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166.
And and and.
All right, it's been a while.
And then it's about.
I, I, I'd like to consider it's, it's gonna be a lot of money, but I, I, I think it's 100%.
Umm.
Uh-huh.
Perhaps before we have more help, could we read just a few verses and acts?
Acts, chapter 4, verse 23.
And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that chief priests and elders had said unto them.
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth and sea, and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant. David had said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? Kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
On the verse 29.
And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant them to thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.
31 Middle of the verse. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. We asked for help.
Gracious God and our loving Father, give thee thanks that we know.
By Christ, the Lord Jesus is our Savior, the ones anointed by thee, the one who has all power in heaven and earth, and we do not claim have that power.
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Father among us, as in the early days of the Church here on earth, but we do know Him, Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has all power, and we ask now for Thy help, strength, and for a portion from thyself.
That, uh, would benefit each of our souls and.
Uh, that would help us to be a blessing to each other and to honor and glorify thyself and our Savior in this scene. And we pray too for those that are, that are persecuted and, uh, for those who live in places where they, uh, they know first hand the nation's raging and those who are set against the Lord of his Christ. So we commit them to thee and, uh, we.
Ask again for the help during these meetings and proportions for our souls. In this reading the name of the Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.
Could we, brethren, look at First Corinthians 3 and possibly 4?
With the mind of the brethren to us.
We're just reading Take up this written plan.
The First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 3.
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal.
For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not Carnal and Walker's men?
For while one saith I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal?
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos? That ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted Apollo's watered, but God gave the increase.
So then neither is he that planteth anything.
Neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that water us are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building.
According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master Builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he built it thereon thereupon.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abideth which he has built thereupon he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that spirit, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defiled the temple of God, him shall God destroy, For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
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Therefore let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, and ye are Christ's.
And Christ is God's.
Tremendous amount of breakfast cruises chapter that we read now. Uh.
The Apostle Paul is uh.
Was very concerned about the uh.
Statement was prevalent there in the city of Corinth, where he had labored for a year and a half.
They had come out of idolatry. They were Gentiles, very much affected by all the wisdom and philosophy of this world.
The apostle was much concerned about them.
There was a lot of things that needed correction there among the brethren.
Were divisions, there were sects, there were parties that were being formed. It was a lot of confidence and worldly wisdom. You know, the Greeks were at the top of the latter, so so to speak in the in the philosophy and the wisdom of man and the apostle exposes this.
So there was not a lot of growth. There was a lot of disorder in the assembly, as you see later on, there was more laxity. Uh, there were these divisions, as we mentioned, and there were wrong doctrines coming in. So, umm, it's a corrective epistle and, uh.
The apostle commends first of all in chapter one what he can commend.
Before he proceeds to.
Correct him to exhort. Turn back to the first chapter, verse two, unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. All Saints of all that in every place fall upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. So the apostle was confident that these were true believers.
Sanctified in Christ Jesus, that was their position set apart from the world.
And the apostle does not confine the teaching of this epistle only to Corinth. He says it's for all that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours, that brings in the thought of profession as well as reality. So, umm, there may have been a number in Corinth that took the name of Christ outwardly. They were, they professed to be believers.
But we're not genuine. There is that danger, there is that possibility. And so the apostle develops a lot of assembly administration in this epistle, but he brings out some very precious truths as to the body of Christ and, uh, assembly order and, umm, liberties that we have in Christ. And then the doctrinal side too, in the latter part of the epistle.
As our brother just pointed out, there are many different, umm, disorders that were prevalent in the Corinthian assembly and the Spirit of God is recorded the answer to these disorders in this epistle. And so Paul as an apostle had the authority. He could have gone and he said he could have gone with a rod. What will you will I come with a rod? But no, he wrote a letter in love and, uh, with many tears, he wrote this letter.
And seeking to address the different issues. And so there are approximately 10 different disorders that he addressed. And so we have in writing in the power of the spirit of what the answer is to these different questions. So instead in this chapter that we take up.
Why? It says the question of different parties and sects that have grown up and the support of them, and we have the principle of it brought out in Acts chapter 17. Let's just turn there and we'll see how these Gentiles conducted themselves.
Acts chapter 17 and umm, let's read from verse 16.
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Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him, and said, And some said, What will this babbler say others? Some he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gauze, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.
Well, we know that the Epicureans really took on thought their their basis of life was really emotional pleasure. And then the Stoics were had a line of things and they had followers, disciples and they had a different teaching. And so this was prevalent. Those that would rise up in prominence among the Greeks, they would gather a following and would have disciples. And so their particular philosophy of life would be followed. But that's not how God has arranged the assembly or organized the assembly, we might say, because Christ is the one.
That is to be the object of faith. And so if we have our eye upon any other man but Christ Jesus, why there's going to be a disorder. And so this is really what he brings out in this chapter that there was disorder because men that had really the heart of good shepherds and so on. They had a desire that the the the good teaching would go forth into the church, but they were put on pedestal. They were given a place that really wasn't theirs and so he.
