Community Podcast

2nd Corinthians: Christ Alone

Rev. Doug Baker

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Duration:: 30m
Broadcast on:: 06 May 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Good morning. Morning, morning, morning. Welcome, and welcome to everybody this morning. For those of you that are worshiping with us online, listening on the telephone, my name is Doug Baker. I'm a crackling dog. Making sure everything's connected right here, and I'll get that away from my coat. I know last week we were celebrating today. Today is the launch of Table Church, so we're really excited about that. Happy of what God is doing. And we had a chance to commission and send them off last week. And I heard from some of you asking about my wife, who was up here for that sending, they're like, wait a minute. Is the pastor's wife going to a different church? And I said, yes, yes she is. She felt called to participate in and be a part of this church planting effort and to be a part of that. When you go with a church plant as a launch team, sometimes that means that you are a part of a new church forever, and sometimes what that means is that you are joining something temporarily. You're stepping in and you're being a part of the launch, but that it's a couple of year commitment, and then you go back to what God had in mind for you before that. And that's kind of the idea for us at this point. We don't know what God has planned, but that's kind of where things are at right now. So she's excited about it, and we hope that one of the things that comes from that is you know just how serious we take church planting, how exciting it is for us. Pause. All right, last time I had that clicking, it was my headset. So let's find out if this headset does better. So one of the cool things that comes with that is you know just how seriously we're taking it and how excited we are for it. Then someone asked me, so now does this mean that you're staying here at Felt Street? And I said, yes, yes it does. However, kind of. I am the pastor of operations, and that means that I'm the pastor of operations for all of our campuses. So there will be times that I am over there, worshiping with them, participating. When Pastor Josh has vacation, we will be over there preaching for them. So there is kind of a continued interaction. We will be doing this together. So just so you know, this is kind of what's going on, FYI. Let's talk about, let's get into where we're talking in God's Word today. We're going to be digging into and continuing our study of 2 Corinthians. We're about halfway through now our 2 Corinthians study. This is Paul's most passionate letter to one of his churches. And very celebratory, confrontational, and passionate all at the same time. He's being real with them, transparent. He is grieving, and he is celebrating. As a passionate church, they have been through some very difficult times. They've been through some really amazing highs and some very difficult lows. The people had turned their back on Paul. That was a difficult low. They had kind of pushed again. They believed some terrible lies about their pastor. And they were trying to follow a Jesus that was made in their image instead of the other way around. And so when Paul heard what was going on in Corinth, he was very distressed. He was in Ephesus at the time, planting churches, doing ministry. And he made an emergency trip then to Corinth to visit them. And that person visit went very poorly. In fact, it went so badly, he actually didn't stay very long. He went back to Ephesus. He kind of got out of there. And he continued his ministry there and then continued to plant churches and do what he needed to in the region. But that is where he wrote a very confrontational, oblistering letter to them, confronting them with some hard truths. And he asked a colleague of his in ministry, a guy named Titus, to bring that letter to the church. And then he continued in ministry. He went to Troas. He went to Macedonia. And he waited, waited to hear what would come of it. And it was in Macedonia that he and Titus reconnected. And he heard the good news. He finds out that the Holy Spirit did use that confrontational letter to cut through the lies and to help the Corinthians to remember what really mattered, what really mattered. Which far more important than the fact that Paul's reputation was reestablished. No, he wanted them to remember what really mattered. Far more important than whether or not they liked him. He wanted them to remember what really mattered. They had been told lies about their faith. They had been told lies that life was all about them. So far more important than whether or not they had abandoned Paul. Paul confronts them and challenges them and asks them not to abandon Jesus. In chapter 7, which is our passage for today, Paul celebrates some great news. They had heard his plea. And they had answered with a yes. And so he celebrates with them. And he continues to remind the church never to give up on Jesus as their only focus, their only goal, their only sufficient need that no matter what else happens, no matter what life tries to bribe you with. Give me that hand help with you. No matter what else the world tries to bribe you with, no matter what else, life tries to put in your way and distract you with, no matter how costly it is to follow Jesus. If you have him, you