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All right, First Corinthians chapter #4 You know, as you read
the Old Testament, particularly the prophets, the minor
prophets, the minor prophets, and of course we talk about the
minor and major prophets. We're not talking about the fact
that some are more important than others.
You know, some are major and important and some are minor
importance. In fact, we went through a
series in Sunday school a few years ago going through the
minor prophets. But really we go through this
issue and talking about major and minor prophets saying this,
that the major prophets are larger, longer books and the
minor prophets are shorter. But if you're reading through
both the major and the minor prophets, you're going to read
this phrase quite a bit. And that phrase is that thus
sayeth the Lord. Thus sayeth the Lord.
Now, why is that important? Well, because you know that when
the prophet is speaking, he's not speaking in and of his own
self, that when the prophet is speaking, he's not saying what
he wants to say. AJ, can you put that down
please? Can you put on the floor,
please? All right.
Thank you very much. All right.
Should I bring it up with me? This would be kind of cool to
have. This is why we have AI tracking
on the. Yeah, that's all right.
So should I put that up here tonight?
Right there. All right.
I've never really, you know, preached before the.
Let's see. Yeah, that's not.
I don't know if that'll improve the preaching or not, all things
considered, but let's just leave this right over here.
And you guys, both of you stay put right there.
OK. Very good.
So thus saith the Lord. Hey, the whole point of it is
this. They're the Lord's words and
they didn't have the Bible in the way that we do today. 66
books inspired by the Lord all together in our hands.
And we know by the way, this is thus say at the Lord, we don't
have to have questions or wonder if what we have here is the
perfect and inspired and eternal word of God.
It is from cover to go. But in the Old Testament you
heard this a lot thus say at the Lord.
But there's another phrase that was also a lot like thus say at
the Lord that maybe we don't talk about as much, but it's
also very real. And that's this, the burden of
the Lord, the burden of the Lord.
Isaiah is the one who employs it the most.
He'll say the burden of Babylon, the burden of Moab, the burden
of Damascus, and on and on it goes.
Why would he say that at the start of his messages?
Well, he would say it because it talked about the seriousness of
the message that was about to be delivered.
Listen, this wasn't a message that was to tickle the ears.
This wasn't a message that was just a man speaking because he
just wanted to speak and he wanted people to hear him.
No, no, there was a heavy burden that was laid upon these people
and Isaiah wasn't the only one to employ it.
There would have been others as well.
In fact, 7 different prophets use this phrase all the way to
Malachi chapter one verse one, the burden of the word of the
Lord to Israel by Malachi and the burden can be looked at two
different ways. One, the person who had received
it, the burden was upon them. But also, I think it's very
clear just looking at Scripture and understanding the office of
prophet would be this. The burden was heavy on the
prophet as well as on the people receiving it.
Meaning this, that the prophet wasn't just speaking it lightly.
The prophet wasn't just saying it because again, he had
something that he wanted people to hear because he wanted to be
heard. No, no, he knew the seriousness
of the gravity of that which he was to do.
And because of that, it was called a burden.
Now, no doubt the people in Corinth looking at the New
Testament now thinking that are probably thinking that Paul's
words to them have been very weighty and very burdensome.
They, they might even be getting tired of what Paul is saying to
them and how Paul keeps having to put them in check.
And again, we're only in the first few chapters of this book,
let alone all that we're going to see in the 16 chapters of
First Corinthians. They might be getting a little
bit tired. They might even be thinking that
a burden has been laid upon them by Paul.
But I would suggest to you tonight that it wasn't just the
burden that was laid upon Paul, but it was, or rather laid upon
the people, but it was also that there was a great burden laid
upon Paul as well. Paul cared for these people.
Thank you, Justin. Paul cared for these people.
Paul loved these people. Paul ached and hurt for these
people because as he's preaching the word of God, he's not just
speaking about this like it's some nine to five job.
He's not just clocking in and clocking out.
You know, he cares in the very depths of his soul for the
people of Corinth. You might even argue that he
cares more for the people of Corinth than the people of
Corinth care for themselves. And his burden for them was
great and it was real. The title of my message tonight
is a different one and it's this, it's the ministry is not a
career. The ministry is not a career.
You say, what do you mean that when it comes to, let's just say
being a pastor this evening, then it's not necessarily just a
nine to five job. There's just not a time that you
clock in and clock out. And this is the way it is in
many ways. It is a 24/7 position that there
are times that there are things that need to happen that go
beyond the scope of just what we would say our normal office
hours. And by the way, that's OK.
