Scripture referenced 6 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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1 Timothy 2:5 quoted at opening to introduce the song about one God and one mediator
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
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Keep this verse
1 Corinthians 1
the message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
5 that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;
6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
8 who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
10 Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.
12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.
16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.)
17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void.
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.
22 For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;
27 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
28 and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:
29 that no flesh should boast before God.
30 Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
31 that, according as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”
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1 Corinthians 9:1-27
the main passage preached through the entire sermon
1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord?
2 If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 My defense to those who examine me is this.
4 Have we no right to eat and to drink?
5 Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
6 Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work?
7 What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?
8 Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn’t the law also say the same thing?
9 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for the oxen that God cares,
10 or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope.
11 If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things?
12 If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ.
13 Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar?
14 Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News.
15 But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void.
16 For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about; for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me, if I don’t preach the Good News.
17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.
18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.
19 For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law;
21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.
22 To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
23 Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.
24 Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win.
25 Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
26 I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air,
27 but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
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Deuteronomy 25:4
quoted as the law of Moses: do not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain
4 You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.
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Romans 5:6-11
quoted to explain what Paul is saving people from, specifically God's wrath while we were still sinners
6 For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die.
8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
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Ephesians 2:8-10
quoted to connect salvation by grace through faith with being created for good works God prepared beforehand
8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, that no one would boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor walked First B through 1 Corinthians 9, picking up where he left off the week before. The connecting thread from chapter 8 carried forward: who you love is more important than what you know. That conviction shapes everything Paul does in chapter 9, and it is the lens the pastor used to read the whole passage.
What was said
Paul opens the chapter with four rapid rhetorical questions, each one expecting a yes: am I not an apostle, am I not free, have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord, are you not my work in the Lord? The pastor walked through what it means to be an apostle, from the Greek word apostolos, a messenger or envoy sent with a specific purpose. The Corinthians themselves, people who came to faith through Paul's preaching, are the seal that confirms his apostleship. The message he carried, and still carries, is the one he has never moved off: the cross, which is foolishness to those who are perishing and the power of God to those who are being saved.
From there Paul builds a careful defense of why he has been working with his hands rather than receiving support from the Corinthians. He had every right to be paid, and he argues it from common sense, from the law of Moses, and from the Lord's own command that those who preach the gospel should live from it. He even defends Peter and the other apostles who do receive support. But Paul chose not to use that right in Corinth, because Corinth was a city where money meant everything, where teachers hired themselves out for fees, where people did almost anything for pay. If he accepted money, he risked looking like just another mercenary, and he did not want anything to cloud the message.
The pastor illustrated this with something he saw repeatedly in Mexico while leading mission teams into small local churches. When outside groups kept showing up and filling the offering plate, pastors who had been preaching the gospel faithfully to their own people slowly began aiming their sermons at the visitors instead. Their passion for their congregation faded. That, the pastor said, is exactly what Paul means by abusing his authority in the gospel, and it is the thing Paul was determined to avoid.
The section the pastor spent the most time on was Paul's service to all men, verses 19 through 23. Though Paul is free from all men, he made himself a servant to all in order to win the more. He became as a Jew to win Jews, as one under the law to win those under the law, as one without the law to win Gentiles, and as weak to win the weak. He uses the word win five times, and once he uses save, which is what he means by it. The saving he has in mind is not relief from depression or hardship, but rescue from the wrath of God that every person rightly deserves, which is what Romans 5 says plainly: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and having been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath.
The pastor named Paul's method here as contextualization, the question of how far a person goes into a culture in order to bring people toward Christ. He described two ditches: churches so separatist they have circled the wagons and will not engage anyone unlike themselves, and churches so absorbed into the surrounding culture that nothing looks or sounds different from a club on Saturday night. Paul is calling for something between those ditches, getting into the mix far enough to connect, while staying anchored to the message of the cross. The throttle for knowing when to press in and when to pull back, the same question someone asked after the previous week's sermon, is the gospel itself.
The chapter closes with the running and fighting imagery drawn from the Isthmian Games, held just miles from Corinth. Everyone in that city understood athletic competition and the discipline it required. Paul says he runs with that same seriousness, not with uncertainty, not beating the air, but actually in the mix, disciplining his body, because he does not want to preach to others and then find himself disqualified. The final point the pastor drew from Ephesians 2 is that salvation by grace through faith is not the end of the story. Those who believe are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand. The question he left the congregation with is simply what those works are for each person, and whether they are actually doing them.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Mark said that who you love is more important than what you know. What is the difference between knowing the right things and actually loving the people around you, and where do you see that tension in your own life?
- Paul chose to give up his right to financial support so that money would not get in the way of people hearing the gospel clearly. What rights or freedoms have you found yourself holding onto that might be making it harder for someone else to hear or trust the message?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 15,343 words
0:00
Speaker 3Good morning. How are feeling this morning? You alright? It's a little quiet. Well, welcome to first b.
0:14
We are glad that you're here, and, our purpose in meeting is to worship God. We're here for him. From first Timothy two five, for there's one God, and there's one mediator between God and mankind, and that's Jesus Christ. So when we get to the chorus here, it's there's only one God. There's only one mediator standing between God and man.
0:35
He's the only way to salvation. Amen? Should we stand up and sing?
0:48
Speaker 2All right, he takes our place. He takes our place and stands in front of God on high. He speaks some nod in absence. We don't have the right. He pleads before the God who judges hearts on man.
1:09
I mediate to serve this sentence for our sin. Here's the chorus. There is only God. There is only one mediate of standing between God and mail. He's the only way to salvation.
1:46
Alright. He found the captives. He found the captives, broke the bondage of our chains. We have redemption through the price that he has paid. He gave his life to purchase freedom from the fall.
2:05
Our mediate was they're handsome for us all chorus. There is only one God. There is only one mediator standing between God and men. He's the only way. Again, there is only one God.
2:40
There is only one mediator standing between God and Ben. He's the only way to salvation. Yeah. Alright. It's good to
3:13
Speaker 3see you. I'd like to see a few more smiles though on your faces.
3:18
Speaker 2Ray.
3:20
Speaker 1There is right now. If y'all don't know, y'all can have a seat. There is a women's retreat that's going on up in up at the Heart 6. That's what it is.
3:29
Speaker 3Women grace a room.
3:30
Speaker 1I was going to say. Yeah. We're missing in between forty and fifty of the women who are usually smiling and singing really loud. So, it feels weird being up here and not seeing and hearing from them. So, anyhoo, we've got a few announcements this morning.
3:43
Mainly, we are glad that you're here. Glad that you could be here. I heard snow and rain, snow and rain all week long. First Sunday but all I saw was rain anyway but I didn't come over the past. Some of you did.
3:54
October 12, Monday nights at first B. As a match head, I don't know. We sang all creatures great and small the other week and I thought, look at that little thing. Monday nights at first B, big or small, doesn't matter. You you'll get a meal, music, and message if you come in.
4:11
This is one of the weird new different ones for this week. Men's fraternity starts up this week at 6AM on Wednesday. They're starting off with laugh your way to a better marriage. That'll be a few of the weeks y'all be going through that, right, Matt? Starting there.
4:29
First five weeks and then you'll work your way into Steven Manfield's Book of Manly Men. That's it's a good book. I've read those. Great. They're going to work through that.
4:37
So, October 15, that is Wednesday, 6AM to 07:30 and they're pretty punctual about it. Getting started and getting going. Got another one, preset Bible study actually started this past Thursday but I want to let more of you know about it. There is a precept Bible study. They're talking about understanding the anger or the wrath of God.
4:58
Understanding the wrath of God from the minor prophets starts on Thursdays at 09:00 sharp and it is sharp. If you don't know anything about precept studies, it's it stays in the text and you use colored pencils and you all kinds of little symbols and it really helps tie things together in the Bible for you. So, Jane Cranenberger is leading that study and I think that's the last one. You can check your bulletins for the rest of the announcements. They're not on a black and yellow card this week.
5:23
They're on an ecru or buff colored card but there are lots of announcements. Dudes and Foods is happening with Renzy for the Solid Rocks. That's at McDonald's. On what day? Monday.
