Please be seated. Please turn in your copy of the scriptures to our New Testament reading, which is found in first Corinthians chapter 16. I will be reading today versus 13 and 14. If you are using the copy of the scriptures in the pew, it’s on page 962 page 962.
We’re getting to the end of first Corinthians and. In these two verses, we will find we will find five admonitions or commands that the apostle gives to the Corinthian church and therefore by the spirit to us. Uh, these five commandments, uh, summarize what Paul spoke to them about in the previous 15 chapters. Uh, remember I’ve told you the joke, uh, a pastor can say in conclusion, three times, uh, Paul says in conclusion, a bunch in, in, uh, the book of Corinthians, it’s so long and so wordy because he has so much to say to them because they’re in so much trouble. Uh, but here is the conclusion to the matter.
And so we want to give our attention now to God’s word, 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verses 13 and 14. And before we read, let’s ask for God’s help once again, pray with me. Father, we pray that this, your word would be a lamp to our feet, that it would be a light unto our path, that it would be a mirror that shows us what we are and what we are not. And may we be those who leave today, looking into the mirror of your word, seeing what we see and doing something about it. May your word do its work and change us by your grace. We pray in Jesus name, amen. 1 Corinthians 16, 13 and 14. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love. Amen, the word of the living God.
Most of you, I’m sure, are good boys and girls and go to your yearly checkup at the doctor’s office. A couple weeks before, you go to the lab and you let them draw your blood and they get all of that data so that when you sit down with the doctor for your physical and he asks you questions, he grabs a few things and knocks on a few things, but also looks at your labs He makes a diagnosis.
He gives you steps to take in order that you might be healthy or that you might be more healthy. And so when you leave the doctor’s office, you receive one of those after visit reports. And they’re like 19 pages long, most of it probably pretty irrelevant. But the after visit report gives you a to-do list. Maybe you go to the pharmacy. Maybe you follow up with a specialist or go to physical therapy or some other regimen of well-being is taken up. But these are what we call doctor’s orders. And if we’re good boys and girls, we will listen. And today we have what we might say are the apostles orders.
He has been with the Corinthians as their minister, their founding church planter. He has sent missionaries to help them, Timothy and Apollos and others. And then he has received back and forth correspondence with them, letters and reports. And he writes this letter to them with great urgency because they are not healthy. And if you spiritually are not healthy, you could become spiritually dead. And so we understand Paul writes this letter to the Corinthian church, uh, as a whole to the whole body, but also speaking to them individually.
And I want us to think of this passage in light of. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. I want us to think of this passage in light of the assurance of our salvation and also in light of the three enemies of Christians, the world and all that it offers that’s against Jesus. The flesh are remnants of corruption that are in us. They’re pardoned and subdued, but they are still there and wreak havoc. but also the work of the devil, the evil one who seeks to devour and destroy and deceive the church. I want us to think about the Christian life and the dangers and the snares that are all around us, the enemies like the flesh that are within us, but the enemies that are outside us, like the world and the devil. And I want us to think about God’s gifts and graces That if we neglect them, it’s to our detriment.
But if we nurture them, it’s to our perseverance and our assurance. When God made the world and everything in it, he had in eternity past decreed that there would be a people whom he would love and redeem through the blood, through the obedience and through the life of his own son, the Lord Jesus. And when that work was done at the cross, not only did the decree of God forever stand, but the work of Jesus was effective. It was effectual for the salvation of those he came to save, but also the spirit in real space and time would work in the life of believers.
Think for a moment about your own coming to faith. Maybe, maybe you grew up in a Christian home or you all of a sudden bumped into the Bible or an evangelist or a friend, or somehow you were, it was brought to your attention that you’re a sinner in need of a savior. And so by the word and by the spirit, and perhaps through the means of the church or a parent or whatever, you came to faith in Jesus Christ. And sadly, I think sometimes we come to faith in Jesus And then we kind of put ourselves in a holding pattern until it’s time to go to heaven.
