Sermon Discussion Questions:
1. Do you tend to skip over Paul's final words in his letters? What do you think we miss when we do?
2. Paul has many complaints about the Corinthians, yet he is grateful for them (see 1 Cor 1:4-9) and loves them (1 Cor 16:24). How can Paul maintain this "impervious tenderness"?
3. Marc gave three responses to those who say: I'm not a people person, therefore I don't need to prioritize relationships. Which of the three do you think was most helpful?
4. Are you quick to give encouragement to others? If not, why not?
5. What other questions do you have about the passage?
I am not sure what comes into your head when you think of the Apostle Paul: intellectual, bookish, argumentative, etc. But I wonder if you have ever thought of him as a people person? Part of what we miss when we skip over these final sections of Paul’s letters is just how many people he goes out of his way to greet and to thank. The final chapter of Romans is Paul’s longest farewell and he greets 28 people by name, many times sprinkling in specific encouragements to the individuals, like, “Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord,” (Rom 16:12), or, “Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ,” (Rom 16:10), or, “Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord,” (Rom 16:8).
Why does Paul sprinkle those encouragements in? Because Paul cares about people and wants people to be encouraged!
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.…It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace,” (Phil 1:3-5, 7).
Why can Paul be so encouraging to other people? In every letter Paul writes, even to churches that have very serious problems—like the Corinthians—he always has something to commend and give thanks for.
This is Paul’s secret: he extends to others what he has first received in Christ. In Christ, Paul knows two things to be true: (1) he is a great sinner who does not deserve to be welcomed by God, and (2) he has been welcomed by God. God’s grace in Christ has both exposed the grime and yuck of sin inside of Paul, but then has told him: you are welcome here. Your sins have been forgiven, and your guilt atoned for. If you have one without the other—awareness of guilt and certainty of forgiveness, I am a sinner, I am forgiven—you do not have Christianity. The gospel gives us both.
But there is a way you can be a Christian, affirm that you are a sinner saved by grace…yet, still nurse this idea that God merely puts up with you. His feelings towards you are like your feeling towards a slug, only He promised to not squish you. But when He gets close, He thinks…gross. To peel away those dark and distorted thoughts we have about God is one of the main goals of our church. Here is one powerful remedy:
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you;
he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
you shall never again fear evil.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.
17 The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
- Zeph 3:14-17
Here is another way to put it: it is right for Paul to feel the way he feels about churches because he knows how God feels towards him. What does God do when He saves? He rejoices over His people with gladness. He sings! But, you may say, God isn’t happy with our sin, right? He isn’t rejoicing that we keep breaking His commandments, right? He doesn’t. He isn’t.
Thomas Goodwin, the English puritan, explains that Christ looks at us in our sin the way a Father looks at a child with some “loathsome disease” or the way a man looks at member of his body covered in leprosy: “he hates not the member, for it is his flesh, but the disease, and that provokes him to pity the part affected the more…The greater the misery is, the more is the pity when the party is beloved. Now of all miseries, sin is the greatest…And he, loving your persons, and hating only the sin, his hatred shall all fall, and that only upon the sin, to free you of it by its ruin and destruction, but his affections shall be the more drawn out to you…Therefore fear not.” (The Heart of Christ)
Paul knows that when he walks into the room where Jesus is, Jesus does not grimace or shake his head or try to avoid eye contact. Jesus does not try to end the conversation politely and go find someone more interesting to talk to. Jesus does not tolerate you. His eyes light up. And it isn’t because He doesn’t know what you are hiding. It isn’t because you have cleverly portrayed yourself as better than you really are. His aware of all your backsliding, all your half-hearted faithfulness—and He hates it…but He doesn’t hate you. His heart extends to you even more in the mire of your sin.
This is what Paul knows to be true about Jesus Christ. And it is what frees him to extend love and encouragement even to messy, backsliding churches, like the Corinthians. Paul has learned to look at them through the same lenses of grace that Christ has seen him in.
Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. 11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.
15 Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— 16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. 17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.
