A No-Fault Ministry

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If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to take them and open them to 2
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Corinthians chapter 6. And today we're going to read verses 3 through 13.
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And the title of today's message is actually a play on words from the text itself where Paul says that there be no fault in his ministry, no fault to be found in his ministry.
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So I've entitled today's message, A No -Fault Ministry. So with that in mind,
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I want to begin by, before we read, by simply making a few observations. It is very common today to hear of ministers and ministries that have become corrupt.
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Just this last week, an open letter went out from one of the most well -known pastors in the
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United States, where in that letter written by himself or his representative stated that he had fallen into some form of sin, he did not state what, but that because of that sin he would be stepping down from a ministry that had lasted over three decades.
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And then last night as I was preparing for bed and I was reading over some news articles before I lay down to sleep,
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I came across another article of a very well -known pastor, television, television shows and all kinds of stuff where he's preached, has a television ministry rather, that was a terrible way of saying that, he has a television ministry, all these other ministries, and he has stepped down because of allegations of child abuse.
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And as I was thinking about these things and the reality of them, it is a reminder that a man's ministry is always tied to his integrity.
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And from the beginning of 2 Corinthians, as we began this letter and began to study, we have noted that this is
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Paul's most personal and autobiographical letter, one wherein he opens his heart to his readers for the purpose of defending his ministry, which is apparently under some form of scrutiny and being called into question.
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And he is trying to make the case, or he is making the case rather, that his ministry is one of integrity.
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In our most recent messages over the course of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6, we have noted that Paul has been discussing the content of his ministry.
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He talked about the fact that his ministry is a ministry of the new covenant. He's a minister of the new covenant.
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He's a minister of reconciliation. His message is a message of reconciliation.
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That's the content of his message. Well, in today's text, we're going to see that he not only defends the content of his ministry, but he defends the integrity of his ministry, something he's already done a few times in this letter and continues to do, because it is the very thing that he knows that if this is called into question and it can become within the people of God, if they can become convinced that he is corrupt and that his ministry is corrupt, then the work that he has done will be called into question and perhaps even discredited.
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So Paul understands the absolute essential nature of the integrity of his ministry.
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And he defines it as one in which there is no fault. So let's stand and read the text, 2
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Corinthians chapter 6, beginning in verse 3, he says, We put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry.
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But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance and afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger.
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By purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the
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Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech and the power of God with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left, through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we are treated as impostors and yet are true, as unknown and yet well -known, as dying and behold, we live, as punished and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
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We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, our heart is wide open.
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You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return,
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I speak as to children, widen your hearts. Also, Father in heaven,
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I pray as we look at a lengthy portion of text today that you would keep me from error.
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For God, I am a fallible man. And I am capable of preaching error. For the sake of your name, for the sake of my conscience and for the sake of your people,
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Lord, protect me, protect them. Protect the sanctity of your name, and I pray, oh,
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God, that as we open your word today and as we examine this text. That your spirit would fill me, flow through me, and that he would take the message not only into the ears and the minds of the hearers, but into the heart.
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That believers would be challenged, that the men of this room would understand.
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That we are all called to lives of integrity. That we are called to lives of endurance, righteousness, contentment and transparency.
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And Lord, as we look at Paul's ministry as the example. Lord, help us to see that he was, in fact, leading the way for all of us.
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Even by his own words, saying, follow me as I follow Christ. Lord, help us to learn from this text today.
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But help us also to realize, Lord, that where we fail, we have an advocate with the
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Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous. Help us to find our ultimate hope in him and not in ourselves.
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And I pray, oh, Lord, for everyone in this room who has hope in Christ, that that hope would be encouraged today.
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And for those who do not have hope in Christ, that today be the day of salvation. In Jesus' name, amen.
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Today is Father's Day and I do not have a Father's Day message. As you note, I am just moving right along in the text.
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But as I was driving in this morning and I was listening to my notes, which I know seems like a weird thing.
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But I record my notes and listen to them as a way of trying to memorize them. So as I was listening to my notes on my drive in,
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I got to thinking how while we're talking about the integrity of Paul's ministry.