There was a few years ago that someone was in the hospital
here. I won't say who she is because
she's not here tonight, but she was in the hospital.
And I found out the very next day and I called her and I said,
you know, I wanted to come see you in the hospital.
Why didn't you tell me you're in the hospital?
She will past her. It was your day off.
And I said her name rhymes with Larsha.
I said, whoops, that slipped out.
But I said, I said, listen, don't ever do that again.
Now, I hope you don't have to go to the hospital again.
But if you do, don't worry about if I have a day off or anything
like that because the ministry is more than office hours.
The ministry is more than a career.
It's about people and it's about situations.
Wouldn't it be nice if all of life situations happen between
9:00 and 5:00? But typically they don't.
It's the ER visit in the middle of the night.
Why could it happen at 3:00 in the afternoon?
Why does it happen to happen? And 3:00 in the morning, why
does it seem like everything comes crashing down in the home
right before you're wanting to go to bed and you just want to
go to sleep and just something happens and something said or
something transpires and all of a sudden everything spirals out
of control? Well, tonight we're going to see
that Paul doesn't just clock in and clock out for the people.
Corinth has a great burden for them.
And I wanted to see what that burden looks for looks like here
tonight. So let's go ahead and read.
You're already there. First Corinthians chapter #4 and
we're going to begin in verse #15 For though you have 10,000
instructors in Christ, you have not many fathers.
For in Christ Jesus I've begotten you through the gospel.
Wherefore I beseech you, be followers of me.
For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my son, my
beloved son, rather and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you
into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ, as I teach
everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up as though
I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly, if the
Lord will and will know not the speech of them which are puffed
up, but the power. For the Kingdom of God is not in
Word, but in power. What we, what will ye?
Shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the
spirit of meekness? So Paul has some tough words for
the people of Corinth here in these words.
And of course, he has spoken to them very plainly and directly
all the way through this book. And certainly it's no different
here in chapter #4 But in these verses, Paul talks about how he
interacted with the people of Corinth as a minister of the
gospel. And really, as he does so, he
gives 3 of the differences between a ministry and a career.
Three of the differences between a ministry and a career.
And the first is this. We see Paul felt responsibility.
What's the first difference between a ministry and a career?
The 1st is responsibility. Listen, let's be honest, I know
when I worked, let's say my very first job at McDonald's and I
worked there from 5:00 to 9:00. I will tell you this, when I
left at 9:00, I didn't feel a lot of responsibility.
When I left, I wasn't going to bed at 11:00 at night and
saying, oh, I sure do hope that they're not overwhelmed in the
drive through. Well, I sure do hope they reach
their sales goal this evening. You know what I was doing?
I was trying to do the homework that I hadn't done earlier in
the day so I didn't get in trouble when I went to school
the next day because I was 15 years old.
I felt no responsibility. And a lot of us have had jobs
like that, haven't we were Listen, when you close the door
at the office, you didn't think about it again until you open
that door again. And by the way, there's nothing
necessarily wrong with that. Maybe you own your own business
or you have owned your own your business in the past.
It's a little bit different, isn't it?
But a little bit different. Why?
Because you are the business and everybody wants to call you
early, and everybody wants to call you late, and everybody
wants to pay you late, and everybody wants to get all of
these different things. And you wish that you could
pillow your head and just forget about it like you did back at
McDonald's. But all of a sudden you're
thinking about the invoices you're supposed to be processing
and when you're supposed to be sleeping at 2:00 in the morning,
you feel a little bit more responsibility, don't you?
So there's kind of levels. But Paul says he feels an even
greater responsibility because we're not talking about the
things of this world. We're not talking about the
things of this world that come and go.
And I'm not saying that a business isn't important.
Certainly it is in so many ways. But we're talking about things
that are weighty and we're talking about things that are
eternal. And Paul felt a great
responsibility to them, far more than even a corporate job or
being in AAC level executive, that he felt this higher calling
and responsibility for these people.
What does he say in verse #15 about it?
He says, for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ,
yet have ye not many fathers. He says this I acknowledge, Paul
says I acknowledge a lot of people helped you in your
Christian growth. I acknowledge a lot of people
helped you along the way. You know, I'm 42 years old now.
I'll be 43 here next month. And I will say this, I had a lot
of people who've taught me a lot of things along the way.
I am not a self-made man. I'm just a conglomeration, if
you will, of maybe dozens, if not hundreds of people who've
taught me a little bit here and a little bit there along the
way. Whether they were school
teachers or whether they were church people or whether they
were people in a business setting or just in life in
general. There've been so many people.
