1 Corinthians 16:13-24 High Stakes

You're listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsick preaches from his sermon series titled, 1

Corinthians, Sinful Church, Powerful Gospel. Let's listen in. Well, good morning and welcome to Recast Church.

I'm Don Filsick. I'm the lead pastor here, and I'm really glad to be together with you. I hope you're glad to be here. God has been kind to us over these past 15 years as a church.

As a matter of fact, many of you may not even be aware of this, but April 19th marked 15 years since we had our very first meeting in the basement up in the

Trestle Creek neighborhood up on the north side of Matawan. We had our very first services 15 years ago, a couple weeks ago, and we had a little more than 30 people there, including kids.

The kids stayed upstairs, watched a video Bible lesson while I preached from Ephesians chapter 1, and a church was born that day.

So how many of you would raise your hand and say, I can look back on my history and see the way that God has moved through twists and turns of my life?

How many of you would just say that that's true of you? I think all of us to some degree can identify in the rearview mirror the things that God has been doing.

It's always easier to see God's will through the rearview mirror than it is through the windshield. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, where is it going?

Hard to tell. Where have we been and how has God been faithful? We look in the past to see that.

And it's good for us to mark seasons and to reflect on what God has done. He's regularly asking his people all throughout scriptures to set up reminders.

They set up stones of remembrance, all of this kind of stuff. He institutes ceremonies and holidays and traditions to keep us reflecting on the past so that we remember his faithfulness in the past so that we can trust him with the future.

This morning, our text is about an ending. It is an ending because last May, we opened up to 1

Corinthians chapter 1 and began this book. This morning, we're going to be closing out a series that's taken us almost exactly a year to complete with a couple of gaps in there for Christmas and different things.

But this letter has had some tough patches. It's been kind of like sandpaper, hopefully to your soul, in a sense of like kind of rubbing off some of the rough edges and drawing us into the life that God desires for us.

We know, and if you read 1 Corinthians, and if you've been a part of this series, then you know that the Corinthian church was in need of correction at every turn, it seems.

And God saw fit to record it so that we can be corrected too. That's God's faithfulness to us, that he would take their circumstances and draw us into the lessons that they needed to learn because he knows our nature is to slide into the same types of problems they face.

There's nothing new under the sun. There aren't really, we think of ourselves as unique, and there are people who have lived like us down through the ages who have had the same emotional makeup, the same way of looking at the world despite the changes and circumstances around them.

And so, here at the closing of this letter, I believe that Paul, the apostle, wants to leave all who read this letter that the

Spirit inspired through him with one major final impression, and that is this church, that the stakes are high.

The stakes are high. The content in this letter was to be taken seriously.

And if you're kind of coming in late to the party and you haven't been a part of this series for a while, I'd encourage you to go back and take this book in, to go back and take it seriously.

What is at stake in the community of God is nothing less than eternity. That's what's at stake.

Paul has been putting forth the gospel as the corrective to this church that has wandered so far from grace and truth.

And if we allow this message to falter in our hearts, if we allow this message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection on our behalf to cover our sins, if we neglect such glorious good news and slide off into a moralistic gospel or a prosperity gospel or a therapeutic gospel or even just a run -of -the -mill self -centeredness that wells up within all of us, we run the risk of leading others to hell.

And that took a dark turn. Whoa, does that wake us up? What's at risk in this thing?

What's at risk in the way we live? What's at risk in the message that we convey? What's at risk in the way that we interact with our next -door neighbor and our family members and our coworkers and the people in the homeowners association?

What's at risk in all of these things? But hear me carefully, church, and I mean this with all sincerity,

I'm convinced of better things for us, church. I'm convinced of better things. It's not mere blind optimism that makes me hopeful for recast as a church.

It's the fact that you show up week after week to listen to the word of the

Lord, to listen to God's word, that we prioritize the revelation of God over flashiness and marketing ploys, and you still show up.

That gives me a deep sense of gladness that His word is still speaking to us here today.

We're warned in this text this morning, but I truly believe that we are a church that will understand and respond to the warning because we understand that the stakes are high.

I believe that you know that. We take His grace very seriously here, and we have from the very beginning.

For 15 years, we've been taking God very seriously while recognizing that we are sin -saturated fallen humans utterly dependent upon His grace for salvation.

So we've always been a church that takes God very seriously and takes ourselves barely seriously at all.

We're not very serious about ourselves. We're not very serious about polishing our outside so that everything looks good for the world around us, but we do take

God seriously as the one who can set us free and set us straight. So let's open our Bibles or your scripture journals or your devices to 1

Corinthians 16, verses 13 through 24. We're gonna finish this book out here, recast

God's holy and precious word. Yes, it looks like a conclusion to a letter, but there is significant truth here for us to grasp.

