Imitating Paul's Lowliness - [1 Corinthians 4:14-21]

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I live a fairly sequestered life, I don't get out very often, when
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I was in corporate America I was always around unbelievers and now I'm out occasionally but for the most part
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I just live a quiet life and I'm around Christians. Last week we took a walk to the farm stand with the children,
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Kim and Luke were gone but my three girls and a couple neighborhood kids and we walked up to the farm stand and outside of the farm stand they had a hundred maybe two hundred pumpkins and these pumpkins were just setting out kind of like the old leftover ones and it was right by the children's playground area and so we sat outside, beautiful fall day, foliage, red, yellows and I said to the kids, oh look at these pumpkins and they ran over to play with them and one of them said, let's spell something.
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I can't remember what they said, you know, let's spell, I don't know what the word was and I said, no, let's spell something else.
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How about repent? Why don't you spell repent and they just looked over at me and they said, yeah, that's a great idea and so they started making the pumpkins spell the words repent and they got to about the end of repent and I walked inside to get something to eat and come back outside and a lady came over to the kids and said, now you stop playing with those pumpkins.
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You don't play with those unless you buy them and I walked back out and the kids told me and I said, well, did you stop?
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Because if you stop, finish the, you know, you just can't have repent out there. Does she work for the farm stand?
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No. Okay, dad's here, finish the job and they said, we already finished the tea, repent. So I took a good picture of it and the lady was over there talking to her friend, you know, these crazy evangelicals.
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I just said to the girls, you know, it's just because she needs to repent and she doesn't want to be reminded and I was reminded myself of the world's influence upon Christians.
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How the world tries to conform us to do what it wants, how it wants, when it wants.
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It's like it's trying to take Christianity and push it over to the side and here's where you can go and no further.
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Some kind of Jell -O mold they try to put us in and if we're not careful, the world will influence us negatively so we don't stand up for the truth, we don't stand for Christ Jesus so that we compromise and that's exactly what happened to the church of Corinth.
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God causes the church of Corinth to exist and then before you know it, the world is influencing
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Corinth to not be as sharp for the gospel, to not have as many sharp corners of the gospel.
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If you turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 18, I want to give you a little bit of background on 1
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Corinthians before we dive into the passage. Corinth is in Greece. There were about 600 ,000 people there at the time.
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It was an important city, a city of commerce and it was a wicked city.
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Not New England wicked good city but it was wicked, terribly wicked.
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It was awful. It was like Las Vegas and it was a port city and there were lots of sailors there and it had a reputation of unspeakable wickedness, sinfulness.
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It was strategically located in the crossroads, several sea routes were right there and it had an area where you could go from one sea to another by two different routes.
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One route was sail 250 miles around the Cape and they would tell you, by the way, if you were a sailor before you made that trip, make sure your will is up to date or you could put your boats on rollers and roll them across the land four miles to get to the other side.
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By the way, I'm super excited in one month from today I'll be at Corinth teaching the book of 1
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Corinthians and I get to see that isthmus and that canal with my own very eyes.
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Let's hope they don't have any recording malfunctions like we had here. There would be games like the
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Isthmian Games, the Olympic kind of games there for that region.
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And along with this situation, we've got false idols everywhere, gods and goddesses galore.
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Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and just think regularly 1 ,000 priestesses would descend upon the city for ministry.
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How do you commune with the god of Aphrodite? Well, by sleeping with one of the 1 ,000 prostitutes.
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Wicked things going on there, whirliness everywhere. There was a god Melchertes there, the deity of navigation.
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The temple of Apollo was there. They worshiped Poseidon, Athena, Hera, Hermes and the list goes on and on.
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And look what happens in Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18, Paul is sent there by God.
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18 .1, after this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. It wasn't too far by the way and he found a
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Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife
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Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, but they were tent makers by trade.
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And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the
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Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads.
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I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. And he left there and went to the house of a man named
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Titius, justice, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.
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Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household and many of the
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Corinthians hearing Paul believed were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent.
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It was dangerous for Paul there. Verse 10, for I am with you and no one will attack you to harm you.
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For I have many in this city who are my people. Let me read that last part again in verse 10.
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For I have many in this city who are my people. Now remember
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Corinth, wicked city, corrupt city, polluted city, sin city.
