We Have the Greatest Riches
1 Corinthians 1:1–9 (ESV)
Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus, rich in God's grace toward us all: Let me begin this morning by drawing your attention to these first few verses of Paul's letter to the Corinthians: Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here we have a sweet reminder that the Savior who has been made manifest to the world is OUR SAVIOR, and that these words of grace and comfort are ADDRESSED TO US, for we too have the riches of God's grace in full measure given to us.
WE HAVE THE GREATEST RICHES
I. Rich Because of the Gospel Truth
II. Rich Without Any Lack
I. Rich Because of the Gospel Truth
The riches that we have, though are not the kind that you can see — this is the usual case with rich people.
You can see this money here. It isn't much. It would take a roomful of dollar bills to really amount to anything. Rich people don't have roomfuls of money, they have stock certificates and bankbooks with big numbers in them. You normally can't see the riches of a rich person. So also with our riches in Christ … people cannot always see our riches, but they are most certainly there.
Paul says, … in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—
The riches of Christ are ours because the testimony, the truth about Christ, the truth of the Gospel has come to us. These are the riches that are ours:
— enriched in your speaking
— enriched in your knowledge
— enriched in every spiritual gift
— enriched in being kept strong to the end
— enriched in being blameless on the day of the Lord
— enriched in God's faithfulness to you
We will soon see how these are great riches indeed, but first let's talk about how they became ours — through the testimony about Christ that was confirmed in us.
What Christ did was to redeem us from our sin. The word "Christ" means "anointed one." Long before anyone knew it, long before it ever happened, Christ, the man Who is God, was chosen to be our Savior from sin, and anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism.
In time He accomplished our salvation — and now the benefit of His salvation, the riches He earned for us, are delivered to us through His word.
1 Corinthians 2:7 (ESV) But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
Peter puts the EPIPHANY emphasis upon this especially when He says, 1 Peter 1:20 (ESV) He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
God created us all, and still preserves us. That's a fact that touches all, whether they believe it or not. Christ died for all. That's a fact too – true whether a person believes it or not. But for the benefit of Christ's work to come to us, it must come to us through the word of God. Romans 10:17 (ESV) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
1 Peter 1:23 (ESV) since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
It is for this reason that St. Timothy Lutheran Church is a confessional church — that is, the most important thing about the church is WHAT IS TAUGHT and confessed. To say that this is a confessional church is to say that there is such a thing as truth. That truth about God is not subject to human opinion — it isn't just what we want it to be. Truth about God is something that He reveals to us through His word, so that we can know it FOR SURE. Not completely, but truly, so that we can distinguish between TRUTH and FALSEHOOD in those matters about which the Bible speaks.
For you, and for your spiritual RICHES this makes a huge difference. You don't have spiritual riches because you have a particular OPINION about this Christ — that He is true God, that He died your death for you, that He rose from the dead.
You have spiritual riches BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT this Christ is true God, that He died your death for you, that He rose from the dead. This word gives you spiritual life and riches because the Holy Spirit uses it to reveal the glorious truth to us.
So it is a blessing to us whenever a church heeds the word of Christ to faithfully proclaim this message, that is, whenever a church is a faithful, confessional church. So we are blessed in our fellowship in the ELS, WELS, and the 20 church bodies of the CELC.
Jesus makes this command in His most basic commission to His church: Matthew 28:20 (ESV) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
He emphasizes it to His disciples, John 8:31 (ESV) So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples"
And He underscores it through His apostles: Galatians 1:8 (ESV) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
It is through this Gospel that we are enriched beyond measure!
II. Rich Without Any Lack
We have already mentioned these riches:
— enriched in your speaking
— enriched in your knowledge
— enriched in every spiritual gift
— enriched in being kept strong to the end
— enriched in being blameless on the day of the Lord
— enriched in God's faithfulness to you
But how are these riches for us? Probably in many ways, but for now consider this. It's just a bankbook, but if the numbers in it are big enough, and if they are true then we can say that here are riches. These are riches because they can accomplish something for us — they can put us in possession of something else.
Probably most of us think of riches in terms of security. If we were rich, then we wouldn't have to worry about food, clothing, shelter, and other necessities of life. (Actually God wants us to rely on Him for these things. "Give us day by day our daily bread.")
Compared to "bankbook riches," the riches of God's grace are staggering. The blessings they convey make the riches of a sultan meager by comparison. Through the gospel, you are rich in everything! The list proceeds to a sort of climax.
— enriched in your speaking
You can speak the very truth of God, in speaking the truth revealed in His word as opposed to the lies of the devil that have become the propaganda of this world. Most blessed are the words, "In the name of Jesus, I forgive you." Those words are true, when spoken according to Christ's command to anyone in sorrow over their sin. They are true to you!
Certainly the thunder of the law is in your speaking when you declare it, condemning this world. But more importantly, yours also are the priceless words of the Gospel.
— enriched in your knowledge
You have knowledge of God that is grounded in truth. Put another way, you have certainty regarding WHO God is WHAT He has done, and especially certainty that He loves you, and has made you acceptable to Him by His grace, though faith in Jesus Christ.
— enriched in every spiritual gift
As God's word is part of our lives, the Holy Spirit enriches our lives. As Christ tells us through Paul Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
And where can you buy such things as these? Yet they are free through this precious word of God.
— enriched in being kept strong to the end
One thing that the riches of this world cannot buy is strength in old age. It is of the nature of physical life that it dwindles and diminishes and goes out. Yet so great are the riches that we have through God and His word that we may even grow in faith, and in certainty of God's love and our salvation, unto our dying day.
— enriched in being blameless on the day of the Lord
And that strength we speak of is strength of faith, strength of confidence that Christ Has taken all our sins upon Himself, so that we stand before God without sin now, or in the day of our judgment. No riches on earth could buy this remission of sins, it had to be purchased by the precious blood of Christ.
— enriched in God's faithfulness to you
And Paul ends his list with the source of all these riches — the promises of God to you. The Gospel, the testimony that Paul speaks of — they are the same as this faithfulness, they are in fact the very promises of our faithful God, as He gives and keeps His eternal promises.
Surely we may speak of these riches as Paul does to the Romans: Romans 11:33–36 (ESV)
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
AMEN.
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