Well, I think you would agree that there are two basic kinds of car washes that you could go to. One I usually go to, actually right over here at the town center, the kind you usually go to after you fill your tank up with gas and you drive through it. And I feel that it's fancy because there's a guy that actually dries your car off when you drive through it. The problem with that one is that your dashboard is still dusty and still that weird film on the inside of your windshield and the remnants of Del Taco are still partially on your passenger seat. And the floor mats still need to be vacuumed. Your car looks okay when you drive into the parking lot at church, but after church you get in your car and it's still kind of gross inside. And then there's the other kind of, Car wash the real kind that gets the inside and the outside There's two kinds of encounters with Christianity as well you see where I'm going with this There's the kind that does get people to conform to kind of what's going on to make people think when you pull into church that You're doing okay. You're conforming to what everyone would expect you to do at church, and you look pretty much like everyone else. But nothing really changes on the inside. You're pretty much the same person you were before you started going to church. And you still act the way you normally act, at least on the inside of your life, and you can shape up and act like everyone else when you're at church. But you realize that there's a different kind of Christianity, a kind of Christianity that starts on the inside that is very different than the kind of Christianity that just simply conforms on the outside. And we know that the Bible really concerns itself ultimately starting with what is on the inside. We often quote that passage from Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12. Talks about the Bible being living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword. And it gets down to in the last phrase of that verse talking about how it judges the thoughts, and here it is, the intentions of the heart. Which is really talking about what we usually summarize with the word the motives of the heart. The things that go on in the interior of our hearts that decide why we're doing what we're doing. Not just what we're doing, but why do we do it. Which really deals with the most intimate part of the interior of our lives. The things that determine the why of our lives. And that's the part that God ultimately wants to deal with in your life. And that's what we need to think about every time we encounter God's word. Every time you read God's word, certainly when you come to church and you encounter Christianity and when we meet together, God wants to deal with the interior of your life. I'm very grateful for the passage that we're getting into, and as Nathan said, this section of Scripture is just so rich. Starting in the middle here of 2 Corinthians 5, we're starting today in verse 11, and we're going to go slowly through this section. I just want to take three verses today that are going to deal with the interior of our lives. And right in the middle of it, in verse 12, Paul talks about people that just care about the outside. They care about mere appearances. And if you go back to the Old Testament, God did something very interesting in picking the first king of Israel, which basically was the People's Choice Award. He picked someone that everyone wanted. And he said, I'm gonna pick someone for you that you would really choose, and that's King Saul. He's what you guys want, and I know you want a king, you're clamoring for a king, so here, you get the guy you want. He said, but the second one's gonna be a man after my own heart. A man that that I want and then he gives that great line through through the prophet. He says because uh, man, he looks at the outward appearance But god looks at the heart And so of course the outside is always going to be affected by the heart the interior life, but the interior life is what really matters And Paul's going to talk about here in 2 Corinthians 5, people that only care about the outside. And you know, if you only care about the outside and the interior is a mess, you're never going to get where you need to be with Christ. So we're going to start this great section of Scripture, and I hope the whole seven-part series is going to help you leave this portion of the Bible study Being more like Christ, but we've got to start with your motives So let's do that today by turning to a great three verse section of the Bible 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verses 11 12 and 13 take your Bibles and turn there and let's dive into these three verses and I think it'll be a profitable study for us. It's what we're dealing with here our motives We're gonna examine our motives and hopefully do some good work here before we're done this morning 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verses 11 through 13 Now, it starts with the word therefore, and as people have often said, we should always ask what the therefore is there for. And if you look back at verse 10, you'll remember when we were together last studying this section of Scripture, we talked about standing before God. We talked about the BEMA seat, because the Greek word BEMA was there, this elevated platform. And you thought that you became a Christian, you were not going to have to deal with answering to God, but of course we said, no, all of us are going to have to answer to God. And we talked about Christians answering to God, and we spent our time talking about that day. and we know that non-Christians are going to have to stand before God, and we even mention that Jesus has been entrusted with all judgment, in part because the second person of the triune Godhead has been given this special experience here of Taking on all of the attributes