Love in the Fellowship, Part 2
1 Corinthians 16:19-24
This morning we come to a milestone in our history. Two and a half years of studying 1 Corinthians comes to an end. Didn't realize it was that funny. Has been a long time. Some of you have been at Grace two years. You know nothing but the problems of the church. And starting after Christmas, we're going to begin a study of the book of Ephesians in the morning and at night the study of the great gospel of Matthew, so keep that in mind. But for this morning, number 81 in our messages in 1 Corinthians Chapter 16, looking at verse 14-24 and finishing up the message we began last week.
When's the last time you received a love letter? You say just before you got married and none since? I hope not. Love letters are special to everybody. I think we all anticipate them maybe when we go away and we're apart from our spouse and we drop a little note or maybe at birthdays or anniversaries or special times and we share our affection or maybe when we write to a friend or to our children or as children to our parents or whatever. But love letters are special to everybody and I guess I'm blessed beyond most people to receive an awful lot of love letters.
I was just looking over the stack of Christmas cards that I've received this year of people sharing their love with me and because so many people are in our church family and are so gracious as to write, I'm the recipient of many, many such love letters. And as I look at all of my letters that I get, they basically fall into three categories. Some are very affirming. Some say John, we love you and we appreciate you and we pray for you and thank you and so forth. And some are more questioning. There are some who say why do you do this John? And why don't you do that? And why can't we have this at Grace and so forth. And those are good and then there are those that are critical or rebuking type of love letters and they say John stop doing this or stop doing that, etc.
But you know, they're all love letters, because that's the way love works. Love affirms, love questions, and love rebukes when rebuke is needed. And none of us is foolish enough to think that we only need one or another of those and not all of them. And so all of us, I think understand the dimensions of love, particularly as we have studied 1 Corinthians for very long. 1 Corinthians, at first, comes off as a very cold hard rebuking critical book, but the more you see the heart of Paul, the more you understand that this is all love. It's with your children that you can see an illustration of this. For example, there are times when you affirm your children. There are times when you question your children. And there are times when you flat out rebuke your children. And all of those things manifest love, because that's how love is.
Love seeks the best out of its object. And Paul was seeking the very best out of the Corinthians. And it just so happened that they needed a lot of rebuke, a little bit of questioning and hardly any affirmation because they were pretty fouled up. So Corinthians is a love letter. Maybe you didn't see it that way. If you thought about it though, you might because the Apex of the whole book in the 13th Chapter is the greatest statement on love ever penned. It's a love letter. The apostle Paul had such a deep love for the Corinthians that like in the same manner he loved Israel, he could almost wish himself in death for their sake.
In 2 Corinthians Chapter 12, verse 15 he says, "I will gladly spend and be expended for you even though I love you the more and you love me the less." I'll not only spend that is give everything I have, I'll be expended. That is give myself for you. That's how much I love you. So it's a love letter. And like any love letter, it closes with love. Verse 14 borders on the front of our passage and it says, "let all your things be done in love." Verse 24 is the other border on the passage and it says, "my love be with you all in Christ Jesus." And in those two verses we find the two ways in which this letter is a love letter. First of all, it is a love letter because it is calling the Corinthians to love. Over and over again, he is calling them to love. Not to be picky and critical and divisive and schismatic and so forth, but to love. And in the 13th Chapter he defines that for them. But secondly, it is the love letter as verse 24 indicates because it is Paul's expression of love to them.
So in a twofold way it is a love letter. It is a letter endeavoring to insight love in their hearts and it is a letter which expresses his love to them. Now it closes then with this final section of greetings and salutations and admonitions and they are surrounded by two thoughts of love in verse 14 and 24. And it seems to me that the thread that weaves through these verses in between is about love also. And as so often as the case in Paul's letters, the message that is implied is deeper than the message that is explicitly stated. It all just sounds like here's a few little greetings from so and so and a few words about this and a few words about that, but down deep behind this thing, Paul is exhorting them in one final move in his own mind to really understand the responsibility, the characteristics, and the activities of love.
