Be Worth Imitating

Introduction:

Pastor Bob Huber

Are You Worth Imitating? 4 Areas to Evaluate (1 Corinthians 4:14–21)

1. Your LOVE for PEOPLE: Worth Imitating. (1 Cor 4:14)

   2 Corinthians 12:15 – I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.

2. Your HEART for EVANGELISM: Worth Imitating. (1 Cor 4:15)

3. Your CONSISTENCY of FAITH: Worth Imitating. (1 Cor 4:17)

4. Your HANDLING of SINNERS: Worth Imitating. (1 Cor 4:14, 18–21)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 4:14-21

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Who has been a “spiritual father” to you? What do you imitate about them?
   

3. Who have you tried to be a “spiritual father” to (led to Christ, discipled)?
   

4. What kind of change, specifically, do you think Paul was hoping for from the “arrogant” (1 Cor 4:18-21)?
   

5. How do you know when to admonish someone (v14), and when to rebuke them (1 Cor 4:19)?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Open up those Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

  What kind of a church is this?

  We are a church that proclaims the authority of God's Word without apology.

  What kind of a church is this?

  We are a church that lifts high the name of Jesus in worship.

  What kind of a church is this?

  This is a church that believes firmly in the power of prayer.

  This is a church that shares the good news of Jesus with boldness.

  So let's bow our heads and I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful

  to communicate God's Word and I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what

  it is that the Lord wants to teach us today.

  All right?

  Let's just take a moment and pray.

  Father in heaven, as we turn to your Word, we ask that you would speak to us through

  this.

  Your Word even calls this the foolishness of preaching.

  But somehow your spirit is at work with your Word when it is proclaimed and we believe

  that.

  And that's why we don't shrink away from what anything that your Word says, but we

  go after it.

  Father, we want to know you and you have revealed your character through your Word.

  So Father, I pray for all of us today.

  This would be a day of self-examination.

  This would be a day where your spirit grabs us in a fresh way.

  Thank you ahead of time for everything you're going to do.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  And all of God's people said, "Amen, amen."

  We've had, in harvest Bible Chapel over the years, we've had some pretty spectacular guest

  speakers and other pastors come and preach.

  And by far, this one's my favorite here.

  This is Pastor Bob Huber.

  This is back when we were meeting in Marshall Middle School actually.

  But Pastor Bob Huber was my pastor and he is in heaven now.

  Or as he would have said, he graduated and he's having a good day.

  You know, I moved to Chicago for a while to learn how to plan a church.

  But it was this man who taught me how to be a pastor.

  And I had the privilege of working with him for many years.

  But probably the profoundest lesson I ever learned from him was in year one.

  I was helping with a day camp up in Slippery Rock at Deep Valley Camp.

  I'm going to tell you this story and I know some of you are going to hit you and some

  of you are going to be like, "What in the world is he talking about?"

  But that's just the way these things go sometimes.

  But we were at day camp and this was year one of like, I just became a Christian and just

  started serving Christ and was learning.

  And we were walking across the camp.

  It was free time for the kids.

  They were just running around kind of doing their thing.

  Second graders, alright?

  So Pastor Bob and I were walking by and there was this little boy just sitting and just

  playing in the dirt.

  And as we walked by, Pastor Bob stopped and he said to the little boy, "Hey, get up.

  You're getting all dirty."

  So the little kid got up and kind of brushed himself off and just kind of stood there and

  Pastor Bob and I kept walking and all of a sudden Pastor Bob stopped.

  And he turned around and he went back to the little boy and he said, "Get back down in

  the dirt."

  There was so much I learned from that whole thing.

  So much that I learned about ministry.

  And I could spend hours just talking about the lessons I learned from that little thing.

  Here's the big one.

  Kids got to be kids, right?

  That's why at Harvest we say it all the time, we don't care if your kids are running around

  or making messes or making noise.

  Like kids got to be kids.

  But you know in that incident at camp, and I saw that attitude from Pastor Bob, I said,

  "You know, that's worth imitating."

  That attitude towards kids.

  That's worth imitating.

  And you know we're going through 1 Corinthians here and Paul has used many images to talk

  about his connection with them.

  He's talking about being a farmer, being a builder, being a servant, being a steward.

  And in this passage we're looking at today, here's the image on the table.

  A father.

  The 1 Corinthians.

  Paul's addressing Christians who weren't acting like Christians.

  That's been this whole stretch, the whole 1st 4 chapters.

  There was division.

  There were little teams being made and there was disdain for people that weren't on your

  team.

  Like I follow Paul.

  You're one of those appallished people.

  Blame.

  And there was so much division in the church.

  Christians who weren't acting like Christians.

  Paul was pretty direct with them.

  I think we saw that especially last week.

  He was pretty direct in the way that he addressed them.

  And you know if you're going to be that direct with someone you better have a good relationship

  with them.

  Look at verse 14.

  Let's pick up in verse 14.

  Paul says, "I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my

  beloved children.

  For though you have countless gods in Christ, you do not have many fathers.

  For I have become your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

  I urge you then, be imitators of me."

  That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind

  you of my ways in Christ as they teach them everywhere in every church.

  Some are arrogant as though I were not coming to you.

  But I will come to you soon if the Lord wills.

  And I will find out not the talk of those arrogant people, but their power for the kingdom

  of God does not consist in talk but in power.

  What do you wish?

  Shall I come to you with a rod?

  Or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

  In that chunk of text, did you pick up a dad tone in there?

  This is why Paul was so stern with them because he saw himself as their father, their spiritual

  dad.

  And parenthood, whether it's having kids of your own or adopting kids or having spiritual

  children, listen, parenthood is about two things really.

  It's about love and it's about responsibility.

  So this passage here is for everyone who is a spiritual parent.

  Everyone who leads someone spiritually, everyone who is making disciples, listen, whether you're

  a small group leader or you're leading the youth group or Harvest Academy, you're teaching

  precepts, you're involved in our ministry team or serving as an elder, if you're one

  of our conference speakers, some of you are involved in addiction recovery ministry.

  This is for you.

  Some of you are leading Bible studies at work.

  This is for you.

  Some of you, your primary discipleship opportunity is the children in your home.

  That's who this passage is for.

  Those of you who are making disciples.

  Look at verse 16 again, because this is the verse that really jumped out to me.

  Also as I urge you then, the imitators of me.

  That verse leads me to two questions.

  And the first question is, have I been faithful to follow my spiritual parent?

  I mean I talked about Pastor Bob.

  I'm not 1% of the pastor that he was.

  But am I being faithful to follow my spiritual father?

  How about you?

  Are you being faithful to follow your spiritual parent?

  That's a question that I wrestled with this past week, but not as much as another question.

  Here's the second question, this is the one that really hit me.

  Am I worth imitating?

  What about me?

  Am I worth imitating?

  What about you?

  Do you consider yourself worth imitating?

  Did you say what Paul said here?

  Hey, follow my example, could you say that?

  If the people that you disciple, if the people that look up to you as their spiritual father,

  their spiritual parents, if the people that look up to you act like you, would they be

  effective for the kingdom of Jesus Christ?

  If the people that looked up to you imitated you, would they be honoring God in His Word?

  Would they?

  Would you want people to imitate you?

  Or would there just be too many areas of your life where you would just end up saying, "Yeah,

  don't do what I do."

  Are you worth imitating?

  I want you to consider this sustained illustration through the rest of the message.

  But I want you to imagine that I brought you a brand new Christian.

  Okay?

  Imagine that this young man came to Christ, he just came to Christ yesterday, and we brought

  him to church, and he was baptized today, and I brought him to you, and I said, "Okay,

  this young man is going to live with you for a month so that he can learn what it looks

  like to follow Jesus Christ."

  How would that go for the next month?

  I mean, assuming that you weren't going to put on a show, assuming that you were just

  going to be your authentic self for the month, okay, we're assuming that.

  How's that going to go?

  Would you find yourself over the course of the month with this brand new Christian?

  Would you find yourself constantly saying, "Yeah, don't do that."

  Right?

  You use some salty, non-sermony language, and then you turn to this young man looking

  at you and you're like, "Yeah, don't talk like that."

  Are you telling some perverted anatomy joke?

  Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what, you shouldn't tell jokes like that.

  You shouldn't talk like that.

  You shouldn't think like that.

  This new Christian that's following you around for the month sees you losing your temper,

  you're kicking the lamp, you're kicking the dog, and then you turn to him and you say,

  "Yeah, don't do that."

  You shouldn't lose your temper like that.

  You're neglecting time in God's Word, you're neglecting time in prayer, and you're like,

  "Yeah, you know what, I'm really busy and don't have the time to spend in God's Word

  in prayer, but you shouldn't be like me.

  You really should make time for that."

  Would it be a rough month for you?

  Or after that month, this new Christian comes back to me and says, "You know, I am really

  growing with the Lord following that person's example.

  This past month has been huge for me watching how the life of Christ has manifest in a person's

  life throughout the week."

  Is that what they say?

  This is the sermon that we all have to take a hard look at ourselves.

  I mean, let's be honest with ourselves.

  Are you worth imitating?

  There are probably hundreds of categories we could get into.

  Let's just stick to this particular text here.

  Four areas to evaluate.

  Are you worth imitating?

  Here's four areas to evaluate that we see from the Apostle Paul.

  Number one, write this down.

  Your love for people.

  Your love for people.

  Worth imitating?

  Let me give you verse 14 again.

  He says, "I do not write these things to make you ashamed but to admonish you as..."

  Look at this.

  "My beloved children."

  My beloved children.

  I love that so much because if you've been with us through 1 Corinthians in this journey,

  you can see that Paul would have a lot of reasons to call them something else.

  Let's put it that way.

  But this is how he viewed them.

  Your beloved children.

  You're not commodities to be used.

  You're not customers to satisfy.

  You're not annoyances that are draining the life out of me.

  He says, "You're spiritual children that I love."

  Love.

  That's what parents are wired to do.

  It's a love.

  It's meeting needs, yes.

  It's helping when there's hurt.

  It's protecting.

  And ultimately, love is sacrifice.

  You go to 2 Corinthians in chapter 12.

  This is what Paul addresses the same church.

  I love this verse because this is the heart of a parent.

  Paul says, "I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls."

  That's the heart of a parent.

  Parents sacrifice for their children.

  Parents give of themselves.

  So when you genuinely love people, you're going to do the same.

  Easier said than done because I don't know if you noticed,

  but some people are hard to love.

  Have you noticed that?

  I mean, we already talked about these Corinthians.

  They had so many problems.

  Like, man, how do you love unlikable people?

  How do I conjure up the love to love unlikable people?

  You don't have to turn there, but just jot down John chapter 21.

  It's one of my favorite scenes in the Bible.

  But in John chapter 21, we see the resurrected Jesus restoring Peter.

  Do you remember the question that Jesus asked Peter three times?

  Do you remember?

  He says, "Peter, do you love sheep than feed them?"

  Is that what he said?

  No?

  Watch that one, didn't I?

  What did he say?

  He says, "Do you love me?"

  Do you love me?

  And when Peter answered, Jesus...

  Oh, then he talked about the sheep, right?

  Feed my sheep.

  Do you love me?

  He didn't ask Peter if he loves sheep.

  He asked Peter, "Peter, do you love me?"

  Because when you love someone, you love what they love.

  Right?

  See, if I put all of my effort into just loving you and not the Lord,

  it's going to fizzle out.

  But when the effort is in loving Jesus Christ,

  He changes my heart to love the things that He loves.

  I love you because Jesus loves you.

  You have value to me because you have value to Jesus, you see.

  Jesus loves the church.

  You know, He died for you.

  He's preparing a place in heaven for you.

  And He does His work on earth through you.

  And if Jesus so loves you and He knows you a lot better than I do,

  how could I not love you?

  So think of that new believer following you around for a month.

  What he see in love for people that's worth imitating.

  And area we need to evaluate your heart for evangelism.

  Is it worth imitating?

  Look at verse 15 again.

  He says, "For though you have countless guides in Christ,

  you do not have many fathers,

  for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel."

  Countless guides.

  What's a guide?

  Well, in the Greek, it's pedagogos.

  Now wealthy families in those days would have a pedagogos.

  A guide, some translation is tutor.

  It was a slave whose job it was to take boys back and forth to school

  and to help them mature.

  Or as the kids would say today,

  they would help them learn how to adult.

  That's what a pedagogos did, preparation for adulting.

  That's what they did.

  And Paul here says, "You have," literally in the Greek,

  "you will always constantly have countless people teaching you."

  And that is more true now than it's ever been.

  You're constantly going to have countless people giving you information

  on TV, radio, podcasts.

  Bible teaching is out there.

  But there is no one who has the relationship with you

  like the one who led you to Christ.

  The one who discipled you.

  Your spiritual father, your spiritual parent.

  Everybody has that relationship like that.

  This is a tough sell right here.

  Because some Christians aren't spiritual parents.

  Because you've never led anyone to Christ.

  You've never discipled a new believer.

  Because if you have, you know that it's a unique relationship.

  It's a special kind of love and responsibility that comes.

  And the sad thing is too many people in the church miss out on the blessing.

  Because honestly sharing the gospel just isn't in -

  just it's never a thought to share the gospel with anyone.

  You know, there's a pastor that I listen to,

  speaking of countless teachers.

  There's a pastor that I listen to often.

  Ron Dunn.

  He used this illustration one time.

  And I really had to chew on it for a while.

  But he said the gospel of Jesus Christ

  is a train that runs on two tracks.

  And one rail of the track is the work of Jesus Christ.

  There's death on the cross and His resurrection.

  But the other rail of the track is someone to deliver that message.

  And he used this illustration.

  He said imagine there's a man on death row

  about to be executed and the governor pardons him.

  The governor has the pardon in paper form and gives it to a courier.

  And says here's the pardon.

  I need you to deliver this to the prison

  where the man is about to be executed here.

  Take this pardon.

  You realize it does that man on death row no good

  if that courier doesn't deliver the pardon.

  Could you imagine?

  Could you imagine the governor saying,

  "Look, this is going to save this man's life.

  Make sure the prison gets it and the courier forgets."

  Or he just doesn't think it's that important.

  Right?

  If the courier doesn't deliver the pardon,

  it's not going to take the effect.

  And do you understand?

  You are God's courier.

  In Jesus Christ, God has pardoned sin

  and the people you know who don't know the Lord are on death row.

  And God has given you the pardon to say deliver this.

  Tell them that they don't have to die.

  And so often we're just like, "Eh, not that important."

  You're the courier.

  Are you getting the message out?

  That's so amazing to me that God has the ability

  to do whatever He wants to do.

  And what He wants to do is use you to reach people with the gospel.

  He wants you to disciple the lost.

  So how often, during the course of your week,

  do you engage people in spiritual conversations at work,

  at the barber shop, with your unsafe family?

  How often do you say to someone,

  "Hey, can I pray for you?"

  How often do you invite somebody to church?

  So think of that new believer

  that's following you around for a month.

  What would they see from you?

  Would they see a heart for evangelism that's worth imitating?

  Number 3, are you worth imitating?

  How about your love for people?

  How about your heart for evangelism?

  Worth imitating?

  Number 3, quickly, what about your consistency of faith?

