How will Paul sum up what he has been saying in these sixteen chapters of the first epistle to the Corinthians? His theme has been the Lordship of Christ as it reaches into every area of a Christian's life. He has talked about living for Christ in a Christless world. Now what does he want them to remember above everything else? The last two things he mentions are the wonderful words, grace and love. Grace is the way in which God deals with us. He meets us in grace when we first come to Christ. Then he also gives us grace to live for him day by day. We call the first initial grace and the second continuing grace. It is continuing grace that Paul is speaking about here. How the Corinthians would need this as they faced life there in Corinth. It would not be easy for them in any way. But God's grace would prove sufficient, if they would ask him to supply it for them. Then he mentions love. He speaks about loving Christ (v.22) and his love for them in verse 24. What does loving the Lord Jesus involve? To love him is to put him first before everybody and everything. To love Christ is to want to be in his presence more than anything else. How much time do we spend with the Lord day by day? If we love him as we should, surely we will want to meet with him every day. Then to love Christ is to obey him. Jesus himself said, 'If you love me, keep my commandments'. This is letting the Lord Jesus rule within our hearts, in our relationships, our worship and our service. If we really love him this will be r what we want. So we come to the end of these readings in 1st Corinthians. Paul longed for them what we should want for ourselves-to be all that Christ wants us to be-to allow the Spirit of God to make real to us all the things Jesus Christ had made possible for us. |
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