1 Corinthians 16:13-24 | "Our Lord, Come!"
[1 Corinthians] • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 34:45
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· 309 viewsIt's not enough that Jesus is MY Lord, or Jesus is YOUR Lord. 1 Corinthians compels the Church to ask a different question: Church - Is Jesus OUR Lord? In the closing text of this letter, the apostle presents a series of final instructions meant to keep the Church from failing and propel the Church forward in power. What we do with these commands will ultimately reveal who our leader is and who we love. This message preaches from 1 Corinthians 16:13-24. It is the final sermon in a preaching series through 1 Corinthians: "To the Church." The title of this message is "Our Lord, Come!"
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I. The Reading
I. The Reading
A reading from God’s Word: 1 Corinthians 16:13-24. The Word of God says this:
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
14 Let all that you do be done in love.
15 Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints—
16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.
17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence,
18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.
19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.
20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
This is God’s Word, if you receive it as such, would you say “Amen”? — AMEN.
II. The Exhortation
II. The Exhortation
At the conclusion of this letter “to the church” the apostle gives his final instructions — and his love.
In verses 13-14, the apostle abruptly and in rapid succession, states clearly what the church in Corinth is to do, and how they are to do it, because they are “sanctified in Christ Jesus” and “called to be saints.”
This never changes throughout this letter. The church’s identity and responsibilities remain unchanged to the very end. — Why?
Because God made them what they are. It wasn’t a work of their own doing. They could not sanctify themselves. They could not call themselves.
GOD sanctified them in Christ Jesus. GOD called them to be saints.
And God does this for us too.
If God has sanctified us in Christ Jesus, and if God has called us to be saints, then that is what we are — because God said so!
[ DO NOT READ - DISPLAY VERSE ONLY ]
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
The words “sanctified” and “saints” used in the opening greeting of this letter explain how this church of God is distinct from all the other churches of the world.
There are other “churches” in the world. But this church is the church of God, and is distinctly His.
This church, this people (and a church is a people) — GOD bought them! God owns them. God saves them. God graces them. God gifts them. God unites them. And God calls them into fellowship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Why? — Why would God do that for His church in Corinth? Why would God do that for Southside Baptist Church in Decatur, AL?
Why would God be so gracious to such a divided, dysfunctional, deceived, disturbed and in some cases, even dead group of people that do not deserve anything but instant damnation?
And the answer is —
His love.
God’s love.
God loves His church. God loves you. God loves me.
Why does God love?
The Scriptures tell us —
Because that is who God is (1 Jn 4:16). God IS love. And as He is, so God has made us, His Church to be. The fruit of His Spirit is love.
And so our text says this by way of final instruction (and it is no insignificant instruction):
14 Let all that you do be done in love.
Nothing is exempted. Everything we do as the Christ community, is to be done in love, or it is not done in the name of Christ.
We are to bear on another’s burdens in love. We are to discern the needs among us and meet them, in love. We suffer when a member suffers. We rejoice when a member rejoices, because that’s what God does too. God loves.
We are not instructed to love for the sake of love itself. We do not love because of the lusts of our own flesh. If we are left to decide what love is on our own, we would corrupt it, as we do with everything else that is carnal and worldly and of the flesh.
But all things are to be done in love, BECAUSE of our love for God — as an outworking of God’s love poured first into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5).
In other words, it is only by the Holy Spirit of God that we can fulfill this command and love in all things as we ought to love.
Jesus said:
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
It is our love for “one another” that is seen by others and witnesses to our faith in Christ.
Jesus isn’t saying “love your enemies” here. He’s saying love each other. Love your brothers and sisters in the Church. Your fellow disciples. — Jesus has to tell us to do that! And by loving one another, people will know that we belong to Jesus. How we relate and act toward our own.
All things in the church, and done by the church, are to be done in love — just like Jesus loved — with a giving, selfless, sacrificial, submissive and obedient love that always cares more for the other person, than it does for one’s self.
Church, we can get a lot of things wrong, but we will never be wrong, we can never err, we will never make a mistake, when we do what we do, in love.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:7-8a, ESV)
Concerning our sin, Jesus could have said:
“That’s your problem, not mine.”
