God's providence has now brought us to Second Corinthians chapter 12, where we will be looking at verses 11 through 19, under the heading "Essential Heart Attitudes for Ministry." If you haven't been with us, we have been making our way verse by verse through this epistle, and we continue to do so today.

Before we look at the text, let me give you some introductory thoughts. I have spent approximately 35 years of my life in various forms of pastoral ministry, the last 25 of which have been as a pastor of this church, and over the course of my labors, I have watched a precipitous decline in both orthodoxy and orthopraxy, in other words, in both doctrine and practice; not in this church, but around the world in ostensibly evangelical churches; it's been heartbreaking to watch. I just read a little bit earlier from my father's notes in 1964 you can see how bad it was then, and now you look at it now. The church is almost unrecognizable. Together, theological liberalism, ecumenism, pragmatism, some of the extreme ends of the charismatic movement have not only eviscerated the core tenets of Christianity, but also filled Christians with pseudo-Christians who will never enter the kingdom; those who do not possess a genuine saving faith, those who are Christian in name only. And therefore, people who are unable to discern biblical truth, they will believe just about anything. And gradually, this has brought reproach upon Christ and his true church. Of course, this has been Satan's plan all along. This helps to explain why so many true believers are struggling with churches that they are in. Many are leaving churches because of the lack of biblical discernment. And to think how many churches call themselves evangelical Christian churches, and yet they deny the authority and the inspiration of Scripture.

LifeWay Research Study created for Ligonier Ministries says that 1/3 of evangelicals say Jesus was a quote, "good teacher, but was not God." If you believe that you're not a Christian, no matter what you call yourself. The research went on to say 65% of evangelicals believe quote, "Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God." I mean, that's just rank heresy. A Barna study said that 49% of professing Christians believe in reincarnation. Only 33% believe people were born with a sin nature and can only be saved from the consequences of sin by Jesus Christ. I mean, these are just heretical beliefs. Many people in churches today that call themselves Christians believe that we worship the same God as the Muslims. They embrace all of the godless movements that are out there today, the LGBTQ, whatever movement, abortion, cultural Marxism; they're ordaining pastors that are women, which is a clear violation of Scripture, ordaining homosexuals and lesbians and transgendered people to be pastors, having drag queens come up on a stage and read Bible stories to children. They believe in the prosperity gospel - so many of these people do, that maintains that somehow, we need to repent of our whiteness, because everybody's a racist and all of these things you're familiar with it. So many of them preach the prosperity gospel, teaching people that somehow you can manipulate God through your words, so that he will pass out the goodies, so that you can enjoy your life. More counterfeit worship everywhere, people claiming that they're having visions, that they're having conversations with God, that God is telling them special things. People running around acting like they've lost their mind with ecstatic gibberish that they claim is some manifestation of the Spirit; people that embrace faith healers and on and on it goes. These are a few examples of the steady decline of doctrinal precision and spiritual discernment.

And dear friends, once biblical discernment is gone, all that you have left is just the foolish wisdom of man. And in First Corinthians chapter two, Paul says, "Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world, through its wisdom, did not come to know God. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached, literally preaching, to save those who believe." He went on to say, "My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God." Dear friends, you must understand, it's because of all of this that the apostle Paul was so concerned about the false teachers that had infiltrated the church in Corinth, and why he was determined to defend himself against the slanderous attacks of these satanically inspired false teachers. He knew what would happen to the church if these phonies were allowed to continue to pedal their poisonous elixir. And I would plead with you to share in that type of a determination to maintain the purity of doctrine in the church. We must, as Jude said in verse three and following, "We must contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long before marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ."

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go with another dear couple in this church and my wife down to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, fascinating place. And there you could see the Apollo 11. What was that? 1969 when it went to the moon and so forth. And I was fascinated with, of course, the old technology, but they still made it to the moon and back. And when you think about it, every instrument, every piece of equipment, had to work perfectly. There was absolutely no room for error, no place for novices or armchair scientists. Every calculation had to be perfect, because the laws of physics are inviolable, and if you break them, you're going to get broken yourself. The slightest mistake would result in disaster. Well, dear friends, the same is true with biblical Christianity. You take Bible doctrine,and you begin to distort it or twist it, or even ignore it, and your journey will end a disaster. And this is why God gave the church apostles and now, pastor teachers. Ephesians 2:20 says the church was "...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ, Jesus Himself being the cornerstone." And once the foundation was laid through their teaching and their equipping and the writing of the New Testament, there was no longer any need to keep laying a foundation. It was already laid so the apostolic office disappeared. In fact, the only apostles that ever existed were the 12 plus Matthias that took Judas Iscariots place and the Apostle Paul. And each man had to meet the criterion of an apostle.

