1 Corinthians chapter 16, and last time we reach verse 13. And if you remember, I was trying to point out that these imperatives, these things that Paul gives us as a closing, if you like, statement to the Corinthian church. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, or be brave and courageous, be like a man, do not shirk your responsibilities in the Christian church. And as a Christian, be strong and let all your things be done with charity. And with that, we ended that everything we do, every labor we do, is done out of our love for Christ and for those whom Christ has saved. And we came to verse 15. And we're going to look at verse 15 through to the end of the chapter where we see Various things about a Christian. About a Christian. And I have entitled my message this morning, Discerning Genuine Christianity. Discerning Genuine Christianity. And Paul brings out some things here in a very practical sense. By way of introduction, first of all he says in verse 15, I beseech you, brethren. But then he cuts in. And he cuts in with this statement about Stephanos. And here we see these first converts. He talks here, you know the house of Stephanos. The Corinthian believers would have been aware of the house of Stephanos. That is the first fruits of Achaia. That is, they were the first converts, one of the first converts of this area of Achaia. and indeed Corinth was the metropolis of that particular area. And so, as Stephanos was the first fruits, he would have been well known to the believers there. Paul even mentions him in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 16 as one whom he's baptized. Remember where there was a party spirit in the church and he says, I thank the Lord that I only baptized Stephanos and so on. So this family, this particular individual was notable. He was a notable Christian and his house was notable amongst the believers at Corinth. And it's worthy of note what they were notable for. This is my first point. Devoted Christians serve. Someone who has been changed by the grace of God, who has been saved from hell to glorious heaven above, who has been saved from their sins and set amongst princes, if you like, a fellow heir of the Lord Jesus Christ. adopted into the family of Almighty God, where that has happened, where someone has been born again and we're being daily, as the Scriptures describe it, being transformed by the Lord as He works in us. as devoted Christians, we should serve. And we see this in par excellence in this person, Stephanas and his household. We're told here, Paul describes them that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. Let me explain that a little further for you. They had addicted or they had devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints. The word ministry here has a sense of serving. And so they had addicted themselves to serving. And the word saints here is the word that is used to describe believers generally. And so therefore, what this statement is saying is they had addicted themselves to serving believers, to the serving of believers, even, no doubt, in the local church. What really they were doing? We don't know exactly. It may be that they were ministering to the poor, to the needy, that may have been their particular calling. It may be Stephanos, as one of the first converts, was one of the more experienced in the faith, and so he was able to teach. It may be that they, as a notable household, would have had particular means, and so they could assist brothers and sisters in the Lord. But one thing rings through, that they had this devotion to God's people. which is tremendous. Paul emphasizes often in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 15, as we read here, the care for the needy. Last time, at the beginning of chapter 16, Paul wanted the church at Corinth to get this collection, you remember, for the church at Jerusalem, which was enduring some persecution and had a time of famine. and he wanted them to collect what they were able to give out of the love of their heart that he could then go and take it to distribute to the church at Jerusalem to help them. And so that may be, indeed, the work that Stephanus was engaged in. Regardless of the Christian work that they were engaged in, there is so much to learn here from this individual and his house. The question goes, does it not, what about me? Are we as Christians devoted and addicted to serving the believers, to serving the Church of Christ? Not for the sake, I would suggest, of that particular individual, although often we can be moved in love and compassion, but ultimately out of love for our Saviour. This is His Church. It is not my church, it is not someone else's church, it is Christ's church. And so believers of every tribe, kindred and nation, from London to the outer reaches of Asia or of Africa, of the United States, wherever, the people of God are gathered together. It is Christ Church. And it would be a tremendous blessing to the Church of God where the people who attend are people who are devoted to the service of the Lord and thereby serving fellow believers. It's a tremendous challenging thing to do, I would suggest. We're living in days today where everything we have, we have a great entertainment age. and there's a danger that it can creep into our mentality when we come to the church. We come to the church just to be entertained, or we come to the church to have some intellectual exercise on what something about the scripture says, or we come just, and this is important, but not the be-all and end-all, to be fed. You not only should be fed by the church, but you also should have a burden to serve in the church. This was marked by the New Testament Christian. Is