5:36
Is that right? Monday? Monday at 8AM. That's a good time for middle school youth guys to get together and eat at McDonald's. So, Rinsey's doing that.
5:45
Other than that, check your bulletins for the announcements and would you stand up and greet one another?
5:50
Speaker 2Should we sing be thou my vision be thou my vision lord of my heart thou be all else to me saying that thou art thou mine best of heart by day or by night. Awaken or sleeping thy prisons thy night. Be thou my wisdom. Be thou my wisdom. Thou my be me, Lord.
6:31
Thou my great father and thy thy true son. Thou will be dwindling, and I will be one. Riches I heed in. Riches I, king of valiant, mine treasure, thou art o God. Oh, God, be my everything.
7:14
Be my delight. Be Jesus my glory, my soul's sight. My Jesus, your would ever be formed. Still be my vision, oh ruler alone. Clouds.
8:13
A strange and lovely sound. I can hear it in thunder and rain. It's ringing in the sky like cannons in the night. He's called the universe's place. We're singing he's holy.
8:34
Singing you are holy. Great and mighty. The moon and the stars declare who you are. And I'm so unworthy, but still you love me. Forever my heart will sing of how great you are.
9:07
Beautiful and free. Beautiful and free. A song galaxies that reach far beyond Melph Yue, joining with the sound. Come on, let's say unworthy. Won't steal you love me forever my heart will sing of you.
9:59
And all glory honor, is yours. Amen. And all glory, honor, power is yours. Amen. And all glory, honor, power is yours forever.
10:19
He's holy. Let's sing it. You are holy. Great and mighty. The moon and the stars declare who you are.
10:34
And I'm so unworthy, but still you love me. Forever my heart will sing of how great you are
11:02
Speaker 3Can we pray together? God, your holy, righteous God, and, here we are, just admitting to you and confessing that we're sinful fallen people and, who we are in light of you. Thank you God for grace, for mercy, for forgiveness. God we can just rest on these attributes of yours and when we do it's amazing just to think of who you truly are And, even just looking outside and seeing that, the heavens declare your glory. It's amazing.
11:37
But how often do we really stop to to really think and consider it? So, would you align us to you once again here this morning? Set our our gaze on you that we would look on you with with love, that we'd look unto you God in in reverence and, see that you truly are holy and any holiness God that that we can have it it comes from you and the righteousness of Christ. So, thank you. Amen.
12:28
Speaker 2Rescue the souls of men. Oh, you rescue the souls of men. Can we repeat that first verse again? It is so good. A wonderful, merciful savior, savior, precious redeemer friend.
12:49
And who would have thought I'd a Lamb could rescue the souls of men. Oh, you rescue the souls of men. Thank you, Jesus. Counselor. Counselor, comforter, believer.
13:10
Spirit, we long to embrace. And you offer hope when our hearts are hopelessly lost the way. Oh, we hopelessly name also where you're the one. You are the one that we praise. You are the one we adore.
13:38
You offer healing and grace. Our hearts always hunger for. Oh, our hearts always hunger. Almighty infinite and almighty infinite father, faithful in loving your own. And here in our weakness, you find us falling before your throne.
14:12
Woah. Woah. We're falling before your throne. You're the one. You are the one that we praise.
14:22
You are the one we adore. You are for healing and grace. Our hearts are always wonderful. Oh, our hearts
15:12
Speaker 3God, it is true that we have this God sized void in our lives that's meant to be filled by you and by you alone. And we confess, God, that we do fill it with other things, and and, we're asking once again that you would see that we would see that we would taste and see that you are good, and that we'd be filled up by you. And then as we're filled up by you that we can love one another the way that we're truly supposed to. We thank you. Thank you for these wonderful qualities.
15:42
God, thank you also that you have given to us generously. You have supplied all of our needs, and you continue to. You've sustained us this far, and God, we trust that you will continue to sustain us, in the future. And giving, God, is just a way to show us, to show you that we we trust you. And, would you, God, give us a heart that is really wanting to give to you?
16:12
Just in light of of how generous you are. You're a generous giver and, you're our example. So may we do the same. Amen. You can be seated.
16:31
Speaker 2All down for the sake of you my king. I'm giving you my dream. I'm laying down my right. I'm giving up my pride for the promise of your life. And I surrender all to you, hold to you.
17:19
I'm singing you this song. I'm waiting out to cross. Your world holds to you. I count it all as lost for the sake of knowing you, for the glory of your name, to know the lasting joy, even sharing in your pain. And I surrender you, all to you.
17:59
And I surrender all to you, hold to you. Can we sing that again? And I surrender hold to you, all to you. And I surrender all to you,
18:47
Speaker 1Amen. The children are dismissed to go down to Peak Children's Church and we are moving forward in Corinthians. I've been this week going over and over and over chapter nine of Corinthians chapter nine and saying, where do you stop? Where do you stop? Where do you stop on this one?
19:04
Is it nine? Is it nine and ten? Is it 910, or 11? Mercifully, no, it's not 91011. It's 9.
19:11
Right here, Paul is explaining himself to the Corinthians in this chapter. At least for the first 18 verses, he's explaining why he does what he does and how he does it and so, we're going to run, I think. We're going to run through the first 18 verses and then we're going to slow down for about four verses and try to get pull some points out. You know, preacher points like three different things and then, we're going to go through the last three verses, last four verses of chapter. We're going to cover all of chapter nine but you can expect that.
19:42
We're running through the first part because Paul's explaining himself. The second part is the part that I feel like is the meat of this sermon today and then the last part, I might have to come back next week and get, okay? Y'all agree? Everybody good? Alright.
19:57
Last week, this was the one overarching point was who you love is more important than what you know. Who you love is more important than what you know and I got that from the first three verses of chapter eight. Paul says, if you love God, you are known by him and he says that knowledge puffs up but love builds up and they're both active. It's a very active thing. So, loving, who you love is more important than what you know.
20:25
I said last week that our motto here is with all we are, loving God and loving people through Christ and so, if you are loving God, he is said, you are to love others, esteem them as better than yourself, to take care of them as you would your own self. Who you love is more important than what you know and then Paul in chapter nine gives a defense. Some people call it defense. It actually says that defense but it's a pattern of self denial the way Paul practice it. Now, Jesus said, if anybody is going to come after him, they're going to have to deny self and follow him.
21:00
So, Paul's manner of self denial is what the first 18 verses are and then his service to all men, I made that bigger because that I think is the bigger point and then, the striving for a crown. There's a lot of lot of good stuff in there. I'm going to read it this week. We might come back to it next week though. So, starting off in Corinthians nine, first Corinthians nine.
21:22
He starts off with four straight up rhetorical questions and these questions are all to be answered with a yes because of the way the grammar is. He's saying, am I not? Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ, our lord?
21:40
Are you not my work in the Lord? Well, to answer each of those questions, first of all, you need to know what an apostle is. An apostle is from the Greek is apostolos on that. It is a messenger, an envoy, a delegate. It is one who is sent for a purpose.
21:55
Typically, it's somebody that carries a message as an apostle. He's sent out by someone with a particular idea in mind that he's supposed to carry and so Paul says, am I not an apostle? Is Paul a messenger? By this point, have we seen that Paul is carrying this message of the cross everywhere he goes? You answer all those questions.
22:14
Yes, Paul. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. They're writing back to him. They had written him a letter in the first place which elicited this response and Paul told him last week, who you love is more important than what you know.
22:27
And he goes into talking about meat offered to idols and he's saying, if you love those people, you will step back from your rights to go ahead and eat it and you will abstain for their good, for their sake, for the matter of someone's conscience who is weak and then he goes into explaining, this is what I do. This is this is what I do all the time and I don't owe you this explanation but I'm going to give it to you anyway. Have you ever had anybody that did that for you? When you thought, they don't really owe me the explanation of why they do what they do but this is what Paul is going to do right here. So, am I not apostle?
23:00
Yes, you are. Am I not free? Well, yes, you are. Have I not seen Jesus Christ our lord? We've heard your dramatic Damascus Road.
23:08
Yeah, you you have. Are you not my work in the Lord? Wait a minute, I'm a Christian in Corinth and before that, I was a pagan. I didn't know anything about Jesus. I knew there was a synagogue down the road but even they didn't know anything about Jesus.
