Thank you for listening to this message from Sovereign Grace Community Church in Denver, Colorado. We pray that you are encouraged and edified by it. You can find more information about Sovereign Grace Community Church by visiting our website at www.sgccdenver.org. If you would like to make a donation to our small ministry, you can do so using the donate button on our website or on the SGCC Denver sermon audio page. Again, thanks for listening and may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God our Father and of Jesus our Lord. Father, what a glorious thing it is to be able to be gathered together in this Christmas season And to be exhorted afresh to consider these great Christmas carols. For many of us, songs that we have sung since we were children. And yet, we certainly know that as those who are sharers in Christ and who have renewed minds, that we see the richness, the glory of the Gospel, of our incarnate crucified, risen Savior in these lyrics. And I do pray, Father, that in this Christmas season, our hearts are filled with the glory, the riches, the awe, the wonder that are bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, as we return now to Paul's epistle, I pray that You will exhort us, that You will press us, even as we find in Your Apostle a man who was purposeful in all things. Nothing was wasted with him. Nothing was irrelevant with him. Nothing was arbitrary. But Paul was a man who lived and breathed the Gospel and who labored in all things, the mundane, the significant, the low, the high. In all things, he labored to see Christ formed and perfected in men and women. Father, I pray that You will exhort us in such a way today that we would be such people as Paul was. So, meet us in this time and continue, Father, to draw from us by Your good Spirit true worship. Worship in spirit and in truth. We ask these things of You in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as we continue forward, I'd like to just read together with you Chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians. And I'd like to go back to verse 1 and then read through the 12th verse just to keep the context in front of us. Verse 1, 1 Corinthians 16, Paul says, Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so also you are to do. On the first day of every week, let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come. And when I arrive, whomever you may approve, I shall send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem. And if it is fitting for me to go also, then they will go with me. I will attend them. But I shall come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia. And perhaps I shall stay with you, even spend the winter that you may send me on my way wherever I may go. For I do not wish to see you now just in passing. I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits. But I shall remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has been opened to me, and there are many adversaries. Now, if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the Lord's work as I also am. Let no one, therefore, despise him, but send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brethren. But concerning Apollos our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brethren, and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity." I titled this message, Travel Plans, Paul, Timothy, and Apollos. It may seem at first glance to just be kind of some final housekeeping, if you will, on Paul's part. Just a few little bits and pieces of information that he thought the Corinthians maybe ought to know as he's proceeding towards finishing the epistle and giving his final greetings, his customary greetings to the church. What I hope that we will see as we dig into this a little bit is that there is great significance in this instruction, as much as it seems to, as I said, just be some housekeeping items, nothing was ever wasted with Paul. He was purposeful in everything and that he had very important, significant purpose and reason for these things. And I hope as we dig into it a little bit, we will understand how that is the case. Well, again, what we see as we recapture this and read through it is that as Paul has given instructions to the Corinthians regarding this collection. As we discussed last time, Paul's plan to travel across through. He's gone through the Galatian churches. He's in Ephesus. He's going to travel through Macedonia, take up the collection from the churches heading south towards Greece, and finally culminate his travel in Corinth, where the Corinthian contribution will be added to this collection from the churches, bound up, prepared, and then the assembly of delegates will carry that offering to Jerusalem for the saints in Judea. And Paul's instruction concerning that in his own role in that becomes the occasion for him to then elaborate upon his travel plans and also discuss travel plans pertaining to Timothy and Apollos. So I'd like to treat this context today really just under those three heads, Paul, Timothy, and Apollos. The content in terms of what Paul says here is pretty straightforward. But as I say, I think when we dig behind the scenes a little bit, we'll see that there is profound importance and even application to us as Paul gives this communication to the Corinthians. So the first thing regarding Paul then is his itinerary and his schedule. I don't want to belabor this. I've just even pretty much re-summarized it for you. But Paul says that he's going to remain in Ephesus through the winter. He will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, late spring. Pentecost follows 50 days after Passover, right? Passover is in the spring. Paul's