1 CORINTHIANS: Living Out the Gospel Together
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by PulpitAI (with edits)
Recap
We are wrapping up the book of 1 Corinthians. We’re in chapter 16 today. It’s been a fun journey; I’ve really enjoyed it.
Just to kind of think about a recap—those first three chapters, it talked about division within the church. And so, if you think back, Chloe (or somebody in Chloe’s household), they wrote a letter to Paul, and they had some concerns about the church. The church was, in a sense, falling apart somewhat. They were dealing with some issues, there was some conflict within this church, and so they wrote a letter to Paul. Paul planted this church, and now he is responding to them, and he’s trying to guide them. And so the first three chapters, it was all about kind of division. And then we had those intense chapters about sexual sin, right? And then we had the chapters about spiritual gifts and about love. And then last week, Pastor Dean preached on chapter 15. I have not listened to the sermon yet. I was enjoying the sunshine and the beach, so I repent. I still have to listen to it, but I’ve heard that it was really good, so thank you.
Chapter 16
And today, as we’re reading this chapter—again, this is kind of the closing of this book, this letter that he’s writing to this church, and obviously, we have to pay attention. I mean, there’s a lot of meat in here, and these are important words in these final words to this church. And so we want to pay attention. At first I was like, “Man, I don’t know if there’s a lot of meat in there. How am I gonna preach all morning?” And then I looked at it again, and some things that the Lord brought to mind—it’s like, man, we need two/three weeks on this. So let’s see how far we get this morning.
So if you have your Bible, please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. I’ll give you a second to find it. If you don’t have your Bible, use your phone, or there’s a Bible in front of you in the seat as well, so feel free to grab that.
Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
Verse 5:
After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you—for I will be going through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.
Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.
Be on your guard…
And if you want to highlight, it’d definitely an area I want you to highlight.
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.
You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the Lord’s people. I urge you, brothers and sisters, to submit to such people and to everyone who joins in the work and labors at it. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.
The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. All the brothers and sisters here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.
If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord!
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Great letter; a lot of meat in there for us this morning.
Spiritual Maturity
Several years ago, when I had the opportunity to teach at Minnesota Teen Challenge, it was really the first time, through this class that I was teaching, that I saw the different stages of maturity, looking at Scripture. And then later on I started this project—I was just looking at it again in my project folder, and I really want to write more about it at some point—on kind of all of these different stages. And then at this conference, our first session, the pastor just wrote a book called The Table, and we’ll talk about it now. But again, it talks about these different stages that we go through in our Christian walk. And then I’m busy reading through a book; it’s called Disciple-Building: a Biblical Framework. And again, the same thing. And so the Lord is kind of just sharing the same message over and over. You know, sometimes you have that topic where the Lord is just kind of screaming at you everywhere that that theme is showing up? And so that theme is really showing up in my life. And so as I was reading chapter 16, I was like, just that revelation of “this is exactly what is going on here as well.”
Now, when we look at Scripture—and at least with Pastor Ed Young, with what he was teaching in this book, The Table (I did not purchase the book, but Christo did purchase it), he talks about how many times in Scripture do we read about the table and about a meal and the spiritual maturity that happens around that table. And so he mentions that in a church, you need to have all four chairs—all four different groups at this table to be a healthy church.
The Seeker
So when we think about chair one, chair one is the unbeliever, the seeker. This chair represents those who do not yet know Christ or have not committed their lives to Him. This is an exciting chair, amen? Right? We all want this chair. We want people that is sitting at this table, and I hope that there’s some people here this morning that’s just kind of checking things out, like, “Man, what is this God thing all about? What is this church thing all about? We read stuff about church, and we see the messiness, and we’re trying to figure out spirituality, and can we believe in this God?” And so we want that. If you’re here this morning, it’s like, praise the Lord! We’re glad that you are here, right, and that you’re asking the questions, and that you actually showed up, because it can be scary to show up in a brand new church and trying to figure out the different traditions.
I once went to a service at a Catholic church for a funeral, and I just felt like a fish out of water. Like, you don’t know when to sit or what to read or what to say. Right? It’s intimidating. And I attended a confirmation for one of our students back in Fairmont. It was in a Lutheran church, and it was the same thing. It’s like, I was constantly wrong, right? It’s like, when people are sitting, I’m standing. You know, it’s like, “Okay,” and it can be scary. It can be intimidating. What is the culture of that denomination? What is the culture of that church? What does that all mean?