23:23
Wow. Yeah. You carried a message and I accepted that message. I am your work in the Lord. I'm part of what you do.
23:31
I'm I'm now in this lineage of Christians. Second verse says, if I'm not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, right? He's speaking to the people who will listen to him in this letter. Some people have given him authority and some people haven't but he's saying, am I connecting with you? Did I connect with you while I was there?
23:53
I'm an apostle. I carry this message. If I'm not apostle to everybody in that church, am I to you? Yet, doubtless I am to you. Am I right?
24:03
Next thing, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. He's saying that for someone who is a missionary that has a mission and they carry that gospel message and when somebody accepts it, the fact that they know Jesus through my word says, that puts a seal on on my apostleship. A messenger carries the message. An envoy carries the message, right? An ambassador carries the the king's authority to whoever but when that person accepts it, then that verifies, that seals that that is one who is sent in the Lord.
24:40
Alright and this is what he was carrying. We've come back to it over and over in the very first part of Corinthians. It said, that the message of the cross is this, to those who are perishing, it is mere foolishness but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. It's the only message that Paul carries, okay? Now, there's holiness that comes out of that and there are other lifestyle things that come out of that and he certainly is explaining that but the power of God unto salvation and the power of God for sanctification is what Paul is continually preaching and it always starts at the cross, the gospel, the good news of Jesus.
25:18
So, here's his defense. He says, my defense to those who examine me is this, do we have no right to eat and drink? Well, of course, you do, Paul. You have a right to eat and drink. Sure.
25:30
Do we have no right to take along a believing wife as do the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? He's saying everybody else has a wife but he doesn't. Do I not have the right? Well, yeah, you do, Paul. Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working?
25:48
So, he and Barnabas were working the whole time that they're ministering. He said, is it only us that don't have a right to receive from the gospel? Well, no. I I I think you've got a right to it. Whoever goes to war at his own expense.
26:03
You ever heard of a soldier going to war at his own expense? He gets paid for what he does. Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Typically, you work in the vineyard, you get some of the grapes, right? That's a normal thing or who tends a flock and doesn't drink of the milk of the flock?
26:21
Well, nobody, Paul. That's just the way it is. If that's what you do. Do I say these things as a mere man or does not that law say the same thing also? He said, I'm not not not just arguing from the point of being a human being here and going.
26:33
This, he says, the law even points at it. For it's written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. That's one of those kind of esoteric things when you're reading the Old Testament. You go, what in the world does that mean? Excuse me.
26:45
Hey, that's neat. I'll do that to wake y'all up in a few minutes. You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and Paul goes, is it really oxen that God is talking about? Is it really oxen that God's concerned about or does he say it all together for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he plows, he who plows should plow in hope.
27:09
So, if you're plowing before the seed even goes in the ground, you know that you're going to receive from that harvest, right? That's part of the reason for you doing what you do. For our sakes, no doubt it's written. He who plows should plow in hope and he who threshes. So, that's when the harvest comes.
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Should be a partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, Paul says, and he knows that he has. He has seen that the gospel has taken root and he sees that it has grown up and he sees the lives that have been changed. Now, they've got questions for certain but he says, if we've sown these spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we would reap your material things? He's talking about getting paid.
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Does that make sense? He's talking about getting paid for what it is that he has done among them. Now, he has chosen to build, make tents. He's chosen to work with his hands. He says it multiple times.
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It's his own conviction that that's the way he needs to operate and he's explaining that to him right now. If others are partakers of this right over you, are are we not even more? So, he's saying, some of the guys are getting paid for doing what it is that I did among you. Some of the guys are getting paid to teach you lessons about Jesus. Some of the guys are getting paid to spread the gospel.
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He said, if they are, doesn't it make sense that I have the right to and Barnabas has the right to also? Are you with me so far? Do you all understand what I'm saying? His argument is he has a right, he's an apostle, he's a free man, he can do what he wants to, he could take a wife if he wanted to, he could perhaps should be getting paid. Nevertheless, we have not used this right but we endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.
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What Paul had done is studied Corinth. He went in. He always did this. He went in and he studied them and he said, money is a big deal to these people and people will do anything for money. There were a thousand prostitutes up on top of that hill.
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There are teachers that were teaching anybody from any side the the arts of rhetoric so they could argue their point. For a fee, they were doing things for money and it was a very rich place. They were doing sports for money. They had lots of guys who were sports. They'll get to a sports reference later on in the thing.
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The Isthmian games were only a few miles away and it was a big deal. People got paid big money to do whatever they did. Now, Paul saw that people were getting paid to do this and he was saying, that's not the way to reach these people. This is a true story that I've got. This gospel is true and it deserves to be heard but if I charge them for it, if it's, if I charge them for it, then they're likely to think that that's why I do it.
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So, he's explaining himself. Nevertheless, we have not used this right but we endure all things, lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple? In this case, he's talking about the ancient Hebrews but he's also talking about they would have picked it up as the pagan priest eat the meat that had been offered in the pagan temple. He's saying, the people who minister get paid to minister.
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Are those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so, the Lord has commanded those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. So, now, he's defending Peter. He's defending all the other guys who have received pay. He said, it is a right and it should be and that's fine.
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Pete, what Peter does, he does ministry. He's quit fishing and now he's doing full time ministry and that's fine. That's what I do now. I get paid. That's fine.
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Paul's defending me right here too. Even so, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. They should make their living from this but I've used none of these things nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me. Do you get that? He's saying, I'm not saying it so that you'd pay me for crying out loud.
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I'm not saying that. I'm saying, I've chosen to deny self and step back because money is so important in your scheme. I don't want to take that from you. I don't want to take it from you. I want for you to know that I'm bringing this of my own free will.
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Actually, he goes beyond that. Says, it's out of God's will. I've used none of these things nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me. I'm not asking you for the money. It'd be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void.
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Uh-oh, Paul. You always talk about not boasting, not boasting, not boasting. It's not of work so that no man can boast. And he catches himself. It's very weird grammar right there.
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He catches himself saying that. You know, I don't want to get paid. I I'm glad that I'm not getting paid. I'm glad that I'm doing it just the way that I'm doing it because I'm proving to you the way this is a real deal. This is a real deal and I don't want to be somebody who just gets paid to say whatever.
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And then he gets into saying and I'm proud of
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Speaker 2it. Oh.
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Speaker 1Ugh. And he immediately changes. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of. I have no boast. There's nothing I can boast.
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What did Paul do at the cross? He put Jesus there just like I did, just like you did. He has nothing to boast of in the gospel. For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of. For necessity is laid upon me.
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At the cross, Paul was saved but at the cross also, The call was given. The spiritual gift was given for him to evangelize and go. For him to be an apostle. Carry the message. Carry this message that change you and he says, yay, woe is me if I don't preach the gospel.
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I can't do anything else. I must do this. I am driven to do this by the power of the gospel itself. I have to do this. For if I do this willingly, I have a reward.
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But if I do this against my will, then I've been entrusted with a stewardship. I said a minute ago that he did it out of his will but he didn't. If you think about his road to Damascus experience, he was walking to Damascus to do what? Persecute Christians, kill them, drag them back to Jerusalem for trial. He had the authority to do so.
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He had the papers in his hand to drag him back to Jerusalem. So, he wasn't doing it willingly. When God changed him, converted him, it was against his will in a lot of ways. Surrendering that will, he's been entrusted with a stewardship and he says, so what is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.
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For him, he did not want to air on the side of gaining himself physically too much. When I was in Latin America, when we were missionaries in Mexico, we used to take teams into a little bitty church and in that little church, it was a great faithful pastor and his wife and we saw this happen multiple times and so, we would go in and I'd take between twenty and one hundred sometimes. Gringo volunteers and we wander in and just before we got off the bus, I said, now listen, do what the Lord leads but a dollar in the in the offering plate from each one of you is going to be an overwhelming amount for this church. So, do as the Lord leads. I'm not trying to stop you.
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Go on your own free will but a dollar is probably enough in this offering plate. Before you go in and I also say, alright, Gringos, we're going into a church of 20 or 30 small Mexican people, mostly women and children. Try to blend as best you can. And we would go in and they would put the offering down and and and we would see pastors who are passionately preaching to their people that I knew and came to know because they were passionately preaching to their people. Their churches were growing.
