Be Like Paul

[0:00] This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.! Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.! But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by any human court.

[0:17] In fact, I do not even judge myself, for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

[0:27] Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart.

[0:38] Then each one will receive his commendation from God. I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

[0:55] For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Already you have all you want.

[1:08] Already you've become rich. Without us, you've become kings. And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you. For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.

[1:27] We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst.

[1:39] We are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. When slandered, we entreat.

[1:51] We have become, and are still like scum of the world, the refuse of all things. I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

[2:03] For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you then, be imitators of me.

[2:14] That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills.

[2:30] And I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people, but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and the spirit of gentleness?

[2:44] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Pray with me.

[3:03] Lord, Lord, to all of us who are weary and need rest, all of us who mourn and long for comfort, all of us who fail and desire strength, and all of us who sin and need a Savior, ask that you meet us and speak to our hearts today.

[3:28] Amen. Well, you can pull up that first slide for me. Well, the title is Be Like Paul. Why not be like Jesus?

[3:43] Instead, it's be like Paul. And if you look at chapter 4, verse 16, Paul says, imitate me. Anybody got a problem with that? Like, why does he say that? Anybody other than me?

[3:54] I guess it was just me who had a problem with that. You know, be like Paul. Because we've just spent several weeks talking about how it's not about Paul.

[4:06] It's not about Apollos. You're making it a big deal about these people. And then Paul says, be like me. It sounds contradictory and maybe even a little bit arrogant.

[4:20] But, of course, some of you are out there like, well, Carl, I know what 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 1 says. It says, be like me as I'm like Jesus.

[4:32] Imitate me as I imitate Jesus. So, see, Carl, it's not about imitating Paul. It's about imitating Jesus. Okay, you got me. Why does he add himself in there anyway?

[4:46] Why not just say, be like Jesus? Why does he do that? Well, that kind of bothered me. Well, Paul, as some of you may know, is considered the greatest systematic theologian and the greatest task theologian.

[5:05] I had to look up what that meant. Task theologians, he could apply the gospel to everyday life. He could apply the gospel to your situation. Yes, mom, you, with your children, homeschooling.

[5:19] He could apply the gospel and give you what you needed. That's what Paul could do. And, this is where we're headed today.

[5:30] We're going to talk about not adding to the gospel. Don't go beyond what is written because we've seen that they were adding to it. And then, there's Paul example.

[5:43] And then, again, be like Paul. Paul. And the, the four chapters really work together. And so, Mike has already said all the cool things that I wanted to say.

[5:55] You know, so what can Carl possibly say that's cool to add to anything? Well, just to recap, Corinthian church was proud, right? They were proud and they were divisive.

[6:07] And they were saying, I follow this person, I follow that person. And they were trying to outdo each other. And, they're not the only ones that struggled with this.

[6:20] This pride and adding to the gospel. The Galatians struggled with it too. And three years earlier, Paul writes the letter to the Galatians and there's some very similar things that he shares with them, even though their issue was circumcision.

[6:35] And when we were going to do this, I thought, man, I don't want to read 1 Corinthians. That church is so messed up. I mean, we're going to get into chapter 5 and the very next verse. If you look, the very next verse is not such a good verse.

[6:48] A man has his father's wife and you're proud. That's not what we want to talk about on Sunday morning. And what does that have to do with us?

[7:00] Well, the Corinthian church had a heart condition. Certainly, Shoreline doesn't have these characteristics that these guys have had.

[7:11] We don't have anybody who has their father's wife. That's terrible. And yet, the same heart condition that the Corinthian church had, we have here at Shoreline.

[7:26] We have this pride. That's what we have. And Jesus would say it's the yeast of the Pharisees. And Paul, in chapter 5, you're going to see, he's going to talk about the leaven, the yeast to the Pharisees.

[7:39] To Galatians, he's the same language, this yeast to the Pharisees, this pride. And that's powerful. And if you remember, even Peter, he was probably leading the church about 14 or 15 years, and Paul said, I had to correct Peter, who was going astray, because he wouldn't eat with the Gentiles.

