Being Available for God’s Purposes

Listen Online:

Watch Online:

Transcript:

I’ve asked Kinsey to put a photo up on the screen for you as soon as we can get there. Hopefully you can see it from where you are. But what you’re looking at here is a group of British soldiers wading out into the ocean to climb on board a yacht.

This is what they called Operation Dynamo, which was the evacuation of Dunkirk in May and June of 1940. the Nazis had the British and French forces surrounded on this little spit of land that kind of jutted out into the English Channel. And so they were surrounded on all sides, either by the ocean or by the Nazi forces.

And they were just waiting to be annihilated. They were waiting to be overrun. There were some decisions that Hitler made that kind of slowed things down.

I don’t know if he was kind of toying with them or not. But it was still a desperate situation that they saw no way out of. They didn’t have enough ships to evacuate.

There were almost 340,000 men that were stuck there. It would have been the end of the British military if they had been overrun. So Churchill and the others in British leadership put out the call for anybody who was available, Anybody that had any kind of boat, if you had a fishing boat, if you had a yacht, if you had a little motorboat, they sent the car ferries down there.

They sent the boats that shuttled people back and forth on the Thames River. Anything that could float, they sent across. And the people responded.

They dropped everything that they were doing. If they had a boat, they went. It didn’t matter if they needed to fish to make money that day.

They dropped their nets and they took their across to the French coast, and they started loading up soldiers. The car ferries dropped off the cars and went and picked up soldiers. Everybody that could dropped everything they were doing and said yes and went across.

They were available when the call came. And as a result, over 300,000 British troops escaped across the English Channel, went back to England, and prepared for what would be the Normandy invasion in 1944. But this wouldn’t have been possible.

There would have been a massive loss of life. The war would have been extended by many years and maybe would have gone the other way. Had regular, that’s what I thought about, was this need for regular people to be available and respond to the call of God, to be available to be used when God says, now here’s what I want you to do.

We’re going to be in 1 Corinthians 16 this morning. If you’re with us today for the first time, we’re glad you’re here. We’ve been studying our way through 1 Corinthians.

I can’t talk louder than this. Lord, you’re going to have to help me out. I haven’t used my teacher voice in about 10 years.

We’ve been studying our way through 1 Corinthians, and we are now to the very end of it. Now, from here on out, we’re going to go into a study of spiritual disciplines, But this is where we end 1 Corinthians, is with the Apostle Paul giving the conclusions to his letter. But this is a theme that we see through here.

I gave an introduction to the book of James on Wednesday night and mentioned to those who were there that some of these letters that are in Scripture, these are the hardest parts to find anything to do with. The introductions and the conclusions. Because especially with the conclusions, it’s just a bunch of thoughts stuck together.

Oh yeah, say this to this guy. Oh yeah, you need to do this. It’s the instructions he doesn’t want to forget and puts together there at the end.

But as I read it and reread it, I realized there’s this common theme of people being available. And so we’re going to go there to 1 Corinthians 16. If you’ll turn there with me and if you’ll stand once you find it as we read together from God’s Word.

If you don’t have your Bible or can’t find 1 Corinthians 16, it’ll be on the screen for you. Follow along with me as we read. He says, Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.

On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem. And if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.

But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go. For I do not wish to see you now just in passing, for I hope to remain with you for some time if the Lord permits. But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the Lord’s work as I also am. So let no one despise him, but send him on his way in peace so that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brethren. But concerning Apollos, our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brethren, and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity.

Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men.

Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Now I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the firstfruits of Achaia, and they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints, that you also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.

I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking on your part, for they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men. The churches of Asia greet you.

Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house. All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

The greeting is in my own hand, Paul. If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. And you may be seated.

It’s a long passage, but you can hopefully see where it would be difficult to divide it up into smaller things. It’s all one conclusion. Paul has come to the end of his letter, and he’s giving them closing thoughts.

He’s just finished chapter 15 that we read about where he spent all this time dealing with the resurrection of Jesus and everything that it means for us. The certainty of our faith, the assurance that we have of a future resurrection and eternal life. And then he turns and says, here’s my closing.