I've had all of these instructors, but I will say
this, I have only one Victor Rivero in my life.
What do you mean? Victor Rivero is my father, in
case you don't know. And I might have a lot of
instructors, but I've only got 1 dad, the one who helped bring me
into this world. He was part of that process of
me being here today. And Paul is saying this.
Listen, I know you've had a lot of people who've helped you
along the way. I'm not so puffed up that I
think I'm the only one that's helped you.
But he, but he says this. I have been a spiritual father
to you. I was there on the ground floor.
I was there to help you at the times that you need it the most.
And sure, he had an Apostolic responsibility, if you will.
And it talks about, we mentioned this before in First Corinthians
chapter 12 and Ephesians chapter 4, that those are real offices
that are not active today, the office of an apostle.
But he didn't feel like a father to them in belief just because
he was an apostle. He felt like that because he was
there at the very beginning as the church was established.
And what did he do? It says it right there in verse
15. He were, he begot them in the
gospel. He was there for their spiritual
birth. He was there leading them to
Christ. And so because of that, he felt
a responsibility. Paul put it this way.
There shouldn't be any spiritual orphans.
There should not be any spiritual orphans.
What does that mean? A lot of times, even if
especially independent Baptist churches, we put so much
emphasis on seeing people saved. And by the way, we should.
In fact, I get nervous about churches that don't put an
emphasis on people getting saved.
Amen. We want to be reminded all the
time that people need to be saved.
We need to hear the prayer request.
We need to have the big days. We need to have the tracks.
We need to have the outreach. We need to have all of it.
But listen, it doesn't end with those things.
It's just the beginning. Why?
Because if someone's saved, then we just drop them off and leave
them alone. What do they become?
Spiritual orphans. There's no one there to help him
that there's no spiritual father, if you will, to be
there. Paul wanted to see people saved.
He wanted to see them grow. He wanted to see them in
spiritual maturity and he wanted to see them in good health.
No, the Paul, it wasn't. They're saved.
At least I'll see them in heaven.
He says. No, there's so much more for
you. There's so much more that I want
for you than just punching your ticket to heaven.
He says, you need to understand what this is about.
And it burdens me. And I have a responsibility to
be able to help you with these things.
And that's why he says in verse #16 wherefore I beseech you, be
followers of me. Now, I don't want to dwell too
long on this because we've already talked about this a
little bit before in some previous messages, but it's not
Paul and his arrogance saying follow me.
The Holy Spirit is not inspiring an arrogant statement by the
apostle Paul. So we look at this and we say,
well, why would he say follow me?
We understand that what he's saying has to be true.
So how do we adjust our thinking to make sure we're thinking the
way the Bible is telling us to think?
Because I don't know about you, but I would be very
uncomfortable by telling people, hey, you want to learn what it
is to be a Christian? Just follow me.
You know why? Because I know me and some of
you know me, and you might think that that would be a little
arrogant for me to say, but what Paul is saying here is so much
more than that. Now listen, who?
Who is our example, our true example?
Our only example is Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ lived this life here on this earth.
He lived for 33 years and sinned never once He showed us the way
to live. But God also in his benevolence
and grace has given us other people as well to help us along
the way to show us how to live like Christ here and now where
we live. Imagine hiking up a mountain and
we could say that we're at the base of this mountain.
And imagine going up to the top of the mountain and you have an
experienced climber who goes all the way to the top.
First we watch him as best as we can from the base, get to the
top, and then he calls us and he says, I'm at the top.
I made it. It can be done.
That's encouraging. But now imagine you had someone
else who is also an experienced climber who says, all right,
it's our turn, let's go. We're going to go a few steps in
front of you. When you go, I'm going to tell
you, hey, step here. There's a good place to get a
foothold. Hey, over here, there's a good
place to rest for a few minutes because it's going to get to a
really high elevation here or we're going to go into a really
steep incline. We better get some rest for a
few minutes. These just a few steps ahead of
you showing you the way. Sure, there's already somewhere
at the top saying it can be done, it's done, but someone
else can say, but let me show you every step of the way as
well. You realize Jesus Christ showed
us the way. He's at the top saying this, if
you will, it can be done. Read the word, see what the life
of someone who has lived perfectly is.
But God in his grace and his benevolence has also given us
other believers who listen, are a few steps in front of us.
