Are we waiting for? Welcome to the evening worship service of Sovereign Grace Presbyterian Church. We are glad that each and every one of you have joined us for worship this evening. In the evening service, we have been working through the Book of Second Corinthians, and we will continue to do that. So I would ask that you would please open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 11 through 15. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 11 through 15. And let us read God's holy and inerrant word. 2 Corinthians 5 beginning at verse 11. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us. Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Please pray with me. Most Heavenly Father, as we consider this passage, pray Lord that you would encourage us, that you would motivate us in our walk, with Christ. Oh, Lord, take this text and sear it and burn it upon our hearts to the glory of Christ Jesus. We pray. Amen. In the year 17 72, Thomas Scott was ordained as an Anglican priest and was appointed to his first church in Buckinghamshire that very same year. in his autobiography called The Force of Truth, which by the way, you can get online for free and I would encourage each of you to read Thomas Scott's autobiography, The Force of Truth. It was published in 1779, seven years after he had gone into the pastorate. And Scott admitted in his autobiography that his motive to enter the ministry was to have a comfortable career. He said three things drove him into the ministry. Lots of leisure time, little labor, and the accolades of men. He called them his ruling motives. He admitted, frankly, that he did not believe in most of the doctrine he was required to preach. His motives were simply and clearly self-serving, and in the first few years of his ministry, he hardly knew any of the people in his congregation, no matter to serve them spiritually. This is unfortunately not an uncommon scene throughout the history of the church. Many different motives, both good and bad, have led men into the gospel ministry. And to that point, the context of our text this evening is that there is a group in the church at Corinth and in other churches throughout Greece who are questioning Paul's real true motives for being in the ministry. And what they're doing is attempting to undercut his authority, undercut his ministry, and undercut his message. 2 Corinthians 5 verses 11 through 15 is Paul's answer to those who accuse him of being in the ministry for the purposes of ambition or like Thomas Scott for serving one's own self for money for accolades. Let's consider Paul's answer to these critics. Verse 11 we see actually Paul's first motive. for being in the ministry, what does he say? Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. Now see how the verse begins with what we call, or grammarians call, a consequential particle, therefore. Paul is drawing a conclusion from the previous verse. So let's look at verse 10. where Paul says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. All people must stand one day before the judgment seat of the Lord. And based on that truth, Paul says in verse 11, therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, and Paul knows that God will rightly judge all people in the world, he says, we are trying to persuade others. Here's the reality. A motivating force of Paul's ministry is that many people will be eternally lost. He clearly sees the lost. A final reckoning is coming. And so Paul is not lackadaisical about sharing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul here says he has a clear conscience. He's not a charlatan. He's not a predator. He's not a peddler, as some would say. There's no duplicity in him. He has a clear conscience. His ministry is for the good of others. It is not self-serving. It is to persuade the lost of the truth of the gospel. Robert Murray McChain, 19th century Scots pastor, fostered the habit of visiting the dying in his city of Dundee every Saturday night. He said it was preparation for his preaching the next morning. He said he saw, and I'm gonna quote him here, many people on the verge of the pit. And that motivated him to preach the gospel fervently each Sunday morning. Now, you know, that ought to be a motivating factor for all of us in our ministries, for all Christians to share the gospel with others, is the judgment that awaits the lost when they die. And we ought to keep that truth in our minds and our hearts as we brush shoulders many times a day with dead men walking. We think of our relatives, we think of our coworkers, we think of our friends. We need to persuade others of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's second motive for ministry is found in verse 12. He says, we are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. Paul gets at the second motive of his ministry by comparing his motives to those who are questioning and undercutting his labors. These critics of Paul are ones who are driven by outward appearance. They're superficial. They judge things by their looks. They boast about pedigree and money and fame and power and popularity. Years ago, overheard a member of a church that we were in ask a first-time visitor what he did for a living. The man answered, well, I'm a lawyer. The church member said, really? You'd make a great elder at our church? Our member knew nothing of this man's spiritual character. He knew nothing of his heart. Here he was making a judgment based solely on outward appearance. Paul's concern, in contrast, he says at the end of verse 12, is what is in the heart. Paul's true motives are not about worldly stature, but rather about what is deeply in the heart of another person. He's concerned about other people's spiritual condition. And Paul says to the Corinthians that they've seen Paul's heart. what the current generation would call authenticity. It is his true deep character over against the critics who are concerned with other things. They're the ones who are the hypocrites, not Paul. Paul cares for the lost and he cares for the spiritual condition of people. Paul's third motive found in verse 13. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. Paul's critics apparently have also accused him of being mad and unbalanced. He is a crazy Christian, a fanatic Bible thumper, a Torah thumper. Festus said to Paul in Acts 26, 24, Paul, you are out of your mind. Yes, he is foolish in the eyes of men, and only a madman would live the way that he does. Paul has simply lost his marbles. But you know, people accuse Jesus of the very same thing. In Mark chapter three, verse 21, we read, and when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, he is out of his mind. His very own family members were looking at Jesus saying he was mad. Well, understand something, Paul indeed has a holy madness. He is all in for Jesus Christ. He lives to glorify God and to bring all things under the Lordship of Christ. Many of us love the music, the classical music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Did you know that when Bach began to compose a piece, he would write at the top of the sheet, Jesu Juva, that is, Jesus, help. And when he concluded the piece, he would write at the bottom of the sheet, Sola Deo Gloria, which means, to God alone be the glory. See, his work was bracketed on both ends by bringing glory to God. Oh, that we would see all our labors on the earth the same way, that all things are to be brought under the Lordship of Christ. May our days begin with Jesu Juva and may we close our days with Soledad Gloria. First to last, beginning to end, Alpha and Omega. If this is madness, let me be mad. Paul. is devoted entirely to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not live to gain the popularity of the world. That is the modus operandi of his opponents. They are the ones who boast about outward appearance. Paul's motive in life and ministry is found in this verse. It is for God first, and then it is for you, he says. That is the church at Corinth and the churches in Greece. It is not for himself. It is not self-serving. It is not for personal gain or fame. As John Calvin once said, believers are dead in Christ in order that all ambition and eagerness for distinction may be laid aside. It's not about us. It is about the Lord Jesus Christ. The next motive is found in verse 14. Paul says, for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. The ESV translates the first line of this verse as, for the love of Christ controls us, and that translation's fine. However, I prefer the NIV at this point that says, for Christ's love, compels us. J.B. Phillips in his flowing translation of the New Testament I think is helpful here. He translates this verse as, the very spring of our actions is the love of Christ. The very spring of our actions is the love of Christ. In other words, Paul is claiming that the motive for his life as a Christian and his labors in ministry is the love of Jesus Christ. It is the love of Christ that compels and propels Paul to preach the gospel. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. Now, interestingly, the Greek clause here could refer to either Christ's love for Paul are Paul's love for Christ as the motivating factor in his ministry. My view is that both are implied and both are true. Christ's love for Paul is prior to and results in Paul's love for Christ, but surely both are meant here. Christ's love for Paul compels him, and Paul's love for Christ compels him to please God and to share the message of the gospel and to persuade others of the truth of the gospel. Next motive is found in verse 15. Paul says, and he died for all, Christ died for all. that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised." Again, understand this group of accusers in Greece are complaining that Paul is driven by personal ambition and to serve himself. Well, Paul's final argument here is the clincher, and it carries a whopping sting, and it is this. Christ died for his people so that they would no longer be slaves to serving themselves. Christ has delivered his people from self-service, from self-absorption, from selfishness. He has delivered us from self-idolatry. We're no longer to live for ourselves or our own personal interests or ambitions. We are freed from self-preoccupation. Paul Witts, a number of years ago, wrote a groundbreaking work with the subtitle, The Cult of Self-Worship. And in that book, he exposed the reality that selfishness is self-destructive. Selfishness is self-destructive. Paul is explicit here that Christ died for his people, that they may no longer live for themselves, but they live to serve the Savior, that we would die to self and live for Christ. See, in the final analysis, Paul's accusers are dead wrong. What is it that drives Paul in his walk with Christ and in his ministry for Christ? Well, as we've seen in the text before us, it is Paul's longing to please God. It is his love for Christ. It is his desire to serve Christ. It is his entire life attempting to bring glory to God. It is his longing for the lost to be saved. It is Paul's being compelled by Christ's love for him. There's nothing here of self-interest. He does not ask the question, what do I get out of all this? Though what he does get is quite glorious. He's not looking for prestige or fame or wealth. He rather is a servant of the king of kings. Let me ask you a question. What is it that drives you and moves you in your Christian walk? What is it that motivates you in your walk with Christ? I assume we have four or five pastors and pastors listening this evening, and each one of us needs to ask the question. What is my motivation for ministry? Have a number of seminary students in this congregation. They need to be asking this question of themselves before they enter full time ministry. Why am I doing this? Am I doing it for myself or am I doing it for my Lord? Thomas Scott, the pastor we talked about at the beginning of the sermon who went into the ministry for all the wrong reasons. After four or five years in despair in the ministry, Scott came under great conviction of the gospel and the truth of the doctrines of grace. He had been greatly influenced by a nearby pastor named John Newton. Scott's ministry began anew, and he said this in his autobiography. My desire henceforth God knoweth, is to live to his glory. And by my whole conduct, conversation, to adorn the doctrine of God my Savior, and to show forth his praise, who hath called me out of darkness into his marvelous light, to be in some way or other useful to his believing people, and to invite poor sinners who are walking in a vain shadow and disquieting themselves in vain to taste and see how glorious the Lord is and how blessed they are who put their trust in him. After John Newton left his pastorate in Olney to go to London, it was Thomas Scott who took Newton's place in Olney. Many people were saved under the ministry of Thomas Scott. Let me close with one final anecdote regarding the ministry of Thomas Scott. When he was pastoring at Olney, a young man would frequently come to hear Thomas Scott preach. Some 40 years later, just before Thomas Scott's death, this young man who was no longer a young man, it was 40 years later, he said this. If there be anything of the work of God in my soul, I owe much of it to Thomas Scott's preaching. When I first set out in the ways of the Lord, so said William Carey, the great Christian missionary to India. See, Thomas Scott, like Paul, was compelled to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. not for his own leisure, not for a lack of labor, not for the accolades of men, but to the glory of God. Sola Deo Gloria. Amen and amen. Please pray with me. Most Heavenly Father, even in these trying times, It is our duty, and it's our pleasure to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ from beginning to end, from Jaysu Juva to Sola Deo Gloria. Oh, Lord, may we bring all things under the lordship of Christ and not in self service, but in serving the king of kings. Oh, Lord, Put this message upon our hearts. To the glory of Christ Jesus, our Lord. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.