[8:05] That's a pride. And we all have that tendency. So, the Corinthians struggle with the same things that we struggle with today.

[8:17] That's why we need to read this. Well, let's look at chapter 4 and look at verse 1 and 2. And, I like to give you, if I spend more time reading the word, then that's less time you're hearing from Carl and more time reading the word.

[8:33] So, I'm going to read it again because it's good. This is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

[8:45] But with me, it is a very small thing. Oh, I'm going to stop at that. First 1 and 2. So, pastors today still struggle with the same struggle there as pride.

[8:59] but Paul is saying this is how you need to regard us as servants, as stewards of the gospel. I want to give you another word, light.

[9:12] We're to be lights. And what does a light do? A light illuminates, right? So, we're lights. Every one of us are lights.

[9:23] We're to illuminate the word of God. We're to illuminate the gospel. We're to illuminate the cross. It's not about the light. You don't go out and stare at the sun and go, wow, that's great.

[9:35] You'll go blind after a certain amount of time. It's about what the light illuminates. We love the sun because we go, look at the beautiful mountains, that beautiful ocean.

[9:46] We like to look at the beautiful creation God has because of this light. It's not about the light. It's not about us. It's about the word.

[9:57] It's about who we illuminate. But, I'm going to tell you, pastors struggle with pride. We all struggle with pride.

[10:12] And, honestly, I try to focus mostly on preaching because I want to know what God is going to teach me. What is he going to do for me? I'm more interested in what he's going to do in my heart than I am interested in what he's going to do in your heart because I'm selfish.

[10:29] You know? And, I also know that I'm a big sinner. And, I'm older than most of you and I am a sailor. So, I'm probably pretty sure that I'm a bigger sinner than all of you guys.

[10:42] You know, I can say that. Some places, maybe I couldn't say that because there's some people who challenge me. But, I can pretty be sure that I can say that. So, I know exactly where I stand. That I'm a pretty big sinner.

[10:54] And, that was Paul's attitude because at the beginning of his ministry, he says, I'm the least of the apostles. But, by the end, the last letter to Timothy says, I'm the chief of sinners. What is that about Paul?

[11:07] Why are we to be like Paul? Let's look at three through five. But, with me, it is a very small thing that I should judge, excuse me, for me, that is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.

[11:25] In fact, I do not even judge myself for I'm not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

[11:37] Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

[11:51] Well, they were very critical of Paul and they were judgmental. And proud people tend to be judgmental. And Paul's response was, he doesn't even judge himself.

[12:03] He was not eloquent. Paulus was pretty eloquent. But he was focused on the cross. But they wanted more lofty, knowledgeable, give us some really great doctrine and great theology.

[12:16] That's what we want to hear. We want to hear that good stuff. But he says, I don't even judge myself. Do we judge ourselves? Who's the biggest judge in our life?

[12:31] And you know, God says he waits. Wait and judge the appointed time. God has you for 80 years. About.

[12:42] Unless you die early. Which means you skip finals and you go to heaven early. I'm okay with that. 80 years. Who you are right now is not going to be who you are later.

[12:53] God's going to do some amazing things in your life. And I see it with the cadets at the academy. Some of these cadets, I mean, they're pastor's kids and they start off as soup sandwiches. You know?

[13:04] James, you got that picture of what a soup sandwich would look like? Picture soup between two pieces of bread. It's just not good. And they start off that way and then by the time they become a senior, God has done amazing things in their life.

[13:20] It is incredible to see. And that's the way God is with us. We have a lot of mess. And then all of a sudden God just starts doing things.

[13:33] But then at age 80, you realize a lot about your heart condition. Right, Pastor Dave? And then you say, I am the chief of sinners.

[13:45] We realize our heart condition, but yet God does things through us. So Paul is really saying, here's something to write down. James, are you guys writing stuff down over there?

[13:57] All right, so this is something you want to write down. Paul is saying, I no longer have to defend myself because the truth is I'm much worse than what my critics say.

[14:11] I no longer have to defend myself because the truth is I'm much worse than what my critics say. And it's been covered. How transforming, how freeing is it to be able to say that?