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It's the Las Vegas of Greece. And can you imagine in the eternal counsels of God, God says
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I'm going to have a church at Corinth. How are they going to come to faith? Come up with faith by themselves, figure it out on their own, see the stars and kind of construct through astronomy, oh there must be a
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Jesus. No, the way God does it is He sends messengers. And He sent messengers like Paul to go to Corinth because, are you ready for the theology?
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There were unregenerate elect people there. There were people who were not born again, but God had chosen.
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Didn't you see it in verse 10? For I have many people there. My job is to send you to give them the good news of Christ crucified and raised from the dead and then they will believe.
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How do you start a church someplace? Well, God sends His people, problem is without the
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Lord they're not going to be willing. I'd like you to flip over to John chapter 6, said where are we going this morning?
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We'll get there. John 6, oh you know what, let's do John chapter 5.
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John chapter 5 verse 39, it'll all make sense in a moment.
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John chapter 5 verse 39, we hear our Savior Jesus say, you search this place and you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.
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And it is they that bear witness about me. So Jesus is talking to the leaders and you can either take this as an imperative, search the scriptures, or most likely
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He says to them, which they would obviously be doing, you search the scriptures, that's your job, you're good at it, you know the
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Old Testament, you do search the scriptures. Except we've got a problem. Verse 40, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
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Literally, you will not to will. You desire not to desire.
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Show me every unbeliever who's been affected by Adam's fall, which is every person, and I'll show you someone left on their own, they will refuse to come to Christ Jesus.
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They will not to will. They refuse. They desire not to desire.
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So how can anyone become a Christian if their desire is for them not to desire?
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If their will is, I don't want that. John chapter 3, Jesus had just said, people love darkness.
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They love wickedness. And they love it with a sport -like attitude, with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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One of the texts in the Old Testament says that people love wickedness like a sport. So how do you take people at Corinth, who love wickedness, who love darkness, who have satanic influences there, and Paul goes to plant a church.
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They refuse to come. They won't come. They refuse to come. They will not.
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Well, the great news is, look at chapter 6. There's somebody who plants a church there, and it's not really
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Paul. Jesus is going to do his work there as his name is proclaimed through Paul, the messenger.
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Listen to what Jesus says in John chapter 6. This is the hope we have for God planting churches in pagan places, or any place.
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For I have come down from heaven, John 6, 38, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent
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Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given
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Me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the
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Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day. So the
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Jews grumbled about Him because He said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said,
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Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does
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He now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves, for no one can come to Me unless the
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Father who sent Me draws him. Draw is a word that if you've got a well, and there's water at the bottom of the well, and here's your bucket, you put the bucket down, scoop up the bucket full of water, and then what do you do?
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You drag up the water. You draw water from the well. There's an active force, there's a passive force, and the active force is acting on the passive force, dragging up, drawing up the water.
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The Father who sent Me draws Him, and I will raise Him up on the last day. How do you start a church in Corinth?
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Just hope it happens? Well, in the eternal arrangement of God, God had chosen Corinth to be a beautiful outpost for the truth, and now we go to 1
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Corinthians 1, verse 2, and it seems to make much more sense now, when I realize that the church of Corinth was called by God.
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The church of Corinth was called by God. What explains the church at Corinth? Corinth, the absolute, sovereign, distinguishing, free grace of God.
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And that's very, very important, because I don't want to just jump into chapter 4 without saying this, that when
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God grants His sovereign, free, distinguishing grace, our response should be obedience, joy, thankfulness.
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We just sang this song. It's a song I used to sing to my kids every night when I'd tuck them in. They were 2 months old, 1 day old, 5 months old, 2 years old.
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I'd rub their back and I'd say, Jesus paid it all, all to Him I what? Owe. So, see, this is important for us, because the
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Christian life is, what do I do today? The Christian life is, who am I in Christ today?
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Then let's figure out what I do in light of that. Say, well, I really want to be a better husband today.
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What should I do to be a better husband today? I'll pick up my socks. I'll do this.
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I'll do the honey -do list. I'll do all these other things. I'll do those. I'm not saying just lay back and let
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God, I'm saying that you remember who you are in Christ and what He's done for you, and then you get your to -do list going.
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1 Corinthians 1, verse 2, To the church of God that is in Corinth, that wicked, wicked pagan place, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called by God to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. God, by His free mercy, saved these
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Corinthians, and they're letting the world seep in, and now Paul says, let's make sure we address this biblically so we don't fall prey to what the world does, specifically chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4, disunity.