Jesus would have been right to walk away and do nothing about our sin. Because sin was my problem, not His. Jesus never sinned — I sinned.
Jesus loved God with ALL his heart, soul, mind and strength. I did not and could not and would not.
Sin was never His problem. But in love, look what Jesus did — Jesus made my sin His problem!
Rather than being unloving and saying “That’s your problem, not mine,” Jesus instead demonstrated for us what love is through what He did — Jesus made our problem His own!
That’s love. Jesus took our sin and said “that’s mine.”
Jesus became sin, and dealt with it by giving His all — everything — His life — so that sin would no longer be “my problem” or define “my life” or obstruct my fellowship with God.
Jesus, in demonstration of the Father’s love, through His death, burial and resurrection, made of me what I could never be — the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21).
And that is what we do for one another, Church. We make each other’s problems our own and meet them as God gives us the grace and ability to do so.
THAT is love! That is God’s love that we are to have and show and act one toward another.
This is the command, once again, “to the church” — verse 14 —
14 Let all that you do be done in love.
This love is the umbrella that covers all the other actions of the Church.
“If I have not love, I am nothing…If I have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2-3).
And so this command finds a prominent place at the end of this letter “to the church” and God has a good reason for instructing us to keep this command.
Because if the church loses its love, it loses its spiritual power. It loses its identity. It loses everything!
God would not waste His words, by giving and preserving this command for us, if we were not in jeopardy of failing to keep it at any given moment.
Grammatically, this command is a present imperative, meaning it is a command for right now.
Love is something we must always keep before us. It is something we must practice or else, we will lose it.
And you say - “I don’t believe that. I can’t lose love.” Yes you can!
Jesus gave an example of a church that DID lost their love.
Revelation 2.
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write” —
3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
The Church must always keep before us an awareness of the perils that will destroy us.
(see GCM for both of these)
But also...
The Church must always keep before us an awareness of the power that deploys us!
These instructions at the end of this letter, are necessary instructions, because they serve two functions:
The first, is to warn us about ways we will fail if we are not careful, Church.
And second, to remind us about how we will succeed with power if we are faithful!
Jesus in blinding, terrifying glory said again — “I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”
Jesus watches everything that is done in His Church. And the Lord Himself will take away from any local church the light, and power that He has given her if she ceases to love.
But by this warning we also know, that a church that loves DOES HAVE light, and spiritual power, because of the presence of the risen Christ with her!
Oh how important, is this instruction!
14 Let all that you do be done in love.
III. The Teaching
III. The Teaching
But acting in love is not the only instruction given at the end of this letter “to the church.”
There are four other commands immediately preceeding this one concerning love that in like manner, reveal ways in which we must not fall together, so that we may we may continue in the Spirit’s power together.
Look with me at verse 13. The first command, also in the present tense, also to be done in love, is this —
BE WATCHFUL
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
We could say it this way: “LOOK OUT!” “Be on the alert.” Don’t fall asleep.
A. Look Out | “Be Watchful” [ 16.13(a) ]
A. Look Out | “Be Watchful” [ 16.13(a) ]
We grow old. We get tired. The tendency of a local church, especially one that’s been around 110 years, is to get very comfortable, and very sleepy and very unconcerned, and that’s right where the enemy wants us because that’s where we become powerless.
You say “We’re too old to do what we once did.” But are you too old to pray?
The best way to be watchful is to be prayerful!
Before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray. Look for the connection of watchfulness and prayer in these verses.
Matthew 26 tells it like this:
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”
37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”
That word “watch with me” is the same root word in 1 Corinthians 16:13 for “Be Watchful.” “Watch with me.” Be alert with me.
This was an invitation not just to stay awake and watch with Jesus, but it was an invitation to PRAY with Him!
39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?
You could not pray with me one hour, Peter!?
Jesus then said:
41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Our flesh does not get stronger, church. It gets weaker. The older we grow, the frailer our flesh becomes and the more we must pray.
A local church that is alert to the times, perceptive of the future, aware of the imminent return of Christ — that’s a church that prays!