And it can be a little jarring too. When Paul’s letter to Corinth has been kind of harsh through some of what we’ve read, they’ve had serious problems that he’s had to deal with. And then he turns and tells them how much he loves them and can’t wait to see them, can’t wait to be with them.

But ultimately, this is a list that he gives them of examples of people who are being available for God’s service. And we know that in their day, the kingdom advanced because people made themselves available for God’s purposes. Now, I want to be very clear.

God doesn’t need us in the sense that He can’t do it without us. Paul told the pagans in Athens in Acts chapter 17 that God is not dependent on us, that God doesn’t need anything from us. And yet God also reveals that He chooses to use us.

Consider that, that God has called you, if you’re a believer in Christ, God has called you into service not because He needs you, but because He wants you. Because He wants to use you. And these people made themselves available for God’s purposes, and God used them to move the kingdom forward.

We see some examples that He lists here. And they’re mixed in with the things He’s telling Corinth to do that we’ll get to in just a moment. But Paul himself, even though he’s not meaning to brag, Paul is the first example of this.

Paul was willing to serve anywhere. I didn’t realize how small that print was going to be. Hopefully you can see it.

Paul was willing to serve anywhere. I mean, I had to sit down and draw this out to try to make sure I was understanding what he was telling them about where he was and where he was going because it was. .

. there’s so much that he throws in there in verses 4 through 9 about where he’s planning to go. So when he writes this to the church at Corinth, he’s in Ephesus.

He’s currently serving there. And what we see in verses 8 and 9 is that he’s staying there longer than he planned to. Paul had his plans in place of what he was going to do and then Paul says I’m going to be here longer because there’s an open door and lots of opposition and somehow those go hand in hand together in a way that I don’t fully understand but he says God is doing something here and I want to be here where God is at work so I’m going to stay longer than I had planned to but even as he’s at Ephesus he’s saying next I’m going to Macedonia that’s where that’s where God is leading me next but even as he’s planning to go to Macedonia.

He’s also got this plan to leave Macedonia and go to Corinth. And he tells the Corinthians, who he’s just spent 15 chapters telling everything that was wrong that they were doing. He says, I can’t wait to see you and I don’t want it to just be a quick trip.

I want to spend some time with you. So he’s open to going and staying at Corinth, even though some of the people are not going to be happy with him over what he’s just said. He’s planning to go to Corinth and stay as long as he’s needed.

And then he even tells the Corinthians, when you send your collection to Jerusalem to help out with the needs there, you send some people. If the Lord leads, I’ll even go with them. So I can’t even keep track.

Paul’s almost like, Paul’s almost hyperactive here in his plans for where he could go and where he’s willing to go. But what we get is the sense that Paul is willing to go anywhere God opens the door. And that’s an incredible thing to be willing to do in reality.

I think a lot of times we’ll say that we’re willing to go anywhere. We’re willing to go wherever God leads, but when it comes time actually to do it, it’s a much harder thing to do than to say. But Paul was willing, and Paul showed throughout his ministry that he actually was willing to go anywhere.

We see Timothy as the second example of this. Timothy was willing to serve in uncomfortable places. There’s a lot about these details that we don’t know because we weren’t there at Corinth.

We can guess, but something tells me the Corinthians knew exactly what Paul was talking about and exactly why Timothy would have reason to be worried about going there. But as we read between the lines, we can see that Timothy had some kind of anxiety about going to Corinth. Again, we don’t know exactly what it was, but I’ve been to serve at some churches that should have given me anxiety to think about going there.

I’ve told some of you the story of the first church I pastored that I just went there to fill in one day before I was ever their pastor. And another friend of mine who had been there to fill in said, oh, I heard you’re going such and such place. You better take Jesus with you because he ain’t there.

A slight exaggeration. All right. There are some places that because of their reputation, people get a little anxious about going to serve there.

And it’s very likely with everything that Paul has just described over 15 chapters that Timothy would have had some real anxiety about going and serving at Corinth. That this was not going to be a fun experience for him. And yet Timothy is willing to come anyway.

