Lacking No Gift

The church in Corinth was a mess. Its members have divided around favorite teachers. A man is living with his father’s wife, and the church is proud when it should be grieving.

And that’s only half of it. Members are suing one another in pagan courts. At the Lord’s Table, the wealthy eat their fill while the poor go home hungry. Worship has become a contest of spiritual showmanship. Some of them doubt the resurrection altogether.

And yet, before Paul addresses a single one of these problems, he gives thanks.

“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:4). Then he continues: “you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:7).

Not lacking. This church, of all churches.

Paul is not flattering them, and he is not naive. He knows how much needs to change. But he begins by thanking God for what he has already done. The Corinthians have been enriched in Christ, their speech and knowledge bearing witness to his grace among them. The gifts they possess are not evidence that they have arrived. They are evidence of the generosity of the God who called them.

Look at the grammar of the passage. Grace was given to them (v. 4). They were enriched in Christ (v. 5). The testimony about Christ was confirmed among them (v. 6). And the Lord will sustain them to the end. God is faithful, Paul says, and he is the one who called them into fellowship with his Son.

The Corinthians will need correction. They will need to learn that gifts are given for building up the church, not for making themselves look important. Paul will not hesitate to tell them so. But his correction begins with gratitude for God’s grace, not doubt about whether God has been gracious at all.

This is why Paul can say they lack nothing. Their sufficiency is measured by the generosity of the Giver. The problem in Corinth was not a shortage of grace but a misuse of it. The cure would not be receiving something new from God, but understanding what they already had and why they had it.

That is a needed word for those of us who love an imperfect church.

We know what it is to see factions, apathy, and weariness in a congregation. We may be painfully aware of what our church needs: wiser leaders, deeper love, greater patience, more people willing to serve. Those needs are real.

But we can look for evidence of grace alongside them. Whom has God given us to encourage the discouraged, teach the Scriptures, welcome a stranger, or quietly carry a burden? What gifts have we stopped noticing because we are so focused on what seems to be missing?

Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are waiting for “the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The gifts are given for the waiting. The church lives between the first coming of Christ and his return. And God equips and supplies everything required to hold on, to love one another, to bear witness, and to arrive at the end “guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 8).

Paul’s word to Corinth is a word to us. If you are in Christ, you have not been shortchanged. You may be immature. You may be misusing what you have been given. You may need correction. But you belong to Christ, and in him you have received the grace you need. The God who called you into fellowship with his Son will sustain you to the end. He will not abandon what he has begun.

So give thanks for the grace you can see. Put the gifts God has given you to work for the good of the people around you. And when the church’s weaknesses—or your own—discourage you, remember the one on whom Paul’s confidence rested: “God is faithful.”