1 Corinthians 4

The speaker starts by praying for awareness of God's presence and for open hearts to hear from Him. They emphasize the desire to hear everything, good, bad, and ugly, because God is a good God who loves His children. The speaker then moves on to greet the audience and express gratitude for the opportunity to teach. They introduce the topic of 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and highlight the main ideas of being servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries. The importance of faithfulness as stewards is emphasized, and the speaker encourages the audience to focus on pleasing God rather than seeking approval from others. The passage also speaks about not judging others and waiting for God's judgment. The speaker concludes by sharing Paul's words about finishing the race and keeping the faith, emphasizing the importance of faithfulness in our stewardship to God. Lord, that we would be more aware of your presence this morning, God, that you would open the eyes of our heart, that we might see you today, Lord Jesus. That is our heart's desire, that the things of this world would fade away and that you would take center stage. Come speak to your people, and Lord, we desperately want to hear. We want to hear it all. We want to hear the good. We want to hear the bad. We want to hear the ugly. We want to hear it all, God, because you're a good God who knows how to love his children. So come and love us today. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Good morning. Good morning, ladies. That was good. I was kind of like bummed it was over. Did I interrupt it? Were you done? Okay. Okay. I had that thought. I was like, maybe I came up too early. Am I not on? I'm on. Maybe it's just not very loud. Can you guys not hear me? I'm not on. Oh, there. Now I'm on. Makes a difference, doesn't it? All right. Good to see you all. Such a blessing to be able to be with you every single week. I love it so much, and I'm so thankful for this time that God gives us. We are going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 this week, and I'm excited to be able to teach God's Word, to be able to open it up, to be able to share, to be able to see what the Holy Spirit wants to do even now. So let me just start. I'm going to read the first five verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 4. It says this, ìLet a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself, for I know of nothing against myself. But I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.î Paul starts here, and really the thrust of verses 1-5 is this. His takeaway is this, that he who judges me is the Lord. The Lord is the only one that actually has the ability and the authority to judge. And so as he's speaking to the Corinthians, of his audience, as he writes this letter, he starts with this phrase, ìLet a man so consider us.î And what he's saying to Corinth is this. He says, ìYou need to get a change in your perspective. You are so about the appearances of man, the eloquence of man, all the shiny things, and you need your perspective to change.î And so I'm going to help change your perspective in this thing. And he starts out with this, ìLet a man so consider us as servants of Christ.î See, Corinthians, you're putting men on pedestals. But Paul's saying, ìBut I came to serve. I came as a servant.î And the word servant there is actually the word under rower. Under rower. So think of a ship, alright? And the under rower was the lowest, most menial, most despised galley slave. They literally rowed on the bottom tier of the ship. So when you think about that, you think, okay, well, if this ship were to sink, they're the last ones that are going to get off of it, right? They're at the bottom. But also think about all the filth and crud and junk and dirt, and we have nice ships now, but think about ships in those days. It all goes down, right? Everything goes downhill. He says, ìWe are under rowers.î Don't think of us higher than that. An under rower was one who acts under the direction of another and asks no questions. One who does the thing he is appointed to do without hesitation. Man, wouldn't that be nice if we had kids like that. One who does what they need to do without hesitation. And one who reports only to the one who is over him. Okay? So, a servant, an under rower. One who asks no questions. One who does what is told without hesitation. And one who reports only to the one who is over him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you. I hear what you want. I hear what you're asking, but I only report to him. He's the only one I'm listening to. He's the only one I'm receiving instruction from. And you know, this concept, this idea, in theory, is great. It really is. When it works, it's beautiful. But in practice, it is difficult. You think, spiritually speaking, the concept of, I report only to him, has the propensity to split families and to separate the closest friends. So, in theory, it's beautiful. In practice, it is difficult. And if you think about it, I was thinking about Jesus as a servant who came, what, to only do the will of his Father. He says, I only