Starting in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13, follow along and give your respect to God's word.

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love.

Now I urge you, brothers, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia and that they've devoted themselves to the service of the saints.

Be subject to such as these and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours.

Give recognition to such people. The churches of Asia send you greetings.

Aquila and Prisca, together with the church and their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. All the brothers send you greetings.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hands. If anyone has no love for the

Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come. The grace of the

Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all. In Christ Jesus, amen.

Let's pray as the band comes to lead us in worship. Father, you've done amazing things in just our very short and brief history here.

You have brought together a church and the thing that it's made out of is your

Word. Your Word impacting, your Word correcting, your Word drawing us deeper and closer to Christ, your

Word that reveals the gospel and the good news. That is the thing that we hold in common. We have a common

Lord, a common faith, a common belief, a common trust, a common hope that this world is not all that there is, but that you have eternity for those who are yours.

Father, I rejoice in the serious Word that you give to us here at the end of this letter, to take these things seriously.

The stakes are so high. Eternity is in the balance. I pray that you would protect us from playing with and toying with holy things, but instead draw us deeper in an understanding that you desire to reach more through us, and that these holy things, we are to take them seriously because they are the pathway of salvation and the pathway of life and the pathway of forgiveness.

Father, I thank you for setting our feet. Every person in this room, I believe, has their feet somewhere on the pathway of forgiveness, somewhere on the pathway toward you.

Some are here just for the first time, just checking this whole church thing out, but just that's maybe a first step down a pathway of understanding what

Christ has done for them. And then some have been kicking it around the church since they were young children and they're now aging and older, and they've seen a lot and they've experienced a lot and still have more to grow, still have more to take on, more faith, more community, more service, more love for their

Savior. Father, I pray that you would be drawing all of us further down that journey as a result of gathering together here together today and receive these songs that we sing now as worship to you in Jesus' name.

Amen. You can go to be seated and get comfortable, but be sure to open up your scriptures to 1

Corinthians 16, verses 13, through the very end of the book. Having that in front of you just helps to keep your focus on God's word during our time together.

As we come to the very last section of the letter to the Corinthians, it makes sense that Paul warns the church to be vigilant, to be vigilant and continue to fan the flames of love for Jesus while removing, surprisingly, he says in this text, to remove those who do not love

Jesus. And we see in even this statement, the stakes are high. We are not at risk of losing the farm, not some paycheck placed on a sporting bet or anything like that.

It's eternity in the balance in the things we handle here together in this place.

Our text this morning looks like a hodgepodge of closing remarks, and yet I entitled this sermon High Stakes based on what is found in the closing of this letter that's unique to the

Roman form. You see, the ending of a letter in the Roman Empire took on some generalized forms, like we might say sincerely yours, comma, your name.

There's endings to the form of a letter and there were things that you expected to see at the end of a letter in Roman times, and then there's many things you did not expect to see there.

Paul adds a couple of components of warning that grabs scholars' attention, those who study such things, those who know letters, those who have scads and scads of parchments and documents on microfiche that they comb over and they study these types of things.

They're like, Paul ends this letter kind of crazy, kind of weird, and there's intention behind that.

For Paul to issue such a stern warning, for example, in verse 13 in a closing, and even more so a stern curse in verse 22, shows that he wanted to leave them with an extreme, extreme sense of seriousness to this letter.

And further, his commendation of certain people worth emulating shows that he has concern that they know the character qualities in a leader worth following.

He's concerned for the Corinthians. He's concerned for the direction and the slide of the moral compass there, of the trust in the gospel and resting in what

Christ has done, and there's all kinds of legalism that's going on there and all kinds of things that, there's just kind of warring factions within the church.

And so, Paul here at the conclusion is wrapping all of that up with a big take this seriously.

So, here's the outline of this last text in 1 Corinthians. Five points, we'll get through them.

The first is five stern warnings. So, point one is five stern warnings, verses 13 through 14. The second point is leaders worth recognition, verses 15 through 18.

The third is the love of the church, verses 19 through 20. The fourth is no, really, take this seriously.

Verses 21 through 22. And then the fifth is I want good for you, verses 23 through 24.

And although that might not flow, it is the conclusion of a letter and hopefully you see that these are the things that are coming out of the text.

I'm not superimposing my will on the text or what I desire to communicate to you, trying to use the text. Hopefully you see that these things are coming out of it.

So, Paul begins his final section here with five stern warnings that really come in command form in verses 13 through 14.

13 through 14 are five commands. The first four commands found in verse 13 are not far off of the kind of things that a military platoon leader might say as he is ready to lead his men into battle.

You might even stretch this kind of language to a coach when his team is leading a hard -fought game at halftime and he wants them to seal the deal.

He might say things like be alert, stand firm, be strong, be courageous, right?