  Consistency of faith.

  Is it worth imitating?

  Look at verse 17 again.

  He says, "That is why I sent you Timothy,

  my beloved and faithful child in the Lord,

  to remind you of my ways in Christ

  as I teach them everywhere in every church."

  He says, "That is why I sent you Timothy."

  Wait, wait, wait.

  What is why you sent me Timothy?

  Verse 16, he said, "Are you going to get the flow here?"

  He goes, "Hey, be imitators of me.

  That's why I sent you Timothy."

  You see his point?

  You see his point?

  Timothy is the perfect example of discipleship.

  Timothy is what you want in a spiritual child.

  Paul's like, "Hey, him coming is as good as me coming."

  That's what you want.

  That's when you know that you have discipled someone.

  You can send them and they can perfectly represent you.

  And you have no worries.

  I have that with Pastor Taylor.

  Whether it's going somewhere to speak

  or dealing with a crisis or counseling someone,

  I know that if he's going, it's just the same as if I go.

  I know he's going to handle it.

  And I know he's going to honor Jesus doing it.

  Paul says, "Tim's going to represent Tim."

  I call him Tim.

  We went to high school together.

  Tim will represent.

  He'll do what I do.

  What do you do, Paul?

  He says, "Teach the same thing everywhere."

  Right? You see that?

  Teach the same thing everywhere.

  Teach what?

  My ways in Christ.

  My ways in Christ.

  Consistency is not about the lesson of Bible principles.

  That's not what he's saying here.

  I printed out a workbook

  and we made a million copies and we're passing it out.

  That's not what he's saying.

  The consistency is in my ways in Christ.

  It's the way that I live out these principles.

  My ways everywhere.

  Do you see that?

  What Paul's talking about here

  is integrity.

  Integrity.

  By the way, men,

  you want to sign up for the men's conference.

  Brian Beehe gives a message on integrity.

  We were working through rehearsals and such

  and he gave his rehearsal recently

  and every man that was in the room

  was just crushed.

  Justin, integrity.

  That's what he's talking about here.

  Integrity. I'm the same follower of Jesus everywhere.

  Not just Sunday, not just a church,

  not just a small group.

  It's integrity.

  Because nothing dishonors the Lord

  or kills your witness like hypocrisy.

  Do you have any areas of hypocrisy in your life

  that you need to repent?

  If a new believer followed you around,

  would they see a consistency of faith worth imitating?

  And then finally, number 4,

  your handling of sinners.

  Worth imitating?

  I want you to notice the different tones

  that Paul uses here

  because he's addressing really two different groups

  in this passage.

  Did you notice that?

  Look at verse 14 again.

  He says, "I do not rate these things to make you a shame

  but to admonish you as my beloved children."

  Admonish means to lovingly confront

  in order to change.

  There's a gentleness in admonishing

  because spiritual children

  are a lot like regular children.

  They mature slowly.

  They mess up a lot.

  They frustrate you like crazy.

  And that's why Paul says,

  "I'm not trying to make you feel bad."

  All the stuff that we've been talking about, Paul's like,

  "I'm not just trying to bust your chops.

  I'm not trying to kick you when you're done.

  I'm not trying to hurt your feelings."

  He says, "Here's my end game. Do better."

  That's all I'm saying. Do better.

  Sometimes I get a little emotional and fired up

  whether it's in preaching or counseling.

  Why?

  Because look, my job up here is not to just give you

  Bible information.

  Like here's what the Bible says.

  You should do this.

  If you don't, it doesn't matter to me.

  It matters to me that you embrace this.

  It matters to me that you are taking God's Word

  and reflecting its truths in your life.

  It matters to me that you get it.

  And that's why there's times that we have to admonish

  our spiritual kids when they sin.

  We have an obligation to do that, by the way.

  An obligation.

  That's part of parenting.

  So that's one group. Look at the other group.

  Look at verses 18 through 21 again.

  He says, "Some are arrogant as though we're not coming to you.

  But I will come to you soon if the Lord wills,

  and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people,

  but their power.

  For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk,

  but in power.

  How do you wish?

  Should I come to you with a rod?

  Or with love and a spirit of gentleness?"

  Did you notice the change of tone?

  Some people need a little loving admonishment.

  Like, hey, we're going to do better.

  All right, we're going to do better.

  Other people need a rebuke.

  Like, hey, you need knock down a peg.

  He's addressing the arrogant.

  Do you notice that the arrogant?

  Some of you are arrogant.

  They're like kids when mom and dad aren't there.

  I don't care what they say.

  That's what these arrogant Corinthians, they were like.

  I don't care what Paul says. He's not here.

  What's he going to do about it?

  Oh, he's going to come.

  Paul's not going to come. That's why he sent Timothy.

  He's afraid to come here.

  Paul ain't going to do nothing.

  All right?

  I don't know why you guys are so concerned about Paul.

  He ain't here and he ain't coming.

  So arrogant.

  And I love that Paul's like, oh, I'm coming.

  He's as if the Lord wills.

  And Paul says, then we'll find out.

  We'll find out who's all talk and no game.

  We'll find out when I get there.

  Put your helmet on.

  Years ago in prison ministry, we had an elderly man

  who went in. His name was Joe.

  And sometimes in prison ministry,

  you would get guys come to Bible study,

  not because they wanted to learn the Scriptures,

  but because they wanted to cause problems.

  We get that a lot. People would come just to pick fights.

  And there's one guy in particular this one night,

  everything that was said, it was just like,

  oh, you're telling me that?

  And he was just like, he was protesting everything.

  He was mocking everybody.

  He would not shut up the entire time.

  And just obnoxious.

  And finally, Joe spoke up.

  And Joe said to the man, he goes, have you ever

  seen a semi truck driving down the road?

  And the guy's like, yeah?

  And Joe goes, well, you know, it's the empty trucks that

  make the most noise.

  Guy didn't say much after that.

  And that's kind of what Paul's saying here.

  He goes, some of you people are just talk.

  He goes, we'll find out when I get there.

  Because the kingdom of heaven is not just like talking.

  The kingdom of heaven is the power of the Holy Spirit

  in your life.

  So Paul says in verse 21, you make the choice.

  You make the choice.

  Do you want me to come with the rod?

  You're with gentleness.

  How many parents have said something like that to their kids?

  I know I have.

  Like, hey, look, this can go one of two ways.

  Make a better choice.

  It's up to you.

  So love disciplines.

  Look, you're going to deal with sinning people.

  But even in this one passage here,

  we see that you can't deal with all sinning people

  the same way.

  Because the people in verse 14, they were caught up

  in the divisiveness.

  And yeah, they needed corrected.

  But the arrogant in verse 18, the arrogant needed knocked down.

  A peg.

  That's why we see two different tones in the same passage.

  And parents, you need to get this.

  Parents, when your kids are sinning, spiritual parents,

  when those of your disciples are sinning,

  you have to ask yourself, is this a matter of immaturity

  or is this a matter of rebellion?

  Because immaturity or rebellion, I

  need to figure that out because that determines my response

  to the kids.

  I've seen this a thousand times.

  Some parents completely freak out when their kid drops a dish.

  But then that same kid will be flagrantly disobedient.

  And the parents just like, eh, well, what can you do?

  Like, no, no, that's where you've got to lay the hammer down.

  On the rebellion.

  Paul got that.

  That's why you see the different tones.

  So you're going to model this.

  You have to address sin.

  And sin has to be addressed appropriately.

  Is this a situation where I admonish?

  Or is this a situation where I rebuke?

  Am I dealing with immaturity?

  Or am I dealing with rebellion?

  So what about that Christian--

  that baby Christian that's following you around all month?

  Would they see the way you handle sinners to be worth imitating?

  I talked about ministry year one.

  Kind of a defining moment.

  And we talk about marriage year one.

  First year of our marriage--

  I was on the phone.

  I was on the phone.

  It wasn't this nice.

  It was an old school.

  We've been married a long time.

  It was a bigger, clunkier phone.

  But it was a cell phone.

  And I was just as technologically stupid

  then as I am now.

  But I was on the phone with someone

  and hung up the phone and set the phone down

  on the kitchen table.

  And Aaron and I were sitting at the kitchen table.

  And we started talking and reminiscing.

  We both went to Shakora Elementary School.

  There go gremlins.

  And we started talking about the music class.

  The music teacher had come in once a week.

  We were just wheeling in the keyboard on the cart.

  And we would sing these ridiculous songs.

  Aaron and I were reminiscing.

  And we started singing the songs together.

  I asked her if she would come up today

  and join me for a duet.

  She's leaning towards no.

  But we were like, oh, do you remember that song?

  The song about--

  this is a story about Sammy.

  Do you guys remember this one?

  His father said in the mouth to buy bread.

  So Aaron and I are belting it out.

  But Sammy didn't feel like walking.

  He wished he could fly in.

  And we're like belting it out.

  And we're laughing.

  And then it's like, oh, do you remember little Tommy Tinker?

  Do you remember-- no, I didn't go to school with him.

  That was one of the songs.

  Anybody remember little Tommy Tinker?

  Nobody, nobody at all.

  Little Tommy Tinker-- we were singing it.

  We were just little Tommy Tinker, sad and a clinker.

  And he began to cry, ma, ma, poor little innocent guy.

  But it's around.

  So when I say, he began to cry, then you

  would come in at the beginning.

  I keep going.

  And it's around.

  And it was a real hoot.

  So Aaron and I were sitting there like, little Tommy Tinker.

  And we were like, we did the round.

  And it was awesome.

  And I'm like, do you remember--

  another song that I liked was the Jelly Bean Jump.

  Jump to the Jelly Bean Jump, jump, jump.

  So we started singing that one.

  Jump to the Jelly Bean Jump, jump, jump.

  Folks in Mexico City, big, small, andy, dee, dee, dee,

  all joined in this pretty ditty.

  Jumped them every way.

  Nobody.

  Well, Aaron remembered.

  And we sat there for, what, 30, 45 minutes

  belting out these songs and laughing hysterically.

  Well, I accidentally did not hang up the phone.

  And in a way that I still don't understand,

  the whole thing got recorded.

  And it was re-listened to.

  And we were reminded of it for a very long time.

  You're like, why did you tell us that horrible story?

  Well, one reason is I wanted to float those songs as options

  for coming onto the worship set.

  But the other one is this.

  I learned a very valuable lesson that day.

  Whether you realize it or not, someone's always listening to you.

  Whether you realize it or not, somebody's watching you.

  And oh, it's over.

  Much more serious matters than the songs that we sang in Mexico City.

  Much more serious than the songs that we sang in elementary school.

  Somebody is watching how you follow Jesus Christ.

  So the question is, are you worth imitating?

  Let's pray.

  Our Father in Heaven, this is a passage that kind of hits us all between the eyes.

  Because we are all well aware of the gap between who we are and who we should be sometimes.

  Father, we thank you for your grace.

  Father, we thank you that our salvation is in performance based by us.

  It's based on the performance of Jesus.

  But at the same time, Father, you have called us to be worth imitating.

  You have called us to take the doctrine from the pages of your Word

  and show people what that looks like applied in the life of a dad, of a mom, of a friend, of a worker.

  We are to be an example.

  I just pray, Father, by the power of your Spirit, that we can in a sense sort of stand beside Paul

  and encourage others to follow our example in seeking you.

  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

See Yourself as a Servant

Introduction:

Humble Yourself: 4 Truths to Help You (1 Corinthians 4:1–13)

1. Only GOD'S OPINION of me matters. (1 Cor 4:3–5)

2. I've RECEIVED all that I HAVE. (1 Cor 4:6–8)

3. God wants to SHOW everyone how I SUFFER. (1 Cor 4:9–13a)

   John 15:20 – Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you...

   1 Peter 2:21–23 – For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

4. The WORLD thinks I'm SCUM. (1 Cor 4:13b)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 4:1-13

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Paul is once again admonishing them on their divisiveness over “who is the best minister”. Why do you think there is so much content on this subject in 1 Corinthians?
   

3. How would you define humility? Why does the Bible say that you must “humble yourself”, i.e., that job is on you to do?
   

4. In 1 Cor 4:6, Paul tells them not to “go beyond what is written”? What specifically does he mean by that? How does this principle apply to Bible study in general?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Good morning. My name is Jeff and let me tell you a little bit about myself.

  That's such an interesting thing, isn't it? Like, let me tell you a little bit about myself.

  Or when you ask somebody, "Hey, hey, tell me about yourself." It's an interesting thing

  because the first thing that comes out of their mouths is the thing that they want to be known

  as, right? Or known for. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. Do you know where you see this a lot?

  Game shows, right? Let me tell you a little bit about myself. Or if you've ever watched Jeopardy,

  it's such a cringy moment. You know, they come back from commercial break and some of us remember Alex

  Trebek, who's the guy now? Ken Jennings, okay? Like, "All right, we're going to meet our contestants

  and tell me a little bit about yourself." I'm always so fascinated with the way they identify

  themselves, right? It's so fascinating because some are cool, but some are just really, really

  weird. And I'm like, "You're on TV and this is going to go to syndication and this is going to be

  seen by millions and this is what you came up with." You know what I'm talking about? Like, you

  know, this is our challenger Bill. Tell us about yourself. And Bill's like, "Yeah, one time I showed

  up to work and I had my pants on backwards." "Oh, what'd you do?" "Well, I just kind of stepped into

  the bathroom and turned him around." I was like, "Okay. All right, let's meet Glenda." And I'm like,

  "What was that? Let me tell you a little bit about myself. How do you want to be known?"

  Well, I was thinking about that a lot this past week as we get to 1 Corinthians chapter 4,

  because if the Apostle Paul was on Jeopardy and the host says, "All right, well, tell us a little

  bit about yourself, Paul." I think we know exactly what he'd say, because it's here in 1 Corinthians

  chapter 4. Look at the first couple of verses. He says, "This is how one should regard us

  as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required

  of stewards that they be found trustworthy." Tell us a little bit about yourself, Paul. He goes,

  "Okay, I'm a slave of Jesus Christ." Actually, this word for servant in the Greek is "the lowest slave,"

  like bottom rank slave. And then he says, "Stewards, what's a steward?" Well, in those days,

  wealthy people would have someone who was like their house manager. They were in charge of

  distribution and spending and inventory. And you know who got that job? It was one of the slaves,

  still a slave. Why is he saying this? Well, we've seen throughout 1 Corinthians, the issue was

  all of this exalting leaders, putting Paul and Apollo, Sisyphus up on pedestals and all these

  factions. And Paul here in 1 Corinthians is saying, "Look, look, look, you're regarding us as world

  changers. You're regarding us as these elite Christians. You're regarding us as celebrity

  church planners." And Paul here is like, "Ah, here is how you should regard us."

  I'm a slave. That's it. I'm a slave.

  They had this terrible problem exalting the ministers, and it resulted in them exalting

  themselves. We've seen that. The pride with their alignment, like, "Yeah, I'm one of Paul's guys."

  Oh, yeah, that's nothing. I'm one of Apollo's guys. And they were proud of their alignment,

  and they had disdain towards others. Like, "Oh, you must be one of those Paul people."