respond to one person. I've come to do the will of him and him alone. And think about how many times in his ministry this became a point of conflict. Think about it with his disciples. Do you remember when he's telling his disciples, he's teaching them about how the Son of Man has to come, and he has to suffer, and how he has to be rejected, and how he will be killed? And how do his closest friends, and his inner circle, how do they respond? Peter looks at him and says, what are you doing? Why are you talking about these things? You're just starting to get a gathering, and you're talking about this? And what does Jesus do in that moment? Jesus looks at his closest, dearest friend, and he says this, get behind me, Satan. Get behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God. Peter, I can't listen to you. You're tempting me away from what I know I have come to do. Think about when Jesus was ministering to the multitudes. Remember, he's ministering, and his mother and his brothers come. Remember that? And they come looking for him, and his disciples say, hey, your mother and your brothers, they're outside, and they want you to come. You need to go give them some attention. And Jesus stops in that moment, and he says, who is my mother, and who are my brothers? Here. Here. For whoever does the will of my Father is my brother, and my sister, and my mother. Ladies, this is the heart of a servant. This is the heart of an under-rower, of somebody who understands that they report to one person. And like I said, it's beautiful in theory and the way God designed it, but everything in your world will come to fight against that. And Jesus himself is an example of what that looks like, that struggle. But he goes on, he says, not only are we servants, as Paul is talking to the Corinth, but we're also stewards. We're stewards. And the most essential requirement of a steward, ladies, is faithfulness. Faithfulness. That's what God is looking for in stewards. Are you being faithful? Warren Weardley writes this. He says, the responsibility of the steward is to be faithful to his master. A steward may not please the members of the household. Isn't that the truth? He may not even please other servants, but if he pleases his own master, he is a good steward. He's a good steward. And so the key here that Paul is trying to make, the point he's trying to make, is the importance of faithfulness. It is not he who starts the race, ladies. We've heard it said. But it is he who finishes the race that matters. And you know what? We've seen, I was thinking about this as I was studying, my husband and I, we've seen many people start. We've seen many, many people start. But we have seen so few finish well. Finish well. Why? Because it's hard. Because it's hard. Because this walk is hard. We went to a pastor's conference a couple weeks ago, and of course the realm that we work in is ministry, but all of you guys have different things that God is calling you to do. And so we were attending a pastor's conference, and the guy speaking, he was so, he was amazing. He got up and he was talking about just the need for faithfulness for pastors. And he said something that stuck with me, and I thought about this in terms of what I'm talking about here, about how it's hard. He says, no matter what, no matter how good a pastor is on Sunday, or even how bad he is, he has to get up on Monday morning and start all over again. And that struck me. Because both of, it slices both ways. Man, that was good. Can't I just live on that a little bit? Nope. Monday morning, start all over again. Nobody cares about last week. Man, that was awful. I never want to get in that pulpit again. That was so bad. I did such a poor job. Doesn't matter. Monday morning, start all over again. The key to our stewardship to the Lord, ladies, is faithfulness. That Monday morning, we all start over again. And this is kind of the message that Paul is trying to get across to the Corinthians. And I love in 2 Timothy, it's the end of Paul's life when he writes the letter, the second letter to Timothy. And Timothy was like his protege. It was his son in the faith. He loved Timothy. And he writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 7, and this is what he says. It's kind of like his farewell. He says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Finally, there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. Isn't that beautiful? I want to be able to say that. I know that you want to be able to say that when we come to the end. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. And that is faithfulness, ladies. And that is the heart of Paul. And he wants it to be the heart of the Corinthians. Oh, don't worry about the pedestals. Don't listen to the accolades. Be a servant and be a steward. And then in verse 3 and 4, let me read that. It says this, Isn't that good? He says, I'm not going to be judged by you or by a human court. That's how he starts. Now, human court can be translated man's judgment. That's what he's saying. And we can translate man's judgment as man's day. Right now, ladies, is man's day. It's man's day. God's day is coming. God's day is coming. But right now, it's man's day. And man judges according to what he sees and what he knows. Paul is saying, a human verdict on my life is not the one that matters. Even if it's my own. Even if it's what I say about myself. Even if it's what I think about myself. It doesn't matter. And when Paul was dealing with Corinth, he was dealing with a very negative perspective on who he was. You see, the Corinthians, they didn't think much of Paul. Paul wasn't flashy. Paul wasn't attractive. Paul wasn't eloquent. And what he's saying to them is this, your low estimation of me, it doesn't even matter. It doesn't matter. Even our own estimation of ourselves, ladies, if you think about it, is usually wrong. Isn't it? Because we are almost always too hard on ourselves, or we are much too easy. And I used to think years back, I think people were hard on themselves, but more recently, I think we are way too easy on ourselves. I think we constantly, maybe I'm just speaking for myself, are letting ourselves off the hook. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 9 and 10. And this is why we can't let ourselves off the hook, ladies. He says this, Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. This is why we can't let ourselves off too easy. Because go ahead and do it right now, but one day it will be revealed. Our own estimation of ourselves doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. And like I said just a little while ago, today is man's day, but one day it will be God's day. And that's judgment day, the judgment seat of Christ, and everything will be revealed. And he says in verse 5, he says, Therefore, judge nothing before the time. Don't judge anything before the time. I don't know about you, but I think I know myself. I'm very quick to judge. And not in the sense of a critique, but just like, you know, just make an assessment, have an opinion. We are very quick to judge. And here, Paul is saying, judge nothing. Judge nothing before the time. What is he saying? He's saying Jesus is the judge, and you're judging before the event is even over. You're trying to determine what's going to happen, and we're still playing. The game is still in session. Nobody's won yet. Okay? So keep working. Keep competing. Jesus is the judge, and you are judging before the event is over. Okay, so this is funny. My daughter, Maddie, she plays volleyball, okay? And we had a family in the church whose daughter is on the team, too. And so it's kind of fun. We go to the games. We got to hang out together and talk. And we love this family. We've known them for a while, but it was like you get to know them in a different way, you know, sitting in the sand rooting for your kids. And so preseason, Maddie's team, I mean, they won every game. I mean, they were just like, man, they were amazing. Every team they played, they just beat decisively. And at one point, the husband, or the family, looks at us and goes, man, they're so good. This is so fun. I'm like, yeah. And then season started. And we realized that our preseason, we kind of faced some very, very weak teams. And preseason comes, and we win our very first game, and we never win another game again. And we're at the very last game of the season, and all the parents are like, hallelujah, I cannot wait for the season to be over. Like, praise God. And I look at a friend, and I look at the husband, and I'm like, hey, hey. He's like, what? I'm like, remember when you thought we were good? And isn't that the truth? He's like, aw. And I'm like, yeah, we thought we were so good. And then we actually played against season and knew how to play. We realized we weren't that good. And that's kind of what Paul is saying. He's like, don't judge things before the time. Like, this is still in session. So, it's still in session. Judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who's going to bring to light the hidden things of darkness. He's going to see what's really down there, ladies. He's going to see what we're really made of. He's going to reveal the counsels of the heart. And then he's going to be the one that brings the praise. And that kind of praise is going to be the best praise ever. Verse 6. Let's look at verse 6. Kind of shift gears here a little bit. Right? So, let's look at this. This is in verse 6. Now, these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. Okay? So, he's like, okay. He's going to explain it a little bit. But really the gist of it that he's trying to communicate to the Corinthians is this. You're really not that special. Okay? That's really what he's getting at. And he's like, neither am I. I'm not special either. But, you need to know you're really not that special. And you girls laugh. And I know why you laugh. Because we live in a culture, right, where everyone wants to be special. And everything has to be special. That's why I have social media. When you look at social media, that's all it is. Everybody wants to be special. Everybody wants to do special things. But the problem with that, and you know where I'm headed here, the problem with that is when everyone is special, and everything is special, nothing's special anymore. It's