Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles this morning to 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. And we're coming to the close of this book, actually. We're in verse 11 to 21, and there's only one other chapter after this. How's that? We've just about covered the entire book.
[00:00:17] So I want to speak a little bit this morning about communicating the heart and action of a loving parent. You know, I know what should be the goal of a godly parent in raising children. What should be our goal? Well, it would be that our children would come to know the Lord and wholeheartedly serve him.
[00:00:38] One reason we do that is because it's actually in their best interest.
[00:00:45] That's why we want people to serve God. You know, my motivation isn't to make everybody like me in the sense that you're trying to clone yourself. It's not an ego trip we're on. We're trying to help people discover who their creator is and what God's design is for their lives. And that can only happen if they get to know him. And God created every human being with a purpose, and a lot of people have never discovered that. But what an exciting moment when we finally figure out what is it that God has in mind for us, you know? But then I want to raise a question. Here's the question we're going to answer today, because I always like to raise at least one question, and it's this one. But what happens when they rebel? What happens when our children rebel and they're seduced and deceived by what this world has to offer, what society is offering?
[00:01:33] How do we respond to that kind of heartache?
[00:01:36] That's a question.
[00:01:38] Here we find Paul acting as a loving father to this church community. He's a spiritual father. So this is not going to just talk about me as a physical parent, but it's gonna also include me as a spiritual parent, as a pastor, I'm a spiritual parent. And also you as a spiritual parent in relationship to other people, and you're mentoring people. How do you respond when people you've invested your life in all of a sudden, you know, fall apart, rebel, walk away? How do you handle that?
[00:02:12] And on top of that, and this is what I notice, when people get in a state of rebellion, they develop an arrogant attitude. How many have discovered that?
[00:02:19] You know, because you see, if you're walking in humility, that's a lot different than walking in arrogance. Does anybody know that? And actually, you and I should never get arrogant because we got nothing to get arrogant about.
[00:02:32] You see, you and I are. All that we are is because of God's grace in our lives.
[00:02:37] You know, I would argue if somebody says to me, I'm a self made man, I go, yeah, well, you may think you are, but. But I'm gonna tell you something. You were born into this world. Somebody's invested time and energy into you. Somebody's developed and trained you. Listen, all of the gifts that you have, all the opportunities you have, have all been a gift from God's goodness. Every good and perfect gift actually comes from God. So, you know, I think there in Paul's case, there were intruders invading the Corinthian Church. They were talking about their visions, their revelations. They were challenging Paul's authority. How many have ever had your children challenge your authority?
[00:03:12] Oh, yeah, that'll happen, you know, and they were challenging Paul's authority. They were preaching a distortion of the Gospel. And the Corinthians just didn't do anything about it. They just remained silent rather than stand up and say, hey, wait a minute, you guys, you're totally out to lunch. You know, we know Paul. He's invested his life into us. We've seen what he's done. You know, you guys are out to lunch. But they didn't do that. They were silent.
[00:03:37] Paul eventually has to defend himself. Not because, you know, he's insecure. He's defending himself because he's concerned that their being deceived is going to take them away from a situation where they're going to be eternally lost. And he's concerned about that. Philip Kent Hughes says this. Thus, their failure to defend Paul was an inexcusable sin of silence rather than they were actually his letters of commendation. See, they were bringing letters of recommendation and commendation. Paul says, I don't need one of those. You guys are my letter of commendation. I actually preached the gospel. And you became believers. That should be enough.
[00:04:17] But he goes on to say, here they should have been commending and defending Paul.
[00:04:23] So Paul, now, his deepest concern, of course, is the fact that they're in a state of rebellion. And I think that all of us know people that we deeply love who have gone that way. They have rebelled against God and they're not doing very well.
[00:04:38] How many know it's a painful time in a parent's life when children begin to distance themselves from their spirit, their. The values of their spiritual upbringing and begin to embrace the worldly values often shared through friends, media and others who actually mock the things of God. You know, it's heartbreaking to see that happen.
[00:04:57] And I know some of you have gone through these experiences. Very difficult.
[00:05:03] In Second Corinthians, chapter 12, 11, 21, Paul is challenging his spiritual children regarding adrift from the faith and falling into worldly and sinful behavior which excludes people from God's kingdom. See, that's the problem. This is not just a momentary thing. If people persist in going in the wrong direction in life, they're going to spend an eternity separated from God. And that's a big deal.
[00:05:27] You know, that's something that we don't talk about a lot. But I think, you know, we need to, we need to start considering what's the end result of this. We got to look further ahead and Paul is doing that. We can learn, I think from Paul's letter how he addressed his deepest concerns about their rejection, not only of him but, but of his message. He's concerned about that.
[00:05:51] This is often what happens when people rebel.
[00:05:55] They who have been guided, those who have been guiding them, either a parent or a friend or a mentor, they're not. Not only do they reject the message, they reject the person. So some of you have experienced that. You know, it's really funny when people, it's not funny, but I mean, it's reality. When people walk away from God, a lot of times they walk away from you.