Can you imagine a coach saying those kinds of things? Can you imagine a platoon leader getting ready to lead his men into battle saying these things?

Be alert, stand firm, be courageous, be strong. And I want to state the obvious, which is the converse of understanding the context in which you might say these kinds of things.

These are not the kinds of things you say to someone who's going on a week of vacation, right? Do you say that when they're going on vacation?

Be alert, stand firm, be courageous, be strong. No, it's like just chill. Have some fun, relax, rest, recuperate, revitalize.

You know, those kinds of things. You might not say this to somebody who's going to spend a week with the grandkids, although some of them might apply.

But these commands all presuppose challenges and hardships, risk, and higher stakes, right?

You can see that in the language that's used here. The stakes are being elevated, the stakes are high. This first command is be watchful.

And Paul is calling the church, that's us, to a sober awareness. It will not do, church, for us to coast.

It will not do for us to be asleep and chill. What ought we to be watchful for, church?

For false teaching, for those who would lead us into false practices, for the wiles of the evil one, and even for the temptations that well up inside our own sinful hearts.

All different kinds of areas of temptation, all different types of tools in the hands of the evil one to try to bring us down as individuals and as a church.

A life of faith is a life with many enemies. How many of you have experienced that? You could just raise your hand and testify.

Many enemies in this walk with God. If Eugene Peterson is correct in his identifying and defining the church as an outpost of heaven in enemy territory,

I love that definition, I keep saying it from up here, but an outpost of heaven in enemy territory, then it makes sense that the enemy would desire to infiltrate this outpost, right?

Would desire to come in and tear us down. Would desire to insert false doctrine, false practice in our own hearts as well as in our fellowship.

So be watchful. The second is to stand firm. And in this one we're being told where to stand even.

Stand firm in the faith. We are brought into the faith, the faith being the true belief of the

Gospel. We're brought in by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by the good news that He was sent to pay the price for us.

And the successful life in Christ is one that takes its last breath still standing on the Gospel.

Shoot for that success. Your very last breath, believing and trusting that Jesus is enough.

Let that be the goal of your life. Let that be the thing for which you're living, is that you're constantly fueling your faith and trust in Jesus.

Shunning and forsaking trust in anything else including yourself, which is a challenge for us who were raised in churches in the

West, right? A lot of times we caught inadvertently the idea that we're supposed to be trusting in ourselves.

That's dangerous, church. That will pull you away, that your last breath might be, you know, some were raised in such a way that it's as if we were being taught, may your last breath be trust that you've done enough, that you attended church enough, that you gave enough.

No, let your last breath be trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.

We have a tendency to think that God has, God has primarily placed us here to take on more territory for him, to win the battles for him.

But hear me carefully, church. He is the one who has conquered sin and death for us. He's the one who's done it.

Stand firm in the trust that what Jesus has done for you is enough. He may use us to bring down strongholds.

He may desire that and call some of us to do so. But we do well to make it our goal to stand firm in the good news while letting him use us as he sees fit.

Stand firm in the faith. The third command is in the English standard version, act like men.

Some other various translations, be courageous. Very related. This command is stated in a way that could be offensive to many in our culture today, especially in the

English standard version, act like men. What it is is that this actually, this word, this command is a single word command.

And it takes the word man and turns it into a verb. Takes the noun man in Greek and turns it into a verb.

So that if we were to translate this quite directly into English, it might be translated with the phrase, man up.

Man up would be the idea here. And if we said this phrase just a couple of generations ago,

I think they would know exactly what it means. I don't think they'd struggle at all. I don't think they'd have a hard time defining that and understanding what we mean by it and we'd just roll with it.

I'd go, man up, act like men, and we'd move on to the next point. But we now live in a culture that rejects and is increasingly rejecting any distinctions.

Any distinction between people is seen as some kind of harm, as some kind of a hierarchy.

Our broader culture's thoughts of masculinity have poisoned the church so much. And you think it's out there, you think it's that culture out there, but I believe many of us in this very room would be hard -pressed to come up with a coherent definition of masculinity right now.

Many of us would struggle to define masculinity right now. And you go, not me, Don, I get it.

I get it. Try it. Spend some time this afternoon and try to put down a paragraph about what does it mean to be a man?

What does it mean to be masculine? And you're gonna rub up against all kinds of cultural problems with your definition, even some things that you find in your own heart that are difficult.

And if we cannot define a man, how can we follow a command to act like one? It's shameful that we need to define a term as generic as man before we can make sense of this text, but we need to define it.

And let me just give you some fuel for thought as you think through your definition. A man is a responsible leader.

A man is a sacrificer. A man is a protector. A man is a provider. A man is a defender. A man is a courageous risk -taker.

Not a trope. Not an Andrew Tate. If you don't know that name, don't look him up.

