WEBVTT 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:27.199 For those of you who are more um uh anxious than excited, thank you for for making the effort. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:29.920 I do hope that today is a is a blessing. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:35.119 I was speaking to one of my neighbors just a few days ago, and he was like, Oh, you know, church must be coming back. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:45.679 I said, Yeah, it's back this this Sunday, and he was remarking and saying, Oh, well, it'll probably take a while for for people to feel comfortable coming back and to want to be back. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:53.200 I say, Well, actually, no, both services were full by Tuesday, um, if not sooner. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:55.200 It's an odd thing, isn't it? 00:00:55.359 --> 00:01:03.600 He was perplexed, he found it hard to wrap his head around the fact that people would want to prioritize being back at church of all places. 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:09.120 Seems an odd thing for 65 or so people to want to be keen to be back to. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:14.159 But I suppose that that shouldn't be surprising because the world thinks that we're weird. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:16.560 I don't know if you have noticed that. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.480 Uh, maybe that's just me, but for different reasons. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:24.879 But the world thinks that followers of Jesus are odd. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:31.200 They struggle to wrap our heads around the things that we do, the things that we say, the things that we prioritize. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:36.640 Perhaps you're here this morning and you think that the people who brought you are weird. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:43.519 There might be other reasons for that, which are which don't come from the book. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:48.480 I can't apologize for those, but I can help you understand the other stuff. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:51.840 Christians are strange. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:56.239 We do perplexing and paradoxical things. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:00.480 We have joy in the midst of suffering. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:06.000 We fight to forgive people who have wronged us. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:10.400 We try not to return evil for evil. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:17.120 We follow Jesus even when that means a change in our lifestyle. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:23.120 We look at ourselves first and think, what change do I need to make in myself? 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:28.479 Rather than saying, well, the world just needs to accept me as I am, and everybody else needs to change. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:30.400 It's strange. 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:33.599 Why would people want to do that? 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:35.840 Why would we do that? 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:42.319 And so Christianity is seen as foolishness to many people. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:03:00.400 Maybe people look at you, and you know that in your workplace or even in your family, people look at you and think that you're a little bit strange, foolish for the things that you believe, or maybe it is that they're just a little bit disappointed. 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:03.599 Oh, you had so much potential. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:08.960 You gave it up by following the resurrected homeless guy. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:11.439 Maybe that's what they think. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:19.520 In this section of Paul's, this opening to chapter 11 really begins the final section. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:20.639 We're nearly there. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:24.000 I had hoped to do this entire letter with you in person. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:29.599 It was going to be the letter that we studied together to kind of heal, and now we're here at the end of it. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:38.639 This is the last section, and it's a tricky one, actually, because Paul changes his style of writing. 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:41.520 Not, you know, it doesn't go into like calligraphy or something. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:42.080 That's not. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:45.439 It just the tone of the letter changes. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:57.919 Up until now, he's been clearly and succinctly and reasonably comparing his ministry with the other guys that had come in, defending his ministry, showing them Christ. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:03.280 But now the tone changes to one of irony. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.879 He actually begins writing sarcastically, believe it or not. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:13.039 And you kind of think, well, should Christians even be sarcastic? 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:17.120 Yes, from time to time. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:25.439 He begins in verse one with this little phrase I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:28.319 That's him saying, I'm going to write ironically now. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:35.439 And it really comes through actually in the second half that Duncan will be helping us see next week. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:36.240 Do pray for him. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:40.720 He's got the harder task in terms of dividing out this chapter. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:43.120 But Paul's rationale is this. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:51.839 The Corinthians had been putting up with lots of foolish talk from these so-called super apostles. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:05:03.680 And so Paul essentially comes to them at the start of chapter 11 and says, if really it's foolishness that gets through your thick head, maybe you'd permit me a little bit of foolishness? 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:07.759 Maybe I could talk to you like a fool if that's what you listen to. 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:11.839 That's the kind of tone that he's taking with them. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:21.040 Yes, there is tears in his eyes because he longs for them to come back to Christ, but his tongue here is firmly in his cheek. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:35.040 The point of this irony, of this sarcasm that he employs is that he wants to hold up mirror to the Corinthians to help kind of bring them to their senses and think, oh, I have been really foolish. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:42.079 But in order to do that, Paul acts and speaks like a complete idiot. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:52.240 And so we are going to see how we as Christians can be a complete idiot in the eyes of the world. 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:56.079 This is the idiot's guide to being a Christian. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:03.519 There are four ways in which you can be an idiot from this passage. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:13.680 Number one, be a complete idiot in the eyes of the world by selflessly loving people, even when they reject you. 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:18.959 Be a complete idiot by selflessly loving people, even when they reject you. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:21.360 Cast your eye down to verse one again. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:24.000 I wish that you would bear with me a little foolishness. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:33.600 Do bear with me, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:43.120 Even though the Corinthians, as we can tell throughout this letter, they'd cast Paul aside, even though they had cast him aside. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:53.600 His primary concern was to get them to come back to Jesus. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:07:04.240 His concern wasn't so much that they were rejecting him, but they were rejecting the Jesus that he had brought them to, that he had betrothed them to. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:33.120 It should be the bride and groom. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.759 Paul says, I was like that. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:39.600 I never made it about me. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:42.240 I was the father of the bride. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:44.879 I introduced you to your bridegroom. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:53.120 I bore the cost in order that you might meet the beautiful Jesus. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:03.600 The world will always encourage self-interest. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:15.439 The teachers who had come in after Paul, well, they were all about self-interest, building their own platform. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:20.000 They weren't friends of the bridegroom. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.399 They were other suitors. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:24.480 They were adulterers. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:36.000 They were after their own ministry influence, after their own ministry fame, and in their eyes, Paul was an idiot because he wasn't putting himself front and center. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:42.559 But Paul is willing to be seen as a fool in their eyes. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:47.200 If it means showing them more of Jesus. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:56.720 Sometimes loving someone means saying hard things to them. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:58.720 We've seen that in Paul's letter. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.759 He said things to them that's difficult to hear. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:04.320 He takes no pleasure in it. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:07.679 He does it because he loves them. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:17.120 We are all, of course, naturally drawn to those who would simply just say nice things to us all the time. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:23.840 Wouldn't that be preferable if everybody around us just affirmed every decision that we ever made? 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:27.519 Who just told us what we wanted to hear? 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:35.600 But sometimes, perhaps even frequently, this is not the way of love. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:46.720 Perhaps the people that we push away are precisely the people that we need to listen to because they love us. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:55.519 It is truly foolishness to reject the input of those who love you. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.480 Especially if they are telling you what you don't want to hear. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:06.240 Perhaps that is precisely what you need to hear. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:16.879 The Corinthians had plugged their ears to Paul, but he's still constrained by what he describes as this divine jealousy. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:21.440 That's not a negative emotion, that's a positive one in this context. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:23.200 It's a positive one in what Paul means. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:27.279 What he means is, I want you to have more of God. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:31.679 I want you to have more of Jesus, to grow more like him. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.039 I am jealous for that in you. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:38.240 I want you to fully belong to him. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:42.879 And so he kept on pursuing them. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:46.879 Even when they were rejecting him, even said, Well, we don't want to hear you, Paul. 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:54.000 He kept on lovingly pursuing, persisting with them, enduring with them. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:56.559 So easy, isn't it? 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:06.320 That when you are speaking to somebody that you love, words that is hard for them to hear, words that they don't want to hear. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:07.679 It's so easy, isn't it? 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:08.879 To kind of say, Do you know what? 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:10.080 Do what you want. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:11.200 You know what? 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:12.879 Have it your own way. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:15.919 Not so, Paul. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:20.000 Paul says, No, don't turn from Jesus. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:21.279 It's not about me. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:23.919 It's not about how much you love me. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:27.200 I want you to be a follower of Jesus. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:29.600 I want more of Jesus for you. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:35.120 I want you to love him more, to follow him no matter the cost. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:41.759 Many would look at Paul and say, Don't be an idiot, Paul. 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:42.960 Stop wasting your time. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:49.279 Paul says, No, I'm gonna pursue these people even though they're rejecting me with gentleness, with tears. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:55.600 I'm using this irony to try and apprehend them, to kind of snap them to their senses. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:58.320 I'm not trying to harm them. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:08.559 And I am sure as a consequence that should they turn to Paul as they would to any of us, I would hope. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:11.360 There would be no sense of, well, I told you so. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:24.879 Be an idiot in the world's eyes by pursuing people even when they reject you with gentleness and love. 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:35.919 Secondly, be a complete idiot by holding on to the truth and refusing lies. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:42.080 Be a complete idiot by holding on to the truth and refusing lies. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:48.080 The problem with Paul's Jesus is that Paul's Jesus wasn't very impressive. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:53.279 Paul's Jesus was, he made people feel awkward. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.240 He died a shameful death. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:01.279 He said things that people didn't really like. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:06.799 He called people to turn from sin and to worship him alone. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:12.320 He didn't fit neatly into people's other worldviews. 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:19.600 But the other guys, the super apostles that Paul talks about here, their Jesus was much more palatable. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:21.919 Their Jesus was much more attractive. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:23.600 This Jesus was victorious. 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:27.200 This Jesus just wanted you to have a happy life. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:31.120 This Jesus just wanted to help you feel better about yourself. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:33.840 Why can't we just have that, Jesus? 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:37.840 And not the Jesus that Paul was bringing. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:44.080 It's easy to get confused about who Jesus is. 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:54.080 It's easy to, as Paul says in verse 4, to follow another Jesus. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:59.279 Who comes from a different or with a different spirit. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:04.799 What would it look like for us to follow another Jesus? 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:10.879 I think in the West, there are other Jesuses out there. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:18.240 I think in the church, there probably are other Jesus out there than the Jesus of the scriptures. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:22.240 Sociologist called Christian Smith has done some work on this. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:27.919 He wrote a book in 2005, so it's quite old now, but it's still relevant, called soul searching. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:36.159 And he was the one who came up with the phrase that defines a lot of Western Christianity, and it's the phrase moralistic, therapeutic deism. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:37.679 You know, what? 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:38.480 Sorry. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.080 Let me explain that. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:42.000 Moralistic. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:46.240 This Jesus is about you being good and nice. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:48.879 Just be good, just be nice to one another. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:50.320 Therapeutic. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.240 This Jesus is about you feeling better about yourself. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.080 And Jesus is there to help you live your best life now. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:00.639 Deism. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:02.559 God doesn't really care. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:05.039 He's not really involved in your life. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.360 He'll just step in if you've got a problem. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:13.679 Lots of churches have bought into that view of Jesus. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:17.519 Doesn't matter what you do, as long as you're happy. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:20.559 Nice people go to heaven. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:25.279 It sounds great, isn't it? 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:30.320 God wants you to be happy, feel good about yourself, and is there to make it happen. 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:33.519 Like some sort of divine butler or vending machine. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:39.360 You put in your little prayer coin, give the side a whack, and it comes what you want from life. 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:41.519 Wouldn't that be a good God to follow? 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:42.559 Great, brilliant. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:44.480 It's not the God of the Bible. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:47.759 It's not the God that Paul is bringing. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:49.279 It's a different Jesus. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:51.360 It comes from a different spirit. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:56.320 What's missing from this presentation of Jesus? 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:04.559 Well, it's not so much that all of those things are outright falsehoods. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:06.639 Some of them are. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:11.679 But it's that they're not the whole story. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:15.360 But those are the best lies, though, aren't they? 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.559 The best lies are the ones that are wrapped around just enough truth. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:30.720 Richard Nieber, who is a Christian theologian, sociologist, talked about it in these ways. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:43.120 He said that modern Western Christianity taught a God without wrath that brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the work of a Christ without a cross. 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:46.720 It's a different Jesus. 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:53.919 It's a Jesus who will never ask you to change, a Jesus who will never call you to turn from sin. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.360 And that is not the Jesus of the Bible. 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:09.920 The Jesus who looked at the woman caught in adultery and said to the Pharisees, He who is without sin cast the first stone, is also the Jesus who turned to her and said, Go, sin no more. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:25.839 The Jesus who came to the woman at the well and offered her the living water that would well up into a spring of eternal life is the same Jesus who puts his finger on just how thirsty she is for intimacy and life. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:39.920 The Jesus that the superapostles were presenting was a different one from the one that Paul had encountered on that Damascus road. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:42.799 And the Corinthians had been suckered in. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:57.039 That is why he references in verse 3 Eve in the garden, because who was Eve deceived by? 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:01.359 The snake himself, the chaos bringer, Satan. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:10.480 That's why he returns back to this thought in verse 15, saying that Satan himself disguises as an angel of light. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:19.680 And so, of course, these false teachers will come sounding plausible, looking, flashing, but bringing death. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:24.880 Here's the thing. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:34.880 When you or someone or a pastor says, I believe in Jesus, listen to them. 