  Paul here is saying, "Why are you making so much of us? We're just slaves. All we're trying to do

  is be trustworthy." That's it. We saw back in chapter, I'm sorry, verse 18, rather, in chapter 3,

  look back there. Paul says, "Let no one deceive himself."

  We are so self-deceived. And Paul's like, "Oh, Corinthians, you think you're so wise. You think

  you have it all figured out. You think you're on the right team. You're so full of pride."

  Again, that's the issue. You looked down to verse 21 in chapter 3. Pastor Taylor covered this last

  week. He says, "So let no one boast in men." That shouldn't be happening. Not Paul, not Apollo's,

  not Jeff, not Taylor, not your favorite podcast or YouTube's preacher. We shouldn't be exalting anyone.

  And when we get to this section here in chapter 4, here's what we're going to see. Paul is giving a

  true biblical assessment of himself. And he tells the Corinthians, "Look, you have to take

  an honest assessment of who we are, and, Corinthians, you have to take an honest assessment of yourselves."

  So here in this passage, Paul's going to be serving up some humble pie. All right? So,

  strap on your helmet. This isn't going to be a very comfortable message, because Paul's like, "Hey,

  stop with the pride. Stop exalting people. Stop exalting yourselves. Here's a reality check. And

  harvest, we need a reality check." Because it's real easy for us to point to the Corinthians and be

  like, "Wow, look at all the pride they have. Look at all the problems they have." That's...

  Pride is in every one of us problem. You realize that. Every single human has a problem with pride,

  has a problem with self-exaltation. And it's real easy to do that in a church identity. It was for

  the Corinthians, and it's easy for a harvest Bible chapel to begin to exalt ourselves.

  We can look at some of the nonsense that's happening around us in other churches or

  organizations that call themselves churches. And it'd be real easy for us to say, "Well,

  we're the only ones that are faithful. We are more mature than the other Christians.

  I don't know what their problem is, but I follow this guy or I listen to this guy.

  That means I'm one of the smart ones. I'm one of the enlightened ones." And

  it's real easy to get on the path of pride.

  That's what we're going to see in this passage of Bible telling us to humble ourselves.

  Like, "Hey, hey, knock it off. Stop thinking so much of yourself.

  You've got to humble yourself." You know, so much in God's Word, we see things that the Holy Spirit

  does in us and through us. Yes, but from what I've studied in God's Word, the command to humble

  yourself, that's on you. And that'd be a whole other sermon series, but you and I are commanded.

  We are commanded to humble ourselves so we don't get carried away in our pride.

  Because humility is the number one characteristic that God's looking for in people. You're not going

  to come to Jesus unless you're humble. You're not going to live a victorious Christian life

  unless you're humble. You're not going to have a fruitful ministry unless you're humble. If you're

  going to be humble, it's on you. So on your outline, I want you to jot some things down.

  Humble yourself. You're like, "Well, how do I do that?" Paul's like, "Well,

  here's four things that will help you do that." All right. So I hope you had a good Thanksgiving

  and I hope you're not too full because you're about to have four slices of humble pie.

  And I don't feel bad at all because I've had to eat this all week. All right.

  So pray for me and I'll pray for you. All right. Just pause for a second. Please pray for me

  as I pray for you. Father in heaven, as we come to your Word, let us not be deceiving ourselves.

  Every single one of us have this drive to put the spotlight on us, to make much of us,

  to think too much of ourselves. And Father, this passage

  is certainly going to give us the attitude that you've called us to have.

  Father, I pray through the wisdom of your Word, by the power of your Holy Spirit,

  that you would give us the faith to make the choices that we need to make, to humble ourselves

  so we can see the greatness of Jesus Christ manifest in our lives.

  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Humble yourself. Here's four truths that will help you.

  These are four statements that Paul made about himself and that we would commend to you to

  make about yourself. Number one, only God's opinion of me matters. Only God's opinion of me matters.

  Look at verse 3. Paul says, "But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you

  or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself." Now, quick review when we talk about

  judge, that's like everybody's favorite verse in the Bible. "Don't judge, don't judge." It's

  everybody's favorite because they don't understand it. Judging does not mean like, "Hey, don't call

  me out on sin or you're judging me." That's not what that means. Judging doesn't mean that like,

  "I can be a jerk and I can't care what other people think of me because of my jerking. Just don't call

  me out." That's not what judging means at all. Actually, this word for judge in the Greek could

  be translated cross-examined. He's talking about people, listen, he's talking about people judging

  your walk with Christ. That's what he's talking about. Judging your, as he mentioned in verse 2,

  judging your trustworthiness. Some Bibles say faithful or faithfulness. That's what he's talking

  about. People judging your faithfulness, your trustworthiness. And well, what does that mean to

  you, Paul? He says, "Well, that's a very small thing." And in the Greek, do you know what that

  means? That means the smallest. Your opinion of my spiritual walk does not matter for bad or for good.

  It doesn't. Here's what I mean. After service, if I was a guest reception

  and you walk by and you're like, "Jeff, I think you're a bad pastor."

  Like, well, sorry, I feel that way, but your opinion doesn't matter. And right now, there's some of

  you that are like, "Yes, I can get on board with that." Your opinion doesn't matter.

  That's not really my main concern, though. You know what the bigger danger is?

  It's the guy that walks your guest reception and says, "Jeff, I think you're a great pastor."

  That's the bigger danger, because then that stuff can start going to your head.

  Right? You can start to think, "You know what? Yeah, they're right. I am pretty awesome.

  They nailed it. Come back. Tell me more."

  But the reality is for bad or for good, the opinion doesn't matter.

  And that's where there's a danger. I've been talking about this with our ministry team and

  our conference speakers of these conferences coming up.

  Yeah, people's opinion of your trustworthiness, your faithfulness, doesn't matter good or bad.

  But watch out for the compliments, because they're much harder to dismiss because

  they're much easier to go to my head. Look at verse 4. Paul says, "For I'm not aware of anything

  against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me."

  See, Paul says, "What other people think of me doesn't really matter.

  Neither does what I even think of myself." It doesn't matter either.

  Right? You need to have the funeral.

  I realize I'm probably not as great as my grandma thinks I am.

  And I'm probably not as horrible as my critics think I am.

  Either way, it doesn't matter. Because a slave only cares about one thing.

  That's pleasing his master. Look at verse 5. He goes on,

  "For therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes

  who will bring delight to things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the

  heart, then each one will receive his commendation from God." Okay, here's what he's driving at.

  At the end of the day, there's only one opinion that matters. Who's is it?

  God's, right? That's it. All that matters is what God thinks of me. He's going to make the final judgments.

  On your heart. Listen, this verse should knock every single one of us down a peg.

  Because you see what God's word is telling us? God sees what you do. Yes, yes, he does. But

  much deeper than that. God sees why you do what you do. Your motives, your thoughts, what no one

  else knows, everything that you do in the dark, God is going to drag it to the light. Understand

  it with God. There are no secrets. You might have secrets from your family, you might have secrets

  from your spouse, you might have secrets from your boss, you might have secrets from your parents,

  but you do not have any secrets from God. So are you pretending? Are you pretending in your

  walk with Christ? Well, you might fool me, but it doesn't matter. You're an open book to God,

  and he's going to judge. Are you sincere? Like, look, I'm not perfect, but I'm sincere. I am

  sincerely seeking to know and honor the Lord. Jeff, I really am seeking to know the Lord.

  That's great because the Bible says someday you're going to receive your commendation.

  As far as humbling yourself, my friends, you will never humble yourself until you get to the place

  where only God's opinion of you matters. You've got to get there.

  Number two, not only do I need to reckon with only God's opinion of me matters. Number two,

  write this one down. I've received all that I have. I've received all that I have.

  Verse six, he says, "I have applied all these things to myself and apollos for your benefit,

  brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written,

  that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another." There is a lot going on in

  that verse. All right, let's break it down here because this is so crucial in so many ways. First

  of all, he says, "I've applied all these things to me and apollos for your benefit." You're like,

  "I've applied what things?" Everything so far that he's been saying about pride and humility,

  all of this stuff. He goes, "I'm applying all of this to apollos and I for you." In other words,

  look, all this stuff that he's talking about, this isn't just a preacher thing and it's not just a

  church member thing. This stuff about pride and humility, this is an all of us thing.

  You get that? He says, "Excuse me, we all need to learn not to go beyond what is written."

  Like, what does that mean? Listen, this is a principle that carries over in everything.

  You need to learn that you must not, excuse me, you must not go beyond what the Bible says.

  You must not go beyond what the Bible says.

  Like, well, what's he talking about? Here's his point. He's telling the Corinthians and he's telling

  us harvests because they were exalting others and they had disdain for others and Paul's like,

  "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You need to view people only the way the Bible describes people."

  That's what he's saying. You need to view people only as the Bible describes. That's it.

  How does the Bible describe people? Every single one of us were born with a sin nature. We inherited

  that from Adam. The Bible says Adam brought sin into the world and he passed it on to his kids,

  he passed it on to his kids and he passed it on to us. We were born with a sin nature. We are

  rebellious against God by birth and by choice and we deserve hell. That's what the Bible says about

  people. But Jesus came, God in the flesh came, he died on the cross to take away our sins. He

  rose from the dead to give us the promise of eternal life and he has commanded us to turn from our sin

  and to believe in him. And when we do, the Bible says that you are born again. When you do the Holy

  Spirit, God's Spirit Himself comes and empowers you to be who God called you to be. And every single

  person who is saved is saved that way. Spoiler alert. If you're going to heaven, you're going to hear

  the same testimony a lot. Like, how'd you get here? Jesus! Look, how'd you get here? Jesus! I'm

  going to go ask this lady, how'd you get here? Jesus, you're going to hear that not a lot. You're

  going to hear that exclusively. Paul's point here is, look, you guys are all messed up about

  exalting people. Look, you need to have a biblical perspective of who we are. Don't go beyond that.

  Or, did you see that at the end of the verse? If you do, you will start exalting yourself, right?

  He says, you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. Go beyond what the Bible says,

  you're going to start having pride. You're going to start to think that you're better than others.

  And then Paul gives them the Dutch uncle. Look at verse 7.

  He says, he has three questions. Paul says, "For who sees anything different in you?"

  Like, we're all the same. The Bible describes this is who man is. And he goes,

  "Who sees anything different in you?" Like, what, you're something different?

  You're something special? You're a little snowflake?

  Like, all you're like, "I know what the Bible says, but I'm different. I'm special. Grandma

  thinks I'm special." He says, "Who sees anything different in you?" Like, what makes you think

  you're so special? Right? Next question. What do you have that you do not receive?

  Get back to that in a second. What's that question, Marinette?

  What is it that you're in possession of that wasn't given to you?

  All right? Then he drives it home with this third question. He goes, "If then you received it,

  why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"

  Paul's like, "Why are you so fully yourselves? Anything and everything about you,

  you received that." I mean, think about that. Just think about that for a minute.

  That's true physically, right? Everything about you physically, you received that

  genetically from your parents.

  You know, occasionally, I'll meet somebody or whatever, and they're like, "How old are you?"

  I'm like, "Well, I'm 50." And people say, "Well, you look young for your age."

  And I say, "Have you been to the eye doctor lately?" No, I don't say that. I don't say that.

  I just smile and say thank you, or like, you know, I got good genes from my mom. But you know what I'm

  thinking when people say that? Like, that's very nice of you to say, but I contributed nothing to that.

  Like, this is what I got. That's just what I got. I received this. You're like, "I'm sorry." Well,

  I received this. This is what I got. This is what was given to me.

  You're like, "Well, doesn't that upset you?" It doesn't matter how I feel about it. This is what I got.

  This is the shade of my skin. This is as tall as I'm going to get. But that's true for you.

  Everything you have was given to you. But I don't really think that's Paul's main

  point here. I think mainly he was talking spiritually, right? Everything that I have

  spiritually has been given to me. Salvation? How is a gift from God? God gave me that.

  What about spiritual giftedness? Where did I get that?

  The Holy Spirit. God gave me a spiritual gift. He gave you a spiritual gift that was given. That's

  why it's called a spiritual gift. He gave it to you, right? Oh, by the way, your talents

  are given to you by God. You know, the Bible says those are given to you by God.

  You're natural, what we call natural talents. The Bible says those were given to you by God.

  Look that up. It's in Exodus.

  Everything about you has been given to you from God directly or from God through your parents.

  And you're like, not me. I work hard.

  Who gave you the ability to work hard?

  You see, why are you acting like you earned anything?

  And then Paul gets sarcastic with them. Look at verse 8.

  Obviously, dripping with sarcasm here, he goes, "Already, you have all you want.

  Already, you become rich. Without us, you would have become kings."

  That you did reign so that we might share the rule with you.

  You see the sarcasm? He's condemning their pride. He's like, "Oh, oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize

  that you were these spiritually elite and wise people. I didn't realize that you

  attained a level of spirituality all by yourselves. You didn't need us, Madam President.

  Oh, I beg your pardon for thinking different."

  What Paul's doing here is he's pulling them back down to earth. He's like, "You guys think you're so

  superior with your pride. Knock it off. Get off of your high horse. Stop it."

  Because everything you have has been given to you. How in the world can you boast about that?

  You know, just imagine this scenario. Imagine that five of our kids from Harvest Academy,

  imagine I gave them each a quarter. Like, "No, don't spend it all in one place."

  But I gave five kids a quarter. And as you're walking out church, you see the five of those kids.

  Those five kids are sitting at a table up here by Harvest Academy. And you stop and listen for a

  second and they're all bragging. And one kid's like, "I got a quarter. I got a quarter. Look

  how awesome I am. I have a quarter." And then the little girl beside him is like, "I got a quarter.

  You think you're great. I got a quarter. I'm awesome. I got a quarter." And then the next kid's like,

  "I got a quarter." And like, wouldn't you be like, "What are you guys bragging about? Like, Jeff just

  gave you all a quarter. Like, how does that... Why are you so boastful?" And that's what Paul's saying

  here to the Corinthians. You're like a bunch of kids bragging because somebody gave each a quarter.

  Knock it off. We're all equal in God's eyes. And equal does not mean the same, but equal does mean

  equal. You're never going to humble yourself until you get to the place where you recognize

  every single thing that you have was given to you. All right? Humble yourself and here's

  four truths that will help you. Number three, this is a hard truth. All right?

  Number three is God wants to show everyone how I suffer.

  God wants to show everyone how I suffer. Pick up in verse 9. Paul says, "For I think

  that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death,

  because we have become a spectacle to the world to angels and to men." Paul says,

  "God put us on display." He says, "We're like the lowest people on the earth." You see the picture

  there? Paul says, "You know what we're like? We're like men on death row being escorted to the electric

  chair while TV cameras all around recording us for the entire world to turn on the TV and watch us."

  Like, hey, look, there they go. Off to be killed. Look at them. Everybody watch.

  He says, "That's how God put us on display."

  And you see in verse 10, Paul gets back into some more sarcasm.

  He says, "We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.

  You are held in honor, but we in disrepute."

  What's he talking about here? It's more sarcasm.

  See what Paul's saying? Paul's like, "We're out here suffering serving the Lord. We're out here

  actually suffering and you're sitting in your little pews patting yourselves on the back."