writing from Ephesus. He's on his third missionary journey. He's penning this letter from Ephesus to Corinth. And he says, I'm going to remain in Ephesus until Pentecost and then I will come. Well, both because of the coming winter and you can't travel across, sea travel is very hazardous in the winter time. And rather than going all the way up around and coming across from Asia and then down, he wants to probably sail or move up towards Troas and then sail across to Philippi, the path he's taken before. So he can go to the Philippian church and then begin to move down through Macedonia, just as he did on his second missionary journey. He says, though, more than just because of the winter, he wants to remain in Ephesus because of a door that has been opened for him. Literally, the idea is a great and powerful or effectual door. Paul's been in Ephesus now somewhere around probably two and a half years, certainly two years at least. And he senses, we don't know the specifics, but he senses that God has really opened up for him opportunities in Ephesus. And these opportunities, this open door for the Gospel is bearing much fruit. It is a great door, a great opportunity but also one that is effectual. Now, Paul has obviously been bearing fruit, or the Spirit has been bearing fruit through Paul from the beginning of his ministry, but now there's a particular season where he believes it's important for him to remain. A great and effectual door. And yet, at the same time, he says there are many adversaries or opponents. And if you read the account of this Time in Ephesus in Acts 19 and 20, you see that. Even the great conflict with the Ephesian artisans. Ephesus, as many cities, had a huge trade in the fabrication of idols and other implements for the worship of idols. And the artisans at Ephesus are enraged with Paul. Not because they're particularly religious people and they have religious scruples, but because their livelihood is on the line. As people are coming to faith in Christ, they're forsaking their idolatry, and these craftsmen are losing their livelihood. We stood in that great theater in Ephesus, and it is an expansive amphitheater, obviously outdoor theater, but that's where Paul stood and gave his defense. And it was just a cacophony of voices and chaos. And Paul was on the verge of being ripped to pieces. These were very angry men. And whether this is specifically what he's referring to, we don't know. But we do know that everywhere, we see through the book of Acts, everywhere that Paul and the Gospel or other men in the Gospel went, there were both those with ears to hear and there were those who were opponents. Beginning at Pentecost itself, There were many who came to faith and there were many opponents. And Jesus said that, if the world hates you and it will, remember that it hated me first. You are not of the world. I have chosen you out of the world. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But you are not of the world. I've chosen you out of the world. This is why the world hates you. If it persecuted me, it will persecute you. If it held to my teaching, if it kept my word, it will keep yours. They will treat you this way because they do not know the One who sent me." And what Jesus is saying is that when His disciples, when His ministers, when His people are authentically manifesting the truth of who they are, which is the truth of who He is, then the world will respond to them in the way that it responded to the Lord. And really, its reception of them or its hatred of them is its reception of or hatred of Christ Himself. Because we are the fragrance of Christ. Christ is living out and perfecting his life and his people. And so everywhere that there was a great door of opportunity and an effectual work, there was also great opposition. And so it remains to this day. The two always go together. So Paul's plan then is to remain until Pentecost. He feels that God is doing a work that is important that he remains. even the opportunity that he sees in dealing with the opponents of the gospel. But when he departs, as I said, he will probably move north to Troas and then he will sail across the Aegean to Philippi, a port city, and then begin his movement south, down through the Macedonian churches, passing through, collecting their contribution along the way, coming to Greece, and then finally coming to Corinth. Corinth in Achaia, the very southern part of the Greek peninsula. And he tells them that when he gets to Corinth, his goal is to arrive in Corinth by the following winter. So essentially he'll leave early summer, use the summer and fall months to move south and arrive at Corinth before the winter sets in. And his plan, his goal is to winter with the Corinthians and then sail for Jerusalem in the spring. We often lose sight of the fact of, again, how difficult travel was and how much travel was determined by the seasons and other factors at that time. We just go whenever we feel like it. We don't worry too much. Once in a while, the snow will slow us down or cancel a flight. But they had to order their travel, particularly by sea, according to the seasons. The Mediterranean can be brutal in the wintertime. And we know about Paul's shipwreck. So that was Paul's itinerary and his schedule. His plan was to, assuming that he's writing before the winter, either probably 80, 55, 56, he's saying, I hope within a year to be there in Corinth. Now, the next issue is what was Paul's purpose in providing all of this information? Why did he, in a sense, commit himself or give so much information? Again, especially given the nature of travel in the ancient world. The realities of travel, the complexities, the