A prayer-less church is a sleepy church, that doesn’t have a clue what is happening in the world. They can’t discern the times. They don’t know the Word!
Wake up!! We don’t have much time left! People are going to Hell, lost without Christ, and we are Christ’s ambassadors and witnesses with the message of salvation.
What are we doing with it?
Are we asleep in the kingdoms of our own making? Or are we seeking God’s Kingdom and God’s righteousness by being obedient to God’s will?
Notice how Jesus prayed in Gethsemane:
“…nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39b, ESV)
We can’t pray according to our own wills. If we do, we’re not praying.
We can’t pray if we ignore God’s revealed Word.
How many times I’ve heard someone say "I’ve prayed about this or that” except that what they are praying about is directly contradicting God’s revealed Word!
We are to pray in all things, but there are some things we don’t have to pray about in order to know what to do! If God says it, no prayer is needed to determine whether or not we should obey. We obey! We pray as we obey!
But prayer does not submit God to our own will. Prayer submits our will to God’s will.
Wake up church. Be alert. Be watchful.
Literally — STAY WATCHFUL!
If we fall asleep, or get distracted, we will lose our spiritual light and power.
Be Watchful, but also —
STAND FIRM IN THE FAITH
16.13
16.13
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
If the command to “be watchful” was to “LOOK OUT” then for the command to “stand firm” we might say, “Lock Down.”
B. Lock Down | “Stand Firm” [ 16.13(b) ]
B. Lock Down | “Stand Firm” [ 16.13(b) ]
If something is “locked down” it is “set” - it isn’t going anywhere. No one is coming in, no one is going out. It’s unchanging. It is resolved.
The church must “lock down” and be unchanging in matters of faith.
If you think about it, It’s quite an amazing command to “stand firm in the faith.”
The last time I checked, God’s Word defined faith as something that is not seen.
How can we stand firm in something that we cannot see?
Yet the apostle has already answered that question in the beginning of Chapter 15, in that wonderful explanation of the gospel “in which you stand” by repeating twice these words “according to the Scriptures.” “According to the Scriptures.”
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
God’s Word is how we stand firm in faith. Holy Scripture. The Bible. The Gospel Message of Jesus Christ.
This is how the church stands firm in faith. This is how we keep standing - if we are standing at all.
Church - The greatest mistake Southside Baptist Church ever made, and ever will make, is getting away from God’s Word, even just a little bit.
Go back through 1 Corinthians and just look at how they failed. They failed when the didn’t know, and didn’t obey God’s Word.
Don’t be led away from the Word. Stand firm in the faith! God knows what is best for His household, and we are to submit to His leading even if we don’t understand it, even if we don’t like it!
We have no light or power if we are not in the word.
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
This is why this command is given “to the church.”
We’ll be tempted to surrender, but God calls us to stand - and stand not in our own schemes, but to stand in the faith “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
Be Watchful “LOOK OUT!” | Stand Firm in the Faith | LOCK DOWN!
And now the third command in verse 13 —
ACT LIKE MEN
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
We can remember this one by the words “LIVE UP.” — Look out, Lock Down, Live Up! Act like men.
C. Live Up | “Act Like Men” [ 16.13(c) ]
C. Live Up | “Act Like Men” [ 16.13(c) ]
We, the church, must live up to what God has made of us. We must grow up to maturity and be no longer babes.
Women, this applies to you too. This is not about men versus women. Manliness here, stands in opposition to childish ways (NIGTC).
We are not to be child-ish any longer.
But MEN — it is worth saying that the manly image is not completely lost.
A church needs godly men who act like men and are courageous like men.
Not people-pleasers. Not men who lick their finger and stick it in the wind to see which direction it blows to make decisions according to people’s opinions.
That is a disastrous way to lead a church. We don’t need more people pleasing at Southside - we need servants, and servants of Christ.
We need godly men who love the Lord and stand in the truth and are willing to lead their families and serve their church with honor and integrity and conviction before God.
Success in the world does not qualify a person for leadership or ministry in Christ’s church. It never has, it never will. But too often, that’s who the church elevates and follows. That’s not God’s design.
