It’s All About Jesus!

2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/15/17
1 Corinthians 1:1-9


It’s All About Jesus!
I. He called you.
II. He enriches you.
III. He keeps you.


Every sports season includes the discussion about who should be awarded the most valuable player. In the coming months the entertainment world will be extending awards for best actress, best actor, and best producer. Businesses routinely award employees for exemplary work.

But you never hear any discussion about the greatest person in all of history. That’s because from the world’s standpoint, there wouldn’t be and couldn’t be any consensus. Such a discussion would be pointless.

But John the Baptist had no problem making that decision. We heard in this morning’s Gospel that he saw Jesus walking by him and he pointed to Jesus and told his followers, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” In other words, there walks the greatest person in all of history and he’s so far and away above everyone else that number two isn’t even in the picture.

In a way, St. Paul makes the same declaration in this morning’s sermon text from 1 Corinthians. In the opening nine verses of this letter, Paul refers to Jesus Christ by name a total of nine times. No other section of God’s word contains more. For Paul, it’s all about Jesus. That’s what he wanted the Corinthians Christians to know. It’s what he wants us to know this morning. It’s all about Jesus and the blessings come to us. Let’s see what those blessings are.

Part I.

We blush every time it happens. A nationally known Christian falls into some public sin and disgrace. In the past, we had repeatedly heard them touting their Christian values and encouraging others to live the Christian life and then it happens. Satan gets the best of them and they fall hard into sin and tarnish the name “Christian.”

How about Christians falling into these sins? Factions and dissentions. Blatant sinful pride. Obvious prejudice. Open sexual immorality. Speaking abusively about one of the Lord’s apostles. Lawsuits among church members. Sounds more like unbelievers than Christians, right? Would you be surprised to know that the Corinthian Christians were guilty of that very list of sins? You certainly would if the only thing you knew about the Corinthian Christians was from these first nine verses of Paul’s letter to them. You would think he was writing to the most holy group of Christians on the face of the earth. Listen again to what he writes, “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Called to be holy? Indeed they were.

And so were we. Because it’s not all about them just as it’s not all about us. It’s all about Jesus. And the truth is that he has called us. He called us not because of who were are but because of who he is. That’s called grace—the grace of God the Father. His grace is his favor which we don’t deserve because of our sins. His grace moves him to call us to be his own by faith in Jesus.

He can call us to be holy because of what Jesus has already done for us. When John pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God, he was declaring the work Jesus had come to do for us. That work culminated in his sacrificing himself on the cross for us. Because Jesus lived and died for us, God can call us to be holy.

But that saving work would mean nothing to us if it weren’t for the work of God the Holy Spirit. He’s the one who worked saving faith in our hearts—a faith that takes hold of the forgiveness Jesus won for us. With our sins washed away, we stand in the holiness Jesus won for us.

You see, it’s all about Jesus. He called us.

If your holiness before God depended on your record, how would that record look? Would there be any chance you could have strung together a week’s worth of sinless days? No? How about two or three? Not a chance? Same here. The truth about us is that our day isn’t full of holiness; it’s full of sin. Thoughts we know we shouldn’t be thinking. Feelings we know we shouldn’t be having. And then come the sinful words that reveal the rotten side of our hearts. That’s why we pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” And he does! Through Jesus. Through Jesus he washes those hearts clean and calls us to be holy—to live lives that glorify him because…it’s all about Jesus.

Part II.

Which of the following two do you spend more time contemplating: how much you need or how blessed you are? Does your heart spend more time yearning for something or rejoicing over what it already has? When your life is all about Jesus, you have every reason to rejoice over how blessed you are.

Listen to Paul state that very truth, “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge—because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” Remember the sins these Christians struggled with daily and yet Paul thanks God for them because of what Jesus was doing for them. He was enriching them in every way. In spite of their glaring sins, there were some tremendous gifts among the Corinthian Christians. In a later chapter of this letter Paul makes mention of some of them. Some had the gift to heal others. Others had the gift of speaking in tongues. Still others, the ability to interpret that tongue-speaking. There were others who possessed uncommon spiritual knowledge and wisdom. These weren’t abilities that the Corinthians worked hard to obtain and develop. They were gifts from Jesus himself.

There are tremendous gifts from Jesus here among us as well. Maybe they aren’t as glitzy as speaking in tongues or healing others, but I submit they’re more useful. I see people who encourage others in their walk of faith. I see others pitching in with all sorts of tasks as we carry out the ministry God has given us as a congregation. I see people who take on a task and carry it through to completion to the glory of God. I saw tremendous musical gifts on the part of children, teens and adults this past Christmas. When I see these gifts on display, I see faith in Jesus. And that’s the way it should be because it’s all about Jesus. He enriches us.

Speaking of our congregation, I don’t think we have a huge struggle against sinful pride as we use the gifts God has given us. But is this struggle true of us? Do we struggle with thinking evil of others if we think they aren’t doing what we think they should be doing? That’s not fair, is it? We have no idea exactly what someone else is facing in life or what other responsibilities they have. Our responsibility isn’t to judge others, it’s to encourage them. First, let’s encourage each other to take our sins regarding the way we have failed to use our own gifts properly to the cross of Jesus and find our full forgiveness there. And then, washed clean by the Lamb of God, let’s use our gifts to the glory of Jesus and encourage others to join us. Because it’s not about us; it’s all about Jesus who enriches us.

Part III.

Have you ever had a child you worried about? Every parent has. Paul had a congregation full of them. In chapter after chapter of this letter Paul exposes the sins of the Corinthians and the problems those sins were causing. In many respects, their church-life was a mess. Would they make it to their heavenly home? I’m sure Paul wondered at times.

But Paul knew it was all about Jesus and he wanted the Corinthians to know that, too. He wrote, “[Jesus] will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” Paul’s confidence was in Jesus to use his word and sacraments to keep the Corinthians in their saving faith.

Are there days in your life in which you wonder if you’ll make it to your heavenly home? Are there days when you doubt it will ever happen? Those doubts and fears often arise when we’re keenly aware of our sinful shortcomings, when we realize we’re not living like the children of God that we are, when guilt over some terrible sin bombards our hearts and robs of us our spiritual peace. Then we relegate ourselves to hoping we make it heaven.

“Jesus will keep you strong to the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When Jesus returns to this earth, he will say only one thing to you, “Come, inherit the kingdom I have prepared for you. You are mine by faith in me.” You see, it’s all about Jesus and not about how great your failures, your shortcomings, your sins are. The Savior who died for your sins also rose from the dead. He uses his almighty power through his word and sacraments to keep you as his own.

In the final analysis it doesn’t matter who is judged to be most valuable, or who is recognized for what they have accomplished. In fact, it doesn’t even matter how miserably we’ve failed our God. What matters is Jesus. It’s all about Jesus. It always has been. It always will be. And you and I are blessed eternally because of it. Amen.