uncertainties, the difficulties. You didn't just hop on a plane. We have airlines that strive so hard to have these good flight times, or what's the word I'm looking at, on time record. And, you know, if they're a half hour late or 45 minutes late, you know, it's a big deal. In that time, it could be months waiting for the next thing to come along. If a ship took you so far, you'd have to wait for the next ship that you could get charter or passage on. You might be there for some period of time. You couldn't predict how things would play out. You couldn't even know for sure that you'd get there. And yet Paul is very specific about his plans. Well, why? I think there are three reasons, and the last I'm going to give you, I think, is the main reason, the most important one. But the first one is, I think, fairly obvious, which is that Paul was trying to provide this information to the Corinthians to help them in preparing their collection. Because when he arrives in Corinth, that is the culmination of this collection process that's been going on, at least the preparations for it, for several years. And when he arrives in Corinth, he wants everything in place. He wants them to have gotten everything ready. In fact, from Macedonia, he will send an advanced team of men into Corinth to help them to make sure that this is ready. He says, when I arrive, I don't want any more collection taken up. I want it all in place. Even for your sake, Corinthians, and for the sake of the testimony to the Macedonians concerning whom or to whom I've bragged concerning you of your zeal and your labors in this. So because there's something to be done by the time Paul gets there, it's helpful to them to know when he's going to get there. The second reason is Paul is saying, my plan is to spend the winter with you. He wants them to know that because obviously they have to make accommodations. They need to know. It's helpful to them to know. And he wants them to know of his plan to spend the winter with them. He's just going to pass through the other churches of Macedonia, but he does not want to do that with Corinth. And that leads into the third reason, which I think is primary, is Paul's desire to minister to the consciences of the Corinthians. Already at this time, his relationship with them is very strained. And it's only going to get worse. Between this epistle and the 2nd Corinthian epistle, there was at least one visit and at least one other letter. 1st Corinthians is at least the second letter that Paul wrote to Corinth. 2nd Corinthians is at least the fourth letter. And while Paul is finishing out this time in Ephesus, things are going to get really strained at Corinth to the point that his plans will even change. He'll say in 2 Corinthians, I had actually planned to sail across to you, then go up through Macedonia, then come back to you so I could spend more time with you. But he ends up changing that plan because the relationship is so broken. He actually sends Titus to them. And in 2 Corinthians, if you read the first chapter one and into two, I think, he's actually defending his decision because they're saying, Paul, you can't trust him. He's not trustworthy. He doesn't keep his word. He said he was going to do this. He doesn't do it. He doesn't even come to us himself. He sends Titus. And so Paul is very concerned as the tensions between him and this church. He's very concerned to be clear about his plans. and particularly his desire to stay with them. He wants them to know he wants to come and spend a significant amount of time with them. The best way for him to affirm his burden for them, his love for them, his concern for them, is to come and spend time with them. And I think that's what Paul was doing, was trying to minister to their consciences. Plus, as we're going to see, he's already sent Timothy ahead of this letter. Timothy is coming to them and he wants them to know he is coming. And when he comes, he will stay with them. And Timothy is coming, and I'm getting ahead of myself, but Timothy is coming under somewhat difficult circumstances too. So all of this is wrapped into Paul saying, here, I want you to know what I'm doing. This is my plan. This is how this is going to play out to set their consciences at ease. So that's Paul's travel plans. Then he turns to Timothy and he says, Now, if Timothy comes, see to it that he is with you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the Lord's work as I also am. Let no one despise him, but send him on his way in peace so that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brethren. Now, as I mentioned, Paul has already earlier said in chapter 4 that he has sent Timothy to them. And here he's commenting on that again. Now, sometimes people say, well, there's a discrepancy. In chapter 4 he said, he has sent Timothy. Here he says, if Timothy comes. But the best way, I think, to render his grammar here is whenever Timothy gets there. There's just an indefiniteness about it. Not if, like, I might send him, I might not. But whenever he gets there. He may not get there. But when he gets there, treat him in a certain way. I think the ESV even renders it that way. So, Paul has sent Timothy to Corinth. Now, there are two likely explanations for that sending of Timothy. The first is in relation to the offering. And if you read in Acts 19, when Paul is in Ephesus, he sends Timothy with Erastus ahead into Macedonia where he then meets up with them. And then whether he sends them ahead of him as part of that advanced team to get the offering ready, we don't know. We know when he's in Corinth gathering the offering, Timothy and Erastus are there with him. Erastus was actually from