19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. 20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. 22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
- 1 Cor 16:1-24
The final words of Paul’s letters, where he says “Hello!” to people you do not know, and instructs them about things that you do not care that much about, proves to be a tempting section to skim past quickly in your Bible reading. But these final sections are just as much inspired by the Holy Spirit as the “meat” of the doctrinal sections of Paul’s letters, which means they are written for our benefit. In these final sections, we see a little more of the person of Paul show, not just the thinker or church planter, but the living, breathing man named Paul of Tarsus. And many times in these parting shots, we find what matters most to Paul. So, what matters most to Paul? Of course, Christ above all. But what does that functionally look like for Paul?
People Matter; Missions Matter; Holiness Matters
People Matter
“Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” – C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
Paul, a sinner saved by grace, given the new lenses to see people through, is now a person who believes that people matter. What does that functionally look like here at the end of 1 Corinthians?
First, notice that Paul wants to be with the Corinthians. He plans on spending the winter there, “For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits,” (1 Cor 16:7). Paul wants to linger with the Corinthians. He wants unhurried time with them. In fact, in this section you see the priority that Paul puts on interpersonal relationship and time. He has sent Timothy to go be with the Corinthians (1 Cor 16:10-11), he wants Apollos to do the same (1 Cor 16:12), he names Stephanas, Fortunatas, and Achaicus who have “made up for your absence” because they have refreshed Paul’s spirit (1 Cor 16:17-18). When Paul ends with the greetings, he writes, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen,” (1 Cor 16:24), it is obvious that Paul genuinely loved the Corinthians. A heart that has been transformed by grace is a heart that enjoys people, that prioritizes being with people.
Maybe you are introverted and being with people is rather taxing. And maybe you think, Paul must have been an extrovert, I don’t like people, therefore I don’t need to prioritize people. First off, this assumes that just because something is hard it isn’t required—and where on earth does the Bible ever teach that? Second, just because some people have larger emotional/relational wallets than you do doesn’t mean that you are not obligated to spend what is in your own. And lastly, perhaps the reason you don’t enjoy people as much is because there is something wrong with you. Maybe you are selfish. Maybe you love your comfort too much. Maybe all the pet-peeves and annoyances you carry with you reveal more about your own immaturity than of those around you. If God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, and we are to be like Him, then if we ever get to a point where we say: I just hate people, then we are in grave danger.
Second, notice that Paul is eager for the church to honor particular individuals. He writes of Timothy: “When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. 11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers,” (1 Cor 16:10-11). In Paul’s letter addressed directly to Timothy he also told Timothy to “let no one despise you for your youth” (1 Tim 4:12). Timothy was young and would have been easily dismissed or not listened to—and Paul knows that, and he is eager to keep Timothy from being snubbed and dishonored.
Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints—be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. 17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people. (1 Cor 16:15-18).
Paul is eager for the Corinthians to “be subject” to workers and laborers like the household of Stephanas. Paul knows the price a leader in the church pays, for it is a price he pays himself—and he knows that it is right for the church to not only recognize their leaders but to also be submissive to them. This is Paul’s heart to the Thessalonians: “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work,” (1 Thess 5:12-13). Quinault, I want to commend you on how well you follow this pattern!
Here is one way we can learn from Paul: encourage people when you see them doing what is commendable. If you ever have the thought: So-and-so has really grown or That was really impressive or That was so helpful, then tell the person that. And do it right away—you’ll forget about it if you don’t. And if you are concerned that you might be inflating someone’s ego by complimenting them…let the Lord worry about that. Paul didn’t mix in his compliments about Timothy or Stephanas with some criticism to “keep them humble.”
I don’t have anything to necessarily prove this, but it is my hunch that the godliest and most mature people in the faith are those who are quickest to give encouragements and praise to others, who really believe that people matter.
Missions Matter
And because people matter to Paul, missions matter. You may have noticed that Paul has a remarkable freedom throughout this chapter to solicit the financial help of the Corinthians for a number of issues.
“I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go,” (1 Cor 16:5-6). He asks almost the same thing for Timothy who is currently travelling to Corinth, they are to “help him on his way” as he makes his return journey (1 Cor 16:11).