If you look at scripture, you will see that, first of all, they had to be sovereignly chosen by God himself. And then they had to be personally appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ. They also had to be eyewitnesses of Christ's life, and death, and resurrection. They also had to receive revelation from the Lord Jesus himself regarding the gospel, regarding the truths of the New Testament. And finally, they had to be trained by the Lord himself, which meant that the so-called apostles in the church of Corinth were self appointed, satanically inspired apostles. The same is true today, with the so-called apostles. We see them in some charismatic circles. Certainly, you see it in Mormonism. You see it in the apostate religious system of Roman Catholicism that believes in the uninterrupted transmission of spiritual authority from the apostle through successive popes and bishops and so on and so forth. So the true apostles had to protect the sheep from these "wolves in sheep's clothing," as Jesus called them in Matthew seven, which refers to men who wore the woolen garb that was characteristic of an ancient shepherd, but inwardly they were ravenous wolves.

And with this in mind, Paul continues his defense in Second Corinthians 12. Notice what he says in verse 11,

"I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me." And remember now he's referring to his reluctant and distasteful defense of his apostolic credentials, which many of them had begun to question. Then he says, "Actually, I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am nobody."

As we prepare ourselves to really look at what follows closely, I want you to join with me. Let's go to that service when they were reading this letter, because that's what would have happened. All of the saints would have gathered together, and this letter would have been been read. And I can only imagine the look on the faces of the the false apostles as this was read, and I'm sure by the time they reached this final stage in Paul's epistle, many minds were changing. Many of the people were convicted that they had been sold a bill of goods, and they were sorry for the way they believed these things and the way they treated Paul. And I would imagine some of Paul's rivals were beginning to look for an exit. You know, truth and time walk hand in hand, and their time had run out, and truth would now prevail in the hearts of those that truly feared the Lord.

Now, in this unique section of Scripture, as we prepare our hearts and we sit in that little group of people, let's remember that we have an opportunity here to peer into the very heart of the apostle. That's why I'm so moved as I think these things through. We don't we don't want to take this opportunity for granted. We see that he wasn't driven by self interest, he had absolutely no desire to employ the techniques of man centered pragmatism to somehow draw a crowd; that never would go through his mind. The idea of being seeker sensitive was utterly absurd to him. You see none of that in the New Testament. In fact, in Second Corinthians two two, he said, "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." And, oh, how he suffered because of this. But in this rather obscure section of Scripture, we gain some keen insights into how we should think; the kind of heart attitudes that we need to have as people, especially in church ministry; but not just there, also in our marriage and in our family. And fathers, especially want you to listen closely.

Here we will discover four essential heart attitudes for ministry. We must exhibit - and let me give them to you - faithful perseverance, sacrificial love, proven integrity, and finally, intentional discipleship, If any man or any woman is lacks in any of these areas, he or she will forfeit God's blessing and even eternal reward. So let's look at these things closely.

First of all, the idea of faithful perseverance. Notice verse 12, he said, "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles." The phrase "performed among" you in the original languages, in the passive voice, which indicates that these things were produced by God himself, not by man. And Paul said that that they were performed "with all perseverance," - "hypomonē" in the original language, it literally means to "remain under"; it carries the idea of having the power to withstand great hardship and distress. It indicates that constant, unfailing fortitude and endurance that is necessary to serve Christ in a wicked world. Paul persevered, no matter what the personal cost. He was absolutely unrelenting in his commitment to see people come to repentant faith in Christ and to see them grow into Christ like maturity. We must ask ourselves, is that the priority of our life as well? He was no fair-weather Christian. He was no Sunday morning Christian. He was no cultural Christian or Country Club Christian or chameleon Christian that just blended in with the world; but rather his life literally orbited around the Great Commission; to see men and women, boys and girls, come to a saving knowledge of Christ and grow into his likeness. He knew, according to Romans five three, that tribulation brings about perseverance. And my how he suffered as we have studied. He also knew that nothing else in life, dear friends, even comes close to the priority of serving Christ.