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This also is a wonderful opportunity to remind us of what it means to simply be a man of integrity.
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Because Paul's ministry was one of integrity and it was an example to all of us about what it means to be a man of integrity.
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And men today, that is what your wives need. That is what your children need.
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That is what your church needs. It needs men of integrity.
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So if I could get the cart before the horse a little and say the application is this. What Paul is teaching us about his ministry applies in all of our lives, men and women.
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But particularly as today is Father's Day, I'll put the burden on the men and say, let us be men of integrity.
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So Paul's great concern is to defend the integrity of his ministry because he knows that if his ministry can be discredited, the gospel of reconciliation is at stake.
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That's Paul's message. And if the people who are opposing Paul can get the people to question
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Paul, then they will question Paul's message. And if they question Paul's message, they'll be questioning the very gospel of Jesus Christ.
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So Paul understands the root and the danger of what could happen if people began to think that he is discredited in his ministry.
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If the Corinthians become convinced that his message is corrupted, they may be in danger of believing the gospel itself is corrupt.
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You realize today there are people in the world who when they hear the gospel preached, they say, that's not the gospel. They'll hear the true gospel of Christ and they'll say, that's not the gospel because it doesn't include this or doesn't include that or doesn't have this or doesn't have that.
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And they've got a corrupt version of the gospel. And because it doesn't align with their corrupt version of the gospel, they believe it's not the gospel.
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And Paul tells us that this is the truth, even in his day, because when we read the opening words of the book of Galatians, he tells us there is only one gospel.
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And if anyone comes to you preaching another gospel than the one that I have preached to you, even if an angel from heaven were to preach a gospel to you contrary to the one that I have preached, let him be accursed.
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What can we extrapolate from that text? We can extrapolate this. There were false gospels in the world in Paul's day because that's the very thing
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Paul's warning them about. He's warning them, if anyone comes to you and preaches another gospel, but understand, that's the very accusation that's being made against Paul.
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The accusation being made against Paul is your gospel is false. You know, there are people out there who say the apostle
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Paul was opposed to Jesus's gospel. People today who would say that Paul's message was so contrary to Jesus's message that Paul started his own religion.
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And he based it upon Jesus, but it wasn't really the teachings of Jesus. And they try to divide
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Paul away from Jesus even today. I can point you to many liberal scholars who do that very thing to try to divide the
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Bible apart and say Paul's message was different than Christ's. And that the message Paul gave was a different gospel.
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But Paul says, no, he says, the gospel I'm giving is the only true gospel. And if you believe the gospel that I'm giving is corrupt, you're abandoning the only thing that can save.
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So when we get to chapter six, and we read last week in the beginning of chapter six, where Paul is making his appeal to the
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Corinthians, do not take the Lord's grace, do not receive the grace of God in vain. And he says, now is the favorable time.
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Now is the day of salvation. And then we get to verse three. And he says these words, we put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry.
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The New American Standard Bible says so that our ministry may not be discredited. The King James Bible says that our ministry not be blamed.
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This passage is Paul making the case that his ministry is not one that is taking people away from the truth, but is actually pointing people to the truth.
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His ministry is not a stumbling block to people, but is, in fact, the very true gospel that points people to Christ.
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Why is he saying this? Why is he saying we put no obstacle in anyone's way? Because that is likely the very accusation that he has been made or the accusation that has been made against him.
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Paul, your ministry is offensive. Paul, your ministry is wrong. Paul, your gospel is untrue.
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Paul, your gospel is insufficient. Paul, your gospel doesn't include circumcision or ceremonial laws or the keeping of the feasts.
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Paul, your gospel is wrong. And his accusers,
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I can imagine what his accusers would have said about him. If you believe in Paul's gospel, you're being kept away from Christ.
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If you believe in Paul's gospel, you are being given a stumbling block to the truth.
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And so Paul's response is this. We put no obstacle in anyone's way so that our ministry is not discredited.
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Our ministry is not blamed. Our ministry has no fault. And then
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Paul commends his ministry. In four ways, and this is the outline of today's message.