not. We see that with our children, right? It doesn't matter how much you give them. They're never satisfied. And the more you do, the more special things you do, all of a sudden it just brings the bar up higher. Right? And pretty soon nothing's special. And you have to bring it down where the normal, normal, normal life, that's reality. And once in a while, there's some special things that come along that you treasure and you value. And he's trying to tell the Corinthians, hey, you're not that special, but it's okay. I'm not either. I'm not either. In verse 6 he says, now these things. And that phrase, these things, is actually referring to previous analogies that Paul has used to explain himself and Apollos' role. Okay? So if you think back a few chapters, some of those analogies, how did he refer to himself? Well, he referred to himself and to Apollos as farmers. Right? He called them builders. And now he's calling them servants and stewards. Ladies, there's nothing special about these things, right? Farmers, builders, servants, stewards. That's the point he's trying to make. We are not special. He's telling his audience here. He's like, Apollos and I, we're not special. Stop trying to pit us against each other. Stop trying to divide this church. Stop trying to have factions. We're not special. But neither are you. So stop acting puffed up on our behalf. Well, I'm part of this group. Well, I'm part of this group. Stop. He's saying your pride and your arrogance will destroy you, Corinthian church. Because pride is ugly, ladies. It's so ugly that the Word of God says that God opposes it in our life. When he begins to see pride rise up in us, he actually looks the other way. He opposes the proud. He opposes the prideful things in my heart and in my mind. But in contrast to that, this is what it says, but he gives grace to the humble. To those that see themselves as they truly are before God and humble themselves, he gives grace. He pours out grace and grace. And he's like, Corinthians, you need grace. But your pride is coming in the way of you receiving grace because God's like, I oppose that. And ladies, pride is dangerous. We need to ask God to root it out. It's so insidious that even saying, oh Lord, get rid of my pride could be prideful, right? Like, oh, it's so good. I'm asking God to get rid of my pride. It's such an ugly thing. Now we know why Paul said, oh wretched man that I am. And so he's trying to come to the heart of this church and he's like, guys, you've got things that God needs to deal with. He needs to deal with these things. Verse 7 says, For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now, if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? All that we have, all that you have, Corinthian church, you've received. So stop boasting about it. Stop boasting. And then in verse 8, he gets to really kind of the heart of what he's going to say in this little section of scripture. And really, it's a very strong rebuke. And it's a strong rebuke and he wraps it in sarcasm and false praise. He just packages it just so perfectly. And I'll kind of hopefully unwrap it for you a little bit. So verse 8 says this, You are already full. You are already rich. You have reigned as kings without us. And indeed, I could wish you did reign that we also might reign with you. Interesting. You are already full. You're already rich. You've reigned as kings. Sarcasm, ladies. This is what he's using here. And you know what? It's really similar. When I read this, I immediately thought of the church of Laodicea. Yes. So turn with me to Revelations chapter 3 because I think this is going to give us understanding of what Paul is saying to them. This is a very similar rebuke that Jesus gave to the church of Laodicea. And he says this, verse 17. So before that, he's saying, I know your works. He's like, you're neither hot nor cold. I wish you were. I wish you were. You're just lukewarm. Because you are, I'm going to have to vomit you out of my mouth. But then in verse 17 he says this, Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Isn't that similar to what Paul is saying here? He's like, Corinth, you say you're rich. You think you have it all together, Corinth. But you're just like this church in Laodicea that Jesus rebuked. They thought they were rich. They thought they were wealthy. They thought they didn't need anything. But the reality of it was this. They were wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. And Paul is saying, I don't want you to be ignorant of your present state. I don't want you to think higher of yourself than you really are. I don't want you to be deceived, Corinth. And Jesus just flat out tells them in Revelation, this is what you think, but this is what you really are. As I was reading this and studying, I was reminded of the Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Emperor's New Clothes. I don't know if you're familiar with that story. I'm going to just quickly retell it to you. But this is how it goes. The tale concerns an emperor who has an obsession with fancy new clothes and spends lavishly on them at the expense of state matters. One day, two conmen visit the emperor's capital. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are stupid. The gullible emperor hires them and they set up looms and they pretend to go to work. A succession of officials, ending with the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty, but pretend otherwise to avoid being thought a fool. Finally, the weavers report that the emperor's suit is finished. They mime dressing him and he sets off in a processional parade before the whole city. The townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear stupid. All is well until a child blurts out, but he hasn't got anything on. Don't you love bold kids? I do. I love bold kids. I love honest kids. I love kids that just say it like it is. Even if it's like hitting my own heart and revealing my own inadequacies, I still appreciate it. And that kid's like, are you guys kidding me? This guy's got nothing on. He's naked. He's wretched. And Paul, like this little child, is the only one bold enough to say to the Corinthian church, you are ignorant of your state. You think you are rich. You think you have need of nothing, but you are poor and you are blind and you are naked. And he says in the second part of verse 8, and go ahead and keep on Revelation because I'm coming back to it, but the second part of verse 8 he says this, and indeed I could wish that you did rain, that we also might rain with you. And this is the beauty of Paul's heart, guys. This is it. He's like, oh yeah, you think you're raining. But then he says, but I actually wish you did. I really do want you to rain. And the reason I'm telling you the truth, the reason I'm being so hard is because I want you to rain. I want us to rain together in glory. So will you receive what I have for you? Will you repent? Will you acknowledge? He's saying, I'm rebuking you, Corinthian church, because I love you. Because I love you. And in Revelation 3, 18, hopefully you stayed there. The next verse, after where we left off, it says this, I counsel you, Jesus is speaking, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich. And white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be solace and repent. It's the same heart. Jesus' heart for this church in Laodicea is the same heart that Paul has for this church in Corinth. You think you rain, Corinth, but I really do pray that you would one day. You're not raining now, Corinth, but I pray one day you would, that you would, that you would receive the rebuke and that you would repent. Because that's my heart's desire for you, because I love you. And then he goes on back in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 9. He goes on. He says, for I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last as men condemned to death. For we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. Paul doesn't stop. He could have stopped it. He could have stopped it, and it actually probably would have been strong enough, but he keeps going. He keeps going. He's taking it to a whole new level here. And they get it. They're going to get it. They may not like it. They may reject it, but they get what he is saying. He says, God has displayed us. He's saying, God has put me, Apollos, all the disciples, he has put us on display for all to see. And Corinthians are like, okay, well, that sounds good. I like that. I can get on board with that idea. Until he says this, for we have been made a spectacle to the world. Now, that word spectacle is the word theater. Theater. And this image was very familiar to the people in Corinth. It was very familiar to people in the entire Roman Empire, because the government kept people pacified during this time by entertaining them. Keep them happy. Keep them entertained. We can do what we want to do, and they'll be okay. And so what happens is they would build these amphitheaters, and they'd be filled with citizens. They'd bring the citizens in, and they'd be so eager to watch men compete in games. That's where the Olympics originated. Keep them pacified. Keep them entertained. And Paul's saying, you've made us a spectacle. Okay, where are you going with this, Paul? And then he goes on and he says this, for I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last. Last? We want to be first. What do you mean, last? Well, if we go back to this amphitheater and this entertainment and everything that's going on here, when the main events were ended, then the last occurred. The last, ladies, were the poorest. This was the time when the poorest and the weakest prisoners were brought in to fight the beast. Everybody knew that they were coming to die. Nobody beat the beast. And Paul's saying, God has put us on display as last. As the last. These were the condemned prisoners brought into a Roman arena for one reason and one reason only, to fight and to die. And this is what he's saying to the Corinthians. He's like, you think we're something. You're trying to divide the church, but we know why we're here. We know God's purpose for us. We know what this looks like. And he goes on. He goes on. He doesn't stop. Verse 10 through 13, but we are fools for Christ's sake. But you think you're wise in