We see in verses 10 and 11 that Paul basically says, Timothy is coming. I expect him to be there when the other brethren come through. Be good to him.

But even with no assurance of how the Corinthians were going to act, Timothy was willing to go and serve in uncomfortable places. Not every place that God calls us to serve. And when I say us, I don’t just mean the preachers in the room, I mean believers.

Not every place God calls us to serve is going to be comfortable. Not every assignment is going to be pleasant. But Timothy was willing to go and serve in uncomfortable places.

Then he mentions Apollos in verse 12. Apollos was somebody who he had mentioned a few times earlier in this letter. As the people in Corinth were fighting over, I’m followers of Paul, I’m followers of Apollos.

I’m followers of Peter. And Paul’s answer was, it’s supposed to be about Jesus. Paul didn’t die for you.

Apollos didn’t die for you. Jesus died for you. Apollos was somebody that they were familiar with.

And Apollos was willing to go and serve contrary to his own desires. Because Paul mentions Apollos, you know, I mentioned to Apollos coming and he really wasn’t excited about coming. Apollos really didn’t have the desire to come to you, but he’s going to come when he has the opportunity.

And being written by Paul in this letter, you don’t get the sense that it’s one of those brush off things. Well, I’ll come when I get around to it. That Apollos really is going to come when God opens the door for him to come, even though it wasn’t really Apollos’s plan to come.

And I suspect that’s because Apollos was not comfortable with the division going on in his name either. That there were people so committed to following him that it was creating disunity in the church. Apollos probably didn’t want anything to do with that.

It’s very easy when the call of God sends us someplace that matches up with our own desires. When the call of God puts us in a role and doing something that matches up with our own desires. It’s a much different situation when God calls us to do something and we say, I have no desire to do that.

That’s the real test of whether we’re willing to follow him or not. And Apollos was an example here of serving the Lord contrary to his own desires. Then we see these men, Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus.

They were willing to serve beyond their earthly qualifications. We don’t know much about these men. We don’t know much about them at all, except they had come from the church at Corinth to minister to Paul in Ephesus.

On the surface, that may not seem like a big deal. But think about who the Apostle Paul is. Think about everything he knew. Think about his relationship with God.

Think about his reputation. Now imagine the inadequacy you would feel of being the guy that has to go minister to that guy. I know that feeling a little bit because I was called to preach as a teenager.

And immediately, as I was sent out to fill in places, as I was teaching lessons, as I was going to different churches, everybody that I was going and preaching to had been walking with Jesus longer than I’d been alive.

there are still in the I know eventually if I live long enough that will not be the case but there are people in our congregation who’ve been walking with god and have been studying the scriptures longer than I’ve been alive you want to talk about feeling inadequate to a task it’s like lord what do I tell these people that they don’t already know imagine being the guy that has to go minister to the apostle paul what do I tell him that he doesn’t already know how do I encourage him how do I build how do I down here build him up spiritually and yet they were willing to go and in reality that feeling of inadequacy is all in our minds because if God calls you to go and do something he’s going to equip you for that work and so these men that are barely footnotes in our bibles went and the great apostle Paul who wrote a big chunk of our bible who gave his life for the gospel, this man looked at these nobodies, if we can call them that, and said they were a tremendous encouragement to me.

There are times that God will call us to do things that on paper we don’t feel qualified for. And that’s the test. Do we trust him enough to follow through with what he’s called us to do? Do we trust that he’s got this even if we feel like we don’t?

And then in verses 19 and 20, we see the churches in Asia were willing to serve in small but meaningful ways. And when I say small, I mean small. The churches in Asia that Paul was around.

That doesn’t mean China, Japan, Korea. He was in western Turkey. What they called the province of Asia Minor.

The churches at Ephesus and Galatia, places like that. They sent their greetings to the people at Corinth. And that sounds so small.