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Whatever. We want to help them out. So, we go in and if we kept going to that same church over and over and we kept bringing outsiders in and they kept filling up the offering plate. The pastor would slowly move away from the message of the cross to the message of one day we're all going to be in heaven together and he would preach the message totally to the outsiders coming in. They'd lose their passion and that is what Paul is talking about abusing the authority in the gospel.
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At least that's the way that I see it. I believe that that's what's going on. He does not want to gain and get comfortable in his arguments. He would be, in his mind, he'd be just like everybody else. That was receiving pay for what they did.
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For him, it was a, there was a purity to it that he did not want to get paid to do that. That's an argument. Today's tent makers is a great book by Jay Christie Wilson that's talking about that. From business people doing what they do, Paul making tents, building business people doing what they do but being Christians wherever they are and that is a very very effective means of the gospel. Y'all have access to people that I will never have access to because I've got a title.
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I'm the pastor of the First Baptist Church. My goodness, how much more Jesus can that get? Right? And so, I'm automatically distrusted because of that from some outsiders. Y'all have better access than I do.
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So, my job, I feel like is to stir y'all up to go get em, okay? So, that's the first. That's what I said was running through for those first 18 verses. He wants to be able to present the gospel of Christ without any charge, without any blessing on this side. The blessing is just flowing through him.
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Now, Paul's service to all men. For though I am free of all men and you've all agreed with me that I am free and I I'm an apostle and that I could do whatever I wanted to. I've chosen not to. For though I am free from all men, I've made myself a servant to all. That I might win the more.
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He says, win. Now, I told you the Ismian games are right there. It's the next biggest thing to the Olympics. The Ismian games are huge and he goes into winning, winning, winning, winning. In fact, he says it five times in this passage.
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For though I'm free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win the more. And to the Jews, I became as a Jew that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without law, as without law, not being without law toward God, myself, but under the law toward Christ and what is the law of Christ? The perfect law of liberty, James calls it.
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It is doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself. That's what Paul's talking. That's the law he's under but he's talking about those who are without the law, the Torah. He says, he's out of that but he's under the law toward Christ that I might win those who are without law and to the weak, remember he talked about the weak last week?
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The weak ones, those of a weak conscience that have come out and they didn't want to eat that meat because it scared them. They did not want to be around that because it reminded them of their past life. He said, to the weak, I became as the weak. That I might win the weak. I've become all things to all men that I might, by all means, save some.
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So, the saving, what's he saving from? I have a Bible handy. There ought to be a Bible handy. Romans five nine. Thank you.
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That's a hymnal but that's close enough. Romans five nine. Sorry. I didn't want to look at my phone. This is heavy on.
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Let me let me check a text here for just a minute. The text happens to be the Bible but Romans five nine, I want to quote it exactly. There you go. Perfect. Thank you.
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Romans five nine says, when we were utterly helpless and that's what we all were. Christ came at just the right time and he died for us, for sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person. Though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who's especially good but God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners and since we've been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God's condemnation is what this says. God's wrath, God's anger, from the punishment that we really deserve.
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He says that he becomes all things to all men. He studies them and he tries his best to be like them as far as it's possible without sinning. He gets in there with him. By that, by that all means, he might save some. Now, why does he say some?
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This is this I do for the gospel's sake that I may be a parker, taker of it with you. So, what is Paul's aim? His aim is to win others. He says it five times. To save others from what?
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From God's wrath. That they deserve, that he deserved before he himself was saved on the Damascus Road. I've become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. Now, this, I do for the gospel sake that I may be able to partaker of it with you. The saving some keeps catching me.
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He does this and he's offering it free of charge and he's laying it out there for whosoever will. It's the message of the cross. Once he presents his message as that envoy, that ambassador, that apostle, once he presents the message, it's up to them. If they are believing it, they are being saved and it's the power of God in their lives but if they are not believing it, it's foolishness and they'll perish. So, some will be saved.
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When you present the gospel on a regular basis or whenever you present it, some will be saved. Now, this I do for the gospel's sake. That's the why. Last week after the sermon, somebody came up to me and said, what is the throttle mechanism? What's the throttle mechanism?
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What is it that pushes the gas on doing things this way, denying yourself. What is it that makes you do this? And Paul says, this I do for the gospel's sake. The very gospel itself, the good news that there is a savior who has saved me is what pushes the gas for me to go forward and see what I can do to save others. That's the why and then, what is Paul's aim?
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To win others, to save others, and to be a partaker in the benefits of the gospel himself. That might sound weird for us because we think of Paul as this great saint and we'd see him with a halo around his head and all these religious pictures and we think of Paul as being this wonderful guy but what Paul was saying through this whole thing, he says, woe be unto me if I don't do this. I don't really have a choice. In my mind, I feel like I don't really have a choice to do it. I have to.
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I've been saved. I can't wait to tell people. Does that make sense? I'm compelled to do this. He says, his aim is to win some, to save some, same same deal, win and save but also to be a partaker.
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He says, if I didn't do this, I wouldn't even know if I was a Christian. I must do what it is that God has wired me to do. To be a partaker in the gospel. This is something I have to do. Woe be unto me if I don't.
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So, Paul's method, his aim is win, save, and to be a partaker. His aim, that's what he wants but his method is contextualization, becoming all things to all men. This is a hotly debated subject in missionary circles. How far should you go into a new culture in order to bring them to Christ? Now, it's not just mission circles.
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The the most common example I can think of is this is is teenagers, missionary dating. Well, he didn't know Jesus. Well, that's the reason I'm telling you not to hang around with it. Mom and dad would say and she'd say, but I know Jesus and he's a he's lost and I need to help him. Well, he's lost and good looking.
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I understand that. But I don't want you to be going further and further towards him to drag him back to Jesus. You can be attractive by who you are. Don't let that influence you to the point that you become like him. Does that make sense?
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Same thing in Christian context or Muslim context in The Middle East. There are a lot of times when Christians will go in and they'll say, I want to go as far as I possibly can go to bring people to Christ and so, in that process, they may decide that they're going to go into the mosque. They go into the mosque. Now, are they going to pray? The same method, same form but I'm praying to God.
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I'm praying as Jesus told me but I'm right here with them. Well, you're looking so much like them that there's no attractive thing to come into Jesus. Does this make sense to you? Are you with me? We've got over the years, we've had camps and churches that are so separatist that they circle the wagons so tight that you're you're with us.
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You're right here with us. You can only be like this and we've got other churches that are over here. We've been to both of these over the years and some of em, I mean, might be playing superstition by Steve Stevie Wonder as the call to worship. Do you understand what I'm saying? It looks no different than a club.
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Black walls, black curtains, rock bands, smoke machine, the whole deal. So, you've got these two different things. Paul saying, you should go into the context of the people far enough to pull em towards Jesus. Does that make sense? I've become all things to all men so that I might save some.
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We should look like Jackson in this church. We should look like Jackson in a lot of ways. I mean, loving the outdoors, there's nothing wrong with that. Taking care of, you know, recycling and environmental stuff, that's Jackson. There's nothing wrong with that.
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Caring about the things people care about, that there's nothing wrong with that But doing it for their sakes in the gospel, the way that God has wired you. For me, I I know now that this is what I do. You know what I mean? This is something that God's wired me to do and to love people. Bring em in.
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Talk to em. Have relationships with them and know them. The throttle mechanism from last week, the guy's question, he was saying, how do I know when it is that I need to curtail my freedom for them? I said, you need to know them. First of all, you have to know them.
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You have to know em. So, you have to get outside of the holy huddle and get into the mix and that's what Paul was constantly doing. He'd start in the holy huddle at the synagogue everywhere he went but then he'd spread out from there. Does that make sense? Alright.
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I think I'm getting back to scripture here soon. So, that's contextualization. Paul's service to all men. He became all things to all men so that by those means, he might save some. And this is the last portion that's about the running the race.
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Isthmian Games, remember, are right there. Do you not know that those who run-in a race all run but one receives the prize? Run yourselves, you, y'all, run-in such a way that you may obtain the prize. Everyone who competes for the prize is tempered in all things. Now, they do it to obtain a perishable crown.