And so I just want to say again, when it comes to hospitality, this is such an important chair, and all of us have an important role to play, to be on the lookout, to be aware of those that are visiting the first time and that’s in this chair, because we want to help them. We want to guide them through that process.
The New Believer
All right, number two. I don’t know how I feel about this one. I am excited about all of the stages, right? I kind of like this one, and I like this one, and I would say I would like this one. I need a little bit of help with this one. I need that agape love. So chair number two is the new believer, the infant.
Now, just when it comes to being an infant, that’s exciting. These are people who have recently come to faith but are still spiritually immature. Now again, it is super exciting. What I love about this stage—usually these people are excited. They’re passionate. It’s easy for them to share their faith. They want to bring everyone to church and bring everyone to Christ. And it’s like, man, that’s a beautiful thing. But the challenge a little bit with this stage is a lot of times they’re babies, and they’re messy. And it’s not always easy to be a pastor for this group, because you know that a lot of times this can be so messy. And I have seen this over the years, and just with Teen Challenge and different things. You know, you end up here, you’re starting to learn some things, but you’re still immature, and then you get here, and suddenly you think you know everything, and there’s a lot of complaining and yelling, and, you know, diapers are dirty, and it’s just messy. Right?
Can we be honest this morning? Is that okay? And it’s good! Just say, “We need this.” I mean, we go through this in the physical stage. It’s gonna be super weird if your kid just goes from, you know, new to maturity. It doesn’t happen. There’s a natural process. We need this process. All I’m saying is, as a church and as a mature believer and as a pastor, we have to recognize that somebody might be here. The problem is that, a lot of times when we’re sitting here or at the last chair, we get upset with this group because we don’t realize and we can’t identify that they’re only babes in Christ, and that there is some diapers that needs to change. Right? And they do need a lot of attention. And so, again, if you’re here today and if you can recognize that you’re sitting here today, praise the Lord! If you have some complaints and stuff, call Christo, or some of the elders. Call our chair, Jordan. Can we just flash his number on the screen? Okay? But again, I want to just say, it is so important for us to pay attention (if you’re mature) to be able to recognize this is what is going on, all right, in this stage.
The Disciple
Now the next chair. Oh, we’re not gonna get through that chapter. The growing believer, the disciple. These individuals have moved beyond infancy and are developing a deeper relationship with Christ. They are learning, serving, and engaging in the life of the church. Isn’t that exciting? It’s like, we want to be here, amen? But we don’t want to stop here either because there’s one more chair, there’s another stage. And so the temptation for a lot of believers as we go through this journey—when you’re here and you’re so messy and you’re throwing tantrums, a lot of times you have believers here that leaves the church, right, because they’re throwing a tantrum, and they’re not able to see that they’re only toddlers. They think that they’re already here. But they’re not there; they’re here, right? And so to be humble enough and allow people to speak into your life and to say, “Hey, you’ve got some work still that needs to happen in your life. Let me lead you to the next stage in life or in this faith journey and to get to this chair.” And so, again, if you’re mature, be aware, pay attention, help the toddlers to get to this chair. But again then we don’t stop here. There’s another chair.
The Disciple Maker
This is the mature believer, the disciple maker. This represents those who are actively making disciples and investing in others. They are multiplying their faith by mentoring, teaching, and leading others. What an exciting place. It’s like, I don’t have to change diapers. These guys just go. They get it. They understand it. They understand their purpose, they understand their role in the church, and to say, “I have a role to play.”
All Are Needed
So again, kind of exciting when we think about this table. And every church needs to have all of these stages. A church will be in big trouble if they only have seekers, because you’re not able to grow deep, and you won’t have people that will be able to serve, right? And you need the toddlers. You need that excitement. Sometimes they’re a pain, but you need them. They have cute moments. Right? And then you have the growing believer, and I think a lot of us can identify with sitting here today. And then we want to have the mature believers.
So just where you’re sitting today, I want you to evaluate your own spiritual journey. Where are you at? So pick a chair. Be honest this morning with yourself. All right? If you’re a toddler, just don’t make that too public and loud this morning. No, I’m just kidding. You can say; it’s okay. All right? I’m gonna count to three, and then you’re gonna yell out which chair. You can just say chair one, two, three, or four, okay? You ready? Which chair? It’s more of a one for you, Christo. It’s exciting, and it is good, and we celebrate all of these stages.
