Spend and Be Spent

1:16I don't know what the Apostle Paul's hobbies or interests were, but I do know that he found the souls of men and women. And children to be of eternal value because he gladly spent all that he had to win them for Christ. So, friends, what we're going to learn today is that we must gladly spend and be spent for the souls of others. Here in verse 11 of chapter 12, Paul acknowledges that he has been a fool for boasting like the false teachers did in his Jewish pedigree and in his visions and revelations from the Lord and in his service to Christ.

2:13But he says here in verse 11 that these new teachers forced him to it because they presented themselves as super apostles who had better resumes, more gifting, greater spiritual experiences than Paul did. And so Paul sought to persuade them of the truth that Jesus had called him and not them to be an apostle, and that his message and ministry should be received and accepted, not theirs. But as we've seen throughout the letter, at least some in the Corinthian church had rejected him.

2:55You can just hear the hurt and disappointment in his voice. Look at verse 11. He says, For I ought to have been commended by you. The Corinthians should have commended Paul for sacrificing so much to bring the message of salvation to them, for expending the energy and the effort to plant their church and to make disciples and to help them sort out all of their problems from afar by writing letters to them for years. They owed him so much.

3:33He should have earned their trust, not their suspicion. He deserved respect, not rejection. But what have you done for me lately is an attitude that not is only pervasive today in our culture, but it's been pervasive in every culture for thousands of years. What have you done for me lately? We only seem to love and respect people that are directly benefiting us in some way right now. The church is called to be a family, a family that doesn't use and discard each other, a family that sticks together through thick and thin, through exciting seasons and boring seasons, through the highs and lows, and victories and defeats, through sins and mistakes.

4:29And it seems Unfathomable to us that the Corinthians would have kicked the Apostle Paul to the curb like they did until you stop and think about the ways that we have often treated each other in the church. So look at verse 11 again. Paul says, For I was not at all inferior to these super apostles, even though I am nothing. See, in the eyes of the world, Paul didn't hold a candle to these new teachers in Corinth.

5:05They were men of impressive abilities, especially in their preaching and teaching. And so Paul reminds them: look, even if I have inferior abilities, even if I'm not the preacher that some of these men are, I told you the truth. I preached you the full gospel of Jesus Christ and nothing else. All the way that I've lived my life has backed up that preaching. They might be able to preach better than me, but I'm preaching the truth.

5:40A lot of you know the English Baptist minister, Charles Spurgeon, was called the prince of preachers. A lot of people don't know that he wasn't the only minister in his family. His grandfather was also a gospel minister. And on one occasion, both of them were preaching the same evening, and Charles preached. First, and his grandfather came up to the pulpit and he said, My grandson can preach the gospel better than me, but he can't preach a better gospel.

6:17Friends, that's the reality: is that there are going to be within the church people with more gifting and less gifting, but all of us have been given the same message of eternal life. Even if some can preach the gospel better, they can't preach a better gospel. Even if some can serve in certain ways better, they can't serve Christ more faithfully than you with whatever you've been given. And so, Paul reminds them of those truths. Look at verse 12.

6:45He says, The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. So, he's saying, listen, don't be led astray by the impressive words of these false teachers. Don't be led astray by their ostentatious displays of their spiritual gifts. Instead, remember what you heard and saw from me. You heard the true gospel of Jesus Christ, the saving message of Christ. And you saw in me the signs of an apostle when your church was planted and your lives were drastically and perfectly. Permanently transformed.

7:33On top of that, I think there's little doubt that they saw Paul heal and drive out demons just like he did in basically every other place that he preached and planted churches. So, verse 13, he says this: he asked them a question: For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? If it wasn't clear before, it should be very obvious now that the Corinthians were hurt.

8:05They were hurt by the fact that when Paul came to Corinth, he didn't stay with any of them, he didn't accept their hospitality. And they were hurt by the fact that he didn't receive compensation for his ministry from them. And they concluded that because of those things, he must love the other churches more than he loved them. Because he did stay with those people, because he did accept compensation from them. But Paul is saying, guys, I preached the same message.