Corinth. He's the city treasurer. So one explanation is that Paul is here talking about he sent Timothy on ahead in view of the upcoming offering. But I think there's a different explanation for this visit that is actually the real issue and that gets us more to what's kind of surrounding this visit of Timothy. As I mentioned, between this letter, and he's already sent Timothy, and the second Corinthian letter, which precedes his arrival in Corinth by at least a few months, he writes it from Macedonia as he's heading for Corinth, There's at least one visit, the painful visit, and then there's at least the one letter, the sorrowful letter that Paul refers to as this relationship with the Corinthians is breaking down. And I think what this particular visit is about is he's sending Timothy to Corinth as his emissary and his ambassador to deal with some of these issues that are going on in Corinth. Both in terms of the church itself, and the problems in the factions, the things going on at Corinth. Remember, three men from Corinth have come with a letter from the Corinthians. Chloe's household, some members have come. Paul's aware of all of these things going on at Corinth. And I think he's sending Timothy there, just as he did to other churches as well, as his emissary to help to put things in order. Now, if you go back to chapter 4, I think this fits the context very well, this scenario that I'm posing, because Paul has been chiding, or it's probably not even the right way to put it, he's been rebuking and exhorting the Corinthians in view of these factions, beginning with verse 10 in chapter 1. Now, I hear from some members of Chloe's household that there are divisions among you. I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephas. I'm of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for your sins? What are you doing? And he talks about these roles that he and Apollos had. One plant and one water. God gave the increase. Chapter 1 through chapter 3, he's talking about this issue of divisions at Corinth. And even the way they have, in a sense, affected the Corinthians' relationship with Paul. And so in chapter 4 then, he says, Let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. And it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. Verse 4, I'm conscious of nothing against myself, but by that I'm not acquitted, but the one who examines me is the Lord. Verse 6, these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos. Builders, God's field, God's building, the role that Apollos and I play, the role that leaders play in the church. I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written in order that no one of you might become arrogant in behalf of one against the other." So, he talks about how these factions and these rallying around certain men is a matter of arrogance and what it's doing in the church. Now, if you move to verse 14, he says, I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. for if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers. In Christ Jesus, I have become your Father through the Gospel. I exhort you, therefore, be imitators of me. For this reason, I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church." And so, Paul has sent Timothy in view of these things going on at Corinth and even the way that Paul is implicated in them. Timothy is going in view of the dynamics of the relationships between at least Paul and Apollos and some other men and the church at Corinth. This isn't to gather the offerings. And things will just continue to deteriorate. He'll finally send Titus. And then Titus will finally catch up with him and bring him the good news of the Corinthians' affirmation of their love for him. And that becomes the springboard for the writing of 2 Corinthians. So, the background of this trip of this travel plan, if you will, of Timothy, I believe, is that. He's being sent as Paul's emissary to address problems in the church. including their growing alienation from Paul. Paul may have intended that visit to be a follow-up to this letter or maybe even to precede them getting this letter, which he probably is sending with the three men, Achaicus, Fortunatus, and Stephanus back to Corinth. And that scenario that I pose not only fits with chapter four, but it fits well with Paul's exhortation here. It explains why Paul exhorts them the way that he does. If Timothy is coming to Corinth to deal with problems and tensions in the church, which also have Paul at the center of them, then Paul had every reason to expect that Timothy could be met with resentment, with opposition, with poor treatment. They might be irritated or upset that Paul didn't come himself. If these matters are so important, Paul, you're dealing with them in your letter that is coming along with this man in some sense. Timothy's not carrying it. He's already left. But they're dealing with the same thing. If these things are so important, why didn't you come yourself? And if you send a representative, why do you send this kid? Why do you send this junior disciple? If these things are so important, you should have come yourself. And so, Timothy's coming could be interpreted as a snub on Paul's part. As a matter of indifference. As a lack of concern. Maybe even as an insult. You send your B-string. You don't send yourself. Paul knew what Timothy might well encounter. And he insisted to the Corinthians that they receive him as the Lord's ambassador doing the Lord's work. Just as he would expect them to receive him. Timothy comes in his name, on his behalf, in his authority. So he says, you are not to despise him or in any way disparage him. It really means to regard him as of no account. A