I invite you this morning to take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter six as we continue to make our way verse by verse through this amazing epistle, and see what the Spirit of God has for us this morning under the heading, "The Bittersweet Realities of Serving Christ." Let me read the text to you, Second Corinthians chapter six, verses one through 10. And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain--For He says, 'AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.' Behold, now is 'THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,' behold, now is 'THE DAY OF SALVATION'--giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished, yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things."

Mature Christian saints are always characterized by their selfless service and their devotion to Christ; come what may. They will have a love for the word, they will have a zeal for evangelism; a deep burden for the lost; desire to worship. They will have a song in their heart-- the songs of redemption. And we all know who these people are around us, you young people know who they are in school. Families, you know who they are. You families know when you've got a mature Christian father, who has a passion to shepherd his family. You wives know what that's like, to have that for a husband. And husbands you know what it's like to have a godly wife that is committed to the Lord and will do all she can to see her children come to saving faith in Christ. And every godly servant of Christ, who is willing to take a stand for Christ regardless of the cost, is part of what Paul is talking about here. I find it fascinating the mature believer will actually thrive in his or her service for Christ, regardless of the cost. Like Paul who said in Romans 8:18, "I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

But the immature believer will struggle all the way. They will not thrive in their service to Christ. They'll just survive at best. The mature believer will persevere with joy in the power of the Holy Spirit. They will manifest spiritual and theological discernment, but the immature believer will be as Paul said, in Ephesians, 4:14, "children." "Children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine." And my how the winds are blowing these days. By the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. The immature believer will trudge along in their service to Christ doing as little as possible, whining and complaining all the way; ruled by their flesh, miserable and making everybody around them miserable. But the mature believer will bear the fruits of the Spirit. Love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness self-control. But the immature will bear sickly fruits; the opposite of the fruits just mentioned. You will look at the vine of their life and see the fruit of selfishness, bitterness, conflict, impatience, rudeness, impropriety, unfaithfulness, harshness, and self-indulgence. Of course, there's a third category of Christian that's just a Christian in name only, the cultural Christian. Matthew seven, Jesus said that that will make up the majority of those who call me Lord, and they will never enter the kingdom. These are the self-deceived, the worldly; the politically and religiously correct. The ones who embrace and promote false gospels like the prosperity gospel, the black liberation theology gospel, the social gospel, the gospel of permissive grace, the gospel of New Age, spirituality, the gospel of my sexual preference, the gospel of interfaith dialogue and on and on it goes. Paul says of them in Second Timothy three, beginning in verse two they'll be "lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power."

Well, for those of you who know and love Christ, this text will minister to your soul. It's encouraging, it will help you see better how to savor the sweet and ignore the bitter, if I can put it that way. Because as we all know, when we're serving Christ, you're going to have both. And that's what we see here. Let me remind you of the context, Paul is defending his apostolic authority against the savage, just the ruthless attacks of the false teachers that had infiltrated the church at Corinth. They were trying to undermine his apostolic authority; they were trying to discredit his gospel message. And of course, they had accumulated a group of sycophants who were agreeing with them. They wanted to replace the truth of the gospel of grace with the lies of a gospel of grace plus works. Lots of legalism. Paul had returned to Corinth to confront them, but that trip didn't work out very well as we know. So Paul is heartsick. He loves these people; he hates to see what's happening to them. But as we will see, Paul was able to transcend the pain of the slander. And he did this basically on the basis of what we see emerging from this text. And I've divided it into five convictions that we see in Paul's heart that we'll look at this morning. Number one, we will see that he was delighted to be a co-laborer with God. Number two, he was defensive of the true gospel of grace. Number three, he was driven by evangelism and discipleship. Number four, he was devoted to a personal pursuit of holiness. Number five, he was disciplined in the face of suffering. Dear friends, no matter who you are, or what sphere of influence the Lord has placed you in to serve Him, these convictions are absolutely essential. If you're going to thrive in ministry--and for those of you who say you love Christ, but really, you live on the periphery of the church, you really don't do much of anything, you just kind of live for yourself--I pray that this will bring conviction to your heart, because you don't know what you're missing out on in serving Christ. So let's look at the text closely.

