Advent 1 – You Will Have Every Gracious Gift

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You Will Have Every Gracious Gift

He had it all. Many years ago, when I was a child there was a rock star called, “M. C. Hammer.” He was famous for his big, baggy pants. But, sadly, what he became even more famous for was that he seemingly had it all, and then lost it. He had over 30 million dollars. And in a few short years he spent it all. In God’s word we find a congregation like that. They had it all. In the opening words of Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth, we read these words: “³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— ⁶ God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. ⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” (1 Cor. 1:3–7 NIV11-GKE)

Corinth had every gracious gift a congregation could want. They had money. They had intelligence. They had wisdom poured out on them by an apostle of Jesus. They had that and so much more. If you can think of a spiritual gift, they had it. Paul points out this fact as he begins his letter because, in chapter after chapter after this, he’s going to have to expose how, gift after gracious gift, they have squandered these gifts God had given to them. There is a long list of ways they squandered these gracious gifts God had given to them. But, to give you a foretaste of what life in the Corinthian congregation was like, we can have a look at the Lord’s Supper. The Corinthians had exchanged the forgiveness emphasized in the Lord’s Supper for potluck-style fellowship. They made the Lord’s Supper into a club, not a sacred way that Jesus in his body and blood along with bread and wine gives us forgiveness. They squandered this gift so much that Paul told them that they didn’t even have the Lord’s Supper anymore. We can also have a look at how they viewed Paul’s preaching. They concluded that apostolic teaching was unexciting teaching. Think of the powerful irony: They have an apostle teaching them—someone who has been an eyewitness of Jesus and has been taught by him. But Paul’s preaching and teaching didn’t meet their expectations. They didn’t get anything out of his sermons.

My friends in Christ, those are just two of the ways the Christians at Corinth squandered one gracious gift given to them after another. But it’s useful for us today to look at Corinth. For we have done the same in our own lives. We today face the temptation to exchange the primary gift of forgiveness in the Lord’s Supper for the lesser gift of fellowship. We today face the temptation, that instead of asking whether our pastor is teaching what was handed down to the apostles, we can put unrealistic expectations on preaching and teaching—concluding that it’s not just the pastor’s role to teach and preach God’s word, but it’s also his role to entertain me.

But, my dear friends, it gets worse. For a heart that squanders good and gracious gifts then can be ashamed of those gifts. We can conclude that there is no way we get to have the gifts that God gives to us in his word. That’s why Paul starts out his letter telling his fellow Christians in Corinth many times and in many ways that they have every gracious gift. They have it all. They lack nothing. They have every gracious gift for salvation. He wants them to know that Jesus died for squanderers. He wants them to know that there is this amazing irony that each of us has taken for granted the gracious gifts of forgiveness that Jesus has won for us. But yet that gift of forgiveness is yet there, not trashed and destroyed. It’s there won for us by Jesus and waiting for us in his word.

We and the Corinthians both have every good gift for salvation. But we also have every good gift for strengthening. It’s the beginning of new year. And every year we are reminded both that, on the one hand, Jesus could come at any moment to rescue us from this present evil age on Judgment Day. But on the other hand, we also are told to wait patiently. And my dear friends in Christ, doesn’t it take so much strength to struggle against sin day by day. Doesn’t it take so much security to cling to that salvation day by day? That’s why the apostle Paul concludes with these words: “⁸ He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:8–9 NIV11-GKE)

God will strengthen you till you reach your heavenly goal. How do we know this? God is faithful. So my dear friends in Christ, I invite you to read the rest of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. In these words you will find a people who had it all, and were seemingly going out of their way to squander it all. And in that you will find yourselves too. But you will also find a Savior who saves you from the times you squandered his gracious gifts to you. And you will find a Savior who strengthens you till you arrive at your heavenly goal. Amen.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we wait for you to be revealed on the last day. As we begin a new year lead us to live each day looking at what is in front of us. Lead us to repent of our sin and cling to your salvation. But also lead us to look ahead of us at the heaven that is on the other side of the finish line. For you are faithful. You will save us from our sin and strengthen our faith.