8:39I lived in the exact same way among you as among them. The only thing that I didn't do was take your money. So sarcastic Paul makes another appearance, and he says, Forgive me this wrong. Like the one thing that I did wrong to you was not take your money. And so, because they're so high. Hung up on this one issue, Paul is going to seek to explain again why he made the choices that he did. So let's pick up in verse 14.

9:13Here for the third time, I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours, but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. So before now, Paul had traveled to Corinth to plant and establish the church. He wrote them a few letters, and then he went on another visit to see how they were doing in implementing his teaching in those letters. And that visit didn't go well at all, which is why he calls it his painful visit, because he was rejected by a good number of people in the church.

9:57So it was very painful to him. So now he's getting ready to come to them a third time, and he tells them straight up: listen, I'm not going to change my policy. He says, I will not be a burden. He's not going to stay with anybody. He's not going to accept compensation. And why not? He says very clearly, because unlike these new teachers, he's not after their money or their stuff. What he wants. Is their hearts.

10:33And then he breaks out this illustration that I think is so helpful. He says, guys, kids don't save up for their parents. Parents save up for their kids. We roll our eyes whenever we think about the 30-year-old man living in his parents' basement. But how about when the parents move into the kids' basement because they refuse to work? I mean, the illustration is so absurd because good parents work hard to provide for their children. In any time they can, they seek to bless their kids because that's what good and faithful parents do. They save up for their kids, they sacrifice for their kids. They don't require their children to sacrifice for them.

11:30And what Paul is saying is that he is their spiritual father. They are his spiritual children. And so he views it as a great privilege to sacrifice for them. Now we come to verse 15, and I really view verse 15 as the emotional center of this entire chapter. I think you can make an argument that it's the emotional center of the entire book. Look at what. Writes, I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.

12:13I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Paul was delighted to spend for their souls. Not only did he not require them to pay for his ministry, but he said, I will work, I will earn my own money, and then I will turn around and spend it on you. Because what I'm after is your hearts, not your stuff, not your money. Paul was delighted to be spent for their souls. In other words, he's glad to be used up physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for their good. So they could hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and grow up into him.

13:11And I think he captures the sentiment of what he's saying here so well in Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Take a look at this. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living Sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Paul viewed his life, his whole life, as a living sacrifice to God. And friends, the thing about sacrifices is that eventually they are consumed, they are used up, they're spent.

14:02Paul is telling the Corinthians, I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. I will give you my time, my attention, my money, my resources, my energy. I will give all of it to you until I have no more left to give. My fellow believers, this is what we are called to do: to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord, to use however he wants. That is not varsity Christianity. That is mere Christianity. That is basic Christianity. That is biblical Christianity.

14:47But, friends, we will not gladly spend and be spent for the souls of others if we are not convinced, convicted to the very core that God is. God is worthy of worship, that the gospel of Jesus Christ really is good news, that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life, and that no one can come to the Father except through Him. Unless we are convinced that every single man, woman, and child is going to spend eternity somewhere, either in heaven or in hell. We will not gladly spend and be spent unless we are convinced. And so let me ask you: are you convinced?

15:39Are you convinced and convicted about these things? Brothers and sisters, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. None. And so, if it is the case that sometime after you started following Jesus, you set down that cross that you were supposed to be carrying and you took a long nap on the side of the road. There is no condemnation for you if that's true in your life. But it would be a terrible shame for you not to admit that that actually is the case in your Christian life.

16:30Or to admit that it's the case, but to do nothing about it at all. Church, how is there anyone around us, among us, who is not being discipled? How is there a single unfilled volunteer position among our next-gen ministries when these kids, our precious children, are going to spend eternity somewhere in heaven or in hell, and they are just waiting for someone to spend and be spent for their little souls? In the spring of 2002, I joined a local church and I signed up to work with third graders.

17:26I started a Bible study in my fraternity, and I tried to disciple those guys the best way that I knew how. I rounded up all my friends, and I tried to get them to volunteer at my home church for Disciple Now weekends and camps and everything else. I had been a Christian for nine months. I didn't do any of that because I thought that if I didn't do those things, that I wouldn't have God's acceptance, that I had to work my way into his favor. No, I did those things because I thought that was basically. Christianity. I just thought that's what we were supposed to do.