Paul uses himself and Apollos as examples, you might say, not real example as types. And umm, Paul wasn't, uh, preaching sedition among the Saints. He wasn't seeking followers. Apollos wasn't seeking followers, but in a nice gentle way, what the apostle Paul does is he uses himself and Apollos as examples. And he says, for instance, if, uh, you know, there were those that would say, I am appalled and other.
In verse four, I am of Apollos. Are you not yet carnal? Well, this didn't actually happen. Perhaps that people said I am appalled, but he uses himself as an example. And so brethren, the warning in this chapter and as our brother has already alluded to, is that if we get to having parties in the assembly and among the brethren, why it brings in tremendous weak and weakness and it's a carnal thing. We ought to all be exalting Christ. All all ought to be seeking to encourage one another to follow the man Christ Jesus.
Well, we can be very thankful that even though it's greatly Saints were carnal, fleshly, that, uh, most if not all were were, uh, they were based in Christ to see that at the end of first.
First one there.
And, uh, I know for myself personally, when, especially, uh, when you're older, uh, when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ and accept him as your old personal savior, uh, that carnality may be there for a while, uh, as you learn more of the Lord Jesus Christ and learn more of him than, than the desire is there to keep the, the, the old man and the place of death.
And umm, and that often, especially when you're older, that that's not happened necessarily happen quickly or easily.
You might say, well, how could this arise? How could this condition of things arise in an assembly? They had lots of gift, they had lots of ability and it was manifest among them. But if we turn to Acts chapter 20, we have perhaps the seed of it, Umm, And the apostle speaks to the Ephesian elders and he's, he tells them what the seed really is of these things in Acts chapter 20 and umm.
Let's read from verse 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which over the which the Holy Ghost have made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears.
And so it's possible for our enemies to arrive from outside. Those are wolves, and wolves come in among the flock really because of perhaps loose reception principles. And the other thing is that from inside there might be those that we might call defective elders and that they desire in verse 30, some, uh, also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things. So it's men's seeking a place of prominence among the Saints.
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And in Colossians, it says in Mr. Darby's translation, Christ is everything.
And so May God help us each one never ever to want a prominent place among our brother. There's the Lord spoke of those Pharisees, and they wanted the 1St place or the place of honor among their brethren. And this isn't how God desires us to go on in Christianity. And so that's the seed of it.
So that's why he says at the start of the portion you read, first thing he says is take heed to yourselves. That's the first thing. And uh, our number of young men beginning to rise up amongst us is very encouraging to see so many wanting to take up the things of God and to take their place in the assembly. One thing you would be well advised is never trust yourself too much.
Or to put it another way, always just trust yourself a little bit and make sure you're always in submission to somebody. You ought to be able to pick out redness in your assembly that you are in submission to, no matter what position you reach.
In a building, you know every part of the building is in a sense in submission to the others, even the highest part of the building.
So always make sure that you're in submission to your brother, no matter where you go or what position you may achieve or think you've achieved.
Now, there's another reason why some might have been gaining a following and it may not have been their fault. You know, it's kind of a, uh, what the world calls a catch 22 situation when you are, when you do a good job administering the word, for example, uh.
It's just unfortunate, but because of the flesh in yourself and in others.
There could be this situation arising and you can't get away with it. What are you gonna do? A bad job? So in a sense, you can't get away from it. The flesh is there. It's gonna be there until we're all changed to be like him. So turn over to Jude, the book of Jude, and look at verse 16 at the end.
It speaks of those who have men's persons in admiration.
Because of advantage, or to put it on another another way, admiring persons for the sake of profit or gain.
And you might, you might find that, you know, if there's a brother who seems to have a, a good reputation or is, uh, uh.
Highly respected and, uh, you may find in yourself a desire to become known as one of their friends. Or, uh, you might wanna seek their, uh, their acquaintance and be identified with them. Why? For your own advantage. And, uh, you're not only gonna hurt them.
You're going to hurt the assembly as well, so we need to check ourselves. It says the first thing that my brother read. Take heed to yourselves.
In Corinth there was a basic problem and.
That problem was that they had allowed the things the wisdom of the world to intrude and the things of God and so the apostle Paul had to take up this issue first before he can go on and deal with the others. If you go back to chapter one see this dealt with early on here, but just in verse 21 it says for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe and so he brings out just from the very.
Beginning of the gospel how that it was this kind of wisdom of the world that had no place at all. And instead we have a wisdom that is from above, which is completely contrary to it. And then he says in chapter 2 verse one. And I brethren, when I came to you came not with Excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God for determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.
In my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom.
But in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And so he lays down that groundwork right in the very beginning here.
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The failure that they had that came in among them in Corinth and that so often comes among in among us is the Lord's people, is that we allow the wisdom of the world to influence our thinking and it takes us away from the wisdom that is from God because it's completely contrary to it. And so he goes on the rest of chapter 2 to speak about that and how that the wisdom of God had come through the Word of God and was now manifest to us so that we could know these things that before hadn't even entered into the mind of man.
But now the spiritual man is able to discern things because.
He has the the Spirit of God.
He goes on to chapter 3 here in the beginning to speak then about.