that marked by me? Is that marked by you, dear friends? Could it be said of us, as it was said of Stephanus in his house, they had addicted themselves or devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints. Challenging things. There's an old World War I, I think, poster and it had Lord Kitchener on, and he had that finger, you remember, and he's pointing, your country needs you, and wherever you go, the finger is pointing at you. Whereas a Christian, if you read God's Word, and as I've made at the very outset, devotees, Christians, have a desire to serve. And if you read the Word that tells you you should serve, The finger of Paul and of the Lord is pointing at you. Are we devoted to serving the Lord? Devoted Christians serve. Secondly, sincere believers refresh and need refreshment. If we move on to verse 17 here. I'm glad of the coming of Stephanus and for Tunatus and Achaeus for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied for they have refreshed my spirit in yours therefore acknowledge ye them that are such. Paul here writing this epistle to Corinth gives testimony to the tremendous refreshment that he had had by these fellow believers that had come to see him. Stephanos, Fortunatus, and Achaeus. He had refreshed his soul. who wants to conclude with this thing of joy, telling the Corinthians of the effective ministry of one of their brothers and fellow converts in the Lord and how this person had been a blessing to Paul. Although it may come across at first glance that this is quite critical, where it says, what is lacking on your part, I don't think it's necessarily meant in that sense. But rather Paul is saying that these men who have come to him, and these people were likely to have been those that the Corinthian church had sent to Paul. Remember, we've read, as we've gone through this letter of Paul, different points that they have seemed to raise with Paul for advice, where they are concerned about meat that is offered to idols and people who are still eating that particular meat. He seems to have been asked a question by these Corinthian believers, and so they've received a letter. And it's believed that these three individuals were the people who took that letter to Paul. And this 1 Corinthians gives an answer to that and also Paul deals with the troubling reports that had been delivered to him of what was going on at Corinth. And so they go there and they refresh, Paul says, they refresh my spirit and yours. These were the sort of believers who strengthen you, who refresh your faith. I don't know if you have that from time to time where you're cast down, maybe you're struggling in your Christian walk, and you talk with a brother or a sister, and they maybe discuss some truth or just offer some comfort or some encouragement, or maybe they don't even know that they're doing it, they're just talking with you. as a fellow believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it refreshes your soul. We need that, dear friends. Fellowship of believers is a tremendous and wonderful blessing. If we isolate ourselves, if we just go on our own and maybe listen to a message, but lock ourselves away, we miss out, and we can get tremendously discouraged. We can end up being misaligned with the Word of God. Refreshment in our souls by fellow believers is so vital and essential. It will help you no end, dear friend, on your Christian walk. It helped Paul. Paul talks of Timothy coming to him and being with him. And also Paul talks in 2 Timothy of the tremendous discouragement he had when no one stood with him in 2 Timothy 4 and verse 16. And so fellow believers, fellow Christians are tremendously helpful that the Lord has sent them. The Lord has sent them to you and to me to help us and to refresh us. Dear friends, also, when we talk to our fellow believers, when we hear a brother or sister has a particular trouble, or we see them struggling with a truth in God's Word, do we come to them with that loving mind that I want to help them, that I want to just encourage them, that I want to comfort them, that I want to be a good Christian friend to them? Do we cultivate that attitude in our hearts and minds in this church? Do you do that, dear believer? That we might refresh one another in the Lord. We can get so caught up in a critical spirit that it's all about accuracy and nothing about individual grace. And so we should have this concern. Indeed, we should point out when we think someone is going astray, And that also is a loving thing to do. And I've greatly benefited from when people have done that to me in my life. Faithful, as the scriptures tell us, are the wounds of a friend. Don't shirk. Don't disregard Christian fellowship, dear friends. It can be tremendously helpful in your Christian walk. Sincere believers refresh and need refreshment. Paul was helped by it. The great Apostle Paul. If you think if any man could just go on from place to place, surely he was refreshing them. No, no. The Apostle Paul had difficulties and discouragements too. He needed these fellow believers and could give testimony that they refreshed his spirit. They refreshed him and encouraged him in the Lord. And he talks of acknowledging ye them that are such. Regard them, that brother, that sister that does refresh you. Hold them in high regard. Pray for them. Likewise, in verse 16, he talks about submitting yourselves to people of the like of Stephanus and others. And it's not a sort of obligatory, authoritarian submission that's spoken of here, or even a level of authority in the church, but what Paul is saying, because of the work that they're doing and their dedication to the ministry, the serving of the saints, help them out. If you know a