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*Motive Matters*
*2Corinthians 5:11-6:2 October 12, 2003*
* *
*Scripture Reading:*
Responsive Reading # 648, the beatitudes, Mt. 5:1-12 (compare with Mt. 23)
*Introduction:*
Why have you come here this morning?
The possible answers range all the way from quite honorable to not quite so honorable.
Let’s think of some honorable reasons:
for the love of God, in holy fear, in weeping and repentance,
offering all you have and all you are to God,
with a burning desire to find peace with God,
with an equally burning desire to worship him in Spirit and in Truth,
for the assurance of forgiveness,
to obtain the power and grace to forgive,
to find strength to rise above sin,
to find truth and wisdom to live the Christian life,
to find comfort and the strength to go on in life and in service.
Christ has promised that in these things you will be filled (beatitudes in Mt. 5).
Let’s think of some of the not so quite honorable reasons:
because your wife~/husband~/parents made you feel guilty if you didn’t or forced you for your own good,
to see what someone else gives~/wears~/does,
to critique or judge the service or those who serve,
to show off your talents for your own glory instead of God’s glory,
to have some person instead of God say “well done”,
to give and serve out of guilt instead of love,
to glean the latest tidbit of gossip or information you might use to exalt yourself or take the eyes of others off your own debilitating sins,
to wield whatever control you can among the innocent who will exalt you for how well you manipulated them,
to come with a haughty spirit purposing in your heart to keep on sinning regardless of what God says or the power and grace he gives you to overcome.
Christ promised that in these things you will be filled with woe (Pharisees in Mt. 23).
So do you think it would be fair to say, that in God’s kingdom, motive matters?
Indeed, motive matters even in our own law.
ILLUS: The example from law that regards premeditated murder as more punishable than manslaughter, per se.
We might call it the “doctrine of the prior agenda”.
Change
The Doctrine of the Prior Agenda
Change; Motives; Sanctification
Matthew 22:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24
In /Fast Company/ Richard Bolles, author of /What Color Is Your Parachute?/, was asked, "What stands in the way of people finding their mission?"
Bolles replied:
Prior agendas.
For example, my wife, Carol, is a well-known career counselor in her own right.
She was meeting with a client who worked in the rubber industry—let's call him George.
George told her in their first session, "I've got to get out of the rubber industry."
So she gave him some homework to do before their next session to help him with that.
He came back the next week, and he hadn't done a lick of the homework.
My wife, rich with intuition, asked him, "What will happen if you don't get out of the rubber industry?"
George said, "My wife will divorce me."
Carol connected the dots and asked, "Does this mean you want your wife to divorce you?"
He couldn't keep the smile off of his face.
She knew then that he would never change his job until it had given him what he wanted: a divorce, with his wife taking the initiative—and the guilt.
Based on his behavior, my wife named this "the doctrine of the prior agenda."
You can't help people change or find their mission when they have a conflicting prior agenda.
People will never change until they truly want to.
à Citation: Daniel H. Pink/, /"What Happened to Your Parachute?" /Fast Company/ (September 1999)
It is the same in the church.
It is the same in God’s kingdom.
Our motives are complicated by our own conflicting prior agenda instead of God’s, which, of course, mean that we are placing ourselves above him, which in not necessarily a safe thing to do.
In 2Corinthians 5:11-6:2, Paul deals with the matter of motives in ministry.
As you know from previous messages in 2Corinthians, Paul’s ministry as an apostle has come under severe criticism and attack by some false teachers in the congregation.
So he explains for them and for us the proper use of right motives in ministry and therefore, their difference from wrong motives.
Motives matter to God, and they should matter to us.
*Big Question:*
/What motivations do we have for ministry in light of heaven’s hope?/
We can use fear judicially.
We can use pride appropriately.
We can use love compellingly.
We can use heaven comparatively.
We can use godliness creatively.
We can use friendship sacrificially.
We can use grace urgently.
*I.
Cycle One*
* A.
Narrative* (v.
11)
* B.
Implication*
We can use fear judicially.
* C.
Illustration*
Your own judicial rules won’t work with God.
The false teachers were making their own rules and using fear in a wrong way.
Judgment
Standard of Judgment
Codes; Ethics; Judgment; Justice; Law; Morality; Righteousness; Standards; Ten Commandments; Truth
Psalm 7:11; Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 14:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:11-15
In /Words We Live By,/ Brian Burrell tells of an armed robber named Dennis Lee Curtis who was arrested in 1992 in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Curtis apparently had scruples about his thievery.
In his wallet the police found a sheet of paper on which was written the following code:
1. 1.
I will not kill anyone unless I have to.
2. 2.
I will take cash and food stamps—no checks.
3. 3.
I will rob only at night.
4. 4.
I will not wear a mask.
5. 5.
I will not rob mini-marts or 7-Eleven stores.
6. 6.
If I get chased by cops on foot, I will get away.
If chased by vehicle, I will not put the lives of innocent civilians on the line.
7. 7.
I will rob only seven months out of the year.
8. 8.
I will enjoy robbing from the rich to give to the poor.
This thief had a sense of morality, but it was flawed.
When he stood before the court, he was not judged by the standards he had set for himself but by the higher law of the state.
Likewise when we stand before God, we will not be judged by the code of morality we have written for ourselves but by God's perfect law.
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