  Like, what's going on? Like, well, suffering how? How are you suffering, Paul? Well, he tells us

  to the present hour, we hunger and thirst. We are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless.

  And we labor working with our own hands.

  What is there to brag about again?

  Paul's reminding them the following Christ means suffering.

  I don't really care what the health and wealth church down in the street says about that.

  And I don't really care what the prosperity preacher on TV says about that.

  All I care is what the Bible says about that. And do you know what the Bible says?

  The Bible says if you follow Christ, you are going to suffer.

  Jesus himself said this, John 15.20. Jesus said, "Remember the word that I said to you,

  a servant is not greater than his master." Jesus said that a bunch.

  A servant is not greater than his master. What are you saying, Lord? If they persecuted me,

  they will also persecute you. See what Jesus is saying?

  God allowed his only begotten Son to suffer. So you think as an adopted child of God that

  you're exempt from that? You think that because you're adopted that you get a pass on suffering?

  Listen, God doesn't keep you from suffering. He puts you on display in suffering.

  Why would He do that? Why in the world would God do that? Are you telling me

  that God is allowing me to suffer so everybody can watch me suffer? That's what He said.

  Like why would He do that? He tells us.

  Continuing verse 12 here, He says, "When reviled, we bless. When persecuted,

  we endure. When slandered, we entreat."

  So why in the world would God lead us to suffering?

  So God can show everyone who's watching how we suffer.

  So He talks here about being reviled and persecuted and slandered. Have you ever

  seen worldly people react to those things all the time? Right? What does the world do when

  they're reviled or persecuted or slandered? The world reactions are on display everywhere.

  It's retaliation. It's temper tantrums. I'll get even with you. You can't do this to me.

  It's pity parties. And oh, what was me? And that's how the world reacts. Listen,

  God wants you to walk through the same kinds of suffering so that you can exhibit the life of

  Christ. Do you realize how awesome this is? That God is going to allow you to suffer so the world

  can watch, so God can point to you and say, "Look at how my people suffer." Oh, you see how the world

  suffers and how they retaliate and how they're bitter and how they're angry. And look at my people.

  When they suffer, they reflect the character of my son.

  Look at my people. When they're reviled, they turn around and they look for ways to bless the

  people that hate them. Do you see my people do that? God says, "Look at my people." When they're

  persecuted, they don't pack it up. They don't boohoo. I quit. I can't take it anymore. Look at my people.

  When my people are persecuted, they endure. They are not going to give up.

  God says, "Look at my people." When they're slandered,

  they don't slander back. They don't hate the people that speak negatively about them. God says,

  "Look at what my people do." They entreat. They're trying to reach the people that hate them with

  the gospel of my son. Look at my people. This guy sounds familiar, doesn't it?

  Probably because Peter said something almost identical. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21.

  Look at this. Same thing. Exact same truth. For to this, you have been called because Christ

  also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might fall in His steps.

  Here's the example. Jesus committed no sin. Neither was deceit found in His mouth.

  When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten,

  but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.

  You're going to suffer. The only real question is, how are you going to suffer?

  Meaning, what is going to be your attitude during your suffering?

  You're going to lash out because your pride was hurt? You're going to humble yourself

  and show them the example that Jesus gave you.

  But you'll never humble yourself until you understand that you are called to respond to

  suffering like Jesus. One more slice of humble pie, are you full?

  You're like, you know what, Pastor Jeff, I think I'm just the right amount of humble.

  Can we sing and get out of here? There's one more.

  Number four, something to tell yourself when you start to think that you're so important.

  Number four, the world thinks I'm scum.

  Look at the last part of verse 13. We have become

  and are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

  Yeah, we're scum. We're garbage. You know that. We are garbage people.

  To the lost, they think our message is foolishness. You realize that.

  You realize that to the lost, they would come in here and hear what we're doing,

  see what we're doing, and they would say, literally, what a bunch of morons.

  Look, if you're here for a little ego boost, I'd just like to remind you what the Bible says,

  you're trash. We're all just trash in the world's eyes.

  You know, when I was a kid, my dad used to say that he had this little saying that he said all

  the time. And as a kid, I never understood what it meant. It was this, anytime somebody was acting

  untowardly, somebody was acting like a hog or insulting you or being cruel towards you or

  speaking perversely or anytime somebody was acting like that, my dad would just say,

  well, you got to consider the source. I never knew what that meant until I became an adult. Now I'm

  Oh, I get what he's saying now. And I think that little saying of dad certainly applies here.

  It's like, hey, hey, you know, the world thinks you're scum.

  Now consider the source. The brilliant world crucified Jesus Christ.

  This world who was giving their opinion of me took God in the flesh and publicly executed

  him in the most humiliating and painful way. All they think I'm scum, huh? Well,

  I guess I should just consider the source. You're never going to be popular with the world. If you

  follow Christ, you're never going to be popular with the world. It's not going to happen. They

  think you're scum. And the truth is, I'm actually much worse than they think I am.

  I am. My sin is so bad it took the blood of the spotless Son of God to wash my sin away.

  That must mean my sin was pretty bad.

  So it takes us back to point one, right? God's opinion is really the only one that matters

  anyways. But you're never going to humble yourself until you're okay with the world regarding you

  as scum. All right. So if our worship team would make their way back to the platform,

  I just want to leave you with this. If you're ever a contestant on jeopardy,

  not likely for most of us, or you start to think that you're pretty important,

  which is actually very likely for all of us, I'm going to give you your speech.

  When someone says, "So, tell me a little bit about yourself. If you want to be biblical,

  here's your speech." Like, my name is, I'm only here to please God. Everything I have has been given

  to me. God wants me to suffer so that the world can see Jesus. And the world thinks I'm scum.

  Tell me a little bit about yourself. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I just ask again that you would

  use your word to humble all of us. Our sin is so self-exalting, and we start to

  think that we have things figured out, or we reached a level that other people should aspire to

  when your word says that we should humble ourselves. Father, remind us of these truths

  that someday we're going to stand before you, and on that day,

  we will learn the truth that it is only your opinion that means anything.

  Increase our faith, Father. Give us the drive to humble ourselves. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Don’t Lie to Yourself

Introduction:

Get a Grip! (1 Corinthians 3:18–23)

1. You are not as wise as YOU THINK YOU ARE. (1 Cor 3:18–20)

2. You are not lacking IN ANYTHING. (1 Cor 3:21–23)

   John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 3:18-23

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. In what way do you need to “get a grip” on reality in this season of life? What lies about God, yourself, and others are you tempted to believe?
   

3. What does it look like to be wise according to worldly standards? How do you see yourself falling into worldly wisdom right now?
   

4. What does Paul mean by “all things are yours”? How should this truth change your thinking and living?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 18 through 23.

  As Pastor Jeff admitted in a sermon a few weeks ago, we try to stay up to date on the

  latest lingo since we worked with the youth group.

  Emphasis on try because new and nonsensical words and phrases seem to be invented on a

  daily basis.

  New slang always sounds ridiculous to older generations, even though your slang wasn't

  that much better back in the day either.

  Do you ever wish a certain slang word or phrase stuck around a bit longer than it had that

  caught on a bit more?

  I know I miss saying things like big whoop or cool beans or I'm disgusted by something.

  Gag me with a spoon or when someone says something really obvious I say no duh or how about whenever

  someone's annoying me I lift up my hand and say talk to the hand because the face ain't

  listening.

  Another one of my favorites someone asked you to do something that you really don't want

  to do.

  Yeah let's not and say we did.

  But you know which phrase I miss the most?

  It's somewhat said today but not nearly as much as it used to be.

  Get a grip.

  Who's ever said that or heard that at some point?

  Get a grip.

  You say get a grip when someone is being unreasonable and is in desperate need of a reality check.

  This person believes something that is not true and this bad belief leads to a bad action.

  It leads to an overreaction.

  This person needs to let go of the lies that he or she is believing.

  This person needs to get a grip on reality.

  In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 18 through 23 Paul gives the Corinthians a much needed

  reality check.

  He tells them to get a grip because they are believing some things that are not true and

  these bad beliefs are leading to bad decisions, erratic actions and massive overreactions.

  They are tearing the church apart with their selfish pride, with their worldly thinking

  and their destructive division.

  The unity and purity of the Corinthian church cannot be promoted and maintained until they

  get a grip on some essential truths from God's Word.

  Yeah we've been studying 1 Corinthians for almost two months now.

  Now let's be honest.

  As you read this book, as you listen to these sermons, it's really easy to look down on

  the Corinthians, isn't it?

  It's easy to think, "Oh man, these people are insane.

  They're just wackos.

  Go get them Paul.

  They really need to talk into."

  What if you are more like the Corinthians than you think?

  What if you are believing some things that are not true?

  What if you are making some bad decisions right now?

  What if you are negatively affecting your family, your coworkers and this church?

  What if you need to get a grip?

  All of us, myself included, need to be grabbed by the shoulders and shaken back into reality

  because we all tend to live in a fantasy world of our own making.

  A fantasy world of lies, excuses and self-justification.

  You and I need the same exact reminders that Paul gives the Corinthians in this passage

  that we're about to read because you know what?

  We're far more like them than we care to admit.

  You and I need to get a grip and remember some essential facts from God's Word.

  So before we get a grip, let's go to the Lord and ask that He would get a grip on us.

  Please pray for me that I will faithfully proclaim God's Word and I will pray for you

  that you will faithfully receive it.

  Father, it's so easy to come into this room every Sunday and just pretend.

  Just to go through the motions, to put on a show where I pray against all of those things.

  I pray against pretending.

  I pray against stuffing down what we're really dealing with.

  I pray against hiding our sin.

  This morning we asked that you would reveal what we struggle with.

  You would reveal the sins that we need to deal with by your grace.

  I pray you'd help us to deal with these things in a biblical way.

  We ask all these things in Jesus' name.

  Amen.

  Get a grip.

  You are not as wise as you think you are.

  That's the first blank on your outline.

  Get a grip.

  You are not as wise as you think you are.

  Let's read chapter 3 verses 18 through 20.

  The apostle Paul writes, "Let no one deceive himself.

  If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he

  may become wise.

  For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.

  For it is written, 'He catches the wise in their craftiness.'

  And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile."

  Have you ever noticed that people who are the most confident tend to be the least competent?

  The most confident tend to be the least competent.

  That guy who praises his own handiness and fixes everything at home tends to make a lot

  of obvious mistakes.

  He does stuff around his house that no one would hire him to do around their house.

  That woman who praises her driving tends to be a really bad driver herself.

  She's looking down at her phone while she's driving.

  She's applying makeup.

  She's running red lights.

  She's not using turn signals when she's going through lanes.

  That guy who talks a big game in the golf cart tends to have zero game when he's driving

  or putting.

  Or how about that person who says, "Yeah, I'm really calm under pressure."

  And then when something bad actually happens, they're just totally manic and panicked.

  And all of these examples overconfidence causes someone to overestimate his or her ability.

  And that is what Paul is talking about in these verses.

  A human sense of confidence in yourself makes you incompetent when it comes to spiritual

  matters.

  Those who think they are wise by worldly standards are foolish by heavenly standards.

  They may appear to be brilliant in the eyes of the world, but what are they in the eyes

  of God?

  Stupid, dumb, foolish.

  When you're impressed with your own wisdom, you become a fool.

  And that rule is without exception in Scripture.

  Paul is crystal clear on this.

  He quotes the book of Job in Psalm 94 when he says, "God catches the wise in their craftiness

  and again the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile."

  And earlier he says, "The wisdom of this world is folly with God."

  You cannot outsmart God.

  You cannot trick Him.

  If you try, He will beat you at your own game.

  And again, we see this all throughout Scripture.

  Here are just two examples that spring to the top of my mind.

  In the book of Esther, Haman hatches a scheme to kill God's people and to hang his enemy

  Mordecai on gallows that he had specially made.

  How did that turn out for Haman?

  Anyone remember?

  He ends up hung on the gallows that he had made for Mordecai.

  Yeah, not great as Pastor Jeff said.

  What about King Absalom?

  Well, he tried to be king.

  Didn't really work out for him.

  He rebelled against his father.

  He had this long, beautiful hair like Fabio that he really prided himself in.

  He tried to steal his father's throne.

  How did that go for him?

  He ended up caught in a tree branch by his own prided hair with three spears through

  his heart.

  He ended up as a human pincushion.

  Both men thought they were smart, but God caught them in their craftiness.

  They were both competent.

  Actually, they were confident in their own competence, but they ended up being incompetent.

  They had their own thoughts and plans that were proven to be useless by God.

  They were not as wise as they thought they were.

  Are you confident in your own competence right now?

  Are you trying to outsmart God?

  Are you trusting in your own human wisdom?

  Your own faulty understanding.

  You know exactly what God thinks about that sin you're indulging in, but you think that

  you can escape the consequences.

  And without even realizing it, you are bearing the consequences of your repeated and unrepentant

  disobedience.

  You are dulling your conscience.

  You are pushing down the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

  You are pushing away faithful friends because you don't want to be found out.

  You know exactly what God thinks about giving of your time and treasure to the church and

  those who are in need.

  But again, you think those rules don't really apply to you because your schedule is way

  too busy.

  Your bills are way too high.

  Your stress is off the chart, so you can't do those things.

  You know exactly what God thinks about your need to humble yourself and submit to others.

  But once again, that doesn't really apply to you because you're always right and those

  other people are always wrong.

  I mean, yeah, sure.

  Unity and all that jazz is really important, but you're the only one who really knows what

  you're doing.

  So if you don't get your way, everything's just going to fall apart, right?

  You know exactly what God thinks about how you should treat fellow believers and handle

  conflict in the church.

  But surprise, surprise, once again, you're a special case.

  You have been too mistreated to talk it out.

  You have been too hurt to forgive.

  Please stop elevating your importance because you will be humbled if you don't.

  Stop thinking that you can outsmart God because you will get caught in a trap of your own

  making.

  Stop highlighting your wisdom because you are simply shining a spotlight onto your foolishness.

  You become a fool by thinking that you're wise.

  You may be wondering, okay, so how do I actually become wise?

  Well, Paul gives us a very simple answer in verse 18.

  Look at that again.

  He says, "If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool

  that he may become wise."

  You become wise by submitting yourself to what the culture around you thinks is foolish.

  You willingly swallow the pill that most people willfully spit out in God's face.

  You passionately believe that God not only knows better than you, he knows what is best

  in any and every circumstance.

  You sit under the authority of God's word rather than standing in authority above it.

  You care way more about the never-changing commands of God than your ever-changing opinions.

  You are far more concerned with meeting the needs of others than satisfying your own personal

  preferences.

  Do you know what the greatest threat to harvest Bible Chapel is?

  It's not ungodly politicians.

  It's not ungodly public policies.

  It's not other religions.

  It's not persecution of Christianity.

  It's not even social media or secular entertainment.

  The greatest threat to this church is you.

  The greatest threat to this church is me.

  The greatest threat is you and I thinking that we know best.

  You and I insisting it's my way or the highway.

  That leads to stiff-arming one another.

  That leads to division.

  That leads to disunity.

  Do you know what the greatest unifier in the church is?

  A mutual agreement that God knows best and we don't.

