It is good to be with you this morning.
You guys sound great singing. It's always a great pleasure to
be able to worship together on the Lord's Day.
It's good to see everybody here today.
It's a great privilege and an honor to be preaching this
morning. I think most of you guys know
me, but if you're visiting, my name is Jasper.
I serve as the associate pastor here, so I have the great honor
of preaching God's Word this morning.
So I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be great.
I really thought hard about how to to make the best use of the
time because for the last several years, the Sunday after
Arkansas plays LSU, Kyle has preached and he's always had
something to say about that. And so I've been thinking about
what I was going to say about that.
But we're going to just skip right over that and say, hey,
Sherry's birthday today. So happy birthday, Sherry.
Yeah. Much better than talking about
football, right? OK Today we're going to be
finishing finishing our sermon series through First
Corinthians. So we have been in this book for
41 weeks and it has been very good.
We have learned so much through First Corinthians.
Kyle has had to walk us through some really, really difficult
texts. I'm very thankful for him and
thankful for the time that we've had to look at some of these
controversial topics through First Corinthians.
But it comes to a close today. And so if you have your Bibles
open to 1st Corinthians chapter 16, if you remember way back 41
weeks ago, we titled this series Grace and the Christian Life
because in first Corinthians we've seen Paul teaching what
life should look like as a follower of Christ, all of it
motivated and sustained by the grace of God in the life of a
believer. If you remember way back then,
we tried to set some context for you about who Paul was writing
to and what was going on. And so the church at Corinth was
very heavily influenced by the Pagan culture surrounding them.
Paul was seeking to correct a lot of things in their behavior
and in their conduct. In this letter he was given an
impractical instruction on how through God's grace, they should
live in a God glorifying manner as Christians.
Throughout the letter, there have been many encouragements as
well as corrections and rebukes. He's taught them about personal
devotion to the Lord, about life within Christian marriage, life
within community, the community of the believers, and even their
conduct in their worship services.
So he's covered a large spectrum of topics in this letter.
Throughout these teachings, Paul has been stressing that
Christians should let their actions and their way of life
reflect what they believe. The things they've been taught
and the things that they claim should be evident in the way
they live out their lives there in court.
Namely, that they've been called out of darkness and into
marvelous light, as we've said so many different times.
And they should live as such. They should live as lights in a
dark and crooked generation. They should live out their faith
and love and unity, seeking the advancement of the gospel, the
good of their neighbor, and not be conformed to the surrounding
culture, but conformed to the image of Christ.
This is what Paul has been driving home in this letter to
the Corinthians. So although Paul was seeking to
correct many issues within the church, and at times he was very
stern and very blunt with him, he does this out of a pure love,
the love as as a father would have for his son.
And Paul had great love for this Corinthian church, which we're
going to see in our text today as we conclude this letter.
So let's go ahead and look at First Corinthians 16.
We're going to be looking at verses 19 through 24 this
morning. I think these verses do a great
job of tying a bow on the series of the hole in the book.
And so I could summarize it in my own words like this.
The church lives in love, hope, and grace until Christ returns.
So I'm going to explain that more as we go.
Let's go ahead and read this together.
If you were able, please stand to your feet for the reading of
God's Word. First Corinthians chapter 16,
verses 19 through 24. The churches of Asia send you
greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with
the church in 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 hand. 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, we be my love.
Be with you all in Christ Jesus, Amen.
This is the word of the Lord. Speak to God.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your
word and pray now that you help us to understand it and apply it
rightly. Please be with us this morning
and may you be glorified in all things in Christ's name, Amen.
You may be seated as we saw last week as Kyle preach through
verses 12 through 18. Paul wraps this letter up by
giving reports and instructions related to a few key characters.
He mentions Apollos, Stefanus Fortunatus achaicus, and I know
I pronounce those different than Kyle, but it's tomato, tomato
today. OK, so but he mentions these
people and he says to be subject to such as these and to every
fellow worker and laborer. The Paul also gives them the
charge to be watchful, stand firm in the faith, to act like
men, be strong and let all that you do be done in love.
So in these last verses of the book, we see what letting all
that you do be done in love should look like.
In these verses, we get 3 examples of godly love.