nobody. Why do you send this nobody? And you are not to give him any reason to be anxious or fearful. You are to embrace him as a fellow sharer in Christ. You are to let him fulfill his work on my behalf, which is the Lord's work, as I have sent him. And you are to send him on his way in peace, with joy. You are not to in any way abuse him or disparage him or give him reason to be fearful or have there be any tension or problems in this, you receive him as you receive me. And then finally, Paul mentions Apollos in verse 12. He says, I get to flip back, I'm on the wrong chapter here. He says, concerning Apollos, our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brethren, and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity. Paul says, just out of the blue, I strongly urged Apollos to come with the brethren, probably again with the three men who came with the Corinthian letter to carry his letter back to Corinth. And he says, now concerning Apollos, and the fact that it comes out of the blue, I think it is probably the right understanding that the Corinthians had asked about Apollos, either in their letter or through these men themselves, hey, send Apollos to us. If you recall, Apollos had had a significant ministry at Corinth. They loved him. And I think they were asking about Apollos returning. Have Apollos come back. when these men return to us. Whether that's the case or not, we don't know for sure, but what's important is Paul's response and the way that it reflects, again, the relational dynamic between Paul, Apollos, and the Corinthians. Recall, again, factions were forming at Corinth around certain men. I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephas, Peter. Oh, I'm of Christ. And Paul says, what are you doing? Is Christ divided? Can some of you be of Christ and some not? What do you mean you're Paul? He says, I'm grateful that I baptized none of you so that none of you could say, oh, I'm baptized into the name of Paul. Well, I did baptize the household of Stephanas and Crispus and Gaius. But beyond that, I don't remember because it really didn't matter. I didn't come to baptize people, but to preach the gospel. But that was what was happening at Corinth is factions were forming around men. And Apollos was one of those central figures. And one result of that factionalizing around men was that Paul's ministry was being denigrated and his apostleship was being discredited. And yet, Paul was the father of the Corinthians in the faith. He was the one who went there. It was through His gospel that they came to believe. Even later in 2 Corinthians, where they're still discrediting Paul's apostleship, calling it into question, he says to them, examine yourselves whether you're in the faith. And you've heard me say before, that's not an exhortation for preparation for the Lord's table. He's saying, you want proof of the Christ who speaks in me? Look at yourselves. Examine yourselves whether you are in the faith. Because if you are, then how can you in any sense disparage us? Because you're the fruit of our labors. Your faith is grounded in our Gospel. And so, if you want proof of the Christ who speaks in me, look at yourselves. You're the proof. The congregation at Corinth was splintering But also Paul's reputation, Paul's credibility, his apostolic standing was being brought into question. So his capacity to minister at Corinth was being compromised. And even undermined again by these factions that were forming. Though Paul was the spiritual father of the Corinthians. Paul was jealous for their harmony. He was jealous for their well-being. But he was also rightly jealous for his own apostleship. And there's a significant section in the 2 Corinthians epistle where he is defending his apostleship to them. So, all of those things considered, what would have been reasonable for Paul in view of this request of the Corinthians would have been for him to say to Apollos, I do not want you to go back to Corinth. Both for the sake of the church there and for my sake. The reasonable tact or approach of Paul to this request by the Corinthians would be to say, no. I don't want Apollos to return to Corinth at this time. That's why Paul makes so much of saying concerning Apollos, I urged him strongly to come. I urged him to come. Because secondly, the reason why is what? Apollos has decided, no, I'm not going to Corinth at this time. When these guys get back to Corinth, Apollos isn't going to be with them. And they're going to be saying, why didn't Apollos come back? Oh, I bet it was Paul. Paul wouldn't let you come. Paul wouldn't let him come. Because Paul doesn't want to be upstaged. Paul's protecting his turf. So, Paul wants them to understand, Apollos is not coming. He'll come later. But I urged him strongly, repeatedly to come. I urged him to come. It was his decision not to come. It could have been that Apollos felt he was more needed in Ephesus at that time or needed somewhere else. There could have been personal issues with him. We don't know what was going on. But I think where I'm inclined to take this is Paul and Apollos. Apollos, as much as Paul was concerned for what was happening at Corinth, he knew what was going on at Corinth. And he made the decision that it would not be the right thing to do. He didn't in any way want to contribute to what was happening at Corinth. And so he said, no, I'm not going at this time. I'm not going to contribute to the problems. So that's what the text gives us. And as I say, if we read a little bit between the lines and we understand what was going on behind the scenes, I think that we see that this isn't just a little bit of housekeeping that we read through as we get