  A mutual submission to the Word of God.

  A mutual agreement that we will do whatever the Bible says in regards to every subject,

  every issue, every problem.

  When a financial issue arises in this church, we deal with it in a biblical way.

  When gossip is being shared, we deal with it in a biblical way.

  When disagreement breaks out in a small group, we deal with it in a biblical way.

  When problems arise with the building project, we deal with it in a biblical way.

  How does that biblical plan sound to you?

  Are you on board with that?

  Are you willing to go down that path and do whatever this book says?

  Let me warn you, it's not going to be easy.

  If you are committed to that, you have to lay aside your temptation to show off, to prove

  yourself.

  You have to be unwaveringly committed to obeying the Word of God, even when it hurts, even

  when it's hard, even when it smashes your ego to pieces and it will.

  You need to stop saying, "I think, I think, I think," it starts declaring the Bible says,

  the Bible says, the Bible says.

  As Pastor Jeff said a few weeks ago, what you think doesn't really matter.

  What God commands is of supreme importance.

  You need to stop deceiving yourself.

  You need to get a grip.

  Get a grip because you're not as wise as you think you are.

  Please do not resist this reality check because it is so freeing to admit that you don't have

  all the answers.

  What God does.

  Get a grip.

  You are not as wise as you think you are.

  Get a grip.

  You are not lacking in anything.

  You are not lacking in anything.

  We've already seen that this unity and Corinth cannot be solved until all the members of

  the church put aside their pride and stop deceiving themselves.

  Each person must have an accurate understanding of himself or herself.

  But that's not enough.

  Each person must have an accurate understanding of others, especially those who were leaders.

  Paul talks about this at the beginning of verse 21, "So let no one boast in men."

  For the third time in this letter, Paul is talking about the favoritism controversy in

  Corinth.

  Some think that Paul is the best pastor around.

  Others believe that Peter is the goat of the apostles.

  Most believe that Apollos is the MVP of preaching and teaching.

  At this point in the series, you may be thinking, "Why do we keep talking about this over and

  over again?

  I get that this favoritism thing is bad, but why is it such a big deal to Paul?"

  Well, imagine it with me this way.

  Imagine that all the seating sections in this church are dedicated to one of the pastors

  on staff and his specific groupies.

  On the left side is Pastor Jeff's section.

  You all sit there.

  Are you guys the best section?

  I guess you can prove my point for me.

  On this section, you sit here because you love Pastor Jeff's conversational preaching

  style.

  You love his sense of humor.

  And to show your support, you eat funyons.

  You wear bright neon shoes.

  You hold up "I hate Mayo" signs.

  The middle section is Pastor Rich's section.

  He's not here right now, so we won't give him a big head today.

  I guess he has the most people.

  You sit there because you're enthralled by Pastor Rich's intelligence and his in-depth

  knowledge of God's word.

  And to show your support, you tell puns.

  You drink kombucha and you garden in your spare time.

  And the right side is my section.

  For the life of me, I can't figure out why you're all sitting over there.

  Over lunch, you can decide why you're sitting there and what you would do to celebrate me

  because I have literally no idea.

  Let me ask you, what's the problem with that seating chart?

  The church is literally and metaphorically divided.

  One section is boasting in Pastor Jeff, another is boasting in Pastor Rich, and a third is

  boasting in me.

  In that scenario, who is not being boasted in?

  God, the only one who is worthy of our boasting.

  God deserves the praise, not the leaders he put into place.

  Leaders are a window and God is the view that you see through the window.

  When you are watching a beautiful sunset from inside your house, you don't praise how clean

  and efficient the window is that you're glimpsing through.

  You praise what you're getting a glimpse of.

  Godly leaders are a blessing, but God is the source of that blessing.

  Only leaders are a gift, but God is the ultimate giver.

  You need to have an accurate understanding of yourself.

  You need to have an accurate understanding of others.

  You also need to have an accurate understanding of all God has given you in Christ.

  Paul talks about this at the end of verse 21 and in verse 22.

  He writes, "For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or

  life or death or the present or the future, all are yours and you are Christ and Christ

  is God."

  That statement is absolutely staggering.

  I could preach a series for an entire year just on that one statement.

  There is so much to unpack here, so let's just slow it down and take a small bite at

  a time so we can savor all the flavor in this passage.

  For all things are yours.

  Maybe you don't feel like you have very much.

  When you pull up your bank accounts, your retirement accounts, you're not really happy

  with the numbers that you see.

  Your house is way smaller than you would prefer.

  Your car has way more miles and way more issues than you would like.

  When you compare yourself to others on social media, it really seems like very little is

  actually yours.

  But that couldn't be any further from the truth according to the apostle Paul.

  The poorest Christian is wealthier than the richest non-Christian.

  Jeff Bezos may be one of the most successful businessmen in the entire world.

  As of this morning when I checked, he is worth $235 billion, far more than all of us if we

  combined our net worths.

  Let me ask you, does Jeff Bezos own all things?

  No.

  Elon Musk, he owns X, Tesla, and he's even taking on space now, I guess.

  As of this morning, he has a net worth of $460 billion.

  Because even Elon Musk owns all things.

  He's not even close to owning all things.

  If you have trusted in Christ, you are far better off than either of these men who seem

  to be so far beyond you.

  All things are not theirs, but all things are yours.

  You may be wondering, "Okay, Taylor, I believe you because the Bible says so, but I just

  don't get it."

  Well, let me show you because Paul gives us a detailed list of everything that belongs

  to you and belongs to me.

  First up, Paul or Apollos or Cethus.

  As they already said, all three of these men are gifts to be appreciated by the Corinthians.

  Each man serves, each man gives something that is unique to the church.

  And the same can be said for the pastors and elders here.

  We are here to glorify God by serving you.

  We are here to obey God by equipping you for the work of the ministry.

  The pastors and elders at harvest belong to you.

  We are here for you.

  And the same is true for every godly leader who pours himself or herself into your life

  and other avenues of life.

  Why play favorites when all of us are here to bless you and increase your spiritual health?

  It's like being gifted a house, only utilizing one of the rooms and blocking off the rest.

  Instead of doing that, enjoy the entire house.

  The kitchen can do things that your basement cannot.

  The closet provide a function that your dining room doesn't.

  Each room has a place and function in the house.

  In a much greater way, each leader, pastor, and elder in the church has a place or a function.

  Next up, the world.

  One day Jesus Christ will return to rule and reign over this earth.

  And do you know according to Scripture, you will rule and reign along with Him?

  How's that going to look?

  How's that going to work?

  I have no idea, but it sounds awesome.

  This may be a shock for you to hear, but there are a lot of ungodly people in authority

  and power right now.

  When you notice, a lot of ungodly people are in charge of communities, cities, and countries

  across the face of this planet.

  And it may seem like they have more power than you do.

  But again, does the world belong to those ungodly leaders?

  Does the world belong to you?

  Yes.

  But once again, you have far more.

  All our apostles are seephis the world, life or death.

  When you trust in Christ's perfect life, His finished work on the cross, and His victorious

  resurrection, you are given eternal life.

  And as Pastor Jeff often says, eternal life isn't just something you'll experience.

  Someday eternal life is something you experience right now.

  Jesus makes this clear in John 17.3.

  And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom

  you have sent.

  You have God as your Father.

  You have Jesus Christ as your personal friend, both now and forever.

  You no longer need to fear death because Jesus took the hell that you deserve upon Himself.

  Death can no longer lead you away from God.

  It can only lead you closer to God.

  For a believer, death is a homecoming.

  The present or the future.

  Once again, maybe your present doesn't seem very good right now.

  Maybe your present is a place you don't really want to be.

  But recognize every gift that you have is from the hand of God.

  Your friends, your spouse, your kids, your church, the clothes on your back, the food

  in your stomach, even the difficult circumstances in your life are used by God to mold you into

  the image of Jesus Christ.

  Every difficulty, every pain, every sickness is used to make you more like Him.

  God loves you like His own Son.

  But the Bible tells us that God not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.

  We also will have to go through hard times.

  We will also struggle.

  One day the pain of this world will give way to the glories of heaven.

  Please know your God is so good to you right now.

  Because your appreciation of His goodness will exponentially increase in the future

  when you stand in His presence.

  Finally, Paul provides a summary statement of what has been given to every Christian.

  All are yours, and you are Christ, and Christ is God's.

  Doesn't this statement kind of sound like one of those complex word problems on a math

  test or on the SATs?

  So break it down, understand it, let's reverse the logic of this text.

  Because this is an awesome math equation that adds up to an infinite sum.

  What does God own?

  I'm going to try that again.

  What does God own?

  Who is God's Son?

  If you were a believer, who do you belong to?

  Jesus.

  Therefore, if you belong to Christ, what belongs to you?

  Everything.

  I usually hate math, that's math even I can get behind.

  You own all that God has.

  You own literally everything.

  Your net worth cannot be calculated.

  You and I so often get sidetracked for our desire for more and more and more of what

  this culture has to offer.

  We get obsessed with accumulating more stuff that we cannot even take with us when we die.

  You and I lose touch with the spiritual realities of this text.

  You can lose track of all that has been given to you in Christ.

  You can grumble.

  You can complain.

  You can act ungrateful.

  There are some Saturdays where Kate and I pull out all the stops for the kids.

  We have a great breakfast.

  We go to the park.

  We go see a movie so they can stuff their face with popcorn, icees, and candy.

  We come back with them ride bikes.

  We round out the day with a delicious dinner.

  But then one of my kids is sulking, walking around upset.

  And I'll ask Sam or Amy, "What's wrong?"

  And one of them will respond by saying, "Oh, I'm just having a hard day."

  And I'm just blown away by that response.

  "How in the world are you having a hard day?"

  Well, you and mom are being mean to me and you didn't let me have the second pack of

  pirate's booty that I wanted.

  Are you serious?

  We gave you everything today and you're belly aching about one small thing that you don't

  even need.

  In those moments, I want to give my kids a reality check.

  I want to give them a loud and clear message.

  Get a grip.

  You are so blessed.

  You are not lacking in anything.

  And Paul is giving you the same exact reality check.

  He is shaking you by the shoulders and saying, "You are so blessed.

  You are not lacking in anything.

  What do you want that you really need?"

  The answer is nothing, nothing.

  You may be struggling with your job or your roles as a stay-at-home mom, but you must

  remember that you have been given the greatest calling of all, telling others about what

  you have received in Christ and what they can receive in Christ.

  You may feel lonely right now.

  You may feel isolated like no one cares about you.

  But you must remember that Jesus has gifted you with the Holy Spirit who lives inside

  of you and he will never leave you or forsake you.

  You may have a very broken and dysfunctional family or come from a very broken and dysfunctional

  family, but you must remember that the Lord himself has taken you in and he has given

  you brothers and sisters in Christ who love you.

  You may not like your house very much.

  You may think it's the worst house on the block, but you must remember that Jesus himself

  is preparing a place for you in heaven.

  You may not receive the biggest inheritance from your family, but as you read earlier

  in Romans, you are an heir of God and a fellow heir of Jesus Christ.

  You may feel cursed right now when life is hard and it's just one thing after another,

  but you must remember that you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly

  places.

  Get a grip.

  You are not lacking in anything.

  If you choose to get a grip and remember these essential reminders, you will experience

  a sense of joy like you've never known before.

  You will stop trying to build up more and more stuff and accumulate a kingdom for yourself.

  You will no longer be envious of what other people have because you are content with what

  you have.

  You will enjoy true unity in the life of the church because you're no longer in competition

  with other believers.

  Yes, all things are yours in Christ, but all things are also theirs in Christ.

  You own what they own and they own what you own.

  God doesn't play favorites with His children.

  We're all on the same equal footing.

  In the body of Christ, we all own all things.

  For most of this message I've been speaking to Christians, those who are Christ.

  I know there are people in this room who are not Christians, who are not Christ.

  I want to talk to you for a minute.

  First of all, I want to let you know that I'm so glad that you're here.

  It's my greatest desire that God would get a grip on you so that you can get a grip on

  the reality of your situation.

  No matter how much you think you have, you have nothing that lasts.

  All things are not yours.

  But I have great news for you.

  Jesus offers you all of Himself.

  He offers you all that belongs to Him.

  And to receive it, you must let go of the garbage of this culture that you're holding

  onto so you can grab ahold of His infinite riches.

  Come to Him empty-handed.

  Come to Him asking for forgiveness.

  Come to Him admitting your need for His grace.

  Why settle for nothing, both now and forever, if you can have all things for the rest of

  eternity?

  The worship team can now make their way forward.

  You ever since childhood have had to deal with night terrors.

  I have very vivid dreams where I think things are not true and see things are not there.

  And this crazy thinking leads to some crazy behavior.

  I'll yell things out.

  I'll walk around the room.

  I'll even jump on the bed.

  Then all of a sudden, I'm snapped back to reality.

  I come to my senses.

  And every single time I feel so foolish.

  I think to myself, "How could I have thought those things?

  How could I have done those things?

  Why did I act that way?

  How can I stop this from happening in the future?"

  Maybe the Holy Spirit has done something similar for you this morning.

  I hope He has snapped you back to reality so you can stop living in that fantasy world.

  I pray that He has caused you to come to your senses so you will stop believing the lies

  of the enemy.

  Brothers and sisters, let me just say this one final time with all the love and care I

  have in my heart for every single one of you.

  Get a grip.

  Get a grip.

  You are not as wise as you think you are.

  You are not lacking in anything.

  Until you get a grip, your relationship with God will not be as strong as it could be.

  Until you get a grip, harvest Bible chapel will not be as strong in unity and purity

  as it could be.

  Let's pray.

  Father, we come to You, and we all admit that we all struggle with believing things are

  not true.

  We all struggle with an inflated opinion of ourselves.

  Even when we think very little of ourselves, we are still focused on self.

  We all admit that we so often complain and grumble about what we don't have, and we fail

  to remember all that you have given us in Christ, which is everything.

  For those who are discouraged this morning, help them to walk out of here encouraged by

  the truth of your word.

  By those who came in here hard-hearted, may they walk out soft-hearted, Lord.

  For those who came in with their arms crossed not wanting to listen, may they come out worshiping

  You and glorifying You for all that You have done for them and all that You continue to

  do for them.

  Lord, we thank You for who You are.

  We thank You for what You've done, what You are doing, and what You will do.

  We ask all these things in Jesus' name.

  Amen.

Live Now for Then

Introduction:

Romans 14:12 – So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Revelation 22:12 – Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.

How to Have a Successful Building Campaign (1 Corinthians 3:10–17)

1. Build on the right FOUNDATION. (1 Cor 3:10–11)

   Matthew 16:15–18 – He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

2. Use the right MATERIALS. (1 Cor 3:12)

   2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

3. Pass INSPECTION. (1 Cor 3:13–17)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 3:10-17

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Your works will be tested by fire (1 Cor 3:13). What determines if a work is good or useless (precious metal or straw)?
   

3. Is it wrong to be motivated by rewards? How much do rewards motivate you to serve Christ?
   

4. How would you answer the question: “What exactly is the reward Jesus is giving in 1 Cor 3:14?”?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Open up those Bibles.

  The 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

  1 Corinthians chapter 3.

  Just pause for a second.

