If you open your Bibles to what we read this morning, we're going to continue to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and we'll focus our attention this morning on a particular verse in chapter 9, which is verse 23, where Paul says these words. And this I do for the gospel's sake, so that I might be partaker thereof with you. For the gospel's sake, that's my title and subject this morning, for the gospel's sake, three questions we ask about this text. What does Paul do for the gospel's sake? What is he willing to do? What are you willing to do for the sake of the gospel? Number two, why does he do this? that he might be a partaker with others. That's why. Number three, how does he do this? Know you not that they which run in a race run all? One receives the prize, so you run that you may obtain. That's how. He models himself after an Olympic athlete and he looks at that word picture And he transfers that to something spiritually, where Paul shows us how by the Spirit he does this thing, preaching and serving, for partaking of the gospel with others in a way that he's self-controlled in all things. So those are the three questions we ask and we trust by God's grace will help us answer this morning as we look at several passages and take our time beginning in verse 16, which we'll likely not get through today. We begin this message entitled, For the Gospel's Sake. First of all, in verse 16 and verse 19, Paul tells us what he does for the sake of the gospel. He preaches, number one, in verse 19 in particular, he becomes a servant, a slave to everybody. That's pretty substantial, isn't it? Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself a servant to everyone. So that's what Paul does for the gospel's sake. So let's begin in verse 16 and see Paul's train of thought. As you remember, people are examining him at Corinth. They're criticizing and judging him as an inferior apostle. They say, you're not an apostle because you forgo the right of financial support. But you remember Paul specifically did this at Corinth because of all the philosophers and the teachers which were getting paid well for teaching. Paul goes into a culture where the gospel has never been taught. and the fact of ministerial support had never been substantiated. He is willing to forego the right of financial support so that he would not hinder the gospel of Christ. And so he shows the Corinthian church by an example how he's willing to abstain from his right and freedoms that he has for the sake of the gospel. And so in chapter 9, this is what Paul is unpacking as he tells us what he's doing for the sake of the gospel. Verse 16 now. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. Why, Paul? Well, because necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, a stewardship, a dispensation of the gospel is entrusted to me. Now what is Paul saying with those words? Paul is saying there's no glory for preaching. He had to preach. He was forced to preach in a way. That's what the word necessity means. That's his answer to why there's no glory in preaching. Necessity, which means a compulsion. He was forced to preach the gospel in two ways. First, it was an external force. And then secondly, there was an internal force. External. How did he become a preacher? Who entrusted him with the stewardship of the gospel message? It was God himself that commanded him and commissioned him to preach the gospel. One minute, Paul is breathing out threatening and slaughter. In 60 seconds later, he's an apostle and he's a preacher to the Gentiles. How did you become an apostle, Paul? Well, I set my mind to it. I decided that would be a good profession for me. I went through the school of hard knocks. I got an education. None of that's true of Paul. There's no glory for Paul in preaching because he was thrust into it. He was thrown into it by God himself. And therefore, whether Paul is willing or whether he is unwilling, the assignment is still the same. You have been commissioned, you have been commanded, you have been given a stewardship from God. Therefore Paul says, I don't get glory in preaching. That's not my boasting, in verse 15. That's not what I'm glorying in, preaching itself. There's another force that moves Paul along. It's an internal force. Now the language seems to suggest that there might have been times when Paul was an unwilling participant in preaching. Now we can all identify with that, right? We might say as a Christian necessity has been laid on you in your commitment to Christ and the kingdom of God. And sometimes you find yourself willing and there's a kind of reward that's there of grace that Paul is going to talk about as it relates to an apostle in the next verse. But there are times when you may not be willing. You may not be willing to come to church, you may not be so willing to serve, but necessity has been laid upon you, therefore it matters not. The assignment is still the same. You've been called by the grace of God, you've been gifted by the grace of God, and God has commissioned you as an ambassador of Christ to be a certain kind of person by His grace, even in those times when maybe we're not so willing. Now the word Necessity is, or the word laid is used in John 20, when Jesus had a coal of fires burning and there was fish laid upon the fire. That's the word laid. So now we're talking about an internal force. Something was laid on Paul that at times when he found himself unwilling, he discovered something within himself. Something like Jeremiah did. In fact, one of the center references in your Bible may be Jeremiah chapter 20, where Jeremiah was also commissioned. He was a prophet, and he willingly took on the commission and the command of God, but there were times when he was unwilling, right? Pasher had just put him in the stocks all night simply because he prophesied exactly what God commanded. It was painful. At times he was thrown in the dungeon, in the mire. He was persecuted. His friends, his own family was against Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 20, he determined, I'm no longer willing. I'm not willing to prophesy anymore. Every time I do it, just as God says, I get in trouble. Jeremiah says, I'm no more willing. I will no longer speak in the name of God. But then Jeremiah discovered a fire in his bones. There was an internal compulsion. There was an internal force that he said, I got so weary I could not stay. I had to let it out. And he speaks. the prophecy and the words for which God calls them to do. Paul is saying, I have to preach. There's an external power that God has laid upon me. And there are times, more often than not, the internal power of the fire and the passion of the message of the gospel for which he says, I'm doing this for the gospel's sake, moves Paul again and again to willingly, delightfully speak in the name of God. So therefore, Paul, that being true, verse 18, what is your reward? And this is where Paul is going with this in preaching and serving. You have forsaken or forgone the reward of financial support. That's his point in this chapter. What is your reward then? And then he answers in verse 18. Verily that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, without expense, without cost. that I abused not my power in the gospel. Paul had to preach, but he didn't have to preach without cost. He didn't have to preach without financial support. That was his right. That was his power. That's what he means about abusing his power. He established that very well in the early part of the chapter. He had the power to eat and drink at the expense of the church. Number two, he had the power to lead a wife at the expense of the church. Number three, he had a power to forbear working at the expense of the church. He established from natural law and Mosaic law that God ordained that the ministry live by financial support and forego working. Paul, why did you forego that right? so that he would not abuse or fully use his right in the gospel. In other words, Paul understood a deeper right than being right. He understood a deeper reward than the right of the reward of a laborer, 1 Timothy 5.18. The laborer, the minister, is worthy of his reward, of his financial support. Paul saw something deeper for the sake of the gospel. that moved him to forego the reward for a deeper reward. Now what was it? The reward of making the gospel of free grace resemble what it really was. Free, without cost. Let me illustrate that. We have certain rights in our country. When you come to a four-way stop, you have the right of way, if you get there first. You can fully use your right. by stopping at a complete stop and moving on. But suppose you see someone coming to the intersection after you have fully come to a complete stop and you have the right to move ahead first. But they don't seem to be slowing down. And they don't seem to be braking. But you exercise your full right of way to move ahead in the four-way stop because it is your right. And then what happens? They hit the brakes, swerve, and go into the ditch, and all the passengers are in the hospital. Now, you exercised fully your right as a citizen to proceed after stopping, but would it not have been a deeper reward to forgo the right of moving ahead first for the sake of someone else? That's exactly what Paul is saying. This I do for the gospel's sake, for others, that they might be partakers with me of the very gospel of free grace that Paul is preaching. And so when Paul forgoes his financial support, he does it for the gospel. He doesn't want to hinder the gospel. He wants more of the family of God with him in the gospel. Therefore, he does not fully use his right. He will not proceed at the four-way stop at any cost because he's right. He understands there's a deeper reward in seeing others come to the gospel of Christ. What right are you willing to give up for others to perhaps see the glory of the gospel of Christ? Paul's point is he doesn't want anybody to think he's preaching for money. He doesn't want anybody to think at Corinth that he's trying to pad his pocket, like the philosophers and teachers that were abounding at Corinth. Therefore, on this occasion, he decides, for the gospel sake, to preach at Corinth and to work for the sake of the gospel. But here's the second thing he'll do, which is leading to verse 19. He will become a servant in his preaching to everyone. Look at verse 19. For though I be free from all men. He's right. He's in the freedom to take financial support. And he's free as a Roman citizen. He has this freedom and it is his by right. No question, Paul. Yet have I made myself a servant unto all. Why, Paul? That I might gain more. What is Paul willing to do? He's willing to preach. What is Paul willing to do? He's willing to be a servant to everybody. Why is Paul willing to do it? Why is he willing to stop at the four-way stop and not proceed? He wants to gain the oncoming traffic. He doesn't want to hinder them and push them into the ditch. He doesn't want them to be in the hospital. He wants to gain everyone crossing the intersection. So he'll sit and wait, using the illustration. All right, so let's look at verses 19 through 23, or 22. What specifically is Paul willing to do, and what does he mean by gain? The word gain can mean win. It means he wants to win them, he wants to gain them to faith in Christ. Now he emphasizes the word gain five times in four verses. He might gain them more. He might gain the Jews. He might gain them under the law. He might gain them outside of the law. He might gain the weak. And then he substitutes the word save in the place of gain. It's very clear Paul wants people to be converted and come to faith in Christ. Therefore, he wants to do whatever he can biblically and lawfully. to adapt himself and accommodate himself at the four-way stop, just keeping the illustration through the sermon, so that he doesn't hinder others in giving him their ear to the gospel. Gain. Now let's make clear, Paul doesn't think he can save anybody. He knows Jesus is the Savior. The question Paul asks, and the question we need to ask, how do we participate in the plan of salvation? Is there any participation whatsoever? Paul makes it clear he has a role, and we do too. Listen to what he says in the second letter to the same church as why he serves other people in 2 Corinthians 4-5. And this is what he says, you can turn there if you like. For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ our Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. So Paul says when we preach, we're serving everybody. We're servants for Jesus' sake. Why, Paul? Verse 6. because God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ in the face or the person of Jesus Christ. Now what's Paul saying? Paul's preaching and he's preaching and he's serving and he's not preaching himself. And some people just don't receive it. They don't even like it, but he keeps preaching. But there are times when he's preaching at one level, and at another level, God commands something in the heart. When God makes that authoritative command in the heart, the heart's changed, the gospel received, the person is saved, because they're converted. A turning to Jesus is salvation. So Paul wants to do everything he can in terms of not hindering the gospel and not causing people to close their ear to what he's saying. And he'll tell us specifically what he does in a few moments, in a few verses. Because he knows that when God commands the light to shine, it shines. Now Paul gives us an analogy from Genesis 1 that's very clear, isn't it? God said, let there be light, and there was light. The darkness did not have to invite Jesus into its heart. It didn't do that. It did not have to cooperate its will with God's will, the darkness in Genesis 1. Because God overcame the darkness by an authoritative fiat, by a word that says, let there be light, and there was no resistance. The darkness offers no resistance. It was not that the darkness or the will of the darkness could not be violated. So Paul takes all that analogy and plants it in 2 Corinthians 4, 6 and says that's what God does when He regenerates a person. He authoritatively overcomes the darkness of the soul with what kind of light? Knowledge of the glory of Jesus. Paul preaches, boom, what happens? He gains people. God gains people through the instrumentality of the preaching of Paul. As God opens the eyes, Paul preaches the word, and people are regenerated and turned to Christ. Paul understands that about God, so what does he do? I'm adapting myself as a servant. I'm willing to adapt to circumstances and situations in such a way that I want them to be gained. This is the heart of Paul. This is what he wants. This is what he's after. He cares about whether people will hear what he's saying. So what does he specifically do? Now he doesn't tell us exactly what we can take from other places in the Bible, some of the examples of what Paul did. When he preached to Jews, he became as a Jew to gain the Jews. He would not unnecessarily offend Jews so they would say, I'm not listening to Paul. In Acts chapter 16, he did that to a traveling companion called Timothy. Timothy, we need to get you circumcised. Do you know what a massive deal that was for a man in that day to get circumcised? In Genesis 34, a whole tribe was slaughtered after they were circumcised because after three days they couldn't fight. It was so painful. You want me to do what, Paul? Yeah, you see there are these Jews that know your dad's a Greek and your mother's a believing Jew. If they know your dad's a Greek, they're not going to listen to me. You get circumcised. Would you perform a medical procedure of some kind just to gain the ear of religious people? Paul would, and Timothy did. Why would you do that? Don't you know that salvation is by grace? Yes, he does. But he wants to gain them. Now, different culture, maybe called to do different things, but what would you be willing to do? in the workplace, to adapt yourself with your comfort zone, your conveniences, just to gain the ear of someone as it relates to Christianity. You know that God has the command of the light to shine on the darkness, and if anybody knows that, Paul does. Yet, I'm a servant to all men that I might gain, gain, gain, gain, save. That's Paul's word. What are you willing to do? to the Gentiles, those that are without law. Paul does not mean become lawless because he said, I'm not without law to Christ. So it doesn't mean do whatever they do and become lawless. He means he's willing to stretch himself with his customs and his practices and whatever's lawful, he's willing to adapt himself to the Gentiles to gain their ear. so that he will in no way hinder, unnecessarily, something that doesn't have to happen. They're hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. See, Paul wants to be a participant in what God is doing. We should want to participate in the conversion of sinners as they turn to faith in Christ. In those areas where God says you can participate, there's areas where He says you don't participate. Conversion is one where there's instrumentality. The gospel is used to turn people to Jesus Christ. And so Paul knew that. He wants to be a participant. Now how would you accommodate yourself to non-religious people in the workplace? Well, for Paul, if he's at the marketplace with Gentiles, he'll put bacon bits on his salad. If he's at the synagogue at lunch, he's, no thanks, I'm not going to eat them. Now, that may be something simple, but do you know what an offense that would have been unnecessarily for Paul to eat bacon? He had the right. He had the freedom. They wouldn't have listened to Paul again. They even thought at times that he was against the law. In Acts chapter 21, he was willing to shave his head and pay the expenses of young men to temporarily take the vow of a Nazarite just because the Jews in Jerusalem were zealous of the law. Would you shave your head? Just take it off. Women, would you cut your hair? Paul did. He didn't have to do that. He wasn't required. Why did he do it? To gain the Jews at Jerusalem. Paul is a radical kind of guy. Why are you doing this, Paul? This I do for the gospel's sake. That's why he does it. Verse 23. To the weak. See, there are two categories of people. The Jew and the Gentile, the unsaved, the weak, or the saved in chapter 8. That's the basis for this whole discussion. in chapter 8 and chapter 9. You'll offend the weak conscience of your brother. So when there's weak Christians Paul will go in and become weak with them. Why? He wants to build them up in Christ. So to the one, he wants to come to faith in Christ. To the other, he wants to build them up into Christ. And for both groups, it's the same. The gospel, the gospel, the power of the cross. What are you willing to do for your brother and sister in Christ so that you would not unnecessarily cause them to be a stumbling block, push them maybe into some sin? Again, Paul doesn't state the specifics here because I think he wants us to know the reason is he wants to win them. He wants to win them. He wants them to be in his camp. He wants the family of God to grow. He wants the elect to come to salvation. That's what he wants. And he knows how God does it. So he sees himself as a participant in the plan of God to bring the sheep of God to Christ. I know what a joy that was for the Apostle Paul. Now a couple of caveats here. Paul is not talking about winning them to himself or winning them to his methods. The methods, whatever he decided not to do or to do in order to be able to speak the gospel, he wanted to win them with the gospel itself. That's what God uses to turn sinners to Christ. Throughout the book of Acts, you have people believing the gospel. Acts 13, 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed the gospel. Why did they believe it? For ordination. But then what happened? They believed it, right? How did they believe it? Paul preached it and they believed it. They came to faith in Jesus Christ. So he's not winning people to methods, he's winning them to Christ because what you win them with is what you win them to. So we must be clear, we win people, God's means of turning people is the cross. It's the cross, it's not the methods. He only used that to get. the ear so he could speak that word. Another caveat is that Paul is not saying adapt your worship, your corporate worship to meet the people groups of the world. This is personal evangelism he's talking about. Imagine if Paul told the church at Corinth, If you've got Jews in the church, you need to have a Jewish service, more liturgical, a lot of standing up, sitting down. That's what they're used to. Gentiles, a little more free group, need to have a little more loose, have another service to them. And for the weak, I don't know what he would do for them. That would be three services. He is not talking about adapting culturally. for corporate worship. That just produces all kinds of different kinds of worship that just keeps growing because you got all kinds of adaptations. Rather, he's talking about personal witness, personal evangelism. As he went to the synagogue, as he went to the marketplace, as he traveled, he would accommodate himself to the needs of the people because he knew their greatest need was Christ. Beloved, are we willing in this holiday season to adapt ourselves maybe to the Muslims or to the Hindus, not in a way that's unbiblical. Paul puts the parameters on that. How would you adapt yourself to a transgender person in a biblical way so that you could gain their ear to speak the gospel? That'd be a challenge, wouldn't it? Paul doesn't, there's some freedom here, not, I have to think through that one, but should they hear the gospel? Well, certainly. Paul comes a servant to all men, all kinds of people. Jude reminds us that we need to be careful, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now, we don't need to do what sinners are doing, but how would we get out of our comfort zone, maybe overcome some awkwardness of challenges of speaking to someone that outwardly is so different than us? I think Paul was willing to do that in a lawful way because of his desire for the gospel sake, for the glory of God, and because he knew the plan of God encompassed large numbers of people. Even Jesus himself in Luke 15, it was the sinners and publicans that drew near to hear him, while the Pharisees kept their distance. They wondered, why are you talking? to people like that. Did Jesus compromise His holiness to talk to them? Did He adapt Himself and say, you know, I've got to do what they do? Never. He's spotless. But somehow they were comfortable in listening to what Jesus said, even though He was strong in His words. He didn't compromise the Word of God. He told them about sin. He told them about repentance. He told them what God demanded. But they drew near because He had the words of eternal life. To the poor He became as the poor. and he had nothing. What are we willing to do lawfully for the sake of the gospel? Because we so desperately want to participate in the plan of God, to experience the joy of more coming in the kingdom of God. Because we know they will come. We know that Jesus will bring them. We know that his death will successfully bring everyone for which he died for into the kingdom. And so Paul says, I'm preaching, that's not for glory, and I'm serving. This is what I'm doing. I'm doing it for the glory of the gospel, for the gospel's sake. Now, brings us to the second question we want to ponder. Paul, why do you do this? We get it. We understand your sacrifice, your service, and of course, you preached, and that's not for all of us, but sacrificing, serving all men, that's for us. Why should we do that, Paul? Verse 23, this I do for the gospel's sake, so that I might be partaker thereof with you, the word you is supplied, italics, meaning with others. And here's why Paul does it. he wants to share thereof in the gospel with other people. That's what he wants. Now we need to ask the question, what is the gospel? The word partaker has the idea of a joint participation. It always involves more than one's self. So Paul is not being self-centered here. Well, you just said you're serving everybody. Now you're kind of serving yourself. It's all about you. You want to be a partaker. That word always means other people along with one's self. So Paul is not self-centered. He's other-centered. But there's something that happens for Paul when he thinks this way. So what is the gospel? And what does Paul mean to be a partaker? Sometimes we think of the gospel in abstract terms. Abstract means something is separated from its source. It's this idea or abstraction out here. We have to bring the gospel back to its source to understand what Paul means. For example, what are some of the words you could think about in the Bible associated with salvation? Salvation is a big word. What are some words or words you can think of right now that's involved in salvation? I don't care what it is. I'll give you one to get you started. Justification. It's one of those big words in the Bible that means to be right with God. We know salvation means we must be justified. It's not an option. Can you think of any other words? Just roll that around your head. About forgiveness. Redemption. Rescue. Deliverance. Propitiation. That's a big word. It just means God's wrath satisfied. That had to happen in salvation. That's what happened at the cross. Resurrection. New birth. Regeneration. There's a lot of them involved, isn't there? There's a whole lot of things in that one word salvation. Now here's the next question. Why do you need to be forgiven? And what's the aim of forgiveness? What's the aim of justification? What's the aim of redemption? What's the aim of regeneration? What's the aim of the resurrection? When we make the gospel an abstract idea, it's just about forgiveness, justification, it's about sharing this abstract message. The aim of forgiveness is to be brought to God. That's it. The aim of justification is to have a right relationship so we can see God. The aim of regeneration is to come to God and know Him, which you cannot do apart from it. The aim of redemption is to be purchased and brought back to God. Every theological word that you can think of related to salvation is aiming to bring us into fellowship with God. The gospel is all about Jesus Christ. Now look at what Paul is saying. I want to be a partaker in fellowshipping with God with you. Not an abstract idea about sharing the gospel. Paul did that. He wants to share in Christ with other people. Because you cannot think of the nature of God and think outside of a family. Let's think about this. Every time Paul thinks about salvation, he's got to think about a family. Why? because there's an eternal Father and an eternal Son. Salvation was not built on an idea of God where He looked at Himself and said, what can I do here to illustrate something about salvation? I'll become a Father and I'll become a Son. No, He's always been a Father. There's always been a Son. Salvation is what it is because of that family of God. Why is there a mother, father, children? That is not accidental. That's Trinitarian. Paul can't think about the gospel except by thinking about a large family. He wants to embrace the family, many of which are not in the family yet. Why is predestination unto adoption? You adopt children. Why are there many sons and daughters He's bringing to glory? Why is the language of Scripture so emphatically family-oriented? Because we should never think about the Gospel without thinking about a family. In our American culture of Christianity, I tend to think we do think outside of a family. We think of personal. We think of privacy. We think of leave-me-alone Christianity. We don't think of community, typically. Not charging you. That's my problem sometimes. Paul doesn't think that way. When he thinks about God, he's got to think of an eternal Father, eternal Son, eternal Spirit. and how God is saving people and bringing into a family relationship with the Father, with the Son, as children. So Paul wants to share in the family with God and sharing it with other family members who are not yet in the family. Why do we have the right to be called the sons of God when we believe? Because God is drawing sons in. Why does God chasten every son whom he receives? Because he's a father and he has an eternal son. The scripture is replete with the language of family. And that's all Paul can think about. Where are my brothers and sisters? They're out in the world. They don't know Jesus yet. He wants to share the family likeness with others, and that's what drives him, that's what motivates him. Listen to John 1015. You've heard this one before, where this is expressed. Jesus said, as the Father knows me, even so I, he's the Son of God, I know the Father. So here's a family relationship. The Father and the Eternal Son know each other. Now what do you think the experience of that is? It's not like knowing math, like you know it. That knowledge is supremely delightful and pleasurable. They know one another. Jesus Christ is the brightness of the eternal perfections of the image of God forever. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of love that binds them together in a love relationship of a family, father and son, as they know one another and love one another and delight in what they see. Next part. I lay down my life for the sheep. Other sheep that I have, I must bring them. Here's the question. We're talking about the family of God. We're talking about Paul, his motivation. He wants other members of the family with him. All right? Jesus says he'll bring them. So here's the question. What must be done for him to bring them? He must lay down his life for the sheep. He's done so. He's gonna bring sons and daughters from Gentile nations, from Jewish nation all over the planet. How is He going to bring them? They shall hear My voice. They'll be one shepherd, one fold. They will hear, they will come, they will be converted, Jesus says. No question about it. They will come to Me, He says. The question now is, where will He bring them? He dies for them to bring them? He brings them, they hear His voice, they're converted. Where will He bring them? He will bring them into the knowledge of the family relationship between the Father and the Son so they can delight in knowing God like God knows God. That motivates Paul to be a servant to all kinds of men because he wants the family of God gathered together. is amazing to me. I admit, I'm not like Paul most of the time. But this is what God calls us to. Sometimes we see Paul as kind of this elite example for some people to follow because when you read the things he does, you're thinking, really? Am I supposed to be that way? You are. He's saying this to the Corinthian church. All this racing and running and self-denial that you do, Paul, do you really want the church to do that? That's what he says, run. Beloved, don't think of Paul as way out here as some special Christian. He's just like us. He has no more grace than you have. He had the same new birth you've got. He has the same faith you have. It's like precious faith, Peter says. The apostles don't have more faith. You've got the same allotment. Now Paul may have used grace more and trusted more than I do, but there's nothing special about Paul. He's made of the same stuff. So God is calling us to this kind of service for the gospel sake to be motivated by others coming into the family of God. because this is how Jesus brings them. And he brings them to know, just like you know, and to delight. And that thrills Paul. Does it thrill you? Oh, may the Holy Spirit so produce a spirit-wrought impulse in us that the joy that we have in participating in the life of God, that's the word partaker, Paul, by grace, participates in the very life of God. the Father and the Son. The Spirit wrought impulse then is to go out in overflow to love for others and pray and want them to come into the same delight and love. Oh how we need the Spirit to incline us for that reality. You see what Paul is saying is that when that happens in Paul's life, His joy in God is actually growing and expanding as it goes out to pull other family members in. Grace pulls them in. Jesus said, I will bring them, I must bring them. How? Paul sees himself as part of the plan, part of the glorious plan of God. where he uses other sinners to tell the good news as he brings them from darkness to light. And as they see now the gospel in a different way, the family's coming in. They're coming in from all kinds of walks, from the Jews, from the Gentiles, it's weak people, it's all kinds of people. And we're commissioned in a way like Paul to want to share in a large family. This is God's plan. It's like when your family gets together this holiday season, right? You know what makes this holiday season so miserable for some people? Because they're estranged from family. What does that matter? Who cares, right? We're wired for relationship because we're made in the image of God. We're wired that way. That's why people want it or they wouldn't be unhappy to say, who cares? I don't need family. No, there's something in us that knows we need family, we want family. God is a family. He's producing a great family. He's predestinated people unto adopt them so that they become sons and daughters of the great high God. And so Paul longs for this. Let me just show you, and this will be my last text. turn here so you can see with your eyes an example of this in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. I choose this text out of many because it's the same church he's writing to, same apostle, just different letter. Sometimes when you stay with a letter, with your references, you get the same theme and flavor because the apostle is still sort of covering the same theme, although second letter. So that's why Maybe in a long way I told you I chose this passage over some others that fit. So here's what Paul is saying about the churches in Macedonia. Chapter 1, verse 8. Put your eyes on that. Second epistle. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit, which means we want you to know, we want you to be aware of the grace of God that was bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. So we're going to see grace in action here. You want to see grace in action? Here it is. Paul says, here's an example. When grace came, what grace did. How did it come? It wasn't something mysterious floating out of the sky. Grab that grace and take a swig of that. It came in redemption, it came in reconciliation, it came in salvation, it came in regeneration, it came in faith and hope, it came in all the ways and words that we talked about a minute ago. But when grace comes, grace draws us to the source, which is God himself, right? So we know that by grace it wasn't an abstract idea. There wasn't a glass of grace that they drank. They were having fellowship with God because that's what grace does. What did this fellowship do? How then in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded, it was superfluous, it expanded, it overflowed unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying us, verse 4, with much entreaty, almost saying, please Paul, that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship. That's not the same word as partaker, but it does mean share. The sharing of the ministering to the saints of God, which is the family of God. That's the family of God. All right, let's unpack verse two and relate it to what Paul is doing in the first epistle. He does it for the gospel sake to share in that fellowship with God that it overflows to embrace others. All right, here's a church example. Now we know their liberality was not very much money because they're in deep poverty. We know their circumstances were terrible because they were in a great trial of affliction. They're in great pain and they're in great poverty. So the joy that's abundant is not from their circumstances. They're not good and it's not from their money. They don't have any. Do you get that? Pain? That's not what they have in joy. Not the circumstances. Wasn't a raise. Wasn't prosperity. Wasn't good things happening. Affliction. Money. Not poverty. Deep poverty. So apparently they pulled out a few pennies and said, Paul, you take these pennies. I know what you're thinking. Don't keep it, brother. You don't have any money. I know. Paul, I'm begging you. We want to have fellowship with the family of God. We want to embrace our family brothers. We want to help. Paul says, okay, and you put it that way. What was the impetus and the catalyst that when grace came, it went out to the family of God? It was the abundance of their joy in God. Where else would there joy be? I don't get joy in pain. You know that about me. I don't get joy in deep poverty. I don't think I've ever been in deep poverty. I felt like I've been poor at times, and probably you'd laugh at that and say, you don't know what poor is, Brother Mike. I have never enjoyed deep poverty or poverty or anything close, and I've never enjoyed affliction. Where is the abundance of this joy? Grace! Not abstract. Not something over here, theologically. It's God Himself is the source of grace. And when that fellowship flows, their joy expands, and then it, in excess, starts going out in love. This is what Paul is saying. As he fellowships in the gospel, or in God Himself, the Father and the Son, the family, He has this overflow that wants to embrace others, so he's willing to serve. He's willing to sacrifice. He's willing to give up rights. He's willing to say, keep your money. He's willing to do whatever it lawfully takes because he wants his joy to expand in love toward others. Now that works in a lot of different contexts, doesn't it? Husband's expanding joy to your wife. which is called love, wives to your husbands, parents to children, children to parents, family members and church members. So we don't have to confine it to evangelism, but that's what Paul is talking about. He wants the share he has with God himself by grace, then to move out in joy and love for others, so he's doing whatever it takes lawfully, not to hinder the gospel. And in this case, money, his right, he thought would have hindered. People would have said, I'm not listening to Paul. I mean, he's driving a yellow convertible, a Corvette, and all these poor people. He wants us to listen to that. He's just in it for the money. He says, keep your Corvette. Just a modern day example. Keep your money. It's my right, but brothers here, I think it'd be better that I build tents. Why, Paul? I want to gain their ear. I want them to listen to what I have to say. I don't want to unnecessarily close their ears. Why, Paul? I want them to share in the grace of God. It's such a joy, such a delight to be in the family of God. And I know God's calling people. He's calling people from all walks of life. I want to be there. I don't want them to go down the street when I had the opportunity because I unnecessarily offended them and somebody else take that joyful role of being that participant. Of course, God uses many different people in this plan. Oh, that we were like Paul. And we can be. We can grow in that. Because that's why Paul is saying all this to the Corinthian church. Remember, they had the ego of, I am a Paul, I am a Paulus, I am Cephas. There was strife and envy in the church and all these problems because of that first thing we saw in chapter 1, the I that needed to be put to death. Needed to be put to death. So Paul is, we're not gonna cover today, gonna cover how to put that to death. How is this sustained? Paul, how do you sustain a life of service like that? Where every city you go to, you're giving things up, you're serving people, and it just was sustained over the long haul. Because grace came to him as he ran a race. And he's going to use an athletic context to show us how grace can sustain us and the means of sustaining us when we look at the principles of what athletes do. He knew that they understood that. He knew that they had been to those games and watched those races and knew about training. And so he just takes a natural illustration, pulls it into the context and says, spiritually, This is what we need to do. Spiritually, this is how you sustain over the long haul a lifestyle that gives God honor, that's by the grace of God, because this is what Paul does for the gospel's sake, that he might be a joint partaker of that fellowship with God as he goes out to others in joy and in loving them. And then as they come in, what was Paul saying? His joy was expanding as more people turned to Christ. That's why he rejoiced in suffering. That's why he rejoiced to sacrifice. He's a strange man, isn't he? I rejoice in my sufferings for you. Why, Paul? Gospel's sake. I rejoice to sacrifice for you. Why, Paul? Gospel's sake. gospel sake. Oh may the Holy Spirit produce in us again and again this impulse of delight and fellowship with God that wants to share that with the family of God, whether it be the family here or those that are not yet in the family, haven't come to faith, the elect of God, but they haven't come to faith. So they're not children yet by definition. because we all have the power to be called the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Let's pray.