What the effects of the wisdom of the world are. And first of all we find in the 1St 2 verses that it hinders their spiritual growth.
The believers who take up with the wisdom of this world are scented in their growth. And so that's the first thing. And then from verses 3 on down to perhaps seven, we find out that it was causing divisions among the Saints of God. He had started with that in chapter one.
So he will talk more about that, but here the reason for the divisions were that they had the wrong thought. They didn't have the the mind of God and what they were.
Umm taking up with and teaching and preaching or how they were even communicating with one another. They were bringing in worldly thought. And then going on further in the chapter here we get to the whole idea of what it felt and reward and loss of reward. And we find out that the wisdom of the world will surely work to producing nothing that is forgotten and building in our lives or more particular and what is built on the foundation in the House of God.
And so there's a loss here, actually a defiling of the temple of God because of the introduction of.
The wisdom of the world. And so he ends up by saying in verse 18, let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. And that's the expectation. To us, these things are completely contrary. And we need to take up with the wisdom that is from above and understand that it's completely different from the wisdom of the world.
The wisdom of God is not an improvement upon man's wisdom, as our brother has mentioned it, the very opposite. But, umm, I think that, uh, the root problem of, uh, the divisions that were taking place in Corinth was the admiration of man, putting man in the forefront, uh, exalting him and uh, not realizing, uh, the resources they had in Christ. So.
There's three different categories. I'm sure that we've noticed this, uh, in, in the past. There is the natural man, chapter 2, verse 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. That's the person who does not have a divine life. He is unsaved. He cannot understand the the things of God. We wouldn't expect him to, but there is the spiritual man mentioned in verse one of our chapter.
The brother said we all have the Spirit of God. We don't pray for him to come. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit. That does not mean that we are spiritual. Having the Holy Spirit of God as a divine person who will not leave us at any time in our Christian experience does not mean that we are spiritual if we don't do not allow the Spirit of God to form our lives to control us.
And we grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whether it be by sin or worldliness or whatever. We are not spiritual, uh, we are not, uh, exercised to walk in accordance with the Spirit of God that we possess. And then the third category were those that were carnal as we have here. This is, uh, what the Corinthians were. They were carnal, they were fleshly, they were allowing the old nature and the, umm.
The things of this world to, uh, intrude into their lives, they were, umm, allowing the, uh, desires of the flesh, gratifying the desires of the flesh. And so the apostle has to say, your babes in Christ, I can't minister the deep things of God to you as I would like because you're in no fit condition to receive them. Babes are used several times in the word of God. Do you remember in the Hebrews chapter, uh?
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The chapter 5, the word babes is used there again by the apostle Umm.
Verse 13, everyone that uses meat, milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is obeyed. Well, the point of babes there is that the Hebrews were not entering into their new position in Christ. They were occupied with the traditions and the ritual of Judaism. The whole reason why the epistle was written was to deliver them from that and deliver believers from that whole system of things, Judaism. That's why they were a baby here.
Uh, they were still clinging to those things. You turn over to Ephesians chapter 4, you have babes mentioned again and it's in a different connotation there. Uh, Hebrews 4, uh, the apostle is speaking here of ministry in the Church of God. 12 for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And then he goes on to say verse 14 till we henceforth be no more children or babes.
To and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie and wait to deceive. Here are babes mentioned again in a negative way, in a re reproving here by the apostle. Why were they babes here? They weren't availing themselves of the ministry of the gifts in the body of Christ.
So God has given gifts in the body, but they weren't recognizing this. They were tossed to and fro by all sorts of, uh, uh, wrong teachings and that they weren't being established in the truth. And, uh, that is important, brethren, to recognize the ministry that we have been given, whether it be through the servants of the Lord, the gifts of times, through the gifts that the Spirit of God has imparted, or through written ministry.
Umm, by brethren of previous years.
But we're going to be a babe if we do not avail ourselves of those provisions that the Lord has given in the assembly. I think that's the reason why there was no growth here in the case of some of the Ephesians.
So the apostle cannot administer the deep things of the Lord, uh, and the mysteries, umm, that he wanted to bring before the Corinthians because of their spiritual state.
I think, brethren, something that we have to keep in mind is that sometimes when these who are a little older, older than myself, perhaps in the assembly can develop a attitude of I know more than you do, spiritually speaking, physically speaking. And brethren, there is a danger to that because if we take from, I'm trying to get the word here, predominance.
In the assembly, because of who we think we are or how much we know.
We quench the spirit of the assembly, and I've seen this among some of our older brother where they take a more prominent place. And perhaps they, they, uh, are doing right or what they believe what they're doing right. But yet the assembly can see is that of the spirit. And if we quench the spirit from our own knowledge of what we think we know, we can hinder the assembly meeting.
And brethren, I just like to caution it, and I'm including myself in this.
That if we're not waiting on the Lord and take away our so-called prominence because of our age, our knowledge of the word, brethren, we have to put this down. We have to humble ourselves and say what would the Lord have us to do? What would the Lord have us to hear in his word, the little brother. Just a word of caution for some of us who are perhaps my age or older that we do not take the leading role where the Holy Spirit.