Paul’s Evaluation of Corinth
I’m mentioning that this morning to you because this is exactly what Paul is doing in this book. He is helping baby Christians, because some of the things that’s happening in 1 Corinthians or in this letter, there’s all kinds of things that’s happening here, and he’s trying to move them along to the next chair. And so as you read 1 Corinthians, I want you to kind of get that picture. I mean, it is wonderful to see Paul here—he’s correcting them. He’s evaluating, saying, “Hey, there’s some of you here, there’s some of you there, but let’s move along. My letter is gonna help you to get to maturity.”
Now, when we look at chapter 16, there’s a couple of things, and he’s actually—the language that he’s using is a strong language, but he’s now speaking to them as mature believers. So I’m gonna speak to you this morning as mature believers and how he is addressing the church and some things that he wants from them. So chapter 16, verse 1.
Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.
So what is he saying? So he’s talking now—he’s trying to teach them. He’s getting them to the mature seed, and he’s teaching them about giving. Financial giving, right? and a couple of things that we have to pay attention here, but before I do that, I would just—again, as we think about this picture and this cycle, let me give you several passages.
1 Corinthians chapter 3. You might remember this from our study. It says:
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.
Okay?
I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
Hebrews chapter 5, verse 12–14:
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, …
So he’s saying, “Hey, you need to be in this chair.”
… you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Ephesians chapter 4, 13–15:
… until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
So a lot of encouragement, a lot of direction here about how do we move through these different stages in our spiritual journey.
Giving
So now again, he’s gonna challenge them to think like a mature believer in the area of giving. And this can be, unfortunately, be a sensitive topic for many churches. A lot of times churches talk too much about it, right? And they can manipulate people about it. And sometimes people don’t talk about it at all. And I love how Paul is addressing it, and he’s kind of giving them a system. And he says, “You need to do that on the first day of the week.”
And just kind of as we think about what Jesus was teaching about money, because this will help us here. He says, “Jesus, remember what he said. He says, ‘You can’t serve two masters. You either love the one and hate the other or cling to the one and despise the other.’”
Now, when we think about giving in the New Testament—tithing is an Old Testament principle. If you go through the Discipleship Pathway journey, we have a whole chapter kind of on tithing and looking at it from an Old Testament perspective. We don’t see it being a command in the New Testament, but here is what we do have in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 9:7:
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Amen? So just think about this now when we think about giving. Paul is telling them, saying, “I want you, when you gather for worship, bring an offering, because we’re gonna send that to the church in Jerusalem.” Why? What’s happening in Jerusalem? Well, we know that the church is dealing with famine and persecution and that there’s actually many of these Jewish believers that got kicked out of the synagogues, out of the workplace, and out of their families because they’re following Jesus Christ. And so they’re dealing with all kinds of persecution, and there’s hunger, and so now Paul is saying, “When I come in your direction, when I come to visit, don’t wait for that moment. Start to actually collect money so that when I come, then it’s ready, so that we can be a blessing to the church in Jerusalem.” It is actually funny when you think about this, because this is Greek believers, it is Gentile believers, and now that they’re actually on a place where they actually become missionaries to the church in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was actually the hub, right? And you can actually see how everything was kind of flowing out of Jerusalem, and now we see Jerusalem is in trouble, and here’s the other churches, and now they get to be a blessing to the church in Jerusalem.
So just when we think about money and giving, and I think what Paul is trying to communicate to us is this: Giving needs to be an act of worship. Right? It is an act of worship. I have no desire to tell you here every Sunday morning, it’s like, “Pay up, pay up, pay up.”
I heard stories about—somebody told me about a tradition. Oh, it’s in Africa. I think it was Paul Harkness (or Nate, I can’t remember) that said that they’ve attended some churches, they’ll take up an offering, and if it wasn’t enough, they’ll do some more worship, take up another offering, count it again, and then if it wasn’t enough, like that sermon would go a little longer. So maybe we should do that right now. Can somebody just go and count quickly?
