would you pray with me Lord we thank you for a song like that that your faithfulness is great Lord in all seasons and all ages Lord when we think we’ve gotten to the end of your patience and the peace and love you provide Lord we haven’t even scratched the surface God so just thank you thank you Father for who you are thank you for Jesus and we just want to say we love you and we know we love you because you first loved us God so we just rest in that love and say thank you

Lord we pray you would bless our tithe and our offering Lord we know that all things in that we have you provide spiritual food yes but even physical provision Lord so let us trust you and obey you in giving and Lord just pray you’d multiply what we give for your grace and your glory we pray that in Jesus name Amen

well good evening it’s good to be with you happy Labor Day weekend I’ve never known what Labor Day weekend is really for you celebrate work by not working whatever if they give you a day off work take it that’s all you gotta do just take the free day off it’s good well I hope it’s a restful week weekend for you and if you have tomorrow off enjoy time with your family and just rest that’s good so we’re going to do our last Corinthian sermon today we’re in 16 and I’m really just going to hang out in 13 and 14 verses 13 and 14

I want us just to see what Paul says there

it’s a it’s a it’s a short but I think very powerful little snapshot of I think everything he’s been trying to say

so he says in verse 13 be watchful stand firm in the faith act like men be strong and let all that you do be done in love

be watchful stand firm in the faith act like men be strong and let all that you do be done in love if you remember when we started this book I said frequently if there’s hope for the Corinthian church there’s hope for any church because it’s a mixed up church and there’s so many issues yet Paul has come all the way to the church to the close of this letter and he doesn’t he doesn’t come to it frustrated he hasn’t come to the end of this letter discouraged he comes to the end of this letter hopeful and his greetings are warm in how he ends it in as much as how he begins it and so he says just I think in these few verses everything he said just as quick as possible as he can so this is like today’s like a you know when you know you’re going to have a have a test on Friday and your teacher says today’s review day y’all better pay attention because your test is tomorrow and it’s just like here’s the important stuff remember this that’s kind of what we’re doing here taking a 30,000 foot view of everything that Paul’s kind of said and the big principles behind it so simply put I think Paul teaches us here what it means to really hold on in the Christian life and not hold on for dear life but hold on for the good life hold on well and make it make it to the end Paul said a lot of things in this book you can’t deny and none of it’s cohesive the topics are like all over the place we’ve literally gone everywhere the only like common thread and all the things that Paul talked about in Corinthians is that they’re abject failures at everything that’s the one common thread in all of these subjects and just to revisit with you everything we’ve talked about in Corinthians divisions among believers arrogance and spirituality thinking I know more than you tribalism my guy’s better than your guy they were dishonoring to Paul as a spiritual father sexual immorality lawsuits against believers right principles for marriage economically when you come to faith in Jesus like knowing how to like live in your station and don’t feel like you got to go outside the lines and be something you’re not God can be with you where you are economically and that’s good how do we deal with food offered to idols or kind of just dealing with you know living in an unsaved world how do we take care of gospel ministers how do I be all things to all people in other words how do I be flexible in a culture to do the most I can do to reach you know the culture for Christ head covering so what’s culturally appropriate for men and women you know we talked about that in a little bit in the sense of in the home world in the home but in the church gathering we talked about the possibility of idolatry fleeing idolatry we talked about abusing the Lord’s Supper remember a bunch of people getting drunk marginalized and poor people we talked about the right use and abuse of spiritual gifts orderly worship doctrine of the resurrection last week money no cohesive you know there’s nothing there that makes any sense in this letter the common thread is they drifted from righteousness and all of this and I don’t know this but I wonder if Paul I got to the end of this letter and he’s looking at this stack of papers and he’s like oh my gosh like what did I do I was like how did I plant this church it’s awful you know like Paul is writing this church he planted and he’s got 16 chapters of papyri however many stacks of paper that would have been and it’s like oh my goodness like what is happening here and so it’s like he just feels compelled to say look

be watchful stand firm act like men be strong do everything in love do everything in love and here’s the thing I think that’s so amazing about this Paul is not discouraged he’s not discouraged here’s why Paul’s not discouraged and here’s why you and I can’t be discouraged okay nothing ever wrote on Paul being awesome