to the end of the epistle, but that this is very, very important. And I've titled this conclusion then, this summary, Practicing the Mind of Christ. The whole epistle is about this importance of living into the mind of Christ. Don't you know you have the mind of Christ? Don't you know? Don't you know? Don't you know? Why would you live this way? Why would you do this? You know, his answer to fornication, to lawsuits, to all of these issues is not, oh, here's a law that says don't do this, or this is wrong, or this is bad. He says, don't you know who you are? And in this dynamic between Paul and Timothy and Apollos and the Corinthians, outworked this practice of the mind of Christ. First, with respect to Timothy, you see this man's willingness, his readiness, his eagerness to go to Corinth on Paul's behalf. He's taking on Paul's burdens, Paul's problems with the Corinthians. Timothy's not implicated in any of this. But he's going on Paul's behalf. He's taking on these burdens and these problems knowing what he's going to encounter. Why didn't Paul come himself? Why did he send you? Why did he send this kid? You see, we don't quite get it, but in that culture, youthfulness was something that made you less significant. We follow after the young kids, you know, if they're starlets or famous for being famous. Now, we think everything that comes out of their mouth is manna, but in most places in the world and throughout all of history, young people were considered to be immature. They lacked credibility. They lacked wisdom. They lacked standing. And Timothy, as a young man, is going on Paul's behalf. Is this an insult? Is Paul a coward? See, Timothy's going to have to face all of that. He's not only got to represent Paul, he's got to take the barbs and the arrows that come against him for coming in the place of Paul and for being young. He told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, let no one look down on your youthfulness. Right? Timothy's a young guy. But he's coming and he's taking on that burden because he's committed to the Lord's work. And he has his eyes and his focus on the work of the Gospel, God's power, God's provision, and not his own youthfulness, his own lack of credibility, his own lack of standing. And Timothy was that sort of a man. If you look in Philippians 2, as Paul now is preparing to send Timothy even to Philippi. Paul is in prison in Rome. Verse 19, he says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly so that I may also be encouraged when I learn of your condition. For I have no one else of a kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. They all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. But you know of His proven worth. That He served with me in the furtherance of the Gospel like a child serving his father. Therefore, I hope to send Him immediately as soon as I see how things go with me." Timothy wasn't just a young student or a disciple. He was faithful as Paul was faithful. Paul says, I have no one like Him. I have no one like him. All others have ultimately their own concern in the forefront. When you boil it all down, their own concerns are in the forefront. That was Timothy. As to Paul, you see Paul's concern for Timothy and his intervention, his intercession on his behalf. Paul, by this exhortation to the Corinthians, he is, as it were, going ahead. He's going ahead of his young disciple, directing the Corinthians how they are to receive him, and that they are to receive him as they would receive him. You see, Paul could have just sent Timothy and said, hey, you're ready, just go do it. Just go face it. Grow up. Be tough. He could have undermined Timothy just by forcing him, as it were, to go it alone, to walk into the propeller. Or, by being silent, he could have tacitly exalted himself saying, well, you know, I'll send Timothy and then they'll miss me and they'll see that really it would have been much better if I'd have come. I'll send Timothy along and when Timothy gets there, and it'll be okay, but they'll really then appreciate me. Because the B squad showed up. But he doesn't do that. He doesn't do that. He says, you receive him as you receive me. He's doing the Lord's work. You don't distinguish between him and me. And you see it also with Paul, his eagerness for Apollos to return to Corinth. even though it could exacerbate the situation, even though it could exacerbate the factions, the dysfunction, and even though it could further undermine Paul's credibility, Paul's reputation, Paul's standing. Because Paul trusted the Spirit and he also trusted Apollos. He said, Apollos, I encourage you to go because I trust you. I trust you. And I trust the Spirit. I don't have to strategize and say, OK, what's the best way to fix this? What's the best way to control this? What's the best way to hem this about? How do I best shore up my reputation? How do I best protect myself? How do I do this? How do I do that? He trusts this man to go. He knows what kind of a man Apollos is. And he trusts the Spirit and the Spirit's work in the church. And so also you see in Apollos, his decision not to travel to Corinth. Apollos was a hero at Corinth. He was a hero. They loved him. They had asked for him to come, most likely, and they would embrace him enthusiastically. They loved him. He was a star. He had a lot of energy. He was young. He was vibrant. He was a great orator. They loved him. And yet, he said, no, it's not right for me to go. He was sensitive to the situation at Corinth and he was also sensitive to the way it implicated him, implicated Paul, even implicated the Corinthians themselves. He had the opportunity to go to Corinth and bask on the red carpet, bask