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So let's go up to our passage today, 1 Corinthians 4, verses 14 through 21. I probably should slow down a little bit because going 7 to 8 verses per week,
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I'm fairly dizzy. I feel like I've been on a tilt -a -whirl or some kind of ride down at Six Flags because we usually do the half verse at a time, half a word, you know.
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We really progressed, we got a half a word in today. Paul addresses disunity in chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4, and today,
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Lord willing, we'll finish that topic before we get to the next issue in chapter 5 next Sunday.
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I'm going to read verses 14 through 21 in the English Standard Version, chapter 4, and I want you to see if you can find the four key words that define this paragraph, this pericope we would use in theology.
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Fourteen through 21, there are four words that dominate that tell us what the key is for this passage.
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I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as My beloved children.
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For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your
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Father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. I urge you then, be imitators of Me.
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That is why I sent you Timothy, My beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of My ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
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Some are arrogant as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills.
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And I will find out, not the talk of these arrogant people, but their power.
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For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
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What are the four key English words there that define all of this? What four words shout out, that's the sermon title, that's the key.
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This is what the Corinthians are supposed to do and what lesson can we learn from the Corinthians so that we might ask the question, should we follow this instruction?
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What are the four key words? It's pretty quiet out there. Let me tell you the four key words found in verse 16.
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Be imitators of Me. That's going to summarize our entire sermon.
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Imitate Paul and his lowliness in the world. Don't imitate what the world does.
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Remember, Paul was not running after the world's approval. Paul was not saying, you know, I want to fit in and I want to be liked by the world no matter what.
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He realized that there was a cost to following Christ Jesus. So what we'll do this morning is we'll look at these verses and then
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I'll give you several ramifications of this text so that you too can follow
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Paul like the church of Corinth. Basically the outline breaks down into encouragement and then warning.
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He encourages the church of Corinth and then he warns them. Let's go to the encouragement first found in verse 14.
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Then at the end of the passage I'll give you some practical application. I do not write these things to make you ashamed but to admonish you as My beloved children.
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Remember the last set of verses? Remember the biting, striking, ironic sarcasm?
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He was really after them in the prior verses. And now it's a gentler touch. It's a softer approach.
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It's kinder. He's going to shame them later. But right now he said,
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I don't want to shame you. I do not write these things referring back to the prior few verses to shame you.
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I want to admonish you. Now the word admonish just means to put it into your mind, to get you to think right, to have you process this mentally.
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I just want to put these things in your mind, My beloved children. I want to warn you. And then it's very tender.
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This is language of a father. You see it in verse 15? Softness and warmness.
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For though you have countless guides in Christ, all kinds of teachers, all kinds of tutors, all kinds of people that have taught you certain things, you do not have many fathers.
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For I became your Father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. Paul says with hyperbole,
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You've had 10 ,000 teachers of the Bible, but who's the one that first brought you the Gospel?
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And Paul is very careful not to say, I saved you, but you got saved what? How? Through the
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Gospel. He didn't say, I made you alive. I made you born again, but I brought the Gospel to you. I've even said to people at this church, somebody was being, it was probably five years ago, being very factious.
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And I said to the person, I love you. Why are you making this the point of contention in the local church?
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Don't you want to help the ministry here? Didn't God use me to preach the
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Gospel to you, and then you got saved, and then now you're trying to undermine the work that I'm trying to do?
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Don't do that. It doesn't make sense. And Paul says, I was there for 18 months, and now
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I move away. You've had other teachers, but you've only got one Father who really loves you, and now
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Dad is going to tell you, in love, you've got to think properly about the world influencing you.
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Maybe I could put it this way, ever with your kids, or maybe you do it as well, you go back through and you say, this was my kindergarten teacher, this was my first grade teacher,
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I always remember my fifth grade teacher, he was Mr. Sanfilippo, and I would love to meet Mr. Sanfilippo today, he was my all -time favorite teacher.
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You just kind of go through your life, and you say, I remember that Sunday school teacher, and this Sunday school teacher, and I remember all these different people that have taught me things in my life, but, you know, there's only one
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Father. And Mr. Sanfilippo could tell me one thing, and I might just even listen to him today, but if my father were alive, and he said, son, your life is going off the edge of a cliff,
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I want to just sit down and talk with you, to try to tell you, as a father who loves his son, listen.
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And that's the tenor, that's the tone here, that Paul is using.
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What's it say? You have many fathers, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the gospel.