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He's saying that they're disciplined in their bodies, the temperate. They're disciplined in their bodies and they do it just to obtain a wreath of laurel but we are going for an imperishable crown. He's saying, act like it. Act like it. Act like you know Jesus.
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Therefore, I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus, I fight, not as one who beats the air. He means he's really mixing it up with people. He's sparring with them. Intellectually, he's sparring with them.
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He gets into the mix. He does not mind getting his hands dirty. Thus, I fight not as one who beats there but I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. There's always that sense in Paul and we think of him as being this great guy but there's always that sense that I can't help but do this. I've got to do this.
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It's who God made me. So, he's the one that was carrying this message of the cross. What is your aim? This is what I was thinking this week. What is our aim?
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Is it to win others? Is it just because in our culture, in our time right now, a lot of times when you hear people present, oh, you ought to come to church with me. Why? Well, it'll help you in your life. I was depressed and now I'm not.
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Well, that's good. Is it psychotherapy? Not exactly. Paul says that what he's saving people from is it to save others. He's saying what it's to save people from is the wrath of God that they justly deserve.
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It's not about it's not about just about ourselves. It's not about how we feel. It's not about our depression. It's not about our reputation. It's not about our money.
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It's not about our prosperity. It is about other people not getting the punishment that they justly deserve through the mercy of a loving God who has saved those of us who have believed the message of the cross. This, there are those who are perishing and this is just mere foolishness. If you can show them with your life and with your words, that it's the power of God to change. There's no argument against a changed life.
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Y'all know that? If your life has been changed by God, you have a great argument for God. Does that make sense? Alright. What's your aim?
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To win others, to save others. Is it to be a partaker in the benefits of the gospel yourself? It is for me. That is one of my aims. It is to be a partaker with these other people of the benefits of the gospel.
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And I have one more slide and it is Ephesians two eight and ten and I think that this to me bridges a lot. It comes up a lot for it is by grace that you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. The next part. So, that's salvation but the next part is what you do after you're saved.
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We are his workmanship. We were created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works. For Paul, that was preaching the gospel. For me, that's preaching and teaching and going whenever God sends.
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Sitting in the office and and knowing people and trying to help em through. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So, what I'm saying is, if you have believed and it's the power of God in your life and he has transformed you, he's taken you from a dead to alive, from darkness to light. If he's done that, he has wired you to do something for his kingdom. That make sense?
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Let's figure out together what it is, okay? And then be doing it because in this body, he's put together people to reach this community. So, that's all I have, Carl. You want to come on back up? If you want to talk, to me, I'm here pretty much all the time even on my day off.
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I'm usually here. So, anyway, I'm here all the time. If y'all want to come, you're welcome. You can call me. You can come by.
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Drop in. It's fine. Would you stand with us and we're going to sing about surrender.
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Speaker 3I'm giving you my heart.
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Speaker 2I'm giving you my heart and all it is within. I laid all down for the sake of you my king. I'm giving my dreams. I'm laying down the ride. I'm giving up my pride for the promise of your life.
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And I surrender all to you, all to you. I'm singing this song. I'm waiting at the cross. And all the world will see. I counted all as lost, the shaking open you for the glory of your name.
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To know the lasting joy in sharing in your pain. And I surrender all to you, all to you. And I surrender all to you.
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Speaker 1Peace grant you his peace to do what it is he wired you to do. Don't be afraid. Step forward and do it. In Jesus name, amen. So, this morning, we are going forward into, let's see if this thing works.
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First Corinthians nine. So we made it up through eight last week. It makes sense. We're going through nine because we're just going in order, but this is continuing a thought from last week. That section from last week, I felt like the first three verses were where the message was.
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The first three verses about who you love is more important than what you know because for the Corinthians, it was all about knowing and then honestly, it was about having too. It's about knowing and having. Who you love is more important than what you know. So he said that at the beginning, and then for the rest of the passage, was about eating or not eating meat offered to idols. For Paul, he considered that eating that meat that was offered to an idol for him and for those he was writing to, he said, yeah, an idol's nothing.
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You're right but for the sake of those who are weak that still have an attachment, that that's a pagan thing that they maybe they grew up with it or it was something they're really into, it is a problem for them. So out of love for your brother, abstaining from eating that meat is the right thing to do because it's out of love for them. Seeking them, seeking their good before your own. So, who you love is more important than what you know. That was a big overarching point from last week and it extends on into this week.
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Now, Paul in this section, there are three different things that I see going on here. They're in order. First of all, is Paul gives a defense. He calls it my defense. So, it's his defense but he talks about his own personal pattern of self denial.
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When Christ taught, he said that we must, if we are to follow him, we must deny ourself, pick up our crosses daily, and follow after him. Right? So we know the Christian life is about self denial. Paul is telling us his manner of self denial. Does this make sense to you?
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That's the first part, his defense, a pattern of self denial. I hope I remember this point. Have you ever noticed that when you pay for something, it's more valuable to you than if you get it for free? Yes. We used to add price sometimes to things in Mexico.
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Even if we made up monopoly type money and had people pay for it with little pieces of colored paper. It was more important than if you just gave freely. I don't know why it is about humans we feel like the more we pay for something, the better it is. Paul is I didn't want to miss that point, I didn't make it in the first service, so Paul's defense, a pattern of self denial. In that, you'll see what I'm talking about.
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The big point that I want to drive home today is Paul's service to all men. That portion, those four or five verses right in there, 19 through 23, that section is something that I think is very very powerful as we are entrusted with the message. Those of us who are Christians are entrusted with a great message as ambassadors, messengers, and so we'll talk about that and then the last part, I'm probably just going to read but not really go into it. It's striving for a crown. It'll finish out the chapter and I reserve the right to come back next week and preach on that.
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Okay? But it's in there, it's in the slides, and we're gonna go through it. First Corinthians nine one and two start off with a series of rhetorical questions. Now Paul is a good he's good at presenting things, but he's great at using language to get people to think, and so that's what he's forcing right here. The first four things he says are rhetorical questions, and they expect a yes answer.
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In English, we say it like, am I not an apostle? Well, yes. Yes, Paul, you are. Okay? All of these demand a yes answer, so he's not asking to have somebody argue him down that no, he's not an apostle.
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He's saying, am I not an apostle? Yes. Am I not free? Well, yes. Have I not seen Jesus Christ our lord?
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And he had. Remember the Damascus Road experience where he saw Jesus very very clearly, the scales fell from his eyes? Yes, Paul, you have. We've heard that. Are you not my work in the Lord?
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You, people, who wrote me a letter and I'm returning the letter right now and answering these questions. Are you not my work in the Lord? Yes. Apostle. What is apostle?
1:00:02
This one's a small a, it could be a capital A. Paul was an apostle. Apostolos is the Greek noun that we get apostle from, and it means a messenger, an envoy, a delegate, one who is sent for a specific purpose. And what was Paul's purpose? To live as Christ.
1:00:24
It was about the gospel, the message of the cross. So, all these questions demand a yes answer in verse one. Verse two says, if I'm not an apostle to others because how do you prove your apostleship? If he has a message to carry and the people he's writing to have accepted that message, then, the message, that's the job of the apostle. Carry the message when it connects with its party and they became Christians by him carrying the message.
1:00:52
If I'm not apostle to others because they don't take what I say seriously, they don't believe me. Doubtless I am to you. Am I right? That's what he's saying. Aren't I right about this?
1:01:03
You have accepted Christ and it was through my presenting it to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. Does it all make sense so far? So, this is just kind of the framework. He's saying, I have been sent with a message.
1:01:18
You accepted that message. So, I'm the medium through which God has sent his message. I'm an apostle. One sent with a purpose and you're the seal of that because you've accepted that. Now, you have a direct relationship with God that you did not have before.
1:01:33
And this is what does it. I keep going back to this slide because Paul keeps on going back to it. He never preached anything else anywhere he went. The holiness that we see in first Corinthians where we're talking about lifestyle and stuff. Paul is saying it's a necessary outflow of a true Christian relationship with God that your life would become more and more holy and he's saying it, answer to specific questions that they're asking it.