[00:06:15] Anybody experience that, they just reject you, just cut you off, they don't want to hear anything. We can take this personally and make the focus about our hurt, or we can understand that there's something far more sinister happening here and focus should be on the person who's being deceived and led astray. They are in one sense rejecting God, the ultimate authority. But at that moment, the rejection is experienced by the person who has been the authority figure in their life. And that's what happens to parents. The kids are rejecting you. But you know, a lot of times it's not just you they're rejecting God. And I think we need to understand that. Now I'm going to add a little caveat here because you know, there are those people in authority that are irresponsible and abusive. How many know that's true? So this is not just a one way street, you know, parents who have violated their God given trust to nurture and care for their children, like what happens then?
[00:07:07] Or there are children who are actually parenting their parents. Anybody seen that? You know, the child is more responsible than the parent. Okay. So we need to remind ourselves that there's always a loving Father in heaven, who we can appeal to and we can have meet our needs.
[00:07:23] Rebellion is not the only response if you're a child in these situations, you know, and I always say, unless there's abuse, then other authorities need to intervene. So we're not protect. I'm not suggesting that people who are in authority are always right. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that God creates authority generally. God wants us to submit to authority, and we only disobey authority as if the authority themselves are abusing their authority and are asking people to do things that are either immoral or illegal. That's when we have to respond and say, hey, this isn't right, so we don't have to follow suit. You know, it's really tragic when people, as parents, we're not providing a good example. And then all of a sudden, you know, Mark mentioned that last week in his message. You know, people are, you know, the parent is saying, do as I say, not as I do. Well, that's inconsistency. And you and I need to be models. And we'll see. Paul will bring that out here in this message. But what we're looking at is a rebellion toward a loving mentor parent or a leader.
[00:08:27] How should that authority figure now respond? In other words, how should a parent respond when you've got rebellious kids?
[00:08:33] Or how should a pastor respond when people are rebelling? Or how should a disciple, maker or mentor respond when someone is going off track? How do we respond to those things? This is what we want to look at today. And in the second half of chapter 12, I think we're going to discover the heart and warnings of someone who deeply loved these Corinthian believers who were spiritually immature, haughty and proud. That's what they had, the wrong attitude. How many have ever. You know, I have to be honest. When I look back at my teenage years, there were moments I was rebellious and there were moments when I was proud, and I didn't always do what I should have done.
[00:09:10] Some of you relate to that, or you guys just, you know, Pastor, I was such a sweet kid. I always did always the right thing, you know, so we understand that a lot of that is out of immaturity, ignorance.
[00:09:25] But it's amazing when you're 18 years old how much you think you know and how little your parents know, you know, how many have discovered that. And then all of a sudden later on in life, you just go, it's amazing how smart my parents got.
[00:09:40] You know, all of a sudden they just kind of came to a whole new level of wisdom and experience. Well, it's because we finally matured and grew up and realized, you know, what they were saying was many times for our good. Right?
[00:09:53] So can we learn something from Paul's heart and actions which is going to help us respond to our wayward kids and other family members and close friends? And in the challenges that Paul's faced with, with this congregation, we're going to glean something of the true nature, I think, of what Christian leadership and maturity and ministry is all about, and I think that's important. So there are three things that Paul does to deal with the challenge of rebellious behavior that's presented to him by this sinful immaturity in the lives of those he's fathering in the faith. And I want to look at these three things. First of all, you know, how do we handle rebellious behavior?
[00:10:31] Step one, raise the issue.
[00:10:34] No matter how difficult and uncomfortable we are about addressing problems, ignoring them do not cause them to go away. You know, a lot of times we just want to be in denial. This is too unpleasant. I don't want to deal with this stuff.
[00:10:48] I think it takes wisdom and courage to speak when we feel so much is on the line and we don't know what to say.
[00:10:56] How many have been there just going, I don't know exactly what to say here. What causes us to neglect or pretend there's no issue is that we're concerned about alienating those we love, and therefore the temptation is to say little or nothing at all. How many know that's the truth?
[00:11:11] A lot of times we don't say things because we're afraid to wound people or alienate them or cut off the relationship. So we don't know what to do.
[00:11:18] And I'm going to challenge us that in every relationship there's risk.
[00:11:24] We need to know that.
[00:11:26] And so what generally comes is that the problem escalates if you don't deal with it.
[00:11:34] Hurt and heartache and the hardening in the heart of the parents begins to occur, or the mentors, and it will cause a deterioration in the relationship in the long term. Because then we'll just get to the point where we say, I just don't really care. And we just, you know, there's. How many. How many relationships have come to an end, you know, because there's been a fracture, maybe a rebellion, and then all of a sudden, we haven't handled it quite right. And all of a sudden, pretty soon there's a wall and there's no relationship.
[00:12:03] Am I speaking to a group of people that have had the experience before. You understand what I'm going with this? Okay, so what do we do with that now? I'm not talking here about nagging. How many know that never works? How many figured out nagging does not work. Anybody figured this out yet?
[00:12:19] So I'm helping everybody out here.
[00:12:21] If you feel like I just got to say it one more time.