We're going to see love within the body, love in the truth, and
love rooted in grace. This was how Paul wanted the
Corinthians to live out their days as they awaited Jesus's
second coming. So let's take a look at this.
Now. Look at verses 19 and 20.
This will be point #1 if you're taking notes, love within the
body. In verses 19 and 20, we see a
greeting from the Saints and affectionate unity and love on
display. Verse 19 A says the churches of
Asia send you greetings. So when he says Asia here, he's
referring to what is the western half of modern day Turkey.
I think we have a map of this. Yeah, so he would be over here
on the right where Ephesus was. Paul was in Ephesus as he's
writing this letter, OK. And he's writing it to the
Corinthians who are across the the pond there, so to speak.
And so that's where he is when he's writing to them.
Now this is all very interesting.
If you remember some about Paul, they, they would have been the
Corinthians would have maybe been familiar with some of these
people in this region, but some of them maybe they wouldn't have
known. So it begs the question, why are
they sending their greeting? Why would all these people say
hello? Right when verse 19 B, we see
Aquila and Chris get together with the church in their house,
send you hearty greetings in the Lord.
So we have learned a little about a little bit about these
two characters, Aquila and Priscilla, as she's called in
other texts. So the Corinthian church would
have known them well. They were originally from
Pontus. They moved to Rome.
But when Claudius banned Jews from Rome in 1849, they moved to
Corinth, which is where they met Paul.
And in Corinth, they with Paul were tent makers.
And no doubt they helped Paul found and start the church at
Corinth. And so when Paul later moves
from Corinth over to Ephesus where he's writing this letter,
they moved with him. So this church in Corinth would
have known Paul and Aquila and Priscilla really well.
They were founding members of the church there in Corinth. 4
out of the six times that we read about Priscilla and Aquila,
Priscilla is mentioned first, that this could be for various
reasons. It could be because she was
converted first. It could have been her social
status, or out of courtesy, or just stylistic variation.
As most commentaries will tell you, Most scholars believe that
it was because she was of some social status, that she came
from some wealthy family possibly, which would explain
why they owned a home large enough to have a house church
in. But when we say this, we're not
talking about they had a mansion where they fit hundreds of
people, right? They had maybe thirtyish people
in their home, so that would have been a big home back then.
Most of our homes will hold 20 to 30 as we see all the time in
Home Roots, right? It's not that hard.
If they can do it, we can do it, right?
So, but here, though she's mentioned second now, I don't
think there's much to that. It really doesn't matter.
What does matter is that we see with these two their love for
the gospel and Christ's church. It was evident in their labor
for the Lord and their sacrificial giving of themselves
and their resources to see the gospel spread.
As Kyle mentioned last week, they stewarded their time,
talent, and treasure well. They used every means they had
available to advance the gospel. They simply looked at what God
had blessed them with and they used it for Kingdom work.
And that's being a faithful Christian, taking what God's
given you, the grace that He's bestowed upon you, and using it
for His glory. And these two did this really
well. It's simple, but it's faithful.
So quick word on house churches. At this time in church history,
many churches met in homes because Christianity was brand
new. They didn't have church
buildings yet. It wasn't even recognized as a
legitimate religion yet if you read many of your study Bible
notes. But we do know that they
gathered corporately when they were able.
If we see in Acts chapter 2, verse 46, day by day attending
the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.
And so when they had the means to gather more than just 20 or
30, they did that. But at this point in church
history, they just didn't have buildings in the way to do that.
So they met where they could, when they could.
They also met day by day, it says in Acts.
And so I bring all this up to point something out.
House churches, as we see in this text, were descriptive.
They're not prescriptive. Just because that's how they
were doing it doesn't mean that's how we should be doing it
today. I've heard a lot of people say
we shouldn't have corporate churches like this.
It should just be house churches.
It's what they did back then, but they didn't have a choice
back then. They were trying to do what they
could. If they would have had a
building like this, they would have gathered together.
I promise you that. So Aquila and Prisca with the
Christians who meet in their homes send their love to the
Corinthian church as well. The text says that they send you
a hearty greeting. So again, this wasn't a greeting
from a people that they didn't know.
This would be like if Sherry and I went to Birmingham and wrote
you a letter and said, hey, Zach and Carson, send their love.