1:01:59
If you come in or if the paper calls me and ask me about something that I think about, what do I think about this, that, or the other thing that's in the courts? I'll say, what I have is the message. The message is right here and so this is what I can give you. If it's just as a sound bite that you want to have this pastor saying that, I don't even want to give that. I just want to say, this is this is where it is.
1:02:21
Point back to the message. Don't shoot the messenger. The message is the cross. For those who are disbelieving, those who do not believe it, it is mere foolishness that Christ came, lived a perfect life, died a perfect sacrificial death, was raised again and ascended, seated hand at the right hand of the father. They hear that and go, that is utter foolishness and what difference does it make if I believe that or not?
1:02:46
That's crazy. How could that help me? But to those who believe, those who are being saved, the first chapter of this book of Corinthians says, it is the power of God for salvation and sanctification. It is not just fire insurance that saves you from hell but it is sanctification that progressively leads you into a more and more holy life. So that's the message that Paul carries, and then he goes into his defense.
1:03:14
He's used these questions like I said to begin with, Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I'm not apostle yet, doubtless I am to you.
1:03:23
You're the seal of my apostleship. You're my peeps. You're my people. You have come to accept Christ by my ministry. Now, my defense to those who examine me is this, do we, he's talking about him and his fellow compatriot Barnabas we see later.
1:03:38
Do we have no right to eat and drink? Well, sure. Do you have a right to eat and drink, Paul? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife as do the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas because everybody else was married. Paul wasn't.
1:03:52
Paul wasn't. Barnabas wasn't apparently. It looks like or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? He's saying, we're working for a living. We are spreading the gospel.
1:04:04
We have brought you the message but we're working. Working with our hands. He says it multiple other times in this book and in his other books. Whoever goes to war at his own expense and he's saying right there, I mean, who does go to war at his own expense? Nobody.
1:04:18
Soldiers are paid to do what they do. Paul is saying, I'm doing this job. I'm doing it because I can't help but do it. I must do this, and he'll get to that in a few minutes. But he's saying, I work with my hands to be able to do this.
1:04:38
So, who plants a vineyard and does not expect to eat of its fruit? Well, everybody that plants a vineyard expects they're gonna get some grapes out of it or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Well, everybody who's a shepherd and tends a flock expects to get milk from that flock. It's normal for that to be the case. Do I say these things as a mere man?
1:04:58
He said, if I just came up with this on my own, but look at this. Does not the law say exactly the same thing? For it's written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. That's one of those esoteric passages that when you read it, you go, what in the world? Why in the world would you do that?
1:05:19
But Paul says, is it oxen that God is concerned about? I think it's both. I think God was concerned about the oxen. He knows that if you muzzle that oxen, you put that over there he's walking around and around and he doesn't get the chance to eat. If he gets tired, he gets worn out and he's not going to have the chance then he doesn't have the will to go on.
1:05:39
Maybe for oxen. For people, he says, or does he say it all together for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope. Do you think that's reasonable? Yeah.
1:05:51
When you're plowing, you haven't even yet put the seed in the ground. You're plowing, and you're plowing in the hope that eventually, after you put the seed in the ground, after it's watered, after God brings the increase, you will gain from the work that you put in, you will gain from that. That he who plows should plow in hope and that he who threshes, so that's at the harvest time, should thresh in hope should be a partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap of your material things? What Paul's talking about is getting paid.
1:06:24
He's getting paid for what it is that he's done. He has not ever done that. He's not been getting paid by the Corinthians to preach. I get paid here to preach. That's what my job is.
1:06:36
Paul will defend me in a minute, but he's defending himself right now. He's getting everybody to say, you know what? You do deserve more than you're getting, Paul. Wow. Yeah.
1:06:43
You deserve that and yeah, I mean, everybody should deserve a loving spouse and wow. Yeah. There's a lot of stuff that you're doing. Well, what was the last section about? It was about denying yourself for the sake of others.
1:06:56
It matters who you love more than what you know. The motto here at this church is with all we are, loving God and loving people through Christ and we get that from Jesus's command. You know, when he says, he sums up the 10 commandments and those two, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength as your neighbor and your neighbor as yourself. Paul is saying that he has been doing this. He's explaining himself.
1:07:23
He said defense. I like it better as explaining. Has any anybody ever done something kind for you, good for you, that didn't owe you an explanation but then they went back and told you why they did what they did? It's great to get that. They don't owe it to us, but it's great to have that and that's what Paul's doing.
1:07:39
If we've sown spiritual things for you by presenting you with the gospel and teaching you and answering your questions and loving you and showing you a relationship with God and what that looks like, then, is it a too great a thing if we reap from your material things? If you paid us a little. If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? He said, you're paying other people to do this. Actually, all the factions he talked about for the four first chapters of this book, people were paying those guys to preach.
1:08:09
Half of what they were preaching was heresy. Nevertheless, we have not used this right. He's saying it is a right for person who makes his living out of presenting the gospel, not presenting the Bible. It is right and okay. For them to do so.
1:08:25
He says, nevertheless, though, we have not used this right. I chose to put that right back but we endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. He had been beaten up multiple times by this point. Lower down over a wall, shipwrecked later, a couple of different, you know, things. We endure all things, lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.
1:08:49
Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? That is the Old Testament way. It actually was also the way in the pagan temples of Corinth that the priest there when people would bring an offering, they'd give the offering and then the priest would take a cut for themselves, literally, a cut for themselves to eat and he says, so people who deal with things in the temple, they partake of the offerings at the temple. Even so, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. He's saying, okay, yes, Peter receives a salary for what he does and those other guys that are full time ministers, full time ministers that are constantly ministering and that's all that they do deserve a salary.
1:09:34
He's defending me at that point. He's defending Peter and the other guys. Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from that gospel. But I have used none of these things nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me. Do you get that?
1:09:49
He's saying, I'm not saying this because by this point, they're all going, you know what, Paul? Man, we do owe you. We did come to Jesus because of you. We didn't even think of it. We should have been paying you all along, but Paul was working the whole time, supporting himself.
1:10:05
Now he's got him thinking, wow. We should go, and he says, no. No. No. No.
1:10:09
No. No. I'm not saying that. I don't want you to give me anything. I'm not buttering you up so that I can ask.
1:10:14
It's not this is not a this is not an appeal. I'm saying, just recognize. I'm explaining myself. The reason I did what you did is because this neighborhood, where we are right here in Corinth, it's all about what you know being super smart, and it's all about what you have. Silver and gold and whatnot.
1:10:32
It's about having and about knowing and he says, that's not what it's about. It's about this message of the cross. Everyone of us is simple. Everyone of us is under the wrath of God. Everyone of us needs a savior.
1:10:46
He says, if I take money, it looks I don't look any different from you. If I take money for doing what it is that I do, in this place, it just looks like I'm a mercenary, and I don't wanna look mercenary. I've got a good message that I want to transmit to you. He's explaining himself to him. I have not written it so that you should so that it should be done so for me.
1:11:07
I'm not asking for that. For it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. Now this is funny. Grammatically, almost makes no sense. It's like he was writing along and he said, it's better for me to die.
1:11:20
I would rather die than to have anybody take away this point of pride. And then he realizes it's a point of pride. And I do that sometimes. He did that right there because grammatically, it just stops abruptly and he fills in with this. Wait, for if I preach the gospel and I have nothing to I have nothing to boast of.
1:11:40
I I have to stop myself right now because it's the gospel. It's the message of the cross. I didn't do it. I didn't die on the cross. Jesus did and since he's done that for me, I have nothing to boast about.
1:11:52
Remember the for it's by grace that we're saved through faith. It's grace. It's not works and Paul is talking about the works that he's doing and he realizes a point of pride. Immediately, he backs up and said, no, no, no. If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of because the necessity in the very act of Jesus crucifixion for Paul, the necessity of him preaching was inherent in that act.
1:12:14
Does that make sense? Not only does it save us, it calls us, gives us spiritual gifts, and compels us forward. Does that make sense? May it, it may not. I'm seeing some confusion.
1:12:28
Within the grace of God, within the grace of God on the cross, he saves us but he also gives us good gifts to be used for his glory and go forward from that. The way Paul express it is right here. Necessity has been laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. I can't even imagine not doing it.