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:38.720 Who is the Jesus that they believe in? 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:41.359 Is it the Jesus of the scriptures? 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:47.680 Full of compassion and grace and mercy and love as well as holiness. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:53.279 And a call to repentance. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:59.359 Or are they bringing you simply the Jesus of good times? 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.680 Who wants you to stop doing bad things? 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:11.519 Don't stop bad things from happening to you, but expand your social circle and help you to feel better about yourself. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:18.000 And why am I kind of bagging on that, Jesus? 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.920 It's not just because it's not the Jesus of the book, right? 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:28.880 It's because that Jesus won't help you when the rubber hits the road. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:40.000 That Jesus destroys you when you are in seasons of suffering and grief because he has nothing but sentimental nonsense to offer you. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:50.160 Or the manipulation of just have more faith and you'll be better, you'll feel better, or this situation will change. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:54.079 That, brothers and sisters, is demonic. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:04.079 I do. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:12.240 But I want you to have joy, whatever waves of suffering are breaking over your back, and only the Jesus of the scriptures can give you that. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:22.480 The world will be fine with us loving the Jesus of good times. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:25.759 But he's not the Jesus of the Bible. 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:32.240 And the world will think it foolishness to take up your cross and to follow him. 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:39.519 It will look like foolishness in the world's eyes to hold on to Jesus no matter what. 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:50.880 The world will always want you to tolerate lies and to tolerate and to parrot distortions of the truth. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:56.000 But here Paul calls them out for the demonic deception that they are. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:05.440 The Corinthians had been taken in for fools and they had begun to parrot the lies of the super apostles. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:08.000 And let's think about that more broadly. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:13.680 Yes, there are the lies and distortions of the of the person of Jesus. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:18.559 Let's think about truth and lies more broadly, just for a moment, if you would indulge me. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:35.759 You will, as a follower of Jesus, be asked to participate and to parrot and to endorse lies that the world accepts. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:54.319 Maybe they won't be overt-spoken lies, but you will be asked to tacitly endorse things that aren't true, things that aren't true about the nature of the world, things that aren't true about the nature of human beings, and you'll be asked to fall in line. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:59.759 And the temptation will be for you to think I should go along. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.720 With this, because if I don't, it will cost me. 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:10.880 It will cost me this friendship, it will cost me this job, it will cost me this promotion or position, it will cost me this relationship. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:12.960 That will be the temptation. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:16.640 But here's the thing that you need to know. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.319 There is a cost either way. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:26.079 You go along with the lie. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:30.720 You might still maintain the relationship. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:32.480 You might still get the promotion. 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:35.839 You might still have your standing with that person. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:40.400 But you will have corroded something internally. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:48.720 In the same way that Jesus says to his disciples, what good is it of a man to gain the whole world, but to forfeit his soul? 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:50.319 There is a soul forfeiting. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:58.799 There is a hawkruxing that happens to your heart when you go along with lies. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:01.599 You see that in societies. 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:04.319 Societies that power lies disintegrate. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:13.839 Societies that where people lie to one another persistently and consistently disintegrate. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:17.039 That is what happened to Soviet Russia. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:26.880 It's one of Alexander Zolzenitsyn's key diagnoses of why Soviet Russia collapsed, because people lied to one another. 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:30.160 How is it that we are to be salt and light in the world? 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.440 By not buying into the lights. 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:40.799 It is not that we then patrol and parade around as holier than thou. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:46.559 It's that I am trying to keep society together by not buying into the lines. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:57.759 It is part of us doing good in the world by humbly, gently, lovingly persisting with the truth. 00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:02.400 Even when it's so clean, it's like it's not there. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:11.519 Even when the world will insist that you recite its creedal lies. 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:15.759 Don't do it. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:20.319 Be a fool. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:23.440 Hold on to the truth. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:32.640 Third, be a complete idiot by prioritizing substance over show. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:34.960 Look at verse five. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:42.880 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles. 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:47.279 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge. 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:53.119 Indeed, in every way we are we have made this plain to you in all things. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:25:02.160 We, as human beings, were so instinctively drawn to the show. 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:10.319 So beguilable by the razzle-dazzle, distracted from real issues. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:16.319 It's like a magician using misdirection. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:19.359 We're always looking at the hand that's moving. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:23.359 We're not looking at what's going on behind the curtain or under the table. 