And I think what the apostle Paul says in all of his letters and what we learn from the whole of scripture is believers must lean into their faith. Believers must lean into the promises of God. We must lean into the wind of the Holy Spirit. We must strive after holiness. without which no one will see the Lord. We are to make our calling and election sure. We are to work out our salvation with fear and with trembling. And the danger, if we do not, is we will black backside into sin. The danger, if we do not, if we neglect the means of grace, the means of perseverance, If we neglect the means of assurance, if we neglect those things, we will put ourselves in grave spiritual danger.
And that’s the case for the Corinthian church. It’s also the case for Christians scattered throughout the Roman empire. When they receive or when they hear the epistle to the Hebrews, they are shrinking back from their love of Jesus. They are shrinking back from their faith in him and their life of obedience.
And so, brothers and sisters, we want to think about the life of the Corinthians, but our own lives as a church, but also as individuals, we must, if we read Paul’s after visit summary here, we must lean in to our growth and grace. Otherwise, we too will find ourselves in spiritual danger. And so the five things we must do that Paul lists here are be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love. Let’s take each of these five one by one, be watchful.
You know, we live in a world of cameras and lately all the rage is the whole flock camera thing. Somebody is being watchful. got doorbell cameras. We have cameras on our phone. I think the recent Apple release of the phone and the watch brought disturbing news to many. Your Apple watch will listen to everything you say and summarize it and at the end of the day you can get a report of what you said. I personally don’t want that. I don’t care about the surveillance reasons. I just don’t want to know what I said. That would break my heart probably.
But we’re called here to be watchful. We’re called here to be sentinels. We’re called to be watchmen in the household of faith. We are called to habitual, nonstop action. Be watchful. You might think of this in terms of the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Why are we watchful? We are watchful because the time is at hand. The end is near. We are watchful because we do not know the day or the hour that Jesus will come.
And so there is a sense here, like in the days of Noah. when Noah was putting faith in Jesus, putting faith in the arc of safety. And he was sawing and hammering and nailing and building because he believed that judgment was coming and that a flood would destroy his family unless they entered into that arc of safety. But also during the days of Noah, everyone else was eating and drinking and marrying and living as if there was no God and living as if there was No eternity. And so brothers and sisters, we are to be watchful in light of the second coming of Jesus, in light of that second coming, bringing judgment on sin. And in light of that second coming, we are to be watchful against the work of Satan, against the deception of this world.
And we are to be watchful even over our own souls. With that remaining flesh and corruption in us, it will lie to us. It will deceive us. It will drag us elsewhere. One of my favorite hymns of the Christian life is the hymn Rise My Soul to Watch and Pray. And in those stanzas, it reminds us that we must be ever vigilant because Satan does not rest.
He seeks to deceive and destroy and devour the believer. And his power is great. And what does Martin Luther say in that great hymn? And he is armed with cruel hate. But we remember with confidence one little word at the second coming will fail him, will destroy him. Paul will write at the end of Romans in chapter 16, Jesus will come soon and Satan will be under his foot. He will be crushed under the foot of King Jesus.
And so, brothers and sisters, we are to be watchful. We are to be ready for the second coming of the Lord Jesus. The second commandment given here is we are to stand firm in the faith. This, again, is a habitual action of the believer. Stand firm in the faith.
There are three things that I think a pastor ought to labor in in the work of the church. It’s to teach the Bible. It’s to teach our doctrine, what we believe, but it’s also to teach how we are to do effective ministry. And so one of the reasons that we have a Westminster Confession of Faith class, one of the reasons we have a daily doctrine class during the middle of the week for the men and the ladies, it’s why we’ve taught catechism to the kids. It’s why we encourage it in the home. We believe that good doctrine will help you stand firm in the faith. It’s like eating your Wheaties, right? It’s like getting your protein. It’s important.
We must stand firm in the faith. If you don’t stand firm in the faith, then you will be tossed about by every wind and every wave of doctrine. And you will be dragged here and you will be dragged there. It’s why every week in the morning worship of our church, we confess Our faith, there is a aspect of worship to confessing our faith. We are reminding ourselves, but we’re saying to God this, we believe in a wishy washy world.