The first phrase, verse one, he says, "And working together with Him." "Working together", "synergeo" in the original language; we get our word "synergy" from that, and it just means to collaborate with someone. And this brings us to my first observation as I look at Paul's life, number one, he was delighted to be a co-laborer with God. Now you will notice "with Him” is italicized. That has been inserted. But it's the proper translation because it goes back to chapter five and verses 19 and 20. There we read that, that God is the one he's talking about here. "God," he says, "has committed to us the word of reconciliation." He goes on to say, "we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us." Also, in First Corinthians three nine, Paul says we are "God's fellow workers." Folks don't just gloss over that. That is absolutely astounding when you think about it. What a privilege to co-labor with God; to be on his team. Think about that. To experience his power, surging through the veins in the muscles of our spiritual life. And Paul recognizes this in Colossians 1:29. He says, "For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." And he reminded the saints in Ephesus that he was, according to Ephesians, 3:7, "made of minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power." And he also prayed for them in Ephesians 1:19 that they would comprehend "what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might." That we are co-laborers with God is an astounding reality, dear friends, that should motivate all of us, in our service to Christ. Think of the many times where you have been absolutely astonished to see how, in some small way, God used your life to impact somebody else. And maybe you didn't even realize it at the time, and you hear about it later. Parents, you know what that's like to see a child finally come to saving faith and to walk with Christ. What a joy it is for me to see that in my family, and to see grandchildren come to faith in Christ. And then know that somehow, you were a little part of that, co-laboring with God. For a camp counselor, or a Sunday school teacher or a student ministries worker, a musician, a godly man or woman in the church, to have someone come up to them and say, "you know, I just want to thank you, you may not realize this, but I've been watching your life over the years and, and your life has impacted me for the sake of Christ. Thank you for that." Isn't that a wonderful feeling. And to know that that was God working through you. "Thank you for sharing the gospel with me when I was so rebellious." "Thank you for gently confronting me when I was living in sin." I jotted down a few that I've received over from over the last year. "Thank you for being an example of Christ, speaking to my dear wife, and because of your life, I want to be more like Christ." Folks, that's co-laboring with God. Never underestimate that. Beloved, know this, whatever you do for God, you do with God. And that's such an exciting truth that we may sow the seed, but he's the one that gives us the strength to do so, right? He prepares the soil, he causes the seed to germinate, he causes it to bear fruit for his glory.

Think of what Jesus said in Mark four beginning in verse 26, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows"--obviously, he didn't have anything to do with that--"how he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." Dear friends, may I ask you, are you a co-laborer with God? Or are you a freeloader? Are you sowing the seeds of the gospel or do you just kind of stand back and watch other people do that? Does the very thought of the privilege of co-laboring with God animate your heart to praise and to service? Or is your attitude one of, that's just not for me? Can you point to any fruit as a result of your co-laboring with God? Dear Christian, look at the mission field all around you. Your family, right? Your friends. And we have this amazing tool that can be used for such evil; the internet, that can be used for such good. Get on social media and start spreading seed. Paul says in First Corinthians three remember, he says, "I planted, Apollo's watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth." That's what's so exciting. I just sow the seed, that's what we do.

First Peter four, verse 10, Peter says, "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Let me remind you of that. We studied this in the past in First Corinthians 12. Remember, in verse five, Paul says "there are a varieties of ministries." In other words, there's a variety; apportionments that God has allotted to each one. "And the same Lord," he says. And then he says, "there are varieties of effects." "Energema" in the original language; it carries the idea of implementation; the practical means by which something is accomplished. So he's saying here, there's a variety of ways that that is worked out, that that is energized. And the point is, God is the supernatural power source that makes our gifts effective in serving Him. And it's working with them. But he goes on to say, "but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." "Manifestation" refers to a genuine work of the Spirit of God, and what's the common good? It's to edify the church. So we've all been gifted to do this. And God wants us to work with him; Paul understood this. And it's the Spirit that produces visible effects of his transforming power in our service for him. And when our gifts are being used properly, we're blessed and God is honored.