And so what I've seen here and what we began to look at last time are seven manifestations of love. And as I say it shouldn't shock you that love rebukes them. Do you remember in Psalm...pardon me, in Proverbs 27:5 it says, this is a good verse to remember, "Open rebuke is better than secret love." And according to the Hebrews way of writing the Proverb, the idea of love is implied at the beginning. A kind of love that is secret isn't nearly as good as a kind of love that openly rebukes. So open rebuke love implied is better than secret love rebuke not implied. You're better off to rebuke. That's a higher kind of love.
In fact, he goes in the next verse to say "faithful are the wombs of," what, " of a friend." So he's rebuked them, but nonetheless, it's a letter of love. And in a final shot, he exhorts them to love. And there are seven manifestations of love and these are not upfront. In fact, you just really have to see behind the scenes to see what's implied. A church that is marked by love is what Paul is after. And he kind of gives them a little hint as to the attitudes and the expressions of such a church.
Let's look at number one and we'll review the first four that we looked at last week. First of all, a church that is marked by love when there is love in the fellowship, there will be evangelism, verse 15. "I beseech you brethren you know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia." Now we discussed last time the fact that the first fruits means the first people won to Christ in a new area. And the household of Stephanas, familia in the Latin including his slaves, was the first people, the first household really won to Christ in this particular place, Achaia, which is the southern portion of Greece. But the idea that we wanted to emphasize from that was that the church that is marked by love will be a church that is active in planting the seed and harvesting it.
They planted the gospel and they harvested it. The apostle Paul was faithful to go there. The seed was planted and God gave a harvest. Beloved wherever there is love in the church, there will be a reaching out to people who don't know Christ. No church can claim to have love. No church can claim to manifest love. No church can claim to know and experience the love of God shed abroad in our hearts unless that love is extended to those that are without Christ. I mean, even God so loved that He gave to a lost world, and that is the basic kind of love the church possesses. And if our love doesn't love a lost world into the arms of Christ, then our love is not God's love and thus it is not love biblically. Conversely where there is love in the fellowship, there will be a planting of the seed and a harvest of first fruits, people won to Christ.
Secondly, we saw last time that when love marks a fellowship there will be servants to the saints. Look at the end of verse 15. This is really a potent point here. It says, "This house of Stephanas once they were saved, devoted themselves to the service of the saints." The service there is diakoneo. And the word devoted, you remember I told you the Greek means addicted, tasso, the literal idea is addicted. They were addicted to serving the saints through the exercise of their spiritual gifts, through their ministries, through giving, through food, through all kinds of ways that diakoneo can be rendered. This was what the house of Stephanas was actively involved in. They were addicted to the work of the Lord.
You know, when they weren't busy doing the Lord's work, they got withdrawal symptoms. They were at it. They were like those Methodists I told you about who were all at it and always at it. And so where there's love in the church, there is not only a reaching to the loss, but there is a tremendous addiction to serving the saints. So we might say first of all, love shares, and secondly love serves.
Thirdly, where there is love in a fellowship you will find submission. Verse 16, "you submit yourselves unto such." Those kind of people who addict themselves to the work of the Lord are the kind of people you should submit to. And by the way the word submit is hupotasso. When you find somebody addicted to the work of the Lord, you should become hyper-addicted to them. So that God's design for the church is that the people who are the Godly ones who are serving the Lord and serving the saints, they are the ones who set the pace and everybody comes and submits themselves to them. We all get hyper-addicted to those who are addicted to doing the work of the ministry. So love shares and love submits as well as serves.
Fourthly, we...and we're just briefly reviewing what we went into in detail last time. Fourthly, love is characterized by what we called refreshing companionship. You know, when a church really has love and boy Paul wanted to see this in the Corinthian church, when they came together they just fought and hassled and wrangled and argued and it was just bad news. We saw that last time, but Paul wanted love. He wanted them to refresh each other and that's kind of implied in what he says in 17. He says, I'm glad for the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, Achaicus, for that which was lacking on your part they supplied. They filled me in on what was going with you and they have refreshed my spirit.