[00:12:25] But if it hasn't worked at last 50 times, why will time 51 work? You know, just letting you know it's probably not going to happen. So maybe we shouldn't be doing that. What we need to do is talk to the person in a loving way, lay out the problem, and then we need to begin to pray.
[00:12:42] We need to begin to pray. You know, I don't know about you, but as I matured in my walk with God and as I matured as a person and as my children grew up, because now I'm a grandparent, you know what I discovered?
[00:12:57] Your sense of what you can do in the area of instruction and all the rest of it diminishes over time. How many know that's true?
[00:13:05] And now you're down to prayer. And I'm going to tell you, my prayer life went up when I had teenagers. It went way up, you know, and then I thought, well, we'll get through that stage and you know, it'll get easier. But then you have to pray as they're young adults and they're making the big decisions in life like who to marry.
[00:13:23] That went way up, you know, and I'm so grateful. I have two great son in laws that love God. I'm so thankful for that.
[00:13:31] But my prayer life hasn't stopped because now I got grandkids and they're starting the journey. And you know what? Your prayer life is just intensifying because you can see all the challenges that they're facing.
[00:13:43] And that's the way it should be. Then committing that person to the Lord in prayer, trusting God's spirit, is going to reveal to them the truth. But you know, I think you and I, we need to be consistent. We need to be a model of what life should be for them.
[00:13:58] Let us examine how Paul approached the problem here. He speaks to the issue in a very direct and forthright manner, but always in a spirit of love. We need to understand as Paul is not defending himself from his attacks, that's not what he's trying to do. He's trying to get them to understand what's the problem. So let's Pick up the story. He said, I've made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it.
[00:14:21] I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the super apostles, even though I am nothing. So Paul says, even though I've made these boasts. If you keep reading, earlier in the chapter, we talked about that Paul is boasting, but then he starts boasting in his sufferings, which was really different than what these other guys were doing. They were boasting in their accomplishments and their achievements. Paul's boasting in the things that he has suffered for the sake of Christ.
[00:14:46] And I warned the congregation here, and some of you probably didn't hear this, but I'll just say it again. When you hear preaching that's all about the preacher rather than about the word of God, you're probably not hearing the correct messaging. We got to hear the message of Christ being preached. And Paul was preaching Christ, and that's what we need to be preaching.
[00:15:06] But then he goes on to say, so I say this. When people are in a rebellious mode, they're often attacking those in authority in their lives.
[00:15:15] So if you're an authority figure, listen, I'm an authority figure on a whole bunch of levels, and I've been attacked most of my life, and I'm used to it. You know, I don't like it, but I do get attacked, and I've had all kinds of crazy stuff done. But Paul finds himself having to defend himself. Not because, as I said, he's insecure, but he's concerned about those who are his spiritual children who are believing this attack and they're embracing these lies and they're turning against him. Isn't it kind of sad when a parent's children are turning against them because they're listening to their peers?
[00:15:52] That can happen. It's very painful.
[00:15:54] That can occur.
[00:15:57] I think we're living in a time where rebellion is the norm. Actually, I would argue that rebellion's always been the norm. You know, as a matter of fact, human beings, we have a sinful nature. I know people go, we got a good nature. I go, listen, guys, I'm gonna point something out to you. Yes, we're made in an image of a great God. So that part's good. Unfortunately, we all have a fallen nature, and it's a rebellious nature. And rebellion means I just want to do my thing rather than submit myself to someone that's in an authority above me. And most of the time, as we get to adulthood, most people say, forget all of this stuff, I'm gonna do my thing. You know, we're singing Frank Sinatra song, I'm gonna do it my way. But the only problem is, as I look over, you know, decades of life now, I see all the people who've been living their life their way and turned out that well for most of them, I want to do things God's way. I want to submit my life to his authority. I want to submit my life to his way and follow his path. And man, my life has been so rich and blessed because of it. And I know so many people who have walked with God and they could testify to the same thing. This is the best life. It's not easy. It's not the easy life. It's the best life, you know.
[00:17:08] So listen to what scripture teaches us here in second Timothy, chapter three, verses one and two. It says, but mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days. Now, by the way, the last days actually started Paul's New Testament times, called the beginning of the new Christian era the last days. This is what he says. People will be lovers of themselves.
[00:17:33] Okay, Is that true today? Check that box. Off. People. Lover of themselves. Yep. Check.
[00:17:37] Lovers of money.
[00:17:40] People are materialistic. Check that box. Off.
[00:17:43] Boastful. Check. Proud. Check. Abusive. Yep. Actually, I was talking to a postal worker here the other day and they said in the last few years working in this office, it's amazing. People have no filters anymore and they're rude. Check. Abusive. Check. Disobedient to their parents. Check that box. Ungrateful. Check that box. Unholy. That means you're not like God. You're not holy. You're not other than you're not like God. You're not a godly person.
[00:18:09] Boy, you know, finding there's a lot of godly. There's a lot of ungodly people out here. They're not holy. Check that box. Let's go down here. Without love, you know, they're full of hate, rebellion and anger. Check that box. Unforgiving. Boy, there's a whole bunch of bitter people that can't forgive. Check that box. Slanderous. That means you're saying things that aren't true about others. Without self control. Check that box. Brutal. Yeah. Not lovers of the good.