in their adoration. and further build his own ministry and following. He had the opportunity to go and build his following, you know, amplify his ministry, make much of his ministry. And yet he didn't do it. And so you see in these men that they viewed themselves and their ministry in the light of Christ's work and Christ's goal in the church. And what do I mean by that? Well, among other things, these men were not jealous, self-serving empire builders. And we see that in the church all the time. My ministry, my church, my congregation. Protectionism, empire building. Jealousy. These men regarded themselves as fellow laborers. Paul is the chosen vehicle of the Gospel to the Gentiles. He is Christ's chosen apostle to the Gentiles. And yet, when it came to Apollos, who's a young guy, a recent convert to Christ, he says, Apollos and I are fellow laborers. He didn't say he's the B Squad. He's a disciple. I'm the apostle. He said, has assigned to each his task. I planted, Apollos watered." What is Paul? What is Apollos? Except servants through whom you came to believe as the Lord has appointed to each his task. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So, the one who plants and the one who waters are nothing, but it's God who gives the increase. We are God's fellow laborers You are God's field, God's building. We are building into you together. Because each has his role, each has his calling. The Lord appointed to each his role, his task in the church's up-building. And Paul said that of Timothy. Timothy's concern is to labor for the cause of the Gospel. He's not in it for himself. When do I get promoted? Paul, when do I get the title Apostle? When are you going to attach to me the title when you introduce me, the very Reverend Timothy? What's in it for me? I want them to recognize that I'm with you, Paul. Timothy's concern was the work and the goal, the cause of Christ and His gospel. And saints, you might say, well, this doesn't really apply to us because I'm not a pastor in the church or I'm not a leader or whatever. But it does apply to us because the Lord has appointed to each one of us our task. How do we view our ministry? Our ministry. Hi, I'm Bob. I do the parking ministry. Hi, I'm Sam. I'm the chief usher. Is there a name tag here? Just like, you know, we say, I'm Bob the doctor, I'm Sam the lawyer. How do we view our ministry? Is it the thing by which we identify ourselves and attach ourselves to something? It's the same way we think of our gifts. I have the gift of this. I'm a teacher. I'm a this. I'm a prophet. I'm an apostle. And so now we attach ourselves to some program or something and we say, that's my little fiefdom. That's my little empire. This is my ministry. I head up the Sunday school. I work the nursery. I do this. I do that. And we even think of our gifts in terms of attaching them to a formal program, a formal office, a formal definition. I've said it many times before. People have said to me in the past, well, I can't use my gifts at Sovereign Grace because you don't have this, this, this, this and that. You don't have all these programs, so I can't use my gifts. And my response is, so before the 20th century, the Spirit didn't give gifts to the church or the Spirit's gifts were frustrated because all of these programmatics are a 20th century phenomenon. Even Sunday school is a 19th century and forward phenomenon. And I'm not anti-Sunday school. I'm just saying we've come to think of using our gifts in terms of attaching ourselves to some formally recognized program, title, definition. When really the gifts are given to the saints simply to build one another up in Christ. I can attach myself to the latte ministry, or the parking ministry, or even teaching Sunday school, and it'd have nothing to do with building up the saints in Christ. It's just that's my job in the church. And I want everybody to see on the staff listing that I'm the this or I'm the that. Right? We've all seen it. But to say, that my role is to take the gifts and the place, the providence of God, to build into the saints, to see everyone grow up in all things into Him who is the head. That sort of purposefulness that isn't about doing a job and getting recognized. I'm the lead soloist. Well, no, I thought I was. They regarded themselves as fellow labors, each understanding and doing his task. Timothy didn't want to be Paul. He didn't have to be Paul to be important. Paul didn't have to be Timothy. Paul didn't have to be Peter. Paul didn't have to be John or James. How do we understand our role, our ministry in the body of Christ? How do we practice the mind of Christ? And on the flip side of that, what do we expect from our ministry? Paul and Timothy didn't expect it to be easy. Timothy went to Corinth knowing he was going to get his head handed to him, most likely. I said in the previous hour, in certain denominations, pastors are just either rotated around or they leave, like every two, two and a half years. Because once the shine comes off the penny, and they get down to the real issues of life in the church, and now it's not just some new guy and isn't this wonderful, then when it becomes hard, they leave. Or they're moved around just to keep things from becoming hard and stale. The expectation is, if I do this right, everybody's going to fall at my feet. I see it with young guys going into the ministry all the time. I'm going to get up and preach this series on the gospel, and everybody's going to come to faith and fall on their face and say, surely God's in this place, and we're going to be heaven on earth in this particular church. And it doesn't happen, and they get discouraged. Do we expect that if we are as