You know, there should be in the church and openness and a warmth and a love that results in a refreshing. Well, you know it shouldn't be like so many churches where there's a war going on and a fight and a big hassle and a big wrangling and you don't even want to go. It ought to be...you can't wait til Sunday to just run to the place because you're so refreshed. Your spirit is refreshed in the companionship of those that love Christ. So love serves and it reaches out to save by sharing the gospel. Love submits and I would say love even sooths. It refreshes. Now that brings us up to number five. Where there is love in the fellowship, there will be evangelism, service to the saints, submission, and a refreshing kind of companionship. And now let's begin with number five for today, respect.
Respect, notice in verse 18, "For they've refreshed my spirit and yours." Now that's the last point, but here comes the next one, "Therefore," and y'all know what therefore is there for. It takes you backwards. Now when you find somebody who evangelizes, when you find somebody who serves the saints, when you find somebody who's addicted to the work of the Lord, when you find somebody who sets the right kind of example for you to submit to, then "therefore, acknowledge them that are such." Now the word acknowledge is a neat word. It means to give recognition to, to highly value, to rightly evaluate. There's nothing wrong with recognition in the church. There's not a thing wrong with that.
We are to acknowledge or give recognition to such people. And the idea is not that we line them all up in the front and crown them, you know, king for a day or queen for a day or whatever, the idea is that we don't put gold plates in the pillars around the church in honor of such and such and such and such. The idea is simply that we treat them with a sense of respect. Not because of their money or because of their prestige or because of their position or because of their family or because of their job or any other human thing, but if they have been hyper-addicted to the work of the Lord, if they have evangelized, if they have set the pace for modeling the Christian testimony, they are worthy of our respect.
Now the Corinthians were not respectful. In Chapter 1, Paul says they were divisive, schismatic, argumentative. They polarized themselves in little groups. I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephus. I'm of Christ. And if you were outside their little group, they had nothing to say to you, let alone any respect for you. They had shown very little respect for the apostle Paul in Chapter 4, verses 18 and 19, the insomuch as were saying we don't think you'll even come to tackle us because you know we don't have any respect for you and we don't think you want to put yourself in that position. They had very little respect for Paul.
Further, we find in the 9th Chapter that he has to defend his apostleship. He starts out the 9th Chapter by saying to them, "Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Christ our Lord? Are you not the fruit of my apostleship? Don't I have a right to receive money from your hand? Haven't I worked and endeavored to slave to bring you the gospel? Isn't the servant worthy of his hire?" They had never given him anything. They had never taken, as far as we know, any offering for him and given it to him. He didn't ask for it. He said, "I'm not going to ask for it. I've never sought this things, but on the other side of it, they'd never even offered them as far as we know." They hadn't shown any great respect for this man of God. They couldn't show respect for people in their own congregation. At least four times in the book he says to them, "you are puffed up." And people who are puffed up tend only to worry about themselves are not busy showing respect to somebody else. So they were a non-respectful lot. And Paul says if there's love in the fellowship, you'll acknowledge people like this man Stephanas and his family. You'll look up to him.
Now you see, beloved, God has a pattern for the church and this is so basic and I don't think we all understand this. God has a pattern for the church and here is the pattern. The Godly people rise to the top by virtue of their godliness and everybody else rushes to get in underneath them to learn how to live their own Christian life. That's why Paul said to Timothy be an example of the believer. Why? That's the way the church is structured. And when the church sets out to put in leadership people who are the people with the money or the people with the power or the prestige or the position in the world or the talkers or what else, void of the spiritual qualification it sets up wrong models and it undermines the process of maturity throughout the rest of the church sowing the seeds of its own dissolution.