[00:18:33] Treacherous, rash, conceited. Lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness but denying its have nothing to do with such people.
[00:18:43] In other words, don't let these people influence you.
[00:18:46] That's a pretty nasty list.
[00:18:49] Those are not the people I want to be having as my best friends.
[00:18:54] Paul's writing as a spiritual father. He makes three quick points. He addresses the fact that he does not defend himself against these false accusations. Paul then felt compelled to defend themselves. Not for his sake, I've already said it.
[00:19:08] But to those who were being deceived and led astray. What tragedy. Paul had poured out his life for them, and they are simply indifferent. Isn't that an amazing thing? That when a child says, you know, I've said this to my own parents, so I'm confessing sin to you today, you know, you don't really love me? Well, come on, that's nonsense. I mean, these people birthed you, these people fed you, clothed you, took care of you. You know, that's a terrible sin.
[00:19:31] You know, maybe you guys are better than that. But, you know, I had to repent. I had to change, you know, I had to begin to change my whole way of looking at my, my parents life now. They had problems, you know, they had issues. But you know something? I began to value them. And you know, hopefully I've honored them, you know, or a parental figure in their lives and listening to the lies of our worldly peers. No, that's not good. So who are these super apostles Paul mentions here? Discussion surrounds who they are. You know, I can't believe some commentators actually think that they're. They're speaking of the apostles in Jerusalem, but that's not who they are. The context does not support that idea.
[00:20:13] We're reminded by a usage that Paul used that term in the previous chapter. So I think that was probably the right way to understand that text. And in Second Corinthians, chapter 11, he said, for if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preach, or if you receive a different spirit from the spirit you receive, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. I do not think I'm the least inferior to those super apostles. I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. So in the context, he's using that in a sarcastic manner. He's calling them super apostles, quote, unquote. I don't think so. So Paul, as I said, is using sarcasm. Paul then moves on to address the issue of signs, wonders and miracles. He said, I persevere in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including sign, wonders and miracles. It always amazes me when the obvious is overlooked.
[00:21:12] How many ever shake your head? Sometimes you go I don't get it. How do you guys miss this? You know, think about it. These false apostles are walking in here. They're talking about revelations and all these kind of things and miracles and all the rest of it. Paul actually had come to Corinth before there was even a church. He had suffered to bring the gospel to them. He had preached the gospel, miracles followed and confirmed his ministry. They were the fruit of his ministry.
[00:21:38] I mean, come on, what more could he have done? You know? But everybody forgets that. Isn't it amazing when we're up, when we are being sucked in, how we easily get duped and deceived, and pretty soon we're painting a picture that's not even true.
[00:21:53] That's what they were doing.
[00:21:56] You know, he reminds them, in First Corinthians, he said, I came to you in weakness, with great fear and trembling.
[00:22:07] And my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but in the demonstration of the Spirit's power so that your faith may not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.
[00:22:16] Craig Keener says the Corinthians themselves were witnesses of Paul's signs and miracles, hence did not require his testimony. These should have been concrete enough to have invited their defense of his apostleship.
[00:22:29] So I think we have to do something once in a while. We have to remind ourselves what it cost our parents to raise us, not only in terms of finances, but in terms of time, emotional energy, and self sacrifice. How many go? That's true. You ever think about that?
[00:22:43] One of the foundations of a healthy society is expressed in the Mosaic Law as honoring those who are our parents. Listen what Moses writes. Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. When people develop an attitude that dishonors those in authority, and in this case, your parents, it's not going to go well with you.
[00:23:14] And we live in that hour. There's so many people. And you say, well, yeah, but there's bad parents. I'm going, yeah, there are some bad parents. Yes, I'll give that to you.
[00:23:23] But you know what? We need to learn how to respect and honor them sometimes, despite some of the things they've done wrong, I think we need to learn how to forgive them.
[00:23:33] And I'm going to say this. If they've done terrible things, then maybe you shouldn't be in that home. Somebody should take you out of it. You know, I get that. I understand that Paul speaks about not receiving financial support from the Corinthians in verse 13. How were you in fear to the other churches? Except that I was never a burden to you. Forgive me this wrong. Another little sarcastic remark. Now, we may wonder why the Corinthians felt snubbed by Paul because he didn't receive monies from them. Well, I'm going to explain something to you. You have to understand that in its ancient context, how many have ever heard of the patronage system and patrons and clients? This is where we get the mafia from, you know, some of these ideas, because Romans embraced this idea. Look, this is what we need to know. In the ancient Roman world, patrons would financially support clients as a means to gain political and social status. So in other words, the more people you helped, the more they were beholden to you, the more up the chain you went. So the more people you sponsored as a patron, the more highly your status was in the nation.
[00:24:35] While this was really critical under the Republic, later on under the emperor system, it shifted so that the emperor became the primary patron, and people tried to, you know, nestle up to him and become his client in order to get, you know, appointments, political appointments.
