Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning, 1115.
[00:00:07] Good morning. If you have your bibles, would you open them up to the book of second Corinthians? And we're going to be in chapter two this morning. In the first service, I asked a question, and I asked, have you ever, like, sent an important text message to somebody, and you need to get, like, a pretty quick response, and then they take forever to respond. Everyone was like, yeah. And then there's a couple people who were like, michael, you do that to us all the time. And you're right. I am one of the slowest text responders at times. Back in the day, there used to be this device.
[00:00:47] And before I show you a picture of it, I need to kind of prep you for it, because many of you in the room, you're gonna know, but if you're, like, 25 or 30 and younger, you probably have never actually seen this device in someone's home. It's gonna absolutely blow your mind. The device is called an answering machine. Okay, so this is a picture of what an answering machine would look like. Now, let me instruct you on how this could work. So you would call somebody, and it wouldn't go to their landline or their cell phone. It would go to their landline, which means that every phone in the house would ring at the same time. So whoever picked it up first wins. And then if they weren't home or they didn't answer the phone, it would go to the answering machine, and then there would be a pre recorded thing that a family would do, and there'd be a fight in the families. So I'd be like, welcome to the feelings. I'm Daniel. I'm David. I'm Patrick. I'm Michael. And then mom would inevitably erase it and just say, leave a message and be done with it. So. But you would leave a message, and then. This is crazy. It would beep. You'd leave the message, and you'd hang up, and it would go onto this cassette. And then we get home, and there would be a rush. Particularly, like, teenage years, right? And older. There'd be a rush, and you would listen, it would play it, the whole thing, whole message. And now, very important, there are sacred rules around listening to answering machine messages, okay? So if you get home first and no one's home, you are obligated by eternal mandate to write down the person who called, who they were calling for, maybe even their number, and what the message they wanted to leave was. Dave, your girlfriend called. She's really upset with you. Here's her number. Give her a call back, right? So this is really, really important in terms of how the answer machine worked. And then you might be asking, I know this is going to sound crazy. Well, how are we supposed to write it down? Okay, so in every home, your answer machine, 99% of people, it was in the kitchen area, okay? And then what there would be is there would be this thing called paper, and it would be right there. And then every kitchen had a mug, and in the mug were a bunch of pens, and at the bottom were legos, loose change and a bunch of dirt. Okay, you guys know what I'm saying, don't you? You always took out that pen and you wrote the information down. And then in the nineties, they went from tape to digital, and there was this nefarious button called auto delete. And so, like, if you press that button, okay, the whole message would go away forever. You know, like in your phones, how you have, like, recently deleted stuff. They didn't have that. When you hit auto delete, it was gone. Oh, my goodness. Now, you might be wondering, what does this have to do with the book of second Corinthians? And I'm going to tell you, it has everything to do with this book. Because before there was text messages and there was mobile phones, before there was landline phones and answering machines, and before there were planes and trains and automobiles, the speed of communication happened at the speed of a pen and a person. So for centuries, in millennia, this is how information traveled. What we do when we open up the word of God is we have this tendency to take our current moment and to transfer it onto this culture that is thousands of years old and did things in very different ways. Now, with this kind of context in mind, second Corinthians, chapter two. I need to set up the context, because this is one of those books. We say this every week. You cannot parachute into it. There are some of you here. This is your first time at church, so we have to catch you up to what is happening.
[00:04:31] Before the book of Second Corinthians, there is the book of one corinthians. And before the book of First Corinthians, there was a woman in the corinthian church. Her name was Chloe. And Chloe visited Paul, and she came to Paul and basically said, my church, the corinthian church, they are in belligerent, willful, unrepentant sin. You either need to show up or write them a letter or do something. Paul, you started this church. You love this church. These are your people. Now, from the time Paul left Corinth to the time he got this message was probably around three years. So I want you to consider this. Like, if. If your pastor leaves and all of a sudden things go crazy, how long is it going to take for that pastor to hear the information?
[00:05:16] Maybe a couple minutes.
