Called Us into Fellowship with Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:4-9)

“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—God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.” (1 Corinthians 1:4-6)

Paul is thanking God for the saints in Corinth because of His grace given them in Christ Jesus and because they had been enriched in every way beyond speech and beyond knowledge. Even God confirms that his testimony about Christ among them is true. What are the measurements of God’s grace given among them? It was so obvious and visible among them how they had been changed in Christ Jesus despite of all kinds of problems displayed in the church. In Chapter 6 Paul says that they were washed and sanctified and justified in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord from the wrong practices and unacceptable things of the world.

“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

We have been enriched in every way only because we were cleansed, were sanctified, and were justified in the holy and glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Simple faith in believing the Son of God who paid the full ransom in the blood at Calvary moved the heart of the Father that He has liberated His children once for all from the bondage of sin and death. Our God is stronger than the devil who holds the power of deception and darkness. Jesus Christ the Son is the righteousness of God that has been made known. We have been clothed with the righteousness of God as His dearly beloved children in Christ.

“Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”(1 Corinthians 1:7-9)

The Christians in Corinth did not lack any spiritual gift, and neither do we. All believers in Christ has received the gift of God, the Holy Spirit whom God promised to give. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to God. That’s the hallmark of being Christians sealed by the Spirit of God. “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)

Christians are also the ones who are waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Life in this earth is not all but temporal. There will be much more ages to come after this life. The very resource of living as Christians is Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not biblical to understand life as something we are in control of the earthly life and after death Jesus would take over. No, Christ is in control of everything now and forevermore. He has given us the Spirit as the mark of His Lordship on our life. He made the universe in the beginning and has been running according to His good purpose and cause until all the words will be fulfilled.

Our confidence rests in Christ Jesus who indwells within forever by means of the Spirit. From the beginning of new birth in Christ Jesus if that is a genuine birth, He will keep us firm to the end, so that we will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. From the beginning, He saved us and continues to keep us firm and secure to the end by means of the Spirit, so that we will be blameless in His sight when He comes again.

Most of all, we have fellowship with Christ since we have been called by the faithful God. Fellowship is sharing lives together. We have been made alive and righteous, so that we share the life of Christ Jesus. All the resources of God and Christ Jesus are ours and we are His. Entering into the family of God by the grace of God and by faith in Christ Jesus, we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:17)

Since we always are in the fellowship with Christ Jesus, we can appropriate His resources, love, joy and peace anytime and anywhere and become the instruments of revealing the love, joy, and peace of God in our midst. So, we live now is not ours but all but His. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) Jesus Christ revealed the secret of His earthly life with the seven words, “He in me and I in Him.” The Son Jesus and the Father in heaven were in perfect communion all the time.

“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.” (John 14:10-11)

Prayer: Thank you, Lord for the marvelous grace of having fellowship with Christ Jesus. May we never forget but remember that Christ in us, the hope of glory and that He continues keep us to stand firm to the end until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. May we never forget that we lack anything since we have received the promised gift of God, the Holy Spirit! In Christ’s name. Amen.