Encountering God’s Goodness

In one paragraph

Brian opened the last Sunday of November by looking at how Paul begins his letter to the church in Corinth, a congregation that was far from perfect. The conversation centered on what Paul meant by "gracious gifts" and why genuine thankfulness flows naturally from a personal encounter with God's goodness, rather than from any effort to manufacture it. Paul's opening words in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9...

Read together

1. 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 primary text read aloud by a congregation member and discussed throughout the sermon
2. 1 Corinthians 12 referenced as the chapter where Paul lists the sign gifts of the Spirit
3. Romans 12 briefly mentioned by a congregation member before they corrected themselves back to 1 Corinthians 12
4. 1 Timothy 1:12-17 read aloud by the speaker to show Paul's personal experience of God's mercy as the root of his thankfulness
5. Galatians mentioned briefly as the location of Paul's list of the fruit of the Spirit

Talk about it

1. Paul opens his letter to a deeply troubled church by saying he always thanks God for them. What makes that kind of genuine thankfulness hard to hold onto when you can clearly see the failures of the people around you?
2. The group looked at the word 'gracious' in 'gracious gifts' and talked about grace as more than just the moment of salvation, describing it as God's ongoing supernatural enabling power. Where in your life right now do you most need that kind of grace, not just a one-time gift but a continual one?
3. Several people noticed that the gifts listed in these verses are meant for the benefit of the whole community, not just the person who receives them. What do you think it looks like in practice, in a place like Tribe, when someone sits on a gift rather than using it for the room?
4. Paul could be genuinely thankful for the church in Corinth, a congregation with serious problems, because he was personally aware of how much he himself had been forgiven for. How does your own experience of being forgiven shape the way you see and respond to the people around you who are still working things out?
5. The sermon closed with the idea that thankfulness is a natural reaction to encountering God's goodness, and that the antidote to a lack of thankfulness is a fresh encounter with that goodness. When was the last time you had one of those encounters, and what did it produce in you?