[00:05:19] Consider this. For three years, he's been gone. Chloe tells him, listen, you got to get this church under control. So Paul wrote and sent the letter of one corinthians. And he sent the letter with his pastoral protege, a guy named Timothy. And so Timothy brings this letter of one corinthians. It is, chapter by chapter, rebuke after rebuke after rebuke. That is the only way to really process this book. And the hope was that the Corinthians were going to repent. Well, it takes Timothy about a couple months to get there, an indeterminate amount of time to spend their pastoring the church and helping them understand Paul's letter, and then he's got to leave. From Corinth all the way back to Paul was best guesstimates were it was minimally six months from when Paul penned one corinthians to the time when he received information back from Timothy on how that letter was received by them. And Timothy's response. Let me summarize it like this. Bad news, Paul. Chloe was right. Corinth isn't doing well. They're in willful sin.
[00:06:21] There are divisive fake apostles trying to take over. They're discrediting you. I did my best, but this church needs to hear from you.
[00:06:32] So Paul shows up in person. This did not go well. He was there a short period of time, and this rebellious group of people and him could not reconcile, and they would not repent, and so he left. Then what happens? Paul writes this letter. It's called the severe letter, and it's a letter of rebuke. And it didn't quite work with Timothy. So he finds another pastoral protege. A guy's name is Titus. A book is written to him in the New Testament. And so Paul gives to Titus this severe letter and says, this letter is very intense. They need to be rebuked, they need to be confronted, and they are either going to hate me, or they're going to repent. After they get this letter, there's no middle option. And so Paul sends the letter with Titus three months to get from where Paul is at to Corinthe, an indeterminate amount of time where Titus is trying to pastor and shepherd, and then three months back to get Paul the information of whether or not Corinth repented. And finally, most relevant to our text, this morning, before Titus left, Paul and Titus agreed to meet within a certain window of time in a very specific city by the name of Troas.
[00:07:51] And so Paul does what he's supposed to do. He goes to Troas. And what does Paul do everywhere he goes, he preaches the gospel. So Paul goes to Troas. Titus, he goes to Corinth. And Paul is waiting and waiting and waiting. The news is either going to be good, they repented. It's going to be terrible. They hate you, and you're never going to go back to Corinth again. Now, look at two corinthians, chapter two, verse twelve.
[00:08:14] Paul says, when I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord. Can we just pause? I want you to remember this. When Jesus saved Paul, he gave him a mission, and his life's mission and purpose was to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. The Gentiles, a non Jew. And so Paul's job was to bring the gospel, to go to gentile cities where they had not heard about Jesus, preach the gospel, and if they responded to plant churches, and then to go from city to city so that the gospel of Jesus Christ could go all over the world. And so Paul gets to Troas, and what does he say? A door was opened for me in the Lord. Let me translate. Paul is preaching the gospel. People are hearing. They are believing. Lives are being transformed, and something beautiful is happening in troas. Look at verse 13.
[00:09:12] Paul says, even though this ministry is happening, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. Where's Titus supposed to show up? Troas. Now, this situation has left Paul very emotionally vulnerable. He has already described his emotional state as he has been waiting for Titus to arrive, as he is considering the broken relationship between him and his church. The church in Corinth. Hear the words he's used so far to describe his emotional state. He's afflicted emotionally.
[00:09:46] He is in anguish, and he is filled with grief.
[00:09:52] So people can get in their brains that the apostle Paul is like a cold hearted truth teller. And that's all he is.
[00:09:59] In fact, when you read his letters, what you realize is this is a pastor who has a heart that is tender, who loves people fiercely and intensely. And when you love people fiercely and intensely, when you are this kind of person, you also do have to have very hard conversations. And so Paul was able to have the hard conversations, but he didn't love having those conversations. What you find when you read him is he's a man who deeply loves his church, and he really wants to know that they are going to be okay. And so Paul is anxious. Is my relationship with my church overdose, or are we going to be restored to each other?