You would have known these people that would have meant
something to you and it meant something to the Corinthians.
The love and affection that they had would have been familiar to
them and meant the world to them to hear from them.
Verse 20, all the brothers send you greetings.
Again, this is all the Christians in the area.
And then verse 20B greet one another with a holy kiss.
Now, again, it's very important we understand descriptive versus
prescriptive, right? We're not going to start asking
you guys to kiss one another during the meet and greet time,
OK? If we did, our church would
either shrink tremendously or grow by leaps and pouts.
This is just descriptive, all right?
This was a cultural thing. It was cultural, not a command
so much like maybe in French culture where they still do this
little Peck on either cheek, right?
It was just a greeting. It would have been a lot like if
we said, hey, give one another a big hug or a hearty handshake.
It was just saying, show one another love, be warm and
welcoming to one another. What we are seeing here in these
verses is that you might read this as you're reading through a
book like Corinthians and just skip right over all of this.
He's just saying later, right? But what we see in these verses
is the love of Christ within a body of believers.
You see, we are part of a local church, right?
Little seat. This is normative.
As I've already mentioned. We submit to the leadership of
the elders of this church, and the elders of this church are
responsible to shepherd and care for the people of this church.
The elders are not obligated to care for all the Christians in
Magnolia. That would be impossible for us
to do. And you are not required to
submit to every pastor in Magnolia.
That wouldn't be right. Local churches are normative.
This is the way God intended for this to work.
We believe in the mission of those who have been called to
take the gospel to unreach place, unreach places.
So we love and support them because see, even though we're
part of a local church, we're also part part of what's called
the Big C church, the global church, right?
We are brothers and sisters in Christ with all believers all
over the world. Our common Christ is what bonds
us together and what's what gives us unity.
And This is why we support the efforts of those who are going
all over the world to take the gospel.
We don't just focus in on here and what we're doing here.
We're thinking out there as well.
The love within the body of Christ creates an instant
connection with others all over the world.
I don't know if you guys have ever experienced this, but you
meet someone for the first time, you've never met them, and you
just have a feeling that they're a believer.
There's just a joy about them. I don't know how to describe it,
but I've had this experience before.
We just have a feeling this person's a Christian again, that
common love is rooted in our common Christ, in our shared
mission. And it's this love of Christ
that unites us. So in these greetings, you can
see love within the body of Christ.
As Christianity was just starting to spread, as little
churches were being planted and groups of believers were popping
up all over, they were united in their mission to see Christ
exalted as King. They were united in their love
for Jesus and for one another. And it's still the same for us
today. We should genuinely love our
brothers and sisters in Christ in this church and all over
Magnolia and all over the world, but especially within this
church, the people that we know well.
We should love the people that are doing the Lord's work here
and all over the world. And This is why we support that
work, work of faithful missionaries through DTN and all
over. So next we see that not only
were the Corinthians to express love within the body, but a love
for the truth. This is point #2 love in the
truth. Let's look at verses 21 through
22. Here we see a sober warning that
love for Christ is essential. Verse 21.
I, Paul, write this with my own hand.
So Paul would often compose these letters by speaking and
dictating to someone who would write the letter for him.
And when doing this, he would also write part of the
conclusion himself to authenticate the letter.
His handwriting would have been noticeably different and it
would have been recognizable to the people he was writing to.
And so no doubt that is part of what Paul's doing here is
authenticating the letter. But sometimes Paul would write
personally to make a point or to emphasize something of great
importance, which is another reason he's doing that here.
So let's take a look at the next line, verse 22.
If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.
So when you read this line, you're reading these verses.
This seems a bit out of place. There's been all these warm
wishes and farewells and hey, so and so says hi and greet one
another with kiss. Oh, by the way, if someone
doesn't love the Lord, let him be accursed.
And then it's like, it just seems like, whoa, wait a minute,
where did that come from? And so we have to stop and pause
for a minute and think about what Paul is saying here.
Out of nowhere comes a curse. Should we do this?
Should we invite and wish curses on people?
What was Paul saying? Was he being evil, sinful in
doing this? Love for the Lord is a
foundational, essential element for all Christians.
It is what being a Christian is, is love for the Lord.
