Our scripture reading tonight comes from 1 Corinthians 16. And I'll be reading the first 14 verses, which can be found on page 962 of the Pew Bibles. 1 Corinthians chapter 16, first 14 verses as we continue to go through our evening series in 1 Corinthians. Before I read, would you please join me in seeking the Lord's blessing and prayer. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you have set aside a day for rest and worship a day to give our focus to your word together. And I pray, Lord, that all of your purposes and preaching would be accomplished this evening, that you would speak, great shepherd, and that we, as your flock, would hear your voice, that we would hear the roar of the Lion of Judah, and that we would respond in faith and obedience. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen. 1 Corinthians 16. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. When I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. I will visit you after passing through Macedonia. For I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a wide door for effective work has opened to me. and there are many adversaries. When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers. Now concerning our brother, Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity. Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love." Well, these first 14 verses could be read in a rather straightforward fashion. Paul is clearly talking about a collection and his travel plans. He is wrapping up his letter, and this is one of the things that he is starting with here in chapter 16. I'm going to be traveling. I plan to pass through Macedonia, and I'm going to come and visit you. I'd like it to be a longer visit. If it's winter, where it's a lot harder to travel during winter, I'm going to be staying there a little bit longer. And then he mentions the collection. Not a collection that he wants to get started when he is there, but a collection that he can simply pick up and then send to the brothers and sisters in the Jerusalem church. The first day of the week, the Lord's Day, put something aside and store it up as the Lord has prospered you for your brothers and sisters in Jerusalem." Of course, this does a whole bunch of different things. One, it shows that Jesus is Lord over Jew and Gentile. Here, these Gentile churches have put together money in order to support and help their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem who are dealing with a time of poverty and affliction. It shows that Jesus really has made one new man. But mixed with these kind of straightforward instructions and Paul giving his travel plans, we get some commands about money and character. Money in verse 2, set something aside, store it up as he may prosper, as the Lord may prosper you. And then verses 13 through 14. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love. Why is the Apostle Paul telling the Corinthian church to do things and be things that they are most certainly not? Why does Paul, where does he get this idea from? Let me tell you guys how you should live. Let me tell you things to embrace that you're not embracing. Let me tell you character and areas of obedience that you have neglected and now you should embrace. The Corinthians being watchful, they have only been watching for the next opportunity to visit the brothel as we see in chapter six and seven. or watchful for a feast to go and drink and be happy and chummy with pagans. The Corinthians firm in the faith, they have only been firm in their right and they will use their rights even at the expense of their brothers and sisters. Telling the Corinthian church to do all things in love, this is that same church that's so terrible at love, Paul had to write a whole chapter to them about it. And now he's also telling them to view their money and possessions, ways in which they have prospered for the benefit of others. All of the things he is telling them to do, they are not doing. And now Paul, in his letter, which we see in chapter 14, Paul understands his writing to be a command of the Lord. He is telling them again, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, be strong and do everything in love. What is Paul doing? Paul is writing to the church, telling these Corinthian Christians to be who they are in Christ, not to be who they want to be or not to be themselves. Paul is writing to people who have received the mind of Christ. This is earlier in chapter two. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. He is writing to Christians who have the spirit of Christ. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. He is writing to Christians who, according to their faith in Jesus Christ, they have Jesus as their wisdom, their righteousness, their sanctification and redemption. Verse two in verses 13 through 14 is a summons by the apostle Paul for the Christians to walk in the direction that Christ has placed them. You know, as I was kind of like building that up, why is Paul commanding them to do things? You probably thought, why? You see, it's rather obvious. He's like a minister. They're a church. That's just what people do. That's what the Bible does. It tells you the right things to do because you wouldn't do it. And yet, beloved, how frustrated and upset or discouraged we get. when the word of God or minister tells you to be who you are in Christ. In Christ, forgive that person. Well, how dare you? In Christ, bear with the failings of your brother or sister. Well, I don't want to do that. Here is something that is just so normal to us, but yet we resist it. Here we see on display in chapter 16 that the ministers that God sets apart to preach the word have a responsibility. Their responsibility is to preach and teach and urge you to be who you are in Christ. Paul can't settle for the Corinthian congregation to just be normal Corinthian men and women. No, they must be men and women in Christ. Jesus himself expects that those who receive his words would put them into practice. Of course, Jesus tells that story, that someone who would listen to my commands and listen to my teaching and not put them into practice, it's like someone who builds a nice house and uses sand as their foundation. We read this recently in family worship, and we have a sandbox. I'm not a fan of sandboxes, but my children love it. And so it was a great opportunity to give this illustration of what Jesus is saying. Now girls, Ephraim, if you build a huge sandcastle and it looks so mighty and big, what would happen when the rains come? What would happen when the wind beats against that sandcastle? It would crumble. Well, here the Lord is telling us, don't be that sandcastle. Don't have a weak foundation. Hear my words and put them into practice. Well, I got to tell you, as I was, Talking about that, there was something I kind of bounced around in that first part there. Act like men. Did anybody who was reading that go, ooh, why is that in there? Now, some Bible translations saw and realized that this would be a problem. Of course, the problem is not with the Word of God, but it's that problem I was referring to earlier. We don't really like the Bible telling us what to do. We're telling us how to act. And so some translations have tried to make it a little bit more pleasant to the ear. Well, this just means be brave, or it means be courageous. But again, it's there in the Greek. It's in the imperative. This is the command, the charge. It's in second person plural. So he's saying, you all act like men. Paul knows there's women in the congregation. Act like men. Here's what I think is kind of funny about this. If we ask the men of the Corinthian congregation, do you think you're acting like men? I think they would say yes. Nobody is getting over on me. When I'm wronged by someone in the church, I take them to court. This is chapter six. Of course I'm a man. I have this unconquerable lust and I'll seek it and fulfill it any way I can. Chapter seven. I'm always at the feast. I'm a part of the elite. I can look down on the weak. This is chapters eight through 10. Are you acting like men? Yes, they would say. And they would be acting like all the other Corinthian men who do the same things. This is the Corinthian church's problem. They are trying to hold on to two different ideas of being human. There is Corinthian humanity, and then Christ humanity. Or there is the imitation of the God-man, and then there is the imitation of the Corinthian man. This kind of vision of two ideas of manhood was recently documented by sociologist Michael Kimmel. He asked some cadets at West Point, describe to me a good man. If I were to say he was a good man, what comes to mind? And he said, honor, sacrifice. He was a provider, a protector. He stood up for the little guy. He cared about people who were weak. And so then Michael Kimmel then asked these same students, these same cadets, but what would you understand if I were to then say to you, be a real man? Well, the answer's changed. Being a real man means I win at all cost. It means if I'm hurt, I suck it up. It means to get as much money as I can, get as much pleasure as I can, to stomp weak people, to succeed, to thrive. If you tell me, be a real man, man up, this is what it means. And so we have similar confusion today in the church. You ask Christian men, what kind of man is, of course, Christ is risen and alive, so we're not going to say was. What kind of man is Christ? He's gentle. He's lowly. He's a servant to sinners, a friend to sinners. He is patient. He's gracious. He is bold. We would go on and on and on. And yet then, if we were to ask those Christian men, if someone says to you, act like a man, well, what does that mean? Well, I get my way. I don't settle for others. I don't slow down for others. Rather than bearing with weakness and failures of others, I point it out and tell them to get it together like a real man. Two conflicting ideas of manhood. Paul is urging a new manhood patterned after Christ, men and women who act according to their union with Christ, who allow their masculinity and femininity to be defined by the spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ, according to their union with him. All of Paul's commands in this letter are calling the Corinthians to stop being men and women of Corinth and to be men and women of Christ. The people of Corinth would use their