what counts for the Corinthian Christians and what counts for you and I as a church is whether or not we have access to two things spirit and truth okay and we have it as much as they have it I don’t need the apostle Paul I need the spirit of God I need the spirit of God and the truth about God and I really think that’s encouraging because that means all of their past failures and all of your past failures all of their present struggles when Paul’s writing and on your present struggles right now are not an indicator about where you’ll end up because that’s how we think as humans and you can imagine Paul reasonably well I the apostle Paul planted this church and if this is the kind of mess it’s come to surely it’s not fixed up because you know I’m Paul and everything and if they’ve fallen this far it must be so that they’re lost forever to God and that’s not at all the case Paul’s willing to say you know what God can still do something here God can still do something here but believing that is not passive like so don’t worry about it God’s going to fix everything Paul’s very willing to say you know direct commands to them like y’all do something like you obey you obey you resist sin so having the spirit of God and having the truth of God does not mean I can just sit back and expect it to happen it means because I have access to the truth of who God is and I have access to the spirit of God Paul can say to you or we can read the scriptures and know that God expects me to obey God expects me to do something so if you and I are going to hold on I want us just to grab these few little things here take a moment to pray take in this view and the first thing is be watchful Paul says to you are you watchful in your Christian faith nothing good just happens in the Christian life internally or externally you’re not going to wake up tomorrow and oh my goodness I was sleeping and the spirit dropped off like the Easter bunny compassion I was asleep last night and I went to bed a raging alcoholic and I woke up sober and alcohol alcohol yuck it doesn’t happen that way you and I we grow up in Jesus inwardly when we put our hand to it and we say God I am doing the hard work and I can do the hard work because I have your spirit I’m surrendering to you you don’t wake up with a knowledge a greater knowledge of God magically you study you apply yourself to know God’s word so understanding what it means to be sanctified in Jesus it’s not just about it does mean on your part and my part sacrificing laying ourselves down it’s not a passive thing it’s you and I doing what Paul says he does he says he struggles with all the power of God that God works within him you know so Paul says to you and I then this thing he says be watchful be watchful or you could translate it stay awake Paul’s saying you need to constantly be alert in the spirit and Paul’s saying that is not at all unique to this passage it’s scattered really all throughout the New Testament you think about back in the Gospels Jesus says stay awake you don’t know you know what day your Lord is coming so he likens that to a servant that squanders everything he was supposed to do and the servant’s caught last minute and he wasn’t awake he wasn’t alert I wish I could tell you that there was this league of Christ followers who plateau you know I did 30,000 quiet times I’ve got logged 50,000 prayers I’ve been to church 90,000 times I’ve shared the gospel so many times I have plateaued and I no longer have to worry about drifting from God I don’t have to be watchful anymore I don’t have to be watchful anymore it’s so natural to me I just am that way I wish I could tell you that that happens but you know what the truth is on this side of eternity until you’re in the grave you and I must be watchful you’ve got to be watchful because you are a drifter you’re in every way a drifter be watchful for a few reasons that the Bible tells us to be watchful for you’ve got to be watchful because Jesus is coming back soon and you don’t have to be watchful you don’t want him to find you in the wrong place doing the wrong thing with your heart in the wrong in the wrong place do you? you want Jesus to come back and say that well done good and faithful servant thing don’t you? you want Jesus to come back and find you surrendering to his spirit you want Jesus to come back and find your hands busy plowing the fields for the kingdom you want Jesus to come back and you rush and say Jesus you’re here you don’t want to go hide behind a rock because you know you’ve been disobedient and lazy in your faith so the scriptures encourage us to keep the nearness of Christ ever on our minds so that we’re alert so that we’re alert and we don’t get lazy in the present the second reason the scriptures would give us about why we need to be watchful is because we have an enemy we have an enemy Satan he’s a very real enemy in fact in verse Peter Peter says you need to be watchful why? because he says Satan roars around like a prowling lion so it’s always true that the enemy however he works however he works he is working to tear you down he is working to wound you he is working to pull you off of the straight and narrow and so negligence in soul keeping that’s a prime hunting ground for the enemy you remember what Cain Cain is told by by God he says hey if you don’t do this you don’t what’s sin doing? it’s crouching at your door and it’s always ready to consume you

you and I are prone to indulge the flesh aren’t we? we’re prone to do what’s best for number one we’re given to reform not to indulge the flesh not to Scripture we’re given to reform to worldliness