1:12:46
It's something woe is me. For if I do this, willingly, I have a reward. If you do things before men, surely, Jesus said, you have your reward. Just in the fact that you're up there doing this on my own will, I I decided I'm going to be a pastor dog on it. I like standing up in front of people and having commanding attention.
1:13:08
If I do this willingly, then I have my reward just from having the praise and adulation or whatever. But think about Paul walking to Damascus. When he was on his road to Damascus, what was he doing? He was going there to persecute Christians. He had the writs in his hand to be able to drag him back from to Jerusalem to try and kill them.
1:13:31
He is doing this whole ministry and he sees it this way. It is against his natural will. Does this make sense? It's against his natural will. His whole ministry is against what he had planned for his life.
1:13:44
If I do so unwillingly, against my will, I've been entrusted with a stewardship That he must care for. This is what God has given for him to do. Remember Ephesians 10, where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. He's entrusting Paul with a stewardship. Now, I know this is confusing.
1:14:09
I'm seeing some confused looks on your face. Yes, Paul was willingly preaching the gospel. Now, but it was an unwilling thing when he started out. He was headed to kill Christians and Jesus changed him completely and he from then on was of the opinion that I need to align my will with God and realize that this walking around man would not do that. The fleshly man would not do, would not endure what I've endured.
1:14:33
He would not go forward like this. I've been entrusted with a stewardship. What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel. So, this morning, I was talking about going to church in Mexico.
1:14:52
We would go we worked at a school for the deaf and while we were there during the week, we had work teams that would come down from The US and those teams when they came in, we'd have anywhere from the smallest team was seven people. The largest was a 143. Usually, it was about 40 people at a time. So, we take 40 or 50 or 60 people on Sunday morning. I'll pick em up at the airport on Saturday, take em to Mexico.
1:15:14
They spend the night one night and we immediately take em to church Sunday morning in a little poor area, a colonia in Mexico and we change churches fairly frequently and we did it for a reason. When we first got down there, we went to the same church over and over and I saw the pastor who had a passion for the word and for his people go from preaching every Sunday to mostly women and children, his people, the word of God, the gospel over and over, sanctification through the cross, through life surrendered and obedience to God. He would preach that to his people and as we came in, we were bringing forty, fifty, 60 people and there's a church of thirty, thirty five maybe and as we came in, I would tell people on the bus before I unloaded. Hey, if we get each gave a dollar today, this would be more than they're going to receive in the next couple of months in the offering plate from their people. It's a poor area.
1:16:10
So, a dollar is probably enough. I'm not going to stop you from giving as the Lord leads but realize, you're in a little bit of shock right here. You spent one night, probably didn't sleep well. Now, we've driven through this really poor community. I'm not trying to manipulate you and have you hand over all your cash, I promise.
1:16:26
If you gave a dollar, it would probably be more than they've gotten in this offering plate in a long, you know, in in a longer time. Now, if we kept going to that, $40 say, goes into the offering plate. That's what they usually get in a month but they get 40 in one Sunday and we go back the next Sunday. The more we do that, the more we saw things turn from him preaching to his people, the gospel that he has laid on his heart. It's really hard to keep on paying attention to your people when all these people are paying you.
1:16:54
That make sense? And so their hearts would turn. Paul does not want this to happen. He does not want for what is so sacred to him to become about money and it's something that Peter had to deal with. I'm sure it's something that I have to deal with for sure too.
1:17:08
We we all do that it's our passion. We're going to do this no matter what. Woe be unto me if I don't do this. This is what God has for me. I'm sure of it.
1:17:18
Paul felt that way but he wanted to be able to present without charge that he may not abuse his authority in the gospel and start taking from the people fleecing the sheep. He did not want to get into that. So, he's explaining himself. To people who have money as a high value in this society. Everybody does pretty much.
1:17:37
So, Paul's defense was that. He's saying, I could ask for it but I'm not asking for it. There's a purity about what I'm doing and you know it because y'all have received the message directly from me. You didn't have to pay for that. That was free.
1:17:50
It's a free gift. I want it to come across as a free gift to everybody and now, at the beginning, I said, have you ever gotten something for free that didn't seem like it was worth as much as something you paid for? They're paying for these heretics to divide the church and Paul's given it for free and now he's explaining to him, no, there's a reason why I'm giving it for free. That make sense? Okay.
1:18:12
It's kind of going on in The US right now too. Does that does that make sense? There are some exorbitant salaries. They're being paid and there's there are a lot of promises being made, a lot of itching ears are being scratched and tickled so that they can get the money and so, anyway, just a word. Paul serviced all men.
1:18:32
This is my favorite part right here. So, for though I am free from all men. Is Paul free from all men? Is he completely free in Christ? Yes or no?
1:18:40
Yes. Though I am free, he says it boldly. I am free from all men. I owe nobody anything. I don't owe anybody anything.
1:18:48
I'm free from all men. I have made myself a servant though to all that I might win the more. Does that make sense? He doesn't owe them anything but he's going to give. He's going to give.
1:19:00
He's going to give. Why? To win them. He mentions five times in this passage and to the Jews, I became as a Jew. Have you heard Paul argue with Jews in the New Testament?
1:19:10
Oh, yeah. When he's arguing with Jews in the New Testament, he takes theirs their text, our text, Old Testament, and he argues his points from scripture. I became as a Jew that I might win Jews. You think he went through all the ceremonial stuff when he's witnessing the Jews? Absolutely, he did.
1:19:25
To those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. Same thing. You could count that as Samaritans. They had the first five books of the Bible. That's the Torah.
1:19:37
You could count people who found themselves to be under the law. Paul would do what he needed to do to go to get them, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without the law. So, those who did not feel Gentiles did not have the law of God. As without the law.
1:19:53
Now, me, not being without the law toward God but under law towards Christ and what law is that? James calls it the perfect law of liberty. You are free but you're free to love God and love people. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and others as yourself.
1:20:10
Matters who you love more than what you know. Out of love, Paul would go to each of these different people groups we would call em that I might win those who are without the law and to the weak, remember the week? Last week? Last week, we're talking about the people who came out of pagan idol worship and as they came out of that, it was still a problem for them to eat that meat and Paul was fine with that. He would not go in and eat that meat because it was a struggle for them.
1:20:34
He didn't want to cause them to stumble. So, to the weak, I became as weak, denied that I would eat only vegetables that I might win the week. He's willing to go into where there are into their pagan poets at at Mars Hill in Athens. He's willing to go into their culture a bit to draw them out, to call them out. I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some.
1:21:01
Now, this I do for the gospel's sake that I may be a partaker of it with you. So, what is Paul's aim? He tells us in this section. His whole aim in his ministry, what is Paul's aim? And he tells us to win others.
1:21:16
What does he mean by win? He explains further but to win others, I think it's interesting too that the Isthmian games, the Isthmian games are the second biggest sporting event besides the at that time. The Ismian Games were only a couple miles down the road from Corinth and so he gets into sports analogies with the Corinthians because they understand sports. That's another one of the things that people were highly paid for. They were paid to win.
1:21:43
They're paid to win that race. They were somewhat sports mercenaries. Do we have that in our society? Oh my goodness. If you can go first round draft pick, my goodness, you've got it set forever, right?
1:21:54
To win others, Paul says, It's mentioned five times to win em, to win em, to win em, to win The next is to save others. He only mentions this once but that's what he means by winning, to save them, to save others. I've become all things to all men that I might by all means, everything that I have to employ, all of the different tricks of the trade, anything that I have to do by all means to save some. Now, why does he say some? I underline that up there.
1:22:21
Why does he say some? Because when you present the gospel, is everybody going to accept it? No. Don't matter how pure you're preaching because people are hard headed. We all are hard headed.
1:22:34
Some people accept and some people reject. So, he says, by all means, to save some. Now, this, I do for the gospel's sake that I may be partaker of it with you. That's saving some catches me because of this. It's the message of the cross.
1:22:47
When you present it, this is what's going to happen. Some are going to not believe and for those, it's just mere foolishness. What is that guy babbling about? Who is this seed picker, this babbler? What in the world does he mean by that?
1:22:59
That's crazy. Crazy. Foolishness or you're going to believe it and for you, it's the very power of God and things start to make sense. Scales fall from your eyes. You start to want to do better.