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He doesn't even describe the gospel, because they know what the gospel is. He's taught them. You might have a tutor that berates you, but I'm a father who loves you.
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And you owe me your ear. And then what does he say?
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I urge you. I come alongside of you, right where we get the word for the Holy Spirit. I parakaleo you, then be imitators of me.
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All right, let's ask this question. How many people here do the exact job that their father did?
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Yeah, let's use men, because lots of mothers maybe are housewives, so let's use men.
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If you're a man here today, and you do exactly the job that your father did, raise your hand. Hardly anybody in this culture, you did what your father did.
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If I ask the question 2 ,000 years ago, maybe two people wouldn't raise their hand.
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I ask the question here, two people only raise their hand. My father worked for the phone company, and I worked for the phone company for a couple of years until I realized, you know, they know my dad's the boss's boss's boss, and I have to do all kinds of extra things.
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So when I climb a telephone pole, it was, you think you've got to, you know, your dad's a big shot in the phone company?
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Climb that telephone pole instead of go up and ring the bell, you climb all the way up over the bell, and then kiss the top of the pole,
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Abe and Droth. I said, why follow my father's footsteps? Sons were expected to carry on the heritage of the job.
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Resources involved, tools involved, knowledge involved. So Paul says,
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I'm your father, the gospel is preached through me, I'm your father, and so act like my son.
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Act like my son, and if you act like my son, you're not going to be running around saying, we follow Paul, we follow
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Apollos, we follow Cephas, or we follow Jesus. You're not going to be running around saying, what the world says in a leader is right.
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Strength, power, Marlboro man, decisiveness. This has nothing to do with it, because Paul says, you're called people, you're rescued by the gospel, so live in light of who you are.
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Like father, like son. I'm your father, I don't go hankering after the world's approval.
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I'm not drooling after the world's approval, so you're my son in the faith, Corinth. Why would you?
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It's wise. He spanks them in verses 8 through 13, and now he brings them in.
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It's almost like when a dad has to spank a son or a daughter, and there's the time of firm discipline, and then afterwards, there's that time of tender application and talking.
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Paul says, I'm a fool for Christ, and people think I'm weak, and people think I'm dishonored, and you should act the same way,
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Corinth, yet you don't want to be a fool for Christ, you want to use Christianity as a springboard to be wealthy, healthy, and wise.
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Have the world love you. Paul says, of course
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I want you to be Christ -like. He goes on to say that in chapter 11, verse 1.
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Let me just read that. He's not saying do everything Paul does, including sin, but in the context of this father -son thing, 11 .1
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says, be you therefore imitators of me as I am of Christ. He's after Christ -likeness, yes, but Paul can't say everything in a letter, so he's going to send someone who acts like a son to Paul, like father, like son.
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I can't go, Paul says, but I can send you one that will act like my son in the faith, and not run around after the world's applause.
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Who is that son? There it is in verse 17. That is why I sent you Timothy. He's probably on the way.
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He's not on the way to say, now you've got the hypostatic union wrong, and you're not super -lapsarian, and all these other kinds of issues.
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He's probably on the way to say, you've learned doctrine, this is how it fleshes itself out in life. Paul showed you how doctrine is applied, and now
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Timothy is going to show the same thing. To remind you of my ways in Christ.
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Not even doctrine. I'm sure it will come up. But of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere, in every church.
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My model child is coming for you. I love you enough to send you my son to model that faith.
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Now he warns, verse 18, a few bad apples does spoil the whole bunch.
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One bad apple spoils the whole bunch. Verse 18, Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
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They were acting like big shots, because Paul's not going to show up. Gats away, the mice will play.
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But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out, not the talk of these arrogant people, but their power.
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Paul uses this word, arrogant, all the time. It's puffed up. How many people have a translation, puffed up? I think that's a better translation.
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Here's the Greek word for puffed up. Once in a while you need a new Greek word, so here's the Greek word. Fusio. Some of you actually are trying to say it right now.
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Fusio. Doesn't that sound like puffed up? Inflation? Self -inflation?
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Fusio. I can just see it now. Avendross speaking in tongues.
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News at 11. The bad news is they videotape these things now. They thought they were really big.
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Self -inflated. Kind of like big balloons when we go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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The night before, the balloons are almost filled, but they're all kind of tied down. You look over there and you think, that takes a lot of gas, a lot of inflation, to get those huge balloons up to go through central
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Manhattan. These people had a lot of hot gas as well that they were putting in themselves, puffing themselves up.