so we’re all we’re all in the same boat now does that mean that you can’t grow up in maturity and the more you grow up in maturity you know obviously you know you’re not the same immature believer you were years ago yes yes but I want you to understand this growing up more and more in the faith does not mean you have a bigger puffed up chest saying ha I’m this much better and stronger the opposite’s true the more mature we are in the faith the lower to the ground we get to say oh Lord I see how vulnerable I am and I’m that much more dependent on you it’s quite the opposite Christian maturity so I want you to see biblical tools and if I’m going to be watchful I don’t know you know I think it’s easy as a pastor to throw out big words y’all be watchful and it’s all going to be good that’s not helpful what’s it what’s it what’s it mean to be watchful two things I want us to think about here that the Bible sets forth as biblical tools for watchfulness okay the first one is prayer you cannot read scriptures and see any other thing that watchfulness and prayerfulness are tied together I’m going to read you some verses to kind of kind of show you this

Colossians 4 2 Paul says continue steadfastly in prayer and in prayer being watchful in it with thanksgiving Matthew 26 and we did a whole sermon on this a few weeks ago watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation and then Peter says the end of all things is at hand therefore be self-controlled and sober minded why for the sake of your prayers so you cannot be someone that’s watching out for your own soul watching out for an enemy watching out watching out against your own flaws watching out against reforming to worldliness and not come to the conclusion I desperately need God and God because I desperately need you I’m coming to you in prayer recognizing my own weakness and guess what when I come to God in prayer and I’m spiritually sharp because I’m praying to God those things that honor Him and I’m in His presence being filled with Him in prayer guess what I become spiritually sharp to keep watching I’m coming to you watch and pray be alert and pray and in prayerfulness in prayerfulness we’re kept it’s carelessness it’s carelessness through which the enemy attacks us it’s it’s mindless wondering and we all do that don’t we from time to time but you’re like that gazelle not paying any attention you’re just going through the the field but guess what that lion he’s crouched down and he’s ready to go get you

the second thing is ongoing humility do you live with the constant recognition of how frail you are apart from Christ how frail you are apart from Christ think about when Jesus talks about the Pharisee that comes to the temple and he says oh I thank you I’m not like other sinners I certainly thank you I’m not like that tax collector over there and what does the tax collector say he beats his chest and he says Lord have mercy on me a sinner so it’s that kind of awareness of my own weakness it’s that kind of awareness of my own sinfulness that keeps me depending on God and not for like shame like you need to always think about how low you are you know to be ashamed of yourself and you call it worm mentality I’m still a worm before you God and I’m constantly ashamed and oh I’m so ashamed I’m so low not for that reason I don’t think God wants us to squalor in the shame of it He wants us to see though how much we need Him because when I am in my weakness then God’s strong right? so the Christian life’s upside down it’s in seeing how weak and lowly I am that God really comes through mightily and powerfully in this life I found a little poem I like little poems anymore well the poems just have a good good poems have a way of putting a lot of big truths into a few words and I appreciate that but the poem is called One Little Hour and it says one little hour of watching for the Master eternal years to walk with Him in white one little hour to bravely meet life’s duties eternal years to reign with Him in light one little hour for weary toils and trials eternal years for calm and peaceful rest one little hour one little hour for patient self-denials eternal years of life where life is blessed and that puts things into perspective yes we’re called to watchfulness friends but remember it’s for a short time in comparison with eternity no one just shows up to heaven how did I get here? how did I get here? God’s grace of course but because I labored in the Spirit and I sacrificed and I fought to stay on the straight and narrow in the power of the Spirit so the Bible commands you strive watch guard be patient look out and all these issues that we’re talking about from whatever pick one of them communion done wrong to divisions none of it just happens it’s intentionally setting myself to love the other it’s intentionally setting myself to make sure that you know church is orderly I’m setting myself to make sure that all bits and aspects of church life are what they are but then like on a personal level I guess I want to ask you this question and I have to ask myself this question and even as I ask you the question I know I don’t ask myself the question enough so I’m repenting of my own sin well I encourage you to repent of your sin okay do you live to be alert of sinful tendencies in yourself? right do I do I live to to notice those things my eyes want to see okay you know fellas you got shifty eyes at work looking at things we shouldn’t be looking at on the internet looking at things we shouldn’t look at little secret world of lust in my brain nobody knows about it what about little tendencies in my heart I just I just want something a little nicer walking around I just feel like I you know I’m a little bit more successful than everybody else I count a little bit more you know I have anger problems but those are justified my anger problems are justified and and all these little things are Satan he’s getting like these little footholds and put up these little barricades on the straight and narrow to keep you from being watchful and seeing the things in your heart and life that you’re not surrendering to Christ okay so so if I say all that and you’re going that’s hard that’s a lot of work that’s a lot of work to be that thoughtful about every aspect of my life yeah it’s a lot of work but what is the what does our poem say it’s just one hour in comparison with eternity and isn’t eternity with Christ worth the labor to be a good Christian soldier now on the battlefield for his sake absolutely friends absolutely it’s just an hour in exchange for the glory eternal glory of Christ so be watchful be watchful second thing he says stand firm in the faith I don’t even have to reference it like what is it it’s just so short our passage is so short so stand firm in the faith stand firm in the faith the Greek word for stand firm in the faith here is stako and you know that sounds a lot like our English word steak now not like a T-bone steak like a steak you drive in the ground stand firm put a steak in the ground when I was about 18 years old I went out to eastern Kentucky one of my friends lived out there and it was a terrible snow storm and it wasn’t just snow it was a thick layer of ice and then a layer of snow and you know I got in my mind it was going to be you know like this camper guy had all this tent so we’d go deep in the mountains and this is going to be awesome we set the tent up it’s freezing cold I mean it’s freezing cold and all excitedly we jump inside the tent and the tent slides on that ice all the way to the edge of a cliff and by the sheer grace of God we open the zipper door and got back out before we met certain doom or whatever horrible paralysis we would have experienced or lifelong whatever now did the mountain move no the mountain didn’t move we moved and why did we move because our tent pegs our stakes weren’t firmly in the ground