[00:24:51] And then later on, when they conquered different parts of the world, he would have client states, and then people would be beholden to the emperor. So the patronage system was still a primary way of wealthy citizens maintaining dominance over others. Clients would look to their patron for political, economic, and legal protection. By refusing financial resources, Paul was freed from the system. He was not a client to any human patron, but saw himself only as a client to God. In other words, God was his patron. Isn't that a beautiful thought? I love that. However, Paul had no problem in receiving offerings to alleviate the plight of the poor, which Paul saw as a moral and spiritual act of worship to God and an evidence of the transformation that was now happening in the lives of those that were responding to the gospel. But let me move to the second thing that we need to do that's going to not. It's going to help us deal with rebellious, you know, people, especially the children. Their behavior is. I think we need to share our heart and our attitude, our motivation. We need to communicate to people. This is why I'm doing this.
[00:25:59] Okay? So in explaining why Paul did not act in an expected manner, he shares the motivation, why he didn't do it, why he's not behaving in a certain way. He's sharing the underlying reasons. You know, the days of telling somebody, do it because I'M telling you, doesn't work. You have to explain why you're doing what you're doing. So they understand it. It was not because he was not entitled to. Not entitled to it, but because he did not want to be a burden to them. And he also wanted to distance himself from these false teachers who were there solely to take advantage of them financially. So Paul's desire is not their money. He desires for them to mature spiritually, to have an increased love for God.
[00:26:42] He's concerned about their spiritual or eternal condition. And he explains the principle that parents provide for children, not the other way around.
[00:26:51] You know, a lot of times, you know, think about the ancient world. No social system, right? No Social Security. Who's going to take care of when you're old? Well, you want your children to do that.
[00:27:01] See, I was actually listening to some lectures on the Greek system, and they actually created laws so that children had to take care of their parents.
[00:27:09] Wow. Because you know what? They didn't have a social system to do that.
[00:27:13] He says, now I'm ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. In other words, I'm not going to take any money from you because what I want is not your possessions, but you. He says, after all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. He's laying down a principle. He says, listen, God gives us responsibility as a parent.
[00:27:36] You know, every privilege has a responsibility tied to it. So here I am, I'm in a position of authority, but my position of authority immediately tells me I have responsibility.
[00:27:50] So now I'm under God, I have a responsibility. So good leaders understand something. We are under God, and leadership is really a call to serve people.
[00:28:01] But a lot of people don't understand that. So when they become leaders, they're lording it over people and abusing and making people serve them.
[00:28:09] That's the wrong way to look at it. We're here to serve others. That's a parent does that. A good leader does that.
[00:28:18] He says here in verse 15, he says, so I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? Linda Belleville gives us a sense of the intensity of Paul's remarks about spending time on their behalf. The human father stores up for his children. Paul not only does this spend, but does it to the very limit of his capacity.
[00:28:43] And the word there is expend. There's a play on words here. That's Difficult to capture in the English, but the NIV actually does a good job here. Spend and expend.
[00:28:53] So basically what he's saying is Paul is basically not only spending his resources on them, but he's spending or exhausting or wearing himself out for them. Now how many parents actually do that? When you have a little baby, they're keeping you up at night, isn't that true? Yeah, absolutely. They're going to wear you out.
[00:29:15] That's exactly what happens. You're going to, you know, you're giving yourself away to provide life and nurture to that child. You know, dealing with the false accusations and, and criticisms.
[00:29:30] How many know one of the costs of love sometimes is to be falsely accused by those we've loved.
[00:29:36] It's very painful.
[00:29:39] Let me again, Linda Bevel says this. So what was standing in the way of a fair exchange between the Corinthians and Paul? In other words, he's loving them, but they're not loving him back. From verses 16 to 17, it would appear that the rumor mill is to blame. Gossip is classified as one of those detestable sins in the old Testament. Proverbs 6:19 says that, and rightfully so. Says, it's like, okay, I see I'm a little bit behind on my.
[00:30:14] It's like a weed that once it takes root, it's almost impossible to eradicate. And if left unattended, it will take over an entire lawn.
[00:30:22] The gossip may not even be true, but the mere suspicion of fiscal or moral blame can cause irreparable damage, like mud thrown against a clean wall. It may not stick, but it always leaves a mark.
[00:30:33] You know, now some of you probably are following through in our Bible reading with Nikki Gumbel. You know, I've always. I'm encouraging you to find a way to read the Bible every day. But yesterday in the devotional reading, it was very interesting what he said about gossip.
[00:30:47] Let me just quote him. He said words can either be life giving or destructive. How many have discovered that there's power in words? Words can cause a great deal of trouble. The perverse stir up dissension and gossip separate close friends. Proverbs 16:28. Gossip has the power to break up friendships, you know. Remember that whoever gossips to you will probably gossip about you.
[00:31:11] Just as receiving stolen goods is as serious a crime in the eyes of the law is theft, so listening to gossip is as damaging as gossip.
[00:31:22] How you speak and how you listen will affect the whole atmosphere, not only in your home, but in your life. You know, I said to somebody you know, somebody's always saying to me, yeah, but they keep coming to me with this information. And I'm saying, and yeah, you keep listening to it. Are you a garbage can or what? You know, so, you know, sometimes when people come up with that kind of stuff, say, hey, listen, I don't need to hear that.