And if you're a Christian, and you're not using your gifts, and you're just sitting on the sidelines, God is dishonored, and you are forfeiting blessing in your life. Moreover, you have placed yourself in the pathway of divine chastening. Folks, there's no such thing as the Lone Ranger Christian, biblically, a do nothing Christian that just kind of hangs out in the periphery of the church. All that does is grieve the Spirit. Those kinds of people are miserable. They're unproductive, they dishonor God. Rather than co-laboring with God, they're in the way. I remember back, somehow, my mind went to this illustration; I was unloading a big truck, somebody had moved in and we had a couple of teenagers with us. And every time we would go in to get something else to move out, they were pulling their phone out working, they were just in the way. And I remember I finally said to one of them, why don't you go over there to that tree, and sit down under the tree and play with your phone so that we can get some work done. That's sometimes how I feel in the church, right? You know, either get with it or get out of the way, but the Lord wants you to get with it. That's the point. A lot of people would prefer to sit back and watch rather than join the fight.

Well not so Paul, he labored to the point of exhaustion, he was number one: delighted to be a co-laborer with God. But notice, secondly, he was defensive of the true gospel of grace. Again, "And working together with Him, we also urge you,"-- present tense, a constant pleading here. This was habitual part of his life--"we urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain." And the context tells us here that he's saying, "Don't let these false teachers with these with this false gospel, cancel out the true gospel that I have preached to you." Now obviously, some of these people had an intellectual understanding of the gospel, but they had never fully embraced it wholeheartedly. So they really weren't saved. Paul was fearful that they would be deceived. And by extension, according to the context, he's also saying, "failure for you to be reconciled to me would prove that you reject the gospel that I have preached. We can't have that; all my preaching would be in vain. By joining the slander against me, you're being distracted by these false teachers lurking in the shadows and therefore you will either not see and understand the truth and be saved, or if you are saved, you're not going to understand how to grow in Christ and be sanctified."

So he was concerned about this. You know, this was Paul's great concern for the saints in Galatia. Remember, many of them were also deserting grace to pursue the heresies of legalism that the Judaizers were teaching. And in Galatians, one and verse six, Paul says, " I am amazed," I just see him pulling his hair out. "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel." That's like, what, what's going on here? He goes on to say, if anyone "preach to you a gospel contrary to that which you have preached to you, what we have preached to you, let him be accursed!" Now, some of those folks were truly saved by grace, but they were being misled by the Judaizers. Once again with this false gospel. They were telling them, you know, you're gonna have to keep the law if you expect, stay saved. None of this grace alone stuff. Galatians three, one, Paul says, "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?...Are you so foolish?" He went on to say, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?" Beloved, this is why we, like Paul, must defend the gospel against all those who would seek to distort it. And there are so many subtle distortions out there today. That's why Jude said we are to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." He went on to say, "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed." This is a battle we must fight constantly, lest people, as Paul says, "receive; the grace of God in vain."

Again, let me just make it real practical. Let me remind you of some of these false gospels that's out there today. The prosperity gospel, I mentioned the permissive grace gospel, the New Age spirituality gospel, the gospel of my sexual preference, the gospel of interfaith dialogue, the black liberation theology gospel, the social gospel. In fact, I was reading the other day, Tim Keller, former PCA pastor and founder of The Gospel Coalition, and a prominent social gospel advocate, said this quote, "If you have white skin, it's worth $1 million over a lifetime. You have to say, I don't deserve this. I am the product of, and standing on, the shoulders of other people who got that through injustice." Then he says, "the Bible says you are involved in injustice even if you didn't actually do it." End quote. Well, first of all, the Bible does not say that. We're accountable for our own sins, not for the sins of others. Don't have time to get into it but look at Deuteronomy 24:16. And look at Exodus 18, I'm sorry, Ezekiel 18:19 through 22. Here's the problem with these subtle things that come out, especially as related to the social gospel, when social justice becomes the focus of the gospel, God's justice will inevitably be pushed aside. By the way, we don't want God's justice, we want His mercy. And that's what the gospel is all about. You see, man by nature, sees himself as deprived, not as depraved, as a helpless victim, rather than a guilty perpetrator. And the social gospel plays into all of this. It's constantly looking to accommodate man's ever-changing definition of social justice rather than focusing on God's righteous judgment. Suddenly the focus becomes trying to reconcile sinful man to sinful man rather than sinful man to a holy God. And so the gospel becomes much more social than gospel. Folks, we've been given the ministry of reconciliation, not reparations, which is a blatantly unbiblical concept. And everyone who believes they've been victimized with a social gospel thing, including the most sexually deviant, are lining up to somehow get their victim badge so that they can cash in on perhaps reparations, and they're already starting this in some states, or political power, whatever it might be. And by the way, once they gain power, mark my word they will outlaw the true gospel because it cannot coexist with the social gospel.