and so friends it’s the same question for you in a spiritual sense in what have you driven down the tent pegs of your faith in what have you driven down the tent pegs of your faith Paul says in Colossians you were alienated you were hostile in mind you were doing evil deeds but now you’ve been reconciled but he goes on further to say pass all these good things if you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard it’s what you’ve already received it’s what the Corinthians have already received it’s what the you know the Christians of Colossae have already received and Galatia and Thessalonica and Macedonia and Asia and all these places that he went and it’s true for you and I I don’t need the apostle Paul here I don’t need anyone here because I already have this thing called God’s word and I already have all that I need to thrive for God and I think that there’s really a huge sigh of relief in that otherwise absolute truth I think is unknowable and this whole point is silly and there would be great cause for uneasiness in the Christian faith because who knows you know like who knows I mean a century ago you know abstinence before marriage was cool but that was their thing then and we’ve just changed it now it’s just different it’s not bad it’s not worse it’s just different right you see as soon as you give up on theology and the morals it teaches you it’s just a matter of preference isn’t it well that’s my truth it’s my truth so that was their truth and I’ve got my truth and in 200 years Christians can change the you know truth a little bit and they’ll have their truth and that’s really the world in which you and I live but that’s not that’s not truth right because truth is truth is truth is truth and God’s standard supersedes culture and it supersedes you know preference and it supersedes the opinions of man and God has written a letter from his heart to us and it is called the Bible and it is these 66 books and it is preserved for us and as much as you know you could do a study on how can I trust you know the word of God is it reliable and you can do that and you would find it’s incredibly reliable if you’ve studied that it does come back to faith and believing that God is good to communicate himself to me and I read it you know it’s what John Piper calls a peculiar glory there’s just something about the Bible that when I read it my faith you know is warmed and the spirit speaks to me and the Bible’s just different do you have those pegs of faith in the word of God because it’s always you know been the case but absolutely today it’s silly to believe the Bible it’s silly it’s very foolish to the world more and more and you really have to believe that you’re going to stand firm on it you know deconstructionism is so popular today whether it’s you know Christian artists music artists or pastors or people you know I’m going to deconstruct my faith and you know I’ve deconstructed and I don’t really believe that stuff anymore it’s highly trendy to do that and I hear about that and you read about that in the news can your faith be deconstructed can your belief in the veracity that’s the good old word for it the veracity of it it’s true it can’t change is that there for you because the Bible will always be a source of hate speech to somebody the Bible will always be anti-intellectual to somebody the Bible will always teach unfair speech things to somebody the Bible will always be stupid to somebody somebody or some bodies will always have good reasons for why it needs to be gotten rid of or changed or altered all together and I’m not saying we can’t you know quibble over second tier and third tier issues that maybe the Bible is not completely clear on I’m not talking about that kind of thing but friends are your are your tent pegs of faith firmly in the gospel firmly in the truth of his word I don’t know I mean it’s fine now but I can move around a little bit if I’m convinced sure sure