18:05We need revival, church. We need revival. We need God to restore the joy of our salvation so that we can share Paul's mentality towards making disciples and be glad to spend and be spent for the souls of others. It is a great thing that we seek to have Paul's theology in our church. But, friends, we need Paul's fire in our hearts. That's what we need. We need his fire so that we will see our lives as living sacrifices and gladly spend and be spent for souls.

18:54Now, it's hard to believe this, but there were actually people in the church at Corinth who suspected that even though Paul didn't take any money from them, that he still took advantage of them somehow. Let's take a look at verse 16. But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I? Take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

19:50You remember how Paul was collecting that offering for the suffering saints in Jerusalem? Some in the Corinthian church were actually accusing Paul of stealing that money, saying that he wanted to look all high and mighty by not accepting compensation for them, but then just pocketing the funds that he was pretending that he was going to have sent to Jerusalem. Now, that is a really serious charge. I mean, think for a moment if Paul was a preacher of the so-called prosperity gospel.

20:32If that were the case, Paul could just stand up in front of everybody and say, it is your job to make sure that I live a healthy, wealthy lifestyle. You need to make sure that I have multiple homes, nice clothes, quality vacations. That's your job. At least then he would be upfront with the people. But no, what they're accusing him of is that he was pretending that he didn't want their money. But then he was lying to them and stealing it out of the gifts that they had sacrificially given for the suffering Christians back in Jerusalem. That is a very serious charge.

21:14So Paul says, we didn't take advantage of you in any way. That's why I sent Titus. That's why I sent, he says, the brother. Well, who's the brother? Why is he unnamed? He didn't need to be named. He's one of the Corinthians. He was handpicked by their church to carry the gift to make sure that it got to its intended destination. The whole thing was completely above board. And you see, friends, charges like these are precisely why pastors at our church don't handle any money ever.

21:49We have a team of members who collects and counts and then deposits your offerings so that you can have complete confidence that every single dollar is going where it's supposed to go. See, in America, we say you're innocent until you're proven guilty. But the reality in our culture and in every culture ever is you are innocent until you're accused. Reputations are very, very hard to build. And they are very, very easy to. Destroy. So we want to be above reproach, just like Paul. Verse 19.

22:41Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ and all for your upbuilding, beloved. So he says here, we're not trying to defend ourselves. Because we're worried about how we look compared to these new teachers. We understand that we are speaking the truth and we're doing it before God. But I want you to see his motive here, the end of verse 19. Look again what he says. He says, all for your upbuilding, beloved.

23:24In Ephesians 4, we have a long passage where Paul is talking about the nature and the purpose of the spiritual gifts. Take a look. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that. We may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

24:43Now, that passage needs a full sermon to get through, but thankfully we've already done that. If you go on the website, you can look at the Ephesians series and you can listen to a sermon on the spiritual gifts and the offices in the church if you'd like to do that. But the reason I bring that passage up today is because each one of us is given spiritual gifts for what purpose? To build up the body of Christ so that we can all attain Christian maturity, so that we're not blown around to and fro by every wind of doctrine that comes across the internet.

25:18So what we are to do is exactly what Paul did for the Corinthians. We speak the truth in love so that the body grows and builds itself up in love. Now, we all know the truth is sometimes not fun to speak. The truth is sometimes not fun to hear. But it's essential that we do that. That's why Paul had to speak some tough words to the Corinthians to build them up in love. And he spoke those tough words because, honestly, he was a little afraid of what he was going to find when he got there.

26:01Verse 20: For I fear that perhaps when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish. That perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

26:46So, Paul says that he's got two fears about his upcoming visit. The first is that they're going to be disappointed in him. He's concerned that the people. People who opposed him may still not have repented. And what that's going to mean is that the church is still going to be marked by all the sins that he outlines in verse 20. There's going to be quarreling, there's going to be division, there's going to be hostility. And beyond that, he's concerned that he may have to mourn over some who still haven't repented of their sexual immorality. That issue that he's been writing so much about in these two letters because it was such a big deal in the city of Corinth, just like it's such a big deal in our culture today.