The church needs at the helm, and at the feet, spiritual men, not fleshly men who infiltrate, manipulate, and intimidate to impose their way on the church.
The church needs men who are wholly submitted to God’s will and God’s way and have the courage to stand with the truth even if it is uncomfortable, because their allegiance belongs to none other than Christ as servants of Christ who follow Christ.
That takes courage. That requires “acting like men.”
We need spiritual maturity. Not the kind that comes with age. You can be 80 years old and be a spiritual infant.
Spiritual maturity does not mean knowledge. You don’t have to be a Sunday School teacher to be spiritually mature.
Spiritual maturity is the result of submission — submitting to God’s authority and leadership. Spiritual maturity is Christ-likeness.
“Mature manhood” is the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
If we are not walking with Christ, we are not maturing.
The apostle wrote in Chapter 3:
1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
In Chapter 13 he said:
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
And again in Chapter 14:
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
This is God’s instruction for His Church because God knows we are inclined to revert back to childish ways. Compromising ways. Comfortable ways. Sleepy ways.
Look Out | Lock Down | Live Up and fourthly —
LEAN IN
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
D. Lean In | “Be Strong” [ 16.13(d) ]
D. Lean In | “Be Strong” [ 16.13(d) ]
This is the fourth command in verse 13. It is the command to “be strong.”
This is not an outward strength, but an inward strengthening of God in Christ.
16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
We have nothing to offer God by way of strength. But spiritual strength offers God our frailty and weakness and commits it to His care.
When we are weak for the sake of Christ, then we are strong. (2 Cor 12:10).
God’s power is for the strengthening of His Church, for the fulfilling of Gospel mission in the world.
We are not to be strong for ourselves. That would make us bullies.
We are to be strengthened for service to God through His body — the church! And the only way to receive that strengthening is through the Holy Spirit.
We must be a Spirt-led, Spirit-strengthened Church, as we mature in Christ, by standing on the Word, keeping alert for His return.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
These four instructions along with the command to do all things in love, summarize the message of 1 Corinthians. It is a glorious message about the Church and Her Lord.
And this brings us to:
IV. The [Christ] Conclusion
IV. The [Christ] Conclusion
In the power of Christ, with the love of Christ, we the Church of Christ LOOK OUT, LOCK DOWN, LIVE UP, LEAN IN, and lastly — we LABOR ON.
D. Labor On [ 16.21-24 ]
D. Labor On [ 16.21-24 ]
The apostle has been reinforcing the summary verse of Chapter 15 in these final remarks.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
As the apostle began this letter, he now ends it — with the Lord. Our labor, vain as it may seem, is not in vain in the Lord.
Every instruction given is an instruction dependent upon the Lord.
To be watchful - that requires the patience of Lord.
To stand firm in faith - that requires the endurance of Lord.
To act like men - that requires the courage of Lord.
To be strong - that requires the strength of the Lord.
To love in all things - that requires the love of the Lord.
Church, are we doing what we are doing as the church in love, “in the Lord”?
We don’t belong to God without Him.
We are powerless without Him.
We are not His Church without Him!
The appeal at the end of this letter is not so much an individual appeal to come to Christ, as it is an invitation for all to join in the covenant community of Christ!
It’s not enough that Jesus is MY Lord, or Jesus is YOUR Lord, if Jesus is not OUR LORD.
And so the time of decision has come.
The call for covenant faithfulness is in view.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Either:
Love God, obey Him - and be blessed!
Love yourself, disobey God - and be cursed.
Which one will you choose, O, church in Corinth?
Which one will WE choose, O, Southside Baptist Church in Decatur, AL?
The apostle makes the last appeal a personal one.
In these last three verses, we can imagine Paul becoming silent. Thinking carefully about his last words to the church. Perhaps he stops, and in silence walks over to his assistant who is writing for him.
He reaches down and picks up the pen. He leans over and adjusts the paper. And the apostle personally ends this letter “to the church” not with spoken word, but with written word.
I read it now with no further comment, for no further comment is needed:
16.21
16.21
21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
16.22
16.22
22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
16.23
16.23
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
16.24
16.24
24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[ 4,324 words (36 minutes) ]