I'm thankful for some older believers who've said especially
like in ministry, who've said, you know, when you get to this
place in ministry, here's something you want to watch out
for because it caught me by surprise and I wasn't ready.
Wouldn't it be good in your Christian life to be able to
look up to another believer and realize they were just a few
steps ahead of you, not thinking they're perfect.
But listen, what's the point that we're all still following
the one who already made it, which is Christ.
Like the guy in front of you says, hey, I got a better way.
Let me just let me get out my machete.
Let's just start bushwhacking this thing, you know, and start
going through. Listen, you want to follow
somebody like that, and there's plenty of people spiritually who
live and act that way, but God has given us others.
That's what Paul is saying here. He said, listen, if I take a
step, you take a step this way. If I take a step this way, you
take a step this way. But I will tell you this, I'm
only going to take the steps this way and that way, the way
that Christ has told me to take them.
Follow me. Remember, as I follow Christ,
let me ask you, are you the kind of believer that someone could
follow you a few steps behind and get to the right
destination? It's a tough question, isn't it?
It's it's tough to think because a lot of times we're thinking,
man, I'm having trouble myself. And so I kind of think of us
maybe as a chain, you know, a kind of a group of us all going
down the same path, one ahead and then another behind and
another behind, and we're all just doing our best.
But there's Jesus Christ, who's at the top.
He says it can be done. How?
In our flesh? No, but with his Spirit, his
Holy Spirit who always guides us in the things that are right.
Paul had a responsibility. He, he, he said, listen, you
follow me. We don't live.
Do as I say and not as I do. It's not the preacher saying,
well, I'm going to tell you what you ought to do, but I'm going
to go home and I'm going to live whatever way I want to live.
It's about this. Who we are is who we are not
just on the outside, but who we are on the inside as well.
Once said discipling is more than teaching right principles,
it is also living those principles before the ones who
are being discipled. What is discipleship?
Is it sitting with somebody and reading a book with them for a
few weeks? That could be part of it, but
it's also sitting with somebody and saying this is some things
I've done in my Christian life I wish I hadn't done.
I'd like you to avoid them. Or saying these are some things
that someone taught me that have been a help to me and I want to
teach them to you. That's what true discipleship is
like. And this is what Paul is saying
here. Christ shows us the model and he
uses other mature yet imperfect Christians to show us the way.
So first of all, Paul looking at ministry as not being a career,
said that he felt responsibility for these people.
But secondly, we also see this, that Timothy brought
remembrance. Did you see?
We read just a few moments about Timotheus.
Timotheus would be Timothy. When you think of first Timothy
and Second Timothy, these are letters that Paul wrote to
Timothy about what it was like to be a pastor, what was like to
be a minister. Now you may not realize or
recognize where Timothy came from, but if you were to turn
and don't do this now to Acts chapter 16, we're introduced to
Timothy for the first time. It says then came he to Derby
and Lystra being Paul. And behold a certain disciple
was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which was
a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek, which was
well reported of them by the brethren which were at Lystra
and Iconium. So as Paul is on his second
missionary journey, he comes in contact with young Timotheus,
young Timothy. Now, Timothy came from a home
situation that was not ideal. His mother was was a Jew and
believed in Jesus Christ, but yet his father was a Greek.
His father was a Gentile and it seems clear that he was not a
believer. In fact, you can go to second
Timothy, you find that it's mentioned about the faith of his
mother Lois and his grandmother Eunice.
His father's never mentioned, but Timothy was a believer and
he grew and he did that, which was right.
By the way. You don't have to have a perfect
home life growing up to be able to serve God when you're an
adult. Let me just run that by you one
more time. You don't have to have a perfect
home life growing up to be able to serve God as an adult.
You don't have to be shackled by your past.
You don't have to hold the anchor of your past for the rest
of your life and say, well, I know I could have been a real
servant of God if I had just had a home life that was stable, if
I had just been saved, you know, when I was at a young age.
Well, well, well, sure, there are things that maybe we all
look at our lives and wish were a little bit different or maybe
a lot different. But we do know this.
You can still serve God. Now where you're at that there's
nothing holding you back if you know Jesus Christ your Savior.
And so Paul, it mentions that he's going to use Timothy for
his purposes to be able to bring some things in remembrance.
You see, Timothy could do something that Paul couldn't.
Look at. Verse #17 for this cause have I
sent unto Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the
Lord. Now why was he a beloved son?