[00:10:38] So what you see is that Paul's mind is spinning, and I think, understandably so. Here are just a handful of what ifs that might be going through the apostle Paul's mind.
[00:10:51] What if Corinth and the minority of people there who hate me swayed Titus against me while he was there?
[00:11:01] What if Titus didn't come back because he hates me?
[00:11:04] Maybe Titus was robbed or injured or worse.
[00:11:11] Okay, if I can't find Titus, do I just show up to Corinth?
[00:11:17] What if I'm not welcome? What if they hate me? What if I get there and they kick me out? And these are all pretty reasonable questions when you don't know where your friend is, who is carrying with him probably the one piece of information that you want more than anything else in your life in that moment. I think if the apostle Paul was standing here today, I think he might say something like this about his fruitful ministry intro s.
[00:11:43] Who cares how much ministry you get done?
[00:11:47] If the people you love the most are in danger? Titus.
[00:11:51] Or hate you? Corinth.
[00:11:55] Here's a lesson I've learned. It doesn't just apply to apostles or pastors. I think to all of us who serve Jesus, and I just say this, one of my delights of pastoring village church is the quantity of human beings who are on the front line of really meaningful ministry, pouring into people, making sure the word of God is getting into other people's hearts and lives. It's absolutely incredible. And so this is a message I think the majority of us need to hear.
[00:12:18] God designed us to be relational, overproductive, and so, like, here's this idea for Paul, right? I can either be productive in ministry, or I can go pursue the relationships that are in jeopardy.
[00:12:34] And again, I love being productive. Anyone else? Like, I love getting things done. I love doing things. Who cares if you're productive for Jesus? If all the core relationships in your life are broken and falling apart or the people you love are in actual physical danger?
[00:12:49] So in verse 13, Paul makes the right ministry decision.
[00:12:52] He says this, so I took leave of them. This is the people coming to Christ in Troas, and I went to Macedonia.
[00:13:02] I want you to kind of visually see what this trip would have been like. And so here's a map for you, and you'll see there's troas and there's Macedonia. And this is not an easy trip. It's actually very, very dangerous for a few reasons. Number one, the terrain is very dangerous. You're crossing rugged mountains, harsh weather, very poorly maintained roads, and you have to cross the Aegean Sea, which is known for sudden storms and shipwrecks. Oh, by the way, bandits, gangs, and murderers and thieves. No big deal.
[00:13:34] Second, Macedonia itself, this region is not safe for the apostle Paul. So, for example, in Philippi, he was beaten to a pulp, and I slandered and a whole bunch of really bad things and imprisoned. And so, like, I don't know. I've never been beaten to a bullet and imprisoned, but I can imagine it's a traumatic experience, and I'm not sure that I want to go back to the city or the region where that happened last time. In fact, you see, in the book of acts, other cities like Berea and Thessalonica, there are groups of people who really hate him. Mobs have risen up against him in some of these cities. And when Paul shows up, it's not like he's gonna go undetected. He's not an insignificant figure. And so when Paul shows up, word is going to spread that he is there. The third reason this is dangerous, because Paul understood intimately how demonic collaboration, coordination, and strategy worked. This might be a weird thought for you, but demons talk to each other, and they coordinate attacks city to city. So this is very known to Paul. Paul understands clearly that what he deals with in the physical realm is just a manifestation of a deeper war going on in the spiritual realm. And so he understands that this is actually a battle not against flesh and blood, but against deeper, darker forces.
[00:14:55] But he also knows that these demons have been given limits on what they're able to do to Paul. So apparently, Jesus has allowed them to beat him to a pulp and put him into prison, but not to take his life. So at the very least, he knows I'm not going to die. But the demonic realm has been given permission to do great harm to him. So Paul knows when he travels from Troas to Macedonia, not only is the trip dangerous, but also the place he's going. Let's just say people aren't very thrilled with him, generally speaking, in the region. And the demonic realm coordinates a whole lot of this and will coordinate attacks from city to city.
[00:15:30] A couple chapters later in the book, second corinthians seven five.