The next thing that we see here with Paul, it says giving is to be systematic. It is not an emotional thing. Right? Giving—not that I’m perfect in this area, but at least the tithing has been just, you know, I’ve learned this from my parents. My grandmother was a deacon in the Dutch Reformed Church, and they were sent out. They would show up at the house, and you’d be recorded there. It was kind of a weird little thing, but it’s like—in any case, that culture, it’s like, “Yeah, we’re sending my cousin, Italian cousin, to shake things up to get money for the church.” No, it wasn’t that bad. But in any case, what I appreciated from that structure, it helped me to be consistent in my giving, so that when I get my check, that it just happens. It is not an emotional thing for me anymore. It’s just like, I do it; I want to be a blessing. You don’t have to emotionally sweep me up to give.
Last night we were at a concert that was put on together by Life 97, and the artist is in sponsorship with Compassion, and they had such a meaningful, good video about, you know, how you can adopt a kid, and it was just a great video. And I was all emotional, just the tears were running with this video, and I was like, I was just ready to give my whole check, you know? It’s like, “Man, I’m in!” I didn’t do it last night. I wasn’t prepared for that.
But it’s like, we don’t need an emotional video to give. Right? It needs to be built into us. If you say you’re a mature believer, then you give, because you understand that, first of all, we have staff, there’s a lot of ministry activities, and the way that we impact the world, all of the different local ministries that we’re ministering to. We cannot do that without you. And again, not to be on a place to just say, “Okay, we’re gonna wait for Pastor Steven to preach a fiery sermon on finances.” You figure it out, you look at your salary, and if you’re a mature believer, to get to that place where you can actually give.
Giving is to be a personal sacrifice. There’s many months when I look at my money that I give to the church or different ministries and stuff, and like, man, there’s some things that I could really pay right now. And there’s some months you feel it. You’re just like, “This is a sacrifice.” Yes, good! It will be a sacrifice, and it’s meant to be a sacrifice.
So maturity in Christ connects the gospel truth of Jesus’ sacrifice to our finances, and that we now have this tool that we can use to partner with God’s work and to bless others. It’s always about: We’re being blessed so that we can bless other people. Right? All of your money is not to store up and buy the latest and greatest and biggest. If you have enough resources and you’re giving, great. You don’t have to feel guilty about any of that stuff. But if there’s not an outflow out of your resources, then you have trouble.
Suddenly you guys are very quiet.
Further Instructions from Paul
Let’s continue. I want to skip to verse 10.
When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am.
Again, we just see this beautiful mentorship in the life of Timothy and how Paul was investing in his life and how passionately he’s now preaching.
No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.
Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.
That was kind of an interesting line, why they throw that in there.
A Soldier for God
All right, verse 13. I want to just spend a little bit of time here. Okay, two minutes.
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.
Now, the Greek language behind some of this, it comes over very manly, but not just “manly” in the way that we think about manliness. It’s more about this area again of being a mature soldier for God. That’s the image that he’s trying to communicate to them. And so this is important, and I think this is so important for us this morning as well.
So the first one that he’s saying, he says, “Be alert, be on your guard.” We are to be awake, vigilant, and alive. Anybody alive this morning? Yeah, I was really convinced by that. Nice job. All right, let’s try again. “Be alert, be on your guard.” We are to be awake, vigilant, and alive, amen? Church, this is not the time for the Church to be asleep. It’s never good for the Church to fall asleep.
I was watching a documentary about the Vietnam War. As a kid, I remember on Friday nights, there was a series of Vietnam, and I really enjoyed it, watching it with my brother and my grandmother. Friday nights, we used to go to my grandmother’s, spend the night, and she would buy chocolate milk and candy and different things, and then we usually had one show that we could watch. And there was a season where that story of Vietnam, and it was fascinating to watch this war. And so like I said, so about a week, week and a half ago, I watched this documentary on Vietnam, and they interviewed several people that was actually part of this. And there was a moment where America thought that they actually won it, but they had no idea that the enemy was digging up all of these tunnels to Saigon. And America had some bases in Saigon and some of these other main towns in the area, and there was a coordinated attack in this area. And part of the problem was that, with Americans, they got so discouraged with this war, and because there wasn’t any good communication, and because of not everyone knowing why we’re actually fighting anymore, a lot of soldiers—and I’ve actually read this in some other research when it came to addiction—so many American soldiers got addicted on drugs in Vietnam. And so in this season they fell asleep. They lost focus. And the enemy took advantage of that, attacking some of these cities.