Maybe speaking to someone else where there's a greater need.
Verse one here brings the forest, uh, the fact that there are two realms that we can live in and we really only live in one or the other. We can't really straddle the fence and really profitably live in both. And so we can either live in the spiritual realm enjoying heavenly things and, uh, recognizing that we're blessed with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ, or we can live in the earthly realm as unto carnal, he says. And umm, and the Mr. Darby's translation says fleshly.
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We have the opportunity every day that we, uh, are in this scene either to be taken up with spiritual things or earthly things and the heart to be engaged either with spiritual things or earthly things. And in the Spanish it's uh, calmly, the carnal is really, uh, to do with the meat. That's, umm, just, uh, fleshly things and temporal, those things that are going to, umm, perish. And so the, umm, attitudes of the Corinthians were such that they were earthly minded.
And umm, so I just asked the question, are you taking up with the things of God as you wake up in the morning? Does he get the first place in connection with reading the Word of God? Prayer does, uh, are you interested in listening to recorded ministry? Are you interested in reading a little bit of scripture and then seeking out some written ministry? Are you interested in being with the Saints of God? Our brother read in Acts chapter 4. Being let go, they went under their own company. When you have free time, do you want to be with the children of God, the people of God?
What a wonderful privilege to be gathered to the Lord's name and to be able to encourage one another. Umm, we can either live in that realm of spiritual things and be taken up with the things that Christ is interested in, or we can be taken up in our hearts engaged with what the world is interested in. The world is interested in their entertainment. The world is interested in, uh, a career and that's their prior, their, their priority. Priority number one is education and getting a, a head in life and, and having a, a place of prominence in this world.
Well, the apostle in the very first verse that we read brings out the contrast. And if you live in the fleshly realm, or I live in the flesh realm, the Spirit of God would delight to bring us into the knowledge of the depth of the riches that are in Christ and his man Christ Jesus. But He won't be able to give us much more than just the basic fundamental principles of Christianity. And this is what he was saying. I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it neither yet now are you able.
So if we live in the realm of the fleshly things of this world and don't rise above what the man of the world, uh, enjoys, you might say that we won't eat, we won't have the, the heavenly things, the meat of Christianity.
Lord spoke of uh to the children of Israel about the good land and said it was a land flowing with milk and honey.
You know milk and honey are pre digested foods.
And in the good land of.
Uh, the body of price, you might say. Umm.
The good land of the New Testament that we live in now, there's lots and lots of ministry you might think of as milk and honey. And you should avail yourself other, you know, the notion that you want to just put that aside and just go straight to the word. It may sound good, but it's a land flowing with milk and honey and we should enjoy that. However, that's the other side of the coin, you might say, is what we've been talking about is, is never to have a minister of God.
Preeminent in your heart.
We we all, what we all love and what we all want to see is the Lord.
We want him to have preeminence among us because it's him that attracts us all. That's what brings us all together. And so sometimes we, we might be unhappy with, uh, a minister because it just seems like he's getting, he's getting a place that he shouldn't have. And it, it may not be that we, we don't like him or we're against him, but in our hearts we would just, we want to see the war happen the 1St place. And, uh, but that has a lot more to do with our own hearts than it does with the speaker.
Christianity in the Gospels, as the Lord laid the seed plot in Matthew's Gospel is oftentimes presented to us as a feast. If we turn to Matthew chapter 22, we'll just illustrate it with the Word of God it says there.
Let's read verse 3, Matthew 22 and verse three. He sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come.
Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my ox and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, and other to his merchandise. Well, we know that the Lord desires that all would be invited to into the to the by the gospel and by the word of God to come to the feast of Christianity. And the feast, The center of the feast is Christ himself.
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We are permitted to feed upon Christ and his finished work.
And so this is how Christianity is presented and it's a wonderful feast to the soul to sit down with the word of God and perhaps even in a company like this and enjoy the sweet things of Christ. The world has a pleasure system that is raised up at the enemy and they have, uh, the end of that mirth is sorrow. But umm, for the believer as he sits down and has a feast in connection with the things of God is something that he enjoys and he can enjoy for time and will set the enjoyment of things for eternity as well.
In the Corinth assembly was the exaltation of man and if that's what I desire among the people of God, whether it be in public ministry or in any way, I'm entirely wrong. It's to my shame, but keep things in balance, brethren. There is such a thing as gift in the assembly. It's not a democracy and that we are to recognize those who have ability given of God. This is taken up the whole subject of ministry.
Is taken up in this epistle, but in other places of Paul's writings too. So, umm, the ministry and the assembly should be for the glory of Christ above all. It should be edifying. And if, uh, my participation in the meeting is not edifying or, umm, umm, not glorifying to the Lord, the kindest thing the brethren can do is to tell me to be quiet. So we need to keep things in balance with the Corinthians. They were exalting man.
That is wrong. That's I remember reading about, uh, a brother who was much used of the Lord. Someone asked him, brother, when were you, uh, when did you, umm, step out into, uh, more prominence and uh, was used of the Lord? He says, when I learned that the Lord could do without me. The Lord can do without any one of us. We're all failing servants. We're all umm.
You might say, uh.
Uh, we are umm, thinking of that verse there, umm.
We, we are, uh, unprofitable servants. I remember a leading brother amongst us whom we all would would know if I mentioned his name. He was the least one in, uh, in the ministry that I would think was unprofitable. But he says we are all unprofitable servants, a humble brother. Well, I think this is the teaching the apostle is bringing before us. And in this chapter he deals as we go on. He deals with responsibility in ministry.
This is the point of the chapter here. It's the responsibility we have as ministers here. The Church of God is not looked upon in the same way as it is in Matthew 16, in Ephesians 2 as the body of Christ, the work of the of, of the Lord in, in uniting us all together into one body. There's no failure there. But this is not the thought in our chapter. It's the responsibility that we have in ministry. How are we ministering? Is it gold, silver and precious stones? Or is it wood, hay and stubble? So that comes on later on in the chapter. But the point here is the responsibility we have in public ministry. Is that right? To brother David, to David?
You know, you'll notice in verse 9 there's a transition.
He speaks of them being God's husbandry, or you could put it on the way, God's farm or God's vineyard.
And then he says, ye are God's building, and he makes a transition here.
And umm, before that he was Speaking of things having to do perhaps with the husband. I planted Apollo's water and so on. And there isn't any responsibility so much there. But the responsibility that Brother John just spoke of comes after when he starts talking about the building.
So you you sort of transition from talking about what you might save life, the life aspect of the assembly now to the building aspect. And it's the building aspect. That's where the ministers have responsibility.
If you look at Acts Chapter 11, you have 4 gifts that are laboring together, They're working harmoniously together. And umm, not to, to beg to differ a little bit. Brother Ted, you need to have in a garden or in a, in on the farm, things would need to come seamlessly together too. They would have to be, you'd have to have the, the one that's sowing the seed, working well with the one that's watering at the right time and so on. But let's look at that in Acts Chapter 11 because it's a principle in God's ways that he does raise up gift as our brother John has mentioned. And umm.
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But the gifts that are raised up of God, God always intended that they would work together for the blessing of God's people and there would be tremendous amount of fruit as a result. And so in Acts Chapter 11, you have umm, the, uh, evangelist brought before us first in Chapter 11 of Acts verse 20. Some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, a Gentile city, spake under the Grecians preaching the Lord Jesus and the hand of the Lord was with them in a great number.
Believed and turned to the Lord and so here you have the evangelist. He goes out and the Lord is working with souls souls get saved and Antiochus Gentile city. And then you you have the shepherd that comes in in verse 22. Then tidings of these things came under the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch. So they knew that these new converts needed a shepherd. They needed a pastor and umm, so Barnabas was one of those individuals that had that gift and he encouraged them and then.
But Barnabas recognized that these new converts also needed to be taught, and so he knew that they needed a teacher. So it says in verse 23. Who when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad and exhorted them all that they with purpose of heart they would cleave under the Lord. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. And much people was added under the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him onto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. And so you had a teacher there. They worked together.
Here you have the evangelist, he brings those that are heathen, uh, carnal in their walk entirely because they were lost. And, uh, they come into the knowledge of the Lord Jesus as Savior, the pastor, the shepherd comforts their hearts and, uh, establishes of more. And then the teacher comes, there's eternal results. And the result is that you and I today are called Christians because these three groups, these three different individuals labored together, They labor together.
And they supported one another and they ministered Christ in such a way that you're called a Christian today because that's how they did it. They worked together. And then the last one is in verse 28. There stood up one of them named Agabus.
I should say verse 27, in those days came profits from Jerusalem and Antioch, and there stood up one of them named Agabus. Well, there's a prophetic gift as well. And so the prophet is used of God to minister to the hearts of the people of God to their consciences as well. We could turn to, uh, first Corinthians 14, I think it is verse three. And it gives us the work of the prophet. And so he has a message from the heart of God for the people of God at a particular time. And he encourages them or speaks to their hearts and, uh, to their consciences as well that there might be edified.
And so these four different.
Critical gifts are given to the church. They're evident even today, and they ought to be laboring together and laboring harmoniously. You know, when we used to have business.
And had employees we had every one of the employees had a job description and one of the items on every single job description at the bottom of the job description was must labor harmoniously with all other employees of the company.
It was absolutely necessary. Otherwise there would be what we call fystoms that would develop and umm, little parties that would not talk to one another within the company and so on. And so even the world recognizes that principle. It was necessary to walk into labor harmoniously. And so this is the apostle Paul in his love for Christ and his love for the Saints, sought to re establish that principle that they all had to have Christ as the object and that there would be an abundance of fruit for Christ in the assembly in Corinth.
Now this is Philippians 2 verse one. There be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort above any fellowship of the Spirit, any bowels and mercies fulfilling my joy that she be like minded.
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I think before the Lord, if we personally strive to walk for the Lord in the way that He is laid out, that our families will be in order and our families in order. We come together collectively before the Lord. The House of the Lord will be in order too, won't it?
We looked over to the Scripture that's been mentioned in Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4, and verse 11.