If you know that name, I'm concerned for you. Come and talk with me later. He's a mockery of a man.

He's all bravado, all machismo, all misogyny. He gives masculinity a terrible name by a twisted and warped expression of male strength.

And many young men are being called by the droves to follow him. How many subscribe to his podcast?

How many follow him? And it's because there's a gap, there's a lack in what the church is able to communicate to young men.

And so they're being drawn over into warped and twisted sense of masculinity and misogyny.

While all within the church are being called to a courageous, hear me carefully church, all of us, men and women within the church are being called to a courageous, sacrificial life here in this command.

The phrasing of this command, though, only makes sense if God has created men with the responsibility to be more natural and courageous protectors.

Act like men, he says to the church. The fourth command is to be strong.

And what's obvious is that we're gonna be tempted by him needing to command this, we're gonna be tempted to be weak. We're gonna be drawn naturally toward a quiet acquiescence that will make the church quite naturally open to the destruction of ravenous wolves.

Why? Well, we're saved by grace and we're the grace dispensers. And so by being grace dispensers, do we ever have teeth?

Do we ever defend that he commands us to be strong as a church implies that it has to be said to us.

The world and unfortunately, many biblically uninformed churches have taken a strong stance on gentle, quiet, never judge

Jesus. How many of you felt it? How many of you heard it? Jesus would never judge. Jesus would never make distinctions.

Jesus would never protect his flock. Are you kidding me? We're commanded to be strong in the defense of the church.

And there's a fine line, and I mean a very, very fine line. When I say fine line, I mean ever so fine that many of us in this room will be tempted to have a hard time seeing this distinction.

A fine line between being a jerk and being strong and protecting the flock. I fear that many recent high -profile accusations of pastoral abuse have put strong leaders in a fearful position.

Those who would seek to follow these commands given to us in Scripture as leaders within a church that might be timid and be brought to disobey this passage, to not be strong, to not be watchful because I don't want to be overbearing.

What am I saying in this? I think that by following these calls to be watchful, to stand firm, to be courageous, to be strong, to act like men, we will occasionally bump up against accusations of being unkind, unloving, lacking in grace, or even just being a plain old run -of -the -mill jerk.

The increasing cry of our age is, how dare you judge anything?

But being watchful, standing firm in the faith, being courageous and being strong requires us to recognize that there are at least some enemies of the church that will require strength and wisdom and resolve to remove.

And it's obvious that Paul knows what he has done in verse 13. He knows.

He knows that by using and issuing these strong, almost militaristic, rah -rah kind of commands, if this instruction is left bare and left alone, we may become a culture of paranoid jerks.

If that's the only verse we have, and that's what we know we're to do as a church, how many of you know that that might go the wrong direction?

It's at risk, because what he's saying here is very direct. So the final command in verse 14 helps to make sense of the way that we do all of those things.

Do all that you do in love. Over the years, I've had to say some really hard things to people.

Even recently, I've had to say some really hard things to people. While trying to convince them that what I'm saying is absolutely coming from a place of love and care for their souls.

I've had to call people to repent. I've had to ask people to stop teaching false doctrine. I've had to ask people to forsake adulterous affairs.

I've had to call people to reconciliation with their spouses. All different kinds of things. Paul calls us to strength in the gospel.

Strength in our unity. Caution as an outpost of heaven in enemy territory.

Watchfulness while doing all of this in love. I hope this tension becomes a pattern of life for you.

Truth with love. Truth with love. Truth with love.

Not opinions with love. Not truth with animosity.

But truth with love. Do you hear it, church? Let that be your heartbeat.

Truth with love. Our culture needs to hear the church proclaiming truth with love.

I encourage an assessment for each one of us. Are you watchful? Another way to ask that is are you asleep at the wheel?

And let me ask a particular group of people. Everybody can listen in, but I want to speak to the husbands and fathers here for just a moment.

And let me ask you quite specifically as one who is accountable before God to lead your family in his ways.

Are you asleep at the wheel? Or are you alert and awake?

Studying his word, praying for your family, leading them in worship. Are we all standing firm in the faith?

Ask yourself that. Let me ask it another way. What are you standing firm in?

I have the feeling that you're standing firm somewhere. I talk with you guys. I know many of you.

So what is your good news? What is the thing that everybody when they talk with you learns about?

What does everybody know to be true of you? All of us have a good news. And unfortunately for many of us, it's healthy eating, or essential oils, or a workout routine that's just the bomb.

Nobody says that anymore. I just added that because I'm Gen X. Political hopes, right?

Everybody knows you're political bent because wow, that's hope. I can tell you what your good news is.

I spend 10 to 15 minutes with you, it's gonna come out. You're going to tell me what your good news is if I spend 15 minutes with you.

It's gonna come out of you. Church, let Jesus Christ be your good news.