As a footnote, the allegations that the US is inherently racist; an inherently racist society designed to serve the interest of white supremacists. The idea that the police are intentionally brutalizing black people, that our country is intrinsically patriarchal; benefiting male oppressors at the expense of women, all those things, folks are lies. It's classic Marxism to incite class warfare; use race and economic status to divide and conquer. And of course, these types of things galvanize the support of all those who perceive themselves as being oppressed, and therefore entitled. And of course, the left needs them to somehow enforce their, their utopian goals of wealth redistribution and totalitarianism and all of these things. So chaos and fear and intimidation is all a part of that. So my point here is, this is the danger-- once you start getting a focus off of the true gospel and on something else, even though you may be well intentioned, it leads you in a very different direction. By the way, communism has consistently held to the belief that quote, "out of chaos comes cosmos." ""Cosmos a Greek word for "order." So what do you have? Well, let's have the chaos of an exaggerated pandemic. Let's absolutely destroy the country. Let's have these draconian measures to shut down everything and destroy the economy, because after all, poor people are easily manipulated by the government. And socialism always needs a permanent underclass in order to survive. They also need atheist allies in the media, and in the social media realm, along with the godless militia called Antifa and Black Lives Matter. They need political surrogates in positions of power to somehow support their lawlessness. By the way, all of this is to be expected. This is another whole topic, but prophetically, America will cease to exist as we know it, and will ultimately be absorbed into the globalist rule of the Antichrist. So what are we to do as Christians? Well, the answer is Colossians two, eight, for example, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of man, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." You see, again, folks, remember, we are not part of this fallen world system, so don't get sucked into it.

My mind, as I was thinking about this, went to Paul's words in Ephesians two beginning in verse one, just think of this, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, (by grace who had been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." Beloved, that's the gospel. Never be ashamed of the gospel. The old gospel, the only gospel, the only gospel that will save. You know, Paul lived in an age that was far worse than what we're living in, far worse. Talk about people hostile to the things of Christ. But what did he urge the saints to do? Take up social causes in order to moralize ungodly men, to make them more just in their dealings with fellow man? No. He said things like "put on the whole armor of God, so that you will stand fast against the schemes of the evil one." "Stand firm in your faith." "Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." And here he's saying, I'm urging you "not to receive the grace of God in vain." The context of all these false gospels. In Second Corinthians 11, he's going to say in beginning of verse three, "But I am afraid that"--and beloved, this is my fear as a pastor for you--"I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully." In other words, I can't believe this, instead of rejecting these things, you're tolerating it. And here in chapter six, Paul is pleading with them, do not exchange the magnificent message of God's grace and reconciliation for some phony, distorted substitute that cannot save and cannot sanctify.

Now to be sure, professing evangelicals that are chasing these phony gospels, are I don't know, they're like a dog chasing his tail. Though they're fervent in their pursuit, they're on a fool's errand. And in the end, they will accomplish nothing, which was Satan's intention in the first place. Paul was delighted to be a co-laborer with God. He was defensive of the true gospel of grace.