brother who's particularly gifted in serving the poor and needy and the homeless people, that might not be what you're gifted to do. But you might be able to help the brother with provision, with some other material, evangelistic material. Or a sister who labors and is seeking to evangelize at work, but she's come across someone who is particularly scientifically minded. but you are aware of creation and you particularly know about that sort of thing and so you help them and want to guide and assist that sister in the Lord. Or maybe you've been evangelizing to your neighbor and they're a Jehovah's Witness and you know a brother in the church who has particular knowledge of that particular false teaching. And so, He advises you, in this way we can submit ourselves unto such and help one another as we labor for the Lord, as we see here in verse 16 and verse 18. Indeed, people who were sent out, people who we know and love and labor in the mission field. We also should want to help them too. Sincere believers refresh and need refreshment. Then thirdly, true Christians in faithful churches are not alone. Verse 19 and 20. The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house. All the brethren greet you. Greet you one another with a holy kiss. True Christians in faithful churches are not alone. Paul, as is customary in many of his letters, gives the church here at Corinth greetings from different churches across Asia. He says the churches of Asia salute you. They hold you in high regard. They pray for you. They're concerned for you. we can get discouraged. Maybe here at Westminster, or if you attend another church, when we think we're in a silo, we're just labouring in one particular location, and it's hard. The people in the area seem to be so indifferent to the things of God, and it is a tremendous burden. And we see the attacks of Satan on some of our members and some of our fellow believers in the church, and you can get discouraged. In our particular country, we maybe can see different antagonisms to the Gospel and to God's Word starting to creep in in some of our political parties, and you can get discouraged when you think you're just on your own in a silo. Well, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones in his book, taken from his sermons on Ephesians, chapter 6, when he's talking about the Christian armour and the Christian soldier, he says the tremendous encouragement when someone is in battle, and they're going out in that battle to fight the enemy, If they were to just stand there and go out and think they're fighting the whole of this group in front of them and the whole support base of the opposite army by themselves, they would be tremendously discouraged. Tremendously discouraged. And he says that can be the same for a Christian. But when the soldier reflects that they're not on their own, they've got a whole army with them, and they've got a whole support base behind them that gives them such encouragement. And likewise as Christians, if we remember we are not alone. We are part of a local church, and that local church is part of the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ, made up of faithful congregations across this whole world. What a tremendous encouragement that should be, that we are not fighting the battle for the Lord alone. But people are doing it across this world. There are believers in China, in Mongolia, throughout Europe, in the United States, in Nigeria, Ghana, all parts of Africa. Be encouraged, dear friends. We are part of a global church of the Lord Jesus Christ, where people have faithfully repented of their sin and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Always remember that. You are not alone in the battle. There are fellow believers laboring across the world. And so remember that. There are fellow believers, dear friends, praying for us here at Westminster. Many churches that I encounter, as many of you know in my work for the Trinitarian Bible Society, they tell me, oh, we pray for your church. We pray for your church. I went to Camberwell yesterday. Tremendous encouragement. They said to me, we pray for your church every Thursday. You've got about 40, 50 people there praying for you every Thursday. You've got the Metropolitan Tabernacle down the road who regularly pray for us at their prayer meeting on a Wednesday evening. Many people praying for us, they are concerned. And other believers, other Christians, past the Zenkers church up in Birmingham, they pray for us. They're seeking the Lord's face and pleading before the Lord for us. You see, dear friends, we are not alone in this battle. Don't be discouraged. And I think this is the sense of what Paul is saying to the Corinthian church here. The churches of Asia salute you. Do not be cast down. You are not fighting the battle alone. The Lord knows your struggles, and your fellow believers know your struggles as well. We have these two people also that salute the church here, Aquila and Priscilla. These two we read in Acts chapter 18, verse 2, had been laboring at Corinth before Paul arrived. And they also were two that gave Apollos instruction in Acts 18 verse 24 to 19. They gave Apollos instruction in the Word. And Apollos then was tremendously used at Corinth in the building up of the church. And so these are two individuals of tremendous note to the church at Corinth. And so there are people that maybe you get tremendously encouraged, friends who say to you that I'm praying for you. Don't ever think that prayer is just something by and by. Prayer is something the Lord has commanded us to do. Prayer is something we're told in the scriptures is ever before the throne of Almighty God. And prayer is something that the Lord has answers to prayer, is something that the Lord has woven into his providences that we might know that we worship the true and living God. Aquila and Priscilla, I salute them. much in the Lord with the church that is in their house. And then in verse 20, all the brethren greet you. This is believed to be Paul saying, all the brethren at the church that I'm currently at, at Ephesus, salute you. And so you get this sense of Paul telling them, we're all praying for you, brethren. We know, I know I've dealt with a lot of difficult issues. We know you have many struggles at Corinth with the paganism that you're battling against and the other trials. We're concerned about you. I will come to you shortly, Lord willing, as he says in verse 8 of this, that he's tarrying at Ephesus of chapter 16 until Pentecost. And then, God willing, he will come to Corinth. True Christians in faithful churches are not alone. And then at the end of this, Paul encourages them to greet one another with a holy kiss. This was a common practice, of course, in the Eastern world and it's common practice in many countries today. I don't think Paul is necessarily saying that we should now, therefore, as a tremendous command as Christians, greet each other with a kiss, but if that is the particular practice of the culture that you're in, go ahead. As Englishman, an Englishman as I am, I'm maybe a bit too stiff of a lip, I like to shake people's hand that's my greeting to people who I love and am concerned for but it's interesting, Paul in four of the closings of his letters especially where he has talked of a conflict in a particular church he encourages them to do this he says, greet one another with a holy kiss And I believe this is Paul showing, look, there are difficulties, but never forget your Savior. Never forget that your motivation should be for Christ. And that person, that individual who is your fellow brother in Christ or fellow sister, you should have tremendous Christian love towards them. and we should have a strong bond. It's interesting, early Christians had this practice of kissing one another on the cheek when they would see each other, and it became known as the kiss of peace. And what Paul is calling for here, I believe, are expressions of that Christian genuine love that we have one for another. We do not have to go around kissing one another on the cheek. But I know some of our brethren from Europe do that out of practice. It's not strange for them. But you can also show your genuineness by other means and other greetings as well. That's what Paul's concerned about. That you have that genuine love for one another and concern. True Christians in faithful churches are not alone even in that church. And that's what I think this emphasizes. Within the church, we should have a love one for another. We should have this mentality, even if not in practice, but in our hearts as we greet one another with a holy kiss. We're concerned about the welfare of one another, where we are in the Lord spiritually, the difficult trials that we have to endure in this life. Fourthly, genuine Christians love Christ and the church. In verse 21 through to the end, we begin to get Paul's closing statement. We read the salutation of me, Paul, with mine own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Paul in his final farewell in this letter, his first letter to the Corinthians, emphasizes that of both love for Christ and grace from Christ. In those days, a letter could be signed off and much of it would be taken down by dictation. But to stamp that it was from a particular person and confirm that that person affirms entirely the contents of that letter, normally the author's handwriting would be shown at the end in a concluding paragraph. And as you read this you can imagine Paul taking the pen here and writing these last words as this letter that he dictated to then be sent to the Corinthian church. And so he writes it with his own hand. And what does he say in verse 22? If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. Paul here in his whole letters emphasises the Lordship of Christ. that Christ's Lordship is central to the Gospel, that Christ's resurrection as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And this verse points out to us and is very strong from Paul. He is saying here, this first word anathema, you've seen it elsewhere in the Scriptures, means accursed. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. If anyone is in the congregation, If anyone is in this body of believers at Corinth, they do not love the Lord Jesus Christ. They are accursed because they're still in their sins. And so Paul closes with this very hard-hitting closing statement, only those that love the Lord should expect to know blessings from the Lord. The person described is someone who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ and is liable to condemnation therefore. And so Paul is talking here of when the Corinthians come across someone who do not proclaim Christ as their gospel message, as the way of salvation, who disown the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, who deny these core truths, exhibits their lack of love for the Lord, their lack of genuine love and recognition of Him as their Saviour. And so Paul is warning to beware of such people. and he's writing this to the church. Let me just mention briefly, there are many people that attend church, but Paul is talking about those who love the Lord Jesus, someone who is saved, someone who's trusted in Christ as their saviour loves him. That's a distinguishing mark of a Christian. It is not some of the other things that people think denote us as Christians. Maybe you come every Sunday to church, Well, going to church of itself, dear friends, does not make you a Christian. Famous evangelist from years ago, Billy Sunday, once said, going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile. Just turning up doesn't change anything. It's what's going on in your heart. Do you know Christ as your Savior? Have you trusted in Him for forgiveness for your sins? Do you not? It's going through the motions. It doesn't even save you if you're part of a Christian family. No. You have to know Christ as your Saviour and have that love, a genuine love that flows to Him. And this has been the bane of the Christian Church, I would suggest. This is why Paul is so strong here. where the Christian church contains people that do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, it is utterly condemned and going to fail. Ichabod will come, as it says in Revelation. The glory of God will depart, where a church ultimately doesn't have Christians. Do you love Christ here this morning? Is Christ your Saviour? Or does this sentence from Paul expose your soul and illuminate your need of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? We have here the picture of a king. And the second part of this verse, Morinatha, means come, come Lord. Come Lord. Paul is praying that the Lord will come in his authority. And the idea here is of a king where one's relationship with that king determines the blessing or the curse, if you like. We read Psalm number 2 earlier together and at the end it's talking of the kings of the world. The kings of the world who have tremendous authority in this world but then there's a warning from the psalmist. in Psalm 2. There's a warning that they should serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling to kiss the Son, lest he be angry, to have a love for the Son of God, to know the Son of God as their Savior. Whether you're a king or a pauper, the only way to be right with God and the only way to stand before God's holy throne is if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, and Psalm 2 ends with these words, blessed are all they who put their trust in Him. When you have a saved group of believers, everything we do should be motivated out of love for the Lord. Paul has this Aramaic expression here in verse 2 as he concludes the passage, and it's very strong. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. And then at the end, our Lord comes, He's waiting for the Lord to return, and He's warning that this is something that will happen. Then in verse 23, remember I said it's about loving the Lord? He talks of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 23. This is a customary statement of Paul. He uses it quite often in his letters, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. Grace is the thing that gives meaning not only to Paul's life and ministry, but is the core to the very existence of every Christian, the core to our salvation. We are saved because of the grace of God. What is grace? It is God's unmerited favor to us. that we who deserve condemnation because of our sins have been saved through Christ and be given all the blessings that we have in Him. This is God's grace. And so Paul recognizes as a Christian he has a dependence upon the grace of God in all things from beginning to end. And so to abide in the truth in his life, to live for the Lord daily, to glorify God, for this Corinthian church to be a true biblical church, for this church at Westminster to be a true biblical church, serving the Lord in faithfulness. We must be praying that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with us. The moment we forget that we're here and we operate and all that we do is by the grace of God is the moment that we begin to fall into a whole world of trouble. When we think we're here by our own might and strength. When we think we can stand by our own might and strength. Oh, look to the Lord, dear friends. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Paul says here. And then finally, he gives his affectionate love to them. My love be with you all. In Christ Jesus, Amen. He gives it to them all regardless of what member of the church at Corinth was like, whether they were rich or poor, whether they were a strong believer or not. Paul says, my love be with you all. I love you all in the Lord. I have a concern for you. Those stern rebukes I've given to you in this letter, it's because I love you in the Lord. I love you in my Savior. He died for me and saved me. He died for you, dear believer, and he saved you. And I love you because you've been bought with his blood. We're saved by the same Savior. We're going to the same glory. My love be with you all. And may that be true of all of us, one toward another in the Lord Jesus Christ. So as I've seen devoted Christians, they serve. Sincere believers refresh and need refreshment. True Christians in faithful churches are not alone. Dear friends, last of all, genuine Christians love Christ and love one another as we pray together. Dear Lord, Almighty God, we thank Thee for Thy Word in this message. We thank Thee for the comfort that it brings. We praise Thee for the churches across this world that pray for us and have a concern for us and even support us from time to time. Dear Lord, we pray that we may be refreshment, spiritually speaking, one to another, when we're going through difficult times, that we use brothers and sisters in this church to lift up our head. We pray, dear Lord, that we may be strong in love for Thee. Help us never to forget our salvation is all through Christ. And dear Lord, may we ever remember Thy grace, that we're here in this very moment, for You are a merited favor to us. In Christ's precious name, amen.