Make his gospel your favorite. And let that be what people see after they spend 15 minutes with you.

I don't know much, but that guy seems a bit caught up in religious things, seems to be a little bit into Jesus.

Let that be the thing that people see in your life. Standing firm in the faith.

Acting like men means risk -taking. We need courage now more than ever in our faith.

The stakes are higher now than they were even 10 years ago for our faith.

And so in this command, we're being called to be bold, to be courageous. The courage of the opening scene of saving

Private Ryan stands out in my mind as one example of bravery and courage that I cannot unsee. Men rushing across the water and the sand.

In bravery, I could only hope to exhibit in those moments. You know what I'm talking about? Some of you have seen it.

And I believe that when Paul says, act like men, I think he has that kind of bravery in mind.

Be brave for our King Jesus. Now, we're not talking violent. We're not talking about military attack or anything like that.

But we are talking about the way in which we lean into the world with the truth and the

Gospel. Be strong. And you can only grow in strength through your connection with God through His Word and prayer, exercising your spiritual muscle through a routine of daily devotion to Him.

We are called to love at all times, but make sure that you have a love that has teeth. Love is not a blank check.

That's foolishness. Love leads others away from danger. And sometimes love must cut to remove a cancer.

The second section of this text, once we kind of pass over these five commands, the second section of this closing has

Paul identifying leaders worth recognition, verses 15 through 18. A guy named Stephanas was the head of the first household to convert to the

Christian faith in the southern area of Greece, where Athens and Corinth are.

And Paul points to two things that make his family worth following. He says they've been walking with Christ for a long time.

They were the first ones. And they've been with Jesus for a long time. And they devoted themselves to serving the saints, to serving other believers.

They've devoted their lives in the service of the church. A qualified leader will be one who is committed to serving.

You can see that here. Absent from this commendation is any authoritative title. Well, follow him because his title is pastor.

Follow him because his title is bishop. Follow him because we call him whatever. Stephanas is not held up for his pedigree.

He isn't held up for his charisma. Wow, he's just a really dynamic guy, so follow him. He isn't held up as a model of hip and trendy cultural fashions and style.

We don't even know if he owned a pair of Yeezys. We just don't know. It doesn't say. It doesn't say that he's got them.

So, some of you know what I'm talking about. And then some of you had to look at the picture and didn't know what a

Yeezy is. Very expensive pair of shoes. Paul comes up short of commanding submission to this man.

But he does urge it. He says, place yourself under a man like that.

And I urge you in verse 15, the phrase I urge you in verse 15 finishes in verse 16 with the phrase, be subject to people like this.

I urge you to be subject to people like Stephanas and to every fellow worker and laborer.

Now, is Paul here saying just submit yourself to anyone? The word fellow here has a nuance of coworker and it limits the urging of submission to those who are recognized as fellow workers and laborers.

That word fellow implies coworker. In a church, we are not called to submit to everyone who tells us to submit to them.

We are called to submit to and honor approved, qualified, and tested people who serve the church well and have a track record of serving the church.

In verse 17, we find that this very Stephanas has been visiting with Paul. And that's probably why he can give such a clear commendation of the man as he's put his eyes on him.

So, this very Stephanas along with a guy named Fortunatus, which just means lucky, and another guy named

Achaicus, which is a funny name because that just means dude from Achaia. So, like, Lucky and Steve and dude from Achaia all visited me and they were pretty awesome.

They were really a blessing to me, says Paul. So, funny names, but he's grateful for his visit, their visit to him, because a little slice of Corinth showed up with them.

They're from Corinth and he misses them and he's like, it's just been great to have them here because they fill up what's lacking in my fellowship with you.

I wish I could be with you, Corinth. I'm over here in Ephesus right now doing some heavy ministry and it was just really good to have a contingency from your church come and visit.

That visit was revitalizing for Paul in the midst of a tough season of ministry in Ephesus and Stephanas and crew blessed

Paul and he says, they've been a blessing to you too, Corinth. And so, Paul instructs the Corinthians to give recognition to such people.

And I think he's had a chance to put his eyes on these real leaders from Corinth and he's holding this man and his friends up to the church in Corinth as a man worth emulating.

It's good for us to hold up faithful leaders and faithful servants in the church. Honor within the church can turn into an awkward game even for me, but recognition to those who minister to you and to your children is a good thing.

It's seen here in the text, but it's seen throughout the New Testament. We all, to varying degrees, run on encouragement, right?

We ought to be able to keep working in a drought of recognition as long as we have confidence that we're indeed doing the right things in the right way for the right

Lord. But long seasons without recognition will yield exhaustion. How many of you know what

I'm talking about? How many of you are working and slaving in a situation or a context like that? And so maybe an application here is to send a letter or some form of encouragement, maybe to those teaching your kids in the back hallway right now.