Well, we know that it's not because he was his actual
father. Again, he was a father in the
faith. He was faithful in the Lord who
shall bring you into remembrance, remembrance of my
ways. You know, if they didn't
remember what Paul's ways were, if they didn't remember what
Paul's manner was, Timothy said this, Paul said this.
Timothy will remind you who I am.
Timothy will remind you what I've done.
It's amazing to me how much we need to be reminded.
Do you ever just get sick of yourself?
How much you need to be reminded about the basics of the
Christian life? I mean, how many times we have
to get cut off in traffic to get to the place where we're not
angry about it? When you figure that out, let me
know because I haven't figured it out yet.
Obey that. That's where we got everyone
together. Let's just have the invitation
right now. All right?
How about that? But listen, we know, but we need
to be reminded, don't we? It's almost constant.
Paul had been with them for 18 months.
Then he wrote them a letter inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Almost 10,000 words. This book is, is equivalent to
about a, a, a front section of a newspaper.
Anybody remember those? The front section of a newspaper
on a Sunday. He's given them a lot of
information and he still says this.
But you're going to need Timothy to come see you because I can't
be there right now. And he's going to need to remind
you of some things too. So I guess I say that to say
this tonight. If you get a little bit
discouraged about needing to be reminded, don't get discouraged.
And it's part of the human condition.
I know we looked at it a lot in Second Timothy because Paul, or
rather Peter talked a lot about bringing things into
remembrance, bringing things into remembrance.
We need to be reminded, but it's why we need to be in the Word
every day. It's why we need to be at church
every time the doors are open. You say, well, I've been saved
for 30 years, 40 years, 50 years.
You need to be reminded until you meet Jesus in glory.
And I'm not saying it's you because it's you, because it's
me, because of me and my flesh as much as it's you and your
flesh. He says, Timothy, listen, the
ministry is about reminding. Listen, in a workplace
situation, if somebody needs to keep getting reminded about
something over and over and over again, you know what you do
eventually, maybe you're the boss, you're the manager.
You say something like this. I don't think this is working
out. You know, I think you're great.
You know, you got a great personality.
But this isn't really working out for either of us.
I hope you, you know, where can I forward that last check to?
But Paul didn't feel that way. What did he say?
Say. Listen, as long as you're in the
Church of Corinth, here's what you need to know.
I'm going to keep bringing these things to your remembrance.
As long as you're part of the body, I'm going to keep
reminding you, whether it's me in person, whether it's me in
letter, or whether it's sending someone else to come and tell
you, I'm going to remind you. And I'm going to teach you in
Christ as I teach everywhere in every church.
And what I love about Paul was this.
Who he was in Corinth was who he was in the churches of Galatia,
which who he was in the Church of Antioch, which who he was
when he was ministering to the Church of Jerusalem, where they
had some differences and had some doctrinal problems that
they had to hash out. Paul was always the same
wherever he went. And so it was really easy for
Timothy to be able to explain how Paul lived for Christ
because Paul seen that he, or Timothy rather, had seen that
Paul was the same wherever he went.
He says, I want you to bring these things in remembrance, but
Paul not only brought the responsibility or felt
responsibility, and then he not only had the remembrance of
Timothy, we also see that Paul promised rebuke.
Paul promised rebuke. And this is a part of ministry
that I think maybe is not necessarily the most exciting
part of ministry, but it is part of ministry.
The ministry sometimes necessitates rebuke.
If rebuke is not offered when something is going wrong, then
we have not done our jobs as ministers.
In fact, it's interesting, one of the very last verses that
Paul writes by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to Timothy,
Second Timothy 4/2 Preach the word, be instant in season, out
of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all lung suffering
and doctrine. Now, is rebuke pleasant?
It is not. And I wouldn't give you a plug
nickel for a pastor who enjoys rebuking other people.
No, I'm serious. I've met those before in
leadership that seem to get this sick, sadistic joy, kind of just
ripping people's faces off. But this is not what we find
here in the Word of God at all. But although it is it rebuke is
real and it is serious and it is severe, but yet I don't believe
Paul got joy out of it. I believe from what we see
already, it broke his heart to have to do it.
Why? Because he knew they could be so
much more in the Lord. Well, what was going on here?
Paul promised rebuke, first of all, because of the puffed up
words of the Corinthians. And when we talked about them
being like the balloon that needed to be popped, well, look
at what it says in verse 18. Now some are puffed up as though
I would not come to you. This kind of reminds me of the
teenager who has the big party at his house because his parents
are out of town for the weekend. And all of a sudden, you know,
the parents come around the corner and they say, what's that
sound? You know, where's that coming
from? And they realize that their
house and they walk in and about 100 teenagers all scatter all at
the same time. I'm not saying they have
anything. They don't know anything about
this, but I'm just saying this could be something that is is a
very real thing. And they are becoming puffed up
because it said this. What's Paul going to do to us?