[00:31:42] I don't need to listen to that.
[00:31:44] You know, I need. You know, gossip is just. That's what it is. You don't even know if it's true or not. So why listen to it? I don't listen to a lot of things. You go, you don't listen. Pastor No, I listen to some things, but gossip is one that I don't want to listen to because I know it's how destructive it is, and it affects your thinking towards a person, which is wrong.
[00:32:06] 2nd Corinthians 12 says, Be it as it may, I have not been a burden to you yet. Crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery. See, he's being accused of deceiving these guys. Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent to you?
[00:32:20] I urged Titus to go to you, and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not walk in the same footsteps by the same spirit?
[00:32:29] Have you been thinking all along.
[00:32:32] Okay, let me go back. Yeah. Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ. And everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. So what's going on here?
[00:32:45] Paul is now asking for them to give an offering to the people in Jerusalem who are in a state of famine. He has personally received no funds from the Corinthians. They've criticized him for that.
[00:32:58] Now these super apostles are saying, you know why Paul did that? He's just setting you guys up.
[00:33:04] All the big money is going to come later. When he asks for this offering, it's all going to go into his pockets.
[00:33:09] That's what they were accusing him of.
[00:33:11] Paul goes, no, no, we didn't do that. As a matter of fact, I personally didn't even go collect the offering. I sent other people to do it. And you responded to them in a very good way. In a sense. He was basically saying, I'm their patron. They're my client. They're not going to do anything that I wouldn't do. We're not exploiting you. That's what he's trying to get across to these guys here.
[00:33:32] We need to realize that discipline is critical for the development of those we are nurturing.
[00:33:40] So what is Paul doing? He's speaking to the issue, but he's also disciplining them. And you're going to see how he comes about it. To remain silent when someone is moving towards self destruction is not love.
[00:33:52] It's neglect or at worst, indifference.
[00:33:55] And how many know that indifference is the very opposite of love?
[00:33:59] We see from our text that Paul was engaged in their life, seeking their well being.
[00:34:05] So Linda Belleville again shares this challenge that both parent pastors, I'm adding it's actually related to spiritual leader, but I'm including parents here and other mentors in dealing with people who are going astray. The authority Paul received as Christ's representative was indeed for construction, not destructive purposes.
[00:34:25] Although not everyone always saw it that way, especially where discipline was involved.
[00:34:31] How many know that most people, when they're being disciplined, don't appreciate at the time?
[00:34:35] Very few say, well, thank you so much for disciplining me.
[00:34:39] I'm just letting you know, you know, when you're a kid, you know, I love it, you know, you're telling your child, this is hurting me worse than you, and the kid's thinking, are you kidding me?
[00:34:47] You know, but if you don't discipline that child, you know that you're wrecking them for the future. You have to help modify and help them to realize there's a consequence to bad behavior and you're going to suffer. And when you're a child, it has to be pretty immediate, otherwise you're not going to get the linkage. But I'm starting to wonder how many adults need a good spanking, you know, wow, are you guys picking up on this stuff? Are you guys getting this stuff? You know, God is so patient with us, it's unbelievable. Okay, so growth towards spiritual maturity is not always an easy process for the church.
[00:35:25] Just as correction is necessary, if somewhat painful part of growing up for children, so it also serves as a needful part of the maturing process of the church.
[00:35:35] Yet the church rarely looks on correction in this way. Too often we gravitate toward the pastor or the teacher who flatters us and not the one who corrects us. This is why Paul goes on to say that everything he does is for the church's strengthening.
[00:35:49] You know what, if nobody ever corrects you and never challenges you, that's not good for you.
[00:35:56] That's what she's telling us. You know, hopefully, you know, when you're listening to these sermons week in, week out, you're going to be challenged at Times, if you haven't figured that out yet, you haven't been here long enough. You're going to get challenged. And it's important that you are getting challenged because that's going to help you grow up spiritually. Let me move to the last part. And this is so important.
[00:36:14] Provide guidance in people's lives. Do you know why a lot of people are making bad decisions? They don't know what to do. They need guidance. How many say that's probably true? A lot of people just don't know better. You know, some of the stupid things I did as a child, I can just, you know, I needed more guidance.
[00:36:30] How many here could say, you know what, I probably needed more guidance. When I was growing up, I needed more guidance. Okay, now you're at this stage in your life. How many say, I still need guidance?
[00:36:43] You know, I still need guidance. And you know, you say, well, how do you get a pastor? Do you know? I spend every day in Scripture, I spend every day in Scripture. I'm getting guidance. I'm getting God's guidance. You know, people need to be shown the way to live by our words and example.
[00:37:00] You know, Paul laid down a principle. Listen to this principle back in First Corinthians. He said, so whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Here's the purpose of life. I'm doing all that I do to bring glory to God. Number one, do not cause anyone to stumble. So therefore, I don't want to be a stumbling block. So I live a life in order for other people to see that this is the way to live. And I don't just do my own thing here, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God. Even as I try to please everyone in every way, for I'm not seeking my own good, but the good of many so that they may be saved. What does Paul. Paul is not saying, I'm trying to be a people pleaser. No, what he's saying here is, I'm trying to do the right thing so that everybody's benefiting from it. That's what he's telling us. And then he says this. This is a very powerful statement. Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.