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They were arrogant. They think they had arrived. We've learned earlier, on the stratus of sanctification, they haven't arrived.
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They need to be taught. They need to be disciplined. They're carnal. They're acting like the world, or else
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Paul wouldn't have written the letter. Over and over and over, you see the pride of the church of Corinth.
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Thinking they were so important. It's like some four -year -old coming up to a dad saying,
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I don't need you anymore, Dad. I think we've arrived. I think we can take care of things.
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I think when it comes to the bills and the insurance and the house and the safety and the protection and the shopping and the driving,
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Dad, duty discharged. Thanks a lot. You and Mom can now retire.
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You'd probably look at that four -year -old and you'd think, you better waddle right back into your room because Daddy's coming in there for a little anti -fusio.
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Paul says these people, they think they've got a lot of power because they think it's rhetoric, but the power is the gospel that changes people's lives, that makes sinners saints and then makes saints act more like who they are in Christ.
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They've got a lot of talk. They're really good at talking, but the gospel comes with power. I'm quite sure that if Paul came in today and just walked over here, we would all look at him and say, is he really going to be the guest preacher?
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Kind of all hunchbacked and maybe that eye problem that he might have had. Remember, they dogged him.
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The guy can't talk and he looks bad. And if you've got one and not the other, you're okay.
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If you look good and you can't talk, you just stare. It's not too bad. And if you can talk really well, but you just look bad, then you just close your eyes and listen, right?
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But if you can't talk and you look bad, Paul says it's not about me and I am weak and I am a fool for Christ's sake.
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And when I come to you, I'm going to remind you of the real gospel power. I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is, it's not about rhetoricians.
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And Paul says, if I don't come, it's because of the will of God, not because I'm afraid. If the
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Lord wills. You see that? Only the restraint of God Himself will stop me from coming to talk to you.
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For the kingdom of God, verse 20, does not consist in talk, but in power.
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You try to say you're so mature because you say you are? The only way you can be really mature is acting like you're mature.
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One man said, the religion of the Lord Jesus is not in word, in human eloquence, excellence of speech, but in...
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Literally, the text says in verse 20, for the kingdom of God does not consist in the talk.
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The talk. High flown, highfalutin talk.
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The talk doesn't change anyone. Scarecrows that are old and tattered don't scare off birds.
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And neither do words change people's lives. I like Calvin's words.
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He said, for how small an affair is it for anyone to have skill to prat eloquently while he has nothing but empty tinkling.
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So Paul gives two final questions, verse 21. He asks them the questions. What do you wish?
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What do you wish? You make the call. It's up to you now. Shall I come to you with a rod?
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He's talking like a father, isn't he? Shall I come to you with a rod? Do you need a spanking? Do you want me to come and put you over my knee to give you a rod?
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He doesn't mean a real rod, but this is the language of a father. Or, with love, in a spirit of gentleness.
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If you're going to persist in sin, then I need to come and deal with it. I'm not going to let your sin go unchallenged.
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For it says in Proverbs 3 and Hebrews 12, For whom the Lord loves,
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He reproves or disciplines, even as a father the son in whom he delights.
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I'm going to show up. You decide what do I bring. Let me, in the time that I have left, give you several ways you could imitate
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Paul so that you do not feel the rod of discipline from the Lord, but you feel his encouragement.
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There probably could be 500 I could give you, but I'm just going to give you several ways to imitate Paul so that you can feel the pleasure of God as your father, not his correction.
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I said it in a class the other day, and I think I've said it to you many other times. There are three faces that all of us have, and the first face is the face of the dead.
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When you are buried, you will have the face that looks like this, eyes closed and expressionless.
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There's another face that you have, and that's the face of displeasure, and your brow scrunches down, your face scrunches in, and it's just a stern, you're bothering me, you bug me.
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It's just smashed in. Then there's one other look, and that's the look of a father or a mother going over to the crib.
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We've got all kinds of new babies around here. The Mel's just had their baby this week. When those babies are old enough to smile,
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I remember Kim and I would walk into the bedroom. Is the kid up or is the kid sleeping?
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You kind of walk, getting closer and closer, and they're in their crib, and you finally put your head over, and the kid's just awake, you know, playing around, and you look at the kid, and what do you do?