Speaks of the gifts that were given to the body.
And gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. And then what does it say?
From the ministry.
It seems to jump right to that.
That the gifts are for the ministers. But there's a progression here. The first thing that they're given for is to perfect the same, that is to equip the Saints to do what they do.
With a view toward ministry.
And ministry really takes place more amongst the Saints.
Ministering to one another having been equipped by the gifts.
And that is with a view toward the building up of the body of Christ and edifying of the body of Christ. That doesn't mean that gifts don't minister, but it's only to say that God's purpose of placing them in amongst the Saints is to perfect the Saints for the work of the ministry. And so we can all pick up from the gifted ones somewhat what they do. And, uh, you might see a man who's we had in our assembly once a, a young man who was in the world's terms, very gifted.
That's different, you know, that's natural talent. But the world would say he was a gifted piano player and, uh.
I would say he probably could teach all of us to play somewhat and we probably could never achieve to his ability, but we could all play somewhat. And so you get around an evangelist, one who's got the gift of evangelist and his ways of doing things and and his burden, spiritual burden for souls, all these things might rub off on you, so to speak. And in that he is perfecting the Saints.
For the work of ministry.
And the only way to rub off on you is that.
You're not looking at the man, you're looking at his faithfulness to the Lord. You're you're looking. You're looking.
Looking at how he saturates his mind with the Word of God and how he's constantly dependent on the Lord, uh, to minister.
Uh, because it's already been mentioned, it's so easy to, uh, to umm, raise men up because of their faithfulness to the Lord. Umm, to give an example, umm.
Quite a number of years ago, Umm.
Our uh brother Gordon Hayhoe used to come to our assembly to help with uh, uh.
Our reading meetings now.
He had a gift and he was, he was A and you could admire the man for that. But what I'm trying to get across is what we should, rather than envir admiring the men, we should be admiring one like Gordon Hayhill, who is constantly saturating his mind with a word, being constantly before the Lord. How to apply it, uh, from the perspective of Saints. And I know, like I said, this is quite a number of years ago.
Umm, when our brother would come.
Uh, to help in the reading meetings, uh, because we were looking for the man, uh, there was quite a few, uh, silent periods in the reading meetings. Uh, Gordon was very wise and he would administer to us from the, the passage that was before us in the reading meeting, but he was very, very, very careful to, uh, give faith to others. There was opportunity.
For others.
Uh, umm, to, uh, speak on what they would have on their heart according to, uh, passage, that would be before us. And I'm afraid, uh, we were, uh, because of the silent period, I guess the long, sometimes long silent period, uh, we're, perhaps we're looking to the man rather than looking to the lawyer.
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Well, we all are servants of the Lord and not just those that are in the public place absolutely so-called full time. We all are ministers of in the in the vineyard looking first Peter chapter 4. Now, it doesn't mean that we all have a public gift in that sphere, but we all have a work to do for the Lord. We're servants, we're ministers.
Sisters as well as brothers chapter 4 of I Peter verse 10 as every man has received the gift or the ability. Even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Now in the case of the sister that certainly wouldn't be in the public sphere, but she has a very important place in the body of Christ as a minister and we find that Phoebe was a deaconess of the assemblies, but.
Uh, the Corinthians were using their gifts in a wrong way. They were using their gifts to exalt themselves and there was disorder and there were these divisions taking place in parties. Umm, we can use our gift in that way too. Well, that's not the way it, it should, it should work out. It should be for the edification of the body of Christ, blessing of souls, encouragement of the Lord's people, and as our brother mentioned.
Our late brother Gordon Hale, he was a very humble brother too, and that's brought out in the fourth chapter very clearly. Paul was a very humble brother in spite of the the tremendous gifts that the Lord had imparted to him, says in the 4th chapter of our epistle here. Umm.
First, umm, verse seven. Who maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? This is what the Corinthians were doing. And uh, that's an exercise for us, each one.
Umm, to uh, seek the Lord's glory and the blessing of the Lord's people.
The Apostle Paul, we get you in the chapter, uh, far enough longer than chapter 4, uh, and verse 11. He certainly didn't, uh, have a place of prominence. I'm going to read, uh, Mr. Darby's translation to verse 11, chapter 4 to the present hour. We both hunger and thirst and our nakedness and buffeted and wandered without a home. Well, isn't that like, wasn't that true of our Lord Jesus Christ when he was here in this scene?
Good. Furthermore, he says, we labor with our own hands. We weren't going about trying to live on the backs of the Saints.
They were willing to support themselves and work to do what if needed.
What Brother John read in chapter 4 and umm, verse 7, umm, to further elaborate on and just make sure it's clear, is that these Corinthians, uh, brethren, umm, they had gift, but they didn't umm, give due honor to the Lord as it were, as the giver of that gift. And they didn't use it in the way that he desired them to use it. They used it in a way that would exalt themselves.
And the Lord, you know, it's wonderful how he used the gift that had been given to him of God.
As a man, and when there was mighty work going on, why he withdrew and went into a desert place. It says that they had no leisure so much as to eat. And so that might look like there's a great work going on, but the Spirit of God might lead in a different way and to go into a small quiet place. And so the words of wise men are heard and quiet says in Ecclesiastes. I think it's Chapter 9.
Can we look at that first?
Yes.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 9. It's right at the end.
Verse Umm, let's read verse 16.
Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of wise men are heard, and quiet more than the cry of him that rule ruleth among fools.
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Where is the wise men?
That's that's where you can get a lot of building up, where ministry can take place by conversations. You know, there are so many brethren.
That one is met in his years that hardly ever, sometimes never took part in meetings, but they were so rich and full and sound in the truth, and you got so much for it, just one little conversation with them.
And don't think that because brethren don't take part in meetings, they're not worth your time. That's ridiculous. You're gonna find that a lot of brethren that are quiet sit quietly in meetings like this have a lot more than those that speak.
Might just point out that there's another principle that the apostle brings out as he ministers to these Saints. He says in verse six, I have planted a.
Paulus watered, but God gave the increase.
So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither is he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. And so it's, uh, they labor in vain, uh, that build a house, except the Lord build the house. They labor in vain that build it. And so we need the blessing of the Lord and what we do and the, umm, the blessing of the Lord maketh rich. And I think Mr. Darby's translation there in that verse in Proverbs says that umm, and labor added nothing to it, man's labor.
And so it's the work of the Spirit of God. So he brings that principle in. And he also really by way of, umm, principle brings in the fact that one man can't do it all. So the idea of having a pastor and he does everything, he preaches the gospel. He, he's the evangelist and he's also the shepherd of the pastor among the people of God. And he's also the teacher. And then he's also a prophet. We don't find that in the Scriptures, although we may seek to help out in some of those ways.
There are oftentimes God has raised up different gifts that exercise their gifts and they complement another. Isn't it nice to think of Barnabas and Paul laboring together? You know, Barnabas, he knew he couldn't do it all and he walked, perhaps I just suggest he walked maybe about 150 miles up to Tarsus. He knew where Paul was. He knew he couldn't do it all and then he walked back those two brethren and would have taken perhaps a better part of a week.
In their travels.
And, uh, they labored together for approximately 10 years, perhaps on and off, but, umm, you know, they complimented one another and that's never, ever get the idea that one brother can do it all. We know that, uh, we shouldn't have, uh, the idea that the assembly is a democracy and that I have an equal vote in the assembly and you have and so on. That's not a scriptural principle. It's a man's principle. But in connection with the things of God, you have a little gift given to you of God. And if you don't exercise that gift.
We're all the losers for it. And the Lord desires that there would be fruit in the assembly where you come from, and he suited you in a particular way to exercise your gift and to be exercised to use it, and that there would be profit. And you can't do it all. You need your brother, you need your sister. We need one another. And so Paul here speaks in this way. He planted and a polished water. Paulus came to Corinth and uh, there was blessing as a result of them coming, but the whole result of it was that God gave the increase.
Let's never forget, brethren, if there's going to be any blessing in your life, if there's any blessing at all in your family, if there's any blessing in the assembly, it's not because of what you did. It's because of what God did, what the Lord has done. And so if there's any fruit, let's thank God for the fruit in our young people.
I'd just like to make mention to the young people that are amongst us. I remember about 29 years ago was the first time I went up to In the Bay and saw Gordon Halo at his camp and in the afternoon there was a 2 hour session over the word. Some of you young people may think wow, that's a long stretch and perhaps it is, but you know 29 years ago when I wanted to seek the truth more than I ever did in my life, to me I was just soaking it in.
And when you have a harsh desire to soak in the Word of God, time is not an object, or even the person is an object. It's God speaking through a godly person, a godly man or woman who is giving out the word of God. But we have to have.
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I'd like a Spanish we, we need to just soak it all up. And, and I look back 29 years ago and I say, I'm happy to have sat there under that sound of the ministry. And I just want to encourage you young people, don't look at your watch. Don't your text messages or anything like that. Just open up your heart and say, I just want to soup it in. And that's where it's proper and umm, something I experienced And I pray that.
Especially our young people may take this to keep.
There's one Christian ministry that was referred to in Ephesians for the perfecting of the Saints, with a view to the ministry. When the Saints are perfected and the ministry goes on that they're each a part of, but it's one Christian ministry. When the ministry goes on, then the whole Church of God is built up. So in in the Nehemiah's Bay there were two prophets, Haggai and Zachariah, and when they prophesied.
When those gifts are an exercise and picture, then the laborers were built up, they were perfected, and the work went on then. So the first intent was that they would individually be built up with a view to the fact that the ministry would then go on, and then the wall was built protecting the city of Jerusalem. And so that is one Christian ministry, not many ministries.
Of which we're each part of. There's one, the laborers are one, the ministry is one. All the results are from God. Yet every man is going to receive a reward for his own labor. Not for his gift, not for results.
For his labor, and it's a mistranslation and and I believe it's in Timothy. If any man desire the office of a Bishop, if there any man aspired to oversight, one gives the thought that one would like the title and the prestige. That's not the way it should be translated.
The other is one who desires to do the work. So here it is, A man is going to be rewarded according to his labor.
His work and then the apostle takes up the Church of God is a building, as is taken up in other scriptures. In Ephesians 2 we see it in perfection. It's fitly framed together, a holy temple, the habitation of God by the Spirit. Here it's taken up in as a building.
And the responsibility of man's hands, those who labor ministerially in the assembly. And things can come in that aren't fitly framed together. And so the introduction of man's wisdom into ministerial laborers was going to do positive harm.
To the growth of the Church of God and the apostle takes up that labor in that sphere of the, of uh, the Church of God and the responsibility of man's hands. It's not individual works here.
If one's whole life long labor.
Once, what kind of workmanship is being done? Not so much the individual works. What kind of Carpenter are you? What kind of Mason are you?
Or do you do good work or do you do shoddy work? What kind of materials do you use in your work? And so once lifelong laborers are what is taken up in that sphere of the Church of God and the responsibility of man and it's all going to be evaluated. It's all going to be put to the test. Is it according to the word of God, If I want to see what God thinks of me as a as I was born in this world as a fallen.
Uh, a center child of fallen atom. I need but look at the cross and the fiery judgment that fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ when He was made sin. There is God's estimate of what I am in the flesh. It has no place to purchase it. Nothing of the flesh will profit. In the Church of God you may be well educated, you may have all kinds of natural talents and abilities, and so on.
Outside of absolute subjection to God, there is no profit. When they brought the apostles in, who were gifts of Christ to the church, who spoke with such power, how many were saved, bringing the consciences of men and women into the presence of God. They said they're unlearned and ignorant men. They don't have any learning and they realize they have been with Jesus, they have been in his presence, they had learned from Him. And so it is.
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Nothing.
Of of the flesh of what is of fallen nature can profit at all in the Church of God. He's done with it. The end of all flesh has come before me. I will destroy man whom I have made, and it has no place in the laborers.
And our responsibility in the Church of God.
So it brings before us very clearly that there's going to be a review of what is, uh, referred to in our passage that we are coming into here now is the judgment seat of Christ, umm, when our lives, our work, our ministry will be reviewed in the presence of the Lord. It's the motive that gives value to the act and that's brought out clearly in the 4th chapter. They were judging the apostle unjustly.
But the apostle says, I'll leave that I don't even judge myself. Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, and both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and so on. 5th verse. So this is not the place for evaluation of a servant's work. Uh, leave that to the judgment seat of Christ. Even the apostle didn't judge his own work. He said, I may not have the right motive. I, I want to, but uh, I'm going to leave that evaluation.
That review to the judgment seat of Christ. Now we should judge ourselves and we should judge our motives. Not the motives of our brethren, but the very best construction on everything that your brethren do. Don't insinuate wrong motives. We do that perhaps too often. Uh, we want to see Christ in our brethren. We have enough of the flesh to judge in ourselves. Let us see Christ in our brethren and put the best construction on what they do.
The evaluation will be at the judgment seat of Christ.
But I was thinking that with the Corinthians, as we have noted, they had men's persons before them and here they were occupied with, uh, men and their ability and perhaps their, their intellectual, uh, achievements and so on. Uh, but umm.
They were all wrong there and envying arose and jealousies and competitions and, uh, and what have you, uh, rivalry and all arose there in the, uh, Corinthian assembly and it brought in, uh, a lot of disorder, unhappiness also is trying to correct this on the other side of the, uh, point, uh, a person that ministers Christ to my soul and encourages me in the pathway of faith I am naturally attracted to.
And there's nothing wrong with that. I would say the this the disciples on the road to Emmaus when Christ on that eight mile journey opened up the scriptures from Genesis right through We all know the result. Their heart burned within them. Who is this wonderful person who is accompanying us. Our hearts are lifted up. We've never heard ministry like this before abide with us. They and they and constrained him to come into their home. That's the way it should be with a brother who ministers the truth it should.
Encourage my Draw my heart toward Christ.
And I'm naturally, I'm naturally attracted to that brother. I don't put them, I shouldn't put them on a pedestal. We get our eyes on man you they'll be disappointed. Surely if anyone gets their eyes on me, they'll be greatly disappointed. But we have Christ to be for us and the brother ministers Christ. That is the the whole point of the of the passage here.
Shall we sing number 99?
OK, God now, Father, we just, uh, think of that one who is the living stone, the one on whom we've been built on ourselves as living stones. And we thank you that thou has taken us to our dead and had no rights or claim whatsoever before they tell us made us though. And yet we think of what we had before us in the meeting today and how that we.
And responsibility are building on that foundation and we pray that that would help us to take up with that before thee as well. Each one of us not looking to man, but looking to that Blessed One alone and, and seeking before him to serve in a way that is acceptable and to kind of just take off with that which now is putting our hand to do. We pray that each one of us would have this exercise before they and that we would be used for the blessing encouragement of our people and above all.
To be adjoined delights in thy heart are God. And so we just thank thee again for this time that we've had together this portion of thy word and the encouragement through it, and we commit this time to thee and the most precious and worthy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.