Christ. That's what he's saying. We are weak, but you're so strong. We are distinguished. You are distinguished, but we are dishonored. To the present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless, being persecuted, we endure, being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscoring of all things until now. Remember I told you he's going to drive it home. He is driving this thing home. Paul's point is this. God chose to display the apostles before men and angels during this present age, during man's day. He chose to display them as worthless and condemned spectacles. Like doomed gladiators. They were ridiculed. They were spit on. They were imprisoned. They were beaten. And if you think this is too much, this is what our Jesus did, ladies. But God glorified his name through them and through his son Jesus, and he used them to build his kingdom. This is how he did it. You want to be first in the kingdom, then make yourself least. You see, our kids are now college age, which is an interesting transition. High school goes by in a flash. I mean, it's crazy how quickly high school goes by. And now I have two, almost three, that are college age. And so about two years ago, my husband and I made a decision that we were going to commit our spring breaks to visiting colleges. That's what we were going to do. That we were going to make it fun, and we were going to go have fun too, but you know what? Let's go visit some colleges. And so we visited several colleges, and it's kind of interesting doing that kind of thing repetitively at different places because you realize some things. When you go and visit a college, you're so welcomed. They're so happy to see you, and they just come and be a part. And they bring you into a room, and they have nice refreshments, and everything is just perfect. And they go and they take you on a tour, and the tour person is usually a college student, and they're just so shiny and bubbly and happy, and it's just so cool. And then they take you to all the best sites. You see all the good stuff on the campus. You don't see the underbelly of the campus. You see the good stuff, right? And then it always culminates with they take you to the cafeteria, but that day, you don't know it then, but that day, man, they're serving the best food. I mean, they are like putting their best foot forward as they should, as they should. And then you find out when your kids actually go to the schools that, yeah, they never serve food like that again. It's like a one-and-done thing. Parent weekend, we're bringing out the red carpet. But that's normal, right? When you're trying to attract somebody to come and join your group, you're doing your best. You're putting your best foot forward. It makes sense. And then I read this portion of Scripture that we're looking at this morning. And I don't know about your Bible, but in my Bible, verse 6 through 13 has a little heading, and it says, Fools for Christ's sake. Fools for Christ's sake. And I think, who wants to apply there? Who wants to sign up for that? And I look at Paul's so-called ad campaign for following Christ and attending his school of ministry, and it's so very different. It's so very different, right? And I'm reminded of Hebrews chapter 11. Go ahead and turn to that. Hebrews chapter 11. I'm reminded of the hall of fame, of faith. And Hebrews chapter 11, man, it starts out as probably one of the greatest ad campaigns ever given. It lists all the wonderful men and women of faith who God used in powerful and miraculous ways. They're all there, ladies. And you read Hebrews chapter 11, and you're like, yes, I want to serve Jesus. This is amazing. We're not going to read the whole chapter, but you can look. You can skim. You see Abraham, and you see Isaac, and you see Moses. You see all these people. Yeah, God did mighty things through those people. I want to be a part of that. But if you pick up in verse 32, I want to show you something here. Verse 32. And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. I mean, come on, who doesn't want to do that? Quenched the violence of fire. Escaped the edge of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong. Became valiant in battle. Turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Ladies, these are the types of things that we could put on a billboard and say, come follow Jesus, and we would have a line. But then something shifts right there in Hebrews 11, verse 35. And it starts with the word others. Others were tortured. Not accepting deliverance. That they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourging. Yes, and of chains and imprisonments. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. Were tempted. Were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. And this is my favorite part. Of whom the world was not worthy. Of whom the world was not worthy. And I look at that part from verse 35, the second part, to 38, and I think God's heart for those people that he saw endure. And at some point he said, you know what? You know what, children? The world's not worthy of you. I'm bringing you home. This world, man's day, is not worthy of you. I'm bringing you home. You have fought the good fight. You have kept the faith. You finished your race and it's time to come home. And that is the point I believe Paul is trying to make to the Corinthians. He's saying if you want to follow Christ, this is what you're signing up for. Don't make this decision lightly. Don't make it in the heat of the moment, the emotion of the song, the passion of the preacher. No, no, no. You really need to decide if this is what you really want to do. Not because everybody's going up to the altar. No, no, no. You have to decide if this is something you really want to do. Because it's not easy. And this is his purpose in writing to them. I'm going to finish with this last section here, verse 14 through 21. He says this in verse 14 and 15, I do not write these things to shame you. I'm not trying to shame you, Corinth. But as my beloved children, I warn you. For though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ, I have begotten you through the gospel. He's saying I'm writing you. I'm not writing you to shame you guys. I'm not saying this to make you feel badly. I'm doing it because I want to warn you and I also want to challenge you. But I want you to know that you are my beloved children. I need you to know, as Paul writes, I need you to know that I love you. And here we see Paul's affection for carnal and immature kids. And if you have kids, we can relate, right? How many of you can relate? They break your hearts. Your children break your hearts because they don't listen. But you still love them. And you can't stop loving them. You can't help but love them. And that is what Paul's saying. Because I love you, I warn you. And though you have 10,000 instructors, what he's saying is this, you might have countless tutors in your life. You might have an unlimited number of moral guardians. But Paul's saying, I'm your only spiritual father. And no one besides God himself cares about you more. You know, my husband and I, we talk about this often. We talked about this the other day with Caleb because Mike Smith's been taking Caleb out on trails and teaching him how to clean up the trails and Caleb loves it. And so we were just talking about how we're just so thankful for all the men and women that God has brought into our children's lives to love them and to challenge them and to be a part of their growth process. There's been so many over the years. I was thinking about Sarah Frank and Terry Turner and Debra Candelaria, Sunday school teachers. And I was thinking about men who come alongside my own sons. And I was thinking about teachers and coaches. And you know, God brings a lot of people into our kids' lives to be a presence. And you know what? Welcome those. If they're good people, good influences, welcome that. But you know what? They only have one mom and dad. And as much as I appreciate that and thankful for that, the buck stops here. My husband and I, we're the ones responsible. We're the ones who've been given the stewardship to raise our kids. And we need to take it seriously. We need to take it seriously. And Paul took it seriously. He took it seriously. And that's why he was so passionate about seeing their hearts right with God. He didn't care if they liked him. He didn't care if they wanted to hang out with him. He cared about their heart before God. And as parents, that's our job. That's our role. I don't care if my kids like me. I don't. I don't care if they're happy with me. I don't care if they're annoyed with me. I really don't. And you know what? They know I don't care. They know that I care ultimately about one thing. That they're walking in the ways of the Lord. That they're being responsible and respectful and loving. They know those things. And that's why Paul is able to say in verse 16, he says something that's really bold. He says, therefore I urge you, imitate me. That's what he's saying. He's telling the Corinthians. He's not saying he's perfect. He's like, I'm not perfect, but I'm doing my best. I'm doing my best. I'm doing my best. And ladies, as parents, we're doing our best. But outside of Christ, Paul's saying, I love you, Corinthian church, the most. Outside of Christ's love for you, I'm second. I love you most. So follow my example. Follow my example. And you know what? Our kids follow our example. They see how we live. They see how we act. My husband and I were just talking about it. We were talking about fighting and arguing. And we know some people are like, don't fight in front of your kids. You know what? I think we should fight in front of our kids. Our kids see us fight. They see us work it out. They see us have different opinions. And then they see us, when one of us realizes we were wrong, they get to see us humble ourselves and say, you know what? You're right. I'm sorry. They get to see that whole process. I think that's important. Our kids are watching us. I read something, or maybe it was a reel. I don't know. I read something and it was very challenging. It says this. You know where kids learn to drink? Not at school. At home. You know where kids learn to cuss? Not at school. At home. You know where they learn to lie and gossip and judge others? Not