But when the church allows respect for those who have earned by the godliness of their life, then the right people are the patterns and everybody else hurries to get in line to give respect and submission to those and learn the proper patterns of godliness and therefore things go the way the Lord Jesus Christ designed His church to go. Now let me show you how this works by showing you some scripture to open up your thinking on it. Philippians 2:29, here's a dear man by the name of Epaphroditus who had labored along with the apostle Paul and was just a precious guy. He was a diligent, faithful worker as well as greatly a concerned man. Later on the book it talks about his concern that the believer be fulfilling all the will of God in his life. So he was a great man and Paul writes to the Philippians in verse 29 regarding Epaphroditus and he says this. "Receive him, receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such in reputation."
Now when this guy gets there you receive him and you hold him high in your regard. Why? Because for the work of Christ he was near unto death. Not regarding his life to supply your lack of service toward me. This guy was so aggressively involved in the work of the Lord in serving me that he risked his life. The Greek word is paraballo, it means to roll the dice. He rolled the dice with his life. Now you hold him in reputation. Don't hold him in reputation because he comes from a rich family, because he's famous, because he's important in the world, because he's a famous leader or athlete or businessman or politician or something. You hold him in reputation because he, for the work of Christ, gambled with his life. You know there were so many in the early church that did this that little societies grew up. Little societies of people who were known as the front troops. Little societies of people who were out there on the front confronting a pagan world nose to nose and risking their life and these little societies of people that grew up were called the paraballonis, the riskers, the gamblers. The people who rolled the dice with their life for the cause of Christ. These are the people to hold in reputation. When you find somebody who gives his life to the work of Jesus Christ, when you find somebody who lives a Godly pattern and let's you see how Christ should be lived in your life, when you find somebody who's faithful to the word of God, when you find somebody who does it the way it ought to be done, line up underneath to honor that person and submit your own life to that pattern.
Beloved when the church begins to do that, the church is going to begin to fulfill its obligation to become in the world the body of Christ and not until. As long as we're an organization run by the wealthiest and the smartest, we're in trouble. But when we are a body that is led by those who are the heart and soul by virtue of living the patterns and the example that God has designed, then we're going to function like an organism. And Christ will be made manifest in the world.
Here was a dear man of whom we know nothing in terms of heritage or economics or prestige or position or anything. All we know about him is that he was a model to be held in high reputation, to be patterned after because for the cause of Christ he became a paraballoni. He threw his life, put it on the line. We want to follow the right people. I've seen too many churches do it the other way throughout history. Let me show you another verse, 1 Timothy 5:17. Just to let you see how broad this principle is in the New Testament. 1 Timothy 5:17 says "Let the elders," and this refers to the elders, the pastors, those who rule and lead in the church, "the elders that rule well, let them be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine."
In other words, when you find someone who works at it, who labors at this thing, who gives himself to the word and to doctrine and he rules well, you have every reason to double honor that individual. You see, God is not against lifting up people. Sometimes you say well, we're all to be abased and we're all to be humble. That's one side of it. That's right, that's the personal side. That's my attitude toward God. I am humble before God. I am humble before God. But in the church we every reason and every right to set up patterns of those who are Godly. In fact, the humble should be the pattern and they are worthy of double honor who labor and rule well, because they are the ones we should follow.
Notice 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5 and verse 12. "And we beseech you brethren," now watch how he approaches this, "to know them who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you." First of all, you ought to know who the spiritual leaders are. You know, it's very easy to come to Grace Church. Here this morning probably, I don't know, 2,700 or so people here in this service and then in the earlier service. You could come and mingle around and mill around with 5,000 people and you could wind up knowing very few people, let alone those who labor and lead over this congregation. But you know something, it's your responsibility to find out who they are so that you can see their lives and see the pattern of their lives and pattern yours after them.
So he starts out by saying you ought to know them. You ought to know them. Those who labor among you, they are the toilers. Those who are over you in the Lord, they are the leaders. And who admonish you, they are the ones who command you to obey God. And when you find who they are, verse 13, "Esteem them very highly in love." Not for their rank, not for their economics, not for their education, but for their what? For their works sake. Why? What work are they doing? The work of Christ.
Now you can see it's the same thing, but you know what often happens in the church? Somebody has a position of leadership and the response is not respect, it's often jealousy, jealousy. You get a power struggle, little hassles, and then a little criticisms and slanders and listen beloved, there's no place for that. The church is simply designed, the Godly, at the top, they rule, they teach, they admonish, everybody else gets underneath, submits, respects.
It goes two ways. Those at the top must be worthy of such respect and such submission. And they must answer to God. We'll see that in a minute. Look at Hebrews 13, verse 7. Similar word, "Remember them who have the rule over you, who have spoken to you the word of God, those who are your leaders, your admonishers, the toilers, remember them." And then it says in verse 7, "whose faith follow." Mimic, mimeti in the Greek, mimic it. Imitate it, that's where that word comes from. And then in verse 17 "Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for the watch for your souls as they that must give account." There is accountability at that level believe me.
So as long as you'll obey them and submit to them they will do it with joy and not with grief, because if they are grieved, that's unprofitable for you. Who wants to have leaders that are grieving? Such a beautiful and simple thing. The congregation submits itself to those Godly ones who lead and admonish and toil and those who lead and admonish and toil receive the respect and the submission of the congregation and they in turn have a greater accountability to God. You know what it says in James 3:1? It says, "stop being so many teachers for theirs is the greater condemnation." Don't rush into that position. "To whom much is given," what, "much is required." There should be in what we saw earlier in 1 Thessalonians 5, there should be esteem it says them very highly. And the Greek word is interesting. It's a Greek word with two prefixes. And whenever the Greek stuck a prefix on a word that's to compound it's intensity. When they stick two on it's like a super duper. And so when it says esteem them very highly, what it means is super, abundantly, gushing, overflowingly esteem them.
Lay it on them folks, respect them, esteem them. The idea there is like an ocean of respect. It just keeps overflowing it's shores, gushing. Don't be picky and critical, be respectful. There's a good contrast it'll help you to see this by illustration. If you'll look with me at 3 John, that little Epistle at the end of the New Testament. And John gives his readers a comparison in us as well, that'll help us to understand the kind of people we are to follow. Two D's here, Diotrephes and Demetrius, verse 9. "I wrote to the church but Diotrephes who loves to have the preeminence among them receiveth us not." Now just think about it. This is John, this is John folks. This is John who leaned on Jesus' breast. This is John who was always there in the presence of Jesus because of His great love. This is John who never was rebuked for failing to follow like Peter. This is John tender and gentle and loving and sensitive. This is John who loved Christ and loved his church. This is John who writes to this little congregation and Diotrephes won't receive him.
Why? Because John is a threat to Diotrephes. Because Diotrephes wants the preeminence. That's what happens in the church. Sometimes you get people who want to push themselves up and they don't respect anybody even the apostle John. He says, "Wherefore," in verse 10, "if I come I'll remember his deeds which he doeth prating against us with malicious words. Not content with that neither does he himself receive the brethren," even when we send a messenger, he won't receive them, "and he forbids the church to receive them and if somebody does, he throws them out of the church." What a guy. Nice going Diotrephes. He didn't think he'd get into the Bible so everybody throughout the rest of history would know what you were did you? But you did.
That's just the kind of guy, he says in verse 11, "beloved follow not that which is evil." Don't follow that guy. The guy who loves the preeminence, the guy who has no respect for the other man of God. The man who wants everything for himself, who maliciously undermines, who forbids the man of God to come, who is threatened. No, no, no, don't you follow that man. But follow that which is good and who's that? Well, he gives an illustration, verse 12. "Demetrius has a good report from all men and of the truth itself. Yes, and we also bear witness and you know our witness is true." He's saying to them look, I