Thirdly, he was driven by evangelism and discipleship. You will recall, by the way, in First Corinthians two two he said, "I determined to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." In a culture even more decadent than ours, that's what he preached. He knew that he wasn't called to be hip; he wasn't called to be trendy, or woke, or missional, or incarnational, all of these crazy things that you hear these days. He wasn't called to be relevant or innovative or creative. He wasn't called to be clever, culturally savvy, broad minded, entertaining, extreme, inclusive, and all of this type of stuff. And he did not found an organization called Jews lives matter and then lead people to somehow overtake Rome. He cared nothing about having a conversation, or a dialogue with people who are spiritually dead; deceived by doctrines of demons. Dear friends, he came as we must come to preach the word in season and out of season, the true gospel. Notice his zeal for evangelism and discipleship. He says, "Again, working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain--For He says," and here he is, quoting Isaiah 49:8, 'AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENEDTO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.'" Paul says, "Behold, now is 'THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,' behold, now is 'THE DAY OF SALVATION.'" You see, as the divinely appointed spokesman of the message of reconciliation, Paul understood the urgency of bringing the Gospel to sinners, so that they can see the grace of God, so that they could repent and be saved. That's what drove him. And he wanted to do that while that opportunity was still available. Just think about it. If he was urgent back then, how much more urgent should we be today? We don't know when the door will close. So he's saying don't be distracted, folks. Don't be deceived by these false teachers. Isaiah 55 Six "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near." I think of God's call upon sinners prior to the to the great flood. You will remember that prior to that judgment the Lord warned the world; Genesis six three "'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless, his day shall be 120 years.'" And Noah preached for 120 years and then the season of grace came to an end. Dear friend, please hear me, you'd never know when the door to the ark of saving grace is going to be shut in your life. You don't know how long you're going to live. And certainly, we don't know how long it'll be before the Lord comes and shuts that door.

Paul understood this. So he says, "Behold, now is 'THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,....Behold, now is 'THE DAY OF SALVATION....'" Dear friend, let me ask you, are you driven by a consuming zeal to see other people come to saving faith in Christ? Or are you caught up in all of these religious sounding pursuits? The priority is defined in Colossians 1:28. And here it needs to be our focus, "We proclaim Him." Okay? I love it when God makes things clear to me. "We proclaim..." Dave, this is what I want you to do. When you preach to this congregation, I want you to proclaim me all right? Don't get off on that other silly stuff. I want you to proclaim me. So we proclaim Him and here's what you need to do. "Admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose, I also labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." Folks, he was delighted to be a co-laborer with God; he was defensive of the true gospel of grace; he was driven by evangelism and discipleship. And number four, he was devoted to a personal pursuit of holiness.

Notice verse three, and four, "giving no cause for offence in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God." The term commend carries the idea of to present as worthy of regard or of confidence. Our life is our letter of commendation, if you want to think of it that way. And as someone has well said, our life may be the only sermon some people ever read right? Or ever hear or ever see; what does your life preach? What sermon does your life preach? We're all too familiar with the immoral escapades of pastors and church leaders that render themselves disqualified from ministry. Paul talked about this in First Corinthians nine verse 27. He said, "I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified." Folks, may I remind you that the world hates Christ and they hate all who belong to him. And therefore, the world is hyper-vigilant to find fault in Christians. The slightest indiscretion, the tiniest act of political incorrectness, the smallest sentence spoken in anger, will be magnified 1000-fold and put all over the internet right with your picture. Beloved, we're all in Christian ministry in one way or another and people are watching, you need to realize that. People are watching. And does your speech, does your dress, your conduct, your overall character, does it adorn the gospel, or does it tarnish it?