He's not around here. Hey, what's Paul going to do?
Hey, he's not like brother Garcia and can't just swipe in,
swoop in rather through FaceTime and preach.
Paul is gone. He was nowhere to be head.
And it was almost like, you know, that Paul, man, he's
pretty tough. Yeah, boy, he sure is tough.
And Paul, when he comes, if something's not right, he'll
rebuke us. Boy, he said that right.
He don't let anything slide. Well, you know what?
Here's some good news. Paul's not around, and they're
getting a little puffed up, almost like, well, Paul doesn't
know. Now, here's the folly of all
that. Let's say Paul never knew.
Let's say Paul died not long after he left Corinth.
For the 18 months he was there, all never knew.
Let's just say for the sake of argument, who does know?
God knows. This shows you how warped their
perspective was. Listen, if you're afraid of me
finding out your sin, but you're not afraid of God finding out
your sin, your perspective is warped.
If you say, boy, I wouldn't want my pastor to know what's going
on, but the Heavenly Father knows exactly what's going.
It's not that he will find out. He knows what you thought about
it. He knows when you'll mold it
over in your mind. He knows when it's conceived.
He knows when it's done. He knows the effects.
And he doesn't need you to inform him, and he doesn't need
you to pray to be able to tell him so that he finds out.
He needs you and desires you to pray to him, to confess it and
to get it right. But they're so puffed up and
they're so arrogant. They're like, man, what Paul
going to do about it? What's God going to do about it?
It's not even on their radar. But he says this, I'll come to
you shortly. And if the Lord will and we'll
know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the
power. Now what it's saying here is
this like 1 commentator, put it this way, I like this.
This is a central principle of great importance.
Faith that does not result in right living may have many words
to support it, but it will have no power.
A person's true spiritual character is not determined by
the impressiveness of his words, but by the power of his life.
Oh, Corinth had a lot to say, but when you got down to it,
just like that balloon that popped, there wasn't anything
there. There was no power.
There was no power there. There was nothing there.
And he says, For the Kingdom of God is not in Word, but is in
power. It reminds me of Matthew 7
verses 21 through 23. Not everyone that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven, but he that
doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? In thy name have cast out
devils, and thy name have done many marvelous works.
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you depart
from me, ye that work iniquity. They talk the talk, but there
was no spiritual life within them.
There was no power. Why?
Because they were not believers. Now, I'm not saying that
everyone here was an unbeliever. We do know this.
There'll be wheat and tares in the church.
We do know this. There'll be wolves in sheep's
clothing in the church. Now, I don't go around trying to
look for the for the wolves. I don't go around suspicious of
them. But I will tell you this,
they've come and gone over the years here and there.
Why? Because we're special?
No, because we're just like every other church.
And God told us this is the way we'll be.
But he says this. Listen, it's not about the
words. Anybody can say words, but it's
about power. It's about power.
And these people, they didn't have it.
Paul says this, I'm going to come and I'm going to expose the
spiritual frauds that you are. That's really what he's saying
here. I'm going to expose you for who
you are. They look close, but they're not
right. You ever watch one of those
videos online, especially recently, you watch a video
online and you're watching it for a couple minutes.
Something about this isn't right, but you just keep
watching it for a minute and then it kind of kind of draws
you in. And then you start to realize
somewhere near the end, or maybe it's in the comments or
something like that, you realize it's AI generated, you know, and
that's why that guy had six fingers on his hand, you know,
while he was talking. Or that's why, you know, the the
words on the on the board weren't spelled right or
whatever it was. It's because it wasn't even
real. It looked so close, but then you
come down to it, you realize, no, it's nothing there.
Well, what do we see here? There's going to be some
believers that look awful close to what God wants and God
desires, but he says this, there's no power there.
There's nothing there. And just like those videos
wouldn't hold up in court, just like those videos don't hold up
and even the court of public opinion because they're not
real. What do we find?
Well, that believer that has the talk but doesn't listen, they
need to be exposed for their own sake.
They don't mean parading them in front of the church and trying
to make them look the fool. No, through the Word of God.