Paul says in Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 it’s for freedom that Christ has set you free why did Christ set you free for freedom what did he set you free for for freedom so don’t don’t let the world don’t let someone’s opinion don’t let the devil throw slavery on your back again don’t let the enemy make a slave out of you once Christ with his gospel and the truth of his word has already set you free I want to say at the end of this point this is not an individual task so if Paul was southern Paul would have said y’all stand firm in the faith and that’s what he means this is not a letter to a Corinthian it’s a letter to the Corinthians to all you people at Providence Fellowship in 2022 it’s teamwork and persevering he says in Philippians what he wants to hear about in his absence is they’re standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightening anything by their opponents put simply their strength in numbers you know when we rally around the truths of the gospel when we rally around the person of Jesus in his way of life we are persecuted and we have doubts and we drift but because it’s we and not me the strength in numbers the spirit uses to pull us back in when you’re weak and I’m strong I love the end of Jude because at the end of Jude he says have mercy on them all snatch others from the fire well who’s going to do that? who’s going to snatch you from fire if there’s nobody else around you? and the person that was snatched someday is going to need somebody else to snatch them and it’s just wisdom in the Old Testament what does the Ecclesiastes writer says? he says one man can be overtaken but a cord of three strands is not easily broken holiness keptness is a team sport and in isolation from God’s people we run the risk of losing God

friends we must endure together we must stand firm together it’s us the body of Christ together so let me ask you when it comes to what you believe are you a leaf in the wind or an oak tree? are you a leaf in the wind or are you an oak tree? you got roots two miles out man and I can’t be moved and it’s not arrogance and it’s not pride it’s just grace I believe the word of God I believe the word of God you know to use the words of Martin Luther that he maybe didn’t even say here I stand I can do no other here I stand and I can do no other so I think again it’s a cop out for pastors to say general things like love the Bible everybody because you go read that thing you’ll be good love the Bible well it’s certainly more nuanced than that and that’s why I want you to be a thinking Christian the Bible must be as Paul says that Timothy rightly divided the Bible must be so I believe that starts with you having a vested interest in hearing sermons not because I have an ego problem you know I might I don’t think I do but if I wouldn’t that’s not why I’m saying this I’m saying that God has designed your keptness to include hearing sermons on a regular basis because when preaching teaching pastor elders preach you know sermons from scripture it’s not let’s listen to that man it’s let’s hear what God has to say to us today and I don’t want to miss out on how God is trying to keep and persevere me and help me stand firm in the faith so I’m going to be there and I want my wife to be there and I want my kids to be there because I want to hear God and the Bible says teach one another so so do it you know do it and I’ve talked about this before you don’t need me as your pastor to I approve of you going to the coffee house you know throughout the week and studying the word of God together teach one another teach one another like just decide it’s called discipling disciple one another pray God who who in this church should I approach and say hey I need discipleship in my life you know would you want to walk through or hey I feel led of the Lord to disciple you could I walk through you know a scripture with you for a season or could we start meeting go do that you go do that

systematic theology when we’ve been talking about that okay that’s challenging to prepare and study for but it’s it’s good to think systematically about what you believe why are we doing that on Wednesday nights to help us be kept staying firm in the faith and what we believe and the psalmist says hide in my heart the word of God so friends you can’t have enough of a personal relationship with God’s word on your life on your own to hide his word in your heart so I like to think about Christian discipleship like a big messy spider web you ever seen like a big messy spider web just kind of all over the place I think that’s good that’s good Christianity like I’m meeting with them over there and on that night I do that thing and I’m serving here on that night and God’s using me there and we’re all back together on Sunday and God’s just got all these avenues both where he’s pouring into you and pouring you out into others I think that’s just it’s good healthy discipleship