You know, as I was reflecting upon this, it occurred to me that I very seldom hear anyone described as a God fearing man or woman. You ever hear that? Very seldom. And I was thinking about it, most people have come out or have been around evangelical pragmatism that basically teaches that that we must become like the world in order to win it. The Spirit of God needs some help after all, and because, you know the gospel is so offensive we need to, you know, kind of tone it down, to help him out so that people can get saved. So we've got to be more relevant and attractive. The Church must reinvent itself it must adjust its gospel. It's got to adjust its message so that it's less dogmatic, more therapeutic, more tolerant, more entertaining. It must pander to the culture. It must take up social causes, even conformed to the culture. But whatever you do, don't ever oppose the culture. So most Christians in churches like that never mature. They're banished to an island of spiritual infancy. You will never hear in those kinds of churches any emphasis on the dangers of worldliness, the dangers of adopting the values of the world. The idea of not being conformed to this world as Romans 12 two tells us. Being separated from sin; you're not going to hear sermons on what it means to be Christ-like, what it means to be holy, godly. Most church leaders, in fact, are products of evangelical youth ministries, where the primary goal is to keep the kids entertained. Make sure they're having fun, so they keep coming to church, as if that's some measure of spiritual blessing and maturity. Kind of a religious version of hanging out at the mall. But whatever you do, let's don't get too serious. Let's don't get too biblical. You know, that can tick people off and then they won't come. So let's keep things light and superficial and funny and non- judgmental and inclusive. And what does that produce? Well, it has produced today pastors and church leaders that dress, talk and act like immature kids and the whole church, looks like a superficial youth group that we've all been around. I've had conversations with some of these pastors, and it's frightening. I love these guys. I hope they know Christ. But I can tell within a few minutes, their theological acumen is as shallow as water on a plate. They have no real spiritual maturity. They're undisciplined. They're like a worldly adolescent. What a contrast to Paul's admonition. First Corinthians 14:20, "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking." What a great statement. "Be infants," he says, "in evil, but in your thinking, be mature." And he describes sanctification in precisely these terms. In Ephesians 4:13 he spoke of mature manhood. Oh what a joy that is to be around men, and women, who are mature in Christ. Mature manhood--the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. I address this in my book "Seven Key Principles for Effective Ministry." If you'll indulge just a bit of a quote here. "It has been my observation that there exists a marked difference among evangelical pastors as it relates to character. There's a dissimilarity between the mediocre and the exceptional, the weak and the strong, the ineffective and the effective, the immature and the mature. Very few have what I would call a godly presence about them. By godly presence, I mean a man with a noticeable aura of godliness about him, both in and out of the pulpit. A man like Jesus, a man who possesses a palpable sense of humility, and love that draws you into His presence. A man who exudes spiritual strength, confidence, boldness, wisdom, and a noticeable fervency that marks him as a man of God, and a man on a mission. A man so lost in the wonder of the majesty of God, so filled by the divine presence that nothing in this world causes him to despair or tempts him to distraction. This is that rare man whose authority enters a room with him and commands respect without ever asking for it. I'm speaking of that extraordinary man who is quote, "full of the Spirit and of wisdom" Acts six, three. The qualifications that early saints were to look for in choosing the first deacons. Virtues not every man possesses. A man who, according to First Timothy 4:12, "in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, shows himself as an example of those who believe." What Paul called a quote, "man of God," First Timothy 6:11.

Well, Paul understood this, and this is why he was so careful not to cause any offense that was unnecessary to cause people to stumble. He didn't want to do anything that would distract people from the gospel in his life. You know, the gospel is offensive enough without us throwing gas on the fire, right? And people are looking at us. He was devoted to a personal pursuit of holiness. Second Corinthians seven one, he says, "Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Paul summarizes this so beautifully. And so practically, let me read just 10 verses here. What he told Titus in Titus two beginning in verse one, just look how practical this i is when you're thinking about pursuing holiness in your life. He says, "But as for you," he's talking to Titus now, a young pastor. "But as for you, speaks the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." Let that be your focus. Again, if I can add this, don't get off on all that other stuff. "Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subjected to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored." By the way in most churches, if you were to preach that passage, you'd clean out most of the church. He went on to say, "Likewise urge the young men"-- young guys hear this, "to be sensible; in all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech, which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us." And he added this, "Urge bondslaves to be subjected to their own masters in everything, to be well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect." "Adorn"-- "kosmeo" in the original language. We get our word "cosmetic: from that. It means to make something more attractive with an ornament or with color. That's what our lives are to do; to adorn the gospel of God.