[00:37:51] Now let me ask you a question. Can you say that to people? Just follow me as I'm following Christ. Now, obviously you're saying, don't copy me while I'm not copying Christ. Well, for some of us, you're going to. There's not much to follow. Or is there much to Follow. You have to ask yourself that question, am I living a life that's modeling the life of Christ? Am I showing people how to live the Christian life?
[00:38:13] So I should be doing that for my children. I should be doing that for the congregation. You know, I always get it. You know, people are so funny. They're going. They're listening to somebody preach on the TV that they don't even personally know, and they think, you know, this is great.
[00:38:30] Listen, you can come over. You know, people have come over to my house. People have hung out with me. No, I am what you're seeing. That's it. There's no. This is. You know, I can be pretty boring.
[00:38:45] My life is pretty structured. You're going, this guy, you know, what does he do for fun? I play golf once in a while.
[00:38:51] That is, once in a while.
[00:38:53] Anyways, somebody goes, I don't even know how you do what you do with your time, because I'm doing a lot.
[00:38:59] But these are Paul's concluding remarks is for, I'm afraid when I come, I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. In other words, Paul says, I sure hope when I show up for the third time, you guys have finally figured it out and straightened out, because the third time around, I'm actually going to discipline you.
[00:39:16] Wow, look at what he. Why is he saying this?
[00:39:20] I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.
[00:39:27] Now, you know what? How many know when you have that kind of stuff happening in a church? You got a church in a world of hurt, and it's a big mess. You got factions and divisions. Read First Corinthians over again. That church was embroiled in difficulty. It was terrible. He says, I'm afraid that when I come again, but my God will humble me before you. That's an interesting statement. In other words, I'm going to be embarrassed. I'm bringing these Macedonian believers and I told them, this is, you guys are great. You're going to do this, you're going to do that. And when I get there, you guys are still messed up. This is going to be so embarrassing. Not just to you, but to me.
[00:40:05] How many say, you know, how many times as a parent you're going, listen, don't embarrass me, kid. Right? You know, just behave yourself. You know, I'll just say, my dad gave us one good compliment. I remember, I was a little kid, he said, you know, I'm So proud of you kids. You don't misbehave when I take you on an outing. You guys are good kids. That was a very affirming thing and what it made me want to do, listen to my dad. And so he says, almost all these other kids are doing bad things. This is a good point for the cafeteria right now. I'm going to put a plug in when, you know, parents don't pay attention to what their kids are doing and running all over the church, they could get hurt. They could go out of building. It's minus whatever. They could have, you know, exposure. But a lot of you guys are just. You're not worrying about it because we're in the church.
[00:40:48] Don't just let them run wild.
[00:40:52] You know, I'm just telling you this. I'm being nice about it.
[00:40:56] You need to parent these kids. You need to discipline these kids.
[00:41:00] You know, it's a reflection on you, unfortunately, when they're little. So you need to reign them in.
[00:41:08] Okay. Whoo.
[00:41:12] Application to the message. Just like that. See, you were wondering when, when, when is there application to these sermons, Pastor? Absolutely. You know, I just helped you out in that one.
[00:41:26] All right.
[00:41:27] But he goes on, he says, and have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged. You have to remember something. Corinth was a highly materialistic city, and it was a very promiscuous city.
[00:41:42] And it was, you know, sin was prevalent in that church. And I just noticed my time is up. So here's what I'm going to do. We're going to stand in closing.
[00:41:53] Just get to the punch line here. Let me go back, give you the last sentence. How's that?
[00:42:00] So what's the answer? What's the answer to addressing problems in the life of people? Okay, here it's real simple. If we have issues in our personal life, we need to deal with them.
[00:42:17] You see? How do you deal with things?
[00:42:20] By repenting.
[00:42:22] You want to say, what is repentance? Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior.
[00:42:29] So it's not always an emotional feeling. Sometimes they go, you know what?
[00:42:36] I'm going to deviate a little bit and just say this.
[00:42:39] Let me give you the three comments, and then I'm going to say something here right to the end here.
[00:42:48] Okay? You missed all of this. But the good news is you can get this on my notes.
[00:42:54] Okay? I have notes, hands applied.
[00:42:59] So knowing the severity of disobedience love must speak up, risk being misunderstood, and then give guidance towards a new path in life.
[00:43:09] I'm going to do that this morning.
[00:43:11] I've come to a deep awareness that many people today are struggling with addictions. How many go? That's true.
[00:43:18] Many people.
[00:43:19] I'm going to say something really startling to you. It affects your brain in the same way what you're actually doing is trying to get a good feeling.
[00:43:29] It affects a chemical in your brain called dopamine.
[00:43:33] And that's why people get addicted, because they want that feeling.
[00:43:36] But eventually they feel it's not so much that they want the good feeling anymore. Eventually they're just trapped, and they just can't seem to get away from it.
[00:43:47] And that's the power of sin. It traps us.