I want to I want to tack on to that point this next point here act like men and be strong okay so I think I’m connecting it because I think if you’re going to stand firm in the faith it requires this thing act like men and be strong okay translating that act like men so the so the Greek word is andresomai and it comes from the word aner aner means man okay andresomai I’m saying that because modern translations like the NIV a few of them have chosen to just make it brave or courageous so if you look at a modern translation it won’t say act like men it’ll just say be courageous or it’ll say brave and I think it’s a huge mistake I think it’s a huge mistake because

manliness is

appropriate now I know we live in a culture and society where anything that’s considered masculine like if I’ve heard you know if I hear toxic masculinity one more time you know like we there are things that are good and because someone gets a hold of it and does it wrong which is everything in life because we’re all broken it’s a bad thing all of a sudden so our culture very much so has a war against masculinity you have to agree with that but that’s not what Paul’s saying that’s not what Paul’s saying Paul is saying hey man you do the thing that God has called you to do you be manly that King James has quit you like men King James always says things a little better you know quit you like men it means hey men it’s your responsibility both in the home and in the church to lead well I’ll say this when men don’t lead well in the church and at home everybody suffers so it’s not saying that women aren’t tough like oh we’re not tough we all know if you just look at a woman wrong and blow they’ll fall over the women are just so weak that’s not true you think about JL in the Old Testament she drives the peg through the general’s head or you think about Ruth Esther and just you know courage to do the hard thing it’s not saying that women can’t exude it it’s just saying chiefly men more than women are called to be tough they’re called to do the right thing when it’s hard in the home and in the church and when men fail to do that they’re called everything goes awry and I see it in front of my eyes all the time because you know I’m at the pregnancy center and I see men who never had men to follow and I see and Richard knows what I’m talking about you just see the brokenness right there in front of your eyes and that’s why the world is such a mess because men don’t lead the way they’re supposed to lead so I say all that to say I think it’s very important that we hang on to that translation act like men men because only men can be men can’t believe that’s a controversial thing to say but it’s a that’s a controversial

only men can be men and God holds us responsible for it fellas if the day comes and I start spitting some stuff out up here and it doesn’t sound like this you’re going to take me to that door and say sir on your way that’s in the church for you to pray I don’t preach that anymore men you must be men here in this here in this place in your own homes in Revelation 21 who is it that Jesus says will be thrown into the lake of fire and all the things that he says the sexual immoral blah blah blah cowards are right in there so there’s no room for cowardice in the Christian faith not because it’s not scary and hard it totally is the amazing thing is that the Bible is absolutely full of references to God being your strength your power your help your wisdom so there is no enemy there is no task so great that God is in amply supplying all that you and I need to meet that task in spirit and truth God is always so much more ready to stand with those who stand with him God stands with the ones who stand with him believe that and put your feet you know in the soil and I’m not moving you know I’m not moving and that’s hard and it’s really hard and I know it’s easy for me as a pastor you know if we were in a different state it would probably be it would be harder maybe or I would have to you know finesse my words or there would maybe be more cookback I get that we live in the deep south and I get that I could talk about LGBTQ whatever and I get that on issues and most people are going to agree even in secular culture I realize that but I also realize at the same time if we don’t stand our ground and name things for what they are you will lose grounds you had so if you go on assuming oh this is the south and we all believe the right things no give it 5, 10, 15, 20 years and you won’t anymore so I’m not calling it out just because I like to get a good amen on that stuff I like to bring it up and say it because it is so much so in my face it’s in my children’s face I wish I didn’t have to already have that conversation with my 6 and 9 year old but I’ve had to do that because it’s so it’s so there it’s just so there you know and I it’s like June always comes around but I’m like this past June like that was there in a way I hadn’t seen before you know and just just to give you an example an example like PayPal for example they’re big they’re big LGBT supporters but so like well I’m not going to use them anymore and so I was ordering something and I could just go straight through MasterCard and not use PayPal and then I got to thinking and so I googled MasterCard LGBT we are long standing and proud supporters of it I’m like ah and then for the fun of it I googled the brand of car I have and guess what they support it’s literally the ground beneath your feet so I’m saying on that to say you and I are going to be like slow boiled frogs you know to use that illustration if we don’t just keep a fresh spirit we’re going to be and staying firm it’s going to be you know I don’t want my kids or my grandkids going what are you talking about that’s not a big deal that’s just not a big deal you know so I didn’t mean to go off on all that but I just think that’s an important point you know in our time to really wrestle with and say I can’t move on that even if you’re going to call me a bigot you’re going to call me a hate monger I have to stand on the word of God and I can’t figure it I can’t keep figuring right it’s like if you stand on this leg and you pull this leg up and you turn your head sideways the Bible says it completely different and it’s like I’m not going to do that I’m just going to read the thing and let the Bible be the Bible okay last point here on this thing and it’s verse 14 let all that you do be done in love let all that you do be done in love