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:28.559 We get distracted by the show. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:41.039 And part of the issue, perhaps it's happening in our day that we are facing, is that morality is becoming a show. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.720 True virtue is becoming a show. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:58.720 You don't have to be moral, you don't have to be virtuous, you just have to look moral and sound virtuous by saying all of the right sorts of things. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:03.359 People type their virtue on social media. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:16.000 It's the moral equivalent, or sorry, not the moral equivalent, the modern equivalent of the Pharisees who screw up their faces in public to show everybody else that they're fasting, show how holy they are. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:19.440 The Pharisees can kind of go, I'm so hungry. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:22.000 It's all just show. 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:26.000 That's why Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:30.000 They look white and clean on the outside, but inside they're full of death. 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:33.359 So much of our world is whitewashed tombs. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:36.160 People looking and sounding virtuous. 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:40.079 And then enough time passes, and you think, oh, right, okay. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:41.599 Chickens have come home to roost there. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:44.400 You find out what's really been going on behind the scenes. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:46.799 And I'm not slinging mud at the world here. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:50.240 I mean, Christians in the church have been guilty just of that as well, right? 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:52.880 We can be just as guilty. 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:56.240 We can be just as guilty of the show. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:26:58.880 And this can be part of it. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:01.920 Of just putting out a good front. 00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:07.519 Well, you know that there's darkness and death going on internally. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:17.440 It's easy in the church to be beguiled by the flashy speaker or the high production values. 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:20.240 I mean, just look around. 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:27.599 But in it, there is a serious problem. 00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:35.039 There's no depth to it, there's no true holiness, no real integrity, no substance. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:41.680 The Corinthians looked at Paul and they saw a poor show. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:46.079 They looked at him and then they concluded that he was not a headline act. 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:48.559 He was the act that you put up at 3 a.m. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:52.480 in the overflow tent when everybody else is stoned and drunk. 00:27:54.880 --> 00:28:08.480 But the difference between him and the superapostles was that while they were skillful in speech and mesmerize Christians with their musings, Paul had something better. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:12.799 He didn't just have knowledge about God. 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:16.240 He knew God. 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:18.880 He had knowledge of God. 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:23.440 There's a world of difference between knowing about and knowing God. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:26.160 You can know lots of stuff about God. 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:28.720 You can explain to me what the hypostatic union is. 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:30.079 I wish someone would. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.279 You can help me understand the doctrine of the Trinity. 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:40.559 You can know your Bible back to front and still not know God. 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:50.240 Read Jim Packer's book, Knowing God, in order to think more deeply about that. 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:59.920 It is possible to know a lot about God and still be starving for the affection of him. 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:10.240 What Paul says when he says in verse 6 that he knows God, that he is not inferior in knowledge. 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:22.880 What he is referring to there is a deep, relational, and intimate knowledge of the God who apprehended him on that Damascus road, who changed his life. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:26.480 That's what he knew. 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:28.880 That's what he had experienced. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:33.279 And that is what he shared plainly and openly. 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:40.640 Do not substitute knowledge about God for true knowledge of him. 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:58.559 As you think about, and as I'm sure you do, in your musing moments, thinking about what spiritual gift you would like, or what spiritual gift you pray for. 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:04.559 I suspect that the gift of discernment is on down the list. 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:08.799 The gift of discernment is a massively underrated gift. 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:12.079 It is something that we should ask God for. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:18.960 That we can discern what is show and what is substance. 00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:32.480 Because every few years or so a Christian comes along, or a professing Christian comes along, a new speaker or a new author, and he draws a following, or she draws a following after them. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:40.400 Because what they're saying, oh, they're so authentic, so vulnerable. 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:50.640 One of the problems that we have, I think, in the church these days is that we substitute authenticity for holiness. 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:53.279 Oh, he's really open about his sin. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:55.759 Yeah, I want like I want to be really open about my sin. 00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:57.920 I'm a wicked, wretched sinner. 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:03.599 I can't tell you I could fill an hour or more, just telling you about this last week. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:09.200 But is there holiness? 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:11.920 Is there pursuing Jesus? 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:25.680 Or a Christian thinker comes along with lots of mysterious aspects of the Christian faith and asking lots of questions and oh, have you thought about this? 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:30.400 Makes lots of short little snippet videos with lots of questions. 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:33.200 You think, oh, I haven't thought about that before. 