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No, you open your face. It's the face you have when you see a baby. You walk over, and you go,
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Hi, baby. You should see all your eyes. I did this a year ago, but we have all these new people, so here we go again.
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It's the face of love, acceptance, of agreement, kindness.
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I love you. Now, we're not going to lose our sonship.
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God's not going to kick us out of the family, but I'd like to, in light of the cross and what God has done for me, I'd like to have my
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Father in Heaven proud of me. Wouldn't you? Good job, son.
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I faced my human father's displeasure, and I never really liked it.
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I wanted to make my father happy. I look back now, and maybe even on some things I shouldn't have, but I wanted my dad to be happy with me.
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I wanted his face to go, Good job, Mike. And so, too, with these, what we're after is the heavenly
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Father's face to shine upon us with that open look that says, Good job. That's what
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I'm after. Not, Good job you kept yourself in the kingdom, but you are in the kingdom, therefore, act like a son.
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I think I told a class the other day, unrelated, if you ever, Spurgeon said, if you ever talk about Hell, no, he said, if you ever talk about Heaven, the glories of Heaven, make sure you let your face light up.
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I'd say, have a face that's open, like you say, Hi, baby. You're talking about Heaven. And then
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Spurgeon said, if you ever talk about Hell, he said, your normal face will do. So I'm going to give you some application from 1
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Corinthians 4, so that we say, God, you've saved me. I had great guilt. There's greater grace.
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You didn't even die for angels, but you died for me, and therefore, I'd like to live out a life of gratitude. Number one, instead of seeking the world's approval, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
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I could go to Colossians 3 for Paul, but let's go to Matthew chapter 6 with our Lord Jesus' words.
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Matthew chapter 6. Instead of seeking the world's approval, see, remember, that was Corinth's problem.
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Seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness. We have a desire to boast built into our system.
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So instead of boasting ourselves, boast in the Lord. We have a desire to seek after things.
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So instead of seeking after the world's approval, seek after the Lord's work. We have a desire to collect things, hoard things, so seek after ways to give things away.
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It's the same kind of principle. And so, the urge isn't wrong, it's just the object and the way we go about it.
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You remember Matthew chapter 6, 33. Jesus has been talking about how God protects and provides and cares for His people, cares for even birds.
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And then He says, if the Corinthians could have done this, they would have been fine. But seek first, first in the line of more than one option.
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There are 15 things to seek. Which one goes on top? Job, career, family, friends, kids, hobbies, sports.
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There are all these things. They're all vying for our attention. And what does the world say put on top? Self goes right on top.
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The unholy trinity, me, myself and I. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things, whether it's food or clothing or anything else, will be added to you.
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He says, I want you to pursue those. That's my charge to you this morning. To pursue like a hound dog tracks its prey.
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Like the hounds tracking the fox. You can just see those dogs sniffing and smelling.
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It's just like they'll never stop. Sniffing and going all around. Kind of like I was at Logan a while ago. And they've got the bomb dogs now and some kind of drugs dogs.
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And they're sniffing in all my stuff and checking things out. They just will not stop. And I'm thinking, do
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I want the dog's tail to wag or do I not? I mean, you know, see something there. I always thought somebody was going to plant something on me.
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Look at the text. Seek first. Be absorbed. Strenuous effort.
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If I really wanted to push it, I would say this. If I saw your calendar for the next week, would anything remotely show me that you're number one, first priority?
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Of course we have to work. Of course we have to do things around the house. I understand the duties we have to do. But at the top of the list, seeking first the kingdom.
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It doesn't have to be in your daytime or seek it. But it has to be in your life. You have to plan it out. I guarantee you, you will just not go home today saying, you know, this week is really going to be a good week that I say no to self and I'm going to seek the glory of God in this kingdom.
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It means to look for. With considerate deliberates.
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Consider, what's that word? Deliberately considering. With effort.
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Paul said, I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself in order that I may finish my course and the ministry which
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I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
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Instead of seeking after your reputation, your popularity, the bottom line at work, you say,
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I'm going to seek after the kingdom of God. Friends, it's very, very important to say that if you have a family, your family exists to glorify the
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Lord. The focus, if I can push a button for a second, the focus is not on the family.
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The focus is on the family serving Christ. The only reason you're married is because you can serve the
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Lord better as married people or else you wouldn't have gotten married or you shouldn't have gotten married. But now if you are married, either way, your number one responsibility is, how can our family serve the
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Lord? That's why we exist. By the way, that's very, very helpful too because when there's a conflict in the family, then you can either stew and try to say, well, this is going to cause all these issues and we can't do things.