It's who we are and what we do. We talk about the gospel a lot.
The good news, well, all that is, is that we are all sinners.
We were all slaves to our sin. All have sinned and fallen short
of the glory of God, and the wages of that sin is death.
There is a penalty to pay, and it is death.
But God shows His love for us, and that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. God so loved us that He sent His
only Son, that whoever would believe in Him should have
everlasting life. This is the gospel on and on.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. And there is therefore now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
We love him because He first loved us.
And then you think about the greatest commandment, to love
the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to
love your neighbor as yourself. How are we going to know who the
people are that love the Lord? By this, all people will know
that you are my disciples by your love for one another.
What will these people do that love the Lord?
He says if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
So love for Christ is what marks us.
It's what it's what sets us apart as his people.
It influences everything we do. It is absolutely critical to who
we are as believers. We can't be Christians without
loving Christ. This is why we are called
Christians. It's in our name just like with
Adam and Eve. When when God created Eve, Adam
called her woman. He was man and he put his name
embedded into her name because she came from man.
We have Christ's name embedded in our name because we come from
Christ. We are in Christ and for Christ
it's who we are. And so if anyone has no love for
the Lord, he's not of us. He is not of Christ.
He's not in Christ and Christ is not in him.
And we know that for those who do not love the Lord, they will
be accursed. They will suffer eternal
condemnation because as I mentioned earlier, we're all
sinners. Everyone sins and falls short of
the glory of God. Now the Greek word for this.
This was very interesting. The Greek word for this curse is
anathema, and it means to invoke a curse, specifically God's
punishment on someone. So this is the fate of all who
do not love the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew Henry says. Here is a solemn warning.
Many who have Christ's name much in their mouths have no true
love for Him in their hearts. None love Him in truth who do
not love His laws and keep His commandments.
Many are Christians in name who do not love Christ Jesus the
Lord in sincerity. Such are separated from the
people of God and the favor of God.
Those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ must perish without
remedy. Let us not rest in any religious
profession where there is not the love of Christ, earnest
desires for His salvation, gratitude for His mercies, and
obedience to His commandments. Amen.
So many times we see this, we see words, a profession, a claim
coming out of someone's mouth that their life and their
actions doesn't support the fruit, does not bear witness
that that's true. And so love for Christ is
absolutely essential. And that's not just in Word, but
in deed. Also, a real understanding of
our sin and the required punishment for it and then
understanding the substitutionary atonement of
Christ on our behalf should lead to nothing less than
wholehearted love and devotion for Jesus Christ.
If you truly understand these things, how can you not love
Christ? I'm convinced that if you if you
don't love Christ, you either don't understand your sin or you
don't understand what he did for you.
Yet there are those who do not. There are those who continue in
spiritual blindness with hard hearts.
We should earnestly pray for their conversion.
But there are also those who utterly despise Christ and hate
Christ. They hate God.
We've seen it in Corinthians, and we see it in our world
today. So how should we respond to such
hatred? We see how Paul responded so by
invoking a curse, praying for God's punishment on those who do
not love the Lord. Is he being harsh?
Is he being evil? Of course not.
Yes, we should pray for everyone, including unbelievers,
that they would repent and believe.
This should be our first prayer, but we should also pray that
God's justice be done, that Christ's enemies be put
underneath His feet as a footstool.
Those imprecatory Psalms are in your Bible for a reason.
They show us what our attitude should be toward those who hate
God. Like David, we should pray that
His justice be done on this earth as it is in heaven.
Now, this doesn't mean that we pray imprecatory psalms out of
our own desires, right? But you, you should not ride a
imprecatory Psalm card and send it to the guy that cuts you off
in traffic. That is not what I'm saying.
But we should long for the day when evil and death are no more,
when the curse is finally destroyed.
This was Paul's attitude. He's longed for that day.
Look what he says next in verse 22.
B Our Lord come. So again, this might seem kind
of oddly placed at first, but it makes a lot of sense when you
think about what he's just said. You see, this phrase is an
Aramaic phrase that was adopted by Greek speaking Christians,
and it expresses something very important, which is why they
adopted it. In Aramaic, the phrase is
maranatha. So Paul is using word play here.
He just used the previous curse, let him be a curse, which is
anathema, follows it with Maranatha.
