![church at communion 2]()
We Are Blessed to Be in His Presence
We Are Blessed to Be in His PresenceFree from Blame and Made His Partners!
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
† I.H.S †
As the Apostle Paul desired for the Corinthians, may God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace!
Thank God you belong to Jesus!
An observation I heard more times than I could count yesterday is one familiar.
“How do people get through this without Jesus?”
“How does the secular world deal with this?
And to be honest, I don’t know, but I have an answer to their problem, at the end of this message.
So when I got back to church yesterday, and I looked again at the passage, what caught my eye more than it did before was Paul giving thanks to God for his people and the grace He’s given, for they belong to Jesus.
And so memories of after the service came back, so many of your faces, resonating with these words of Paul.
I have to thank God that it the grace He has given so evident, as is that you belong to Jesus, you are His! All of the words of comfort you offer each other confirms it, as we seemingly do it month after month, year after year. The gospel I share with you from up here, or in the MPR, I get to see them lived out far more clearly, as the riches of God’s gifts is seen in you.
I don’t have to prove His presence is true, you know that, even if you are little hazy about all the details, we cannot deny that God carries us in times like these.
Look at what we do, this isn’t possibly without God’s work being true
I don’t know how often you think about Jesus coming back, never mind are eagerly waiting for His return. Most of the time for me, it is a prayer of desperation, a prayer because I don’t know how we are going to cope any longer, or dare I say, how much more of a challenging life we can endure.
That’s the same kind of feeling Isaiah had in the Old Testament, when he cried, Lord, just burst open the heavens and come down!!!!
We’re waiting Lord! Just rip open those skies and get down here!
I mean what are you waiting for Lord?
We’re not the first people to struggle, and we aren’t the only people who think the struggle’s gone on long enough. According to the Book of Revelation, even those in heaven, those who testified to God’s love cry out, “How long, O Holy and true Lord, how long until the suffering is dealt with?” (Rev. 6:10)
God’s answer to them is rest a little longer, the number of your brothers and sisters aren’t complete. Remember that please. That the number isn’t complete….
The church is like Maxwell house….
So how do we endure all the suffering? All the pain that sin causes in our lives? If God won’t come and take us all home right now, how will we get past tomorrow?
How can we endure to the end? How will we be strong and faithful from this moment until Christ returns?
While Jesus isn’t coming back for the final judgment yet, He promised that God would never abandon us, that He would never leave us alone. Here he promises it again,
“He will keep you strong to the end,”
But it doesn’t end there, there is more , “so you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus returns”
Hear that guys? All blame! By guys I was talking to the men who are to blame for everything! You know who you are!
Seriously, that promise is twofold. The first is that God will personally sustain us, and keep us strong until Jesus returns. The second is that we will be blameless – completely righteous, innocent of all sin, completely cleansed by God, our soul completely healed.
What we can’t do, He did already. For our strength comes from our being untied to Jesus’ death and resurrection in our baptism, in God claiming us as His, for it is when we were united to Jesus that we became His, new creatures, that He fully cares for and sustains.
Because of Him we were sinners, and now we are forgiven, righteous, holy, and this is how Jesus will find us, the very work He did on the cross made it possible, and made it happen
Partnership with Christ – from His death till He comes again
So let me bring back up the idea of how people get through this life without knowing God.
It’s not supposed to be that way, and in fact, even as God planned for us to be blameless and holy, and strong to the last drop, he planned for those people who didn’t know His comfort.
Just as the Father sent Jesus to us, Jesus sends us to them.
You heard me right, that’s what the idea the Apostle is getting to, when he says, “God will do this, for he is faithful to do what He says, and he has invited you into partnership with His son, Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Our partnership, our communion, our fellowship with Jesus is so complete, we share in His vocation of Savior. Not that we are crucified for their sins, but they hear about that incredible act of love, and the resurrection through us. They hear of the love of God that will sustain us through this seemingly broken, shattered life.
And our words will confirm the work of Jesus, as the Holy Spirit draws them to Him, as we share the hope we have.
They don’t have to go through this life without Christ, and certainly, we know that God doesn’t desire that they go through life without hope, and for that reason, He isn’t come back yet…
You and I are Jesus partners, have been since our baptism, and through us, through the gospel, we share with family and friends, they will know that God is with them as well…
And then on the days when they like us are broken and exhausted, or tire of crying, and dealing with the guilt and shame of sin, they will know the power and beauty and strength and peace found in these words,
The Lord, who loves you, is with you!
AMEN!