Well, as we prepare to come to dine with the Lord at his table, let us read briefly from 1 Corinthians chapter one. I'll read verses four through nine. I'm gonna be focusing on verse four. But Paul's first letter to the friends of his, people he cared deeply about, so much so he wrote several times. But beginning at verse four. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. who will also confirm to you the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this opportunity to look at your word this morning as we prepare to be recipients of your particular grace at the table. You have been and are and continue to be and always will be so very good to us. So bless your people now as we hear your word. Bless me as I speak it, that I be clear and kept from error. And bless your people in growing to be more like Jesus. It's in his name I pray. Amen. I don't know about you, but many aspects of life have turned out quite differently in the last couple years than I would have anticipated. Even two or three years ago, my best predictions have been thrown off course, much less 10 or 30 years, whether it's been job changes or relocations or you know, the pandemic as we refer to it now, or weather, or political movements. So many things have come across the historical record in these last couple years that I think few could have without divine insight, and none of us are prophets. We wouldn't be able to predict. Not that these are bad. I want to emphasize that. God's ways are not my ways. My expectations is not his decretive will. So it's a good thing what has come to pass, and we trust him for it. There is so much that I am very, very, very thankful for. So with that said, what struck me as I read this chapter this week was the immediacy, the sort of gut-level automatic reaction of Paul as he begins to write to his friends with the spirit of thanksgiving, and also who he thanks, what he thanks them for. All of these things are to be emphasized by us in our thoughts, in our words, interactions. So I just briefly want to draw our attention to that. How is it that Paul frames his view of the world in light of some difficult things he needed to say to his friends in the following pages? How is it that Paul views the whole world in light of God's working among men? So, beginning briefly with when does Paul express this thanksgiving, reading verse 4 again. after his initial greeting there, verses one, two, three, the very next words, the immediate, really the first thing he wants to say other than hello, this is who I am and this is who you are, saints of God, the first thing he wants to express to them are these words of thanksgiving. As I mentioned, he has a lot of other things he needs to say. Some are very difficult, some painful, a bit awkward and uncomfortable, some difficult topics he gets to in the remainder of this letter, and some of it's not even resolved, it comes in a later letter also. So, even with those very significant things to say, the first thing he wants to express is thanksgiving, how thankful he is. I know likely all of us, when we see a friend, when we visit with a co-worker, a family member at the end of the day, we've got lots of things to say, important, useful, necessary things to say to all those people. but I know I was very much convicted in reading this, is one of the first things I say to each of those people, something in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm glad to see you, and A, B, C, D, E, F, G, right? Thank God for you, I'm thankful you're here, I'm thankful for what you're doing, et cetera. So the immediacy, that I see as the key aspect of the when, when does Paul express Thanksgiving? But there's also a key word there in addition to the immediacy, it's the frequency. He says, always, I thank my God, always. And that is profound to think that he has that habit of prayer, that just natural inclination of thanking God in that way. May that be a spirit that I grow in and that we all grow in together. always expressing to our friends our thankfulness for them and bringing them up before the throne of God in prayer. Well, next, and it's kind of obvious, but it isn't obvious to the world. I pray it's obvious to us. But who is it that God, or sorry, that Paul expressed this thanksgiving to? Obvious to us. He thanks God, right? We wouldn't think of substituting somebody else in there, thanking anybody else for it. But note that this is not some generic, you know, I'm glad for the outcome or the circumstances are pleasing to me. This is, you know, a fun day and I'm having a good time. No, he is expressing very explicit, as it should be, as it needs to be, thankfulness towards God. Every gift has a giver, and God is the giver of all good gifts, right? That's James 117, I'm loosely quoting. So it is wise for us to not just give some general banal thanksgiving, like, you know, life is good, have a good day, but who is the source of this goodness, and to whom do we owe the thanksgiving and the gratitude for the good things that come to pass? To not give personal credit to God, I would assert, Really verging on becoming a functional atheist or a functional deist or modalist just sort of cramming God into this little doing things not the person of God who loves us and who cares for us and Expresses his loving care in these very real ways as Paul gets to in the following verses so what a joy to be able to talk to the person of God and always and immediately with that spirit of thanksgiving to say, Father, thank you. And then the what. Perhaps most important of all, what we read here is what Paul thanks God for regarding those believers in Corinth. Quoting that again, for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus. So there's lots of other things he could have thanked God for, and I'm not saying that thanking God for lesser things when you're talking to your friends or co-workers or family is less holy or something, but this is definitely a top-level thing to thank God for. Thank you, God, for the grace that was given to us, to you, the person I'm talking to, in Christ Jesus. The key underpinning thing that we thank God for is His grace. Remembering that grace is unmerited favor. It's earned by somebody, but not by us, right? There's nothing we could do to earn God's favor. Jesus did earn it, and then He gave it to us. His perfect life. having no sin, no sin at all, and his taking upon himself our penalty for our sin is what he then gives to us, that perfect righteousness, that cleanness, that cleaning the slate, that grace that he gives us. So when we look at and understand the world properly, we see that all gifts come from God by Christ Jesus. not just our salvation that fits in that category, it's not just forgiveness of sins and restoration of that broken relationship with God, but it is that, of course, but it's everything, every good gift, small things, big things, they all come from God. So, with that said, friends, I just encourage us to be humbled, to be encouraged, to be challenged also by these words written by Paul to his friends at the church in Corinth. God's grace, that unmerited favor, is all around us in our own lives. It's in the lives of the people we love and care for. That unmerited favor is ours only because of the work of Jesus on our behalf and in our lives. Not for any work we did, to remind us again, there's nothing we could have done to earn his favor, but for the great work that Jesus did. So let us be thankful. Thank God for his grace. Be quick and frequent and persistent in thanking God for His grace, that unmerited favor given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Father, there is so much to thank you for, but at this moment, I just want to thank you for your word and for how it gives us knowledge of the truth that you are working through Christ Jesus to bring us every good thing. May we not substitute anything or anyone in his place, for that would be gross idolatry, but grow us in a clear thinking and a clear expression of our love and gratitude to you for all these good gifts. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.