at school. At home. You know where kids learn to trust Jesus and put God first and make Him the center of your home? Not at church. At home. At home. That's where they learn these things. So let us be able to have the heart of Paul, who says to these spiritual children that he's brought in, I urge you, imitate me. That's sobering, ladies. That's a responsibility. Imitate me. And then he ends in verse 17. He says, For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ. He's like, Until I come, I'm going to send Timothy, because Timothy is my true son in the faith. He's my guy. I love him, and he'll love you like I do until I come. And then in verse 18-20, he says, Now some are puffed up as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills. And I will know not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. You see, some of you are puffed up. Some of you don't think I'm coming. They were doubtful. Is Paul really going to come back? He did. Paul did come, and actually it didn't go well. It was called the painful visit. It was not a great visit, but Paul did come. But people, until he came back, they thought, Eh, he's not going to come. So, you know, people are big and bold when they don't think you're coming. And that's what Paul is saying. He's like, You're big and bold because you don't think I'm coming, but if God wills, I'm going to come, and when I do, I'm going to see what you're made of. And people like this, they're bold behind your back. This was the Corinthian church. They were bold behind Paul's back, but let me tell you this, they were the biggest cowards when confronted. Cowards. And then he ends with a question in verse 21. He says, What do you want? What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and in the spirit of gentleness? He's like, I'm coming, but when I come, how do you want me to come? I can come either way. It depends on you. It depends on your state. It depends if you repented. I'm coming in gentleness. You're still fighting with this, still struggling with this thing? I'm coming with a rod. It depends on what's needed. Isn't that true in parenting as well? Man, I could be gentle, but I can bring a rod too. My kids know it, and they're like, Mom's scary. Yeah, Mom can be scary. If Mom needs to be scary, Mom will be scary. My kids are funny. Have you ever walked in on your kids talking about you behind your back? Oh, walking in, and they're like, what was that? Wait, what did you have to say? No, no, no, I want to hear. Come on. Why do you have to be so scary, Mom? It's called accountability. And Paul's like, what do you want me to bring? The rod or the staff? It reminds me, and I'm closing with this. It reminds me of Psalm 23. It starts, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not want. He's my shepherd. Why would I want anything? Why would I ever be in want of anything? And then in verse 4, and this is the part I want to focus on, it says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. I love that Psalm. I love it because I think about the valley of the shadow of death, and I think so often we think of the valley of the shadow of death as being just a trial, and it could be a trial that we had nothing to do with. We didn't do anything wrong. We just had to walk through a trial. But you know what it could be? It could be a detour that we made on our own, too. The valley of shadow of death that we chose because of our own sin, and now we're having to walk through this valley of the shadow of death. But you know what? Even when we make those bad decisions, we have nothing to fear. Why? Because He's with us. And you know what He brings with Him? He brings His rod, and He brings His staff. Why? Because we need both. Because the rod is the sign of correction in our life, and we need correction. But the staff is that spirit of gentleness and guidance. Oh, don't go over there. Let me help you. Let me bring you in. Let me comfort you. Let me protect you. Isn't that beautiful? But we need both, ladies. We need both, and God will provide that. When we go through a trial that is completely out of our hands, we did nothing to make this trial come. Or when we go through a trial that we just headlong went into sin ourselves, God said, I'll be with you, and I'll bring my rod, and I'll bring my staff. I'm so blessed that we have God. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for Your goodness towards us. We thank You for Your Word that is so living and powerful, God, and it ministers right where we're at in the areas and crevices of our heart that we are unaware of. Just as we read today, we don't even know. We can't even judge ourselves because we don't know the depth of ourselves, God. But You do. And thank You that by Your Word, You come and You cut and You expose. But just as we said early on in the teachings, Lord, that You don't just do that for the purpose of exposing. You do it because You want to bring healing and wholeness in those areas. And so, Lord, come and do that even now in our hearts. We thank You for Your rod. And we thank You for Your staff. And we know that we need both. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.