[00:15:34] Listen, to how Paul describes the trip from Troas to Macedonia. Very interesting, he says, for even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within.
[00:15:58] The next verse, he says that he was downcast. After considering this entire journey, it left him with a level of maybe sadness or depression.
[00:16:10] So if this was Paul's experience traveling from Troas to Macedonia, can you maybe understand a little bit of why he is anxious that Titus has not showed up in his journey from Macedonia to Troas?
[00:16:23] This is dangerous. So let's summarize.
[00:16:26] Paul left an easy city with open doors for ministry, where he's accruing really incredible God stories of God moving and saving people.
[00:16:36] So Paul leaves the ease of troas, and he chose one of the most dangerous journeys.
[00:16:45] Why?
[00:16:47] Well, there's a small group in the church in Corinth, and he is actually responding to these people, and they hated him, and they accused him of a whole bunch of things. One of the things they accused him of is they accused him of using the corinthian church for money, possibly making up needs in other churches, raising money for those churches, and then taking the money for himself, or finding real needs in churches, raising the money, and then pilfering money off the top.
[00:17:19] Okay, so how do innocent people know what their enemy is up to?
[00:17:27] Listen to what they accuse you of.
[00:17:29] And Paul knew that their accusations, they were just gaslighting. And you'll see this in a couple chapters. Right, because it's going to turn out. Guess who's actually using the church in Corinth for money. The people accusing him. So why did Paul leave Trohas? Because he was greedy? No. Because it was easier. No. He did all of this because he loved Titus.
[00:17:53] He did all of this because he loved the church in Corinthe. He did not want to wait another day without hearing this news. The church and the people that he loved more than anyone else, the relationship was on the line.
[00:18:07] And you can just hear this small group of accusers in the church when they hear that Paul left troas, because everything Paul did was going to be accused, they would say something like this.
[00:18:20] Well, if Paul was all about the kingdom of Jesus, he would have stayed in troas. So what is it? Paul is building Jesus kingdom the most important thing or not? If it is, then why did you leave when God was using you in such great ways? Hmm? Talking out of both sides of your mouth, Paul? Guys, I don't think we can trust the apostle Paul. Paul's a hypocrite.
[00:18:47] Here's the not so secret truth about spiritual fruit and ministry that the apostle Paul knew, and it would go well for all of us to remember.
[00:18:57] It has always been God who bears spiritual fruit, not man.
[00:19:04] Paul knew it was okay to walk away from a good, growing, healthy ministry out of love for Titus and the corinthian church because he knew that it was always Jesus who bore the fruit. It was always Jesus who saved people. It was always Jesus who God called to preach the gospel. And if Paul left troas, it's not like Jesus hands are going to be tied. Oh, the apostle Paul's not there. Oh, what can I do? He knew that if he left, that Jesus had other preachers of the gospel that he could raise up who would go fulfill the mission. Because at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter a ton who preaches, because it is God who bears the fruit. I love this. Paul understood, even though he was so important. Gosh, he was so valuable to, we're still 2000 years later talking about this guy. He understood his place. It is the church of Jesus Christ, not of Paul.
[00:20:06] Jesus is the head of the church.
[00:20:08] And Jesus gives Paul permission because the whole thing isn't carried on his shoulders to leave a fruitful ministry, to go take care of his friends and the people he loves.
[00:20:19] So there is, I think, an interesting question that maybe five of you are asking, but I want all of us to ask. And as soon as I got into this text, this just, like, was boggling in my brain. Okay, what if Paul Miss Titus?
[00:20:34] On his way back to Macedonia, he has considered this. Like, what if Paul, he's going to travel on land and on sea? Like, what if Paul, what if they just miss each other and now they're like a month or two apart from each other? Like, how do you prevent this?
[00:20:53] Could we talk about the nineties again just for fun?
[00:20:56] All right, I'm going to describe something, and we'll see if you can guess what it is.