rights, again this is chapter eight, to get pleasure, to gain for themselves. Paul says, I would let go of all of my rights if it would benefit my brother or my sister. Corinthian men and women want knowledge as a status. I know everything. All is open and possible for me because of my great knowledge. But men and women in Christ use their knowledge for love. to build up their brothers and sisters. The men and women of Corinth boast in things of this age or this world, but Paul calls these men and women to boast in Christ. Men and women of the Corinthian church would be a new humanity. They would be displaying something that the unbelievers would only be able to see from the church. Men and women who are having their sexual distinctions conformed to the image of Christ. Displaying a manhood or womanhood that is not of the spirit of the age, but of Christ. Being watchful as men and women in Christ. Firm in the faith, strong in doing all things in love. Are you caught between two ideas of manhood or womanhood? Do you have a manhood or womanhood that you reflect on primarily through scrolling? Look at this. Look how manly, womanly this person looks. Is your manhood or womanhood instructed by your peers? Do you follow ideas of manhood and womanhood based off of how many likes or follows or how many people are impressed by these kinds of men and women? Paul reminds us tonight and calls us to follow Christ, to be like the God-man, to conform to Christ. This would be true and authentic manhood and womanhood to bear the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. What I want to do with our remaining time is look at those imperatives or commands through the lens of the first 12 verses. You know, earlier I talked about what theology is underneath Paul writing these commands. Well, one, he believes that he is calling people to live as they are in Christ, not what they want to be or would limit themselves to be. But I want to look at these commands with a little bit more depth. A call to watchfulness, this is one of the things he commands, it's not unique to Paul. If anything, he is simply echoing what we find in the teaching and stories that the Lord Jesus gives us. Be on watch, be on guard, stay sober and alert. In the Garden of Gethsemane we see that watchfulness is linked with prayer. This is Matthew 26, verse 40. Jesus came to the disciples and found them sleeping and he said to Peter, so you could not watch with me one hour. Remember, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John and says, pray with me. Jesus links this prayerfulness with watchfulness. By the stories that Jesus tells, we can see that watchfulness also involves giving yourself to the work that the Lord has given you. This is Matthew 26, verse 46. Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. That wise and faithful servant is practicing watchfulness when he is alert and attention to the work that needs to be done. I think we see this watchfulness a couple different places in our passage here. One in verse 10, he describes Timothy as doing the work of the Lord. We could say that this is a way in which Timothy is described as a watchful brother. He is not just sitting around or wasting his time. He is engaged in what the Lord has called him to do. I think the watchfulness can also be seen in verse 9. Paul is considering Ephesus and he knows that there is an effective door, excuse me, a door that has been opened for the effective work of the ministry, but there are many adversaries. He is aware that there is opportunities but there will also be challenges. He is alert to these things and certainly praying for both of these things and as he will end most of his letters, pray for me so that I may do my job well. Normally this comes out in that I may preach the gospel as I should, that I might make the mystery plain but here he is asking for their consistent prayer as he is at the work that the Lord has called him to do. Paul will not let these adversaries or challenges that he sees stop him for pursuing what the Lord has called him to do. This is firmness. Firmness is when, even with an awareness of challenges or opposition, you remain faithful in what the Lord has called you to be faithful in. And I think that can be two ways here. It can be indoctrinally, right? There's a firmness, staying firm in doctrine, and also ethics, the way that we should live as Christians. Remember in the previous chapter, Paul's kind of shocked that there are people denying the resurrection. They are not remaining firm in the faith. He says, listen, this is the gospel that has always been preached, that Christ was raised. And I am surprised to hear that some of you are saying there is no resurrection of the dead. We can say the same thing if we were to read the letter to the church in Galatia, churches of Galatia, where Paul is shocked that they have abandoned the gospel. But there's also ethical ways in which by a failure to keep God's commands or to pursue sinful things, we are not remaining firm in the faith. Remember in 1 Corinthians 6, as Paul is talking about those lawsuits that they have against one another, he says, this is how I know you are defeated. If you were