Maybe a thanks to a coach who's serving your kids out in the community or a teacher who has been a blessing to them.

Or maybe a note for your UPS driver. Maybe a teen here, yes, this is kind of crazy, but maybe there's a teen here who really needs to write a text of quick thanks.

Yeah, I say text, yeah, you can do that. But a text of quick thanks to your rents and for the things that they've provided for you.

Maybe there's somebody who needs to do that. And more pointedly, I want the married people in the room to consider something that we often, it's obvious, but it's often overlooked.

Nobody, nobody, nobody is gonna thank your spouse for being your spouse unless you do.

They don't get thanks from anywhere if you don't thank them. Either you thank them and give them recognition or nobody will.

Linda will be thanked for her work in our marriage by me or she will languish in thanklessness. Think that through and act accordingly.

Consider who God would hold up here at Recast as a Stephanus to you, someone devoted to serving the saints here and give them a little recognition this week.

The third thing is the love of the church verses 19 through 20. Again, this kind of comes at us like a hodgepodge, but the love of the church is here expressed in this closing.

This is a routine part of a letter in Roman culture. There were some thanks and some greetings that were given.

Where we give the greetings usually at the front end of a letter, they did it at the end, just the way that they rolled. And so here are the greetings.

So Paul passes along a connection of greetings between the churches in Asia and the church of Corinth.

The church of Asia thinking like modern day Turkey, that area. And so the churches in Asia are all spread out through their

Ephesus, Colossae, those kinds of churches. And they all greet you. Identifying that the church was seen to be something that was not an isolated local occurrence, but it was something that was bigger and broader and they were beginning to see themselves connected with one another in Christ.

Aquila and Prisca, Prisca is short for Priscilla. And they were from Corinth.

That's where they were from. They joined Paul on his travels, came to faith in Christ through his ministry in Corinth, and then came to faith and then they said, we wanna follow you, we wanna go with you, we wanna go on your missionary journey.

So they've gone with him to Ephesus. And he's taking them around with them to share the gospel with others.

They're part of his traveling team. And they are the ones, interestingly, from the book of Acts, they led

Apollos to faith in Christ. Apollos, Corinth loved Apollos. These are the ones that led their favorite preacher to Christ.

So this hearty greetings, and you see the word hearty there, they're like deep, heartfelt greetings coming from close friends.

Priscilla and Aquila writing back to their home church, kind of like they're sending church, saying, man, we miss you guys.

And we love you guys. And note that Aquila and Priscilla played host to a home church during this time in Ephesus.

And let me share a brief word about the home church movement here because it can be something that I think is growing.

It kind of goes through fits and starts and there's peaks and valleys and sometimes there's a big movement towards home churches and then they die off for a while and then it's back again.

And I feel like right now it's a little bit on the rise. And let me just state what you may not be aware of.

You are currently attending a successful house church. You're attending a successful house church.

We began meeting with just, I mentioned earlier, 15 adults in a basement 15 years ago.

Just a small group. We brought our folding chairs. You know, like the ones that come with your card table set.

We brought those, set them up in the basement. Dave played acoustic. He was there that first Sunday. Played acoustic guitar and I preached like I was preaching to this many people but there are only a few of us in the room.

I wonder if that was awkward for them, but I just did it. We wouldn't fit in that entire house right now.

If this church gathered in that house, I think we'd be kind of packed in like sardines. Not just the basement but like the whole house.

So we can, what I want to point out is we can romanticize the simplicity and control and even to some degree, what's desirable in our minds but actually not very healthy as a church is homogeneity.

The similarity of the people. And we have a tendency to like be drawn in and I'm seeing people kind of drawn into that and that kind of appeal that comes with a house church.

When we started as a church, every person was under 40. Every adult was under 40.

We all had younger kids. By the way, I'm not saying this is good, this is bad. We all had young kids or we're just starting families.

We did not have the wisdom that comes with age and experience. We all had young kids.

We had a couple of single guys with us early on. Wow, that was diversity. It was easy to manage.

We were all friends hanging out in a basement on Sunday morning and this is a little more complicated than that.

The logistics that it takes to gather together now is a little bit different than that. But we continue to grow and we continue to bless

God for it. As God gave the growth, we've continued to grow up together in faith, community and service and I delight in the gathering of God's people.

But all of these greetings here, and the instructions to greet one another with a holy kiss serve to remind us that we are called to a serious unity.

It's still common in some cultures to greet one another with a kiss. Some of you have traveled and you've experienced that real awkwardness and it just reminds us of the superiority of our own culture, right?

Just kind of barely kidding there, barely joking. But a hug and a handshake gets the point across just fine, right?

There are times and seasons where, think about what is he getting at here though? There's been animosity, there's been frustration, there's been war in this church between warring factions, people who can't stand each other.