So this is a maladiction, wishing harm on someone,
followed by a benediction, which is a blessing.
OK, so he's, he's using these two things to stress a point
here. Now the the benediction, the our
Lord come. Who is that good for?
Well, not those who don't love the Lord, obviously, it's good
for those who do love the Lord. Paul is praying for Christ to
return soon, which would expedite this curse on those who
don't love the Lord. Because when he comes, that will
be the end of death, the wiping away of every tear and all the
things that we look forward to, of course, but it will also be a
day of great judgment on God's enemies.
And this, of course, will be a good day for those of us who
love the Lord, but a day of terror for those who do not love
the Lord. As I mentioned in Sunday school
last week, this is known as the day of the Lord, not the Lord's
Day. Today is the Lord's day, but the
day of the Lord is Jesus's second coming.
So Paul is praying Lord come soon.
And in doing so, it would quickly expedite this process of
cursing those who don't love the Lord.
But it would be great hope for those who do love the Lord.
So like Paul, we should pray that our Lord come quickly to
right wrongs, to make all things new.
This is in essence what we are praying when we say your Kingdom
come, your will be done on this earth as it is in heaven on the
day of the Lord. When Christ returns, it will be
to the great joy of the Saints around the world and great
terror of those who don't love God as Paul mentions in Romans
7. To be with the Lord would be
much better, right? So like Paul, we should pray
this. Paul in this prayer is stating
here that we're where our great hope comes from in the Lord's
return. This is where we find hope while
living on this earth, that Christ will return for those who
are his. We are sojourners and aliens on
this earth. This is a broken, fallen world.
But when Christ returns and his enemies are defeated, he will
make all things new. And this is a day that we look
forward to as Christians. It gives us great hope.
It gives us strength to run a good race while here on this
earth. It gives us breath and our
lungs. It's what propels us forward day
after day, knowing that He will come soon. 2nd Corinthians 417
through 18 says, For this light momentary affliction is
preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all
comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen, but
to the things that are unseen. So we put our hope in Christ's
return. And when we do this, we aren't
just well wishing. This is a foundational truth
that strengthens us and our daily walk.
And it is this truth that we should love as Christians, that
those who are in Christ will be glorified and those who are not
will be accursed. So again, Paul was very serious
in saying this. This is why he wrote it with his
own hand. He was providing great hope for
believers, but a stern warning for unbelievers.
And then finally, he ends his letter with point #3 love rooted
in grace. Look at verses 23 and 24.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
So here we see Paul's final benediction.
You praise that God's grace be with the Corinthian church.
And this might seem again like just a small farewell, like
grace be with you. Listen to what Matthew Henry
says about this. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ has in it all that is good for time and eternity.
To wish that our friends may have this grace with them is
wishing them the utmost good. And this we should wish to all
our friends and brethren in Christ.
We can wish them nothing greater, and we should wish them
nothing less. True Christianity makes us wish
those whom we love the blessings of both worlds, and this is what
is meant. And wishing the grace of Christ
to be with them. So I don't know if you guys ever
heard this. I know I've said it before, I
heard it growing up. The grace is getting something
good that you don't deserve, right?
Mercy is not getting what you deserve, and justice is getting
exactly what you deserve. So we're talking about God's
grace. We're talking about blessings
that He's poured out on us that we have not earned and do not
deserve. Grace from God.
His, His favor, His love, His blessings is what compels us to
love God and to love others. Because we haven't deserved it,
we don't earn it. Even though other people might
not earn or deserve our love, we give it freely, knowing the
grace it's been given to us. This is seen in so many ways and
how He blesses us personally through health and income and
food and clothing, and then through others through
friendships and family. God has not just given us little
grace, He pours it out on us. John 116 says For from his
fullness we have all received grace upon grace, and we are
called in first Peter 4 to be good stewards of that grace.
Verses 7 through 11 say the end of all things is at hand.
Therefore be self controlled and sober minded for the sake of
your prayers. Above all, keep loving one
another earnestly. Since love covers a multitude of
sins. Show hospitality to one another
without rumbling. As each has received a gift, use
it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.
Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves
as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in
order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus
Christ. So your time, your talents, your
treasures are all gifts from God.