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:35.279 And look, you know me. 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:36.880 I'm not against questions. 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:40.160 I'm I like questions, I'm all about the questions, right? 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:43.039 Probably too much for some of you. 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:55.279 But you listen to these guys, and after a while, you kind of think that these questions are shading into the did God really say sort of question? 00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:59.039 And you begin to discern the forked tongue. 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:05.519 Do you think about the messages that you let past your defenses? 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:10.559 Are you scrolling through the Christian memes on social media? 00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:12.880 You think, oh, that sounds nice, doesn't it? 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:13.519 Share. 00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:17.279 You give it a moment's thought. 00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:25.759 Are the messages, are the voices that you listen to, people of real substance? 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:29.039 Or are they those who are beguiling you? 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:32.400 Are they people who want deep transformation? 00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:33.599 And how do you know, right? 00:32:33.759 --> 00:32:34.720 Let's just think about that. 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:36.799 Well, oh I don't know. 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:38.160 How do I know? 00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:41.119 Well, let's think about what Paul's already done. 00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:45.519 Paul is like a spotlight, right? 00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:51.680 You think of think of the statue of Christo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro, right? 00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:54.319 Christ the Redeemer standing there over Rio. 00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:58.000 And what is below Christ the Redeemer? 00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:00.799 There's a whole load of spotlights. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:03.839 And what do the spotlights do? 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:06.480 They illuminate Christ. 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:10.720 You don't go and look into the spotlight. 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:11.599 Very bad idea. 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:13.039 Don't do that, right? 00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:17.119 You look at what the spotlight is illuminating. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:32.720 And so when you're listening to someone, when you're in time thinking about, you know, you move away from Dublin or you need to go to another church, or you pick up a book and you think, you know, is this author worth reading? 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:34.240 Ask yourself. 00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:38.319 Am I seeing more of Jesus in what they're saying? 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:44.480 Are they like spotlights who are pointing me to Jesus, or are they point, are they really making it all about themselves? 00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:47.519 Are they the hero of their illustrations? 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:50.000 Or is Jesus the hero? 00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:54.799 That's just one thing you might think about. 00:33:56.559 --> 00:34:04.960 The world will think you foolish for looking for people of real substance and for seeking to be a person of real substance. 00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:12.960 So be an idiot, reject the show, and go for quiet integrity. 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:25.440 Fourthly and finally, be a complete idiot by valuing self-sacrifice and the humility. 00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:29.039 And that's really verses 7 to 15. 00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:35.440 I'm not going to read them all now, but this is where the irony really begins to bite in Paul's writing. 00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:44.880 Because in summary, what he's saying to the Corinthian Christians is, look, guys, I'm really sorry that I didn't exploit you like the other guys. 00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:50.000 I'm so sorry that I didn't take all your money the way they're doing. 00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:52.960 You see, you get the irony? 00:34:54.239 --> 00:34:58.639 Because one of the issues that the Corinthians had was that Paul didn't take their money. 00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:01.119 It sounds strange to our ears. 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:03.280 Like some old Irish auntie or like Mrs. 00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:06.079 Doyle from Father Ted going, go on, take it, take it, take it. 00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:07.360 That's what the Corinthians were like. 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:08.960 They're like, take the money. 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:11.360 Paul says no. 00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:17.039 But he responds in this ironic way, saying, I'm terribly sorry I didn't exploit you. 00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:20.079 I'll make a point of doing it. 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:28.079 You see, in the ancient world, paying these traveling philosophers was the dumb thing. 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:37.599 If you were an itinerant philosopher, it was seen as demeaning for you to then go and get a job and work with your hands. 00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:42.880 And so people would come and they would pay your way, they'd become your patrons, your backers. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:46.480 But that also had strings, didn't it? 00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:49.360 You can maybe work out what those were. 00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:56.639 You imagine if you're a speaker and somebody is really, they're paying your rent. 00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:01.199 They're enabling your lifestyle. 00:36:02.079 --> 00:36:04.880 And they come to you and they say, Do you know what? 00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:10.559 I'd really like you just to include this in uh in your in next week's sermon. 00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:16.800 Or I'd really like you to stop talking so much about sin. 00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:19.920 It's getting a bit awkward. 00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:28.800 You might kind of stand up a little while, and they say, Do you know I how's the how's the the new house? 00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:29.840 You you enjoying it? 00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:32.559 It's nice, it'd be shame if somebody took it away. 00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:35.119 It'd be a real shame if you couldn't pay your rent anymore. 00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:41.039 Remember what I was saying about not talking so much about this issue or that issue? 00:36:41.599 --> 00:36:44.079