SPEAKER_00: I invite you to open your copy of God's word to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, starting in verse 5 and following.
SPEAKER_00: I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go.
SPEAKER_00: For I do not want to see you now just in passing.
SPEAKER_00: I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
SPEAKER_00: But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
SPEAKER_00: When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord as I am.
SPEAKER_00: So let no one despise him, help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
SPEAKER_00: Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now.
SPEAKER_00: He will come when he has opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love.
SPEAKER_00: Now I urge you, brothers, you know that the household of Stephanus were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints.
SPEAKER_00: Be subject to th to such as these and to every fellow worker and laborer.
SPEAKER_00: I rejoice at the coming of Stephanus and Fortunatus and Achaichus, because they have made up for your absence, for they have refreshed my spirit as well as yours.
SPEAKER_00: Give recognition to such people.
SPEAKER_00: The churches of Asia send you greetings.
SPEAKER_00: Achilla and Prisca, together with the church and their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: All the brothers send you greetings, greet one another with a holy kiss.
SPEAKER_00: I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.
SPEAKER_00: Our Lord come.
SPEAKER_00: The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
SPEAKER_00: My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Here we are, Father.
SPEAKER_01: Just anxiously awaiting to hear what you have for us today.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I'm just so thankful for your word, but I'm so thankful just right now for Michael and that you brought him to us.
SPEAKER_01: And uh just Father, we just pray that uh Michael can deliver your word to us confidently.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we just we just want to hear what you have for us today, Father.
SPEAKER_01: We just want to know you.
SPEAKER_01: And we just pray we know you and you know us, and that that relationship is further strengthened this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Prepare our hearts for what you have for us today.
SPEAKER_01: We love you, Father, and all praise be to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you may be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Peace be with you, church.
SPEAKER_02: For those of you who may not know me, my name is Michael Gerardo.
SPEAKER_02: I have the great privilege of serving as one of the pastors here at Heartland Church.
SPEAKER_02: And this morning, after almost an entire year, 45 different sermons, we come to the conclusion of this letter written in the first century to the church in Corinth, known to us as 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: And while we we often forget that what we're often reading or what we are reading when we read through the epistles, are letters written to specific people, a specific time and place for a specific purpose, there's no way for us to miss that fact this morning.
SPEAKER_02: We read it just a moment ago.
SPEAKER_02: These 20 verses read as what they actually are: a formal conclusion to a letter which includes regular things like greetings to and from various people, travel plans from one city to another.
SPEAKER_02: And after spending 15 chapters reading through the Apostle Paul's countless theological arguments and ethical corrections, not to mention the masterful treatise on the resurrection that is chapter 15, we can't help but feel a bit underwhelmed this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Like if we're honest with ourselves, it's passages like this that we're often tempted to simply gloss over.
SPEAKER_02: After all, what do greetings and travel plans have to offer us?
SPEAKER_02: And while that sentiment may be understandable, to do so would be to dismiss the very Word of God.
SPEAKER_02: After all, 1 Timothy 3 tells us that all of Scripture, not some, but all of Scripture is breathed out by God.
SPEAKER_02: And yes, that even includes the formal endings of letters like we read this morning in chapter 16.
SPEAKER_02: But even after we've settled the fact that these 20 verses are indeed the Word of God, we still have to make sense of them.
SPEAKER_02: We have to wonder, is there an actual coherent meaning and purpose behind these updates?
SPEAKER_02: Is there anything tying these seemingly sporadic verses together that are meant to continue to speak to us?
SPEAKER_02: And as you guessed, the answer is obviously yes.
SPEAKER_02: But to understand how the conclusion of this letter makes any sense, we first have to take a step back and consider the letter as a whole.
SPEAKER_02: If you recall, the Corinthians were a proud people, proud of their leaders, proud of their wisdom, proud of their Christian freedom, proud of their spiritual gifts, and yet the church was being torn apart.
SPEAKER_02: Consider some of the things that we saw throughout this letter, splintering factions among their favorite leaders, boasting in human wisdom, tolerating sexual immorality, distorting God's design for marriage, misusing Christian freedom, abusing the Lord's Supper, uh confusion and corporate worship, and we could go on and on.
SPEAKER_02: And underneath every single one of these actions was an underlying sin deeply rooted in the hearts of the Corinthians, as you guessed it.
