I Corinthians 15:1-11, ESV
Someone described these verses like the end of a movie: Paul rolls the credits beginning with the Director of All, Christ, and a summary of the gospel. Then the names scroll from Cephas to all the apostles. At the end Paul lists himself, least of all apostles; “untimely born”, meaning not ready, not fully equipped for his call; a persecutor of the church of God, unworthy.
Through it all, the operative word is grace. Not just any grace, but the grace of God. The Reformer, John Calvin, discovered that an important Bible of his time translated the verse to suggest that only half the credit is to go to God, while the other half is kept for our own work. Calvin insisted that Paul gave all credit to God whose grace is not in vain, for whatever good we have or do is what the Lord has given, which is, in fact, totally the work of grace – grace that can shape even the last, least and undeserving into what we are to be and to do.
I remember preaching in Florida when I look over at the choir and burst into laughter. They were holding up scorecards like those used in Olympic diving competitions. Seeing my reaction, the whole congregation joined in the levity. And, hey, my scores weren’t half bad! As I reflected on it later, I thought about how we go through life being scored, ranked, tallied and graded all the time.
Everyone we meet makes a mental mark – conscious of it or not – on how we look, speak and act. And let’s face it, often we are our own worst critic. We tend to compare ourselves to others and feel unworthy, unfit, and unable to be who we are called to be.
There is a growing number of those among the Woke and “Nones” – those millions of Americans who have no interest in religion – who give zeros to gospel believing church-goers. They label us as bigots, racists, self-righteous and superstitious – unworthy of any serious consideration. And there are others who care about the gospel only as far as it supports agendas of first importance to them. For them, I am what I am is not by the grace of God, as Paul said, but by some other rank or scorecard.
There was a young man born into privilege whose first importance was himself, much to the dismay of his Christian mother. He kept company with disreputable types and enjoyed petty theft. He disliked the Scriptures and had no use for the church. He had a child by his live-in girlfriend but would not marry her.
Then one day he found himself sitting in a garden feeling troubled by a sense of emptiness in his life, of being unworthy of all he enjoyed, and he did not want his life to be in vain.
He began to weep as he remembered what his mother had taught him, the same gospel Paul had received of first importance. Then he heard a voice nearby, perhaps from neighbors, saying: take up and read. Finding a Bible, he opened it and read from the Apostle Paul, and all doubt vanished! Though not Woke, he was awakened to the grace of God. An educated man of color, it was not his status or race, but the grace of God that gave him worth. He was Augustine, a champion of grace for the ancient church, his influence still felt today.
Just as we see the Apostle Paul writing in these verses his personal confession, Augustine wrote his Confessions to lift up the grace of God. He knew that the church has a message of first importance both for those who would think they are unworthy, and for those who think our work as Christ’s church is in vain and unworthy of them. This grace is greater than any doubt, prejudice or injustice. Grace does not depend on rank, race or reward. Grace does not alienate or separate, but reconciles and unites us in and with the risen Christ. It has no agenda other than to save us and work in us to be who God has called us to be, and to do what Christ wants us to do, in accordance with the Scriptures we receive and believe.
Augustine understood with Paul that we do not work harder to receive grace; we receive grace so that we might work harder! Our work now is to stand on this grace, hold fast to the Word of grace, and hold up the amazing grace of God in all that we say and do, because it is noticeably and critically missing in much of the messaging today.
Grace – as in the grace of God alone, not of ourselves or our own works – is the word of first importance we have received and must deliver to those who – conscious of it or not – work to diminish, divide and devalue the gospel Paul preached. Their efforts will be in vain, for God’s grace toward us is not! Now let us go and live like the grace that is with us!