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After making the statement that there is no fault can be found in his ministry, he puts no obstacle in the way of anyone.
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He then says that he commends his ministry. Look at verse six or excuse me, verse four.
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He says, but as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way. What does it mean to commend ourselves?
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It means we actually say what we are saying is true. We actually put ourselves out there and say what we're doing is right.
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You'll remember just a few chapters earlier, he talked about people with letters of commendation. And Paul says,
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I don't have letters of commendation. I have you. You're my letter of commendation. I planted this church. You believe because of my gospel and you are my letter of recommendation.
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But now he is yet again commending himself and he is going to commend himself for through four marks of a ministry of integrity.
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And here they are. Paul's ministry is marked by four commendations. The commendation of endurance, the commendation of righteousness, the commendation of contentment and the commendation of transparency.
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And the more I looked at this outline this week and the more I was looking at the text and looking at the outline, looking at the text, I began to think, boy, wouldn't that be a great resume?
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Wouldn't that be a great thing if someone said. This is Mike Collier and Andy Montoro and Keith Foskey, and this is their this is what marks their ministry, endurance.
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This is what marks their ministry, righteousness. This is what marks their ministry, contentment. This is what marks their ministry, transparency.
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And I only bring us up as the elders. It should be the very thing that this church desires. It should be the thing that we want.
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You know, we've been through some difficult times in this church. We've had some hard days in this church. We have walked through some difficult things.
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By God's grace, we're still here. And so this is
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Paul's way of expressing. Why can I commend myself to you? Why can I know that that I'm putting no obstacle in the way?
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Why can I know that my ministry is a no fault ministry? And I'm not saying
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Paul never made a mistake. I'm not saying Paul was perfect. I'm not saying Paul was Jesus. But when it came to his ministry, he had four marks.
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And I want to walk through each of these as I see it in the text. Let's look first at the mark of endurance.
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Beginning at verse four in the in the second part of verse four, it says, by great endurance and afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights and hunger.
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I read that several times this week and I kept thinking about the end of every time Mike preaches, as he always says, riots.
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What is it? Questions, comments, riots, letters of the editor. So every time I'd read riots, I'd hear it in your voice just so you just just so you know.
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But if you look at that, what that is, is that's Paul explaining what he has endured for the gospel.
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He's explaining what he has had to go through in his ministry and he's listing these difficulties.
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And if you read this list and you go back through it, as I have several times this week, you will notice it is very intense.
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And each Greek word is preceded by the the preposition in in the
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ESV. It's only once it says in or excuse me, and it's translated by by great endurance.
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And excuse me, it is in if in if in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labor, sleeplessness, sleepless nights and hunger.
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But if you look at the original language, the preposition in is in front of every word. So it's emphasizing every word.
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Saying I have been in all of this. What do you say when you're right in the midst of something, you say
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I'm in it, right, I'm in the midst. So Paul is saying in my ministry,
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I have been in afflictions. Can we say amen to that? Do we know Paul has been afflicted in the ministry?
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Absolutely. He says I have been in hardship. I have been in calamity.
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I have been in beatings and we know the stories of Paul being beat, drug out of town, stoned.
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He says I've been in imprisonments. We know the story. We've read the story in the book of Acts where with the
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Philippian jailer, he is there. And what is he doing in prison? But he's singing in prison. He's been there.
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He says I've been in riots. We know about the riots that happen. We can read these. We see this is one of the harmonies of the
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New Testament as Paul talks about something that happened. And then we read about it in the book of Acts. I've been in labors.
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But the one that got me was sleepless nights. Some translate that anxiety.
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I've been in anxiety. That's a modern translation of that particular word.
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But I wonder, as I was thinking about this, how many of us.
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Can relate at least to sleepless nights. Because of a troubled spirit and Paul is saying
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I've been through all of this for the sake of Christ. Even sleepless nights.
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He mentions hunger as well, but I don't know why it stuck out to me as I just kept I just kept thinking about how many nights
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I've been unable to even lay my head down because of the of the of the stress of ministry or something that's going on in my life or someone
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I know is in pain and I can't help them at the moment. And I'm hurting for them and I'm I'm praying for them. I'm up at night and I feel this this inability to rest.