have everything. Listen to Paul speaking to his congregation in chapter 7. And last week, you went into verse 1 of chapter 7. So we're going to start in verse 2. I know that's a little different than the slides I gave you. But we're going to start in verse 2, because this is Paul celebrating with his people. Hear this, God's word. Make room for us in your hearts. We have wrong no one. We have corrupted no one. We have exploited no one. And I don't say this to condemn you. I've said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. I have spoken to you with great frankness. I take great pride in you. I'm greatly encouraged. In all our troubles, my joy knows, no bounds. For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest. We were harassed at every turn, conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus. And not only by his showing up coming in, but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever. Now, even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it, I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while. And yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended, and so we're not harmed by us in any way. Because Godly sorrow brings repentance, and that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this Godly sorrow has produced in you? What earnestness? What eagerness to clear yourselves? What indignation? What alarm? What longing? What concern? What readiness to see? Justice, done at every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. So even though I wrote to you, it was neither on account of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the injured party, but rather that before God, you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are by all this we are encouraged. An uplifting moment and an otherwise intense letter. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the power of your word and for the way that you speak. For reminding us who we are, when we hear how you moved and acted and inspired and encouraged your church in the past, you reveal to us and illuminate for us true things for us today as well. So speak, we pray. Speak in this moment and help us to hear. We ask this, we pray for this in Jesus' name. Amen. So I want you to notice, I want you to be paying attention how Paul is talking to his church, the Corinthians. He keeps coming back, keeps coming back, and keeps coming back to how God is working in both the blessings and the pain to encourage us, his children. See, when Paul is looking at and experiencing with them and seeing the circumstances of life as he is experiencing persecution and joys and everything and all of the circumstances that come with life, as all of this is unfolding, he sees still and always the hand of God at work. It's not just random circumstances, what's going on. It's not just happenstance, what the people in Corinth are going through, it is a part of God's plan. I mean, even Paul's tough letter to them isn't just Paul being angry at them or preaching out of resentment, God is the architect of everything that leads to life. And everything can lead to life, everything. Even the things that cause us sorrow. He talks about and draws a distinction between two different types of sorrow. He talks about godly sorrow. Godly sorrow is painful experiences that lead us to reliance and devotion to Christ and salvation and no regrets. Godly sorrow. He also talks about worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is a painful experience that leads to rebellion and despair and anguish. I don't deserve this, I deserve better. But notice, there's not actually in the circumstances themselves, there's not actually a difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. They're both painful experiences. They're in some ways they're the same. Experiences, the circumstances, the things that happen was very interesting between those two godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. While there's no difference between the thing that is happening that causes sorrow, what is different, everything different between these two things is how we choose to handle it. To whom we choose to turn with our sorrow. I'm gonna tell you about a man I know who I greatly respect. He's a good friend and he has taught me a lot when it comes to what it means to be a believer in Jesus Christ when everything falls apart. He grew up in the church. He was always a church-going person. He was raised in it, it was appropriate. This is what you do, this is the right thing. And as he grew up, he made profession of faith. He joined the church and his wife and he got married, got married in the church, he brought their kids to baptized in the church and this was life. But by his own testimony, he would say that he was Christian in name only, really. I mean, he did everything right. He was a good guy, everybody liked him and he behaved accordingly, he obeyed the rules, right? He behaved like a Christian. But he told me I was not a disciple of Jesus Christ. And then when his son was in high school, his son was killed in a horrible accident. Nobody's fault, it's just an accident. And it ripped his world apart. And it was from that that he realized that Jesus was not his whole world. It opened his eyes to what he was missing with a relationship with his savior. And out of that tragedy, out of that catastrophe, he became a walking, talking disciple, apprentice of Jesus Christ. And as he tells this story, if you ever get a chance to hear it from his lips, he will tell you that the most horrible moment of his life was also the most amazing moment of his life. Because he found out what it meant to truly live, to belong to Jesus. And he celebrates. He didn't want it to happen, he never wants to happen. It's a horrible moment. He would not say, I would definitely want to do that again, but he is grateful to God that he gets to live for real now. He's the guy, I always was one of those people, I was like, you know what, God never gives you more than you can handle. I was always one of those people going around. I said that to him one time, and he about slapped me in the face. He said, no. Okay, yes. God will allow things to happen to you that you cannot handle. But what he promises is that he will be your strength. He can handle it. And sometimes you have to be brought past the end of yourself so that you can fall headlong into the arms of Jesus. And because I knew his story, I believe him. And that is what Paul is talking about as he pushes hard for Christ's church to understand as they are trying to learn what it means to be Christian. The circumstances that you experience in life, life, sometimes they just are. You can't control everything. You can't dictate how it's gonna go. You can have all the plans you want, and guess what? What's that old phrase, right? You want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Things you can't control. What you can control is to whom you turn when it unfolds. Now, if you turn to the Lord, you need to know something about how God is gonna respond when circumstances come, when bad things come, when celebrations come, when any part of our lives come. If you turn to the Lord, one thing you need to learn about him is that he has one answer for every trial and travail, one answer for everything that afflicts, one answer for this world that is fallen and needs an answer, he has one for all of us, just one. And his name is Jesus. To be in Christ is all we get from God in answer to our every need, to the plague of sin, nothing more, nothing more, nothing other. He is God's only answer to our every need. The incarnate God in flesh is our all in all. And this shouldn't surprise us. God's been saying that in his word over and over again for millennia. Listen, listen to some of the things that he says in our Bibles that remind us of this, affirm this, say it again and again, whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. You God are my God. Earnestly I seek you. I thirst for you, my whole being belongs for you in a dry and partially and where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and glory because your love is better than life. One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. And then Jesus, Jesus comes on the scene and he starts saying stuff like that too. He starts talking about, I mean, that's all Old Testament stuff, but Jesus also comes in. He starts addressing and talking about the temporary insufficient things that we cling to instead of accepting and clinging to him. He says this in Matthew four at the very beginning. He gets sent out in the wilderness, he's fasting for 40 days, he's really hungry and the devil shows up and tempts him. And the devil says to him, if you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread. And Jesus answered to him was, it is written. And in Deuteronomy eight, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And John four, we hear a story of him talking to a woman at a well, and they're talking about water and living water and being thirsty. And he says to her, everyone who drinks this water as he points to this well, where there's a physical well and there's physical water and people who are physically thirsty come and drink. He says, everyone who drinks this water is gonna be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. He says later in John six, don't work for food that spoils. Work for food that endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give you. And then he declared, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry. And whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. In that great sermon on the mountain when he's talking to the people, and he's talking about treasure in heaven, where does your treasure lie? He's talking about treasure. Like where, what's your heart beat for? What's your priority? Where are you pouring yourself out over and over again? He says to them, no one can serve two masters. Either you'll hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. And we know because he's talking about treasure in heaven. We know what we're talking about where your treasure is. This is not just about money. You can't serve both God and money. You can't serve both God and your job. You can't serve both God and your kids. You can't serve both God and ministry. Yes, you can cheat on God with ministry. Take it from a preacher. Thanks be to God. He gave me a wife who's willing to call me out on it. Doug, knock it off. You can't serve both God and then you can fill in the blank, put anything else in there. 'Cause you're gonna love one and hate the other, or you're gonna be devoted to the one, and you're gonna despise the other. And that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a job. It doesn't mean you shouldn't have kids. And it doesn't mean you shouldn't have a spouse or a ministry. It doesn't mean you shouldn't have those things. But it does mean that we have to choose on purpose which matters more. Who do we serve first? Always, always. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you. You get the priority of Jesus first correct and all those other things are gonna be in their proper place. And Paul, as he's talking to the church, takes extreme pleasure that he was able to help his church find his greatest pleasure in life. 'Cause this was Paul's greatest pleasure in life. He has Jesus. Everything else is secondary and he laments the other stuff. He does not like the fact that he's got a thorn in the flesh. He does not like the fact that he was persecuted. He does not like the fact that he was flawed. Getting bitten by a snake is not a happy moment. But great joy he has in every single one of those because he will not abandon Jesus first. And this is what he wants for them. Do not abandon Jesus first. I mean, it was nice that they were nice to him again, but that joy for him took second place to the fact that they had found Jesus again as their first and most important Lord. And what they knew and what I have to struggle to remember, what we must remember. Because we come face to face with things that are broken, we come face to face with hardships. And when we come face to face with those hardships, it will be a moment where we have to choose. We have to decide, how am I gonna handle this? What am I gonna do with this? The sorrow that has been heaped on me. And I stand with someone and I look across the table with someone and they've got sorrow that they are pleading with God to fix God. Will you please answer this prayer? Please fix this. Please bring my kids back to church. Please heal this disease. Please help me to pay rent. And in the face of these complicated issues, in the face of these things that are lacking, in the face of these pains that we must wrestle with, it's so easy, so tempting to wanna go well, if I fix that, then they're gonna be better. If I fix that broken thing, then it's gonna be better. And while Paul and the church back then are reminding us of is that no, no, I mean, it's good to help people, but fixing broken things does not make heaven on earth for them. They still just need Jesus. And what Paul knew, and he wanted his church to know, is that if you have Jesus, the closer you are to Jesus, the stronger you are in the face of the chaos. Help check that, I'm gonna learn that lesson from my buddy. But Jesus' strength is accessible to you in the midst of that chaos. The more clarity we have that we aren't strong enough, resilience comes in relationship with the king. Resilience comes in relationship with the king. You know what resilience is? Resilience is the ability to absorb and to flex without shattering. And that's what I keep forgetting. Keep forgetting that this life is not about solving problems. It's not about solving problems in the ways they need to be solved. And that doesn't mean that if you find someone thirsty, you shouldn't give 'em water, yes, give 'em water. If you find someone cold and you got an extra coat, give 'em a coat. But solving other people's problems, solving our own problems, having a great life is not the goal. The goal is to access the capacity of Jesus Christ to face everything that comes our way. Godly sorrow, sorrow leaning on the one and only savior of the world that leads to life. Because this is not our home. That's another theme from 2 Corinthians. I hope you've been receiving it. I hope you've been hearing it because it's been talked about over and over again. He's not been shy about this. This is not our home. This broken world, sorrow is guaranteed. One of the biggest truths of 2 Corinthians is just that. To rejoice actually in these cracked jars of clay. This is not our home. And having a cracked jar of clay having a broken world around us is actually a little bit of a celebratory thing because that means it proves. It points out something humans have been spending our lifetimes trying to deny that the whole world is trying to ignore but you can't get away from it if you breathe. This is not our home. We were made for more. We were made intended for an Eden with perfect communion with our father and anything less than him is incomplete. Loving God and being loved by God is why we were made and every struggle is a reminder that this world is not as good as him. It's not as good as Christ alone. Jesus is the entirety of God's answer when creation cries out in despair. And if God thinks he's the best answer, shouldn't we? And that's why he's enough. Let's pray. Heavenly Father. Thank you for your faithfulness, for your goodness, for your gentleness in your mercy. Thank you for speaking into every moment, for being a sovereign God who is actively participating in everything that we experience, who celebrates us with us in times of joy, who grieves with us in times of sorrow, and who gives us exactly what we need to face whatever comes. Thank you for our Savior. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for his yoke, which is easy in his burden, which is light. Help us to take his yoke upon us and to learn from him and to adopt his lifestyle as our own. Thank you for giving us everything, by giving us him. It's in Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]