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For me, I like it because, I don't like that part, but I like to think to myself, we're here for a different reason, to serve the
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Lord by serving others. And we've got to work through this problem, work through this disagreement, ask forgiveness, experience reconciliation, and get a move on because life is not about this squabble in the family.
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So I like that. I'm on this earth for one reason and that is to seek after God's kingdom.
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Not my own popularity and my own status and my own deals. Remember back in verse 9?
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If you are seeking the Lord's kingdom, verse 9 is a lot easier to stomach of 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
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For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
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Number 2, let's turn to Revelation chapter 14. How do we imitate Paul? Number 1, seek after the Lord's kingdom and His righteousness.
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Number 2, learn from others what not to do. Revelation 3, 14.
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Learn from others what not to do. Sadly in ministry, I see many train wrecks and I try to help people.
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Some I can avoid, some I can't. But I look at people, other people, and I think, Man, Lord, I never want to do that.
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And it is an interesting thing about human nature that we always seem to learn better by other people's mistakes because we might be doing the same thing but in other people they look grosser, don't they?
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It looks more foolish. And you think, we do it just the same but when you see other people doing it we're kind of shaking.
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Why don't they get a clue? So words that are very close to 1
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Corinthians chapter 4 are found in Revelation chapter 3, verse 14, with a church there.
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Learn from others what not to do and that is coast, lukewarm, that'll do, bare minimum, in the church, at home, at work.
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Shocking words. I know you know these words but to remind you again to somehow forever rid the phrase moderation in all things.
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And to the angel of the church in Laodicea, write the words of the amen. What a great name.
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The words of the amen. Don't lose that. The words of the one that confirms reality, who guarantees everything.
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To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write the words of the amen. The faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.
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The Laodiceans were Zeus worshippers. They were pleasure seekers.
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They had theaters, circuses, a huge circus with 30 ,000 seats.
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And here's the problem, verse 15, I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot.
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Would that you were either cold or hot. I don't like neutral.
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I don't like accommodating. I don't like compromising. And words that you don't really hear that often out of Jesus.
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So because you are lukewarm, I just kind of go for balance in my life. I know that whole seek ye first the kingdom and really strive and stretch and all that, but balance is good.
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I like balance. Don't want to go too far. Might burn out. Might be like Robert Murray McShane and burn out at 29 years old.
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Might be like David Brainerd burns out at 29 years old serving the Indians here even in Massachusetts.
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Show me one of your heroes of the faith, man or woman, and I'll show you someone who wasn't like this at all.
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Show me a dad that wants to be a hero to his kids. I'll show you someone not like this at all.
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Show me a mom that wants to be a hero to her family. You're not going to see moderation in all things.
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It's going to be full throttle. Where are the heroes these days?
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So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. By the way, there was a couple aqueducts.
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One came from hot springs to the city, close to the city. Another one was cold and then they kind of came together and by the time the water got to this city, it was tepid.
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It was just kind of warm. It wasn't cold and it wasn't hot. Colossi's got cold water coming.
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By the time he gets to Laodicea, it's lukewarm. And what does
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Jesus say? So, because you're lukewarm and neither hot nor cold,
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I will spit you out of my mouth. That is so unlike Jesus.
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Zeal for my Father's house has consumed me. No one would ever look at Jesus and say,
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Yeah, lukewarm on the way to the cross. Set His face towards Jerusalem with tepidness.
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No one can say that about Paul either. Jesus says, If you're not on fire for me, you nauseate me and I'm going to throw you up.
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I'm going to spew you out. You know, when kids come to the church, I always like to say things and so sometimes if we act foolishly, we act stupidly and then the kids say,
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Pastor said stupid. We don't call people stupid, but people call us, that's a stupid thing to do.
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I think that's fair. So, for the kids, the adults got their Greek word, fusio. The kids get their word now.
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Vomit. Upchuck. Okay, I have more words, but I'm not going to do a thesaurus on you.
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You get the idea. Spew. I'm just kidding.
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Sorry. Sometimes I am listless.
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Sometimes I am tired, half -hearted, but I know with the rod of correction from the
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Scriptures, it's time to go full bore. And I love it for the most part when
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I look around and see people at the church. Some of you are exhausted in ministry. I say to Dave all the time, the old Diddy, weary in the work, but not weary of it.