now I think that is the most unreasonable thing that Paul could have said I think at the end of this letter I think it’s entirely unreasonable because

he knows he wrote the thing and he knows

how impossible and unlikely it would be for the Corinthian Christians to improve much less finish well it’s a tall order I would say I would have preferred Paul to say

white knuckle it grit your teeth you know like feet like just you know you’re going to have to just get sticks out and whack one another and you’re going to have to be real rigid and you’re going to have to become zealots and you’re going to have to be harsh if you’re going to like try to keep yourself in line and keep other people in line the guy who slept with his stepmother beat him and you when you you sin you need to think of some way to punish yourself and church needs to be a place of gravity where everybody is just we’re afraid of messing up and and maybe if we just keep this really harsh rigid culture going we can maybe do it

maybe maybe that would do it because there’s such a mess and maybe you know Christians who have been like this or maybe you’ve been one you come to the Christian faith and you see how difficult it is to go on with people you see how much you’re prone to sin and how much people around you are prone to sin and it causes you to just kind of shut down and I what I do is I love truth without well I have truth without love I know I’m supposed to go to church I know I’m supposed to read the Bible I know I’m supposed to participate in fellowship but you do it gritting your teeth because deep in our hearts we stop believing that God’s really in control and we stop believing that even though things are a mess you know what God’s still bigger than all this stuff you know what it is a mess but I’m going to still love my brothers and sisters because God loves them and the gospel tells me He’s already paid for all their sins and mistakes and God’s already paid for all my sins and mistakes and even though it seems to my eyes to be impossible I don’t have to fear God and fear retrograde and I don’t have to hate people when they wrong me because the love of Christ it covers you know over all of our sin and I can believe you know what things are going to be okay and Jesus He’s actually in charge of the church and He’s in charge of all these sinners and He is going to He’s going to bring us home see it’s only it’s only love that I can really embrace the truth if not I do have to clench my fists and I do have to get really anxious and I do have to and I do have to get really worried about how in the world are we going to pull this off but here’s the wonderful thing it’s not about you it’s not about me the only answer to the because is God because God just because God and take that to heart friend you may not feel it now or perhaps you feel you’re just really not doing well in the Christian life well guess what it’s not about you because God because God because God He can pull you out of that dark place He can get you through and He can bring you home and that’s good news for our church and that’s good news for any church that’s struggling and you really Chase you know he put the period on the end of the sentence with the Romans 8 thing what can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus absolutely nothing friends absolutely nothing so let’s continue to be watchful and stand firm and men act like men and let’s all be strong together because God loves us so we can do everything in love amen okay let’s pray

Jesus help us to believe that you are greater than our trials you’re greater than our fears you’re greater than our failures you’re greater than

Lord everything that would cause us to doubt your love that would cause us to doubt Lord that you’re keeping us for heaven that you’re preparing an eternal weight of glory for us Lord our minds can ruminate and think up and play so many games on why it just couldn’t possibly be so Lord help us turn our eyes and our hearts to your son and see that Jesus it’s his sufficiency it’s his goodness it’s his power it’s his love Father it’s your spirit working to produce in us Christ and to make us Lord fully sanctified on the last day so Lord refresh our hearts I pray I pray for those of us maybe just tired maybe just tired or just tired being a mom’s tiresome being a dad’s tiresome working’s tiresome just so many reasons why we maybe just feel worn down tonight we feel just like tomorrow’s coming and we wish it wasn’t I just pray you refresh our spirits Lord remind us that you love us and remind us Father because you love us we can go on in love we can love you Father we can love those around us we can love you Father Lord so we just say because because of you only because of you do we live only because of you do we love and only because of you Lord will we make it and we pray all that in Jesus name Amen