  As we so often do, I'm just going to ask you to take a moment and pray for me to be faithful

  to communicate God's Word, and I will pray for you to be ready to receive what it is that

  the Lord has to say today.

  Let's pray.

  Father in heaven, your Word tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing through

  the Word of Christ.

  Father, I pray today that you would increase our faith as we sit under your Word, and that

  your Word would not just encourage us, but it would move us.

  To be the people that you've called us to be so that we would do the things that you've

  called us to do, Father, for your glory and honor.

  We praise you in Jesus' name.

  All of God's people said, "Amen."

  1 Corinthians chapter 3.

  My wife, Erin, loves gardening.

  And if there's a story that sort of encapsulates Erin's gardening experience, it would be

  this one.

  Several years ago, somebody gifted Erin a little greenhouse, and she was so excited.

  She spent so much time building this greenhouse, and then inside the greenhouse, you know,

  she had to build - it wasn't like this massive structure, but it was a pretty nice structure.

  And then inside the greenhouse, she built all these shelves, and then there were all

  these, you know, those little plastic trays, and you fill them with the dirt, and she went

  through.

  But some of them, you know, you had to have the pots, and she had the most magnificent

  greenhouse.

  She spent so much time, and I'm like, "We are going to have such a harvest.

  We're probably going to have to hire people to come and harvest this bountiful crop.

  We're probably going to have to buy like machines."

  There was so - I'm like, "This is awesome."

  Well, one day, we were out somewhere, we returned home.

  There was a really, really bad storm.

  And when we got in the house and went about our business, and at one point we looked out

  the window and saw her greenhouse was completely leveled.

  And everything was strewn across the yard.

  Literally nothing was salvageable.

  You thought this was going to be funny, didn't you?

  Trust me, I didn't laugh.

  Husbands, in a moment like this, you do not laugh.

  She spent so much time and so much work and so much energy building this thing, and it

  was all for nothing.

  She at the end had nothing to show for it.

  And you know, the Bible says, Christian, that your life can be like that.

  Did you know that?

  That you can live your whole life doing lots of things, lots of energy, lots of time spent

  on things.

  And at the very end, you find out that you have nothing to show for it as you enter into

  eternity.

  That's what this passage is about today.

  We're going to be picking up in verse 10, but I want you to drop down for a second and

  look at verse 16, because we're going to grab this so that we understand this passage.

  Some of you probably know this verse off by heart.

  1 Corinthians 3.16 says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's

  Spirit dwells in you?"

  And what I want to point out here is in the Greek, that word you is plural.

  And a lot of times when we talk about you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we think

  about individual salvation.

  Yes, absolutely God's Spirit and dwells in the individual who receives Christ.

  Absolutely.

  But listen, at the same time, I want you to hear me very closely on this.

  There is a corporate aspect of salvation, meaning this.

  You are saved to be a part of a community.

  And that is cover to cover in your Bible.

  Look at Old Testament Israel.

  God dealt with them as a community nation.

  Look at the New Testament church in the book of Acts.

  It is a community.

  Look at the description of heaven in Revelation.

  What is it?

  It is a community.

  It is a community of people that are saved together worshiping.

  So salvation yet it is an individual choice to receive Jesus Christ.

  Yes, it is going from death to life individually, but we are always, always, always called to

  community.

  Always.

  We are God's temple.

  That's why this unity issue is so important.

  Salvation is not just a me thing.

  It's a we thing in the church.

  And in this passage we are looking at today, we have a new analogy.

  Last week Pastor Taylor walked us through the previous analogy that Paul gave us.

  That was the farm.

  Planting and watering and harvesting.

  We are moving today from the farm to the construction site.

  And in this passage we are going to see that you are each a part of God's building project.

  And the inspector is coming to evaluate your work.

  And Christian, you are going to be judged.

  You are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out, time out.

  Pastor Jeff, this isn't my first time at this church.

  And I've heard you say that a Christian will not be judged.

  You will not be judged for your sin.

  You will not.

  But I want you to understand that when the Bible talks about judgment, there are many,

  many, many, many, many, many, many kinds of judgment the Bible talks about.

  For example, the Bible talks about the judgment of the nations.

  Matthew 25, the Bible talks about the judgment of demons.

  Jude 6, the Bible talks about the judgment of the unsaved, the great white throne judgment,

  Revelation 20.

  The believers will be judged.

  And if you are a follower of Christ, you will be judged not for your sin.

  Jesus took care of that on the cross.

  If you are a follower of Christ, sin is in the rear view mirror forever in God's perspective.

  That is a done deal.

  But you will be judged for your works in terms of receiving rewards.

  Jesus is the judge, John chapter 5, and He will judge you for rewards according to what

  you do after you are saved.

  The Bible is so clear in this.

  There are so many verses.

  Here's a couple that just highlight this.

  Romans chapter 14, verse 12, there it is.

  So then each of us will give an account of himself to God, each of us.

  He's talking to the church.

  He's talking to us.

  We will give an account to God.

  And look what Jesus says, end of the book, right?

  Revelation 22, Jesus said, "Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay

  each one for what he has done."

  Each one.

  And you look at the context of that passage.

  He's talking for the bad, and He's also talking for the good.

  He's going to repay.

  Alright?

  So in this passage we're looking at today in 1 Corinthians, believers works.

  Listen, this is the whole theme.

  This is the whole, I don't know, is it a metaphor?

  Is it a simile?

  Is it an analogy?

  Whatever the whole word picture here is construction terms.

  And in this passage the Bible is talking about your good works in terms of building something,

  building a structure.

  And your works will be judged.

  Are they worthy of a reward?

  So on your outline, this is very timely for us as a church.

  It's all straight from the text here.

  This isn't gimmicky or campy.

  This is all straight from the text.

  How to have a successful building campaign.

  You want to enter heaven someday with something to show for your time here on earth?

  That's what this passage is about.

  And it's actually exactly like having a regular building campaign.

  Same principles.

  How to have a successful building campaign.

  Number one, write this down.

  Build on the right foundation.

  That's where it has to start.

  You get a build on the right foundation.

  Look at verse 10.

  Paul says, "According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder,

  I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it.

  Let each one take care how he builds upon it."

  Paul here talking about himself, he planted the church in Corinth.

  He spent 18 months laying the foundation.

  And he refers to himself as a skilled master builder.

  He wasn't exalting himself.

  He wasn't bragging.

  He just said in the previous passage that he is nothing.

  We already established that.

  All Paul is pointing out here is, "Look, I know how to plant a church.

  I know how to do that."

  Like, have you ever read the book of Acts?

  He wasn't bragging.

  He's like, "I know how to plant a church."

  He had a technique and it worked.

  And he planted many churches that we're still talking about today.

  He knew what he was doing.

  And he says, "Someone else is building upon it."

  Pastor Taylor talked about that a little bit last week.

  That's Apollos.

  The next pastor, Apollos is building on the foundation of Paul-Aid.

  But notice he says here, verse 10, "Lest you think..."

  Well, you know, good for preachers, right?

  Good for them.

  He says, "Each one..."

  Look at that.

  Look at that in your Bible.

  "Each one, take care how he builds upon it."

  Each one.

  You know what that phrase, "Each one" tells me?

  This passage isn't just for pastors.

  This passage isn't just for the clergy.

  Each one.

  Each one.

  Look, you serve in this church in any way.

  Church Academy, teaching the kids.

  Guess what?

  You're one of the each one.

  You're a small group leader.

  Each one.

  Are you a ministry team leader?

  Each one.

  Are you serving on one of the ministry teams?

  Each one.

  This is for all of us here.

  Each one of us have to take care on how we're building on the foundation.

  Every single one of us.

  You know what the problem is?

  It's too often the church is like Pendant.

  Some of you already know what I'm going to say.

  And if you work for Pendant, I'm certainly not talking about you.

  But how many of us?

  Come on, let's just be honest.

  We've been driving by Pendant, road work.

  What do you see?

  One or two people working and eight or nine people watching.

  True or false?

  Don't leave me up here.

  Pastor Jeff hates Pendant?

  No.

  Pastor Jeff is just observant.

  You've seen it too.

  But you have one or two guys like really working.

  And then you have eight or nine guys just standing around watching and eating a sandwich

  or smoking a cigarette and like hanging out on their cell phone.

  That's the church, honestly.

  That's what you have at the church.

  You have a small percentage that are working really hard in so many ways and you have a

  lot of people that just kind of sit around and watch.

  Maybe contribute with some occasional criticism.

  The church is too much like Pendant.

  Look, if we're going to build, we're going to start with a foundation.

  And you're like, "Okay, well Paul said he laid a foundation.

  Are we just going to go with the one that Paul laid?"

  Yeah, I would recommend that because look at verse 11.

  He says, "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus

  Christ."

  The church, listen, the church only has one foundation.

  And the foundation of the church is Jesus Christ.

  This is what he talked about in Matthew chapter 16.

  I'm going to paraphrase here.

  But Matthew chapter 16, Jesus said basically like, "What's the word on the street?

  Who do people say that I am?"

  And the disciples are like, "Well some people think you're John the Baptist or Elijah, one

  of the prophets."

  Jesus says to his disciples, "But who do you say that I am?"

  And then Peter spoke up.

  Look at that.

  "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

  That's what Peter said.

  And Jesus blessed him for that.

  Jesus said, "And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church.

  On this rock I will build my church."

  They're like, "Well what is the rock?"

  Well, some people believe that Peter is the rock because the name Peter means rock.

  But there's a lot of Greek linguistic reasons why that isn't exactly accurate.

  But Peter is not the foundation of the church.

  The foundation of the church is Peter's confession.

  Because we see here what the foundation of the church is.

  The foundation of the church is Jesus.

  The foundation of the church is Jesus.

  So it is Peter's confession, meaning the church is built when people confess that Jesus is

  the Christ.

  That's the foundation of the church.

  Churches abandon the mission when they try to build on another foundation.

  And listen, when a church is built on a foundation other than Jesus Christ, then it's not really

  a church.

  Well we believe the church is here to go after social causes or focus on politics or try

  to entertain people.

  We're on the wrong foundation.

  But I want you to listen very closely.

  Yes, the church is called to be salt and light.

  Yes, the church is called to influence every arena where God puts us.

  Absolutely.

  But any of that stuff that's happening has to come from the foundation that we are a

  community that believes in Jesus Christ.

  We are a community that has been transformed by the spirit of Jesus Christ.

  And we carry out the mission of Jesus Christ to make more disciples of Jesus Christ.

  So I have to ask you, have you personally made that confession?

  Have you confessed in your own heart and mind with your own mouth that you believe that

  Jesus is the Christ?

  You believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God?

  Have you made that confession?

  Because Jesus must not only be the foundation of this church, he has to be the foundation

  of your very life.

  So the first step in having a successful building campaign, you've got to make sure

  you're building on the right foundation.

  We could spend so much more time on that, but we recently had a whole sermon about building

  on the rock, not on the sand.

  Right?

  So build on the right foundation.

  Number two, successful building campaign means you've got to use the right materials.

  You've got to use the right materials.

  Look at verse 12.

  He says, "Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood,

  clay, straw, stop right there."

  All right, building project.

  Let's say you're putting up a structure.

  All right?

  And let's say money is no object.

  What kind of materials would you want to use to build your structure?

  Have the three little pigs taught us nothing?

  The materials matter, don't they?

  You'd obviously want to use the highest quality, right?

  Marble, gold, silver.

  What's Paul's point here?

  The quality of materials.

  Listen, if you miss this, you're really going to be confused for a few minutes.

  The quality of materials speaks to the quality of your service.

  Are you teaching biblical doctrine representing the Word?

  Are you led by the Holy Spirit?

  Are you rightly motivated by the glory of God?

  Are you putting forth your best effort serving the King of the universe with excellence?

  That's not about the show.

  It's about dazzling people.

  We already talked about that.

  The question that you have to ask yourself, you have to evaluate yourself, it's this,

  what kind of an effort am I putting in to glorify in Christ by doing His work?

  What kind of effort are you putting in?

  Because some people settle to build out of wood and grass.

  Well, it's easier, quicker, right?

  You want it a building, here's a building.

  I did my job.

  You have to understand that Christ considers that type of effort to be worthless.

  I want you to look at Paul talks about this again in 2 Corinthians.

  Look at 2 Corinthians 5-10 on the screen.

  It's the same teaching, but I'm going to point something out here.

  He says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one

  may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."

  Now there's a problem with this translation.

  The problem is the word evil.

  That is not the right translation of that word.

  You can do the Greek study yourself and you'll find that that word evil should be translated

  worthless.

  He's not talking about something morally evil like from the devil.

  He's not talking about that.

  He's talking about something that's worthless.

  Things done even in the name of Jesus that ultimately end up being worthless.

  What in the world are you talking about?

  Things like things done for Christ only in human effort.

  How about that?

  Not spirit-led.

  Not really motivated by God's glory.

  I mean, I'm doing this and I'm doing it in the church, but I'd really be happier if

  people noticed me.

  Those kinds of things aren't really evil as much as they are worthless.

  Just building out a straw.

  And you know, church, we can fill up the church calendar with all kinds of busyness that has

  nothing to do with the mission of evangelism and discipleship.

  And at the end of the day, do you know what it is?

  Straw.

  It's just straw.

  On the other hand, when you are motivated by God's glory, when you are dedicated to maximum

  excellence, when your heart is in the right place because you're being led by the Holy

  Spirit, that's like building with gold and silver and precious stones.

  And you're like, oh, okay, so being part of a big church means big reward, right?

  No.

  Look, we're not speaking negatively of big churches, but I do have to point out that

  sometimes we think that size equals value, and that's just not true.

  A handful of diamonds is much more valuable than a truck full of logs, despite the obvious

  difference in size.

  But if you want a successful building campaign, better use the right materials.

  You're like, man, wow, this might be new information for some of you, and you're like, how do I

  know?

  How do I know?

  How do I know I'm using the right materials?

  Well I know one thing for sure we're going to find out, because number three is you've

  got to pass inspection.

  You've got to pass inspection.

  Look at verse 13.

  Paul under inspiration, the Spirit goes on, he says, "Each one's work will become manifest,

  for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test

  what sort of work each one has done."

  The day is coming.

  You know the day, the day.

  And the inspector is coming to test by fire.

  You're going to see here throughout the rest of this passage, there's three kinds of people.

  Let's look at the first one, verse 14.

  He says, excuse me, "If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will

  receive a reward."

  There is a reward for the faithful worker.

  Again, we went through the sermon on the Mount.

  We talked quite a bit about this.

  From Matthew chapter 6, verse 20, "Jesus commanded us to lay up for ourselves treasures

  in heaven."

  And anytime we talk about rewards and treasure in heaven, people say, "Well, what is it?

  What are the rewards?"

  And I'll tell you the same thing I always say.

  Not really sure.

  But we can't imagine that it's a kind of reward like earth, like cash.

  Right?

  What is the reward?

  And again, I would suggest to you that maybe God's word isn't specific because it's something

  that we wouldn't fully understand on the earth.

  But we do know quite a bit about eternal rewards.

  We know a lot about them.

  First of all, we know they're eternal.

  We know this is something you're going to have for eternity.

