The Saving Work of Our Faithful God

By Robb Brunansky

Published November 14, 2024

There are two significant traits that marked the Apostle Paul throughout his ministry – suffering and gratitude.

Paul was called to suffer as an apostle from the point of his conversion. Few days passed when he was not spending time in prison, being beaten or stoned to death or pursued or criticized, or standing trial. John MacArthur has quipped that when Paul went to a new city, he didn’t ask what the hotels were like but what the jails were like, because he knew he’d be staying in the jail at some point during his visit.

These physical attacks were not the worst of Paul’s sufferings, though, as he wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:28-29, where he noted that he was most affected internally by the spiritual burden of seeing the imperfections, sinfulness, and weaknesses of the church. All the churches, co-workers, and fellow believers he had loved, prayed for, built up, and sacrificed for abandoned him during his first trial at Rome. If anyone had a right to give up on the church, it was Paul.

Yet Paul was a man marked by gratitude. The same apostle who had suffered much, dying daily in service to Christ, wrote in Romans 5:3, “And not only this, but we exult in our tribulations.” Far from complaining and grumbling about the persecution he endured and the hardships of his concern for the churches, he rejoiced in his tribulations and continued to thank God.

As we look at Paul’s life and ministry, gratitude is the note he plays in the beginning of most of his New Testament letters – even to the church at Corinth, which was battling disunity, sexual immorality, disorder in worship, abuse of spiritual gifts, a lack of love, pride, selfishness, temptations to idolatry, and divorce. Not only did this church struggle with all kinds of internal problems, but its members also questioned Paul’s credentials, apostleship, wisdom, and speaking ability – even though Paul founded and spent 18 months shepherding this church.

When we consider the circumstances, it’s shocking Paul starts his letter by thanking God for the Corinthian believers. What does he have to be thankful for when he is suffering so much and being mistreated by this church in crisis because of their sinfulness?

The opening of 1^st Corinthians gives us an understanding about how our hearts can produce gratitude to God in circumstances where, humanly speaking, we might not find any reason to give thanks. Gratitude is often the antithesis of our reactions to adversity, difficulty, or suffering we experience in the church. However, Paul shows us here how we can give thanks – even for imperfect Christians in trying circumstances. This gratitude does not come because of what people have done, are doing, or will do; the gratitude explodes in our hearts because of what our faithful God has done in saving us.

Paul outlines three things that cause him to give thanks to our faithful God for His saving work among the Corinthians, and these should move our hearts to gratitude.

First, we can thank God for His imperfect church because His saving work enriches us with faithful speech.

Paul says that God’s grace has enriched them with these gifts that lead to faithful speaking of the truth of the Word.

I love what Martin Luther wrote on this verse, “Christianity can never be so pure that there aren’t also some false and wicked people mixed in…And so whoever wants to examine the church only to find what’s broken or impure among the whole lot of Christians will miss the church – even the gospel and Christ – and will never find or encounter the church at all. SO this is said to us as a comfort: if we keep the gospel pure, we have the treasure that God gives His church, so that we lack nothing…There are always some who do not believe and some who are still weak and imperfect. Nevertheless, the treasure and riches of doctrine and knowledge are surely present…Where the Word remains, there the church certainly remains also.”

Where we find the truth of the gospel faithfully proclaimed, no matter the imperfections of the people, which are bound to be many, we have, there, the true, rich church of Christ. It was this understanding that enabled Paul to give thanks for a church like the one in Corinth, because he recognized they received the gospel and the ability to faithfully proclaim the gospel – and thus, the treasure of God was deposited there.

Second, we can thank God for His imperfect church because His saving work equips us for fruitful service.

The Corinthians had an abundance of spiritual gifts in their congregation, to be sure, but the reality is that every Christian and church has exactly what they require to be fruitful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. None of us lacks the necessary gifting or resources we need to be fruitful for the Lord – even though all have different gifts, ministries, and callings.

Paul also exhorts us to wait for the revelation of Christ, which is Jesus’s return – the great hope and expectation of Christians, where we all should fix our eyes. Paul’s expectation is that we are doing the kind of waiting that is active, that looks to the reward, and that seeks to be pleasing to our Lord when He returns out of love for Him. We are expected to produce fruit while we are waiting, responding to God’s Word by faith to see the fruit of grace grow in our lives.

I love how Paul gives thanks to God that the Lord has given the Corinthians everything they need to be fruitful in serving Him. That’s a prayer of thanksgiving coupled with a reminder that they must be about serving their Lord in their lives and ministries.

Finally, we can thank God for His imperfect church because His saving work ensures us of final salvation.

We might look at an imperfect church like Corinth and think, “Will these people actually make it to the end? Are they even really saved?” That’s why Paul here reminds the Corinthians that because the Lord began a good work of grace in them, God would confirm them to the end. With all their problems and issues, God was still at work in their midst, giving them confidence that they would make it; and on the last day, they would be saved and inherit eternal life with all the saints.

The text makes it clear that on the last day, believers will be blameless before the Lord, which means God will discover no fault with us when we stand before Christ. When Jesus returns and our lives are evaluated, when the justice of God searches our hearts and minds, when the standard of God’s law is applied to our every thought, word, and deed, and when we are scrutinized by the perfect and unswerving holiness of the Lord – God will find us to be blameless. This is the glory, beauty, and hope of the gospel, that God will render us faultless, righteous, and blameless because of Christ and His righteousness alone.

Paul’s confidence about this truth is rooted in His unwavering conviction that God is faithful. If Paul’s hope for the Corinthians was grounded in the people or church, he would have no reason to give thanks because that would be a false hope. We will never be found blameless because we are faithful, but because God is faithful. These words – God is faithful – should be a rock beneath our feet, an anchor for our souls, peace amid a storm, hope during failure, strength when we are weak, light in the dark, joy in the midst of sorrow, and certainty that crushes fear.

Paul then fortifies us further by noting that God called us into fellowship with His Son, joining us to Christ so that we are one with Him. Because of this truth, the Lord will certainly not cast off those whom He has called to have fellowship with His beloved Son. These words have no shortage of comfort for believers because everything in this passage reminds us that if we are in Christ through faith, we will persevere to the end by God’s grace and be found blameless before Him.

When we think about who our God is and what He has done for sinners like us, our hearts will, like Paul’s, overflow with gratitude to Him – and not only for our salvation, but for His work in the people of His imperfect, blood-bought church. The secret to being thankful for God’s people, when there is much to criticize or complain about, is to recognize that God is at work in His flawed people. We, with Paul, can always thank God concerning His church, because His grace has been poured out on His people.