Listen up, little ones
Listen for the words Jesus and Christ.
Reading
1 Corinthians 1:4-9—Resources for Renewal
Keys for kids
- Jesus Christ should always take first place in our lives.
- God has given us much grace through Jesus Christ..
- We have nothing to boast about but Jesus.
Questions
- Why should Jesus have first place?
- What do we enjoy now through Jesus?
- What will we enjoy for eternity through Jesus?
Notes
(See last page for authors. Today’s notes are from a commentary on 1 Corinthians by Roger Ellsworth.
Look at the number of times [Paul] refers to the Lord Jesus in these verses (1:4–9). For that matter, look at the number of times he refers to the Lord in the first nine verses. Some form of his name appears nine times in these first nine verses. Can there be any doubt that Paul was deliberately underscoring the centrality of the Lord Jesus? And isn’t this his way of saying the Corinthians had lost sight of their Lord? Hadn’t they, in fact, turned their attention away from him and become obsessed with themselves?
If this is indeed the case, Paul’s opening verses constitute his attempt to turn their eyes away from themselves and back to their Lord. Paul sought to do this by stressing for them again what they had in Christ. And what did they have? We can summarize it all in that word ‘grace’. …
The first thing the Corinthians enjoyed through Christ was saving grace (1:4). That simply means their salvation was entirely his doing. They had done absolutely nothing to earn or deserve it. Paul loved to dwell on this theme in all his letters.
The truth is, there was nothing for Paul to praise in the Corinthians. Everything they were and everything they had came to them as a gift of God’s grace, and when a person receives a gift, there is nothing for him to boast about. The credit for a gift always goes to the giver, not to the receiver. So Paul opens this letter, not by praising them, but by praising God for what he had done in them.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 131a, 85a
Prayer
- Give thanks for all that Jesus has done for you.
- Pray for the preparation for preaching God’s word this Sunday.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.