[00:21:00] In the nineties, there was this amazing hangout place, and it was totally free, and it was open late on the weekends, and there were a ton of junior high and high schoolers there every weekend. What is it, guys? The mall, it is mind numbing to me. I have never, ever had one of my children say, dad, drive me to the mall. Okay, but I'm telling you guys, in the nineties, if you weren't at the mall, you.
[00:21:29] You weren't cool. No offense. Like, that is where the cool kids hung out on the weekends. Now here's the deal. If you're going to go to the mall before the days of text messaging and cell phones and all of that, and then email, whatever, it took a lot of work to coordinate getting to the mall. Okay, so here's what would have to happen. This is relevant, by the way. So what you would have to do is you have to get you and at least one other friend and you would have to agree, number one, who's going, okay. And then you'd have to break up and you would have to call all the people and get confirmation on who's going. Going. Then you would have to establish, what time are we meeting?
[00:22:02] Where are we meeting? Usually at our mall, it was the movie theater. And then so important you had to establish the first place you're going to go after the meeting because there was always that kid who was late and they needed to know where you were going to go first. All of that information needed to be established and clear. And that place could have been anti answer pretzels. It could have been structure. Now express, right? Like, it could have been the movie theater, could have been a restaurant in the mall. It didn't matter. But they needed to know, when are we going? Where are we going? This was super important. And you also had to establish with mom and dad, pick up time before you left, very important because you did not want mom and dad sitting at the mall waiting. So these are going to sound nuts, but like, people figured out before technology how to coordinate and communicate with each other. Like, this is the thing. And for centuries, in millennia, people have been figuring out, how do we not miss each other? So let me share with you a handful of rules that if you were a first century Christian traveling, that you would obey so that you didn't have these kinds of issues. Number one, stay on the main road. Always don't take shortcuts because they're dangerous. And you could miss someone or only stay with fellow christians, if possible, at each step of the way as a check in. Or here's another one. When you go to a major city, make sure all the house churches in that city know you are there.
[00:23:33] Or when you leave a place to go, make sure you tell them where you're going to next and whose house you're staying at. So if someone tries to find you, they actually know where you're going and where you're going to be. I want to give you just a glimpse of what I think is one of the most uninteresting chapters in the entire New Testament. To most people, it's Romans, chapter 16. You get this incredible book, chapters one through 15. They're so interesting and deep and theological, and then you get to romans 16, and it's just a whole bunch of names, okay? And here's a handful of them. Prisca, Aquila, Mary, Androcannus, Junia, Urbanus, the family of Aristobulus, the family of Narcissus, Triphenia, Triphosa, Persis, Rufus, and his mother, syncretus. Phlegon. No, thank you. Like phlegon, Hermes, Patrobus, Hermas, and the brothers who are with him. Philegus, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints who are with them. We read this, and we go, ugh. We done yet? I'm never gonna remember these names. If you were a Christian of the first century, do you know who these people were? Check ins.
[00:24:41] These were the people that were safe.
[00:24:45] These were the homes you could go.
[00:24:48] These were the people who were willing to risk their lives to house other christians. You'd get through chapters one through 15, and you'd be edified, and it would be great, but you'd get to chapter 16, and this chapter was life or death in some cities. So the apostle Paul would write this letter to the church in Rome, and it would cycle through the house churches in Rome, and then they would make copies, and it would get cycled throughout different churches in the region. And this was a how they communicated with each other, so they could travel from place to place. They would be safe. And I imagine Paul had a conversation with Flagon, and he was like, hey, I'm gonna put your name in this letter. And he says, done, put my name in it. I risk my life for these people, and for the sake of Jesus. I'm happy to have my name associated. Well, they might catch the letter, and you might get in trouble if they find your name in it. And he's like, I'm here for Jesus anyways, so let's just do this. Every one of these names is a willing person who is willing to sacrifice their life for the sake of the gospel.
[00:25:48] So, in the first century, what do you do when someone doesn't show up on time?