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And Paul says this is what I have endured. For the sake of Christ, and by the way, he repeats this again in Chapter 11.
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In Chapter 11, he refers to his labors, his imprisonments, his beatings being near death.
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He talks about five times I beheld at the hands of the Jews, 40 lashes, less one, three times I was beaten with rods.
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Once I was stoned three times. I was shipwrecked a night and a day. I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness.
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Danger at sea, danger from false brothers in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst, often without food and cold and exposure.
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And apart from all these other things, there is the daily pressure on me of the anxiety for all the churches.
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Is every day I feel the pressure of all of these churches that I have planted and the potential for them to run off into apostasy.
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See, Mike's about to preach in Revelation. What do we see is the danger of the churches in Revelation, apostasy, that they have their lampstand removed.
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And Paul says, I actually live in concern for these things. I live in and sometimes having sleepless nights over these things, but I'm enduring for the sake of Christ.
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I'm enduring this for the sake of Christ. Let me tell you something, and this is the reality.
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Integrity is not measured by things going good. Integrity is measured when things go bad.
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Integrity is not measured when all is right with the world. Integrity is measured when the world falls apart.
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There's an old southern gospel song. I don't think we've ever sung it here, but I've sung it at my mama's church before.
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Says life is easy when you're up on the mountain and you've got peace of mind like you've never known.
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But then things change and you're down in the valley. Don't lose faith for you're never alone.
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For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley.
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When things go wrong, he'll make them right. It's a beautiful song, but it's also a good reminder that ministry is not all ups.
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It's not all positive. Sometimes people hate you. Sometimes people discredit or seek to discredit you.
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Sometimes people call your very commitment to Christ into question. And Paul says,
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I have endured it all for Christ. I've endured the pain. I've endured the shipwrecks.
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I've endured all of these hates and violence and riots and all of these things because of Christ.
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So first, his ministry is marked by endurance. But secondly, and I would say just as importantly, the second thing we see is his ministry is marked by righteousness.
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Look at verse six. He continues now using again that preposition by rather than the preposition in.
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But now he uses the preposition by. He says, by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the
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Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech and the power of God and the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.
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And I make a distinction between by and in, but actually in the original, it's the same. In purity, in knowledge, in patience.
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Understand this, not only is a ministry judged by how it endures trials, but it is also judged by its fidelity to Christ likeness.
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Paul lists virtuous descriptions of his ministry. He lists purity, he lists knowledge, patience and kindness.
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And it's interesting, as I was reading through this list, he actually lists the Holy Spirit. And I got to thinking,
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I wonder why he would include the person of the Holy Spirit in this list of of of descriptors of himself and his ministry.
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But I think the purpose of it is really to point to a reality, and that is this. These things that are the fruits of his ministry are actually the fruits of the spirit working through his ministry.
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What are the fruit? What's the fruit of the spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self -control.
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Against such there is no law. Galatians 5, 22, 23.
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So we know the fruit of the spirit, and that's basically what he is saying here. But he also references weapons of righteousness.
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The King James Bible translates it as armor. I always like to look at Mike when
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I say that because he'll do this and let me know I did get it right. No, it references armor.
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Where else do we hear of armor in the Bible? Ephesians chapter six, which says what?
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Put on the whole armor of God and it lists out this armor. It talks about the helmet of salvation.
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It talks about the breastplate of righteousness and the belt of truth and the shoes that are prepared with the gospel of peace.
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It talks about the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit. Well, I think in a in a similar way here,
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Paul is saying that my ministry has been marked by this armor. My ministry has been marked by these things, because what he says in the text, he says.
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By truthful speech and the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.
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And if we go to the armor that he references, the right hand and the left references the shield of faith and the word of God.
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Understand this. We are saved. By the righteousness of Christ alone,
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I think I stressed that the last few weeks to the hilt, we are saved by the righteousness of Christ alone.
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But understand this, that righteousness will produce within us a practical seeking after Christ and an obedience to him.
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And if it doesn't, then it's not living faith. Just just a few days ago,
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I was challenged to a debate. I'm going to be engaging in a debate in late August on the question of what some people call lordship salvation.
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The man I'm debating takes the position that you can have faith and it not affect your life.
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He takes the position that you can live a carnal life as a Christian and still be a Christian. And he even takes the position, as far as I understand, and I'm going to clarify before we begin the debate.
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But even takes the position, as far as I understand, that when James says faith without works is dead, he says it's still faith.
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It's just dead faith and dead faith still saves. Beloved, that's the exact opposite.
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We talked about this yesterday at dinner. The exact opposite of what James is saying, because he asked the question, can that faith save?
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And the adversative is in the question, no. That faith does not save, for it is a dead faith, even demons believe and shudder.
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Beloved, if our faith does not produce within us a practical righteousness and a seeking after Christ and a desire for obedience, then our faith is not real and a ministry marked by unrighteousness is a ministry without integrity.
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So Paul says, here's the two first two marks of his ministry. One is endurance.
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Second is righteousness. Practical living out of the commands of Christ.
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Now, again, please hear me well. I'm not saying ministers are perfect and I'm not saying there's a perfect ministry on the planet.
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We all fail and we all fight the battles that we fight with the flesh and the world and the devil.
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That is a reality. But understand this. The goal should be purity.
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The goal should be knowledge and patience and kindness and the Holy Spirit and genuine love.
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Truthful speech. Empowered by God. And armed with what he gives us, which are the tools to do the job that Paul said, this is my ministry.
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Thirdly, he says, not only is it marked by endurance and righteousness, but it's also marked by contentment.
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Now, this one's a little harder as I was thinking about how to understand this portion. And looking first at verse eight, just verse eight,
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I want us to look at the first half of verse eight. He says in verse eight, he says, through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise.
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Paul is essentially saying in just those two short phrases. That his ministry is marked by his willingness and ability to do the ministry, whether he's being honored or dishonored.
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Whether he is being slandered or being praised. That his ministry will be one that continues to persevere no matter the condition.
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And the only way a man can continue to minister no matter the condition is when he is content in Christ.
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And that's where I came to the conclusion that he's saying here, not only is my ministry marked by endurance and by righteousness, but it's also marked by contentment.
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I am content in honor and dishonor. I am content in slander and praise.
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And I am content with this. This is this is key to the next few verses. So listen, I am content with knowing the truth, even if people call me a liar.
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Because notice what he says. We are treated as imposters and yet are true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold, we live as punished and yet not killed.
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As sorrowful and yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything.
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He says, no matter what anybody says about me, I know the truth. No matter what anybody says about my ministry, no matter what accusations come against what
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I have said or done, I can remain content because my contentment is rooted in my trust in Christ and the fact that I know that what
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I have taught is the truth. I mean, think of what he's being accused of here.
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He's being called an imposter, somebody who's spiritually dead. He's being accused of being punished, sorrowful, poor, all these things.
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And he says, but I know the truth. And when you know the truth.
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You can be content even when someone is spewing lies. And I do believe contentment is a mark of integrity, even though it's hard.
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And finally and fourthly. We come to.
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The mark of transparency. This is in verse 11, notice what he says.
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And I must say the ESV, I don't like it, I mean, I like it, but I don't like it here because the way this is worded in the
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ESV really is complicated and I think somewhat unhelpful.
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It's a little blocky because what he says is we've spoken freely to you, Corinthians, our heart is wide open.
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You're not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I speak as the children widen your hearts also.
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What's he saying? Well, the phrase we have spoken to you literally in the
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Greek is our mouth is open to you. And so what he is saying in one way, he's saying we have opened our mouths and our hearts to you and you have closed your mouths and hearts to us.
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We have been open and transparent with you and you have held back your love from us.
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So Paul is calling them like children. And it does say like children to open their hearts to him.
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And one of the most interesting parts of this is he uses their name.
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Notice, and this is in the original, he says we have spoken freely to you,
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Corinthians. Now, just for a moment. If you read through the
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New Testament, you'll find that Paul only does that a few times in his letters, like, for instance, in Galatians chapter three.