SPEAKER_02: It's the sin of pride, a deep-seated arrogance that was continually expressed in a disposition of self-importance.
SPEAKER_02: This is what Paul has been writing to correct, not just the behaviors themselves, but the heart behind them.
SPEAKER_02: My Paul's not simply looking for behavior modifications, he's after spiritual transformation.
SPEAKER_02: And so, to do so, one last time as he concludes this letter, in a very simple and subtle way, Paul points the Corinthians beyond themselves, and he invites them to look to others.
SPEAKER_02: Paul, Timothy, Apollo, Stephanus, Fortunatus, Archaicus, Aquila, and Prissa, the churches in Asia, Ephesus, Macedonia, and Achaia, over and over again.
SPEAKER_02: Paul mentions all of these places and people, I believe, in part, to call the Corinthians to look beyond themselves.
SPEAKER_02: As if to say, look around you, Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: You are not the center of the story.
SPEAKER_02: The Christian life was never meant to orbit around personal preferences or status or recognition.
SPEAKER_02: It is meant to be poured out in a selfless giving of ourselves for the good of others.
SPEAKER_02: But not only does Paul point them to others, he ultimately points them to the other, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And he points them to the centrality of the gospel message, a message they must firmly stand upon.
SPEAKER_02: But not just a message that they must defend, it's a mission they they are invited to join, right?
SPEAKER_02: The gospel is meant to compel them to actively participate in spreading the gospel throughout the Roman Empire and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_02: In short, Paul points them to the humbling reality of their crucified and risen Savior, because, as one author puts it, nothing cuts us down to size like the cross of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel strips away self-reliance, right?
SPEAKER_02: It dismantles self-importance and what it ultimately does, it reorients the entirety of our lives around Jesus Christ and his mission.
SPEAKER_02: And so as we come to these final 20 verses this morning, what might at first glance seem like simple greetings and travel plans, we actually find something deeper.
SPEAKER_02: We actually find a series of commands, 12 imperatives, in fact, that act as a final invitation, calling the Corinthians to embrace a humble disposition.
SPEAKER_02: And after considering these 12 imperatives this week, I think we can boil them down to three categories, if you will.
SPEAKER_02: What I believe we find in these verses are three concluding commands for growing in gospel humility.
SPEAKER_02: They're partnering together for the advancement of the gospel, honoring faithful gospel servants, and standing firm on the gospel message.
SPEAKER_02: So partnering, honoring, and standing.
SPEAKER_02: And with the time that we have remaining, I want to just briefly look at each of these in turn and consider how they help us here at Heartland Church embrace gospel humility, or maybe said differently, a humility among us here as a people of God that reflects a proper understanding of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: So three concluding commands.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the first one.
SPEAKER_02: Partner together, Paul says.
SPEAKER_02: Partner together for gospel advancement.
SPEAKER_02: So Paul begins this section with a personal update.
SPEAKER_02: We find that in verses five through nine.
SPEAKER_02: As he's currently writing this letter to the Corinthians, he finds himself in the city of Ephesus, right?
SPEAKER_02: In verse 9, he says, A wide door for effective work has opened to me there, so much so that Paul spends an entire three years among the Ephesians, evangelizing the lost, planting the church, and then strengthening and discipling believers in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: You can read about this in Acts 19.
SPEAKER_02: And yet Paul's plans are not to remain in Ephesus, right?
SPEAKER_02: In verse 5, he begins and he tells the Corinthians that he plans on visiting them as he passes through Macedonia, a region just north of Corinth.
SPEAKER_02: But his desire isn't merely to see them in passing.
SPEAKER_02: He says he desires to spend a considerable amount of time with them.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 7, for I do not want to see you now just in passing.
SPEAKER_02: I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits.
SPEAKER_02: As we've already mentioned, pretty straightforward stuff, right?
SPEAKER_02: Travel plans, updates, nothing more, nothing less.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, amid these simple travel plans, we find Paul's ultimate reasoning for wanting to visit the Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: This is where we need to focus.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 6 with me.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 6, Paul says, and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter so that.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, he's giving us the reason for why he wants to Corinth, come to Corinth.
SPEAKER_02: He says, so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go.
SPEAKER_02: I want to spend some time with you so that you may help me.
SPEAKER_02: What is Paul referring to in this verse?
SPEAKER_02: Well, that phrase, help me on my journey, is actually just one word in the Greek.
SPEAKER_02: And here's how one theological dictionary defines this word.
SPEAKER_02: It means to send or to accompany or to escort.
SPEAKER_02: It's to fit someone with the requirements needed for a journey.
SPEAKER_02: In essence, this Greek term was used throughout the New Testament in reference to missionary support.
SPEAKER_02: This includes the provision of things like food, money, and partners, the means of travel.
SPEAKER_02: Don't forget that Paul is primarily a missionary, a missionary that's been given a specific task by Christ to take the gospel to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_02: And in order for Paul to succeed in his mission, he needs the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Paul needs the Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: But just as importantly, the Corinthians need Paul.
SPEAKER_02: That together they might reach the nations for Christ.
SPEAKER_02: In essence, what Paul is doing is he's inviting the Corinthians to partner together for gospel advancement.
SPEAKER_02: But not just Paul, right?
SPEAKER_02: He does the same with Timothy, verse 10.
SPEAKER_02: He says, When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he's doing what?
SPEAKER_02: The work of the Lord as I am.
SPEAKER_02: Just like Paul, Timothy, his protege, is a missionary, going from city to city as he's sent by Paul to strengthen local churches.
SPEAKER_02: Paul then says this.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, what are the Corinthians to do?
SPEAKER_02: Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me for I'm expecting him with the brothers.
SPEAKER_02: Help him on his way again.
SPEAKER_02: The same Greek word for missionary support.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, receive Timothy, support Timothy, send Timothy.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because he's doing the work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: This call to support missionaries isn't unique to the Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: This is a pattern that we find all throughout Scripture.
SPEAKER_02: Here's how the Apostle John writes to an elder in the early church to describe this work.
SPEAKER_02: You'll see these verses on the screen.
SPEAKER_02: He writes this.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testify to your love before the church.
SPEAKER_02: Who's he talking about?
SPEAKER_02: Missionaries.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, You will do well to send them on their journey.
SPEAKER_02: Same Greek term found in 1 Corinthians 16.
SPEAKER_02: Send them on their journey.
SPEAKER_02: How?
SPEAKER_02: In a manner worthy of God.
SPEAKER_02: For here's why we're to support them.
SPEAKER_02: They have gone out for the sake of the name, the name of Jesus, accepting nothing from the Gentiles in this context, referring to non-Christians.
SPEAKER_02: And then in verse 8, this is where I want us to see this.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 8, therefore, we ought to support people like these.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: That we may be fellow workers for the truth.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_02: When you and I, when we generously and sacrificially give of our resources to the mission of God, we aren't simply enabling someone else to do gospel ministry.
SPEAKER_02: We ourselves become fellow workers.
SPEAKER_02: We become co-laborers.
SPEAKER_02: We join in the work of advancing the gospel message.
SPEAKER_02: Let's take a moment and go back and think about the Corinthian context.
SPEAKER_02: Here is a church full of themselves, proud of their wisdom and giftings and status, so much so that they find themselves at odds with none other than the Apostle Paul himself.
SPEAKER_02: Talk about arrogance.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, here, as he brings his letter to a conclusion, rather than rebuking them one last time, Paul does something remarkable.
SPEAKER_02: He invites them to be co-laborers with him on mission.
SPEAKER_02: He humbles them by reminding them of the invitation they have received to be participants in the mission of God.
SPEAKER_02: And listen, church, that same invitation has been extended to every single one of us here this morning.
SPEAKER_02: An invitation that is humbling to say the least.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss what he's doing there.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't just semantics.
SPEAKER_02: He's not playing with words, as he says elsewhere, the inversion of the subject and the object is intentional.
SPEAKER_02: That the church only has a mission insofar as it understands that it's simply participating in a mission that belongs to God.
SPEAKER_02: God is the one who saves.
SPEAKER_02: God is the one who redeems and reconciles.
SPEAKER_02: God is the one who justifies and sanctifies.
SPEAKER_02: And God is the one who will eventually bring us to glory from beginning to end.
SPEAKER_02: The mission belongs to God, and yet, and yet, he works through specific means.
SPEAKER_02: Individuals who are willing to say yes to his participation.
SPEAKER_02: And so Dearborn ends, and he says the church's involvement in mission is its privileged participation in the actions of the triune God.
SPEAKER_02: Our involvement in the mission of God is a privileged participation and an involvement that is meant to humble us.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you've ever had the chance to sit down and have an intimate conversation with a missionary.
SPEAKER_02: But every time I sit across a brother or sister in Christ who's willing to give up everything for the sake of the gospel, I am encouraged, I am challenged and convicted, and I am deeply humbled all at the same time.
SPEAKER_02: This past week, as Pastor Robert said, several of us had the opportunity to sit down with some missionaries to discuss what it would look like for Heartland to partner in the Middle East, particularly in the war-torn country of Syria.
SPEAKER_02: And this missionary shared story after story of believers suffering, of churches who were struggling, of pastors who were laboring in isolation with little to no support from the Western church.
SPEAKER_02: And as Pastor said, Pastor Robert said just a moment ago, he shared one particular story of a pastor who had not heard from another Christian outside of his surrounding area for over 30 years.
SPEAKER_02: Consider that.
SPEAKER_02: Somewhere along the way, in our prideful and arrogant disposition, we made the church all about us.
SPEAKER_02: Church, this morning, our prayer is that we would not be so self-focused, so self-absorbed that we completely forget that we've been invited to something so much bigger than ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: Something global in its reach, something that goes on into eternity, something that does not revolve around us, but rather calls us out of ourselves in order to give ourselves for the good of others.
SPEAKER_02: We have been invited to participate in the mission of God.
SPEAKER_02: Mission that continually strips us of our pride as we humbly support the work of God around the world.
SPEAKER_02: What does that practically look like?
SPEAKER_02: Let me just suggest four ways to us this morning.
SPEAKER_02: It means that we intentionally pray for our mission partners like we just did a moment ago, regularly, by name, with intentionality.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna have an opportunity to do that as a church next Thursday, this coming Thursday at 6 p.m., right in this very room.
SPEAKER_02: You'll hear more about that at the end of our time together.
SPEAKER_02: So we pray, but we also give generously and sacrificially, sacrificially, recognizing, as we saw last week, that the resources we have do not belong to us, right?
SPEAKER_02: We're simply stewards of all that God has given to us and called to give it all away for his glory.
SPEAKER_02: We've been entrusted with our resources.
SPEAKER_02: And so we pray, we give, we also send.
SPEAKER_02: We raise up leaders among us who are willing to go to the ends of the earth, doing everything that we can to provide for them, from resources to encouragement, to be able to give themselves fully to the work of the Lord around the world.
SPEAKER_02: And finally, we go.
SPEAKER_02: We pray, we give, we send, and we go.
SPEAKER_02: In short, we partner together for the advancement of the gospel, and in doing so, humbles us over and over again.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a second command.
SPEAKER_02: We find in Paul's conclusion, honor faithful gospel servants.
SPEAKER_02: How do we grow in gospel humility?
SPEAKER_02: We honor servants.
SPEAKER_02: Look back at the text.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 12, Paul then says, now concerning our brother Apollos.
SPEAKER_02: That phrase now concerning has been used previously in this letter.
SPEAKER_02: And every time it's used, it's an indication that Paul is responding to a question, a concern, or perhaps even a request from the Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, Paul is writing in response to a letter that he had received from Corinth, right?
SPEAKER_02: There's a back and forth going on between Paul and the Corinthians.
SPEAKER_02: They've become pen pals, so to speak.
SPEAKER_02: And according to verse 12, it seems that the Corinthians had requested for Apollos, another Christian leader and missionary, to return to Corinth.
SPEAKER_02: Now it's been a while since we've been in the beginning of this letter, so you may have forgotten all about Apollos.
SPEAKER_02: But if you go back and read the first few chapters of this letter, this was the leader that the Corinthians preferred over Paul.
SPEAKER_02: And preferred as an understatement, right?
SPEAKER_02: The Corinthians had shirts printed that say, I follow Apollos.
SPEAKER_02: They highly regarded his wisdom and rhetorical skills.
SPEAKER_02: They considered him to be a super apostle.
SPEAKER_02: Paul, on the other hand, was part of the JV squad.
SPEAKER_02: According to Paul, he was, or according to the Corinthians, Paul was weak and unimpressive.
SPEAKER_02: He was a mediocre preacher with less than adequate skills.
SPEAKER_02: In essence, they rejected Paul's authority and they requested the return of Apollos.
SPEAKER_02: And how does Paul respond?
SPEAKER_02: Does he pridefully reject their requests?
SPEAKER_02: He had every right to do so.
SPEAKER_02: Consider this: Paul planted this church.
SPEAKER_02: He spent over a year among them, discipling them in their infant faith, and they reject his leadership.
SPEAKER_02: Paul had every right to reject their requests, but instead, he humbly attempts to send them Apollos.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what he says.
SPEAKER_02: I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers.
SPEAKER_02: Paul pleaded with Apollos, return back to this church.
SPEAKER_02: But he says it was not at all his will to come.
SPEAKER_02: He will come when he has opportunity.
SPEAKER_02: Even when he was wronged by the Corinthians, Paul remains humble.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, firm, correcting them all throughout this letter, but nevertheless humble in his response.
SPEAKER_02: Now jump with me.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to jump a couple verses.
SPEAKER_02: Go to chapter, or excuse me, verse 15.
SPEAKER_02: Verses 15 through 18, this next section, Paul now mentions three individuals that the Corinthians knew very well.
SPEAKER_02: These were members of the Corinthian church, perhaps even the couriers of this letter that Paul is responding to.
SPEAKER_02: And in verse 15, Paul says, Now I urge you, brothers, you know that the household of Stephanos were the first converts in Achaia.
SPEAKER_02: That's the Roman province in which Corinth was the capital city.
SPEAKER_02: And then he adds this, and that they, right, Stephanos and his household have devoted themselves to the service of the saints.
SPEAKER_02: So here are some of the first believers in Achaia who have become leaders in the Corinthian church, individuals who've committed themselves to serve the body of Christ at Corinth.
SPEAKER_02: Now, don't miss the imperative.
SPEAKER_02: There's a command given to this church in relationship to these leaders.
SPEAKER_02: He begins in verse 7 or verse 15.
SPEAKER_02: Now I urge you, brothers, and then in Pauline fashion, I can I hate when Paul does this.
SPEAKER_02: He interrupts his flow of thought to give us some background on Stephanos.
SPEAKER_02: So it's easy to miss what he's doing here.
SPEAKER_02: But then he continues his thought in verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: So he says, Now I urge you, brothers, dot dot dot, verse 16, be subject to such as these, to every fellow worker and laborer.
SPEAKER_02: Be subject to such as these.
SPEAKER_02: That term means to be arranged under, means to subordinate, to submit to one's control.
SPEAKER_02: This is a term of authority.
SPEAKER_02: It's a willful and deliberate choice to yield yourself under the leadership of another.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, you know, you know how Stephanos has devoted himself to serve you.
SPEAKER_02: So therefore, joyfully submit to his leadership.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't just call them to submit to them.
SPEAKER_02: Look at the next few verses.
SPEAKER_02: Paul now mentions two other leaders in the Corinthian church.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: These are our brothers from Corinth who have come to visit Paul in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: Then he says this, because they have made up for your absence, verse 18, for they refresh my spirit as well as yours.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the next imperative.
SPEAKER_02: He ends verse 18.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Give recognition to such people.
SPEAKER_02: What type of people?
SPEAKER_02: Leaders who refresh your spirit, who build you up in the most holy faith, who encourage you with the word of God, who comfort you with godly counsel, who continually minister to your needs.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, give recognition to such leaders.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, honor faithful gospel servants.
SPEAKER_02: Now, what does it mean to recognize leaders?
SPEAKER_02: How do we honor faithful gospel servants?
SPEAKER_02: Quickly, I want to give us four biblical means that we find throughout the New Testament of doing so.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the first one.
SPEAKER_02: We'll run through these quickly.
SPEAKER_02: Support your leaders.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Timothy 5, 17, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
SPEAKER_02: If you've ever studied this text, you know that the following verses make it clear that Paul's referring to financial support.
SPEAKER_02: But the support mentioned here goes beyond finances, right?
SPEAKER_02: Support them by encouraging them.
SPEAKER_02: Support them by caring for their spouses and their children.
SPEAKER_02: Support them by honoring and respecting their authority.
SPEAKER_02: Support your leaders, especially those who build you up and equip you through their teaching and preaching.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the second one.
SPEAKER_02: Love your leaders.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, respect your leaders, honor them, esteem them very highly.
SPEAKER_02: How?
SPEAKER_02: In love.
SPEAKER_02: It means your posture toward your leaders is not cold.
SPEAKER_02: It's not critical.
SPEAKER_02: It's not distant.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, it's warm, it's affectionate, it's gracious.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they're not just functioning in a row, they're laboring for your soul.
SPEAKER_02: Love your leaders, Paul says.
SPEAKER_02: Number three, pray for your leaders.
SPEAKER_02: Romans 15, 30.
SPEAKER_02: Paul writes to the church in Rome, and he says, I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, Pray for me.
SPEAKER_02: The language that he uses here reflects intensity, does it not?
SPEAKER_02: Strive with me in prayer.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't casual, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's intentional, it's persistent, it's a pleading before God.
SPEAKER_02: Pray for your leaders, pray for their faithfulness, pray for their holiness, pray for their endurance, pray that they would finish well.
SPEAKER_02: Pray for your leaders.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the last one.
SPEAKER_02: Follow your leaders.
SPEAKER_02: Hebrews 13, 17, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account.
SPEAKER_02: Scripture does never call you to blindly follow your leaders.
SPEAKER_02: You follow your leaders as they faithfully call you to obey the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: Insofar as your leaders stand upon the authority of the scriptures, you are called to obey and to submit to their leadership as they lead you toward Christ, knowing that one day they will have to give an account for how they did so.
SPEAKER_02: Follow your leaders.
SPEAKER_02: There's more that we can say, but this is in essence what it means to recognize or honor your leaders, support them, love them, pray for them, follow them, because when we do, listen, when we do, we grow in humility.
SPEAKER_02: Again, Paul's attempting to help the Corinthians grow in gospel humility, and as a popular adage goes, true humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.
SPEAKER_02: Because when your life is oriented towards others, when you're supporting, loving, praying for, and following, you don't have the space to be occupied with yourself.
SPEAKER_02: You can't be fixated on your own importance when you're actively seeking to build someone else up, right?
SPEAKER_02: You can't cling tightly to your own preferences when you are intentionally honoring others.
SPEAKER_02: You can't remain self-consumed when your life is being poured out for the good of others.
SPEAKER_02: I know as one of your leaders, this can sound a bit self-serving.
SPEAKER_02: But it goes well beyond just elders.
SPEAKER_02: This is the culture that's supposed to be among us as Christians.
SPEAKER_02: I think about what Paul writes in Romans 10.
SPEAKER_02: He's not writing to leaders, he's writing to the whole church.
SPEAKER_02: In Romans 10, I forget what verse he says, outdo one another in showing honor.
SPEAKER_02: So yes, honor your elders, but elder your deacon, honor your deacons, honor your community group leaders, honor your Bible study leaders, honor your brothers and sisters in Christ, spouses, honor one another, children, honor your parents.
SPEAKER_02: May this be the type of culture here at Heartland Church.
SPEAKER_02: This is how we grow in humility, becoming a people so shaped by the gospel that we're no longer preoccupied with ourselves, but instead gladly and joyfully think of others as more important than ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: And again, one of the ways we do so by honoring faithful gospel servants.
SPEAKER_02: Alright, here's the last command from Paul for growing in gospel humility.
SPEAKER_02: Stand firm on the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Stand firm.
SPEAKER_02: It's as if Paul is attempting to grab our attention.
SPEAKER_02: He abruptly interrupts the flow of this letter and without warning fires off five punchy imperatives.
SPEAKER_02: They're short, straight to the point, and unmistakable in their intent.
SPEAKER_02: I purposefully skipped over them to end with these verses.
SPEAKER_02: Look back at verses 13 and 14 with me.
SPEAKER_02: Paul writes, be watchful.
SPEAKER_02: Stand firm in the faith.
SPEAKER_02: Act like men, be strong.
SPEAKER_02: That all that you do be done in love.
SPEAKER_02: Be watchful, stand firm, act like men, be strong and love.
SPEAKER_02: And what ties all these five short, punchy imperatives together is the gospel message, church.
SPEAKER_02: If you and I are truly gonna grow in gospel humility, then the gospel message must stand at the very center of our lives and reality.
SPEAKER_02: You can preach an entire sermon on these two verses, but for the sake of time, let's just briefly consider each of these imperatives.
SPEAKER_02: In many ways, the first four commands come across as a military commander giving instructions to his army.
SPEAKER_02: As a matter of fact, Paul uses military terms.
SPEAKER_02: He begins by saying, be watchful, be on alert, be attentive and cautious and vigilant to whom or to what?
SPEAKER_02: To the enemy.
SPEAKER_02: Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
SPEAKER_02: Resist him, firm in your faith.
SPEAKER_02: Church, we have to be reminded of this.
SPEAKER_02: We have a real enemy that would like nothing more than to see our faith destroyed.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, be watchful, alert to the enemy in his schemes, and resist him.
SPEAKER_02: How?
SPEAKER_02: Firm in your faith, which is exactly what Paul says next.
SPEAKER_02: Be watchful and stand firm in the faith.
SPEAKER_02: What does Paul mean by this?
SPEAKER_02: Well, as one commentator puts it, this is shorthand for believing the core doctrines of the Christian faith, particularly as it relates to the gospel message.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, hold fast to the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: This is chapter 15, all over again.
SPEAKER_02: If you remember the first few verses, what does Paul say?
SPEAKER_02: He says, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you what?
SPEAKER_02: Hold fast to the word I preach to you unless you believed in me.
SPEAKER_02: What is that word?
SPEAKER_02: Well, according to the next few verses in chapter 15, it's the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, Let no one or nothing move you from that truth.
SPEAKER_02: Stand firm, hold fast, remain resolute to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Now the next two imperatives are actually synonymous.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, act like men, be strong.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you've been around the church for some time and you've been parts of uh or a part of different men's ministries, you've probably heard a sermon or two on this text.
SPEAKER_02: And that may be appropriate at times, but we don't want to miss what Paul's saying here.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't a message just for men.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Paul isn't necessarily contrasting men versus women.
SPEAKER_02: This was a military term, a common expression in the ancient world for being courageous.
SPEAKER_02: When Paul says act like men, he's saying be courageous.
SPEAKER_02: And he's he's talking to the entire Corinthian church.
SPEAKER_02: He's telling both men and women to be strong and courageous.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because standing firm on the gospel requires boldness.
SPEAKER_02: It takes courage to hold to truth when the world is pushing back against it at every opportunity.
SPEAKER_02: It takes strength to remain anchored to the gospel when everything around you is culturally shifting, right?
SPEAKER_02: It takes resolve to cling to Christ when your very own heart is prone to wander.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, be courageous, be strong, hold fast to the gospel message.
SPEAKER_02: Now, these four imperatives, they're like something out of a movie, right?
SPEAKER_02: William Wallace and Braveheart leading the Scottish army to fight for their freedom, and all the men in the room are like, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: And then Paul adds one more command.
SPEAKER_02: One that you don't expect.
SPEAKER_02: Act like men, be strong.
SPEAKER_02: Let all that you do be done in love.
SPEAKER_02: It's jarring, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: The call to fight is juxtaposed with the call to love.
SPEAKER_02: And according to Paul, these aren't competing ideas.
SPEAKER_02: No, they belong together like two sides of the same coin.
SPEAKER_02: Again, Paul's going back to some of his earlier arguments, chapter 13.
SPEAKER_02: If I have faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
SPEAKER_02: If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
SPEAKER_02: The call to be courageous and strong, to stand firm on the gospel message must be, listen, must be accompanied by love.
SPEAKER_02: Both in our motivation, but that's not enough.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, in our motivation, but also in our expression.
SPEAKER_02: Because at times we can be doctrinally right on the truth, but completely miss the heart of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: We can be doctrinally right, but relationally wrong.
SPEAKER_02: We can be bold in our conviction but harsh in spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, the what and the how, according to Paul, are equally important.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we must be watchful.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we must stand firm.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we must be courageous, but without love, as 1 Corinthians 13 tells us, it means nothing.
SPEAKER_02: Again, let's consider the Corinthian context.
SPEAKER_02: Paul is writing to a prideful people, proud of their leaders, proud of their knowledge, proud of their Christian freedom, proud of their spiritual gifts, and yet the church was being torn apart.
SPEAKER_02: Pride in the heart was leading to division in the body.
SPEAKER_02: Their pride wasn't building up the church, it was destroying it.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, right at the center of this fractured church stood something far greater than anything that could potentially divide them.
SPEAKER_02: The cross of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: All of our opinions, all of our preferences, even our good and godly convictions, when held wrongly, can become points of division.
SPEAKER_02: And yet Paul says all of that fades away in the shadow of the cross.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because the cross reminds us of what matters most.
SPEAKER_02: There's no room for pride at the foot of the cross.
SPEAKER_02: Here's how John Stott describes this reality.
SPEAKER_02: If you've never read his book, The Cross of Christ, I highly encourage you, encourage you to pick it up.
SPEAKER_02: It's a thick book, but worth reading.
SPEAKER_02: See this quote on the screen.
SPEAKER_02: He says this.
SPEAKER_02: Every time we look at the cross, Christ seems to say to us, I am here because of you.
SPEAKER_02: It's your sin.
SPEAKER_02: I am married.
SPEAKER_02: It's your I am sorry.
SPEAKER_02: It's your dead.
SPEAKER_02: I am being your death.
SPEAKER_02: He goes on and he says, Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to the skies.
SPEAKER_02: Like the cross.
SPEAKER_02: All of us have inflated view of ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: Pause for a moment.
SPEAKER_02: Don't be so quick to say that's not me.
SPEAKER_02: All of us have inflated views of ourselves until we have visited a place called Calvary.
SPEAKER_02: It is there at the foot of the cross, John Stott says, that we shrink to our true side.
SPEAKER_02: Church, this is why we must hold firmly to the truth of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Because without it, we have no hope of growing in true humility.
SPEAKER_02: Because without the cross, we have no hope of being truly united.
SPEAKER_02: Because without it, we have no hope of ever becoming a healthy church, a God-glorifying Christ-exalting church.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, there will always be disagreements among us and differences of opinion.
SPEAKER_02: That's inevitable.
SPEAKER_02: But the unchanging, the steadfast, the immovable anchor that holds us together must be our agreement on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And that agreement, firmly held in love, is strong enough to withstand any other differences.
SPEAKER_02: Not because of the strength of our agreement, but because of the power of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Unity around the gospel trumps all other allegiances.
SPEAKER_02: It humbles us and it binds us into one body standing firm side by side at the foot of the cross.
SPEAKER_02: The only hope that we have of doing so being this type of church is the grace of God.
SPEAKER_02: His undeserved favor for sinners like us.
SPEAKER_02: We partner together because of his grace.
SPEAKER_02: We honor our leaders because of his grace, and we stand firm on the gospel because of his grace.
SPEAKER_02: I love how Paul bookends his letter with grace, and it's how I want to end our time together as we finish this book this morning.
SPEAKER_02: In chapter one, this is what Paul writes.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I give thanks to my God always for you because of what?
SPEAKER_02: Because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It is the grace of God, by his grace that we are in the faith.
SPEAKER_02: It is by the grace of God that we will stand firm in the faith, and it is by the grace of God that we will make it to the end.
SPEAKER_02: So it's no surprise that as Paul ends his letter, he goes back to the grace of God.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 21.
SPEAKER_02: Paul now takes takes the takes the pen as he finishes this letter and he says, I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
SPEAKER_02: If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be a Oh Lord, come.
SPEAKER_02: The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
SPEAKER_02: Love be with you all in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Again, Heartland Church, the grace of the Lord be with us, that we may grow into the type of people who are humble in our posture.
SPEAKER_02: A humility that enables us to partner together for the advancement of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: A humility that enables us to outdo one another in showing honor.
SPEAKER_02: And a grace that helps us to boldly stand upon the gospel of Jesus Christ in all love and all humility.
SPEAKER_02: The grace of God empower us to do so.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you for the way that it speaks to us.
SPEAKER_02: Even the closing of a letter like this with all the travel updates and what can seemingly be unnecessary to study or even preach.
SPEAKER_02: You faithfully called us to do so because it is your word.
SPEAKER_02: And so we we hope and pray this morning as we've considered these words that you have spoken to us.
SPEAKER_02: Spirit, take whatever you may have said and and and may it now grow fruit in the lives of your people.
SPEAKER_02: Help us to consider them.
SPEAKER_02: Help us to take them back to our community groups and to have deeper discussions of application.
SPEAKER_02: Help us, help us, Lord, to not leave your word here this morning.
SPEAKER_02: To continue to build our lives upon it.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, we thank you for your life.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you for the cross that cuts us down to size.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, may we shrink to our true size this morning as we consider your life, your death, and what you have done.
SPEAKER_02: Pray all this in the name of Jesus.