[14:27] Can we say that? How many of you can say that? Maybe once in a while. I try to meditate on that because that's what Paul did.

[14:41] But look at verse 5. What is God judging us on? What does that say he's judging us on? What is the reward? Because we saw back in the last chapter there's rewards.

[14:52] What is the reward based upon? Is it based upon, like, I have solved world hunger? Well, Jesus already solved world hunger with a basket, five loaves, and a couple of fish. He doesn't need you to solve world hunger.

[15:03] That's not a big deal to him. We solve world hunger. That's not what he's after. But he is after your heart. And so it says the purposes of your heart.

[15:16] That's what our reward is based upon. That's what he's looking at. What is my heart? What's my heart condition? Chief of sinners. And yet, Paul.

[15:29] Greatest Christian that I can think of. But then there's this judging. Do you judge or do you not judge?

[15:40] I'm a little confused because the entire letter of the Corinthians is kind of some judgment. Right? He's holding them accountable. He's giving them, he's making a judgment.

[15:52] He's making a righteous judgment as Jesus said. It's very confusing. Do I judge? Do I not judge? Well, if you jump down to 14 through 17, you see that I do not write these things to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children.

[16:06] For though you have countless guides in Christ, you don't have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you then to be imitators of me. So he's, he is saying just like you parents, your purpose of correcting your children is not to make them feel ashamed.

[16:25] Like, there you go. Don't you feel bad? Yeah, that's right. Now, sometimes you might feel that. I get that. But that's not the purpose. You want their heart to repent.

[16:39] You're after the purpose of their heart. You want their heart to change. You want to shepherd their heart. So, I don't want them to feel ashamed.

[16:51] Which, like, wait a minute, doesn't Paul later say, I write this to your shame? What is that all about, Carl? Is it, we're back to, is he shaming him or he's not shaming him? It's godly sorrow.

[17:03] There's a difference between I want to make you feel ashamed versus I'm coming to you in love like a father and have you experience godly sorrow.

[17:15] Because godly sorrow is going to change my heart. That's what Paul is after. That's what we need. We need that godly sorrow not to make us feel ashamed.

[17:31] Let's look at six and seven. So, I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

[17:46] For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If you then received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? So, here's Paul's example.

[17:58] They're proud. They're boasting. And they're taking credit. Everything we have is a gift. And yet, we take credit for it.

[18:09] Yeah, well, I can bat 500. You know, I'm on the baseball team. Well, who gave you that body to bat? You're tall, you know, so you can play basketball.

[18:20] And you're LeBron James. Well, who gave you that body? And you're super smart. And you can do all these amazing things. Well, who gave you that gift? We could have been born with Down syndrome.

[18:36] We wouldn't be able to do any of the things that we're doing today. Or cerebral palsy. It's all a gift. Everything you have.

[18:48] And yet, we take credit for it. We naturally take credit for it. We are glory stealers. We naturally take credit for things. I want to take credit for things.

[19:01] Jack, have you ever bragged about things like, oh, I did this? Never? You're the most humble kid I know. I want to take credit. That's why I believe that predestination is in the Bible.

[19:15] God didn't have to put predestination in the Bible. It's kind of a very difficult doctrine. People argue about it. I wish it wasn't in there at times. And yet, he's saying, even in your responsibility to choose, you can't take credit for it.

[19:33] I think that's probably the most important thing. because when we take credit, then we think we're in control. And God is saying through Paul right here, I want you to see everything as a gift.

[19:54] I want you to acknowledge that you didn't earn it and you can't control it. So I want you to be thankful. And when we're thankful, we're acknowledging we didn't earn it, we didn't control it, we didn't have anything to do with it.

[20:10] And it puts the perspective off of us and onto Jesus. So if you're struggling with your pride, try being thankful. Shift the perspective off of you onto the Lord.

[20:25] So here's practical application number one. Families. Where's Zach hiding? Zach, maybe you can help kids out.