But what it was was an acknowledgement that this church over here, with all the problems it had, for these people in this church, with all the problems that they had that everybody knew about, because don’t forget back at the beginning of this letter we see that word is getting back to paul and to the churches in asia of all the wickedness of all the stupidity going on at corinth everybody knows and by sending their greetings to the church at corinth they’re not just saying hey guys how are you that was an acknowledgement that you’re our brothers in christ and we know you’re going through something right now but you’re part of us and we’re part of you and it was an encouraging thing that they were remembered and they were recognized by those churches. So it was a little thing, sending word through Paul that, hey, these churches over here greet you.

But it was a meaningful gesture that they could have looked at them and said, this church is all messed up. We want nothing to do with them. We’re cutting fellowship with them.

Instead, it was, let’s encourage them while they get back on the right track. And so you see at least five examples of different people or groups of people who were willing and available to serve when God called them to. And mixed in with all of that are some ways that God called the people at Corinth to serve, that God spoke through Paul to call them to serve because all believers are called to be available to God.

It wasn’t just Paul and a few super spiritual people who worked with him. It was the little people in Corinth. It was the messed up people in Corinth.

They were called to serve just as much. And so there’s a few things in this chapter that he outlines that the Corinthians were called to do, to be available to God. Of course, Paul’s a preacher.

So in verses one through two, he starts out with the part about the offering. It says, make sure you take up an offering before I get there, not to line Paul’s pockets, but he says there’s ministry work to be done and that requires funds to do it. There’s work that need, there are missionaries that need to be sent out.

There are people that need to be sent to Jerusalem. There’s a need at Jerusalem. I think this was around the time that the church in Judea was suffering from a famine and they were sending relief.

And Paul said, don’t let this be an afterthought between now and the time that I get their plan and give and store up funds to support the work of the ministry. And that in all honesty, that is one of the hardest places to be available to God. And I’m speaking for myself.

That is one of the hardest places to be available to God is in my wallet. And yet he called them to be available and to support the work of the ministry. He moves on in verse 3 talking about sending the funds down to Jerusalem and says some of you are going to go.

Some of the people at Corinth were going to go to Jerusalem and take the money there to help with the needs, to help with the hungry people, but also to help spread the word in Jerusalem. Think about that. This church that was so messed up and these people who were so messed up that Paul had just spent 15 chapters.

That still kills me every time I think about it. 15 chapters he spent straightening these people out. That church that had more than enough of its own stuff to deal with.

Paul says, no, no, you still got work to do. You work on cleaning up your own house, but meanwhile, you are still serving the Lord. They were going to send missionaries back to Jerusalem.

Some of the people who were there at Corinth needed to be ready to go and serve elsewhere. That’ll also force you to get ready real quick. If you’re sort of flagging spiritually, you’re sort of coasting along, the realization that God wants you to go on some kind of mission work, whether being a long-term missionary, whether short-term work in a place that you’re not comfortable with, you don’t speak the language, that’ll get you ready real quick.

That will send you digging deeper into God’s Word. That’ll put you into a time of prayer. that’ll force you to get serious real quick because you recognize your reliance on God to do what he’s called you to do but he told him to be ready to go and serve elsewhere in verses 13 and 14 he tells them be on the alert in other words watch out because part of their problem was they’d been infiltrated by false teaching he said be on the alert watch out what’s being taught watch out for what’s being practiced be on guard he says stand firm in the faith don’t waver back and forth he says act like men.

And when it comes to our Christian faith, that goes for the women as well. That’s not just the men. He’s telling all of us to be strong and to be courageous, to stand up for what’s right.

He says, be strong and let all that you do be done in love. He’s telling them to pursue spiritual maturity. He’s saying, you’re grownups.

Act like it. Pursue a grownup spirituality, not one where you just do whatever you want, but one that is disciplined and one that strives to honor God. And to that end, he points them back to these people like the household of Stephanas and these men like Fortunatus and Stephanas and Achaicus.

And he tells them in verse 16 to be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors. Now, when he says be in subjection, he’s not talking about, oh, go be their slaves. He’s saying, listen to them.

What he’s telling them in terms of being aware, being available and being prepared is follow faithful example. if there are people around you who are walking with God if there are people around you who are growing in their faith if there are people around you who are speaking the truth and living the truth look to those people we know that Jesus is the ultimate example but sometimes it helps us to see it lived out in flesh and blood and so he says if there are people that are following the example of Christ and they’re growing if you see those people in your congregation look to those people and follow their example. It’s all right to look around you and find role models in your community of believers.

And he names some and tells them to be in subjection. Follow those people. Follow faithful examples.

And then we come to verses 20 through 24 where he closes with telling them to love the Lord and love one another. Because there’s a lot of stuff in here about greeting. There’s a lot of stuff about greeting one another with a holy kiss.

I think that’s a cultural thing. I’m good with a handshake if y’all are when I came here I had to get okay with hugging I’m not quite to this point yet but he tells them they’re supposed to they’re supposed to care about one another don’t you try it don’t try it by the way I mentioned not being a hugger and there’s there’s there’s somebody in this room that said I I have come and hugged you every sunday since then just to make a point do not come greet me with a holy kiss, alright? Don’t, don’t, just don’t.

But he wanted them to have genuine affection for one another. He wanted them to care about one another. Love the Lord and love one another.

That’s why all these greetings, he even says in verse 21, the greeting is in my own hand. We think from other things he wrote in other letters, we think that Paul had trouble with his eyesight. And a lot of times probably dictated his letters to a scribe who wrote it down on his behalf.

but Paul even says here at the end I’m writing this greeting myself because I want you to know that I care tells him in verse 22 if anyone does not love the Lord he is to be accursed maranatha that means come Lord Jesus tells him to love the Lord the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you my love be with you all in Christ Jesus it’s all about this love for the Lord and this love for one another that flows out of it and if we’re walking in a way that loves God first and loves our brethren second then we’re going to be available for what God calls us to do.

And the conclusion that I draw from this passage, as he goes through all of these people who are saying yes to God’s work and calls the people of Corinth to say yes to God’s work, in light of everything that we’ve read about everything else he said to the church at Corinth, everything he said about who Jesus is, it’s that if we truly believe Jesus is Lord, we must be available to follow Him wherever He leads. The idea of Him being Lord means that He’s in charge. If you are a believer, if you’re somebody who’s trusted Christ as your Savior, you’ve got to understand who He is and who He is as Lord.

And as much as we, and I’m here in this boat too, as much as we in our human nature want to section parts of our lives off and put them behind the caution tape and say, Lord, you can’t enter here. I’m in charge here. We can’t do that.

If He’s our Lord, He’s Lord of everything in our lives. If we truly look to Him as Lord, our answer to Him should be yes. Should be I’m available.

I say should be. I’m not saying this is always easy. I know from experience that it’s not.

You know from experience that it’s not. But it’s right. Jesus Christ died for our sins.

He bought us at the highest possible price. He went to the cross with no sin of His own. Nothing He did to deserve to be there.

And He was nailed to that cross in our place. He shed His blood on our behalf and He died to pay for our sins so that we could be forgiven, so that we could go free from the condemnation that we deserved because of our sin. And He didn’t just say that.

Three days later, He rose again from the dead to prove it. And because of what He’s done for us, He deserves to be followed. He deserves for our answer to be, yes, Lord.

Now, yes, Lord, is not how you get eternal life. It’s not how you get salvation.

but it’s something we should do once we have salvation is to be available to follow him wherever he leads but that starts with our need for salvation the recognition that we’ve all sinned against a holy God that each of us has done something at least once and in reality thousands of times we’ve done things that have disobeyed and disappointed God and because of that we are separated from God because he’s holy and we could spend eternity separated from God in hell but that’s not what he created us for that’s not what he created hell for you and I could never do enough good to erase the wrong that we’ve done and make things right with god and that’s why jesus came and paid for those sins in full what we could never make right he made right for us and where it starts for you is to acknowledge that fact stop acting like you’ll be good enough for god stop acting like god will just be happy with whatever you’re willing to offer him stop acting like you can get right with him through through your religious rituals and your good deeds and all these things and just recognize that your sin has separated you from God.

Believe that Jesus paid for it in full and rose from the dead and ask for God’s forgiveness and you’ll have it. That’s where this starts.