They need to be rebuked and to be told why so they can get
right. That's going to become very
important in chapter #5 that's going to become so vitally
important in chapter 5. And contrast that because you
have Paul's promised rebuke, the puffed up words of the
Corinthians, but then there's Paul letter B, the powerful
words of Paul. So Paul has to offer rebuke.
Now again, it's the same thing here in a, in a workplace
situation. In a workplace situation, if
someone has to be rebuked and it has to be done, eventually there
comes that point where you cut bait, they're fired, they're
gone, that they don't come back. But Paul says, this man, I love
you too much to just kick you to the curb.
He says, I want you to know there's going to be a rebuke and
it's going to be sharp, but there's a reason behind it.
Now, by the way, there will be church discipline in chapter #5
and we're going to talk about what that is.
But even then, somebody being removed for the body, not
because it's an Amish shunning, but it's because you want them
to get right so that they come back into the body, not so that
they can be excluded and never come back again.
But Paul says this, you know, if they spoke words with no power,
Paul spoke with words and power. Why?
Because he lived the life that he said he was going to live.
Since for the Kingdom of God is not in Word, but in power.
And addressing verse #20 aren't you glad the Kingdom of God
isn't just words? That is real, and we're going to
find out how real it is, and the world will find out how real it
is one day, and just as real as the Kingdom of God is heavenly
and it will be earthly. That is how real we are to be in
our spiritual life, not just a bunch of talk.
And he says this, What will you? Shall I come unto you with a
rod, or in love and in the spirit of meekness?
It's almost like Paul saying this.
You know what, we could do this the easy way or the hard way.
And there's a part of me that likes that interpretation of it
because, you know, it kind of like, yeah, you know, it kind of
feels tough, you know what I'm saying?
But but I wouldn't necessarily put it that way because he says
this. What will you have?
He's not saying what he his options are.
He's asking them, which would you rather have for me?
He says, do you want me to come at you with the rod or with the
spirit of love and the spirit of meekness?
Now I'm not going to lie, I struggled with this verse and
knowing that this verse was coming, for the last few weeks
I've struggled with it. One of the reasons why was
because even when someone applies the rod, there has to be
love, right? Even when someone, a a pastor
has to apply the rod of rebuke, it must be done in love.
And we've talked about before the fact that meekness is not
weakness, right? First Corinthians 13 verse 6
even says love rejoices, not in iniquity.
So the idea is that, well, well, shouldn't Paul be loving and
meek and not just talk about the rod like it's one or the other?
Can't it be all of those? And really, the best way I think
I can explain it would be this. There've been several times
before in the past and it's not happened as much recently, but
it has happened in the past where AJ got very close to the
street and got to the point where it looked like he was
about to run into traffic. AJ has eloped over the years.
That doesn't mean we don't got married without our permission,
all right? That just means same idea.
He just ran away without us knowing about just going out a
door, bolting out a door. I'm not talking about running
away like, you know, a knapsack over his shoulder or something
like that, but just going out the door that that's what I'm
talking about, eloping. And sometimes if he got close to
a road, that could be a real, real problem.
Now, if he got close to the road and it looked like he was about
to make that move. Should I say something like
this? Now, AJ, you ought not to do
that. I, I I wouldn't do that if I
were you. You know, you can choose
whatever you want. But.
But it would really be good if you don't go out in traffic.
Or if I see him about to step out on over that curb, I go,
hey, grab his arm and pull him back.
Now I know what I need to do. Yeah.
I said, hey, Yeah, OK. I I hope that.
I hope that didn't go online. All right.
He said I was fired. Some of you been wanting to hear
that, those two words for a long time.
All right. But yeah, OK.
All right. All right.
Thank you, son. All right, So what was needed?
You know what was needed? The rod.
You know what the problem is? Corinth.
What I said was Corinth is playing.
Yeah, I did. This is why I should have
referenced him in the message. So.
OK, AJ, just a few more minutes. OK.
What? I needed, what?
I needed what is what? I've never had a Heckler in
church, and it's never been my own son.
That's the other part. All right, AJ.
So Corinth is spiritually playing in traffic, and unless
they pull themselves back, he's going to have to bring the rod.
They are playing with fire. And listen, that doesn't mean
that he can't apply it in meekness and with love.
Again, I shouldn't be coming down preaching and rebuking and
still ripping people's faces off and talking about how much of A
spiritual loser you are. You say, well, what are you
talking about? There are places where that's a
real thing. No, no, that's not what we're
talking about. But I also shouldn't just say
now, you know, it's maybe you all, if you feel like it, maybe
you should live right? You know, you know, I, I know
there's a lot of choices out there and really you should
choose biblically. But you know, don't don't get
too mad at me or anything like that.