We believe this. We stand firm and the one living and true God, three persons. We stand firm in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. We stand firm in our faith. We do not depart from it. It may be under attack from every. every enemy, but we hold fast to it. It’s why we are a creedal church. It’s why we are a confessional church.
We stand on the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints and has been expressed in our creeds and confessions. Now, of course, the Bible is our ultimate guide. The Bible is our ultimate standard. But it is fair to say, what does the Bible say about faith and look through the whole thing? It is fair to say, what does the whole Bible say about worship? What does the whole Bible say about sanctification or about heaven? And it’s fair to put those things down in articles of faith. In fact, it consolidates it in our minds and settles it in our hearts. And it helps us understand what we believe.
Now, you know, Paul, in some of the endings to his other letters, when he’s listing names, say hello, say thanks, they greet you, whatever. He also in some places lists those who have departed from the faith. They did not stand firm. They let the waves and wind of every doctrine carry them away. That’s very sad, but we want to hold fast to core Christianity, to the basic beliefs. We do not want to buy what some are peddling, which is false doctrine, false beliefs, and empty words and human deception. And the danger for this is very prevalent at the church at Corinth. There are people of ideas. There are people with traveling speakers coming through.
And if they don’t like what Paul says or he made them mad, they just may take up the beliefs of others. And so he says to them, stand firm in the faith. Paul has been so concerned with the Corinthians that he has sent Timothy at times, he sent Apollos at times, and he’s planning to go himself. So be watchful, stand firm in the faith.
The third, act like men. I was somewhere this week and a person that I was with had a sticker on their computer on the face of it. When they opened it up, you can see it. And it said, act like men. Now I caught that because this was right here in our passage for the week. Uh, and, and I’ve noticed that in some Christian circles, there’s an emphasis on manliness. There’s an emphasis on patriarchy and those sorts of things. And they’ll very often quote this verse. Uh, this is bigger than that. This isn’t about masculinity. It’s about maturity. This is not about being manly. It’s about being an adult. And this is an admonition to everyone in the church.
Remember what Paul had to say to the Corinthians earlier, your baby’s drinking milk. You are babies living in the elementary things of the scripture. You should be eating steak. You should be eating full meals. You should be growing up in the Lord. Instead, you are staying stunted in your growth. And so when he says act like men, you need to be adults. You need to be strong and courageous and brave. You don’t need to have fear, but you need to have confidence. Don’t be faint of heart.
They are living in a world very hostile to Christianity. Now, I know we live in what Flannery O’Connor called the Christ haunted South, and perhaps that is disappearing. It used to be we could say everybody in the South is a pretty decent person. And if it’s more than that, they’re probably a Baptist, right? Everybody goes to church, something like that. But that’s not the case anymore. We are living now in a rather secularized South. Our region of the country is not as Christ haunted as it used to be.
And we could get into the particulars of that. You know, we could say too many Yankees have come, whatever. But it’s a very secular culture we live in. Now, here’s the danger. You’ve seen the T-shirt that says, I love Jesus, but I cuss a little. You’ve seen that? Jesus is a condiment. for a lot of people in the South these days. And so you may hear Christianity, but they just sprinkle Jesus on their pagan life.
I was greatly encouraged last night that Ole Miss beat LSU. Because I think Lane Kiffin did, Ole Miss wrong. But I was greatly discouraged when the quarterback gave all the glory to God, and then he dropped the F-bomb. Right, right there. And that, I think, brothers and sisters, shows you where Christianity is in our culture. We invoke the name of God, but we also will drop the, you know, the word that’ll get your mouth washed out with soap. We live in a world where we don’t act like men. We are immature in our faith. We are immature in our beliefs. We are distracted by the things of this world. But what is true of grownups? Grownups know their duty and they do their duty. And they do their duty because they know their duty and nobody else is going to do it. And so they carry on. We’re living in a world of very weak and immature adults. We live in a world where being strong and courageous and standing up for our faith is falling on hard times.