1:23:12
You start to be driven to live a holier life. Not because you've got to because you're just compelled to. You want to. So, I've become all things to all men that I might, by all means, save some. Now, this I do for the gospel's sake.
1:23:26
Now, last week, when I was talking about loving people and going beyond, going the extra mile, going beyond what you would normally do or abstaining from something you didn't feel like was all that bad out of love for somebody else. When I got through with the sermons and I came forward and said, what is the throttle mechanism for that? What is it that drives him to do that and how does he know when he's offending some delicate sensibility from his weak brother? How would I know when to abstain and when not to abstain? The gospel itself is the throttle mechanism.
1:23:57
That's the why. This is the why. The for the gospel's sake and I've mentioned it multiple times. It's not just for salvation to save us from hell. It is for our sanctification.
1:24:10
The cross of Christ, the humility displayed there is to be emulated. He tells us in Philippians, I mentioned it every single week that in humility, Christ went to death, even death of a cross. For the gospel's sake, that's what motivates you to love those people. That's what motivates you to go for them. That I may be part partaker in the benefits of the gospel himself.
1:24:38
So, that's Paul's aim, to win others, to save others, but also it's to be a partaker in the benefits of the gospel himself. Let me back up for a minute. I knew I was skipping something. The saving to save others right there. What's he saving them from?
1:24:56
If you listen to a lot of sermons today, you would think it was from depression or from poverty or from, I don't know, relationships. I'm just going to die. If I said, boy doesn't like me. You would think that it's that sort of thing. It's something about either your psych psychostate, you know, your your can't even think of the words.
1:25:24
Your mind, your depression, or healing for your physical healing. What's he saving him from? Maladies, physical maladies, mental illnesses. He's saving him from the wrath of God. That's what's at stake.
1:25:39
I'm going to pull up Romans five I'm going to read from six down through, I don't know, till I stop. For when we are still without strength in due time at just the right time, Christ died. For who? For the ungodly, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man, someone might even dare to die, some soldier maybe but God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath.
1:26:16
God's righteous anger towards all of us. Every single one of us deserves hell. Every single one of us deserves God's everlasting punishment because we are in rebellion against him. That's the way we start out. He made the way while we were still sinners.
1:26:35
The message of the cross is that way. That's what Paul was declaring to them. That's what I still declare to you today. It's still there's no other way except this way. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life and not only that but we also rejoice in God throughout the Lord Jesus Christ through whom we now have received reconciliation.
1:27:02
So, what he is saving him from is the wrath of God but when it talks about the benefits to be a partaker of the benefits of the gospel himself, it's not just salvation. It is being reconciled to God to be able to have a relationship with him. Does that make sense? Alright. Good.
1:27:17
We're almost through. What's Paul's method? His method is contextualization. That's what we call it in seminary. That is one of the biggest, hotly debated subjects and missions today is the C scale.
1:27:30
The C scale is contextualization scale. How far are you willing to go into a culture to bring them towards Christ? So, we have in the in the church today, we see churches that are all the way over here that are their back is faced everybody else. They've circled the wagons. Me and my church.
1:27:50
This is the right way of thinking. This is the right way of believing. We don't do this, that, and the other thing, we only do this and we take in our own and we get people to be exactly like us. We're not willing to go anywhere at all outside of our comfortable little holy huddle and then we have way over here, people who I went to a church in South Carolina for a while but one Sunday morning, I realized it's like, whoo. Everybody's doing this before it started and the call to worship and I'm not joking was Stevie Wonder's superstition.
1:28:24
That didn't even look like church. It felt like a club. It was happening at 11:00 on Sunday morning but the the sermon didn't sound biblical. It was they've gone so far into the culture to attract people that they're not really ministering at all. Ditches on both sides of the road.
1:28:43
Comes up every single week, doesn't it? Some people are more willing than others. Like I mentioned, Melissa Landis last week. She is willing to go to a party where they're eating meat that was offered to their ancestors. She doesn't eat the meat but she's found that this part of the contextualization scale, she's willing and each time she doesn't eat the meat, she gets an opportunity because they say, why aren't you eating the meat?
1:29:05
And she says, I just have a hard time eating meat that was offered to a spirit that I does not do not believe exist, to an ancestor, to an idol. I I don't I don't do that because I'm a Christian and so she gets a chance to pull em in. Well, we do want to go but how far is too far? For different people, it's different things. There are some folks that they're much more comfortable around around right here.
1:29:33
I'm not willing to wear blue jeans to church. Does that make sense? I'm not because that's not the way I understand things. I I I don't think I could do that but I can argue theology and I'm good at it and I and I actually do believe it. That's great.
1:29:50
There's place for people most of the way down the scale. There is a too far towards each ditch though. Trust me. In Mexico, I reason mentioned the blue jeans because they couldn't believe that I was a Christian because I actually wore blue jeans to church once. Anyway, no, more than that.
1:30:06
Contextualization, that C scale is very important. It's a very interesting reading too. If anybody wants to think about that more, please. I do mention this too usually. Teenage girls, missionary dating, probably not the best idea, you know?
1:30:20
The mom and dad, the conversation goes something like this. Y'all goes, but I, you know, he's lost and I'm a Christian and I need to do all that I can. The gospel compels me because I know he's good looking but he is lost and we don't want him dragging him, dragging you in with him. So, yes, there may be an appropriate time but that's probably not the right one. Contextualization there it goes.
1:30:42
Striving for a crown, I'm just going to read through this. Like I said, the Ismian games are right there. Sports are really really big with these people. He says, do you not know that the those who run-in a race all run but one receives the prize. He says, run-in such a way that you may obtain the prize.
1:30:58
He said, that's what I'm doing. I'm going as hard at it as I can because I know God is good. I've seen it myself and I'm going to go after it. Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things, the New King James says. They're they are disciplining their body.
1:31:16
They take care of themselves. They don't go to excesses. They're tempered in all things. Now, they do it to obtain a perishable crown, a wreath of laurels was traditional but we, we, that's me and you, we do what we do for Christ for an imperishable crown. That incorruptible hope that Peter talks about.
1:31:38
Therefore, I run this way. He's still explaining himself. This is why I do what I do. I run like this. Not with uncertainty.
1:31:44
Thus, I fight. Not as one who's beating the air. I'm actually sparring with a real enemy. I'm in the mix. I'm not just going through the motions.
1:31:54
I'm really into it. I discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others that I myself should become disqualified. When he said, woe be unto me, if I do not preach the gospel and he says right here that I've done the preaching. I've done all that but I still have to keep it up for myself. I have to keep on going.
1:32:13
I don't want to be disqualified from this. I want to live it out to the end. Those who persevere until the end. So, the message of the cross is what he keeps on coming back to and he wants to keep that ever in the front of his mind and he wants to keep it ever before the people that they may, some of them believe. What's your aim?
1:32:34
Is it to win others? Do you find yourself at work going further and further here but not with any real inclination to pull em back. What is it that you want to save people from? Do you invite people to church because they're having emotional problems and you think that maybe class would help them or are you more concerned with their ultimate destiny which will eventually help all of that other stuff. Is it to save others?
1:33:04
And what is it to save them from? From the just and righteous wrath of God Or is it to be a partaker in the benefits of the gospel yourself? There's nothing wrong with that. You want to be a partaker in the benefits and when we sing blessed assurance, the ways that we can know, the ways that we can see what's going on is when we're doing what he's called us to do. So, every week it seems to come back to a service.
1:33:27
We can see this, a service component of this. If we have been saved and we are open to Christ control in our whole life, he says that he has given. That's my last slide. I knew there's one more. For by grace, you've been saved through faith.
1:33:41
That's the salvation part and that not of yourself. That's the gift of God. It is free. It's not of works, lest anyone should boast. But ten says, for we are his workmanship.
1:33:52
We are created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works. When we were recreated in Christ, he did it with the good works in mind ahead of time. We were created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That is for everyone of you who believes.
1:34:09
Everyone of you who believes. So, let's figure out what it is that he's wired us to do and then do that and keep doing that like Paul did. Moving forward.
Topics
Getting Paid For MinistryMissionary ContextualizationSelf-DenialSharing The GospelSpiritual Gifts
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