of humanity, right? He's of course the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, but he has had you know hangnails and he's had You know a headache and he's had a toothache and he's been tempted in every way as we are yet without sin He's been fatigued. He's had stomach aches He's all the issues of humanity and he can identify with humanity and and he's he's going to judge not only us as as Christians and servants of the king, but he is going to judge the lost And he's going to be able to do that with complete identification with the people that God has made, that he has made, right? The agency of all creation. So as we think about Jesus being our judge, we know he's going to be the world's judge, the lost judge. And I say that because we can think about verse 10 being Jesus being the judge of us, his servants. Of course, that's a different kind of judgment. It's a judgment for reward. based on evaluation, but then there's a judgment of Penalty and we know he's going there because if you look down in this passage We're gonna have these very famous verses like in verse number 20 look at verse 20 when we talk about us being ambassadors for Christ Why because God is making his appeal through us we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God now who would we say that to people that aren't reconciled to God as though God were making his appeal through right us that's an amazing thing that we are there saying you need to be right with god and then this great summation of the gospel in the last verse of this chapter for our sake right god made him christ to be sin as though he were this target of god's justice who knew no sin he was innocent the innocent lamb of god so that in him if we are now associated with him By faith we might become the righteousness of God so that we're not guilty at all. We become innocent in this imputation of His righteousness. This is a great verse here talking about what we need. So we want people to be associated with Christ and we know that the concern of the Apostle Paul by the end of this chapter is lost people getting associated with Christ. And so we know that the therefore is not just thinking about us having an evaluation as ambassadors, but the ultimate concern of lost people being made right with Christ. So I think there's a dual concern here, and ultimately I want to have the ultimate concern where we're going in mind, even though I know we're in view as well. So let's read, I know we're just dealing with one word here, but let's read the rest of the words in this verse. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. So I just want to use the word others there at the end of that verse, or I should say that sentence in the middle of verse 11. that others, right? Who are we going to persuade? Of course we're going to persuade Christians to be better Christians, but we're persuading non-Christians to become Christians, right? Do you follow me on this? Because we know the fear of the Lord. What happens if they don't become Christians? Well, they're going to stand before the judge to be punished. We're going to stand before the judge to be evaluated and rewarded. But either way, the fear of the Lord, we either fear Him as a Father to be evaluated, or we fear Him, as the Puritan said, with the servile fear of being cast into judgment. And then he says this, but we, what we are is known to God. And this begins his defense. Again, we saw already in chapter two, he's going to ramp up in the end of this book with a lot of defense of his apostleship. What we are is known to God. We're legitimate apostles and representatives of Christ here. And I hope it's also, is known also to your conscience. I hope you know, deep down, we are legitimate apostles, that I'm an apostle of Christ. to your conscience. And we're not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us. To who? So that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. So this is an interesting way he's putting it. And he'll unpack this a lot by the time we get to the latter part of this letter. But he's saying this, there are people out there who are criticizing us and all they care about is outward appearance. They don't care about the integrity of the heart. So we deal with integrity in the middle of this message. And then this short verse that's often misunderstood. We'll look at this in verse 13, two parts to it. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for you. Now that's tough if we don't slow down and catch it, so we'll get that by the end of this sermon. Let's get the easy part of this, which I think is the easiest part, verse 11, the first sentence. Okay, I want to deal with that as it relates to the loss, because that's where the rest of this chapter is going, and let's just put it this way. Number one. Be troubled about the lost. Jot that down if you're taking notes, and I wish that you would. Number one, be troubled about the lost, right? Because as I think about my accountability before the Lord, I want to persuade others, as the rest of this chapter is going to lay it out, I want to persuade others to become Christians, to be reconciled to God. Because if they don't, they're in big trouble. They're in big trouble. Because what's at stake? Well, think about Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. As he says two chapters later, the writer of Hebrews, our God is a consuming fire. As Nathan said, yeah, I went out and preached in Pennsylvania five times at a camp, but then I got a chance to vacation, to literally vacation. And I took a cruise out of Miami, which is an interesting place. Spent a day there in Miami. But then I went out on this cruise ship. And when I was out on the cruise ship, I walked around on the deck of this cruise ship and I was on the lookout for five-year-olds crawling up on the ledge of the cruise ship. I was policing