[20:37] Dad, maybe you can work this too. Practice this in your family. This is a great around the table practice. Practice being thankful. Come with one thankful thing. We're going to come up with one thankful thing today.

[20:50] What do you have that you want to share you're thankful for? That gets me in the mindset, that gets me in the habit of recognizing I didn't control this.

[21:00] because every day I will naturally go to, well I'm the one who's making this happen. I don't see the Holy Spirit out there shoveling my snow. Alright? Am I being thankful?

[21:14] Well, God gave me that snow shovel. Thank God for the snow. There's still a kid in me that loves to see the snow come down anyway. Even though I don't like shoveling, there's still that kid in me that snow day.

[21:27] And amen, it ought to be that way. Right, kids? I'm homeschooled, Carl. We don't get snow days. That's wrong.

[21:37] I think I convinced my wife to give the kids snow days on that day, but that's between you and mom on that one. So, be thankful. Let's practice that.

[21:49] It's so powerful and yet, if you want to put to death your flesh, your pride, then be genuinely thankful. Don't just, don't just make it, oh, I'm going to be thankful.

[22:03] No, be genuinely thankful and think about that. Because that's the yeast of the Pharisees, that pride. Let's look at 8 through 13. Already, you have all you want.

[22:16] Already, you've become rich. Without us, you've become kings. And would that you did reign so that we might share the rule with you. For I think that God has exhibited us, apostles, as last of all, like men sentenced to death.

[22:29] Because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.

[22:40] You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour, we hunger and thirst. We are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands.

[22:50] When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. When slandered, we entreat. We have become and are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

[23:04] Now, I have a way in James. There's a lot of vocabulary in there. You're going to have to look that up later. I'm sorry. A lot of vocabulary in there. So, the Corinthians had it good.

[23:16] They had it pretty good. Kind of like teenagers and college students, you know. They have it pretty good. They don't have to pay bills. They don't have to worry about where their food comes from.

[23:27] Life is pretty good. But Paul contrasts his life with theirs. And we need to be like Paul. Picking up our cross.

[23:40] Accepting that we're scum of the world. How many of you want to accept that you're scum of the world? the refuse of all things.

[23:51] Sign me up, Carl. This is a great sermon. Be like Paul. Scum of the world. But Paul talks about the cross. And you know, as you get older, you come to a deeper understanding of the gospel.

[24:08] And honestly, the cross has really been more meaningful to me in the last couple of months. Because I used to think the cross. Why do they make a big deal about a cross? It's two pieces of wood, you know. It kills people.

[24:19] I can think of better instruments of destruction than the cross. You know, I can think of a close-in weapon support system, 75 rounds per minute, 20 millimeter rounds. That's 75 rounds per second.

[24:31] Sorry. Some of you engineers knew I was wrong on that. But this cross, why is that a big deal? It's not the cross. It ought to be about Jesus. But why is a cross a big deal?

[24:44] Well, what does a cross represent? It represents suffering, shame, humiliation. And today, the cross still represents suffering, shame, and humiliation.

[25:01] And yet, Jesus is saying, it's not suffering, it's comfort. And it's not shame, it's freedom.

[25:14] You want to write these down. And it's not humiliation, it's humility. So it's not suffering, it's comfort, it's not shame, it's freedom, it's not humiliation, it's humility.

[25:31] And the Corinthians are proud. They do not want that shame. We do not want shame. Shame is not good. None of you want that.

[25:42] And James 4, 6 says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So he will oppose the proud because proud people can't receive grace.

[25:55] I don't need it, I'm good. So in order to help you receive it, he's got to oppose you. Gives grace to the humble. We won't take, we won't receive what we don't think we need.

[26:09] And you certainly can't give what you don't have. So I'm going to give you a C story. And a C story is kind of like a testimony.

[26:21] All right? And both of them start off with there I was. So there I was. It was December and January and I was sick for about eight weeks. And there were things going on with the house.

[26:34] They were breaking. The septic tank overflowed a second time after two months. Toilets were leaking. We're going to have a whole bunch of company coming and I'm not able to prepare.