And I would confess to you that there have been times and seasons where I've unfortunately had a hard time being in the same room with another specific person.

Do you guys know what I'm talking about? You gonna leave me hanging on this one or you wanna raise your hand and say there have been seasons, there have been times where I didn't wanna be in the same room as that person.

They have a name, you can name them, don't say it out loud. But there have been times and seasons where that's been the case.

And where it would have been a struggle to be in the same room, let alone to hug them or shake their hand.

So what is he saying when he gives a command to greet one another with the socially appropriate method of greeting?

Accept one another, accept one another. To greet them in holiness, like this cultural holy kiss, for us a holy handshake or a holy hug, requires a baseline of civility that must be the standard in every church, must be the standard for us recast.

And for this reason, I can even edit to some degree what I state in communion at the end of every essay.

And as much as it's up to you, are you at peace with one another? Skip communion and make it right if you're not. But another way to say that is, is there anybody here you don't wanna shake hands with?

Is there anybody here you don't wanna be that close to? Anybody here that to shake hands with them would be awkward because, man, there's enough between us that a handshake doesn't quite get there.

A handshake's not gonna solve this. Skip communion and have that conversation. That's what

I mean when I say that because you are demonstrating when you come to the tables that you're unified with one another, that you are together with one another, that you love one another, and that you identify that Christ is the thing between you.

But there might be something else that's between you. And it's not Christ. And you need to restore that.

We are called to a love that is civil and cordial and kind as a church. The fourth point of this text is a jarring statement that amounts to Paul saying, no, really, take this seriously.

No, really, I'm being serious. Let's get back to this. This statement is so out of place in the regular form of a letter closing that it's glaringly obvious that Paul wants to arrest their attention and ours.

Curses don't belong in the midst of the closing of a cordial letter. But doubling down on the be alert, be courageous, strong stuff earlier, he tells them in no uncertain terms to acknowledge the condemnation of anyone in their midst who has no love for the

Lord. Acknowledge their condemnation. Acknowledge that they are anathema is the

Greek word under the judgment and condemnation of God if they do not love the

Lord. Now, it's quite likely a rare person who would come into the midst of a church and declare,

I don't love Jesus. How do you know that somebody doesn't love Jesus? How in the world would, how do you make sense of Paul saying if there's anybody in your midst that doesn't love

Jesus, acknowledge the condemnation of God over them? I don't think that Paul is reserving this recognition of condemnation for something so narrow and so unlikely as somebody who actually says verbally,

I don't love Jesus. Instead, I believe that Paul knows that a person shows their love for Jesus by what they do and do not do, by their stance and their attitude towards his gospel and his grace and his love and his sacrifice for us.

Are they moved to an obedience from the heart? Are they soft to the truth? Are they convicted when confronted?

Do they hedge themselves when confronted? Do they protect themselves from conviction? The one who loves

Jesus is the one who will honor truth and be quick to make things right when confronted with their sin.

And Paul, it's a little Greek couplet here that hits our ears as the word play when it's read in Greek.

He says to the one who doesn't love the Lord, anathema, maranatha, anathema, maranatha.

He puts these two things together that couldn't be more opposite. It's like an oxymoron. Let their condemnation rest on them.

Come, Lord. Come, Lord Jesus. Let them be condemned. Come, Lord.

This prayer for the return, for the Lord's return in light of the danger in the world around us is a prayer that I have found myself uttering in light of the condemnation that I see in the world and the culture around me.

Have you found it on your tongue? It's been on mine. I find myself praying it more and more.

Come, Lord Jesus. Just, could you come today? I read headlines and I mutter under my breath.

Oh, come quickly, Lord. When you read that headline and it seems like a parody, am

I reading The Onion? Am I reading The Babylon Bee? No, it's The Wall Street Journal, right?

Are you guys feeling what I'm saying? I'm not getting a lot from you right now. Are you feeling that? Are you seeing the world around you?

Do you ever think, man, it would be awesome if you just came and made it right? Come, Lord Jesus.

Please. I talk with my daughter and she shares stories, life scenarios from her classes at KVCC, just down the road, here in our little corner of West Michigan, and I say,

Lord, come quickly. Are you kidding me? That's happening in your

Spanish class? Are you kidding me? You have to put up with that there? Come, Lord Jesus.

But when we pray for the Lord to return, church, we are simultaneously calling for the judgment of the wicked.

It's a hard truth, but it's real. When Christ returns,

He will take us to be with Him. Amen? He'll take us to be with Him, but He will also judge all who oppose

Him. What is our mission, church? To proclaim and to declare with boldness the truth, the truth that our world is dying to hear.

The stakes are high within the church. The stakes are high here. Our culture around us is playing with spiritual things.

