Salutations That Reveal God’s Heart

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. NT sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 12, 1987.

Sermon transcript

Our scripture reading is from 1 Corinthians 1. That will teach you to trust your bulletin. Something I have to explain to you about the bulletin. The bulletin is written on Monday. I preach on Sunday. It’s a long way from Monday to Sunday. So this is 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

We’re reading the first nine verses, just the opening of this marvelous epistle of Paul. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. and Sosthenes, our brother. Unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, call to be saints.

With all that in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be to you, and peace. from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift waiting. for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Lord, there are many dangers for servants of your word, not the least of which is their pride. Father, it is your word that is to be communicated and Lord we ask that throughout the world this day as your word is proclaimed that messengers of it would not in any way obstruct the power the efficacy of that word by their pride and this prayer is offered with regard to this pulpit and the preaching that takes place here. Lord, therefore, train me in humility that Jesus Christ may shine forth perfectly for the benefit of your elect. Amen.

I have come to love the salutations of Paul’s letters. I didn’t always love the salutations of Paul’s letters, because I thought that those salutations were formal grievance, and rather empty, empty of any substance. I thought that they had something of a hollow sound to them, that they were somewhat perfunctory. What you would expect of a letter writer in the first century. So, when it came to the salutations of Paul, When I was reading through the Bible, I treated them like those genealogies in the Old Testament.

I didn’t spend much time on them at all. But I have come to see them in a different light. I have come to see them as filled full of the greatest kind of comfort. the greatest kind of strength and encouragement for the people of God. Paul is not the kind of person to do things without thought. He was not the kind of individual to do things without his whole heart being involved. And I would say that with regard to what you find in the center of its epistles, but no less with regard to what you find at the outset.

The simple greeting. The ancient world may well pass over these things as quite formal and just, even just a bit of polite foolishness. But you see, in them we have nothing less than a revelation of the heart of God, as that revelation is communicated by an official emissary of that God. And that’s why, when the salutation comes, when the greeting is heard, we should all sit up straight, and take it full face for its fullest benefit. Now there’s something here in addition to the revelation of the heart of God. There is as well a revelation of the heart of the Apostle, and a discipline that exerts itself upon that Apostle, and even further, a discipline that is then felt amongst those who have received the greeting. Yes, of glory for them, but also a discipline. with the revelation of the heart of God.

You note the typical Pauline greeting. Here in verse three, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the greeting isn’t Paul’s, it’s the Lord’s. The greeting isn’t from the earth. It’s not just a greeting from another letter writer. It is a greeting from heaven.

And Paul is claiming to be the spokesman of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He is claiming to have the authority to speak on their behalf and to extend on their behalf grace and peace. But we have said that this is a revelation of the heart of God. The heart of God being unveiled, opened up so that the people of God may see, may understand what God thinks. and even how he feels toward them, about them. Grace and peace through the Apostle is being extended to Corinthians here. in 1 Corinthians, but no less that grace and peace is being extended to you this morning. Church, congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what do grace and peace tell us about the heart of God.

In understanding them, we may be sidetracked a bit, because we are used to thinking about grace and peace in very fundamental ways. Grace for us means God’s unmerited love, his undeserved favor demonstrated towards sinners. And we think of that grace as being connected with the inception of our faith, the inception of our journey with God and our relationship to Him. Therefore, invariably, we place that grace at the outset of our relationship with God and with Jesus Christ. For by grace are ye saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of words, lest any man should boast. That kind of grace God’s unmerited faith.

And similarly, we think of peace. Peace being connected with what takes place initially when we come into a right relationship with God. Formerly we were enemies, now we are friends through Christ. Having therefore been justified by faith, we have peace with God. The animosity is gone. The hostility has ended. We have been reconciled. And whatever partition there was between us and God, that partition has been removed. That kind of peace.

Grace and peace at the inception of our relationship with God. Liable to be sidetracked, but you see, We should not think that that grace and peace that pertains to the beginning of our journey with God any less reveals to us the heart of God, for it does, to be sure. But when we come to the greeting here, we’re not talking about a grace and peace that is being extended to those who might become Christians, or just became Christians, but those who have been Christians, who are Christians, and are living in the Church, living Christianly. It is not the grace and peace then that begins the journey, but the grace and peace that belongs to the journey, that is in view. Now, how are we to understand grace and peace in this frame? Still it is unmerited, still it is undeserved, but you see, it is something that pertains to the necessities of the experience of the children of God as they make their way in life, as they progress in their pilgrimage with God.