[26:47] And all the kids are descending on us. They weren't going to come for Christmas. And I'd been training them since they were toddlers. You're military. Thou shall come home for Christmas for one week every year.

[27:00] You'll come home to Mecca. Okay? That's what I told them. But this year I was okay if they didn't come because there was a lot of things going on with the house. And my OCD nature wanted to work on them.

[27:11] But then in October my daughter decided that because her husband was going to be pretty much TDY in the Coast Guard that she was going to come and he was going to come for five days and he would leave and she was going to stay for six weeks.

[27:24] I'm like okay. Because I'm dad and kids can do that to dad and mom. They don't do that to their in-laws.

[27:34] But you know if your dad or mom they have that freedom to do that. I guess. Somebody wrote that down somewhere in a book that I never read. So she's coming for six weeks with a two and a half year old and a seven month old.

[27:49] And then the two brothers are going to come and they're bringing their friend from Germany. And then we had Kevin Mars' girlfriend come for five days. That's great. And then we had another officer come in and hang out with us and so it was quite the full house.

[28:05] And did I tell you the septic tank overflowed? And the toilets had some leaking? And Carl's sick and I got the OCD thing I'm struggling with.

[28:17] And I don't know maybe it was a little bit of drugs but also just the old man starts creeping in. Right? And I snap at my wife. And I do what all guys do when they snap at their wife.

[28:30] We're going to justify that we snapped at our wife and we're going to continue this argument and we're going to continue being a jerk. You know and then we get into this argument because we don't want to admit that we're a hot mess.

[28:43] That we need Jesus. That we're wrong. Because our pride doesn't want us to admit that. So then this happens and now I'm angry that that happened.

[28:55] And I'm a hot mess. And I'm saying God I'm not happy. I'm a hot mess. And then in the background of course there's all this OCF ministry thing that's been grieving my heart for some time going on as well.

[29:05] I'm not happy I'm a hot mess. I've been a hot mess for a long time God. I kind of think I deserve a break from this hot mess time. Don't you? I mean I could probably take a survey and maybe people would say yeah give him a break.

[29:17] And yet I'm this hot mess and I'm not happy. And God says to me that's exactly where I want you to be Carl.

[29:29] Are you kidding me? I just was a jerk to my wife. I don't want to be a hot mess because I don't want to do this. He's like yeah let me let you in on a secret.

[29:41] You're always a hot mess Carl. You just don't realize it. I got your attention right now and I want you to recognize that every day you're a hot mess and you need me every day.

[29:51] Oh that feels so good but that feels so painful. And so the cross isn't shame it's freedom.

[30:06] And he said Carl all you need to do is just accept that you're a hot mess. Ask for forgiveness and then look at me.

[30:19] And so I'm like okay I guess I don't have a lot of choice here. So it wasn't very much longer maybe even that afternoon but for sure by the next day I did what all husbands do.

[30:36] I snapped again at my wife and the Holy Spirit says just accept you're a hot mess. Confess it. Say you're wrong. And it was uncomfortable.

[30:50] I was a jerk. Please forgive me. And then boom. I felt great. It was that easy. And you know what I didn't do? I didn't go on arguing for another 10 minutes and be a bigger jerk with my wife.

[31:04] All of a sudden just by accepting I was a hot mess. Confessing that's forgiveness. I stopped sinning. I was trying to stop sinning yesterday on my own and it wasn't getting anywhere.

[31:16] I was trying to do it all on my own strength make it better but just by accepting that I'm a hot mess. Confessing it and turning to him. How many want to just say oh yeah I'm a hot mess.

[31:31] We don't want to do that. But I'm going to ask you to practice accepting that. So let me give you a little bit of slide. Pull up that first slide.

[31:42] This is for all those who've studied navigation. Alright so I'm going to give you a little basic familiarization of this. At the top that's Jesus. Okay. Down here this is you. You're supposed to be following this blue track line.

[31:56] That's your course line. That's your track line. That's your ideal track line. You've got to be on that track line. So if you're a submarine you've got to be on that course line. If you're a ship you've got to be on that course line.