They toy with the holy. Every celebrity, every athlete, every influencer has their own take on spirituality.

But don't base your eternity on chintzy opinions. Any scrub can start a podcast.

Any scrub can start a blog. But look to the word of God and take this seriously.

The stakes, church, are hell high. Nothing less than eternal condemnation is in the balance for those to whom it's uttered anathema, while we have the privilege of saying maranatha.

Lastly, Paul closes the whole letter telling them, I want good for you. I want good for you, verses 23 and 24.

With a letter like this, I understand the need for clarity. Have you been listening in to his mail to them?

Have you been listening in to the things that Paul has been saying and the way he's been saying it? You go, good thing that he ends this way.

Good thing that he clarifies for them that he loves them, that he wants good for them. He's been harsh. I believe that to some degree he's been hurt.

He's been direct. He has been controversial. He has not pulled a single punch in this letter. But here in the end, he reminds them,

I want the grace, the undeserved favor of Jesus to settle on you, church.

And I don't think it's possible for us to wish for anything better than for others than that the grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ would be with them. Can you think of a better wish? Can you think of a better prayer for anyone?

May the grace of the Lord be with you better than anything that we could pray.

Consider who needs to hear that you want this for them. Think about it.

Do people know that you want good for them? Or do they think that you just want rules for them? Do they think that you just want to kind of clean up their acts so that they can look more like you and be miserable without their sin?

How about we try a new method of evangelism, church? Try telling someone at a time that seems appropriate that you want the grace of Jesus for them.

You want good things for them. You want his kindness. You want his love. You want his forgiveness. You want his freedom.

You want his hope to be theirs. Especially at a moment when they're telling you they're hopeless. Oh, I want better for you.

Let me tell you what's better for you. I wonder what they would say if you approached them that way.

Is this not what we really want for people? Try it and come back and tell me how people in your life respond.

I think they'll respond probably in strong ways, one way or the other. But tell them, I want good for you.

I want his grace for you. And much less and lower, but he ends with it, lower than the grace of Jesus, but still important,

Paul says, I love you, Corinth. I love you. And I can imagine by the end of this letter it was helpful to that local gathering to hear it here at the end.

Imagine, put yourself in their shoes. Imagine that you're the host at the house where this letter is first read in Corinth and people start showing up for church and in walks

Stephanus. He's been traveling for a few months and he visited the Apostle Paul and the

Apostle Paul gave him this letter and the Apostle Paul's the founder of your church. He has a letter, a new letter from Paul.

Everyone takes their seats around the atrium of the home where you're meeting and this letter unfolds and is read in its entirety.

It takes about 40, 35 to 40 minutes to read it and everybody is in rapt attention with all the twists and turns.

It is read in its entirety with its harsh words and all kinds of things that need to change and you try to rouse the drunk guy next to you when

Stephanus reads the part about getting drunk at church, right? And you're like, dude. He's like, and he's snoring. Yes, that's in the letter.

And some of you are like, what is he talking about? No, that's in the letter. There are people getting drunk at this church. Each wave of criticism towards this gathering casts increased doubt in your heart that Paul has your best interest in mind.

And then we get to the last phrase. My love be with you in Christ Jesus.

Amen. So be it, may my love be with you and may all of these things be fixed in you.

This letter is an example to us and it's quite possible. It's an example of what he's actually getting at here at the end of this letter.

It is quite possible to be watchful, to be strong, to be courageous, to stand firm in the faith while loving, while loving.

And the reason for this is that we've been brought into the faith through the radical grace and love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Well, we take communion together every week and he has expressed the love for us at the cross.

And so all who trust in Jesus as both your Lord and Savior, I encourage you to come to the tables during this next song and take the cracker to remember his body broken for us.

And take the cup of juice to remember his blood shed for us. But only do this if you would be able to sincerely shake every hand in this room.

If there is anyone you don't wanna be that close to, why not go this morning or this afternoon, skip communion and seek reconciliation with them?

God has called us to a robust but sincere love. And let's go out into this next week watchful, firm in the faith, courageous, strong, doing all that we do in love.

A love that begins with a love from the Lord that is now manifest in our love for him.

Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this journey through 1

Corinthians. I thank you for the glory of the way that you have communicated to a church in ancient times in a real setting with real people.

But that message still strikes at us in the very way that we're put together, the sinfulness of our own hearts and the brokenness that we all carry.

And the holy increasingly in sanctification, looking more and more like Jesus. Father, I pray that you would be with our unity, be with our church as we have an opportunity to take communion now, to take the cracker, to remember the body of Jesus Christ broken for us, to take the cup of juice to remember his blood that was shed in our place.

I thank you for the unity and love to which you have called us together in this body. A unity that is all revolving and centered on the centrality of Jesus Christ and his good news.