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He's he's upset with the Galatians and he says, oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?
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So there's this outburst of of emotion. He does the same thing in Philippians 4 .15,
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but not because he's upset, but in Philippians 4 .15. It is an affectionate use of the name, he says, and you
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Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you.
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So it's affectionate there. He's using their name and affection in Galatians. He's using it in a rebuke, like you would say to your child, justice, get over here, you use the name.
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So in Galatians, it's a name that is is meant to be a rebuke.
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And in Philippians, it's a use in the way of a affection.
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So how are we seeing it here? I do think that it's important that he's using the name here and he's doing it in my in my understanding out of grief.
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We have opened ourselves to you, Corinthians, our heart is wide open and yet yours is closed.
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You ever been in a relationship like that? I can tell you over the years.
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There have been people. Who in their moment of frustration with the ministry or their moment of frustration with me as a person have become totally closed off and unwilling to have even a conversation.
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And you call them and you reach out to them and you seek to reach them in some way and you say, I am here and I want to talk and I want to open,
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I want to open line of communication. I want to be transparent. If you hate me, tell me you hate me. If you if you if I've wronged you, tell me you
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I've wronged you so that I can repent and yet closed off.
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Unwilling to respond, so Paul calls them by name.
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Says we've spoken freely, we've opened our mouths to you, Corinthians, our heart is open to you, and yet you are unwilling to reciprocate.
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I actually like the NIV here, don't don't you dare throw anything up here. But sometimes
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NIV in its attempt to make a dynamic translation really gets the heart of what's behind it, and this is what it says.
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We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and open our hearts wide to you. We are not withholding our affection, but you have withheld yours from us.
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And as a fair exchange, I speak to you like children, open your hearts wide also.
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If we have willing been willing to open our hearts to you, why are you unwilling to open your hearts to us?
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Paul is bearing his soul. To them, he is not hypocritical.
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There's nothing fake and he's not being reciprocal, he's not saying
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I'll only open my heart to you if you open your heart to me. Instead, he's saying I have opened my heart to you.
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Therefore, you should open it to me. He's not saying I'm waiting on you to take the first step.
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He's saying I made the first step, I'm open. Be willing to be open as well.
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And the word transparency may not be the first word on your mind, but it was in mind because this is what I thought about when
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I thought about this. How many ministries are not marked by transparency, but rather are marked by cover ups, hidden agenda, hidden agendas, secrecy and lack of integrity behind the scenes?
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How many ministries cannot stand before the people of God and say, I have been open with you and I've opened my heart to you and I've told you everything and I've not kept anything from you?
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That's what Paul's saying. I have opened everything up to you. And I've loved you.
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How many ministries? Cannot say that today, so Paul describes his ministry.
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As a ministry of endurance, as a ministry of righteousness, as a ministry of contentment and as a ministry of transparency.
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And therefore, he defines it as a no fault ministry. And so how do we apply this?
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Beloved, sometimes it's hard. And I would say today is one of those days.
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One, you may be saying to yourself, I'm not a minister and therefore this doesn't apply to me. But as I said to you in the beginning and I sort of tipped my hand early and I said, this is how we're going to apply this today is even if you're not a minister, every one of these qualities is one that should mark a man of God.
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And when I say man of God, I don't just mean a pulpit here. A man of God who is a man who has been saved by Christ, you say, well, my life is really not marked by endurance because I fail.
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My life's not marked by righteousness because there are times. Sometimes. When I'm a mess, my life's not marked by contentment because sometimes
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I am just not happy, my life's not marked by transparency because there are things that only
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God knows and you're just beating me up today,
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Pastor. No, because not one of us.
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In and of ourselves can say. That we have reached the. The place where we can say that we meet all of these perfectly, and if I if I went around the room.
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And I said, you heard you heard today how Paul describes his ministry, does that describe your life? I imagine there are areas where you would say
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I still am struggling. And if you weren't, if you didn't say that,
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I would say, wow, so what do we do?
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With the struggle. Do we just give up? Do we just give in, do we just say, you know what?