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Some of you lay people, I know, stay up late at night preparing sermons. I commend you.
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And I hope other people that don't hardly do anything or don't do anything, see the example of the servants around here.
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See the danger. Verse 17 in Revelation 3, for you say,
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I am rich. Now doesn't this sound like Corinth? This is 8 to 13 in chapter 4.
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I am rich. You can just hear that at Corinth. I am rich. I am filled. We're reigning.
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For you say, I am rich. I have prospered. I need nothing. Not realizing that you are.
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Can you imagine? How would you like to have Jesus say this to the church? You're wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, spiritually.
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You think you've arrived, so you think you're up here, but really you're going in reverse. That is amazing.
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No commendation, no praise. And then he prods them and says, right from the industries that were local, banking, wool, and medicine,
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I counsel you to buy from me. We're talking about not real gold, but spiritual gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich.
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White garments of wool, so that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen.
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And salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom
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I love, verse 19, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
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Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Standing at the door, there's no real
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Christians in this church. Scott Walken and I rode our bikes through Devons yesterday, and I said, look, there's a big church.
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Devons is selling all this property. There's this huge church and huge facility. Let's go over there and look at it. Things bolted down, warning, trespassing.
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You know, there's all kinds of graffiti up and everything, and I peeked through the hole, and the thing is just empty.
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It's dead. I thought, did we sign that P &S yet? That's a church plant later down the line.
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I looked in there, and there's not one person. That's like this church. Not BBC, but this church here in Revelation 3.
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I stand at the door and knock. Jesus is outside the church. If there'd be believers, He'd be in the church. If anyone hears my voice, and is tired of their listlessness, and their tepidness, and opens the door,
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I will come into Him. Just language of repentance and belief. I will come into Him.
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By the way, there's a space in between in and to. This is not the proverbial, ask Jesus into my heart.
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This is Jesus come into the church. A mile of differences. Jesus standing outside the apostate church.
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He says, behold, I'm not in your church. And if you'll repent and believe,
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I will come to you. This is not inside of somebody. This is coming toward you.
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If you repent and believe, I will move toward you. Not I go inside of your left ventricle.
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It's nothing to do with that. I will move toward you. Verse 21, there's hope.
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The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me. Can you imagine the sins that they've committed, and yet the grace of God?
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That makes my face want to go open. Sit with me on my throne.
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As I also conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne. Verse 22, he who has an ear, let him hear what the
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Spirit says to the churches. I think we're far from Corinth.
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And with me, I know you think, let's stay far from Corinth. Wouldn't that be a disaster?
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Running the race fairly well by the grace of God, and then we move to this new building. We get new land.
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All that stuff. And then just the wheels fall off. I would hate that. I would much rather stay here.
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Wouldn't you? But I think if we see the example of the Laodiceans, see the example of the
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Corinthians, and say, you know, our desire is to seek first the Lord and His kingdom and His righteousness.
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The Lord will take care of everything else, including the building, including the land, including the P &S, and including the carpet color.
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How about that? In light of today's sermon, it won't be pea green.
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Mark that down. I get veto power. I'm not on the carpet color committee choosing carpets, but I do get veto power.
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The Lord has been good to us in giving us real people to watch their Christianity.
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And you look at some of those people here, men and women, and you think, yeah, that's why
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I want to follow some of these older people because they're living it out. And the church of Corinth had
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Paul, and Paul said, you imitate me. You act like I do because I'm going to try to act like Christ does.
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And if we act like Christ, who then had Paul act like him, and then we follow, we're going to say goodbye to the world's wisdom.
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Who cares what they say? We're here in a race, and we're here to win, and we're here to finish well.
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Let's pray. Father in heaven, it's good to be reminded of these things. And Father, I am so thankful today that we're not anywhere close to Corinth.
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Lord, I'm sure in our hearts, and maybe there's a one or two here, maybe have spirits that are like Corinthians, and I just pray that you would grant them repentance.
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Give them a zeal. Father, I pray for each one, whether elder, deacon, wife of an elder, or a deacon, nursery workers.
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Father, I pray that you'd increase our zeal. Lord, remind us of what we deserved.
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Remind us of who you are. Remind us that you're a great high priest, and we have a good father, and we do want to imitate you.
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And thank you for giving us men like Paul to follow, and others, even here at this church. In Jesus' name, amen.