[00:25:54] You go to your checkpoints. Checkpoint number one, Macedonia. And Paul didn't need to write in the letter exactly where to go. Paul knew where to go. Titus knew where to go. And doggone it, Paul loves this man, and he's not going to sit here and just do ministry while his buddy, his pastoral protege, the young man, that he's mentoring might be dead or his life in danger.
[00:26:16] I want to share with you as we close three. So what's. And there's a couple verses coming up here that I want to just put into these. So what's. Because they're really important.
[00:26:26] So what? Number one, sometimes in your ministry, it's okay to walk away for the right reasons. There's a lot of wrong reasons. But sometimes it's okay to walk away, because everything doesn't hinge on you.
[00:26:42] I want you to look at verse 14.
[00:26:44] Paul says, but thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
[00:27:00] This feels. If you just parachute into this verse, this feels like a very weird verse to put right after you're defending why you left troas to go for Macedonia to look for Titus. Like, it doesn't seem like it fits. So, why is Paul talking about triumphal procession right here?
[00:27:19] Let me explain to you what a roman triumphal procession is. A general would come into town victorious after a battle. And behind the general, there would be dancers and singers, and all this stuff would be noise and celebration, and then there would be chained up, the defeated general. And then behind him would also be different slaves, and there would be all of this wealth that came from stealing from the people they just conquered. And then the people would shout, and they would shout profanities at the general and the slaves, because these were the very people who had had your general not kill them. They would come kill you and all your children and steal all your stuff. So there's a hatred for these people, and so you're shouting terrible things at them and celebrating, and then you might be in your house, and you might hear this celebration, and you might be thinking, what is going on? But before you could get there and before the people got there, you would probably smell the incense. And there was a very specific kind of incense that they would use in these triumphal processions. And if you were the. On the side of the victorious general, that was the aroma of life. And if you were the defeated general and the slaves, that was the aroma of death, because as you got marched from city to city, you would probably die on the way there, or you'd be killed at the end of this triumphal procession. Which brings us to verse 15. Paul says, for we're the aroma of Christ to God among those who are saved and among those who are perishing to one, a fragrance from death to death. Like, there are people. They're gonna meet you. And because you believe in Jesus and stand for the things of Christ, they're gonna look at you and say, ugh, I don't like anything you have to. I don't like anything you stand for. I don't even want to be around you. The aroma of death, the aroma of opposition.
[00:29:08] And so there are those who are gonna be the fragrance of death to death, but to the other, to believers, a fragrance from life to life. And then Paul says, who is sufficient for these things? And the answer is always Jesus.
[00:29:25] Let me try and summarize why Paul is talking about roman triumphal processions while he's making a defense of why he left from Troas to Macedonia. I'm summarizing this way. Paul. Imagine him saying this.
[00:29:40] I can leave behind open doors like troas, because I was never the one to save people in the first place.
[00:29:47] Jesus did that on the cross, and there is nothing Satan can do to stop him. Satan is defeated and shamed, and he knows it. And there are others who can and will proclaim the good news to the lost, because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter who preaches the gospel. Those who are God's will hear the call and believe, and Jesus won't let any single person in trouble ask who would believe, not hear the gospel from someone.
[00:30:11] Paul's like, at the end of the day, Jesus has won. Jesus has completely won the battle. Satan has lost. And if I leave troas to go to Macedonia, like, it's not like the mission has been lost everywhere I go, I'm the fragrance of life to people who are going to believe, and God is going to raise somebody up in troas, because guess what? Paul's not the only preacher. There's a whole bunch of people that God is raising up and has raised up over two millennia to preach the gospel.
[00:30:39] So at number two, hurt often reveals our heart's truest motivation.
[00:30:49] So the subtext of all of this is a conflict between Paul and the church has been reconciled by now. But Paul and the accusers, this small group of people in the church, and everybody's getting exposed for who they really are. And so we see, through their repentance, the corinthian church revealed that they were true christians. The jury was out on that one, because to reject an apostle, to reject Paul was to reject their gospel message. And so for Paul, he knew that if they rejected him, there was a lot more that was going to be lost.