  And something else we know is it's better.

  It's better than anything that we know of on earth.

  And if every good and perfect gift comes from above, don't you trust when God says, "This

  is awesome.

  You should work for this."

  Don't you think that it's going to be good?

  You're like, "No, it's going to be awesome."

  Right?

  So we know that.

  We also know there's no second chance to earn rewards after we die.

  According to the Bible, this is your chance.

  If you're hearing this message right now, you are in prime opportunity to earn rewards.

  We also know that this is a motivator.

  It's a motivator.

  We build with excellence because it's going to result in eternal reward.

  How are you doing?

  Some of you are going to get a huge reward.

  Some of you are.

  Who is?

  Those of you who have spent the money that God has entrusted you on missions, on the church,

  on gospel purposes, Jesus said you're going to get a huge reward.

  Those of you who know your spiritual gift and you have used it to bless the church, you've

  used the time that God has given you here.

  You've taken your opportunity.

  There is a huge reward coming for you.

  On the other hand, let's look at the second group of people, verse 15.

  He says if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be

  saved but only as through fire.

  Okay, so we talked about the person that's working, giving, serving, faithfully, using

  this opportunity.

  Now we're going to talk to some of the rest of you.

  On the other hand, some of you are saved but you're lazy.

  You're irresponsible.

  God gave you two things to use for him, time and money, and you have spent both of those

  on yourself.

  You attend church but that's really about it.

  Your contribution to the kingdom is warming a seat.

  You didn't invest much money into the kingdom.

  You don't really serve the church in any way.

  You're like, am I still going to heaven?

  Yeah.

  If you truly believe in Christ, if you've truly been born again, yes, yes, he says right

  here.

  He's still saved but it's like jumping out of a burning house and then watching it burn

  to the ground.

  You lost everything and you got nothing to show for it.

  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

  You're telling me.

  You're telling me, Pastor Jeff, everything I worked for in my life is ultimately going

  to be nothing in eternity.

  Are you telling me that when I cross over into heaven that I'm going to have nothing

  to show for my time on earth?

  That's what he said.

  I think that's also why he said in verse 10, "Take care how you build."

  So take care.

  Take care, pewsitters, God tippers, and part timers.

  Take care, ear scratchers, bench warmers, and buck passers.

  Take care because today you should examine the quality of the work that you're putting

  in to serve Jesus because He's coming to test it.

  Salvation in Christ is a gift.

  But what we do with it, it's on us.

  There's a third group.

  Look at verse 16.

  He says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you?"

  Do you realize how precious you are to God?

  Do you realize what you are to God?

  You're not some she-shed.

  You are His temple.

  You are the place where God resides.

  You individually, and again, this is plural.

  He's saying you corporately.

  This is where God chooses to dwell.

  Therefore, verse 17, "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.

  For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple."

  This is the third group.

  And I think it's pretty obvious, right?

  He's talking about unsaved people here, right?

  People that destroy what others build.

  We're talking about false teachers, obviously.

  But you know what else we're talking about?

  Those in the church who aren't saved but are divisive.

  Those who hinder the work of the church.

  Those who are constantly causing problems for the leaders of the church.

  Are you protective of your house?

  If you went home from church today and there was somebody inside your house destroying it,

  what would you do?

  Well, God is pretty protective of His house, too.

  And when He looks down and He sees His house and He sees somebody that's trying to destroy

  His house, God says, "I'm going to destroy Him.

  I'm going to deal with Him severely."

  Any building campaign, really, at the end of the day, any building campaign can only

  be said to be successful if it passes inspection, right?

  I'd like to invite the worship team and our communion servers to come up because we've

  got to close a passage like this by gathering around the Lord's table.

  Why?

  Well, the Lord's table for the Christian, for the church, it means so much.

  A couple of things in particular means that we are reminded as we gather around.

  First of all, this brings us back to our foundation.

  Lest we ever be tempted to build a foundation on anything else, the Lord's Supper brings

  us back to the place.

  You know, this is the foundation of the church, the Lord who died for His church, who rose

  from the dead for His church.

  So not only is it our foundation, but I think another huge aspect of the Lord's table is

  our motivation.

  Because look, the Bible talks about rewards.

  Should we be motivated by rewards?

  Absolutely.

  But rewards should be a motivator, not the motivator.

  The motivator is the God who died for you, the love that He poured out on the cross.

  He died for you.

  So we are motivated to live for Him.

Grow Up

Introduction:

It’s Time to Grow Up… (1 Corinthians 3:1–9)

1. Because your childish THINKING holds you back. (1 Cor 3:1–2)

   2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped gfor every good work.

   Hebrews 5:12-13 – For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

2. Because your childish BEHAVIOR hurts others. (1 Cor 3:3)

3. Because your childish FAVORITISM highlights man and not God. (1 Cor 3:4–8)

4. Because your childish SELFISHNESS hides your identity. (1 Cor 3:9)

God, help me to grow up. Today, I need to stop _______________________________________ and start _______________________________________.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Why do so many Christians act like adult babies and why do so many churches pamper these adult babies? What is the solution to this problem?
   

3. Define jealousy and strife. How do you see yourself being jealous or stirring up strife right now?
   

4. According to Paul, why shouldn’t there be any competition in the church?
   

5. What identity does Paul assign to Christians in 1 Corinthians 3:9? How should this identity affect how you act and serve the church?

Breakout
Share how you filled in the following blanks at the end of your outline: God, help me to grow up. Today, I need to stop _______________________________________ and start _______________________________________. Encourage and pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 1 through 9.

  1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 1 through 9.

  It's time to grow up.

  Have you ever thought that about someone else?

  You ever thought that about a neighbor, a coworker?

  Have you ever said that to someone else?

  To a friend, to a family member?

  And whenever you think or say that sentence, it always comes with a sense of frustration,

  a sense of disbelief that someone could be so immature, that someone could be so childish.

  I can distinctly remember a time where I thought and said that exact sentence.

  It's time to grow up.

  It was years ago as I was sick on the couch watching my favorite sick day show, Dr. Phil.

  And don't judge me for my favorite sick time show.

  You probably don't have one that's much better.

  Maybe it's helped me with counseling over the years. I don't really know.

  But I'll never forget this one particular episode as Dr. Phil interviewed a 24-year-old man

  who considered himself 18 months old.

  He was an adult baby.

  He slept in a massive custom crib.

  He had customized onesies in his closet.

  He wore diapers and he ate baby food.

  And Dr. Phil asked him, "Do you think you'll ever grow past this age?"

  Is that decent? I've been working on that all week. Is that okay?

  My wife doesn't think it's really good, so I guess it's not.

  Pastor Jeff is encouraging me, though.

  And then Brett said, "I don't think so. I've done a lot of research.

  And this is the age that I feel, 18 months."

  I was so disturbed by Brett's delusions.

  I was so bothered by his contentment with never growing up

  and the unwillingness of his loved ones to call him out.

  As I was sick on that couch, I wanted to climb through the TV

  and join Dr. Phil in saying, "It's time to grow up."

  Do you know what's even sadder to me than Brett's childish behavior?

  The childish lifestyle of many Christians.

  Adult babies are in every church.

  Adult babies are men and women who are content to never grow up.

  Content to never mature.

  They are committed to staying right where they are

  and never making any progress.

  So many churches are content with pampering these adult babies,

  catering to their desires, and baby-proofing the Bible

  to avoid any sharp edges or offensive truths.

  So many pastors are committed to playing along with people's delusions

  rather than lovingly calling them out.

  Thankfully, the apostle Paul did not have that commitment.

  He had a much different commitment to the Corinthian church,

  who also had an adult baby problem.

  Paul was 100% committed to this church's unity and purity.

  He had no interest in playing along with their delusions.

  He was unwilling to clean up their toys,

  snap on their onesies, and tuck them into their adult cribs.

  He was unafraid to burst their bubble and to lovingly call them out

  because their behavior was unacceptable to God

  and it was damaging to the entire church.

  Paul was bold in calling out the Corinthians and saying,

  "Okay, it's time to get your big boy pants on.

  It's time to grow up."

  And this message from Paul wasn't just for the Corinthians

  almost 2,000 years ago.

  This message from Paul is for Harvest Bible Chapel today.

  And I really don't want you to think,

  "Oh, man, I wish so-and-so was here.

  He or she really needs to grow up."

  Listen, that person isn't here, but you are.

  You really need to hear this word from the Lord.

  In some ways or in many ways, you need to grow up.

  I need to grow up.

  So before we continue any further, let's go to the Lord and ask for His help.

  Please pray for me that will faithfully proclaim God's word

  and I will pray for you that you will faithfully receive it.

  Father, we just celebrated children in our church.

  Children are a gift. Children are a blessing.

  The Lord, when we as adults act like children, there's a huge problem.

  Lord, I admit to you that I can be an adult baby.

  I can be childish.

  And I know the same is true for every single person in this room.

  Help us to stop thinking that this is for somebody else.

  This is a word for each and every one of us.

  Maybe we'd walk out of this room as different people

  and we'd be put on the path to maturity.

  We ask and pray all these things in Jesus' name.

  Amen.

  It's time to grow up.

  Reason number one, because your child is thinking holds you back.

  Your child is thinking holds you back.

  In last week's passage, the Apostle Paul reminded us

  that everyone who is in Christ has been given the mind of Christ.

  That sounds really awesome, doesn't it?

  But what in the world does that mean?

  What is the mind of Christ?

  God's Word.

  You have been given God's Word.

  You don't have to wonder what God thinks about anything.

  You don't have to wonder what God thinks about himself, salvation,

  or how you should live your life.

  He tells you in His Word.

  He not only gives you His Word,

  but He also gives you the Holy Spirit to help you understand this Word

  and help you to understand how you apply it to your life.

  God doesn't tell you all that you could know,

  but He does tell you all that you need to know.

  Those who are spiritual are able to understand spiritual truths.

  Well, great. Thanks, Paul. I appreciate that.

  Here is a butt coming in chapter 3, verse 1.

  Listen to what Paul says.

  "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people,

  but as people of the flesh as infants in Christ."

  At first glance, it seems like Paul is saying

  that there are no Christians in Corinth.

  This church is only made up of unsaved people

  who have no true life and no true relationship with God.

  But that's not what Paul is saying at all.

  There are true believers in Corinth,

  and there are two context clues in this verse

  that show us that Paul is talking to Corinthian Christians.

  First of all, Paul calls them brothers.

  Paul isn't Hulk Hogan. He isn't called everybody brother.

  That was just for Pastor Jeff.

  Paul only calls his spiritual siblings brothers and sisters.

  This is a term of affection.

  Paul isn't coming in hot saying,

  "Okay, idiots, time to shut up and grow up."

  That's not what he's doing.

  He's not putting them in a headlock and giving them noogies

  until they do what he tells them to do.

  No, he's coming in with an arm around their shoulder.

  Brothers, sisters, I love you.

  You're my family. Jesus Christ loves you,

  but you're not acting like you love Jesus.

  You're not acting like Christians.

  You're not acting like you have the Holy Spirit within you.

  You are letting your sinful desires,

  you are letting your flesh control you.

  And secondly, Paul calls them by another name.

  Paul calls them infants in Christ.

  So they are in Christ.

  They are saved. Their sins have been forgiven,

  but they are stuck in their immaturity.

  They are standing still.

  And Paul is saying to them,

  "I want to have an adult conversation with you,

  but all you can do is goo goo, gaga, and spit up all over yourself."

  What is the proof of their baby-ness?

  Verse chapter 2 tells us it's their spiritual diet.

  Let's read verse 2.

  "I fed you with milk, not solid food,

  for you were not ready for it,

  and even now you are not yet ready."

  When my kids were born,

  I didn't throw them a pizza party in the delivery room.

  I didn't try to serve them a hot slice of pizza

  with extra cheese and pepperoni.

  Why not?

  Because they were not ready for it.

  Their systems couldn't handle that kind of meal.

  When we brought Sam and then years later,

  Emmy home from the hospital,

  I didn't try to force-feed them ribeye steak and corn on the cob.

  Again, why not?

  Because they could not handle it.

  They were not ready for it.

  Newborns cannot eat corn on the cob, pizza and steak.

  Newborns cannot eat solid food.

  Babies can only be nourished by milk.

  But that was years ago.

  Let's talk about now.

  Sam is six years old and Emmy is almost four.

  Should my kids be able to handle pizza, corn on the cob and steak now?

  Why is that?

  Because they're older.

  They should be ready for solid food.

  If they're not, there is something seriously wrong within them

  that Kate and I should not ignore.

  The Corinthian church should be ready for the solid food of God's Word,

  but they're not.

  There is something seriously wrong within them that Paul cannot ignore.

  After years and years of being Christians,

  the Corinthians are still only drinking from the milk of the Bible basics.

  Their diet is way off because they have no desire to move forward.

  And to be clear, new believers do need the milk of the Bible basics.

  They do need the spiritual ABCs.

  God is holy, man is sinful.

  Jesus Christ came to die on the cross,

  and everyone who trusts in Him will be forgiven.

  Jesus loves me this I know for the...

  Yes, amen to all these truths.

  We do touch on these essentials every single week, don't we?

  These are the foundation of our faith.

  But do you agree there's way more to the story?

  There's way more to know.

  There's way more to learn.

  At the beginning of your spiritual life,

  you must be fed like a spiritual newborn.

  But as time goes on, your diet should progress

  so that you can progress,

  that you can grow in your faith and make improvements.

  I'm not a dietitian by any stretch of the imagination,

  but to grow big and strong physically,

  you need a certain calorie intake.

  You need to eat from a wide variety of food groups.

  To grow big and strong spiritually,

  you need to consume a significant amount of God's Word.

  You need to have a balanced understanding

  of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

  You shouldn't say, "You know what? That book isn't really for me."

  No, they're all for you.

  All 66 books of the Bible are essential for your growth.

  You should make the attempt to have a balanced understanding

  of the major topics of Scripture,

  the character and attributes of God,

  the person and work of Jesus Christ,

  sanctification, the church, end times,

  and on and on the list goes.

  As Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 through 17,

  "All Scripture, not just some, not just most,

  all Scripture is breathed out by God,

  and profitable for teaching, for reproof,

  for correction, for training and righteousness,

  that the man of God may be complete,

  equipped for every good work."

  It takes the whole Bible to make you a whole person.

  You should have an appetite for the solid food of Scripture.

  Your knowledge of and your love for God's Word

  should increase day by day, week by week, month by month,

  year by year, and again, if it's not, there's a problem.

  Your desire to obey God's Word should increase over time.

  If you truly have the mind of Christ,

  you should love the thoughts of Christ.

  And the author of Hebrews explains the long-term side effects

  of only drinking milk.

  He says this, "For though by this time you ought to be teachers,

  you need someone to teach you again

  the basic principles of the oracles of God.

  You need milk, not solid food.

  For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled

  in the Word of righteousness since he is a child."

  I'm going to be very blunt for the next few minutes.

  I've been praying for this section of the sermon all week long

  because I want you to receive what I'm about to offer

  with the intention I give it.

  This comes from love and concern.

  Some of you have only been drinking milk for years,

  and it shows.

