The Privileges of Faith

August 29, 1992

Lesson: 1 Corinthians 3:5-23

Text: 21 "All things are yours..."

Have you ever wondered what it might have been like to grow up wealthy? (With money, that is. Without having to "make do" on every little thing.) I have wondered myself.

I'm a depression child; I have trouble with a verse that says: "All things are yours!" I find it, frankly, hard to believe!

The Depression made one indelible impression on me, I'm afraid! I catch myself quoting the price of everything— pinching pennies. That is not all bad.

But I need to beware lest I become like Judas who believed all extravagance was wrong, even when it was poured in fragrance and love over the head and feet of Jesus.

God's children never should waste anything. Like good rich children we should realize the worth of every dollar. But still the fact remains: we are NOT Depression Children spiritually! We are children of the King of kings. And here is Paul telling us:

All things are YOURS!

What can he mean? ALL THINGS! MINE!

I believe this means that when we belong to God in Christ, then like a loving father He seeks the very best for us!

I believe this means that when we are where God wants us to be, then heaven and earth are obligated somehow to see that God's best will works for His glory and our ultimate good.

I believe this means that you and I are incredibly wealthy and yet that usually we don't know how to "zero in" on our privileges:

I. GOD'S CHILDREN HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF PARTNERSHIP WITH GOD IN LABOR

The privilege of working.

Work is not a curse; work has been cursed ["In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou till the land."]- there are elements of drudgery in even the most exciting lines of labor. But we live to work; our joy is in our accomplishment. Life consists of purpose, of mission. We do not live, we cannot be fulfilled until we have found a meaning for our lives.

This verse tells us that believers are co-laborers with God. We are not hapless slaves, to carry on God's labor as He commands; we are not spectators to watch God work as we sit back and wish; but rather we are slaves of love, willing to labor FOR God, only to discover that He intended that we work alongside Him, and be a part of what HE is doing in this world.

[The work of the institutional church is not totally coincidental with the work of believers together with God. There is good and necessary work to be done in and for the church. But most Christians will find their place of fulfillment outside the official, designated tasks of the church! The church becomes an equipping, supporting, energizing, loving center out of which the work of the church members, working together with God, is carried forward.]

Work has a bad name among some evangelicals. We are saved by grace. No question about that. Not of works, lest any man should boast. True.

But later in this same epistle (1 Corinthian 14) Paul speaks about grace bestowed on himself, and in the same breath says "I have worked harder than any of the other apostles!" Grace enables us to harness our energies

II. GOD'S CHILDREN HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF THE AWESOME BEAUTY OF WORSHIP

There is that within us that desires the beauty and the majesty of temple worship. We may not recognize it; we may have stifled it— but there is that within each of us which cries for orderliness and beauty.

The church— God's people collectively ARE God's temple. Together we constitute the habitation of the great God. All the beauty and majesty and symbolism and glory of a cathedral are built into God's temple.

Low-energy; high-energy— zeal— human joy— all are good in turn as they fill a place. But nothing but the inhabitation of God in His holy temple will satisfy the need each human heart has for taking his or her place in the living cathedral which is the home of God when His people are at worship.

Willimon's remark about an evangelical who left to join the Episcopalians: he "loved the dignity and stateliness and ritual and ceremony of their services." "I love Episcopalians who are birthright Episcopalians," was Willimon's remark. "But somehow low-church people never quite get it right." The rector's blunt retort to the would-be Anglican: "Go join the Masons! We don't want you!"

III. GOD'S CHILDREN HAVE THE HIGHEST PRIVILEGE OF ALL IN BELONGING TO GOD

The privilege of belonging. personal faith/belonging

We think of wealth as an accumulation of possessions. The Corinthians had adopted to some degree a narrow view of what it meant to be people of faith: "This is how genuine faith IS:"

But Paul said, "No! This radical belonging to Christ (YE are Christ's!) puts us at the center of all truth: ("Christ is God's!- - and in HIM, then ALL THINGS ARE YOURS!"

What does that mean?

Conclusion:

We get everything backward because we start with the premise that we know what will satisfy. We are pressured to "add faith" to our loves just in case there may be some truth to this heaven and hell stuff.

We work hard so that we can retire from work.

We think of worship and beauty in worship as superfluous, and want religion that is "practical" and that "meets our needs."

We think that "belonging wholly to Christ" is something for missionaries or for people stupid enough to be full-time pastors or holiness college professors.

We think that really being serious about our faith must be like going on a diet: everything good is fattening.

But the Bible tells us that when we belong to Jesus everything good in the universe is in orbit around our best interest!

ALL THINGS ARE YOURS!

Not because in and of yourself you are so great— but you are Christ's and Christ is God's and so Your work is God's work and God's work is your work and Your worship is attended by angels...