen 25:23; Mal 1:2; Ex 33:19; Ex 9:16; Prov 16:4; Jer 18:6; Hosea 2:23; Hosea 1:10; Isa 10:22; Isa 28:22; Isa 1:9; Psa 118:22 – all in the space of Romans 9! Paul was a preacher with a passion but he didn't just wind people up! For some that combination of head and heart couldn't be beaten. 

Apollos – a powerful expositor of the Word of God (Acts 18:28); if you had been converted through Apollos it was the power of God in Christ, revealed in the Word that had moved you and gripped you and nothing else. Here was a man who could bring you in contact with the God of heaven, powerful, persuasive exposition of the Word of God. 

Peter – never mind the talk, lets get doing! Too much talk about here what we need is action! 

So who is the greatest then? 

 

The issue however is not about giving the preachers marks on their preaching, its about the marks they leave on us with their preaching! 

These servants are there to bring them into a: 

Relationship with the Lord (1:9) 
Resemblance to the Lord (1:8) 

If all that results is division over the servants then they are not profiting from any of the servants at all!

 

Notes from a sermon preached  as part of our systematic bible study series through the chapter of 1 Corinthians.  

Free audio, mp3 downloads  available above, of these messages as we expound verse by verse through the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. 

Yours by Grace in Christ 

Dr J Stewart Gillespie