to see if there were any climbers. Anybody read the news this summer? Did you read about this? Right out of Florida, they went out to the Bahamas. It was a Disney cruise line just a couple months ago. Five-year-old girl, which by the way, if you heard that the parents put the kid up for a photo, that was wrong. That's been discredited. I read all about it. This kid actually was a climber. The five-year-old girl climbed up. over the railing and through some porthole and a Disney Cruise Line in the Atlantic Ocean and she fell five or four I know she's on the fourth or fifth level of this cruise ship and fell into the Atlantic Ocean mom and dad were standing right by they were playing shuffleboard and the the five-year-old daughter falls into the Atlantic Ocean mom screams dad runs over to the edge and do you know what happens he says oh oh well lost one He quotes scripture, well, every day of the life of a person is measured, you know, God knows even before there was ever one of them, they're all numbered. That's what he said. And we'll just apply it to what I'm talking about, you know, not elect, you know, I guess not elect, so no need. That's what dad said. Because he could tell, obviously, perishing. There's no hope for her. That's what dad said, right? What did dad do? Jumped in. Jumped in. He rescued the perishing. He cared for the dying. Remember Fanny Crosby's old hymn? I'm only quoting this hymn because I spent five days with the people in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and they sing a lot of hymns out there. They sing every verse of these hymns. And it's a great old hymn. We didn't sing it, but it's a good one. 150 years ago, the blind hymn writer, rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave, weep o'er the erring ones, lift them from, lift them, lift up the fallen, sorry, tell them of Jesus mighty to save." What a great set of words. Dad jumps over, immediately bounds over the edge of this, jumps into the sea, and Bob's there keeping that five-year-old daughter up. Took 20 minutes for them to get that little dinghy around. you know, with the Disney ears or whatever, come pick up that dad and daughter. And there they were, rescued. Go look it up. If you didn't read the story, go look this up. Amazing story. I walked those decks. I walked the fourth deck. I walked the fifth deck. I kept going up and asking Carlin, would I do it from this deck? And would I do it from this deck? And I was looking for people. I got to the ninth deck. Well, I would, I don't know, it'd have to be my own kid from this deck. I was like, It was amazing. I just, I, I, I was, it was such a great, I wanted someone to fall in so I could just jump in and get them. It was an inspiring story, right? Because you think that is what it's about, right? You should care if someone is in need, right? There's just something noble about that. You don't sit back and go, well, you know, you make your choices, right? That's not what dad said. I made a choice. I guess that's it for you. You don't do that. Turn to this text with me. Mark chapter six. He didn't want to finish his shuffleboard game. He didn't say, I don't feel like it. He didn't say after I go to the buffet, he, he, he jumped in. He didn't care. About his own comfort, he didn't go and get his swim trunks on. He jumped in to save his daughter. Inspiring story, man. And as you're turning there, I just want to remind you this. This is. This is how we ought to care about the lost people in your life. You don't look the other way. Mark Chapter 6. Are you there? Drop down to verse 28. You should be able to answer the context of this verse just by me reading this. And brought his head on a platter. Who's his? John the Baptist, right? Famous story. Here comes his decapitated head with a pool of blood on this little platter and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother. Right? Gross. And when the disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. And the apostles returned, verse 30, to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. Now think about this. Jesus had said this is the greatest prophet born of women. This is his cousin, the forerunner of the Messiah. Jesus loved John. He'd been imprisoned in the Transjordan, and now he'd had his head chopped off by the enemies of Christ. How much did he hurt at this moment? The apostles come to Jesus, they tell him what had happened, and he said, we've got to get away. We've got to go to a desolate place. We've got to rest. Why do they need a rest? Well, he's grieving for one, but look at the middle of verse 31. For many were coming and going, they had no leisure even to eat. You're going to give Jesus a break from his preaching schedule at this point? You need a vacation, Christ? You're going to have it. What do you need? You need two weeks, three weeks? What do you need, four weeks? And they went away in a boat to a desolate place by themselves. Praise God, you got a break, man. We'd love you to preach more, but you get a break. Verse 33, now many saw them going, and they recognized them, oh no. And they ran there on foot from all the towns, oh no. And they got there ahead of them, oh no. And when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, oh no. And he had compassion on them, oh no, oh no. It's a good thing Jesus wasn't married. Can you imagine at this point? His wife going, oh no, no, Jesus, no. Don't feel anything for them at this point. Why? Because they're like sheep without a shepherd. I know they are, but this is not the right time. Please don't feel anything for them. And he began to teach them many things. Well, he didn't have a wife, but he did have disciples. Verse 35. And when it grew late, the disciples came to him and said, it's a desolate place, the hour's late, send them away. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and the villages and they can buy something to eat, please send them away. But he answered them and said, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? He said, well, how many loaves do you have? And you know the rest of the story. He feeds them. Why does he feed them? Because he's going to keep teaching them. Why? He's grieving. He's on vacation. He's trying to take a break. He's grieving the death of John the Baptist. He's tired. He hasn't even had a break. He hasn't even had time to get a meal. But what's the problem? He feels compassion for people that are like sheep without a shepherd. He sees the bobbing heads of people in the ocean who don't have a savior. Do you see the issue here? It's a lot like Matthew chapter nine where the same word is used, compassion. Jesus has compassion on the crowd. He sees the people like a harvest field. And he says in the last three verses of Matthew chapter nine, he says, you know, guys, you should be praying to the Lord of the harvest. He says, and you ought to pray that God would, it's a great word, ek balo, that God would thrust forth. I know the word is translated in the ESV, send, but it's a much stronger word than that. Ek is the Greek preposition, out. Epsilon, kappa. Ek, and then balo, balo. We get the word ball from that, it means to cast, to throw. Ek balo, to throw. I picture it like a cannon. It's to like blast out, throw out workers into the harvest field. I picture like the cruise ship. All the people playing shuffleboard on the deck of the ship that you shoot out because I see the sea of people and they're out there bobbing in the ocean and they're lost. They're like bobbing people without any saviors. They don't have anybody getting them out of their situation. And I just pray that God would throw some, just cast them, shoot them out of the barrels of their comfortable church situation and shoot them out there. into the harvest, because the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. You gotta be troubled about the lost. If you're not troubled about the lost, you're never gonna be prompted to action. If you don't feel it, you're never gonna rescue the perishing. You're never gonna care for the dying. You're never gonna snatch them in pity from sin in the grave. You gotta start by weep over the erring ones and lift up the falling. Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. One more quotation for you, if you can turn there quickly, you might want to, Proverbs 24. Shirley Fannie Crosby, 150 years ago, had this verse in view when she wrote those words. Proverbs 24, 11 says, rescue those who are being taken away to death, hold back those who are stumbling toward the slaughter. Well, that's good, you've already kind of got that concept across to us, Pastor Mike. Well, yeah, look at the next verse here, if you turn there, verse 12. If you say behold, or look, We didn't know this. Does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Doesn't the one who sees into the motives of your heart, doesn't he know the truth? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul, doesn't he really know? Will he not repay man according to his work? Doesn't God really know if you know or not? If I sit here and talk about your coworkers or your neighbors, your family members, your extended family members, doesn't God really know? It's a terrible, terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The motive is what matters. You can clean the exterior of your life, walk into church, shake hands, pump fists, high five, but never have the interior of your life motivated to say a word during the week about Christ. It should start with being troubled about the lost. Knowing the fear of God, we persuade men. We're not persuading people. I would doubt there's much fear of God in your life. It starts then in this middle section, which we'll definitely talk about more throughout this book. What we are is known to God. Paul's going to have to establish this, and you need to know it's not because he's concerned so much about his reputation. He only cares about his reputation because of the message that he's bringing to the Corinthians. But he says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 11, what we are is known to God. God knows who we are. He knows that we're true messengers of the truth to you. And I hope it's known also to your conscience. I hope you know inside of your life, in the depths of your own heart, who we are. Now, we're not trying to commend ourselves to you again. We're not just trying to say, hey, hey, look, we're good guys. But we're giving you cause to boast about us. We want you to go to our critics and say something so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearances. And this is a slam and not about what's in the heart. We want you to talk to the critics that are criticizing us and defend us to them. Because all they're worried about is exteriors. We want you to know the truth about who we are. Okay, why is he saying that? Because he cares about what people think of him? He only cares because he's trying to make sure that Corinthians don't dismiss his message. Now, with that in mind, if you can pin that in your mind, then let's talk about integrity, because integrity matters. And your integrity matters because you are supposed to be an ambassador of Christ. That's why integrity matters. And put it down this way in your outline, then we're going to go to 1 Corinthians and make sense of this. Number two, be concerned about your integrity. Number two on your outline, be concerned about your integrity. You should be concerned about your integrity, just like you're concerned about a concern for the lost, right? You should worry about that. You should be troubled about the lost. Be concerned about your integrity. I want to tell you why that matters. It matters because you have a message. And then we're going to get to that in this chapter and we'll get to it in the rest of the book. but turn with me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 doesn't have the weight of the criticism that he's trying to deal with in chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians, but turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and maybe we can get enough of the context here of the issue that will help you kind of figure this all out. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. First of all, let me just put this in some logical order for you, which is not the contextual order, but the logical order is this. I want you to sit here today and to say what Paul says in verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 4. 1 Corinthians 4, 4. I'm not aware of anything against myself. That'd be a good place to start. I want you to say, I don't think there's anything I'm doing wrong. That'd be a good place to start. I'm not aware of anything against myself. Do you see that verse there? The first half of verse four? That'd be a good place. I don't think there's anything against me. I don't think I'm doing that. Integrity starts there. Okay, that's good. But then there's the rest of the verse. But I'm not by that. I'm not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. I can't pronounce judgment before the time. The Lord's going to come and bring to light things hidden in darkness and disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. Now the good news is, unlike What Paul is saying here is that we do have certain things that we have that Paul doesn't have in this particular point in time. We have the rest of the New Testament laid out for us, which is helpful because God's mind on paper is giving me the Lord's judgment on many, many things that we have now. The 27 books of the New Testament are allowing me to say, okay, there are certain things that the intricacies of my heart may not be able to be sorted out until the judgment. I get that. There's some truth to verse five, but the reality of the Lord having an opinion about certain things, I can say, I can look at what the Lord's mind is on paper and be able to say, okay, I in my conscience can say my conscience is clear, but I can take the Word of God and add that layer and say, okay, I can have a much clearer sense of integrity by saying, no conscience problem, God's Word now on top of that, I can now have even a greater sense of integrity by having my conscience clear and God's Word now an informed conscience, I can say I have even more integrity. You see that? So, okay, I have integrity by saying, like Paul can now say in 2 Corinthians 5, hey, what I am is known to God. God knows. Okay, so he's saying something stronger in 2 Corinthians 5. Okay, and now in 2 Corinthians 5, you might remember he also says, and I hope, he says, it is known to your conscience. Now go up to verse 3 in 1 Corinthians 4. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you." Now, does it sound that way in 2 Corinthians 5? The answer is no. It seems like a bigger thing in 2 Corinthians 5, and it is. It's a bigger thing in 2 Corinthians 5. It's a small thing for me that I should be judged by you. Now, ultimately, is it an ultimate thing? No, it's not an ultimate thing. But he says, I do hope, I hope that you see that I'm right. I hope that you see that. And we should always hope that. We should hope that. And just to strengthen that, let me just have you jot down 1 Peter 2, verse 12. 1 Peter 2, verse 12. Which says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, and I might want to add the word eventually, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of his visitation. Eventually, I hope you're vindicated. Just like Joseph, thrown in prison, eventually vindicated. Daniel, thrown in the lion's den, eventually vindicated. There's a lot of examples in scripture of people being eventually vindicated. because they kept doing the right thing. They had integrity, right? And they were thought of as being bad, but eventually vindicated. So I want people to see my integrity, even though they might be against me at some point. And Paul realizes that the audience that Paul is trying to win over, win back over, the critics have pulled away the Corinthians. He's trying to win them back. But why go up to verse 1 of chapter 4? This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it's required of stewards that they be found faithful." Now, was Paul faithful? Well, he's making the case in 2 Corinthians 5. It's known to God what we are. It's known in my conscience. He made that case in chapter 2 of 2 Corinthians. Hey, I know I'm doing the right thing, and I hope your conscience can see I'm doing the right thing, and I'm saying the right things. Do you see what's happening here? He's saying, I am being faithful, and I would hope that you would see that I'm being faithful. Now, he says it's a small thing in verse 3, because it's not an ultimate thing. But by the time he writes 2 Corinthians chapter 5, and he's really making a much stronger case because he's got his enemies mounting a very strong attack upon the apostle Paul, he's saying, I hope you can see this now. It is my hope. that you will agree that I'm not doing anything wrong here and I'm telling you the truth and I'm doing the right thing. And my conscience and your conscience, I hope you'll see that these people that are all about external appearances, I hope you can see that my conscience is clear and I'm telling you the truth. That I as a steward of the truth am faithful. Okay, so I want your integrity to be intact. I want your integrity to be what it should be. Now, this goes in a lot of directions, and this sermon in many ways can be a potpourri of things, but it always is about what's under the surface, okay? I always want you to do the right thing in your behavior, but I want the inside of your life to be cleaned out. And when it comes to the inside of your life, the integrity of your heart needs to be you are rightly motivated, and you are not duplicitous. So your interior needs to be the right thing. And that right thing, right? Just like Joseph, just like Daniel, there's so many examples in scripture. Like the Apostle Paul, like Peter, so many examples of people that were said to be bad guys. Look at Jesus. I'll give you an example of Jesus in the small group questions. His family, his mother, his half-brothers thought he was crazy in the Gospel of Mark. And they said, he's crazy. We got to pull him out of there. He's making a mess of his life. Or how about this one? 