May I remind you of that from the very outset. You know, folks, nothing else in life really matters when it comes right down to it, everything else is eternally inconsequential. All we do in our education, our career, our community service, our church, our family, all of those things are nothing unless they're motivated out of a heart's desire to really see Christ glorified, to see him honored. Otherwise, everything else that we do is just a colossal waste of time. Solomon said, it's all vanity, right? It's all striving after the wind. You come to the end of your life, and you'll begin to realize that more and more as you look back over the course of your life, and you ask yourself the question, "What have I really done for Christ?" All we do for ourselves has the same value is hoarding worthless junk. You've probably seen, I can't stand to watch the show, but I've seen the the commercials on it. You've seen people that are hoarders. That's a way a lot of people's life looks, it's just a life filled with junk. They have no fear of God. They despise instruction. They live only for themselves. Rule by their lust. They lack basic common sense, and when their life is over, they will perish in their sin. How sad?

Well, not so the apostle Paul. Like all believers, who are new creatures in Christ, he lived for the glory of God. He laid up his treasures in heaven, not on Earth. That's why he could say in Second Corinthians one six, "But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. Or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort which is effective in the patient enduring..." there is the same word that was used earlier, "...patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer." So despite all of the hardships, all of the opposition, with all perseverance, Paul says he gave everything that he had for the glory of Christ, which included the performing of signs, wonders and miracles. Of course, they were done by the power of God, through him, for the purpose of people coming to saving faith in Christ.

Now let me talk about these signs, wonders and miracles for a moment. Here again, we see, as in many other passages of Scripture, that these are some of the distinguishing marks of a true apostle. And it's important for you to understand that each of the three terms describethree aspects of the same thing of miracles, in general. They’re not three different separate types of miracles. "Signs" denote the miracle's ability to authenticate the divine source of both the message and the messenger. "Wonders" denote the awe-inspiring power and wonder of the miracle. And then "miracles" refer to the divinely wrought power of the miracle. And in every case, as you see throughout the New Testament, these observable phenomena pointed to the one true God. And he alone is the one that is able to intervene or suspend what we call "natural laws." Biblical miracles preclude the necessity of secondary means; they transcend, or they suspend, you might say, at times, what we call natural laws, which is nothing more than the normal ways that God has ordained to operate the universe that he has created.

But we must understand, and this is fascinating to think about it, and your head begins to explode when you try to wrap your mind about it around it. But God is not bound by these laws, because he created these laws. You see, it's fascinating. He is not subject to his own creation. His creation is subject to him. So, he can do what he wants to with his laws. And this is what we see in miracles. He has the power to suspend or to end the normal means by which he upholds all things by the word of his power. And also, we need to be careful too often, contemporary Christianity is quick to label anything out of the ordinary as a miracle. Want to be careful with that. For example, a person may unexpectedly recover from some kind of disease against all odds, and indeed, God is gracious to heal through secondary means, such as using medicines and surgeries, but not all healing can be attributed to a miracle. That's not to say that at times that might not happen, but we want to be careful with that. Moreover, what we see is God does not perform miracles through the agency of specific individuals anymore. That's why faith healers are frauds. Remember, miracles were designed to act as as signs, to evoke awe and to convince people that the message and the messenger was from God. Acts 2:43, everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. Also Romans, five, s15 verse 17, and following "In Christ, Jesus, Paul says, "I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed; in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit." But you must understand, dear friends, that once God's revelation was complete, once it was finally contained in the canon of Scripture, as we read earlier, in Jude three, the once for all, delivered to the saint’s faith, as it's put in the original language. Once that happened, there was no more need for signs and wonders and miracles. So they ceased.

In fact, miracles are primarily contained in three periods of redemptive history, each resulting in the giving of special revelation. As we look over history, as we look at the Bible, we see miracles being performed during, first of all, the period of Moses and Joshua and there was new revelation that came at that time. What was it? It was the Law, and those miracles authenticated them as the true spokesman of God. Secondly, we see it during the period of Elijah and Elisha, and these miracles pointed to more Old Testament revelation, what we call the prophets. And once again, they authenticated these people as God's messengers. And then we see, thirdly, miracles coming about during the time of Christ and the apostles. There we see the incarnation of Christ. We see the divine Logos and, as well as the inspired revelation of the New Testament scripture. So we should never consider miracles to be normative for all periods of church history, as many people will claim.