[00:31:25] Paul's truest heart of love for Titus and the Corinthians, it was revealed in his decisions. It was revealed in the testimonies about him. It was revealed in this letter. It was revealed in his emotions. And so history kind of just proves the fact that Paul really did love these people. And the irony is that also the accusers, their real motivations, they were also exposed. Look at verse 17. This is a jab at that small little group, he says, for we are not like so many peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity. It's commissioned by God. In the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
[00:32:09] These people accused him, gaslight him of using the corinthian church for money. And at the end of the day, it turns out they were the ones using Paul or using the Corinthians for money. Paul identifies there's two kinds of people you have to deal with, peddlers and pastors. Pastors will do very, very loving, sacrificial things for the good of the people they love. Peddlers will use and extort you.
[00:32:36] And so at number three, relationships matter than productivity. For Jesus, this is kind of a weird text. It goes all over the place. It's hard to teach, actually. Like, usually you want, like some coherent line here. And this text goes left, it goes right. It's the nature of the book of two Corinthians. It is all over the place. But there are some really beautiful. So whats in this book?
[00:33:00] And Paul learned this message, it is okay to walk away from productive things, to focus on the most important things, the people in my life. And where did Paul learn this? From Jesus, who regularly walked away from very productive ministry, to be present with his disciples, to spend time with his father, to recharge.
[00:33:31] And so let's take a cue from Paul and Jesus.
[00:33:35] Stop sacrificing your people on the altar of, and I'm going to let you fill in the blank. For some of us, it's ministry. For some, it's work, and for some, it's hobbies.
[00:33:46] And to close this, I want to share with you just the three most important relationships. Number one, the relationships with my people. Who are your people? Your close friends. This small group of people, they are your people. If you get to the end of your life and you're like, I was productive, but I have no friends, that is not worth it.
[00:34:04] Or number two, your family.
[00:34:07] Like, who wants to be on their deathbed and be like, I did so much for Jesus, but my husband, my wife, my children, my grandchildren don't know me or hate me. Like, not worth it or number one, the most important relationship in your entire life, your relationship with God. I'm working for you. I'm working for you. I'm working for you. But what about your actual personal relationship with God? Is it growing? And it is really, really easy to justify. I am productive for the kingdom of Jesus and to sacrifice my people, my family and my God. And we pull back, Paul's like, listen, I can leave productive ministry because Jesus is the head of the church, not me. And he's got this thing under control. And it doesn't matter where I go anyways, even if I'm being productive over here or tending to my relationships, I am the fragrance of Christ wherever I go. So it doesn't matter where I go. I am carrying with me the hope of Jesus Christ, the fragrance of victory, and a reminder that we are on the winning team. So I might be in this ministry, and I might need to move here everywhere I go on the fragrance of Christ. Amen. Village church. Let's pray together. Lord, we just are so thankful for this book, for the apostle Paul of all the people in the world. It would be so easy for this guy to become a narcissist, to make it all about him. But I'm just so thankful that you did not just save him, but you brought him to a point where he realized everything good, all the fruit that happens at the end of the day, you get all the glory for it.
[00:35:41] And even as he leaves troas, you're going to raise up men and women to proclaim the gospel and build the church. It's just what you do. You are so effective. And God, thank you also for the privilege that we have to partner with you. But may you give us the insight and the courage to see if there are places in our life where maybe we're valuing productivity over our people, of our family, of our relationship with you. God, I pray you would show us as a church how not just to be productive and blown away at how productive this church is, but may we build strong relationships.
[00:36:17] May we lean into this value that Paul and Jesus so clearly in their ministries, taught.
[00:36:24] And, Lord, mostly for all of our failures, thank you for the blood of Christ that covers us.
[00:36:29] We have sinned and we struggle, and yet your blood declares that we are forgiven if we've trusted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And so from the bottom of our heart, thank you. And what a joy we have to celebrate communion now and to remember that everything is from you, especially our salvation and all God's people said with that child, amen. Amen. Amen.