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 18. That's a good one. We should turn to that. 1 Kings 18, verse 18. Ahab, let's start in verse 17, saw Elijah. Ahab, by the way, what's his wife's name? Jezebel, bad. No Jezebels in our nursery today. No one wants to name their daughter Jezebel. Saw Elijah, there are some Elijah's in our nursery this morning. That's a hero. Ahab said to him, it is you, you troubler of Israel. And he answered, I've not troubled Israel. You have in your father's house because you have abandoned the commandments of the lord and follow the bales. Okay, so Integrity is going to be vindicated by god ultimately, but paul is wanting that vindication To come now because he doesn't want Those people to be led astray. Don't follow the bales. Don't follow the critics of me And that's why you want people right to see your integrity if you're continually faithful to represent the truth And that's enough said on the second point. Let's get to verse 13, which I think is really going to make the second point clear. You should be concerned about your integrity. Why? For two reasons, and we're already getting into it here in verse 13. Go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 13. If we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right minds, it is for you. What did Ahab think of Elijah? He's the troubler of Israel. That's not a compliment. You're a troubler of Israel. And he turns around and says, no, you're the troubler of Israel, and your parents were the troubler of Israel. You keep getting us in trouble. You've messed up the culture. Right? Why? Because you've abandoned the commandments of God. So you're messing it up. I'm not messing it up. I'm trying to tell you the commandments. I'm the one with integrity here because I keep calling you back to God and God's commandments. See, you think I'm crazy. I'm not the crazy one here. And I will say that's what it means to be faithful to God's Word. Integrity will keep you online with God, but it will also open you up to being called crazy. I put it this way. Number three, be willing to offend for the sake of faithfulness. Number three, that's a long point, but it's worth it, be willing to offend for the sake of faithfulness. And they may say you're crazy, but offend is a better word because it encapsulates all the kinds of ways you might be written off. You are gonna be written off as whatever, right? Here's the thing, I could say today, well, let's just start with this. Here's something that if I go on whatever popular secular program and say, there are two genders, let's just say that, right? Which at one time was common sense. But let's just say I say that today. If I go on NPR and say that today, I'm going to be thought of as crazy. Right? I'm the troubler of the Western society now. And what I should say is, no, I'm not the troubler of Western society. You are. You and your crazy people are. Right? Because you've abandoned the commandments of the Lord. That's what I should say in response. with gentleness and respect, right? I should say that because I'm not the one that's wrong. But ultimately, if I didn't care, right, I would say, I don't care. You can be a furry, a fuzzy, you could be a shoe, a fire hydrant. I don't care what you are. There can be a multiplicity of genders. You can be a parking cone. Be whatever you want to be. It doesn't bother me a bit. Be a trash can, be a potted plant, be a jungle gym. Be whatever you want to be. Why do I care? And that's what they're saying to us. Well, why don't you say that? Because I'm going to be faithful to God and what God has said. And ultimately, that's the right thing to do. And all of us are going to answer to God. Because I care about people, I care about you meeting God. And out of fear of God, I persuade people. And so I'm going to care about God and what God has said because I care about you. I'm going to tell you there's only two genders. And I don't want you to store up more wrath for yourself for the day of God's judgment. So I'm going to tell you the truth. But I'm going to be willing to risk my reputation for the truth, being faithful to the truth. Do you follow me? But here's the thing. If I didn't care, if I wasn't going to be faithful, believe whatever you want. I don't care. But I do care. I care ultimately about God and fidelity to God. One more passage on this might be helpful. How about 2 Timothy 1? This might be worth it. You have to stand on the truth of God's Word. You have to. I know this is an old saw, but it's helpful. And I think this little verse that's often misunderstood Beside yourself means crazy, right? That's an idiom. It's like nuts. It may not make sense 2,000 years from now. You're nuts. Well, we know what it means. It means you're crazy. Beside yourself means crazy. If you're beside yourself, it's for God. The only reason I would be thought of as crazy is for God's sake. Right? I don't want to be thought of as crazy, but I have to if I'm going to be faithful to God. It's required of a steward to be found faithful. 2 Timothy 1, look at verse 11. I'm appointed, Paul says, as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. Why? Because you're faithful as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher. That's why you suffer. If you weren't appointed as those things to be faithful as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher, you wouldn't suffer as you do. But, he says, I'm not ashamed to be thought of as crazy, right? I know whom I've believed, and I'm convinced that he's able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern, Timothy, of the sound words that you've heard from me in the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Guard the good deposit entrusted to you. Paul was aging, Timothy was young, he says, by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, me and you, guard the good deposit and trust the deed. Let me say to all you young people that are listening to me right now, when I'm dead and buried, if Christ doesn't come back first, when I'm dead and buried and gone and laying in my walnut casket, okay, when I'm done, By the Holy Spirit that dwells within you and me, would you please, by the Spirit that dwells within us, guard the good deposit and trust in us. They're going to call you crazy for different reasons than they call me crazy. But you have to be faithful. When Martin Luther had to go before the Diet of Worms, when he had to stand there and be called into court, and he says, here I stand, I can do no other. You're going to have to say that and be thought of as a troubler of America, or a troubler of society. You're going to have to do that. And you're going to have to do that in the next generation. And it may be you have to do that more often than I have to do it. But you're going to have to do it. You're going to have to guard what has been entrusted to you. And you can't be faithful if you don't. Because the message of the cross and all that goes with it is going to be foolishness to the world. You have to do it. You just have to do it. Because the world in its wisdom hasn't come to know God. And we have a message and we can't, we can't in any way take this deposit and tweak it. All you gotta do, go on social media and look at how people have taken Christianity and twisted it into something it's not. And all they're doing in trying to conform it to the culture is turning it into smoke that will evaporate. Trust me. All you have to do is try and conform Christianity to the culture and it evaporates. It will not be here in 20 years. Whatever you do to conform it, it's gone. Because why do you want it? It has no relevance. Once you try to conform Christianity to the culture, it disappears. It evaporates. Who's going to go there? For what reason? But you want the truth, you're going to have to take this deposit and guard it, and preach it, and teach it, and evangelize it. That's what you're going to have to do. So by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. Be willing to be called crazy. Here's a great one, Apostle Paul who wrote this, Acts 26, 24 and 25. As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said, as he was giving his defense to King Agrippa, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind. Right? Paul said, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. I am speaking true and rational words. And that's how we respond, with gentleness and respect, but we are absolutely saying, no, what I'm saying is true and rational. Whatever the issue is, if we're basing our statements on the truth of God's word. All right, one more statement. If we're in our right minds, it is for you. What does that mean? If we're in our right minds, it is for you. All right, one passage that may help. Proverbs 26, verses 4 and 5. Proverbs 26, 4 and 5 says, Answer not a fool according to his folly. The next verse says, Answer a fool according to his folly. Now, I've skipped a line, but listen to what it says. Answer not a fool according to his folly, and answer a fool according to his folly. Now, that sounds like a contradiction, because it is. But these are Proverbs. Proverbs are principles, and principles need to be applied in different contexts in different ways. Okay? Here's the context. First context is, answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. So there's a kind of answering a fool, engaging a fool, that you become sucked into, like the vortex of folly, and you become like him. Well, that's when you don't answer him. You're going to be like him. And then, answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. There's an answering of a fool and you can actually correct him and he walks away going, well, I hadn't thought of that. Now you've got to make a decision in answering someone whether or not you can fix his thinking and he will accept it. That's a discretionary decision. You have to make a decision. With wisdom and discernment, can I make a difference here in the thinking of this person? If we're talking about evangelism, right? We're talking about an engagement and discussion. You got to make a decision. I make those decisions every week in conversation. Is this going to be a profitable conversation? And then I engage or I choose not to engage. You have to make those decisions. Why would I make the decision to engage? Why not just say, well, they don't get it and walk away? Jot this down. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 4. Paul says, I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears. That sounds like a hassle. Not to cause you pain. No, not to cause you pain. But to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. Why does Paul write letters? Why did he write these letters to the Corinthians? Because he loved them. Why? Because he loved them. John 15, 15. He says, you're not servants. Why? Because a servant doesn't know what his master is doing. It's a friend. I call you friends because I'm telling you this stuff. Because I like you. More than that, I love you. The whole point of this is I'm willing to let you know, to let you follow my logic, to let you understand what I'm thinking. Hey, Paul says, let me explain all this to you. And he even apologizes sometimes for defending his apostleship by saying, this sounds crazy, I know, but follow me here. And he gives all the trouble of explaining all this. Why? Because he loves them. I want you to understand this. So here's the thing, number four, you need to be ready to explain when it's profitable to explain for the sake of love. Number four, be ready to explain for the sake of love. Why would I ever want to engage in partners here at church? Because someone is teachable, and I'm willing to go to the hassle of it all because I love someone. And I'm willing to love for the sake of what God told me to do, to love his people, and I'm willing to teach. Why would I engage in a conversation about whether there's a God, or whether the Bible is reliable, or whether it makes sense to believe in biblical morality? Why would I have that conversation? It's a lot of work. I might have to brush up on stuff I haven't thought about for a long time. Well, because I love people, because there's people bobbing in the waters of the Atlantic, and there's sharks out there, because I care about people. If you love people, then it's going to prompt you to action, but that's on the interior of your life. You can pull into the parking lot of church and not have any of that going on inside of you, and you're going to go all week long and never engage in the hard work. I'm going to show you the example in the small group questions this week of Philip. Philip would have had to have, it's going to be work to hop up into the chariot and have the conversation with the Ethiopian eunuch and describe all the ins and outs of Isaiah 53. That's work. And it's work because he cares about people. The motive is love, love for people. Paul's letters were explanations out of love. I want you to love people by being willing to explain, being willing to teach, being willing to mentor, being willing to serve people by telling them and explaining to them what you know. Then they'll go, oh, I get it now. Do you see what that means? Oh, I get it. You do make sense. That is rational. You're in your right mind. If you're out of your mind to some people, it's because you're being faithful to the truth. If you explain yourself and they go, oh, I get it now, you are in your right mind. It's because you care about them, it is for you. Do you follow that now in verse 13? You know, these realtors stage those houses really nice, don't they? Get those photographers, everything looks plastic, everything looks great. You know, they get small furniture in there, those rooms look so big, the lawns are green as they can ever be. You know, the curb appeal is beautiful. But what really matters is when your inspector goes in to check the house out. Now, I'm a little concerned when my widow goes to sell our house, because I'm a little, I just hope I am dead by the time they sell my house, because there's a lot of DYI projects that I'm just concerned about, wiring and stuff I've done, I don't know. The inspectors are going to find stuff. Let's talk about your house instead of mine. There's stuff. that you've put off that you know is a problem, right? Slab issues, or whatever, the attic, or the roof was leaking, and you thought, well, whatever, the bucket's doing the job in the attic, or, you know, whatever it is, right? You've thought a termite, it's too much to tent, I'll just put that off for another few years. And then all of a sudden, you're trying to sell, and then the buyers bring in their inspector in, and the curb appeals great, the pictures look touched up and beautiful, the lawn has never looked better, and the coat of paint, and the small beds you moved in to stage the house, Bedrooms never look better. You're wondering why you're selling because your house has never looked better. But the inspectors found 100 different problems that are, you know, setting you back about $300,000. So what really matters is all the things that need to happen that no one can really see, right? This is the problem. God wants us to deal with those things first. That has to happen and it needs to happen now. And I pray that God would get us to work on those things today. Those are the motives. Those are the things that God's Word is always cutting toward, always moving toward, not the cosmetic things, not the exterior, not the performative things. Those will come, those will follow. It's the motives, it's the internal things, it's the interior life that God is concerned with first and foremost. And I pray that maybe this sermon will help us get there. Let's pray. God, help us today, please, to worry about things that matter, to get down deeper in our hearts, We might care for the lost. We might pursue integrity. We might be willing to be thought crazy. We might love enough to explain, to teach, to disciple, to evangelize with a kind of teaching heart. If our integrity is leaking, if our concern for the lost is waning, if our desire for reputation outweighs our love for the truth, if our concern for people is running low, I just pray you might come in and convict us and get us discussing these things. Put us in a small group. If we haven't been lately, just get us there discussing these things with chairs face to face with open and honest discussion, accountability, progress. Let us purify our motives this week as we move into the next section. So we kind of continue that talk about the love of Christ controlling us. Just pray we could have that real discussion as we get to the heart of the matter. Thank you for this opening section of this great text of scripture. Thanks God for all that you've done in our lives, and we know you've done a lot already, but I pray you do even more, starting this week, in Jesus' name, amen.