You see, this is not about act like men, be masculine, grow a beard. This is not like bring the patriarchy back. This is just be adults, be strong, be courageous, be powerful. Know your stuff, your doctrine, stand firm in the faith, be watchful. Do not let others sway you.
There’s a sense where this phrase from the apostle Paul comes from what would have been taught to young men back in the Roman empire. You may be young, but you need to be an adult. You may be young, but you have adult responsibilities. You may be young. You know, we live in a world where Delayed adolescence is becoming a virtue. You can be in your 30s and still not all grown up.
And so act like men. Stand firm in the faith. Be watchful. The fourth commandment here is to be strong. And really the sense of this is be made strong. God is strong and he will strengthen you. If you remember in Ephesians six, where Paul goes through the whole armor of God, he begins that section in Ephesians six, verse 10, by saying, be strong in the Lord, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
And then it goes through the whole armor of God. And so we are putting on the strength of Jesus. We are putting on the righteousness of Jesus. We are putting on what has been accomplished for us. And therefore, which will make us stand firm in the faith and act like men and be watchful. Be strong, this verse tells us. God is strong and God will strengthen you.
Just last week, I think we looked at the passage where Paul says that a good opportunity for the work of the gospel has been afforded to him at Ephesus. And he’s going to stay there a little bit longer. God’s opened the door. But he also says there are many adversaries. And a chapter or two back, he refers to fighting with beasts.
At Ephesus, if you are living the Christian life and I don’t mean just in Christian ministry, but if you are living the Christian life, you will face all kinds of opposition, all kinds of hardships. And like David in Psalm 31, we read earlier, you may come to the end of your rope, but that’s a good thing because you go to God, who is your refuge and your strength and your ever present help. in a time of trouble. You will need at times to be strong when you feel weak. You will at times need to keep standing and persevering when you don’t feel like it.
How do we put it in our culture today? We say man up, right? We say grow up. We say, you know, be an adult. We call it adulting, I think it is. And so we have be watchful, stand firm in the faith. Act like men, be strong. And the last commandment is let all that you do be done in love. Remember, there was a whole love chapter. First Corinthians 15.
There were people who were strong. There were people acting like men. There were people standing firm in the faith. There were people being watchful, but not doing so in love. You know, sometimes you can be so strong in the truth that you just bonk people on the head or you discourage them.
Let it all be done in love. When Paul writes to the Colossian church, he says, put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. But above all these, put on love, which binds together. And so love is the secret sauce. Love is the law of kindness. Love is the law of grace that makes strength and doctrine and principles and maturity all work. Let all that you do be done in love.
Remember, some were not being nice to the weaker brothers. Others were at the Lord’s Supper, but not sharing in the riches of their own bread and wine. There were some in the church who were eloquent. But their eloquence was for eloquence sake. It was empty. It had no juice. It had no blessing for the people. There were factions at their feast. There were all kinds of issues. And Paul is saying to them, be strong, be watchful, act like men, stand firm in the faith. But when you do this, do it all in love.
And so the question for us, the challenge for us, We’ve received our after visit orders from the doctor said, do we swing by the pharmacy? Do we take up exercise? Do we quit eating sugar and sweets? But even more importantly, we’ve been given our marching orders from the apostle Paul. And these are the orders of our Lord God by the power of the spirit through the pen of the apostle Paul. And we want to be like. the ones James speaks of, who look in the mirror of the law and see what they are and do something about it. We do not wanna be like those who see, who know their diagnosis, but shake their head, walk away and say, maybe next time, maybe next week.
Brothers and sisters, doctor’s orders, apostles orders, the Lord Jesus orders, will we be found faithful? Let’s ask him for his help and blessing, pray with me. Our Father, we pray very simply that you would make us spiritually awake, that we’d love the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints, that we’d be mature in that faith and strong in that faith and do everything that we are called to do, that we would do it in Christian love and in charity for the sake of your glorious name, but for the good of our fellow brothers and sisters. Help us, we pray in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.