[00:43:51] And you need to understand that there's a power in the gospel, not just to forgive us of our sins and put us in a right relationship with God so we can go to heaven. That's the part we always hear.
[00:44:03] But here's the really good news. There is a power, the gospel, that is greater than your sin, a power greater than your sin. Listen to me now.
[00:44:15] God's power in the gospel is so strong and his grace is so strong that God can deliver you from your addiction.
[00:44:25] But you have to choose something.
[00:44:28] You have to fit. Number one, I'm sinning against God. I'm sinning against the people that love me, and I'm sinning against myself.
[00:44:35] I had to change my mind and change my behavior.
[00:44:39] A lot of people get to that stage, but then they slip back into it.
[00:44:43] You need to make step number two. Step number two is I need to learn to trust God to help me every day.
[00:44:48] By his spirit, he will.
[00:44:50] There's a power there. I've said that.
[00:44:53] But then you need to displace that bad behavior with something good.
[00:44:59] And so Paul explains that in the book of Ephesians. He says, if you are lying, speak the truth. How many know if you're telling the truth, you can't be lying. And so then you have to exercise your mind to say, okay, I'm going to only speak the truth. I'm going to learn the language of truth. I'm going to get into the word of God, because that is truth, and I'm going to speak truth.
[00:45:18] Or if I steal, I'm going to steal anymore. I'm going to begin to work with my hands, and I'm going to learn how to give. How many know giving is the opposite of taking?
[00:45:26] You have to displace the bad Behavior, with the good behavior.
[00:45:30] You need to renew your mind.
[00:45:33] Can I tell you what will happen if you spend time in the Word of God?
[00:45:37] Every day you spend time, you become like a cow. You know, a cow has seven stomachs or maybe three. I don't know. I can't remember. They got more than one stomach.
[00:45:49] You know what they do? They got three. Is that four? Thank you. Straighten me out. Got farmers here, they'll tell me four stomachs.
[00:45:57] They start eating grass, and then it goes down to their stomach. And then they do something that's a little disgusting.
[00:46:04] It's called regurgitating. Bring it back up. Chewing again, bringing it back down you go. That's disgusting. Pastor, can I tell you what's going to happen if you get into the Word of God? This is what it says in Psalms. If I meditate on God's Word day and night, I will prosper.
[00:46:19] I will prosper. Why?
[00:46:21] Meditating is regurgitating.
[00:46:24] See, some of you are just reading, but it's not. It's not having any impact on you. You're just, you know, I'm going through a motion. I'm doing this, what I'm supposed to do. No, it's not good enough to just read something.
[00:46:37] You need to regurgitate it. You need to meditate on. You Think about it.
[00:46:41] Do you know why I'm impacted in my life as a pastor?
[00:46:44] Because of God's Word. That's what I do. All week long. I'm regurgitating the Word of God to develop this sermon. Do you know much, many hours I had to spend thinking about these passages and what they meant? Regurgitating.
[00:46:56] It changes your thinking.
[00:46:59] It sets you free. Your mind becomes clear.
[00:47:05] It's liberating and it's freeing, and it moves you away from a lot of bad things.
[00:47:11] I jokingly say I'm too busy to get into trouble.
[00:47:15] And it's true. But what are you busy doing?
[00:47:19] I'm in Scripture, lots of it. I'm eating it, regurgitating it. And I want to pray for you today with every head bowed. Because, you know, I think it's so important. Yes. You know, I'm giving you principles on how to handle rebellious children. Where did that come from? The Word of God came from Paul's activity.
[00:47:37] You could begin to pick out these principles if you will spend time in the Word of God. But I want to pray for some of you right now. Some of you are saying, you know, pastor, I'm struggling with addictions. I want you to be really honest. Nobody's looking I'm looking at nobody else.
[00:47:53] Just say, that's me. Raise my hand. Just raise my hand. Come on, be honest.
[00:47:57] Could be food addictions, chemical addictions. I could just keep going down a list.
[00:48:02] If you don't admit that you have a problem, you're not going to get free.
[00:48:06] You know, step one in aa. I know this because my dad was an alcoholic.
[00:48:11] You have to admit you got a problem. If you don't admit you've got a problem, you're not going to go anywhere. You're in denial.
[00:48:18] You're not going to get better.
[00:48:20] I want to pray for you today because I want you to be free.
[00:48:25] And I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a power that will set you free, free from your addictions.
[00:48:33] I want to pray right now for you. Some of you have been really honest, and I'm not here to condemn you. You know, God knows what you're doing and you know what you're doing.
[00:48:42] And he still loves you because he's a loving father.
[00:48:46] He wants you to be free.
[00:48:49] That's his desire for you. That's my desire for you as a pastor.
[00:48:53] Because when you become free, you become plus. You become an influencer and an impactor in society.
[00:49:04] But when you're bound up with addictions, you're negated, you're taken out.
[00:49:10] And the enemy wants to take as many of us out as he can.
[00:49:14] So I want you to be free. And I'm going to pray right now. Lord, my brothers and sisters are being honest and they're saying, lord, I'm struggling, but I'm not ashamed of the gospel. That's the power of God unto salvation.
