1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Divine Service
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Paul in our Epistle lesson is sending a letter to the church that he had founded in Corinth, in what is modern Greece.  This is one of at least four letters that he sent to this church, but over the centuries the others have been lost, and only two remain for our use.  And Paul’s letters are not nice, complimentary letters, but primarily concerned with correcting some of the things being done in Corinth that are inappropriate for a Christian congregation.  Some of the misbehaviors found in this letter would make a modern sinner blush!!

Even though this is to be a letter of admonishment, Paul still greets this church as saints – those who have been called to faith in Jesus Christ.  And he begins by greeting them in the way that the church has since adopted:  grace and peace to you.  It has become such a common greeting, such a ritual pronouncement, that we often forget exactly what is being said: grace and peace to you: to all of you.  What exactly is being wished?  What is grace?  What is this peace that is being wished for you? 

Grace is the unmerited favor of God that He has shown to man.  This is what was being wished to those in Corinth, and is being wished to all of us.  Grace is what we do not deserve.  Grace is something that we do not earn, it is something given by God as a gift.  And what is our greatest gift?  It is the faith that we have been given, the ‘grace given you in Christ Jesus.’ 

And Peace – what kind of peace could Paul be wishing.  The people of Corinth had a very typical lack of warfare that was common in the ancient Roman world.  They were no a border town, so there was a freedom from war.  They lived in a peaceful time.  They lived in a very prosperous city.  Trade was good – safe from piracy and lucrative.  Corinth was a town that thrived on the transfer of good across the isthmus from the Aegean to the Adriatic; this was a safe shortcut to Italy and Rome – well worth the charges for portage and taxes charged in Corinth. 

It appears that Paul is not wishing freedom from warfare as the peace that he is greeting the church in Corinth with.  What other peace is there?  For Christians, there is another peace.  There is the peace granted us in the Gospel; the peace that we have in the assurance of life eternal.  The same peace that Paul blessed these Corinthian Christians with is the same peace that we know and hold to today: the life eternal that is ours.

And Paul refers to God as our Father, the same phrase that we use in The Lord’s Prayer that we will pray later.  This is not some anonymous god, who shows up whimsically.  This is the God who cares for us as our Father would.  A God who cares about us – each and every one of us.  A Father who, just as any earthly father would be, is disappointed in his children when they do not do as they are told.  Who has given man a series of regulations to live by, and has watched as man has consistently ignored them. 

Men, and women, have ignored even God’s simplest directives from the very beginning.  With Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, ignored God’s command to not eat of one of the trees that God had planted in the Garden.  A simple request ignored and transgressed by man.  And the penalty for that simple transgression has passed down to us through all generations.  God promised that with that sin in the Garden, that man would know death.  And each and every one of us will know death unless Jesus returns to judge the world before our death.

Paul’s salutation greets us not just from the Father, but also from the Lord Jesus Christ.  Not simply Jesus or the Christ, nor even Christ Jesus; Paul’s greeting is from ‘the Lord Jesus Christ.’  Jesus, the name given Him by his mother, at the behest of the angel Gabriel.  Christ, which means the anointed one – a title referring to his kingship and priestly office.  And the use of Lord, another special word when used in this way.  The Greek version of the Old Testament always translated the name of God by using this very same word.  And that version of the Old Testament is almost certainly what the people of Corinth were using for their Scriptures.  Paul is confirming the deity of Jesus by using ‘Lord’ in this way.  He is identifying Jesus as one with God the Father, and also the Anointed One who had been promised in the Scriptures.

This is the First Sunday of Advent, the Season of the Church when we look forward with anticipation to the birth of this Lord Jesus Christ.  We look to the joy that is ours in the knowledge that Jesus was born into this world of the Virgin Mary.  Yet, we also remember the reason for His coming into the world.  The church recognized Advent as a season of penitence and abstinence, similar to Lent.  So, we live in two worlds in this Season, just as we live in two worlds in life. 

In our life, we have the two worlds of our life in this world, and our life to come in the heavenly world.  We continue to live our lives in the world.  Often, we can proclaim with Paul that we ‘desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.’  (Phil 1:23) Still, we remain in this world, even as we attempt to not be a part of it.  We work to resist the temptations of the flesh that are so common in this world.  We fight the lure of money, for we know that ‘the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.’  And that ‘some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith.’ (1 Tim 6:10) 

So, in this world we have the grace of God – the gift of faith – the grace given us in Christ Jesus.  And in the next world, the one that we so earnestly look forward to, we have the peace of God.  The peace of God that is also from the grace of God, for without the faith that God has given us, we would not have any peace; we would not have the assurance that eternal life has been given to us.  That is the greatest peace!  And that knowledge that eternal life awaits us also gives us peace in this world, the peace and calm that only such a gift can bring.

And just what has procured that peace for us?  The Lord Jesus Christ.  We await the celebration of His birth, knowing that only a few months later, we will recognize His death on the Cross at Calvary for our benefit.  On that Cross, He took upon Himself all of the sins of mankind – all of the sins of each of us, all of the sins of every man, woman and child that has ever existed, is alive today, or that will be born in the future.  And for each of those people, He won the forgiveness us sins that is part of the grace given to us – and creates the peace within us.

Jesus died on that Cross for us – and then rose again three days later to proclaim victory over death!! And that victory was also for each of us.  His victory over death proclaims to all that death no longer has power over man – Jesus rose again from the dead.  He has ascended into heaven where He reigns with the Father.  He has promised to keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.’  This blamelessness is not by our actions, but accredited to us by God through our faith in Jesus Christ.

‘God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.’  Yes, God has called us into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  He has called us through the Holy Spirit into faith.  He has blessed us through our Baptisms.  And he continues to strengthen us through the Body and Blood of that same Lord in communion. 

We have the peace of God – and we do not yet understand exactly what that means.  It truly exceeds our ability to understand.  We know the promises of God are true, we know that God is faithful to His promises.  We accept those promises by His grace.  And we look to life eternal in His peace.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen