Lets Wrap It Up | S2E17

As we conclude our journey through 1 Corinthians, Paul leaves the church with four powerful reminders that reveal the marks of a beautiful church in a broken culture: love the Lord supremely, anticipate His return eagerly, depend on grace continually, and abound in love genuinely.

In this episode of Deeper at Life, Andrew, Chuck, and Dom unpack 1 Corinthians 16:21-24 and discuss why Paul chose these final words after sixteen chapters of correction, encouragement, doctrine, and discipleship. Together, they explore what it means to genuinely love Jesus, live in light of His return, rely on His grace every day, and reflect His love to others.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:09

We're back, baby. Fever of life. Oh my gosh. I came in hot there. Chuck was already laughing about two episodes ago. Andrew started laughing. Final episode of this season. Let's wrap it up.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Lots of energy. Lots of energy. Good job. Good job, Doug. Good about that. Man, I felt like we should listen. It put me asleep. So that's good. I'm pumped about this episode. Yeah. We have zero idea where this is going. And actually, we're done talking about this. So let's just talk about the Knights. How about that? Oh nights go. Let's go, dude. We're in the cup. We're in the cup. What a day. What a day. What a day. USA won gold. The Knights are gonna win the Stanley Cup.

SPEAKER_04 0:51

Oh it's good to be at Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

If you're a hockey fan, man, I mean, I don't know. We're getting a baseball team. Yeah. We got a we've got a football team, kind of, but you know, they're good.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Yeah, but I feel like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah. I mean, this isn't a sports talk radio shop, but if we need to, you know, I'm just kidding. But people might have turned us off. Sorry, sorry, everybody listening. Uh go nights. That's okay. We'll say that. And then Jesus, let's go. So Paul wrote this.

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Paul personally wrote this part of the letter.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

I wonder what that conversation was like. If he's like, give me that pen. Got some things to say, Harry. If it was just like, hey, I'm gonna wrap this thing up. Let me can I use your pen? Or did he have a pen? You know, like, has anybody got a pen? Can I give me your pen? I'm gonna wrap this thing up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Some guy, some guy that I was reading it, he called it a stylist. I was like, it is a stylus, but who calls it a stylist? It's weird. That's like a that's like uh Blackberry. Now Blackberry used to call him stylusism. They they thought it was gonna pick up. It didn't. No. That's done. So did you ever watch that movie, by the way? There's a movie out there about the fall of Blackberry as Apple rose. It's incredible, it's great. So this is this isn't a movie review. Listen, you'd be putting on some documentaries, that's for sure. This one is cool. It's about the story of Blackberry and then how Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone and they were like, Oh, that's never gonna work. No one's ever gonna not want a keyboard on their phone. That was their logic. And so they doubled down on the keyboard and it went bad. So, anyways, Paul wrote this.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Blackberries were super cool. Um do you so you referenced this a little bit, um, but I don't this it's can't be confirmed, I'm sure. But do a lot of people believe that Paul's eyesight was a little rough because in seminary we looked at that a lot, even when he says, like, I have a thorn on my side, like that's unconfirmable. But I don't know if that's worked, but um makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

It's a it's a it's a reason, it's a it's a thought. I it it doesn't, there's no conclusive evidence to it. Um, the thorn in his side could have been eyesight, it could have been some other sickness, it could have been a mother-in-law, who knows? We don't know.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

But he wasn't there. We do know that he wasn't married, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

I mean confirmed nor to know.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

So no, I do like how you you brought out he's dictating this entire thing, yeah. And then to like put that extra personal touch, like, okay, no, let me say this in my own hand, and then he gives just this call to love and showing how great love is in the Christian life, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Yeah, I it's cool. I mean, I don't think you pass it if you're gonna study First Corinthians and not spend at least a sermon on the last few verses, the one part that Paul took the stylus and wrote himself, you know. Um I mean, I don't know. I just feel like that's faithful to the text. So let's see. If if you have if you have one last thing you're gonna say to your kids or to a mentor or a mentee, um, or to I don't know, anybody it's like missing my last words. And I think about that. There are several times that I have moved from what the three different times I've moved from one ministry to another ministry. And I knew that I was in a room where I may not see some of these people ever again. And I'm I chose my words pretty carefully. I wrote it out and said, this is what I want to say to you. If I never see you again, because there's a likelihood that after I'm done talking right now, we'll hug and we'll say goodbye, and then we will leave and we will never see each other again. And so I chose my words carefully. So I think that's what Paul's doing is he's like, I'm gonna choose my words carefully because I got the pen now and I want to make sure that you get what you need to get with my thoughts closing this thing up. So maybe it gets a little bit of extra attention in our lives.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

I think it should because it's not as though it's like this warm, fuzzy feeling that he has. Like the first thing he says, like, if you don't love the Lord, let you be accursed.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

It's like, whoa, yeah, some intensity to it. It's not like so I love ya, see you next time. It was like, no anathema on all of you. Y'all are designated for judgment if you don't love Jesus. What's wrong with you? Is like what he's doing to see if he's right, you know.

SPEAKER_04 5:07

So it's pretty funny to think about it. Yeah, to think about the magnitude of what he's saying.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

And yeah, not soft. I mean, several times we've seen through this letter, through the studies, like Paul's not not taking uh any breaks.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Paul's a dude, man. He's like, I'm gonna tell you what you need to hear, and I don't care if you like it or not, you know. And I I appreciate that. I love that. And and I think that that the the rejection of that kind of approach is just a sign of times. That's the what well, that's what he meant when he was writing to Timothy when he says, There's coming a time when people are not gonna endure sound doctrine, but they're gonna have the want their ears tickled or itched because they just they just want to hear something. Tell me something good, tell me something, you know, it's like that. Uh who is the uh who is the king in the old testament where one one prophet's like, well, did you ask Micaiah? And he's like, Yeah, I don't like Micaiah, he never says something good for me. But he's actually the one prophet that spoke for the Lord, but he's like, Yeah, I don't like him. He doesn't ever tell me what I want to hear. Like, well, that that's our judgment of whether or not we go. Right. So that was what Paul does, even in him, if you don't love the Lord, let him be accursed. Let anathema. You know, that's him just being straight. Tell me straight. Yeah, I don't want to go to a doctor and him beat around the bush and tell me something good. I want, am I dying? Tell me. If I'm dying, I'm gonna get some things in order. If there's something I can do, tell me now. Don't just make me feel good so I leave your office and think that was a pleasant experience. I don't want a pleasant experience if I'm at the doctor. I want the truth. I think that's the same thing Paul's offering us here, led by the spirit, of course.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

So yeah, and I love how he doesn't go after our desire to like actually do something. It's like, okay, here's the last thing I want to say. Now go and do this. Yeah, you know, and he's been rebuking them throughout this entire letter. Like, here are some things that you don't do here, how the gospel comes upon it. But then at the end of this, I love how you brought out like this is the disposition of your heart. Like, if you don't have the love of the Lord, like that is that is the supreme above any other thing, and that needs to be the focus because if not, you're accursed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

So you think about, you know, that was that was point one, right? To love the Lord supremely. So it if all of these, I think, are kind of like fountainheads. So he dealt with the problems straight on, right on. He just went right at them. But then I think he concludes with these are the these are the fountain heads that are either gonna fix or perpetuate your problems. If you don't love the Lord supremely, then you're gonna continue to have problems of division and pride and arrogance in the church. So loving the Lord supremely is the the the fountain head that then trickles down into all these other areas of life. Or each one of these things, I think that he says uh is all about that. But then, like, I I struggled a little bit with this idea that like, okay, if you don't love the Lord, let him be a curse. So it's almost like love, love was the thing. Like, like if you don't love him, like you have to love what I tell you to love. Like, that's such a weird thing for us because we always say, like, beauty's in the eye of the beholder, and love is relative. And so love who you want. And even within a moral sense, we might disagree on things that we love. Right. Like you might be like, I love this. I'll be like, I hate that. And that's relative to you. That's taste, that's preference. Here he uses that idea of love, something that we would use that's relative and according to preference, as the line that divides those who are to be judged and those who are to be saved. Well, that's interesting. How was where's that go? And I think really it comes back to to know the Lord is to love the Lord. If you know him, if you've been regenerated by faith in Christ and know and receive what he did for you in his atonement, in his death on the cross. And then in that regeneration, in that salvation, the Spirit of God came to indwell you and shed abroad in your heart and mind and life the love of God. The only natural thing for you to do, or one of the most logical things at that point is that you would love the Lord. Yeah. So to not love the Lord isn't necessarily what I'd say is the problem. To not love the Lord is an indicator that there is a problem, which is a lack of regeneration, a lack of salvation, a lack of faith. Yeah. So that's where this comes. But if you're saved, you love Jesus. You can't not love the Lord for what he's done and who he is and what he's accomplished for you. So if you don't love the Lord, anathema, designated for judgment. This isn't Christians. This is unsaved. Just know that. This isn't, oh, I don't love the Lord like I should. I must be under judgment. That's not what this is. Right. This is hell. This is condemnation. This is judgment for eternity, separated from God. If you don't love the Lord, you are not a Christian. That's what Paul's saying right here. But if you are a Christian, now there is a way in which you can you can let that love grow cold or stale. So we want to stir that up constantly. But the Spirit of God does that. So we live in dependence on Him and submission to Him.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

So it's crazy. There's a there's a very uh distinct line. So I think about um just in my life, for example, right? Well, I had come to life for three or four years and had no problem committing to the fact that the truth, like that Jesus was a son of God. Yeah, but commitment and surrender are two different things. And the second that I surrendered, that love of Jesus or love for Jesus was real. So I think that's a clear thing that's that there is a line.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

There is, and that reminds me of a couple things. One is um years ago, Adrian Rogers, a preacher from Memphis, Tennessee, would tell a story about I think a friend of his that was Romanian. And he was talking about the difference between American Christians and if I got this right, Romanian Christians. And he said the difference between Romanian Christians and American Christians is commitment or surrender. He said, You Christians in America like the word commitment because that means you're doing something. We in Romania, we we we uh champion or love the word surrender because that's us not doing anything. That's just us giving up and giving in and letting him uh letting him lead, which then I think is where true, genuine faith lives, which then the spirit is working and then love for him is happening. And then I wanted to point out what Jonathan Edwards said. He said that uh in his article Religious Affections that true religion consists fundamentally in holy affections, and the chief of those affections is love for Christ. Yeah, wow like what is Christianity? It's love for God and the things of God, which then is manifested in obedience, because if you love me, you're gonna you're gonna keep my commandments.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

So 100%. And this is this is why I use in uh biblical counseling a lot is the Shema, uh specifically going to Mark chapter 12, where you know Jesus is asked, what's the greatest commandment of all? And I love how Mark puts it. He says, The foremost is this hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. These are the greatest commandments. Now, I love how Mark puts this because it gives those three things that you talked about. First is to know God. We need to know that he is one, that he is the triune God, that he is the one that died for our sins. So knowing him then leads to loving him and loving him with your entire being, your heart, heart, mind, soul, and strength. And then flows from that is the obedience to be able to love my neighbor as myself.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Those are all cool connections too, because it it if you get the first element of that wrong, the second element's not right. Right. If you're like, Yeah, I love God, he's one of many gods, like you don't know him. It's like if you if you're like, I love her, you're like, you don't even know her. How do you love her? And if somebody's like, yeah, I love that God and I love that God, and that you don't love God. Right. Because you got a wrong view of God. The Lord our God is not one of many. He is the Lord our God. There is none other like him. If you see him and know him accurately, which is revealed through the Spirit and the gracious revelation of God, then we love him as he is for who he is, and then we obey him in loving our neighbor as ourselves. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_04 13:55

Yeah. I remember the first time that you said that in uh young adults. I was like mind-blown. I just overlooked that for sure early on in my faith journey.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

I was like, whoa, you know, so that's yeah, so it's but I mean that's going back to Andrew's point. Like, when you know who God is, you can do nothing but to love him because you find out that he is a gracious father. He is he is a righteous judge, but he is also a loving father that we can go to. And that makes me want to love him more. I'm like, man, while I was yet in my sins, you died for me. I know what I did. They don't know what I did, but I know what I did, and he died for me while I was yet in my sins. So that's only gonna produce love.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Which, which, which is what, which is what true biblical learning should do. We should learn more of God so that we love God more. Yes, right. So it's like the mind, God, this is such a cool thing that God gave us a mind to see and observe and read and receive revelation so that we would then trust him, follow him, and love him. And that was the problem. Remember at Mars Hill when Paul stands up and he's like, You've got all these statues to God, and you've got this one that to an unknown God. Let me tell you about him. And by knowing him, the ultimate conclusion was they would trust, follow, and love him. Because when you know God, you grow in love for him, which then says, Maybe I should learn more and study more and read more and learn more so that I know more of this God that I love. And the more you know of God, you will not love him less. You will love him more.

SPEAKER_04 15:26

Absolutely. That's the point. So good. Yeah, so good. Yeah, your next part was uh our Lord come. Sad. I'm not gonna say that word.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

You can say if you're gonna say it. It's it's I mean, how we say it now is Maranatha.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's it was two words, Maranatha. But um, but it's interesting where it is because it I think it's connected. I think it's you can look up the phrase, it was this anathema maranatha. Those are the two words back to back, right? So there's almost as if Paul is, I I think there's ways to interpret this, and I think we did right, but where it's judgment is coming on those who don't love the Lord, even so come, Lord. Yeah. As if he's like, just do it now. Take care of all these people that don't love you and won't trust you. Just come. Because when he comes, it is a time of judgment. He is not coming again to die, he is coming to reign and judge. He will come and he will separate the wheat from the tares, he will separate the sheep from the goats, he will make things right. And so there's this connection of anathema maranatha. And that's a cool phrase. Like, yeah, I don't know. There's a lot there.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

No, and and I and I I love how he puts this at the end because it is not as though he is proclaiming these curses on people without giving them the opportunity to hear the gospel. Yeah. He's like, no, listen, I've given you the opportunity. I've I've spread the gospel and you know, cleared up all these things. And if you're gonna continue to reject him, yeah, Marinatha.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Yeah. What's funny too is that it's a it's an Aramaic word. So, what are words that we use regularly that are not part of the language we use regularly? Hallelujah. Okay, hallelujah. Or or somebody might be like, adios, right? Yes. Do you know what adios means? But you don't speak Spanish. So I'm saying if the point I'm making is that you didn't know that I don't speak Spanish. Look at you, bro. You don't speak Spanish. Or like um, you know, there's other ones like yeah, or Asta La Vista. Oh baby.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

Hold uh uh.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

That's a good one. Um we just do the Spanish ones. There's gotta be more than there's gotta be more. There's gotta be other ones. Asta La Vista.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

What is that?

SPEAKER_01 17:40

I don't even know what that is.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

That's also Spanish.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

It's it's Russian. I don't know. I don't know. Uh Komichiwa. There's a good one. There's a good one. Yeah, anyways, there are words that have become so accepted in a different language that we use that we all understand the meaning of. Yeah, so Marinatha was that word. It was Aramaic. It was so accepted because it was written by the earliest Christians or used by the earliest Christians at the Lord's Supper, which is so cool. Yeah, because it's like we will take of this meal until he comes again. Come again, Lord. Yeah. Let's why not well, just do it now. I love that. I love that because that is uh that that's a revelation of a heart. And I think that's what God does for us is he lets us grow in our faith so much so that we slowly lose our attachment to this world and long for that world. Yes. Because early in my my youth, in my teenage years, I was like, why, why would I pray, thy kingdom come? I'm not ready for that. I'm not married yet. I don't have an experience all of life yet. I want there's a lot I want. Why? So I had this hardest time. Now in my life, I'm like, Lord, come. Like, could you do it by 3:30? Because man, I don't want to go to that meeting.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

I don't want to pay these bills.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yeah. So I think that's such a cool thing where we are, we're sitting on the sidewalk waiting. Yeah. We're waiting. And we're like, is it today? Like, I can't wait for him to get here. Like, I just want to ache that way.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

I do. I do. I think that should be the ache of every Christian, like the anticipation of our Lord coming. Because this life is not the best. Like, uh, what's that saying? If you're living your best life now, like you're probably going to hell. Yeah. But but like knowing that what is to come is far greater. And we long for that. Yeah, yeah. So it's like, Lord, come quickly. Come. I've never heard that.

SPEAKER_04 19:35

I couldn't even, wow, I couldn't even say it.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Well, it goes along with that. If you're this is as bad as it's ever gonna get for a Christian, yeah. But this is as good as it's ever gonna get for an unbeliever. Right. And I don't know that word, it's that German word from C. S. Lewis, Sensucht. I think that's how you say it. I mentioned it on Sunday. Probably slaughtered the word. Nobody corrected me though. I was like, and we have some German speakers, so I think it's sensucht. It's C. S. Lewis's way of saying it's an inconsolable longing for a country you've never visited, but somehow recognize. Like, I don't know what it's like there, but I can't wait to get there. Why? Because I recognize it, it feels like home. Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever been there? Nope. But it feels like home. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

I mean, if you're genuinely intentional about saying that or believing that and thinking that every day, then your priorities change. The way that you live changes.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

Like it could be right now. And so the interesting thing is that you would say probably that in the early days they were constantly thinking of that. And now we've kind of like I'm sure there's a majority of people that don't think of it regularly.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah. I mean, I think it goes back to where's the promise of his coming? He said he was gonna come back. Why hasn't he come back yet? And then he's like, God is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slowness or slackness, but his long suffering. Yeah. That he is going to save all he intends to save. And until that happens, he's not coming back. So don't count the long suffering of God as his inability to fulfill his promise. He will fulfill his promise. I think that's where we get. The longer the time passes, um, the more people I I don't know that Christians, I think Christians are, especially Christians in a in a developing country or a persecuted country, I think they long for when you go to a persecuted country and you mention the coming of Christ, it's it's sweetness. It's just like, oh please, I can't wait. There's a yearning and an ache. I think we listen to a culture where comfort is the norm. And I I as much as I I'm not wishing for that not to be the norm, uh, it wouldn't be bad for the the health of the church for it to be changed.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

I mean, we see all throughout the New Testament that persecution increased the population of the of God's kingdom. So it was like, you know, when Stephen was stoned, that allowed them to spread and more people to come to faith. And we talked about this on Thursday with young adults about, you know, preparing for persecution and, you know, settling in your mind that Jesus is worth it. Like understanding the promises and holding on to the promises of God and then saturating yourself with other believers to where when you are in those places of temptation, like they can help you, they can spur you on because we're not in this together. So, but but all of this is coming back to the anticipation that okay, this is not this is not my home.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Like one day we will be with the Lord, and that's gonna be far greater than where we're at now.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Well, there's those couple of phrases that are the the the um persecution has always been the fan of the flame of the church. And somebody had once said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, that what happens when people are martyred or persecuted is meant to snuff out the flame of the church, but in trying to cover you only fan it and it spreads into a forest fire. So why did the early church spread like it spread? Was because the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church and the fan on the flame made it spread. And God, in his uh kind uh sovereignty has sawn to it that churches uh go through those days so that the gospel continues to spread.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

And the the time of ease and comfort and freedom has never been healthy for the church. So again, I I don't want to be that guy that's like, man, I wish we could just go through some persecution. I I just want the church to be healthy, which I think is what's so refreshing about what God's doing around the world, why it's so important for Christians to be in tune with what's happening in places like Korea or China or Nepal or other places where Christians are persecuted or parts of Africa where you're seeing their their faithfulness to the gospel is being spread and they're saying sensuked, if I say that right, like even so come, Lord. Like we just Marinatha, we can't wait. It's coming. Let's go, you know.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

Yeah, but I mean, being comfortable produces complacency. Yeah, so that's I mean, every aspect of our life, not just not just here. Yeah. All right, depend on grace continually. Um, this might have been my favorite part of the sermon. Uh, this is just a reminder to just constantly, we have to be dependent. And even going back to what you just said like a few minutes ago, Chuck, living in community and living in with humility of like, why will why would I want to do this on my own? And so um, yeah, I love this point. I don't really have an opening question, but we can just grace.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Well, I love how this is like a grace sandwich. He begins with grace and he ends with grace. Speaking of sandwich, man, I'm hungry.

SPEAKER_04 24:51

I was thinking about hitting ice after this.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

I didn't have lunch today, so we're talking about don't bring up sandwiches when I haven't had lunch. I'm hungry too. That's a lie. Gray sandwich, though, sounds good. It's like ice cream sandwich, but better. Yeah, gray sandwich. Beginning and ends with grace.

SPEAKER_04 25:07

Sorry, I'm trying to stay focused here, but this is the last episode of the summer.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Um yeah, I mean, I think he starts with grace to you and ends with grace to you. And yeah, I mean, I just think there's there's not a better word to to summarize what the Christian life is. I I mean, there's so much to say here. Gordon Fee talking about this, right? He's like, Look, um, this is this, there's not a single thing that's more central to what the gospel is. Um, he says, this is the Christian life. Nothing is deserved, everything is freely given. Grace is the beginning and the end of the Christian gospel. So grace, I think sometimes we think about you're saved by grace, you know, that's great, that's true. But we are not saved by grace and kept by works. Right. We're not saved by grace and kept by religiosity. We're not saved by grace and we're saved by grace and we're kept by grace. We are saved and sustained by grace. So we trust him by grace and we follow him by grace. And that was that whole idea with Peter getting out of the boat. Like you, you getting out of the boat is already outside of the realm of human possibility. Right. So you're already there. What makes you think that now living in this realm outside of human possibility, you're gonna maintain your place in the realm of human impossibility by your effort. You got there by grace, you might as well just stay there by grace. You you stepped out independence on grace, you're gonna stay there in dependence on grace. You stepped out of the boat by faith and trusting Christ by grace in salvation. You live in that place by grace through uh what he's done in salvation. So, yeah, I think that's what Paul's point is is like, I got I've said a lot to you, but really I I maybe, maybe, maybe it's at the end of this. Paul's writing this letter, and at the end of it all, he's like, you know, I said a lot. That's gonna be tough. You know what they need? Grace. They need grace. They're gonna need a lot of grace because I mean this situation's gonna get tough over there. I mean, even writing to Corinth, you're like, oh, they're gonna need some grace. Yes. I know what I'm about to say to you. Grace be unto you. I know what I just said to you. Grace be unto you. May God be gracious to you because you got a lot of work to do. Yes, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

I mean, he spent 16 chapters correcting them. That's it. But you know what?

SPEAKER_01 27:26

He closed it with grace, closes it with grace. Truth and grace, truth and grace at work together here. So, you know, I think that's the cool thing. Grace, grace is the work that is being done. It doesn't find us and leave us, it it finds us where we are, it brings transformation. You know, it's the uh, it's the the reality of what the church needs. We're not gonna fight harder to do this better. We're gonna depend on the grace of God. And and and in fact, the opposite happens when we depend on ourselves to do it better, we just make more of a mess of it.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

Yeah. You said this. You said grace is not the reward for improvement, it is the power that makes improvement possible. Yeah. That was good. Yeah, that was good.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

That was good. Yeah. Like every time I look at just God's mercy and grace, and specifically his grace, looking at different definitions that people provide, I'm always encouraged, like, you know, God's unmerited favor, you know, giving us something that we don't deserve. And then I heard one that was really clever because I love acronyms. It was God's riches at Christ's expense. And it's just like, man, yeah. It just continues to allow me to dwell on what Christ did for me.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Yep, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

And it's not just, and I think the big point I always want to make on that is it's not just at salvation. Right. It's continual. That's why it says, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grow in grace, increase in grace. He gives grace to the humble, he resists the proud, but he pours out grace to the humble. We need grace. And that's why like I remember early on, again, in my discipleship process, a pastor would talk about grace. We need grace. We need grace for this journey that we're on. And I'm like, well, why? Grace was what saved us. Like now we're let's go. And I the more again, the older I get, the more I'm like, you know what? I need more grace. I didn't just need grace to save me, I need grace to keep me going and energized, you know.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

So yeah, no, I I love that point because uh my my my favorite passage in Titus is where he's talking about what grace does, and it's that salvation and that sanctification. He says in Titus chapter 2, verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us that denying ungodliness and worldly desires that we should live sensibly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope in the appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. So it's like it it's it's all of it. It's like grace not only saves us, it also continues to sanctify us and it gives us the hope of looking for Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

If you look at go back in your mind across the landscape of First Corinthians that we've studied so far, by the way, it's been super fun. I've enjoyed it. All seven years, all seven years, it's been a long time. There's so there's a sense of like uh like accomplishment and even a little bit like I don't I don't want to call it grieving, but like it's over. Yeah, that was good. It's like you know, but when you look at this, uh what would you say is like I don't know, one of the toughest elements of church life for you where you're like, I need grace in that.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

Yeah, for me, it's it's definitely in the realm of just admonishing people because it's just like I I I have a newfound sense of what Paul has told Timothy with great patience. And it's like, okay, Lord, I need grace because left to myself, I'm gonna lose it. I'm gonna be short with people and all this, but it's just like, okay, God, this is where I need extra grace in that.

unknown 31:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:02

I would I would say the same thing. To be honest, I was literally just talking last week with Chris about that. How do I not react? Why am I reacting like this? Why do I even why am I not just loving this person? That was a check for sure. Like both of us uh were talking about like how you know what's the prayer here, and yeah, just generous, like not being short or impatient, or I sent that email, but you're asking me if I sent you an email. But I don't I don't want to react, I don't want to be frustrated or you know, like it was silly. Well, they're not coming to get after me.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

So, anyways, you want to you want to share more there? You gotta put that off. Sorry, dude.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

I this is why I don't talk to you. Tell us more, Dom.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Who did you make how did that make you feel? Come on, Dom. No, I'm kidding. That was good. I agree. I yeah, I think there's so many areas, man. I think um, I think the the grace to for me was just check and make sure that when you are gathering as the church, you're doing it for the good of others, not the not the glory or elevation of self. Yeah, I think that's such a temptation in in our lives is you know, did did I do a good job? Were people impressed? Will they come back? And I just I just want to totally unhitch that that weight, be like, I'm just I want to I want to serve for the good of the person and their edification. And he spent so much time. How many times in a row did we talk about that here on our podcast with us for the good of the others, for the good of others, not the elevation itself? And I need grace for that. That that God, I need to every day need to go and be like, Lord, I you need to speak in whatever way you want and separate my pride and my self-exaltation from this, and you graciously do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:46

When you depend on grace, it allows your gift to flourish. So, like, if I'm not operating in a place of grace, I'm not encouraging people the way I should, the way that I've been gifted to encourage people. And so that's the clear picture of the dependence on grace.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

Abound in love genuinely. And Paul's like, and guys, I love you. Yeah, this is great, dude.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Come on, Paul. Like, what a good dude. I love you. My love be with you all in Christ. Wait a second, Paul. You love us, and you just like rip us. Man, it's been rough, Paul.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

But Paul, like, come here, come here. Yeah, I love you. I love you.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

It's like he just it's like when you discipline your child, and then you after you're like, you know, I love you, right? And they're like, there is a sense in which it does. It there's something that honesty and discipline communicates about the heart of someone. When I love you, when I'm in a place of authority and I am correcting you, I'm doing it with grace. There's a way that love is being communicated that can't be communicated any other way. And that's what Paul does. My love be with you all. And and I love how he puts in Christ Jesus because I don't think it was with the people who weren't in Christ Jesus. He's like, Oh, you lost people, I love you, but I don't I don't I don't love you like this. Like, I hope you get saved. But my love is for you in Christ Jesus, it's a Christ-centered love, Christocentric. I love you because of what Christ has done in me and what Christ has done in you. And there's this Chris Christopher Christocentric love that's going on there. I love that. Yeah. Because he easily could have separated the church up and been like, all you Apollos people. I don't love y'all, Peter people. You who claim Jesus, I love you. Because I mean that, I mean, what can you say about that, right? You you're of Jesus. Okay, I am too. Good. But all you of Paul people, where are my people at? Yeah, I love you guys. I don't know. I don't know. He could have done something weird like that, but he's it was not that. It was, you guys are not doing this right. I love all of you. May my love be with you all in Christ Jesus, you know. So it's an example for us. It's a cool leadership lesson. That's what it is. It's a leadership lesson. It's it's Paul's like stellar leadership. I'm gonna correct you, but I'm gonna love you. I'm praying for I'm I'm giving you clarity on what God expects and calling you out. And then I'm asking the grace of God to help you fix that. But I want you all to know that this is enveloped in love. I love you, you know.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Yeah, and I I love that because you can tell that that's his motivation throughout this entire thing. Yeah, because uh one thing that I've been, you know, just encouraging our small group as we've been walking through this is just how careful Paul is using his words and when he is rebuking them. Not once does he say, You're not a Christian. He he is always encouraging them when they fail and having the gospel come to bear on them. And you can see that that is only from love. It is not from just him wanting to, you know, oh, I want to I want to make sure the church I planned is doing good. It's like, no, I I genuinely love them, so I want to make sure that they're doing right.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Which I believe Paul perpetually knew that was the result of the spirit work through him in writing this. These are God's words. And I just think I just imagine he's like, I can't believe I said that because sometimes I don't feel that way, but that's the way I should feel. And the spirit of God was moving and speaking, and you know, that's why we would say all scriptures breathed out by God. These are God's words that He gave, uh, He moved in like Paul to write or to dictate out there. And so that's supernatural. It's supernatural. That's the power of it. Amen. And then he ends with Amen. So be it. Yes, so be it. I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

I I truly appreciated your teaching on Amen because I'm like, maybe people don't say amen because they don't understand it. Like this is an agreement. This is saying so be it. This is absolutely so like say it.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Amen. Amen. The affirmation that what has been said is true. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

Amen. Okay.

unknown 36:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:49

Wrap this thing up. Yeah, two last questions. Okay. After studying this, let's say, what do you want the people of life to remember in six months? Be reminded of from this. And what do you think the biggest lesson is for us? And it might already have been said of building each other up. But what do you want are people to be reminded of in six months after we're not studying this anymore? And then what was the biggest thing you think for our church to take away?

SPEAKER_02 37:18

So um for me, it's there's just the consistent thing that I've had within my small group and the consistent conversations I've had with people about this book of how important the body is. Like I would want them to understand that when Christ saved you, he did not leave you alone. He put you in a body so that way we all function and work together. Yes, there's gonna be problems. Yes, there's gonna be things that we need to work through, but it is God's design that we remain together and we we, you know, love one another, we express grace towards one another, we admonish one another. So I I would want someone listening to the series or even listening to this podcast to just remember that the body is one of the most important things that God has gifted you. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

I say so be it to that. Amen. Amen. Um, I think I I would say uh probably just general is that first Corinthians is is worth time to know and study. Amen. I mean, I've had people say, man, it's been so helpful. I think this should be a regular study of the church because it covers so many bases and it has to do with so much of the interactions of the church together and when we gather together and how we engage the world outside. So it's just so so clear and helpful that I I would I would like to think that the last year and a half of going through this has been there the some things in me have changed. Some things in how I see certain topics and how I address them has changed. I I think that um the way I want the church to operate, I mean it's not my church, it's his, but the way I would lead it to operate is is different or clear. And I just think there should be a high value on God's word of books like this. Like we need that. And I'm not gonna let one flyby of it in well year and a half be all I get from it. I'm gonna study it again. I'm gonna go back to it. I'm gonna, I hope you had some notes. I mean, note taking in in sermon and teaching is so important because you forget so much as soon as you walk out into the lobby and start greeting people. But if you have your notes to go back to and and say, I I preach, I studied this sermon and preach this sermon, and then we get into podcasts, and I look back on my notes and I'm like, oh yeah, that was a good thing that scripture said there. That's great, you know? And it's just so it's just cements these things in your heart and mind that you you just need it again and again. So I think there's that. And uh the the biggest lesson I think again is I I feel like it's it's similar in all in all the books of the Bible. It it really rears its ugly head here in First Corinthians. That's just the danger of pride. I just think these that what they were dealing with ultimately was pride, pride in their division, pride in their, you know, I can eat meat offered idols, pride in the way they loved themselves, pride in how they gathered, pride in how they aligned themselves with Paul or Apostle uh Apollos. Um how Paul modeled humility when he says, I surrender my rights. I have a right to demand fiefs from you or money from you, but I didn't. Um, I mean, just so much that it just has to do with humility, yeah, um, sexual immorality, self, self, you know, comfort or self-experience. It's just a form of pride. I just think there's nothing that's going to damage the church more than uh just pride. Yeah. So yeah, there's a lot of good stuff, man. I even flipping back through the pages here, I'm like, oh yeah, that was a good chapter. Oh, I hated that chapter.

SPEAKER_04 40:57

Um, yeah, this was great.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

But no, I I agree. This definitely should be uh some a study that people go back to. Um, because I even had you know people come up to me on on Sunday, like, well, Andrew got four verses. I'm wondering what's he gonna do with this. But then to be able to see how we can milk all of this for what it's worth has just been so rich and enjoyable. So I think it only encouraged more people to saying, you know what? Yeah, I can't sit with just a few verses and you know reap the benefit of what God's saying.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

One of the fun things for me is I whenever I preach through a book, I mark it up as I go. So it's underlined and highlighted as I go, just things that I want to accent and and highlight. And uh I love going back and looking at things that I highlighted and pointed out. And then I can tell a passage that I maybe didn't preach because there's like no marks on it. And I'm like, oh, I should preach that message. That that was a good, that's a good text, you know. Do you remember what chapter you preached or what passage you preached? Oh recently from First Corinthians?

SPEAKER_02 41:58

Uh I know I did 1 Corinthians 3. I did the latter half of 1 Corinthians 15. Yeah. Um all the ones that you didn't mark.

SPEAKER_01 42:06

Yeah, yeah. Chapter 3. I think you did uh according to the grace of God given to me, skilled master builder. I laid it foul. I don't have any marks on that. And then the end of 15, I do, I think, just because we had so much conversation about it, though. It was good. I mean, I really don't. I don't I don't have anything in the end of 15, and I should because it's one of the best passages in the Bible. You had some good ones. It was great. I'm pretty jealous of that. I mean, I'm gonna have to go form sermons from that just so I complete my Corinthian set, you know? So that's great.

SPEAKER_04 42:38

That's good. All right, well, or take a break till August or September. I'm not sure. I think August.

SPEAKER_01 42:46

Three of you still listening to this episode. Um don't miss summer series through Proverbs. Yes, it's gonna be great. Um, packed full of wisdom. It's gonna be walking in wisdom, and wisdom. What is the what is the what is the the teaser? What's her trailer for Proverbs? It's Proverbs is not hard and fast rules, it's the way things should be. It's it's a call to reality. So it's not like do this and this is gonna happen, but most of the time that's a principle to live by. Amen. And it is wisdom that that ultimately finds its source in God and the fear of God. And then it just saturates every area of life. You and I need it. There's so much in Proverbs, and I don't just want to take it like you know, a little soup. What is that called? Chicken soup for the soul. Proverbs is not the biblical chicken soup for the you remember that? You know that chicken soup for the soul?

SPEAKER_04 43:38

It's not that you guys just aged yourself.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Yeah, but you know what it is.

SPEAKER_04 43:42

I don't.

SPEAKER_03 43:43

Yes!

SPEAKER_01 43:46

He's lying. He's lying. But I think it's it's more than that. It's it's uh it's worth coming to all summer as you can because it's uh it's got a lot to say that's helpful and pumped about it. Let's go. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_04 43:59

Next, next.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Multiple series and books are gonna be awesome. So grateful for this time. Grateful for those three listeners. All three of you.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

If you're one of the final three listeners, smash that like button and follow us. Share it and subscribe, baby. You probably already subscribed. Share this on social media so we can get three more, baby. I don't know. How many people listen to this? I hope somebody listens to it. Yeah, 70 or 80 people a week.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

And I think that the the people that do listen to it, I think, are very impacted, which is exactly what we want. Not for us, for for God, you know. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

So it's cool to go deeper. Amen. So be it. What if I just started saying so be it?

SPEAKER_01 44:41

So be it. And not amen. I think you should. So be it. I do say that's true. That's the way of saying amen. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 44:50

That's right. You say that's right. That's right. If you are ever sitting in a in a knot preaching, you say that's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right, Dom.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 44:58

That's right, Dom. I don't know if you ever said it to me, but I just did.

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Market Town.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

That's right, Dom.

unknown 45:03

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

We want to talk about you on stage. I mean, Dom and Chris did host moment Sundays. Yes. It was good.

SPEAKER_04 45:13

I missed it. Did you realize? Oh, you were baptizing. Yeah. I mean, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Wait, baptisms on Sunday, too.

SPEAKER_04 45:20

Yeah, praise God for that, man.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

Some powerful testimonies, man. Dom and Chris would like do a karate kick off the stage, but you guys held it back. I just was thinking, like, what ways could I not get fired? It's a good way to live.

SPEAKER_04 45:35

Because I did want a karate kick on stage, but I was like, you know, you were like pretty serious with us in the meeting of the tameness. And then you said we need to bring more energy. So I was trying to bring more energy, but I'm like, I can't do it too crazy. I've already done some things on that stage that aren't good, you know. So I, you know, yeah. So it's just like I thought about throwing the peace as a joke. I was like, I wonder if anybody would laugh from the crowd if I threw the peace sign, but yeah, I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

We've those three listeners are gone now. So uh we better wrap this thing up. This is just conversation about it. Pray us out.

unknown 46:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:07

Well, Father, thank you that uh for giving us uh this this portion scripture in First Corinthians and what we've learned as your people as the church help us uh have grace to apply these things uh how we need it. Um I pray that our these little conversations uh that we've had about these truths have just added some depth and color and uh enriched the study of First Corinthians for people. I am thankful that people listen and it's not for any other reason, other than I would our our I I think our heart and our motive is true and pure in that we really want to help them. We really want to make sense of these truths so that they just kind of cement into our lives. And I'm thankful that you give us this way to do so. And so we just ask for your blessings upon the words that are spoken as they continue to live out there and bounce around, whatever they do. I just pray that you would uh help them to be effective and used according to your plan. Excited about the summer, where you lead us in our study. Uh, I pray that that would this would all only uh intensify our love, love for your word. And again, may it come to bear on us as you intend for it to. We love you. Thank you for Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 47:22

Thanks for listening to the podcast. You can check out our latest sermon at lifebaptistchurch.com. We can't wait to see you this Sunday.