I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— (I Corinthians 1:4-5)
This
is a standard sort of greeting from Paul. I always thank my God for you.
For whom do I thank God? For whom do I always thank God? I suspect he doesn’t
mean 24/7, but he thanked God for it whenever the Corinthian church came to mind. I can’t say I do this. I thank God when something happens, but not
every time I hear their name. It’s a start.
But
then I get to the next phrase…because of his grace given you in Christ
Jesus. Paul wasn’t thanking God because the Corinthians had their Christian
walk down pat. You know they didn't if you’ve read the first letter to the Corinthian church. But God gave them grace, and Paul thanked God for them
because that grace was demonstrated in their midst somehow. Somehow, God stepped
in and did what they couldn’t.
The
first application is that we should learn to be thankful for the Church
and our churches even though the people in it aren’t perfect. This is contrary
to the reaction of the world, which says that if the church isn’t perfect, and
the people in the church aren’t perfect, they’re all hypocrites, and that
justifies rejecting them and the church. While we must not accept sin, the Church
should be a place that sees broken and messed up people as those to whom and
through whom God wants to show His grace.
The
second application is with other people. Even those who are not saved have been
shown grace; their lives reveal some aspect of that grace. We should thank
God for the grace He has given them, even if they have hurt us or offended us. The
third application is with us. Do we thank God for the grace He has given to us
and through us even when we mess up? Do we need to pray that God would open our
eyes to that grace, shown in all three ways? I do.
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