Now, all I can say, as a church and as a Christian family, you need to know that we are constantly under attack from the enemy, and sometimes our flesh, and sometimes even within the church. Do not be surprised. Satan is out there. Demonic forces are out there. There’s a cultural attack on churches, right? Different things that’s going on that we have to be aware of. And so he says, “Be alert, be on your guard.” Are you in the Word of God? Are you able to discern the attacks of the enemy, or are we gonna find ourselves that suddenly there’s tunnels under the Church, and the enemy is attacking, and we have no clue? We need mature, godly men and women that are able to discern and to pay attention to the stuff that is happening spiritually. It is a warning for the church. Amen? And that includes you. It’s all of us. We’re in this together, to say, “We’re not gonna allow the enemy to come and attack and destroy.” He will try. He’s waiting. He’s looking for that church that is sleeping and that is not paying attention. And so we can’t do it. It says, “Stand firm.”
And again, when you think about it, here’s a church that Paul planted. Paul planted this church. He was with them for about a year and a half, and suddenly they’re sleeping. Suddenly they’re dealing with all kinds of challenges in their theology.
He continues to say, “Stand firm, be consistent.” The Greek word here is steko. The word means “stay put.” Have spiritual convictions and stick to them. Right? Just make sure that your spiritual conviction is actually biblical. A lot of times we stick with stuff and it’s not biblical. So make sure that you’re sticking to biblical conviction.
I was just interacting with one of my previous students on Facebook on things that they were posting and trying to just minister and to help them see some other things. And it’s not that she was completely wrong, but it’s like, it was kind of half-truths. Right? And it’s like, man, we need the Church to have some biblical convictions today.
It says, “Be courageous.” This word literally means “to be a man, to be mature.” Right? So again, he’s not talking about just being a male in sex, but it’s like, being a mature man of God.
And then, “Be strong,” and then, “Be loving.” He uses that word agape that we’ve looked at in the previous chapters and where he gives us a whole definition on what that means. I love how he closed with all of those pieces. He says, “Stand firm, be courageous, be strong, but be loving.” Don’t be all of these other things and there’s not love. You need that. You can be strong in your love. And that “be strong” means to be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord. You and I will not be able to be strong in our own flesh and in our own power.
Addicted to Service
I’m gonna jump just for time here. Kind of when you look at verse 16 and 17—let’s look at that, because there’s an interesting word in the King James. And I didn’t see this. I saw this from my studies, and I was trying to find the article, and I couldn’t find it to give this person credit. But verse 16:
... to submit to such people and to everyone who joins in the work and labors at it.
So again, talking to mature Christians, the English word—if you have a King James version, look at that verse 16. It actually uses the word “to be addicted to service.” To be addicted to service. We live in a culture where we’re addicted to many things, but we’re not always addicted to service. What will that look like to say, “Man, I am addicted to serving the church and to people?” But again, you need some maturity, you need the Spirit of God to work in you, and you need to find your place and purpose in the body of Christ.
Conclusion
And so, beautiful chapter. There’s so many wisdom in there that still applies to us. If you get a chance, I want you to just kind of read through that whole book again. Let it just minister to you. Look at those things now that you have kind of a full context.
I want to just pray. There’s something that’s on my heart this morning. I want to pray. Well, let me say this. Several conversations—I don’t want to put people on the spot here. Over the last several weeks or so, I’ve had conversation with people that’s elders in our church and that’s been here for a long time. And it’s easy for you to sometimes—because a lot of times our attention and energy goes to the seekers and to the toddlers—that sometimes it’s easy to kind of lose focus and feel like, “Man, we don’t matter.” When you are here or here, it’s easy to feel like you don’t matter to the church anymore. Because again, there’s just so much time and finances that goes there a lot of times. I want to just assure you this morning to say: Each person, each age, each generation matters. You matter this morning. And don’t get to a place when you’re sitting here or sitting here to say, “Now I’m hands off.” Each stage has such an important role to play. If you are here, you have so much wisdom and things to invest into these chairs. We need you. And so take up your role and your position in this church. So it doesn’t matter where you are at around this table; you have a place in this church and you have a role to play. And keep growing.
