1 Corinthians 15 (2)

Pray Psalm 103.1-6.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.

Sing Psalm 103.1-6.
(Old 100^th: All Creatures that on Earth Do Dwell)
O my soul, bless the LORD’s great Name! His many benefits proclaim:
He pardons sins and heals disease, and from the pit grants us release.

With mercy rich and steadfast love He satisfies us from above,
revives our youth, works righteousness, and justice serves for the oppressed.

Read 1 Corinthians 15.1-11; meditate on verses 9-11.

Preparation
1. How was Paul able to be so fruitful in his ministry?

2. Why did he consider himself “the least” of the apostles?

Meditation
Grace is the starting point of salvation, and only grace can make our salvation fruitful. Paul is the best example of this.

He was an unlikely candidate for salvation, given his hatred for Jesus and the Church, and that he actively persecuted the believers in Jerusalem and elsewhere. But grace is not obstructed by the will of sinful people. Grace follows the will of God. When God was ready to save Paul, no amount of his willing otherwise could prevail to frustrate God’s plan.

God continued his grace to Paul so that his salvation would not be in vain. He prepared Paul, sent Barnabas to work with him, opened doors of opportunity for ministry, sustained him faithfully, and blessed his work abundantly. All this was the grace of God at work in Paul, as he himself testified here. It was only by grace that Paul was able to do the work and realize the fruit of ministry throughout the Roman world.

We need grace every day. We must not take the grace of God for granted, presuming on His largesse by failing to thank Him for grace past and appeal to Him for grace sufficient for all our times of need. God intends to spread His grace through us to others, who will give Him thanks and praise as they enter the Kingdom of grace and taste of the goodness of Jesus (2 Cor. 4.15).

Apart from the Lord and His grace, we can do nothing. Seek grace daily and live it out fully. As you do, God will bless your work and bring glory to Himself. For this is why He shows us grace each day.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162.
“…so we preach and so you believed” (1 Cor. 15.11), and that was the point, all along.

One of the most admirable traits about Paul, Moses, David, and Peter is that they did not let their past sins hamper their present ministry.

Paul, as he admits in this passage, “persecuted the church of God” (1 Cor. 15.9). Moses murdered a man (Ex. 2.12); David committed adultery and then had the innocent party murdered (2 Sam. 11.1-24); and Peter denied three times even knowing the Lord Jesus (Jn. 18.17, 25, 27).

But their sin led to repentance and forgiveness and taking up the Kingdom work prepared for them to do. And we are called to do the same, regardless of whether or not we feel worthy, or crippled by past sins. We, too, are forgiven, and called to go forward in our walk of faith.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your Presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You” (Ps. 51.10-13).

A grievous misleading takes place when one Christian leads another astray, to believe that salvation is about them, or about how happy or entertained they should be at church, or about how healthy and wealthy their newfound faith will make them. Pray this prayer, then bingo, problem-free living with a touch of bliss.

I fear that is why many believers fall away from the faith, because they have been misled from the get-go about what to expect. As the saying goes, “Unhappiness is the difference between what we expect and what we experience.” Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16.33). Expect trouble. It happens. Don’t be disappointed when it does. Be ready for it. Dress for it (Eph. 6.10-17). But by all means, experience Jesus, through His Word and through prayer; and ask for the Holy Spirit to dwell within you.

In Jesus and in serving Him—within His Kingdom, as King and Lord—we experience peace. In the world, where we all happen to live now, we will most assuredly have tribulations and troubles. We may even get sick, be poor, and not be hugely popular. But we do take heart, and find encouragement, in the fact that our King has overcome everything.

And the point to our salvation?

It is to get to work to offer this gift to everyone in our Personal Mission Field. Because as Paul stated, “as for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6.19, 20).

And whether this Gospel is heard from my lips or from yours, makes no difference. But what is important?
That the Gospel is preached, and others believe (1 Cor. 15.11).

For reflection
1. What is the Gospel? How would you explain the Gospel to an unsaved friend?

2. What has the Gospel done for you? That is, how has the grace of God through the Gospel affected your life?

3. Whom will you encourage in the grace of God today? How should you prepare for that now?

Paul says all this in order to show that despite his great sins and unworthiness, the grace of God was not given to him for nothing. Ambrosiaster fl. 366-384(), Commentary on Paul’s Epistles

Pray Psalm 103.17-22.
Thank God for His grace in saving you, keeping you, growing you, and using you for His glory.

Sing Psalm 103.17-22.
(Old 100^th: All Creatures that on Earth Do Dwell)
But evermore to those who fear the LORD brings lovingkindness near;
His righteousness to them extends and to their children without end.

He rules upon His throne in heav’n; His sovereign rule o’er all is giv’n.
You angels, bless the LORD, rejoice, who live in strength to heed His voice.

All you who serve Him, bless the LORD, all you who heed His righteous Word!
Let all throughout the cosmos whole unite to praise Him, with my soul!

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available by clicking here.