The grace here might better be translated goodness. Here in mind is the goodness of God coming out of heaven, now being extended by this emissary of the Lord, the goodness of God, the wealth of God, the provisions of God, the abundance of God, the abundance of his kingdom, that being extended to all his subjects. Do you see how marvelous it is? The very wealth of heaven, the wealth of glory, the wealth that belongs to God is here being extended to all those who belong to God, as a testimony to the fact that God, in His heart, wishes nothing less than to give this goodness to those who are here. to give this prosperity, this abundance, to those who are His.

Now let me say something to you at this point. Here we are dealing with an argument that moves from the greater to the lesser. You may be arguing with me now and saying, Look, it seems to me every sermon that you preach directs my attention to some other place, a place I can’t see, a place I have to take on faith, that it exists at all. You’re directing my attention away from this world to another world. But I want to know, what’s God going to do for me now, today? in my present circumstances, with my present predicaments, my present problems. Do you understand the power of this?

It’s as if we are arguing from the greater to the lesser. Do you grab hold of it? If God’s heart is to give you the eternal unseen, How much more will he give you the things that you need in this world? If he gives you the greater things, he will certainly give you the lesser. Now do you have to run back and read the sixth chapter of Matthew? That’s the argument that Jesus is putting before his disciples there in the Sermon on the Mount. Why are you so anxious? Why are you concerned? Why do you fret so? Why is your stomach so tied up in knots all of the time?

Do you not realize that if he gives you the greater things, he will give you the lesser things? If He gives you eternal breath, He will certainly give you your daily breath. Now, will you not believe Him? Will you not trust Him? Will you not place yourselves in His hands? Completely. Do you fret about your work? Do you think your work is more important than worship? You wouldn’t think of missing a day at work, but you do think about missing worship. Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you.

Well, you see the connection then between the grace and the peace. You may want to spiritualize the peace that follows the grace, and that’s the direction that we go invariably with this peace, but not so. You see how connected that peace is to the grace. For if God has given you the eternal goodness that is heart, is determined to bestow upon you eternal blessings, then the peace invariably follows. Be anxious in nothing, but with prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God that passes all understanding shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

It’s true. Believe me, it’s true. I said to you as well that this was a discipline upon the Apostle Paul. Revelation of his heart, to be sure, because you see, when he extends this grace and peace to these Christians in Corinth, he does so as one who is in assent with them. He does so as one who consents with the sentiment expressed. He does so as one who wishes for nothing less for these saints than what God is extending to them. He wishes for them the full of grace and peace.

And so it must be for everyone who insincerely would speak those words. in the name of the Emissary, who speaks on behalf of the Father and the Son. There is a discipline, not just for the Apostle here, as he must bring his heart into conformity with what the intention of Heaven is.

There is a discipline at work in you, and we’ve already spoken about that discipline. Do you see into heaven, into the heart of God? Do you accept of him his intention with regard to you? Do you realize that this is what God wishes for you? Eternal goodness, prosperity, blessing and the consequent peace. A discipline of mind in you that will not allow you to believe anything less of God. That He stands right now extending to you the goodness the prosperity, the blessings of heaven, and its peace. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him.

And that’s the discipline that comes to be exerted within you, that you by faith will latch hold of these things and believe them with all of your energy. You can’t step back as if you have some sort of Roman Catholic notion of faith, that faith works in and of itself, that it’s automatic, that it’s magical. It demands of you your energy and your concentration. And if you will not give it that concentration, if you will not expend your energy, in your faith, you do not have the faith, and truly, the peace that here is extended will certainly be denied you, at least that much will be denied you.

How do you come to worship? You come sit and say to yourself, it has to happen to me. If it doesn’t happen to me, it can’t be real. If I have to exert myself in this thing, then it can’t be genuine. If I have to concentrate, it can’t be genuine. It has to reach out and grab me or it’s not real. That’s the devil’s trick. So, not half asleep, please. Not with your mind out the window, please.

Observing yourself, concentrating, utilizing the faith that is given to you, and focusing upon its source, the Father and the Son, the open heart towards you, giving you all of the blessings and the consequent peace. Father, truly, the salutation comes to us as an extension of the marvelous mercy and grace and peace out of heaven. And Lord, may we receive this salutation with joy and thanksgiving, but as well, Lord, may we in our faith be exercised with regard to it that Lord we would not remain apathetic or indifferent we pray you Lord that we might strain even in our faith as we are benefited by the eternal blessings and the marvelous peace that are extended to us by you Encourage us, Lord, in this regard, that the full benefit of heaven might register upon our souls, and that those things in heaven being secure, we would not, in the least, worry about the things that are here on earth.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.