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Hey, I'm not going to make it, so it doesn't matter. Or do we first and foremost recognize that when we fail, we have an advocate with the
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Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, we do have a savior who we can go to. And the Bible says, if you sin, what does it say?
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It says, repent and trust in him. It says that he will cleanse you of all unrighteousness.
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We have that savior who is who who allows us to fail, because right now, if you're enduring something that is so heavy that you don't feel like you're going to make it another step, understand this.
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That does not mean you're not a believer. That does not mean you're not saved. That means at this moment in your life, you're going something that's really heavy and really hard and really making you struggle and really making you question a lot of things you never thought you were going to question before.
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But God is still there with you. And the
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Bible never calls you to trust in yourself. It always calls you to trust in him.
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In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths, right? Lean not on your own understanding.
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So if that's you, lean on him, trust in him.
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If you're having trouble with commitment or contentment. I missed
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I skipped over righteousness, let me go back, talk about endurance, if you're enduring trials. Lean on Christ, if you're having trouble in areas of righteousness, you know why the the the the the the armor of God is a breastplate over the heart?
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Because when we're struggling in the area of righteousness, it is so easy to be attacked in the heart.
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It is so easy for our hearts to become dismayed and discouraged when we're struggling in an area of righteousness and we're struggling with some besetting sin.
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But Paul calls us to put on that armor, put on that breastplate of righteousness, trust in the righteousness of Christ and pray that he would give you the repentance that you need having trouble with contentment.
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John Piper has never been my favorite preacher to listen to. Just I just there are certain guys
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I listen to and some guys I don't, but John Piper was never my favorite to listen to. But I will say this.
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He has said some of the things that have been most profound in my life outside of, of course, Scripture.
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And the one thing that he said that resonates in me so much and over the years has just become more and more present in my life is this.
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He said, God is most glorified in us when we're most satisfied in him.
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God is most glorified in us when we're most satisfied in him. Most of the time when we're struggling with contentment, it's because somehow in some way,
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Christ has become not enough. Pray that God would make himself enough for you.
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Pray that he would open your eyes to see how much he has given you in him and transparency.
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Beloved. How honest are we really with each other? I think sometimes it's hard to be honest because we're afraid we're going to be hurt.
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And it's easy to hide because we're afraid that anything we share might become the fodder for the next stage of gossip through the body.
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But beloved, the call of Scripture. Is that we love one another and to love one another means that we can be honest with one another.
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We trust one another so we can be open with one another. I pray that among us, what a church it would be.
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If it were a church where we could actually talk about the things that cause us the most trouble and not feel like we're going to walk away.
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Being the next object of gossip. What a church we would be if I could actually say to you, this is where I'm struggling and I need you to pray and I need you to talk to me and I need you to point me to Christ and I need you to love me in my failure.
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What a church we would be. If we were marked by these four things. Beloved, I pray today, if you're a believer, that you would think on these things and pray how
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God might open your heart and life in these areas where maybe you have been in the past unwilling.
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And if you're not a believer, I pray that today that you have not heard in any way that the gospel is something that you have to achieve.
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But rather that you understand this, that the gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ died to save sinners.
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You are a sinner. And if you trust in him alone, his righteousness will become yours and your sin will be applied to him and he will pay the penalty for your sin.
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The life lived as a believer is a life lived primarily and always trusting in Christ.
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Notice what I said about all these things. Endurance. How do we endure? We lean on Christ. Righteousness.
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How are we righteous? We trust in Christ. Seek to obey him. Contentment. Find our joy in him.
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Transparency. Recognize that it is through him that we have our salvation.
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My hope is that these things have been an encouragement to you. Let us pray. Father, there's great practical wisdom in this verse for all who claim to be
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Christ's ambassadors. And I pray, Lord, as one who seeks to lead.
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The people of God, I pray, Lord, that these things would mark my life and I pray, Lord, for the men of this church, that it would mark all of our lives and for even the families and the women and the children of this this this room,
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Lord, that these are the things that we would seek after. Lord, that we would seek to glorify you.
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And be satisfied in you. Is our prayer in Jesus name. Amen.