They are all God's grace, and you were called to steward those
things well. In doing so, you glorify God.
This is how we glorify God is just like Aquila and Prisca.
We take what God's given us and we use it for His glory however
we can. This grace from God, these
blessings from God, is what sustains us while we eagerly
await Christ's return. When we feel like we can't go
on, when we feel like Paul, like, like, I just wish I could
go and be with the Lord. It is the undeserved grace of
God that keeps us fighting and keeps us pushing forward.
Day by day, God pours out His grace on us.
Just this morning you have been a recipient of God's grace.
You woke up and you had air in your lungs.
You woke up in a home with probably a closet full of
clothes that you don't need, all of them, probably a cabinet full
of food. You drove a car here or rode
with someone to a building that God has graciously giving us,
given us. There was coffee waiting on you
when you got here. Handshakes and hugs.
I mean, just in the last few hours, we can count tons of ways
that God has poured out His grace on us.
This church has seen it time and time again.
I'm sure that many of you in this church have received
encouragement from brothers and sisters in the congregation.
You have elders who genuinely love you and want to see you
grow, want to see you sanctified in your walk with the Lord.
I could just go on and on and on, but the point is that God
has poured out His grace on all of us and that sustains us as we
live out life on this earth. He pours it out on us most by
giving us His Son, Jesus Christ. That is the greatest grace we
could ever receive. Ephesians 28 through 9 says, For
by grace you've been saved through faith and is not your
own doing. It is a gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no one can boast.
I mentioned this earlier, but knowing my own sin, knowing my
own wretchedness, that I don't deserve God's love and grace,
how could He send Jesus to die for me?
Yet He did. He saved me for my sin.
He redeemed me. What grace?
What undeserved grace. And even more, He hasn't saved
me and then just left me on this sinful world, this fallen world,
to try to figure things out on my own.
He's given me His own Spirit to dwell in me, to help me do the
good works that He's prepared beforehand.
He's given me this church to teach me, support me, correct me
when needed. What love, what grace of God.
These are all graces in the life of a believer.
And we are very fortunate in this church to have been blessed
immensely when it comes to these things.
This grace of God is what compels us to love others and to
love the Lord. It's where our love for one
another comes from. It's what it's rooted in.
Then ending Paul's letter, he ends with grace, which is
exactly where he began the letter back in chapter 1, verse
3, where he says grace to you and peace from the God the
Father and Lord Jesus. So he started with grace and
he's ending with grace. And then finally, he ends with
an expression of his love for the church at Corinth, again
pointing out that it is a shared love in Christ.
Through all of his instruction, even when having a discipline,
the Corinthian church, Paul showed a great fatherly love
toward them. He cared deeply for them and
longed for their sanctification. Such should be the prayer of any
pastor for his church to want their good, to want their
growth, their sanctification, no matter what it takes.
Even at the risk of sounding harsh at times, Paul labored
tirelessly for the churches that he planted.
He earnestly desired their sanctification and to see them
growing into mature manhood. All that we've seen in this
letter to the Corinthians was meant to help them do just that.
It's also meant to help us grow. So much of what we have seen
throughout this book and even today is applicable to us still.
We still live as Christians in a Pagan culture and we still need
to be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, and be
strong. So here are three ways that we
can apply what we've seen today. One, love unites the church.
As we saw from the the loving greetings sent by the the people
to the church at Corinth. Our common love for Christ is
what unites us as his people. The world will know that we are
his disciples by how we love one another and how we care for one
another. And this brotherly love is what
keeps us united because first Corinthians 13 seven said love
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and
endures all things. So this love unites us and it's
what sustains us and gets us through so new life, Community,
Church, love one another, love one another well, selflessly
when it's not convenient. Love one another.
Care for your brothers and sisters in Christ.
The second application point is that hope propels the church
forward. May our prayer and plea echo
that of Paul where he says our Lord come.
This hope is what fuels us today.
It's what gives us strength for tomorrow.
So put your hope in Christ alone and remember that He is coming
soon. One day He will wipe away every
tear. There will be no more sorrow, no
more pain. He will right all wrongs.
Let this propel you forward as you faithfully serve our Lord
Jesus Christ. And then the third application
point is that grace sustains the church.