a defeated church, because you were not standing firm as one body, you were not standing firm together as God's temple, you were taking each other to court. We see tons of things that could turn someone away from the doctrine or ethics of the faith in verses 1 through 12. Another one of those things that I thought was kind of interesting, this is verse 11. Please look at it with me. So let no one despise him, Help him on his way in peace that he may return to me for I'm expecting him with the brothers. Paul is sending Timothy to be an encouragement to the Corinthian Christians. And he has to say to them, please don't despise him. Please help him. Think about that for a second. Think about the type of people you were writing to where you would have to say something that almost sounds obvious. A minister is coming to visit you. I want him to encourage you. Please don't despise him because he might be younger than you or maybe there were other reasons why they wanted to despise Timothy. Please help him. And you might think that then Timothy would turn away or not go and pursue. But again, Timothy, like Paul, has this firmness. You can actually see that. Paul writes to Timothy in the pastoral epistles to patiently endure evil. That's a distinct word to pastors. It's to everybody who should be patiently enduring evil, but Paul is writing this to a pastor. So, Pastor John, Pastor Randall, patiently endure evil. Paul is not certain how the church will treat Timothy, but he is telling Timothy to be certain about his care and love and service for the church that he is going to. So Pastor Randall, Pastor John, patiently endure evil. Do not lose your firmness because of many adversaries. You need to stand in the Christian life. This is basically what we can summarize right for verses 13 through 14. You need to stand in the Christian life because there is much to try to pull you out of it. The world, the flesh, and the evil one. But because you have to resist, you have to stand kind of with your knees kind of bent. You know, if I was standing straight like this with my knees locked, anybody could knock me over. But if you're just kind of rooted, slight bend of the knee, it's a little bit harder to push someone over. And I'm using that to say that our slight bend of the knee is holding on to Christ, His strength, sinking deeper into the Lord Jesus so as to not be shaken by adversaries or difficulties. This is why Paul says, be strong. Be strong. Paul is issuing the Corinthians to walk in a new strength. What do I mean by that? There's earlier references to the strong, but there's been a different Greek word. He's been using strong earlier in the letter. It's more the idea of physical strength, capability. But here, we could actually make it more so that Paul is saying, be strengthened, be enabled to be strong, be made strong by the Lord Jesus. And that strength is for the purpose of doing all things in love. Do you want to make this sermon a better one? I'm going to tell you. James, you're like, yes, help me. Here's a way to make this sermon significantly impact your life. Spend the rest of this upcoming week or this new week really taking seriously that you are called to do all things in love. Let that transform your relationship with your spouse, your children, your coworkers, your fellow members in church. Everything you do is to be done in love. You know, earlier I was kind of, uh, how is it that Paul can just write to people and expect them to obey? Well, because they're in Christ. Jesus has made them people who can do these things. You, by the love of Christ, have been enabled to practice this same love. Would you be challenged by this sermon? Would you be encouraged and have your relationships improved? Take that seriously. You have been loved in such a way, filled with the Spirit of Christ in such a way, that you can do all things in love. And to the young men here, that would be very masculine, according to the Apostle Paul, and according to Jesus in Scripture. To do all things in love. Paul says, love Timothy by helping him, not despising him. Love the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem by sending them a gift. Love me, Paul says, by helping me, by following the instructions the Spirit gives through me. And so too, we could hear Paul's commands to us. Let's help one another by being watchful. by being firm, by acting like men, being strong. Because you could try to do these commandments by yourself as an individual Christian, but that would go against the context, right? The whole setting that this is given to a group of people, to a body of believers. And so if you truly would be watchful, to be firm, to be strong, to be men, you must be together with Christ and with his church. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, please forgive us for the church is often nowhere near as glorious as she should be. And yet you continue to love us. You continue to bestow your faithfulness upon us. Fill us, Lord, with your spirit and grace that we may truly be men and women in Christ, renewed and walking according to the spirit of Christ and not the spirit of this age. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.