There may be other ways that the Corinthians could “help” Paul on his journey—supplying food, clothing, travel companions—but the most obvious and simplest way would be to give him a financial gift. You may say, “Ah, so Paul just wanted the Corinthians money.” But were Paul buttering up the Corinthians only for their money then he surely wouldn’t have filled his letter with all of the rebukes and warnings he gave the Corinthians. In fact, if you remember, while previously ministering to the Corinthians, Paul refused to take any of their money (1 Cor 9). No, Paul is a man with a mission and so he needs all the help he can get. His aim is to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, to preach Christ where no one knows who Christ yet is (Rom 15:20). But to do so, Paul needs help. We have seen that Paul is willing to work with his own hands to make ends meet, but travelling is expensive, and there would be times where Paul could find no work, or was imprisoned and then depended on the generosity of others to be fed and clothed.
But Paul didn’t only need money for missions, but also to help other believers who were in need. At the beginning of the chapter Paul writes, “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me,” (1 Cor 16:1-4).
This is likely more of a benevolence gift than a mission-funding since the gift is headed to Jerusalem, where there is already an established church. We know that in the book of Acts we are told of a famine in Jerusalem and a collection being taken for the church (Acts 11:27-30). This could be referring to that, or it could be further economic problems facing Christians there. Either way, Paul gives us some clear examples of giving:
- The first day of the week (Sunday) they are to gather up gifts.
- Each one should give as “he may prosper,” that is, as each person is capable of giving.
- So that Paul will not have to “collect” when he arrives. Paul doesn’t want to cajole people into giving.
In the Lord’s providence, our church just finished a goal of raising support for our missionaries serving in Latin America in one of the poorest and most difficult countries to be working in. Our goal was to raise 30,000 dollars to send down to help our missionaries, to help their church, and to help their school. And church, we blew our goal out of the water! We raised 46,500! I got the opportunity to tell Abner this week, and he wanted to share in his own words his thoughts:
Dear Brothers and Sisters at Quinault Baptist Church,
I am deeply moved and profoundly grateful for your extraordinary generosity and unwavering support. Your contributions have gone above and beyond, demonstrating the true spirit of Christian love and fellowship. It is because of your kindness and commitment to our shared mission that we have been able to make a significant impact in the lives of those we serve. Your support is not just financial; it is a powerful testament to the bond we share as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Your acts of giving have not only provided for immediate needs but have also strengthened our faith and encouraged us in our work. We are reminded through your example of the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 16, where he urges believers to care for one another and support the mission of spreading the Gospel. Thank you for being a living embodiment of this scripture, and for partnering with us in this vital ministry. May God bless each of you abundantly for your kindness and faithfulness.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Abner, Laura, and the kids
Church, you have done so well! I am so proud of you!
Holiness Matters
You may have noticed at the very end of Paul’s closing benediction, this final barb: “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!” (1 Cor 16:22). Woah, Paul! That’s a wild punch to throw in at the last minute.
Why does Paul do that? What about all of the grace and mercy and kindness? I thought that people mattered and Jesus didn’t despise us?
Paul is writing this warning because he wants us to not miss the grace and mercy and kindness of God. If we do not love the Lord, then there is nothing left for us but a curse.
Sin warps us and hurts us, it is like a loathsome disease, a leprous infection that is eating us alive.
So, Paul writes: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love,” (1 Cor 16:13-14).
What should we be watchful for? Think of what the Corinthians have been tempted with in the letter:
- Following the models of the world and prioritizing what is prized by the culture, while ignoring the work of the Spirit.
- Divisiveness, contentiousness, and a lack of love towards each other (1 Cor 1-4).
- Ironically, the church has been permissive towards grievous sexual sins (1 Cor 5-6), while condemning other brothers who disagree with them on much, much smaller sins (1 Cor 8-10).
- Pursuing spiritual gifts as a way to puff themselves up (1 Cor 12-14)
- Denying the resurrection of the dead. (1 Cor 15)
Be on the lookout and stand firm—don’t let false doctrine and temptation sway you. If you are someone who is prone to think, Doctrine doesn’t really matter, then 1 Corinthians is here as a warning: there are real consequences to ideas.
What does it mean for Paul to tell the whole church to “act like men”? The phrase is a Greek word that literally means “act like men,” but is used frequently as a summons to courage (1 Sam 4:9; 2 Sam 10:12). Similar to the summons to “be strong,” the call to “courage” has an overtly masculine characteristic to it. Yet, this summons is given to the whole church—men and women alike. Thus, the whole church is to exhibit a manly courage in…what?
The ordinary life of a Christian. The life of caring for other people, sharing the gospel, using your money generously, cooking meals for family and friends; the life of attending church.