When life gets tough, when we are weak and we're needy, we're
sick and we're poor, God's grace is what sustains us.
He's already poured out His grace on us through His Son,
Jesus Christ, but He continues to give us His grace in so many
ways. You just look around.
You look at all He's done in this church, God has shown his
steadfast love and his faithfulness to us in a variety
of ways. So this church does a great job
of stewarding this grace well, of using its time, talent, and
treasure to serve the Lord. And I'm so proud of that.
Thank you for doing that. Because in doing so, you're
helping sustain your brothers and sisters in Christ.
So remember, God's great love for you.
He's given you his grace and let that sustain you like rich food.
The church lives in hope, love and grace until Christ returns.
And so in conclusion, believers in here this morning, if you are
a Christian, if you love the Lord.
As our text has said today, these verses give us great hope
when we consider the love within the body, our love for the
truth, and the grace of God that roots us and grounds us.
We have so much to be thankful for.
Maybe you needed to hear this today because you've taken it
all for granted. Or maybe you're not stewarding
your time, talent, and treasure well.
Maybe you aren't loving your brothers and sisters in Christ
the way you know you should. Or maybe you just needed a
reminder that the Lord will come soon.
That truth gives us hope, and I hope that today has been
encouraging for you. I encourage you as believers to
honor the Lord and glorify Him in all of life, to love your
brothers and sisters in Christ, to love His Word, the truth.
Let it propel you forward and give you hope every day, and
rely on God's grace as you live out your life on this earth.
If you're in this place and you're not a believer, if you
don't love Christ and don't submit to Him as King, then
we've seen in this passage that those who don't love the Lord
will be accursed. They will be under the wrath of
God. This is a terrible and
frightening thing to consider, to be under the wrath of an
omnipotent God. But the good news is that Christ
came to save sinners like you and me.
The things of God are foolishness to the world.
It is God who is the one that removes our heart of stone and
gives us a heart of flesh, who opens our eyes so that we may
see and understand the truth. It is only through that, that we
are able to comprehend these things.
So if God is showing you the truth this morning, if the Holy
Spirit is working on your heart this morning, that I encourage
you not to ignore that. Respond in repentance and faith
today and put your trust in Christ alone.
Romans 10/9 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved. So I'm happy to answer any
questions about that as well as the other elders here if you
need to talk about that. If you have questions, we'd be
happy to visit with you. But I encourage you today to
respond to whatever the Lord is moving you to do.
Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we are thankful this
morning for the grace that you've poured out on us.
Your mercy and your forgiveness. God, we're so thankful for the
love within this church. We're thankful for the book of
Corinthians and all the things that we've learned through it.
And God, we pray that you help us to take passages like this
and apply them to our own lives, to live out our days in a way
that brings you glory and honor. God, we pray that you continue
to sustain us, to give us hope, give us strength as we live out
each day. Help us to use our time, talent,
and treasure well, to be good stewards, to make the best use
of the time, to serve you, and to honor you with our lives.
God, we love you. I pray God that whatever it is
that you're trying to tell us today, if you're moving
someone's heart, that they would respond in faith and repentance
and belief in you. We love you.
Lord, we give you all the glory and honor as we keep our heads
bowed, we're just going to take a moment to reflect and respond
to what God's showed us today, what we've heard in His Word.
So I encourage you to be open and honest with God and knowing
that you can come boldly to the throne of grace and be specific
about what burdens you and I Look to Christ as your refuge
and your help. And ask yourself, do I love the
Lord and his church? Do I long for the day of His
return? Do I cherish my brothers and
sisters in Christ and the grace that's been shown to me?
Maybe you need to repent and believe today.
Maybe you need to confess your lack of love for God and others.
Whatever the Holy Spirit is urging you to do, take time to
pray now. Spend some time with the Lord.
Father, again, we thank you for your grace.
We praise you in this place today, Lord, and we pray that
again, as we've said, that we can glorify You every day, every
moment of our lives, or continue to strengthen us, continue to
give us wisdom to know how to live out our time.
And I thank you for this series through Corinthians and all that
we've learned through it, they served to edify us, to sanctify
us, and help us grow in our faith in You.
We ask it all in Christ's name, Amen.