What really he's saying is this is that Corinth, you're going to
decide what approach I have to take by what you do with these
words I'm giving you right now. I want to come listen not in
softness, not in softness, but in spiritual meekness and love.
I want to speak to you kindly and calmly and lovingly.
He says, but I might have to bring the rod.
But if I bring the rod, I'm still going to have to do it in
love. I'm still going to do it in the
right spirit. There's plenty of verses that
talk about that, about the, the shepherd having the oversight,
not lording over the flock. First Peter chapter #5 that's
very clear. But he says this I, I got to, I
got to rebuke you. And this isn't just some 59 to
five job where, you know, listen, you're fired, you're
gone. Whatever he says, no, I'm going
to rebuke you because I because I want you to stay.
It's for your best. It's what God wants.
First Corinthians 12. You're part of the body.
He says, I want you to get it right now.
I will say I've, I felt kind of self indulgent the last few
weeks because I preached a couple messages talking about
the ministry in First Corinthians.
I preached a message in Second Samuel talking about preaching.
And a lot of that deals with me. And so it's hard as a pastor to
kind of constantly talk about yourself because, well, it's not
something I want to do. But it's also in the text where
we're at. We're not stretching ourselves
to find this in the text, but I will say this and then we're
done tonight. Let me give you the quick
application before he gives me the, the, the the gong show and
I'm out of here. All right, I will say this
second Corinthians chapter #5 when Paul talks to him in a
little bit of a better situation, he says unto you, has
been given the ministry of reconciliation.
Now, who is the you? Could I maybe put it in our
terms tonight? The you is you.
I'm in the ministry, and I've said this before, but you're in
the ministry too. God has given you the ministry
of reconciliation, which means what?
It's not a nine to five job. It's not something you turn on
and you turn off. It requires you taking
responsibility. It requires bringing people into
remembrance. Sometimes it requires a loving
rebuke. Oh, James talks about that.
It's your to to rebuke the brother, to be able to bring
them back to you. You do it in the right spirit.
Not thinking you're someone better than someone else, but
just someone who's trying to help them along the way.
But that all those things that you were thinking about for the
last 40 or so minutes, Pastor, that that's you.
Responsibility, remembrance, rebuke, Those are the things
you're supposed to be doing. I would say to you night, those
are the things that you're supposed to be doing.
And not just me. You know, there's someone in
your workplace that needs you to have this.
Now I know most of those people in your workplace are
unbelievers. I'm just saying there's ministry
that takes responsibility, remembrance and rebuke.
There's someone that you have maybe in your home that you need
to be emulating Christ to them. And it requires those husbands
to wives, dads to children, mothers to children.
And I would even say this wives to husbands.
We we know that the order of God's, but God's order for
family is, but at the same time, both are supposed to be modeling
Christ and ministering to one another.
The Bible's clear about that. That doesn't negate the fact of
God's order for the family. They should still be serving
each other and ministering to each other.
Ministering is a whole lot more than just the pastor getting up
and preaching messages. It's the pastor saying this.
People's souls are everything. Now, should pastors have
boundaries? Yes.
Do pastors get day off? Believe it or not, yes we do.
And we have times where we don't answer our phones and we spend
time with our family. We have those boundaries so that
we're better pastors for you all, quite honestly.
But at the same time, when that call comes in the middle of the
night, I'm ready to take it when the emergency happens, at the
time when it shouldn't happen because emergency never happened
when they should happen. I'm willing to come, willing to
pray, willing to help. Our family is.
But that's not just a responsibility for the pastor,
for the preacher man. That's the responsibility for us
all. Does it look different?
It'll look different for you than it does for me.
But do you have that responsibility, remembrance,
rebuke placed upon you as well in your own way?
Yes, it belongs to all of us. And ask the Lord, how does this
belong to me? How do I become a better
minister? How do I care about souls?
How do I care about my brethren? How do I care about these
people? And not just blow them off, not
just come into church and, and come out and, and leave and
never invest and never participate and never
fellowship. How can I be an active part of
that? God will help you.
God will show you. Corn's got a lot of problems.
We've just scratched the surface because chapter 5 gets us to the
depths. But in the meantime, we know
this. Paul loves them.
Paul cares for them, even though they're messy.
And believers today are still messy.
They still are. Love them, care for them, take
responsibility for them. Why?
Because ministry is not just a career.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.