And by the way, common sense tells you that; we just don't see the types of things today that happened in those eras of history. Not since the apostles, has the world seen anyone that is able to raise the dead. Not since the apostles, has anyone been able to cast out demons or undeniably, publicly, spontaneously and immediately heal the sick and the disabled. In his book, "Strange Fire - The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship," John MacArthur says this, "While the list of fantastic claims and incredible healing stories continues to grow at a frantic pace, any real evidence of genuine miracles is conspicuously absent. A 2001 HBO documentary entitled 'A Question of Miracles' followed the lives of seven people for a year after they had supposedly been healed at a Benny Hinn crusade. At the end of that time period, Anthony Thomas, the film's director, concluded that no one had actually been healed. In an interview with The New York Times, Thomas gave this raw assessment quote, 'If I had seen miracles at Hinn's crusades, I would have been happy to trumpet it. But in retrospect, I think they do more damage to Christianity than the most committed atheist." MacArthur went on to say elsewhere, "When Jesus or his disciples healed someone, the sick were made well immediately. No recovery period was necessary, no physical therapy needed, no recuperation time required. Lepers were instantly cleansed. Blind men were immediately granted sight, and people who had been paralyzed one moment could leap for joy the next. New Testament healings were not carefully orchestrated, prescheduled events that occurred in stadiums and meeting halls. Jesus’ healings were never staged or done with the hope of creating a spectacle so that an appeal could be made to donors." Big difference. Well, tragically, we see in some Pentecostal and some charismatic theology, we see these things continuing to fester and cause all kinds of confusion, like fruit flies on a rotten banana. Their heresies have become the breeding ground for charlatans and every kind of wing nut imaginable that gets involved in these churches and so forth.

Now, many people in the church at Corinth had witnessed these miracles. Some of them, perhaps, had been the recipient of some of the miracles that Paul had performed. And you will recall that the apostles were given the ability to exercise divine power in the realm of the supernatural. In Luke nine and verse one, we read, "And Jesus called the 12 together and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases, and He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing." And what's interesting is, even before the close of the New Testament apostolic era, miraculous events began to fizzle. You see this as you study the New Testament. You will recall that Paul was unable to heal Timothy with a recurring illness, and instead told him to take a little wine for his stomach. Nor could he heal his dear brother in Christ and co laborer, Trophomas. Second Timothy 4:20, we read, "But Trophomus, I left sick at Miletus." And it's interesting that we see no miracles in Jerusalem after Stephen's martyrdom; and also, nearly all of the apostles died as martyrs.

Furthermore, I find it most informative that the writer of Hebrews spoke of the apostles and the signs and the wonders that they performed in the past tense. Hebrews two beginning in verse three, the writer says, "...how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will."

Now back to Paul's defense. He makes it clear that, "the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, signs, wonders, miracles." This was a claim, obviously, that the false apostles could not make. They could not do these things. They had no history of persevering under the kind of sufferings that Paul had endured. Nor could they do signs, wonders and miracles. They could do parlor tricks and some of these types of things, and sometimes Satan could empower them, no doubt, to do certain things. We've seen that. But again, what I want you to focus on here, dear friends, is the first essential heart attitude for ministry, and that is faithful perseverance. This was Paul's life. He gave himself for this. And you want to ask yourself, does this describe me? Am I a man or a woman that will purse personally and faithfully persevere in the midst of all manner of difficulty. Am I bold for Christ, or am I a coward? Am I a people pleaser? By the way, if you are, stay out of ministry. "The fear of man," Proverbs 29:25 "brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted." And oh, for godly men and women today to stand up against all of this wickedness. It's like an avalanche, isn't it? It's just, it's just sweeping across our nation, all of the godless lunacy of liberalism and paganism. Would it be we all be known as men and women who are faithful and persevering for Christ.

The second thing we see with Paul is sacrificial love. Notice verse 13; “For In what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not become a burden to you?" Then he says, sarcastically, "Forgive me for this wrong!". You see, Paul knew that one of the accusations that was being levied against him is that he somehow treated them differently than the way he treated the other churches, that he didn't treat them with the same respect that he was using them. And Paul is basically saying, "How so?" You know, was I ever a burden to you? And think about it, although he deserved their support, he never requested it. And the reason he didn't is he wanted to distinguish himself from the false apostles that were there, basically, to con them, to make money off of them. And every faithful pastor, every faithful missionary, will exhibit this kind of selfless love. I've encountered celebrity preachers and used to when I worked with artists and a lot of people in the recording industry, Christian contemporary music in particular, I saw all kinds of things; people that demanded five-starhotels, they demanded five star restaurants, huge honorariums, extravagant expenses. Whenever you see that, it's a sure sign of a fake.

Verse 14, "Here for this third time, I'm ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you..." See, Paul wanted their fellowship. He wanted their love. He didn't want their money. Then he uses this analogy, "...for children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children." And certainly, he saw himself, rightfully so, as their spiritual father. And we all understand that analogy. Do we not? We all know what it is to sacrifice for our children. I would give anything for my children. I would do anything for my children. That's the way he felt. Is this not the very definition of love? And this was also manifested in every aspect of Christian ministry, for each of us.

Verse 15, he says, "I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls." In the original language, spend and expended are both out of the same root word. The Greek term, by the way, means to exhaust yourself, to be completely spent. It carries the idea of doing anything and everything to the limit of one's strength and ability. That's how Paul served them. Philippians two, he speaks of this as well, beginning in verse 17; "But," he says, "but even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." You see, Paul was content with what God had given him in his life - the ministry that God had given him - and because of that contentment, and his willingness to persevere faithfully, and to love sacrificially, he was filled with joy. There was a radiant joy within his soul. And isn't it wonderful when you get around people that are like that, you just sense that joy. You want to be with them. They're happy. They love Christ, and they love those who belong to him. And folks only in service to Christ can we experience that kind of power and that kind of contentment and that kind of grace and that kind of joy. Did not Paul say earlier, "When I am weak, I am strong."  See, dear Christian, sacrificial joy is a part of being one who loves sacrificially, to say it differently, sacrificial love is the key to blessing. When you give of yourself, it's a little taste of heaven. In Psalm 16 verse 17, the Psalmist says, "You will make known to me, the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy, in your right hand, there are pleasures forever." And if I can put it this way, especially you young people, don't waste your life. Don't waste your life. Live for Christ; otherwise, you'll end up being a hoarder, so to speak, with your life filled with worthless trivia, meaningless junk; fulfill the Great Commission. You fathers, and as well as mothers, be intentional about evangelism and discipleship. Don't rob yourself of the inexpressible joy of walking in intimate communion with the lover of your soul, as Paul did.

So, Paul exhausted himself for their sakes, and he says, "If I love you more, am I to be loved less?" In other words, this is how you respond to my love for you by believing these quacks who are saying all these things? Really?

Verse 16, "But be that as it may..." in other words, despite your lack of affection towards me, "...I did not burden you myself."  You see, they knew it, and he knew it, and God knew it, and this is his defense. And by the way, this is precisely what the false teachers did. They're like parasites. If you get around them, even to this day, that's what they're like. They feed off ofothers. They're like a tick on a dog. They're liars. They claim to speak for God, that God is speaking to them directly. They claim to be God's special spokesperson, and on and on it goes. They twist Scripture. They preach doctrines of demons. Paul tells us they shame and bully people. They're always telling you about some conversation they had with God, or some grandiose vision that God has given them, and I want you to be a part of it. And by the way, make your checks payable too fill in the blank. Nothing has changed, folks.

Again in verse 16, "I did not burden you myself; nevertheless," and here he uses sarcasm again, "...crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit." Deceit carries the idea of being shrewd, being skilled in deception. The bait that goes on a hook, literally, that's the idea. Yeah, boy, I deliberately scammed you, didn't I? I really cheated you out of your money. Well, see, they knew that that didn't happen. Obviously, he also knew about the false accusations that would cause him to defend himself in such a way, and the false accusation levied against him was simply this, yeah, you gotta watch Paul. You know, all that money that we gave him to take to the saints in Jerusalem that are struggling, he's gonna pocket it. That's what he's up to. By the way, the reason they thought that way is because that's exactly what they would do.

And this brings us to the third essential heart attitude for Christian Ministry, and that is proven integrity. And as we're going to see here, Paul proves that he did not defraud them, because he's going to remind them of the accountability that he had set in place to protect him from that very charge. Notice, verse 17, "Certainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those whom I have sent to you, have I?" Then he gives the example. "I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him." In other words, he had others involved in collecting that money and taking it to Jerusalem. Paul addressed this as well in chapter eight, beginning in verse 18. I want to remind you of what he said. "We have sent along with Titus," whom they all knew very well, We have sent along with Titus, "the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches; and not only this, but he has also appointed, he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work." So this was another highly respected godly man that they all would have known. They all would have been familiar with him. He's going with Titus, and he says, "...taking precautions so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift; for we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men." And then he says, "We have sent with them our brother." Now here we have a third unnamed member of this delegation. "We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you." So, Paul's point is simply this, okay, folks, really, do you really believe that these three men, well respected godly men that you know, have colluded with me in embezzling your contribution that you gave to the Jerusalem saints? Well, obviously it's absurd.

Back to Second Corinthians 12, the end of verse 18, "Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit and walk in the same steps? And of course, every godly servant of Christ, every faithful shepherd, will do everything that he can to preserve his integrity. We read in First Timothy three that an elder must be above reproach. It can be translated blameless. It carries the idea of, in fact, literally it means not able to be held. It carries the idea of not being held in a criminal case. In other words, he can't have any compelling allegation against him; that there's some kind of a life defining, life dominating flagrant sin that would disqualify him from serving Christ. By the way, just because you're that way doesn't mean that you're not going to be accused, but it certainly helps you refute the accusations. Obviously, Paul was that way, and he's being accused of these things; but Paul's life was an open book. And that's how we as pastors and elders, and anybody in ministry, need to live. There needs to be a transparency about us.

Now his life was not without sin. All you have to do is read what he says in his testimony at the end of Romans seven, and you will see him lamenting about sin that was still in his members, in his unredeemed humanness. But his sin did not rise to the level of disqualification. His sin did not so mar his life that a person would be remiss in following that man. This is why it is important for a church, really, to get to know their shepherds, not just their shepherds, but their wives and their children and those who know them closely, they need to get to know them outside of the pulpit. I'm really not as mean spirited as you think I am, if you get to know me outside the pulpit. People need to watch how you live. Charles Spurgeon said that it takes seven years for a congregation to be able to trust their shepherd. Now we're not going to hold him to that necessarily, but the point is, it takes a while. It takes a while. It takes time to see the pattern of a man's life. Remember what Paul said in First Timothy 5:24, "The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment. For others, their sins follow after." And it takes time to begin to see the pattern of a man's life. Earning the trust of a congregation is therefore one of the great benefits of staying in one place for a long period of time. Most of you that have been here, especially those of you that have been here from the beginning, you know who I am because I've been here for 25 years. You know my faults and some of my strengths. I guess that's how it works. And then when those scurrilous accusations come, and they will; they have. People were able to say, no, no, wait a minute.

Indeed, Paul was a man of proven integrity. I love what he said in Second Corinthians 1:12, "For our proud confidence is this the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you." Now notice something very instructive, he says in verse 19, "All this time..." and here he's referring to throughout the course of this letter; mind you, they're hearing this letter, he comes to this point; He says, now, "All this time..." in other words, all this time you've been hearing this letter read, "...you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you." In other words, you're probably thinking that you are the judge and the jury here. But no, he says, "Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ." He knew that God was his witness. He knew that the penetrating eye of divine omniscience could peer into his very heart, and that only God can render a just verdict. By the way, this is such comfort when you've been falsely accused, and we all have. It's a hard thing. First Corinthians, four and verse three, Paul said, "But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself." He's saying here that, you know, there's a real danger of being far too influenced by the opinions of man, whether they're good or bad. That's why, on YouTube and different things, I just shut the comments off. I don't want to hear commendations, and I don't want to hear, you know, some of the clap trap of people you know that are going to hate me for what I have to say. I don't want to hear it. Not that Paul was closed to all criticism or closed even to praise, but he's saying, Look, I care supremely for the approbation, or in other words, the praise of my master, and when I know in my heart that I am serving Him in humility and in faithfulness to his commands, the judgments of men are of little consequence to me by comparison.

By the way, he went on to say in verse four of that text, "For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord." You know we can all appreciate that self-examination can produce the wrong verdict. Can it? I mean, I am hopelessly biased in my favor, and you are too. But he didn't even worry about that. He didn't even worry that much about his own opinion of himself. What mattered was the Lord's opinion - God’s opinion - and that's why verse five, he went on to say, "Therefore, do not go on passing judgment." In other words, avoid premature, uninformed, definitive verdicts, "before the time," he says, "but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God."

Well, this brings us, finally, in closing, to the fourth essential heart attitude for ministry, not only must we all exhibit faithful perseverance, sacrificial love and proven integrity, but finally, intentional discipleship. Again, go back to verse 19. At the end, he says, "Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and all for your up building, beloved." "Up building," for your edification, for your strengthening. Now again, he knew that some would be listening to this letter and be thinking to themselves, "Man, his guy is going on and on about defending himself. He's trying to really get back at his rivals and their sycophants." No, no, no, that wasn't the case. His motive for all of this was ultimately to build up those who had ears to hear. He says, "...it is in the sight of God." In other words, it's under the scrutiny of his all-knowing eye. "It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and all for your up building, beloved."  In the original language, "your" is in the emphatic position. It's... he's literally saying, your edification, your up building. You know, this isn't about me. This is about your strengthening, not my defense. And dear friends, edification must be the priority for each of us. There's always going to be someone who knows less about scripture, knows less about spiritual things than you do, and we need to come along and try to strengthen them and encourage them. Fathers, this is absolutely your role as a shepherd in a home with your wife, with your children, and certainly it's the role of pastors and elders. Paul spoke of this in Ephesians four, beginning in verse 11, "And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets." We saw that in the early era of the church history; and then, "some as evangelists," which refers to church planting/ missionaries, "and some as pastors and teachers"; or it could be translated pastor-teachers." Why? "For the equipping of the saints, for the work of service." Here it is "to the building up of the body of Christ." Why? Well, until we all "attain to the unity of the faith," referring to doctrinal unity, not some ecumenical kumbaya, hold hands around the fire. I mean, this is doctrinal unity. We need to have the mind of Christ; "...for the work of service to the building up of the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." As a result, "we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth and love, we are to grow up, in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ."

Well, friends, in closing, you must understand that as your pastor, my priority in all that I do is not necessarily to make you happy, but to make you holy. And if you're holy, you will be happy come what may. My role is not to make you comfortable in this world. My role is not even to help you with your marital problems, your family problems, your social problems, your career problems. My role is not to somehow help solve all of the community problems, all of the political problems. No. My role is to help you know Christ and him crucified. And once you know Christ, then you will love him, and by his grace and his power, you will become more like him. And so, my role is to help you know Christ and be conformed into his likeness; to have the mind of Christ, to have the joy of Christ deep within your soul, to help you worship and serve him in ways that are acceptable to God. And of course, the key to all of this is helping you know the Word of God so that you will obey the Word of God. You can't be just hearers of the word. You have to be doers of the word, as Paul is going to go on to tell us, as we look at the next two verses of this chapter next week.

So let me challenge you by leaving these four essential heart attitudes with you. Ask yourself, is my life characterized by faithful perseverance? Am I bold in my witness for Christ, or do I cave every time the world comes towards me waving one of its banners, and my they're waving the banners big this month, aren't they? This is pride month, I heard, what a sad thing. What a mockery of God. Pride comes before a fall, dear friends; judgment is coming, and it's heartbreaking to think. So, am I faithfully persevering in my service to Christ? Am I committed to sacrificial love? Am I selfless in how I love, or am I selfish? Do others see this in me? Do I have proven integrity? Am I above reproach? Do I have accountability set up within my life? People say, "Who are you accountable to pastor?" Number one, to the Lord. Secondly, to my wife. Thirdly, the rest of my family, as well as my elders and my church family. We all need that. And finally, is my life characterized by intentional discipleship. The Lord gave us a mandate to go into the world and to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to teach them all that I have commanded. It's not enough that we just evangelize. We have to help people know the truth and learn to live it out in their lives. Is that descriptive, is that characteristic of your life? I hope it is, and I know it is for so many of you, and I give God the glory for that. What a magnificent church, what a joy it is to shepherd you. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these essential truths that are so pointed; they speak so directly to each of us. I pray that that by the power of your Spirit, we will not only grasp these things intellectually and theologically, but Lord beyond that, that we might live them out, that we might enjoy all of the blessings that you long to lavish upon us as we serve you. And Father, once again, for those that may not know Christ, I pray that you will bring conviction. It's so easy to be a phony, self, deceived Christian in this world, Lord, speak to their heart for those that hate Christ, soften their heart, as you have me and so many others. So, we commit this to you. We thank you. We praise you in Jesus' name, amen, we pray.