Timothy was, as Paul was, as Apollos was, simply saying, I am going to, in this place, in this time, in this circumstance, I'm going to apply the mind of Christ, and I know it's going to cost me, and I know I probably won't see the kind of benefit from it that I expect, but will I be faithful? Will I trust the Lord? Or will I just walk away? Will I turn away? Oh, pastor, you said something I didn't agree with. I've got to leave. Or you insulted me or you didn't greet me or you did too much of this or too little of that or whatever it happens to be. So I'm out of here. Is that the way that this is going to be? We get offended with one another. Well, I can't be around that person and hurt my feelings. I couldn't possibly sit in the pew with that person. You see, that's not how these men thought. That's not how they ordered their decisions. That's not how they went about their ministry. Corinth was a tough place to minister. And Timothy didn't say, you know, I know I'm called to missions work. I'm an evangelist. But really, I think that the Lord is calling me to Hawaii. He didn't do that. Timothy, I need you in Corinth. Okay. They're going to hammer you. That's fine. I will be faithful. Apollos, I want you to go to Corinth. I know the kind of a man you are. No, I really believe I need to not go. Okay, I'll respect your decision. See, this honouring, this serving, this deferring, Paul didn't throw his weight around in some sort of authoritarian, dictatorial way. The practice of the mind of Christ is the ministration of love. And it doesn't mean it's going to be easy. It doesn't mean it's going to look the way we want it to look. It doesn't mean we're never going to have to deal with hard people. It doesn't mean every situation is going to be fully resolved and there's never going to be any more issues. It doesn't mean that. I hope that we can see from just this simple issue of Paul's plans and Timothy and Apollos, these were real men dealing with real churches, real issues, real problems. This isn't theology that floats above the clouds. This is life in the church. I pray that we can be people who will practice the mind of Christ and even in something as passing as Paul saying, here's what the plan is, that we can learn from it and profit from it. Be encouraged, be exhorted, be rebuked. We want it easy. We want it clean. We want it neat. We want to get the church growth people in and cough up a few bucks and have them give us a spreadsheet. And we say, OK, there's the answer. We'll do those things. Everything will be fixed. And it doesn't work that way. We've got to be in it for the long haul and we've got to be purposeful, intentional in all things. Go to lunch with one another. Play golf with one another. You know, we ought to be involved in each other's lives. We don't just have to sit and read the Bible together. But even when we're recreating, are we purposeful? Are we intentional? Are we desirous of seeing Christ fully formed in one another? And do we insist from our brothers that that person treat me that way? Do I want my brothers to insist that I grow up in all things into Christ, even if sometimes they have to say things to me that I don't want to hear? I pray that we can be like Timothy, that we can be like Apollos, that we can be like Paul, and we can take the circumstances, the situations of life every day, meet it with the mind of Christ. Wise, purposeful, intentional, faithful, confident, trusting, knowing that the Lord is building His church. Father, I pray that you would help us in these things. None of us likes conflict. None of us likes difficulty. None of us likes dealing with hard situations or problems in life. We all wish that we could just sail through life on a silk pillow, and we wish that life in the church would be a silk pillow. And when we find that it's not that way, we very readily get discouraged. And we want to throw up our hands and we can very easily develop that been there, done that kind of mindset. We don't need this. I've got a life. I don't need all these problems. I don't need these challenges. I don't need to be walking into minefields all the time. I've got a life. Father, I pray that you would help us to understand that we don't have a life. If we live, it's because Christ is living in us. And the life that we live, we live by the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. We no longer live, but Christ lives in us. I pray that we will understand that and that we will be faithful in that. That whether we eat or whether we drink, whatever we do, when we are together, when we're not together, when we're in the world, that we will be purposeful, intentional, wise, that we will practice the mind of Christ and understand who we are, what we are called to. We do not have a life. The life that we have is the life that you are living in us and through us, unto the church, unto the world. May we, as Paul, be willing to say, I will be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of the faith of the saints. Not I'll tolerate this person until he irritates me. I'll do something with the people that I agree with, that I like. I'll have some association for those who say what I want to hear. Father, may we grow up in all things into Him who is the head, that we would no longer be infants, blown and tossed about, self-seeking, self-serving, self-concerned individuals, but that we would adorn the gospel of Christ. We would bear His fragrance in every place. We would be the church that the world will know that you have sent your Son. Give us those marching orders. May we be purposeful and faithful in them. As always, Father, we ask these things in Christ's name and for His sake. Amen.