  Some of you are still spiritual newborns

  and not spiritual adults,

  even though you've followed Christ for years,

  maybe even decades.

  Some of you should be ready for the solid food of Scripture,

  but you're not.

  Some of you should be ready to teach the Bible

  back in Harvest Academy, but you're not.

  Some of you should be able to pray in front of other believers,

  lead prayer groups to prayer services, but you're not.

  Some of you men should be elder qualified by now

  and ready to help shepherd this flock and shoulder

  the responsibility, but you're not.

  If I have described you on any level,

  please understand I'm not trying to scold you.

  I'm not trying to push you down like the Apostle Paul.

  I only have the desire to encourage you and to pull you up

  like the Apostle Paul.

  I want to put a shoulder around you, brother, sister,

  God has so much more for you in store.

  If you'll just take a step forward and make progress by His grace.

  Don't stay where you are.

  Don't be content to always drink milk feast on this book.

  Do not be content to always swim in the shallow end of the gospel

  with your floaties on.

  Dive in, explore, challenge yourself.

  Do not be content with riding with spiritual training wheels

  your entire life.

  Ask God to give you a sense of confidence

  so that you can ride with confidence

  and help other people to ride with confidence.

  Repent of your laziness.

  Turn from your apathy to the things of God.

  Ask the Lord to give you a greater hunger for His word,

  a greater motivation to run after holiness,

  a greater commitment to the strength of this church.

  After service, ask a pastor or elder to pray for you.

  Ask a mature member of this congregation

  or a godly friend to help you and to keep you accountable.

  It's time to grow up because your childish thinking holds you back

  from being who God has created you to be

  and doing what God has called you to do.

  It's time to grow up.

  Reason number two, because your childish behavior hurts others.

  Your childish behavior hurts others.

  Paul goes on to give another example

  of the Corinthian sinful immaturity in verse three.

  "For you are still of the flesh.

  For while there is jealousy and strife among you,

  are you not of the flesh

  and behaving only in a human way?"

  Childish thinking always leads to childish behavior.

  And the childishness of the Corinthians

  can be summed up in two words, jealousy and strife.

  Jealousy is a serious case of dissatisfaction

  with what God has given to you.

  You deserve more.

  You deserve better.

  You deserve whatever you want.

  When you are jealous of what someone else has,

  you cannot be content with what you have.

  If you are jealous of someone else's success,

  you cannot celebrate that person's success.

  Strife is needless conflict.

  Strife leads to dumb division

  that can and should be avoided.

  Jealousy is an attitude,

  and strife is the aftermath.

  Jealousy is the root,

  and strife is the result.

  No one needs to teach you how to be jealous.

  No one needs to show you how to create strife.

  These sins are inherent within each and every one of us.

  If you don't believe me,

  just go back to Harvest Academy for a few minutes.

  You will see jealousy and strife sooner

  rather than later.

  Why does Suzy have that toy in her eye?

  I hate Tommy and Joey because they never let me play with them.

  I'm not inviting Ruthie to my birthday party

  because she didn't invite Betty to hers.

  You may laugh at that,

  but the adults in the church are not much better than the kids, are they?

  Listen, you can be jealous.

  You.

  Maybe you are envious of someone else in this room.

  That person who has the marriage that you want.

  That parent who has more under control kids than you do.

  That person who seems to be more talented than you.

  You should be celebrating and rejoicing

  and God's good gifts to that brother or sister,

  but instead you resent them.

  And you want them to be knocked down a few pegs to feel how you feel.

  You can be jealous.

  You can cause strife and factions in the church.

  You have a serious bone to pick with the leadership at Harvest.

  Instead of coming to the elders directly, you start whispering.

  You start spreading misinformation.

  You start spreading rumors.

  You are offended by someone else.

  Instead of going to that person directly,

  you go to other people to recruit them to your side.

  And you may say, "Oh, I'm just doing this to warn people."

  No, you're not.

  You're doing this to the other people who will like you more than that person.

  Just be honest about it.

  Maybe you enjoy getting into fights.

  You enjoy making a big deal out of nothing.

  You lace up your boxing gloves and get into worthless, pointless battles with people.

  Are you jealous right now?

  Are you causing strife right now?

  If you are jealous, if you are stirring up trouble,

  you're just acting like an adult baby

  and not a mature son or daughter of God.

  If you are stirring up trouble, if you have sinned against someone else,

  it's time to swallow your pride and admit what you've done.

  Kids sweep things under the rug and ignore it.

  Adults expose sin and confess it.

  It's time to grow up because your childish behavior hurts others,

  especially the people you love.

  It's time to grow up.

  Reason number three, because your childish favoritism highlights man and not God.

  Because your childish favoritism highlights man and not God.

  Jealousy and strife at Corinth played out in a specific way,

  and it led to people playing favorites with specific leaders.

  Let's see what Paul has to say about this in verse 4.

  For when one says, "I follow Paul,"

  and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human?

  Pastor Jeff preached on this favoritism controversy a few weeks ago,

  but Paul talks about it again, so what are we going to do?

  We're going to talk about it again.

  Paul was the one who planted the Corinthian church during his second missionary journey.

  And he was there for about a year and a half ministering, preaching, pastoring.

  And some people had a soft spot for Paul.

  They were nostalgic for him because he was the one who led them to Christ.

  After Paul left, Apollos comes to town, and he's a much better speaker,

  a much more dynamic preacher, so many people prefer Apollos.

  And this history of favoritism led to both men having their own personal fan clubs,

  even though both men do not want their own personal fan clubs.

  In modern day terms, there is a Paul fan page on Facebook,

  and there's an opposing Apollos fan page on Facebook.

  There are trading cards with these men's faces and pastoral stats.

  There are YouTube channels that highlight and spell out their sermons on why they're so great.

  But Paul says this kind of favoritism is childish.

  It is not the way of heaven. It is the way of this world.

  He's saying, "If you say I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, grow up.

  You're acting like a child. You need to cut it out."

  And Paul gives a reason why he and Apollos are not worthy of these cult followings in verse 5.

  What then is Apollos? What is Paul?

  Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each.

  Paul and Apollos are not celebrities. They're not superstars.

  They're not mega church pastors. Who are they according to this verse?

  Servants.

  This word can also be translated as table waiters.

  Waiters do not cook the food. They simply deliver the food.

  Busboys simply clean up.

  Paul and Apollos are just lowly busboys in God's restaurant.

  Last time I checked, there are no busboy enthusiasts.

  There are no busboy trading cards. There are no busboy YouTube channels.

  When was the last time you had a restaurant and thought to yourself,

  "Man, this table is spotless. I don't even need a plate. I can just eat right off of it.

  I need to go find the busboy and congratulate him."

  Has that ever happened to you?

  Paul is saying, "I'm just a busboy. I'm not worthy of anything that you want to give me."

  He's knocking himself off the pedestal that the Corinthians have put him on.

  He's demystifying Apollos and putting him in his place too.

  They are just servants of the Lord. They are servants of the Corinthian church.

  But Paul isn't done lowering himself yet.

  He and Apollos are not just busboys.

  They are also farm hands, according to verses 6 and 7.

  "I planted Apollos watered, but God gave the growth."

  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth.

  I've never farmed before.

  I've never even kept a garden before in my entire life.

  The last time I can remember planting a seed was in first grade with that cup on the window sill,

  that cup of dirt.

  I'm not a farmer, but I do know a farmer in our congregation.

  I spoke to Jesse Hogan last week and I asked him,

  "How much credit can you take for a good harvester crop?"

  Do you want to know what farmer Jesse said?

  None.

  All I can do is plant, pray for good weather, and trust that God will bring the growth.

  Trust the results to God.

  Jesse is a successful farmer because he understands his place in the process.

  He entrusts the results to God.

  He knows his limitations.

  Paul is successful as a pastor, as an evangelist, as a church planner,

  because he knows his place in the process.

  He trusts the results to God.

  Paul knows his limitations.

  Paul is saying, "I planted the church in Corinth."

  Paul has watered it with his faithful preaching,

  but who alone gets the credit?

  Who alone gets the glory for the growth?

  God and God alone.

  Once again, Paul and Paulos are nothing special.

  They are just farmhands who plant and water the seeds of the gospel.

  That's it.

  Paul goes on to give you another reason why he and Paulos shouldn't be pitted against each other

  in verse 8.

  "He who plants and he who waters are one,

  and each will receive his wages according to his labor."

  There is no reason for Paul and Paulos to compete

  because they are on the same team.

  They are one.

  I've already admitted that I'm not a farmer,

  but I may be a better farmer than I am an athlete.

  Some of you were laughing too hard at that.

  But I did play basketball from sixth to twelfth grade,

  and I can remember distinct games where every man in our team was out for himself.

  Every man was trying to show off.

  Every man was trying to show everyone how great he was.

  And that never led to victory because we forgot that we were one.

  We forgot that we were on the same team.

  I can also remember other games when we did come together as a cohesive whole.

  Everyone wasn't trying to win for himself, trying to win for the entire team.

  In those moments, we were one.

  We were on the same team, which often led to victory.

  We are on the same team at Harvest Bible Chapel.

  We should be pulling together to be one in the Lord,

  rather than pulling apart to try and be special on our own.

  On my own, I am a zero.

  On your own, you are a zero, but together we are one.

  Our strength comes from our unity.

  Recently, a member of our church paid the highest compliment to this church

  that made my entire year.

  She said, "To be honest, I don't really care who preaches on a Sunday morning,

  because I know, I trust that everyone who preaches at Harvest

  will be faithful to God's Word."

  That is the goal.

  That woman gets it.

  That is what Paul is talking about in this verse.

  It's not about the servant.

  It's about the one we serve.

  It's not about the bus boy.

  It's about the one who owns all things.

  It is not about the farmhand.

  It's about the only one who gives the growth.

  Playing favorites in the church is stupid.

  It is immature.

  It is childish foolishness to try to figure out who's the best

  and who's the most important.

  We all have a role to play.

  No one's gifting or role is more important than another.

  And according to Paul, each worker will be paid by God Himself,

  and God never stiffs His employees.

  He always gives infinitely satisfying rewards.

  So please don't try to reward yourself

  by seeking after the affirmation and praise of others.

  Wait diligently for the rewards of God,

  because they are coming.

  Adult babies live for the moment,

  but godly servants live for the long haul.

  It's time to grow up and start highlighting God and not man.

  It's time to grow up.

  Final reason, because your childish selfishness hides your identity.

  Because your childish selfishness hides your identity.

  Let's wrap up with verse 9.

  "For we are God's fellow workers.

  You are God's field, God's building.

  I truly enjoy partnering with all of my coworkers,

  Missy, Gillian, Ashley, Pastor Rich, Pastor Jeff.

  I love all my coworkers,

  but do you know which coworker I enjoy working with the most?

  God.

  Pastor Jeff is a great boss,

  but do you know who's an even greater boss?

  The Lord.

  So many pastors fall into sin

  and disqualify themselves from ministry

  because their childish selfishness hides their identity.

  They think they're the ones making things happen.

  They think that the church growth is happening because of them.

  They're in charge. They're running the show.

  And they end up becoming bullies.

  They end up becoming tyrants.

  They forget they work with and for the God of the universe.

  Those pastors did not shed their own blood

  on the cross for the members of their church.

  Their churches do not belong to them.

  Their churches belong to Christ.

  You do not belong to me.

  You do not belong to Justin Cady, Brian Beehe, Pastor Rich,

  or even Pastor Jeff.

  If you have trusted in Christ, you belong to Him.

  He's the one who shed his blood for you.

  He is the one who died for you.

  You are God's field.

  You are God's building.

  That is who you are.

  Do not let your childish selfishness hide your identity any longer.

  Do not try to find your identity

  in what the world says to find it in.

  The world will tell you

  that you are the maker of your own meaning.

  Your worth is found in what you achieve.

  But that is not what Paul is saying in this verse.

  You are not a precious snowflake

  whose every one preference should be met.

  Your story is not the main event of this world.

  You are not the point of anything.

  You are just a small part of the field that God is cultivating.

  You are just a single brick

  in the beautiful structure that God is building.

  You are a part of the church of Jesus Christ

  which will never ever pass away.

  It's time to grow up

  and stop believing that life is all about you

  because it's not.

  It's about the Lord

  who will do great things in and through you.

  It's time to grow up

  and start remembering who you are

  and whose you are.

  Some of you in this room do not belong to Christ.

  You are not even an infant in Christ

  because you have not been born again.

  You are not a part of God's field.

  You are not a part of God's building.

  You are just a lonely seed.

  You are just a discarded brick.

  But your identity will change in an instant

  if you give your life to Jesus.

  If you trust in Him as your Savior

  who died on the cross for your sins.

  If you trust in Him as the Lord of your life

  who has every right to tell you what to do.

  If you place your faith and trust in Christ,

  you will be adopted into His family.

  You will be planted into God's field.

  You will be slid into the perfect spot in this church

  that is reserved just for you.

  You will be placed on the path to mature adulthood in Christ.

  The biggest temptation for a sermon like this

  is to feel the sting of conviction in the moment

  and then do nothing with that conviction once you get home.

  But do you know what's the most childish thing of all?

  Knowing that something needs to change

  and then doing nothing about it.

  Please do not fall into that childish temptation.

  Choose to put away your childish thinking.

  Choose to put away your childish behavior.

  Choose to put away your childish favoritism.

  Choose to put away your childish selfishness.

  Brothers and sisters, it's time to mature.

  It's time to grow up.

  But you can't grow up on your own, can you?

  You need God's help

  because He is the expert on growth, not you.

  There are still two blanks left on your sheet that you need to fill in.

  These are a prayer to the Lord.

  God, help me to grow up.

  Today I need to stop blank and start blank.

  I have no idea what you need to fill in those blanks with, but you do.

  And so is God.

  Maybe it's God, help me to grow up today and He has stopped making excuses

  and start reading my Bible every morning at 7 a.m.

  Maybe it's God, help me to grow up today.

  I need to stop being jealous of so-and-so, it's small group

  and start being content with what you have given me.

  It could be God, help me to grow up today

  or maybe God, help me to grow up today.

  I need to stop sitting on the church sidelines

  and start serving at harvest today.

  Don't be vague because vague goals lead disappointing results.

  Be practical, be specific,

  because that will lead to encouraging results.

  Take a few minutes to fill in those blanks.

  Take a few moments to go to the Lord, to confess sin,

  to ask for His help.

  Ask Him to empower you to change.

  Ask for His help so that you can be empowered.

  Take steps to grow up.

  Fill in those blanks and spend some time in the Lord with prayer.

  Father, I thank you for your immense patience with us.

  I know as a father I can be so impatient with my children at times,

  but Lord, you are so long suffering.

  But all of us in this room can be childish.

  All of us in this room can be immature

  or may today be a brand new day of transformation.

  May today be a day where a first step is taken,

  where growth happens by your grace and by the power of your spirit.

  Lord, may we not just be convicted in this moment,

  be convicted the rest of today, the rest this week

  and the rest of our lives seek after you and your Word,

  to pursue after the unity of the church

  and to fit into our exact spot in the church.

  Lord, I thank you for what your Holy Spirit has done this morning

  and I thank you in advance for what He will do.

  I ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen.