[0:00] Well, tonight we have come back to 1 Corinthians, and we're finishing out chapter 3. All throughout chapter 3, God has been, through Paul, showing us His wisdom.
[0:16] There are divisions in the Corinthian church, and those divisions have been fueled by proud hearts, thinking in foolish ways, as the world does.
[0:27] And so Paul is driving home this point. That we have no reason to boast, and therefore, we have no reason to be divided. And Paul is about to make that point yet again here in chapter 3.
[0:41] And he's been making this point all throughout the chapter by way of illustration. We've seen the first two together. The first one was this illustration involving babies, verses 1 to 4.
[0:53] However, infants in Christ are prone to have their minds set on earthly things. Then that leads us to pride. Whereas maturing Christians have their minds set on heavenly things, and that leads to humility.
[1:08] And so we see that God is the one who is sovereignly at work in our lives, and that we have nothing in ourselves to boast in. Which then leads us into the second illustration. And that is that God brings the growth, as we are like crops that have been planted in a field.
[1:24] And Paul is one, perhaps, planted, and as a Paulist, watered. And yet, God is the one who brought that growth. We see that illustration in verses 5 through 9. Well, now tonight, we're given two more illustrations, and then we're given a conclusion.
[1:39] And the illustrations are meant to point us to that conclusion, which is, yet again, something Paul has been driving home. No reason that we have to boast in ourselves.
[1:52] So two illustrations and a conclusion. That's where we're going this evening. So the first illustration, that of a building. We see it here in verses 10 to 15.
[2:04] Now, we should see a lot of parallels between this illustration and the previous one, the one about crops in a field. Paul himself has brought these illustrations together.
[2:16] He did it in verse 9. You are God's field, God's building. So in the crop illustration, Paul planted. Now here in the building illustration, we see in verse 10, Paul laid the foundation.
[2:32] Both illustrations bring out that idea that he did this initial work. And then also both bring out the idea that others continued the work. Apollos watered.
[2:44] We see that in the initial planting illustration. And now we see in this illustration, others built on the foundation that Paul had laid. So these illustrations, a field of crops and a building, they're very similar in those ways.
[2:59] And both are driving home this reality. God deserves the credit. God deserves the glory. And so without skipping a beat, Paul has been continuing with the theme of humility.
[3:14] But we might say, now wait a second. Hold on. Look how Paul describes himself. He says there in verse 10, Like a skilled master builder, I laid the foundation.
[3:27] Or you could say like an expert builder. We might be thinking, Paul sounds like he's boasting in himself. Paul certainly sounds like he's elevating himself.
[3:38] He's saying, I'm good at what I do. Don't you see that? I know how to lay a foundation well. Making sure that house is level. That its weight will be distributed properly.
[3:50] That it will stay upright. Making sure the house won't begin to sink or have any cracks where water could get in and cause great damage. Paul is saying, I'm a skilled builder.
[4:01] When it comes to laying a foundation for the church. When it comes to preaching Christ in a city or a region where the gospel has not yet come. I'm good at doing that.
[4:13] And seeing a church planted. There were times that Paul actually avoided going to places that the gospel had already been proclaimed. He says as much in Romans 15, 20.
[4:26] And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel. Not where Christ has already been named. Lest I build on someone else's foundation. There's no problem with building on someone else's foundation.
[4:39] That's good work. That needs to be done. Apollos did that good work in Corinth. But Paul knows he's a skilled master builder when it comes to expertly laying foundations.
[4:53] So he's often looking to do that work. Say you need to wire a house after the foundation had been laid. But you wouldn't go and ask the foundation contractor to do that work.
[5:04] You would ask a skilled electrician. So Paul specialized in laying foundations and being that one to first go and preach the gospel. To bring the good news about Jesus Christ.
[5:16] And to gather newly converted Christians together to form a local church. And then after a time, he would move on to lay another foundation.
[5:27] So he recognized that he was good at it. That he's a skilled builder. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Paul was proud. Now, calling yourself good at something certainly could arise from a proud heart.
[5:42] But that's not the case here. Think about Paul's whole point in this passage. His whole point is to deflect praise away from himself.
[5:53] Away from other leaders in the church. And instead to encourage humility among the people in Corinth. And to do that, he's even putting himself forward as an example to them of humility.
[6:07] And that humility is shown to us in verse 10. Look at the first words of Paul in that illustration. According to the grace of God given to me.
[6:19] Because God has equipped me. Because God has given me skill. Because God has made me as I am. I laid a foundation like a skilled master builder.
[6:32] Paul is not boasting in his skill. He's simply recognizing his skill while giving the credit to the Lord. Now we see this in Paul.
[6:43] That he is skilled. We see it all over the book of Acts. He is good at laying foundations. He's good at seeing local churches spring up. Where previously there was no gospel light at all.
[6:56] Paul is simply recognizing his skill. And at the very same time saying, That skill was given to me. By the grace of God, I do my job well. Do you remember in the book of Exodus?
[7:09] When God was given the instructions for building the tabernacle. That mobile temple. That would travel around in the wilderness with the people of Israel.
[7:20] Or when God in Exodus was giving the instructions for the garments that the priest would wear into the tabernacle. God gave very, very detailed instructions in the book of Exodus.
[7:32] And in those instructions, God expected excellence. He expected the tabernacle to be made with skill. He expected the priestly garments to be made with skill.
[7:46] He would say things like, You shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns. You shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them.
[8:01] Or he would say, You shall make a breast piece of judgment in skilled work. And you shall make two rings of gold and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod.
[8:13] At its seam above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. God expected skillful workers. And God made those workers skillful.
[8:26] Exodus 36.2 reads, And Moses called Bezalel and Ohaliab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill.
[8:39] Everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. So do you see the similarity between Paul's words here to the Corinthians and the tabernacle instructions in Exodus?
[8:52] Skillful workers given their skill by God. Now we began tonight by dividing our text into two illustrations.
[9:04] That of a building. That of a temple. But perhaps we should see the building here in verses 10 to 15 as a temple.
[9:15] Paul certainly seems to have a temple already in mind even if he's not yet using that word. Like those given skill to build the mobile temple. So too had God given skill to Paul in his planting of churches.
[9:32] And those churches are God's temple now. Where God dwells. Where God's presence is. His presence is in us. His presence is among us. And we're going to see more of that soon enough in this passage.
[9:44] But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We are technically still only here in verse 10. Where Paul is drawing our attention to his role in God's building of the church.
[9:54] And Paul is saying here, God gave me the grace to do this job. He's making the same basic point that he did back in that crop illustration in the previous verses.
[10:06] Look at verse 5. Paul says, So God assigned Paul's role.
[10:22] It was given by God. And that implies that Paul was equipped by God to do a good job of planting the crops in the field. Paul was equipped by God to do a good job of laying the foundation of the building.
[10:35] He's testifying to the grace of God. And that's evidence of Paul's humility. But here's some more evidence of that humility as well. He says that he laid the foundation and someone else is building upon it.
[10:51] There's a real humility in that too. We have some young builders in the Horn household. Legos, Duplos, Magnetiles, building blocks.
[11:02] The list could go on and on. Lots of building materials. That is utilized by some small children. And as you can imagine, there are times that creations get made. And a certain someone who is two years old and named Mac, who is not in the room.
[11:17] So I'm going to say his name. Will come along and he will break down those creations. And of course, that is very distressing to a child who just created something that's a work of art. But there are other times that it's not someone destroying a creation, but someone else comes along and alters a creation.
[11:36] Or they build upon that creation. And they do a good job of it. It looks even perhaps improved upon from the original. That is a tough pill to swallow for the original builder.
[11:47] That child is thinking, I worked hard to build that. I really didn't want my sibling to touch it. And so there's a real humility. There's a real servant-heartedness when on the rarest of occasions, that contribution is warmly received by the original builder.
[12:04] That's the kind of spirit that we see here in Paul. He isn't running around the house, holding his creation above his head, fleeing his little siblings who want to join in his creation effort, his building project.
[12:19] Paul is making no criticism of others who are building upon what he's done. Paul doesn't claim that he is somehow the final authority over this church that he planted.
[12:30] Like those seagulls in the movie Finding Nemo, he's not saying, Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. It's not as though he's saying, Oh, all these other church leaders, they're ruining my good work.
[12:43] Now it's entirely possible that church leaders will build poorly upon the foundation. We're going to see that possibility arise very soon in this text. Paul takes issue with that.
[12:54] Paul does not want that. He doesn't endorse that. He's going to strongly caution us to guard against that. But Paul does not take issue with the faithful contributions that are made from others to his work.
[13:08] He's not hoarding these Corinthians as his own because he laid the foundation and he did a good job of that. We see that he takes an opportunity here to promote unity, to promote teamwork in this building project called the local church.
[13:24] He's warmly welcoming other hands to build upon his work. There is a humility in that. The Corinthian church is not Paul's church any more than it was Apollo's church or Peter's church or any other ordinary human leader.
[13:42] It is Christ's church. The body of believers belong to God. And Paul is glad to see the Lord using other faithful men in the building up of the Corinthian believers.
[13:56] So for church leaders, for pastors, teachers, we really have no reason to boast in any success in our ministry. God gives the skill in the building.
[14:08] God uses many faithful individuals in those building efforts. What one man starts, another continues by the same sustaining grace of God.
[14:19] Did we not just pray this morning for Christian compassion ministries? May God continue that good work even when Brian and Nessie Ellis go to be with the Lord.
[14:30] Now many of us here tonight are not pastors, perhaps not teachers. Many of us are not necessarily leaders in the church that Paul primarily has in mind here.
[14:41] But there is application for all of us in this passage who are in Christ. Beyond just those of us who preach and teach. Because the Bible calls for all of us to do the work of building up the body of Christ.
[14:59] God gives leaders. God gives pastors today to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So we aren't all doing the equipping, but we are all doing the work of ministry.
[15:13] That a healthy body of believers would be working together, building itself up in love. That's what Paul speaks of in another letter that he wrote. The letter to the Ephesians.
[15:24] At chapter 4, beginning in verse 15, we read, We are all involved in that building up of the body in love.
[15:55] The body itself is doing that good work. So Paul here may be talking about leaders in 1 Corinthians 3, but the application certainly flows to all of us.
[16:07] God gives grace to all of us to do our part, to use our gifts, to serve in the body. We're going to see more of that in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
[16:20] Listen to how Paul writes there. It's very similar to how he writes here in chapter 3. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord.
[16:34] And there are varieties of activities, but it's the same God who empowers them all in everyone. The same God who empowers them all in everyone.
[16:47] God is the one who empowers all of us. Everyone, Paul says, in serving in the body, in our seeing to it that the body builds itself up in love.
[17:00] That same God who empowers them all in everyone. Or as Romans 12, 6 says, Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.
[17:13] That sounds like 1 Corinthians 3, 10, doesn't it? According to the grace of God given to me. So there's a real comfort here for us in knowing it's God who equips.
[17:26] It's God who enables. It is God who gives the grace. And so we can rest in his sovereign power which is at work in our lives.
[17:37] So there's a word of comfort that's given to us here in the first half of verse 10. But then in the second half, we have a word that challenges us.
[17:48] Do you see what follows in verse 10? Paul says, Let each one take care how he builds upon it. There is a grand mystery here.
[18:00] A mystery that we can often speak of in lots of contexts. God's sovereignty and human responsibility. Those two realities are friends. Just like Charles Spurgeon says.
[18:12] And so friends are not needing to be reconciled. Friends are not competing against each other. There isn't some kind of contradiction here. But there is a bit of a mystery. God gives the grace.
[18:25] God gives the skill. And yet you and I are called to be skillful. You and I are called to be careful how we build.
[18:37] God works in us as we work out our salvation. Philippians 2 says. God gives the grace to build as we build carefully.
[18:48] So you trust God that he is and that he will continue to give grace in this building project. And you employ every skill that God has given you to do it skillfully.
[19:00] So the question for us here is this. Are we careful in how we build? Or to stick close to the illustration here.
[19:12] What kinds of materials are you using to build? Now again, Paul's primary thinking here is of leaders in the church like himself and Apollos, like pastors and teachers today.
[19:26] But the principle is still certainly applicable to all of us. How careful are we in building up the body of Christ? What kinds of materials are we using? What kinds of materials are we using to build upon the solid, firm foundation that's already been laid?
[19:44] That foundation being Jesus Christ. That foundation's been laid by people like Paul. The apostles and prophets and evangelists. They've already laid the foundation for the church.
[19:56] We see their work in the book of Acts. We read of their work throughout the New Testament letters. We are not relaying that foundation. It has already been done.
[20:07] So if there is any other foundation that's being laid, well, that's not true Christianity. We're talking about something else that is not of God. We're talking about a different gospel.
[20:19] Or as Paul goes on to say in Galatians 1, not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. So no other gospel, no other foundation.
[20:33] That work is complete. So now what we are doing is building upon that completed work. That's Paul's point in verse 11. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
[20:49] So we need to concern ourselves with how are we contributing or building on that foundation. Are we careful builders? Are we wise in the materials that we're using?
[21:03] Paul lists some materials for us here in verse 12. He says gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw. That is quite a variety of materials listed here.
[21:17] I'm no builder, but I can tell that these are not all alike. Not all of these materials are equally good and useful. Kids, you're familiar with the story of the three little pigs, right?
[21:31] Three pigs are in danger from the big bad wolf. And so they set out to build their homes, but they build those homes with different materials, don't they?
[21:42] And the first pig goes and he builds his house with straw. And then the second pig builds his house with sticks. And the third pig goes and he builds his house with bricks.
[21:53] Then that big bad wolf comes along, he huffs, he puffs, and he blows down the first house. And then he blows down the second house, but he can't blow down that third house because that third house is built with different materials.
[22:06] I'm not really sure what the moral of that story actually is, but it applies well to this passage. Those were poor building materials, but the third one was wise in what he built with.
[22:19] He had some strong bricks. The building materials that those little pigs used mattered. The same is true in the church. The building materials matter. However, hay and stubble, they are a whole lot like sticks and straw, aren't they, kids?
[22:35] Those are poor building materials. That is sloppy work to use those building materials in the building project of the local church. So what in reality does this part of the illustration apply to, relate to?
[22:49] What does it look like for leaders in the church to build with hay and with straw? What has Paul been talking about all through these chapters? It is preaching worldly wisdom.
[23:02] It's leading with pride. It's leading in such a way that fosters that kind of jealousy and strife and conflict and division that we see that the Corinthians are doing.
[23:15] The body of Christ will suffer when its leaders build with this kind of material. And that sloppy work will show up in the inspection. The inspector, capital I, inspector, will not miss that kind of work.
[23:32] Verse 13 says, Each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
[23:47] Those poor building materials will be exposed for what they are. God will expose them with fire, the text says, on the day. This is not just any day that Paul is talking about here.
[24:00] He's talking about the day of the Lord. He's talking about when Christ returns in all of His power and all of His glory. And those works will be exposed with fire on that day.
[24:13] Now, this is not the fire of condemnation that we might associate with hell. Paul is not talking about that fire. This is refining fire that burns away impurities.
[24:25] It is testing the genuineness of those works. And verse 14 tells us the results of this testing. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
[24:40] If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. So the worker who builds with the flimsy materials, he himself won't lose his soul, but his works that were done, those works will be lost.
[24:59] There is no reward to be received for those works. So again, this isn't about salvation. This is not reward versus punishment. This is reward versus no reward.
[25:13] The works that were done with good building materials, though, now those works, God says, will survive. And reward will await that worker.
[25:24] So materials like gold and silver and precious stones and even wood. We can put wood, perhaps, even in that category. They are much better building materials than hay and straw.
[25:38] And so how we, as your pastors, need to build with that kind of material. So pray for us. And I know that you do.
[25:50] Pray for us. That we would preach Christ. That we would preach the message of the cross. That our doctrine would be sound. That we would be grounded in the word of God.
[26:03] Pray for us that we wouldn't care for the opinions of men, which can be enticing to us, but that we would care for the unchanging truth of God's word. And pray for us that our lives would be shaped by that biblical truth, with all humility.
[26:18] With an aim not to lead in the self-promoting wisdom of the world, but in the wisdom that God gives. Where that spotlight shines brightly, not on ourselves, but it shines brightly on Christ, the head of the body.
[26:34] And we're enraptured with him, and we want to see him magnified. It's then that the body will be equipped for the work of ministry. It's then that the body will build itself up in love, and in unity, and in joy, and maturity in Christ.
[26:51] That's the kind of building materials that we want to, that we ought to be using. Gold, silver, precious stones, and even wood. And you might be thinking, wood, really?
[27:02] I'm struggling with wood. Wood and fire don't go well together. Doesn't wood burn in fire? So why would wood be considered a good building material?
[27:13] Because Solomon built something with gold, with silver, with precious stones, and even with wood. He constructed a building.
[27:24] He constructed the temple, didn't he? So here Paul is bringing to mind the temple again. Solomon used gold and silver and precious stones, and he used timber from those mighty cedars of Lebanon to build the temple.
[27:41] So why is Paul bringing the temple to mind again? Well, Paul explains for us in verses 16 and 17. This is the second illustration that really ties in with the first.
[27:53] Let's read verses 16 and 17 together. Do you not know that you are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.
[28:06] For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. So Paul can't help but to think of the temple as he talks about us, the church.
[28:18] Because now we are the dwelling place of God. We are where God resides by his Spirit. And so in the same way that God cared greatly how the temple was constructed, so too does he care greatly about how we are built up as the body of Christ.
[28:41] The temple was a special place for God. It was sacred. It was holy. It was set apart. And now we, as his people, are holy, set apart, special, God's treasured possession, beloved by him.
[28:59] So in the same way that you couldn't just treat the temple however you wanted, and it was fine, so too can you not treat God's people any way that you want, and it's fine.
[29:09] Because what does Paul say here? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. That is a sobering warning, and it shows the great value that God places upon his temple, his people.
[29:30] Those there are sobering words for us who lead in the church, for pastors especially today. So whether we care for the people of God, or whether we fail in that care that's been entrusted to us, all of that is seen by God, all of that is known by God, it's noted by God.
[29:48] And so we ought to, as pastors, build with care for the sake of the church. Now Paul uses the idea of being rewarded as motivation.
[30:01] That's become somewhat unpopular to talk about in some circles. This being rewarded as motivation for obedience. It's as though any talk of motivation to obey is somehow diminishing the role of God's grace.
[30:19] Or somehow it's setting us up to believe in works-based salvation. That we shouldn't believe in a works-based salvation. That's true. We shouldn't believe that God's grace is absent in our efforts to obey.
[30:33] And we also shouldn't ignore or downplay heavenly rewards. Paul certainly doesn't. Paul uses the idea of being rewarded as healthy motivation for us to obey, for faithful service to him.
[30:51] Now again, Paul is talking about rewards for leaders in the church here in chapter 3. But we see in other places of scripture that being rewarded for faithful service extends to all of us as Christians.
[31:03] like in Paul's second letter that we have to the Corinthians. Chapter 5. Beginning in verse 9. Listen to what Paul says there. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
[31:18] That is the Lord. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
[31:30] So again, here Paul is not talking about salvation versus condemnation. That wouldn't make sense in the context. You and I have done nothing in the body, as Paul says, that would make it so that we should receive salvation.
[31:45] We understand that to be the case. So Paul is talking here about the manner in which we have lived as Christians. We see that in verse 9. We make it our aim to please God.
[31:57] So only Christians make it their aim to please God. Only Christians can make it their aim to please God. What does Romans 8.8 say? Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
[32:10] And so we as Christians, we will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ and there are rewards in store for those works done in faithful service to God.
[32:21] We'll be rewarded for those works that were done that were seeking to please God. Jesus Christ himself in his teaching ministry often spoke of rewards.
[32:37] He would speak of rewards that awaited in heaven for the things that were done in secret. In contrast to the Pharisees who did everything out in the open so that they could be rewarded by receiving the praise of men.
[32:50] And over and over again, Jesus would say, don't go after those rewards. Don't go after what the world wants you to have or the awards or rewards that the world would say. Go after those rewards in heaven.
[33:03] And so obey the Father and obey him in secret. Or think about the parable of the tenants or the talents in Matthew 25. What did the master say to the servant who took his five talents and made five more talents?
[33:18] Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.
[33:29] So great rewards await us as Christians in heaven. And what greater reward is there than to enter into the joy of our master? How we will enjoy him for all of eternity.
[33:43] So we need to remember there are real rewards that await Christians in heaven. Are you seeking those rewards? We're going to see soon enough Paul saying, I ran the race for the prize.
[33:56] Are you running the race for the prize? You know you have enemies that are trying to distract you. The world, the flesh, the devil.
[34:09] They want you to take your eyes off of any heavenly rewards. Forget what you may gain in eternity. Hoard up whatever you can here. Get what you can in this life.
[34:20] Take the rewards that you can have now. And if it means competing against others to get that, then it's a dog-eat-dog world. So you should get what you can. Don't let the world's flimsy, short-term rewards distract you from storing up treasures in heaven.
[34:39] Because as we forget about the rewards of heaven, guess what we'll also do? We will also build much less carefully. And so the Bible makes it clear that we have real motivation to live faithfully before the Lord.
[34:56] We have real motivation to build with care. Even as we know that we live faithfully in God's sovereign strength. We build carefully in His sovereign strength.
[35:10] We do all of this according to the grace that God has given to us. And then we don't try to unravel the mystery of what God has simply not told us.
[35:21] So we work hard knowing that it is God who works in us. Or as Paul says later in 1 Corinthians 15.10, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
[35:38] And so we can and we should look forward to a great reward in heaven. Knowing that any reward that's gained is gained in the grace that God supplies.
[35:50] And as we remember that grace of God, what effect should that have on us? That should keep us from boasting in ourselves. And that brings us to the conclusion.
[36:01] We have no reason to boast. Let's look again at verses 18 to 23. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
[36:17] For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile. So let no one boast in men.
[36:29] For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours.
[36:40] And you are Christ's and Christ is God's. We have no reason to think foolishly like the world.
[36:51] We have no reason to boast in ourselves. Paul has literally torn down every possible argument that could be made. Leaders in the church are simply God's servants, his workers, his builders.
[37:07] They belong to him. The church herself, God's field, God's temple, God's building, the church belongs to him. And so there's no place for sinful competition, for rivalries, for jealousy, for strife among leaders in the church or among the people in the church.
[37:28] The work has been accomplished and it was accomplished by God. so that even the rewards that are received are received by God's grace.
[37:40] Which is why it's so fitting when we think about Revelation 4. Those crowns that are worn by the 24 elders worshipping around the throne, what happens with those crowns?
[37:50] Those crowns are cast back at God's feet because God is so worthy of them. Those crowns rightly belong to him. The rewards belong to him.
[38:02] The leaders in the church belong to him. The church itself belongs to him. Everything has been given by God and everything belongs to God. So we have no reason to boast.
[38:13] And really, if we think about it, we have no need to boast. No reason and no need. Why be jealous?
[38:25] Why should there be strife? Why should there be divisions? Look at what you have. God has given you everything. Verse 21 says, all things are yours.
[38:39] Let that sink in. All things are yours. We can't miss that. So what you have has been graciously given to you.
[38:50] And what we have is all things. And all things belong to us and we belong to God. So do you see the oneness that Paul is bringing out? Do you see the unity that Paul is bringing out?
[39:03] It's not that, well, you have some things and you have some other things and you have some other things and so now we can compete against each other to get those things from each other, take what we have to to get those things so I can amass more.
[39:17] No, Paul is saying all things belong to you together. All things belong to you and you belong to Christ together. It's not about one-upping each other.
[39:29] It's not about serving ourselves but together serving the Lord. And in humble worship and in humble wonder with no reason to boast in ourselves, we look to God.
[39:43] What we have is graciously given by Him. No need to boast in ourselves. God has given us everything and He is the greatest of rewards and to Him alone belongs the glory.
[39:58] Let's pray together. Father God, what grace You have given to us. How You have lavished us with Your grace.
[40:10] How You have seated us in the heavenly places with Christ and how we adore You for how You have treated us undeserving sinners that we were. You looked upon us and saved us in Your mercy and You looked upon us and You gave us so much that we so did not deserve.
[40:29] So Father, we pray that even tonight You would be at work in the hearts of those who are far from You. That in Your grace You would save them and bring them to Yourself.
[40:39] That they would look to Christ, see Him as their only hope of salvation and live. And then we pray that You would continue to be at work in our body. That You would build us up in love. That we might be working properly to that end.
[40:54] That we might be looking to You and seeing You as the greatest of rewards. And that we would work hard. That we would build carefully. That we might receive reward from You one day.
[41:06] We thank You, Father, that You give us grace. We pray that You would send us from here in that grace that we might live for You. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.