[32:07] If you're in aviation then you've got to be following that track line. Or it could be glide slope. If you get off glide slope you crash into things. And so we want to be on that blue line.

[32:20] That means I'm not sinning. That sounds great. But what happens is we find ourselves getting cranky because things aren't happening and then we start to go off course.

[32:32] We start to get off course a little bit right. And our pride doesn't want to admit that we're off course. Nobody wants to tell the captain, captain we're off course.

[32:44] Nobody wants to do that. And you will see on a bridge on a ship that they will actually try to convince themselves that they're not really far off course. They kind of wrestle with it because to admit that you're off course is not comfortable.

[32:57] And on submarines you don't want to admit to it. You know the CO of submarines has come in and said what's going on with the plot. You know and that junior officer of the deck he's in big trouble.

[33:10] And in aviation we talk about this all the time about pride. Pride will get you killed. Pride will on a glide slope coming into land if you're not at the right altitude a helicopter may crash into you.

[33:26] You've got to be on glide slope and pride will keep you from acknowledging that you're off of glide slope. And we study that all the time. And now even in the civil aviation the airlines believe it or not they have a system about you know red yellow and green and they'll say I'm in the yellow right now.

[33:47] You're you got to confess nobody wants to do that but they're trying to get those people in the cockpit because aviators are the biggest proud people there are. You know they are so proud. So to try to get them to admit that they're wrong is very difficult.

[33:59] So they've got to come up with these color schemes. So here you are you're getting off course and you're the green arrow that's the ship. Except when you you got to take a fix you recognize you're off course you've got to say hey we're off course that's kind of taking a fix.

[34:18] That means you'll use your navigation aids today they got GPS and you just say hey we're off course. you've got to stop and admit that you're a hot mess. That I am a hot mess.

[34:31] I do need Jesus. And then you've got to ask forgiveness and point your ship back to Jesus to repent.

[34:42] I'm a hot mess. I need Jesus. I'm going to look back to him. And then you just find yourself no longer in sin. You're no longer sinning because you're looking at Jesus.

[34:54] But if you make it about you and you focus on not sinning and that's exactly what Satan wants you to do. He wants you to focus on you.

[35:05] He wants you to focus on not sinning. Let sin be your teacher instead of Jesus. It sounds pretty good because you're not sinning. The Bible doesn't want us to sin. Right Carl? Satan wants you to focus on you.

[35:16] So if you get out here and you take a fix and you say oh gosh I am over here. But I don't want to sin anymore. I'm going to stop sinning. Instead of going this is say this is due north.

[35:31] So when I all of a sudden I got going a little east. Instead of going a little east you go I'm going to turn back to straight north. So if you're over here and all you do is turn back to straight north what are you doing?

[35:44] Are you on course? No. You're paralleling your course. You're in trouble. But you're no longer sinning. Say well I'm not going to look at pornography.

[35:57] I'm not going to look at I'm not going to struggle with lust. I'm not going to be angry with my wife. And you can do that in your own strength but you're just paralleling course. And then you find yourself sinning again and then you stop and you turn back and you parallel course again.

[36:08] And pretty soon you're way off track. You're way off track. That's pride. Yeast of the Pharisees. So I've got to admit that I'm a hot mess.

[36:23] And I need Jesus and turn to him. And yet we get focused on how far off track we are. God's not so concerned about how far off track you get either. He just wants you focused in him.

[36:35] He doesn't even get so concerned about how many times off track you go. He wants you just focused at him. What are you saying Carl? Oh we should sin all the more because grace will abound?

[36:47] No. Read Romans 6 1 and 2. He's like no. If you think I'm saying you need to sin more or you don't need to worry about your sin you're missing it. But if you want to make it an issue of comparing yourself well I'm not as bad as that King David.

[37:01] You know King David committed murder and adultery. He was way out there. And yet we just sang Psalm 51 right after that happened. God is more interested on you focusing on him.

[37:17] And that's mind-boggling. That ought to just blow your mind as you think about that more and more. That he who receives the most grace wins.