Well, finally, Paul was disciplined in the face of suffering. And here we see the bittersweet realities of serving Christ. We're all aware of this. Moreover, we see the most important virtue that is worthy of commendation and that is: steadfast endurance. Empowered by the Spirit of God to faithfully withstand extreme hardship and stress. Notice what he says, "in much endurance"-- "hypomone" a term that is used throughout the New Testament to describe that inward fortitude, that is necessary to bear up under extreme adversity, under unfair treatment. It's the idea of triumphant, patient, endurance in suffering, empowered by the Holy Spirit. He was disciplined in the face of suffering. It's the Spirit empowered ability, according First Corinthians 15:58 "to remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

Now, I want you to notice as we wrap this up this morning, Paul gives nine examples. And there's three sets of three here that serve as commendation, frankly, to the integrity of this person, and of his ministry. Set one just describes general pressures beginning in verse four, he says, "in afflictions," that's referring to those spiritual and physical, emotional types of things that we encounter that cause us to suffer for Christ and hardships. A term that is used to describe being deprived of necessities, just necessities to live. "In distresses," a term that describes being constricted; squeezed into something and you feel like there's no way out; an oppressive situation.

Set two he gives some specific examples. "In beatings"-- the term is used to describe the beatings from a fist or from a rod. It's also used to describe the lashes from a whip. "In imprisonments." Oh my goodness, if you knew anything about the prisons in those days, talk about squalor. They were filthy, beyond description. And then he says, "in tumults." A term referring to riots and mob violence, like we see today.

The third set speaks of hardships that he willingly endured. He says "in labors"--the idea of hard, strenuous labor, especially with Paul to somehow support himself. "In sleeplessness, in hunger." You know, there was no Motel Sixes back then. Inns were these vermin infested brothels, dens of debauchery. So he was sleepless, he was in hunger.

Notice how he responded to all of this beginning in verse six. First of all, "in purity." I mean, here's a man of God; a man with godly integrity, a God-fearing man. Might I add, a man with a godly presence about him. Also "in knowledge." It carries the idea of having a deep grasp of theological truth. "In patience"-- I mean, think of all of the nut jobs he had to deal with over the years in ministry, and he was patient with them. Oh, that God would hurry up and teach me patience. "In kindness, in the Holy Spirit, ingenuine love." Love being the first of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. Number seven, or verse seven, "In the word of truth"-- referring to the purity of the gospel. That's what he preached, the whole counsel of God. Then he says, "in the power of God." Not in the power of his own flesh, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left." Later on in Second Corinthians 10, he's going to speak of the divinely powerful weaponry that we have been given for the destruction of demonic fortresses; fortresses of lies, and of course, they are primarily the word and prayer.

And then he describes the inevitable paradox of ministry that you can all identify with. And everyone that's that serves Christ can understand this. And you have to always ask yourself, am I going to be committed to being faithful or popular? Because you can't be both. So, you have to decide which one you want to be. He chose to be faithful obviously. So, he says in verse 8, "by glory and dishonor." You see the paradox. "By evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown yet well known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. Dear friends, as you serve Christ, you will find that over the years, two lines will form behind you. One will be long, the other will be short. The long line will be those that hate you and everything about you and would love to see you dead. And the short line will be those that love you, because they love Christ. You've got to be motivated by the short line, not the long line. That's what was going on with the Apostle Paul.

I love that last phrase. He says "as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things." When I read that the other day, I was meditating on the passage, my mind went to as it often does, a chorus that I used to sing as a little boy. That's why our music is so important; it's to be didactic. The Spirit of God uses that. The little chorus, the lyric says this, "He owns the cattle on 1000 hills, the wealth in every mine. He owns the rivers and the rocks and reels, and the sun and stars that shine. Wonderful riches more than tongue can tell. He is my father, so they're mine as well. He owns the cattle on 1000 hills. I know that he will care for me." What a wonderful truth dear friends.

Dear Christian, our God reigns, our Redeemer lives. He's coming again. Be delighted to be a co-laborer with God. Be defensive for the true gospel of grace, be driven by evangelism and discipleship. Be devoted to a personal pursuit of holiness so the Spirit of God can use you and bless you. And be disciplined in the face of suffering; for the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Amen? Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. They speak so directly to our heart. Lord, there's so many voices out there vying for our attention. Oh, Lord, help us to stay focused. To not be distracted in our simple devotion to God through Christ. Thank you for the glory of your grace and all that it means to us. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.