[37:30] And that's that's your exegesis and then I want to give you Jesus. So we're going to look at this to explain the text but I want to give you the gospel.

[37:45] And as we look to Jesus okay thanks you took that off. As we look to Jesus you've got to receive grace. And you got to think about what is grace. It's not just that one time atonement for forgiveness of your sins.

[38:00] It's much more than that. It's all of God's glory given to you. He's given you all that glory. Every day he wants to give you that glory.

[38:13] Every day I can receive grace. All of his glory. Well what's his glory Carl? This is worth writing down to Jack. All of God's glory is who he is what he says and what he does.

[38:30] Who he is and what he says and what he does. So Paul in 2 Corinthians 7 5 he talks about how he's a hot mess.

[38:42] He said in Macedonia we were hard pressed at every turn. We had conflicts on the outside fears within. So both on the outside and on the inside you are going to feel like a hot mess.

[38:57] He says he's the least of the apostles and then he calls himself the chief of sinners by the end of his life. He's a hot mess. And I like Galatians 2 20 that says I have been crucified with Christ.

[39:14] It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh this sinful body I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

[39:30] So how do I get how do I crucify the flesh? How do I die with Christ? I think that this is one big way of accepting that I am a hot mess and then looking to Jesus confessing it asking forgiveness and looking to Jesus and somehow in that I stop sinning and my heart is transformed.

[40:00] I don't know how to explain it but that happens. Let's look at verse 18 through 20 21 some are arrogant as though I were not coming to you but I will come to you soon if the Lord wills and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power for the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power what do you wish shall I come to you with a rod or with love in the spirit of gentleness so Paul is going to come in person and he is going to follow up like dad coming home and saying kids let's talk about how you responded to mom today and Paul is not going to come with just talk he's going to come with power now you might think well is he going to do the whole Elijah thing where he challenges the Baal prophets and he you know he's going to call down fire from heaven is he going to do some big demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power maybe

[41:07] I don't I don't think so I don't think that's necessarily the context because they certainly had demonstrations of the Holy Spirit going on in the Corinthian church but if you look back in chapter 2 verse 5 says your faith might not rest in wisdom of men but in the power of God it's this power of God and then chapter 1 verse 18 said for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God so the word and specifically the gospel in this gospel the cross has power there is power and Paul is going to speak it and share it and it's real power it's real victory it's real freedom it's real freedom the cross has real power and they were speaking wonderful lofty ideas but Paul's going to come with that

[42:10] Holy Spirit conviction that when he speaks it's going to land on the hearts and it's going to have an impact that's the power I think that he's he's going to speak to them with but it's heart work it's heart work the purposes of my heart the rewards based on my heart not that I solve world hunger I'm going to be judged based on my heart and in my heart I got to accept that I'm a hot mess and that I need Jesus but pride doesn't want to admit and accept that I'm a hot mess and that I need Jesus and yet when you think about going back to the ship analogy how many of us when you're driving a ship you're turning around looking at where you just went you're staring at look at this great wake that I have isn't that a great wake no you're looking forward if you don't look forward bad things happen you've got to pay attention to where you go for those of you who don't know how to drive ships that's fine you wouldn't drive a car that way you know you wouldn't look behind you the whole time you'd look forward and so pull up that last slide

[43:26] I think this is a good thing to consider that ministry is the wake you leave behind as you follow Christ as ministers and stewards as we follow Christ and we illuminate the word the cross then ministry just happens I don't need to focus on my ministry I don't need to focus on how good I look in front of my wife I just need to follow Jesus and then this work through my heart happens I don't know how to explain it it just works so be like Paul who had real power dies with Christ daily accepts that he is a scum of the world and counts it all a gift and so

[44:36] I think on the handout maybe it said how is Paul different than Jesus well Paul was a hot mess and he needed Jesus Jesus wasn't a hot mess and he didn't need Jesus that's kind of the point there let's pray Lord I just I thank you for this time I thank you for this example that Paul's given us how to be like Jesus God help us to have that that real power to die with Christ daily to accept that we're the scum of the world and to count all things as a gift from you Amen