27:38Back in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul spends some time talking about the sins that they used to live in. And he lists among those sexual immorality of various kinds and idolatry. And so he lists out all of those sins. And then look at what he writes in 1 Corinthians 6:11. This is a great verse to memorize. And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

28:23Look at those past tense words. You used to be addicted to sexual. sin. You used to be idolaters. That's what you were. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified through faith in Jesus Christ. He's saying, guys, you are no longer by identity sinners. Your identity now is saints. You did stand under condemnation. You now stand justified through faith in Jesus Christ. So, church, we have to remember that we are not who we were 10 years ago. We are not who we were 10 months ago. We're not who we were for some of us 10 days ago.

29:17We, if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we have been washed, we have been sanctified, we have been justified by the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so, the call over and over again that Paul brings back to the Corinthians and back to you and me is you need to be who you are in Christ. You need to walk in the identity that you are a saint and not a sinner. You pursue holiness because you've been called holy through faith in Jesus Christ.

29:53So, that's his first fear is that he's going to be disappointed because he's not going to find them as he wishes. His second fear is that they're going to be disappointed in him. He's worried that at least a portion of the church is going to be upset because he won't legitimize the ministry of these false teachers and he won't legitimize the lifestyle of any professing Christian who's living in unrepentant sin. And if that happens, look at verse 21 again.

30:31He says, I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you. In other words, he's afraid that when he shows up and he sees the hostility, he sees the dissension, he sees the sexual immorality and the idolatry, that God is going to humble him again because he's going to tell them that none of that stuff is okay for a Christian to practice and they're going to reject and humiliate him again. Friends, everybody deals with the fear of man. The Apostle Paul dealt with the fear of man too. He didn't want to go back to Corinth and be rejected again. He's willing to do it, but he didn't want to do it.

31:17But because he loved Christ and because he loved the Corinthians, he was willing to say and do whatever is necessary, even if it upset them. And, friends, I think for some of you today, it just might be the case that you showed up and you didn't find us the way that you wanted. And you didn't find me the way that you wanted. You expected and hoped to hear certain things, and maybe you didn't hear those things.

31:54But if that's the case, then please know that we aren't seeking what is yours, we're seeking you, your heart. You see, the good news of Jesus Christ will only sound like good news if you understand and believe the bad news first. The things that Paul lists at the end of this chapter, they're sinful. And what that means is they are attitudes or behaviors that go against the character of God, commands of God, and they are harmful to you and to other people around you. They are sinful. And God is a righteous judge. And so he cannot and will not allow any sin to go unpunished.

32:54But the good news is that God is also gracious and merciful. He is so gracious and merciful that he sent his son not primarily to be an example for us, not primarily to be a teacher to us, but to live the sinless and obedient life that we were supposed to live but failed to do. To die the death that we should have to die for our sin and to rise from the dead victorious over sin and death so that any who come to Christ in repentant faith can receive forgiveness and eternal life.

33:37As we said earlier, the truth is hard to hear, but we speak it for your upbuilding, just like Paul. And just like Paul, we're not after your stuff, we're after your hearts. And so I urge you this morning, I encourage you, if you find yourself in that position where the good news of Jesus Christ has never sounded like good news before, I hope and pray that you will turn from your sin and you will receive Jesus by faith and the good news that it really is, that he lived and died and rose again for you.

34:18And if you're already a believer in Jesus Christ, I want to remind you this morning that you are loved and accepted by God because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ. And out of that love and acceptance, I want to challenge you afresh to follow Paul's example of spending and being spent for the good of others. Look at what J.C. Ryle wrote in his book, Thoughts for Young Men. He asks this: Which is better to be an idle, frivolous, useless consumer, to live for your body, your selfishness, your lusts, and your pride, or to spend and be spent in the glorious cause of being useful to your fellow human beings.

35:20Church, let's gladly spend and be spent for the souls of others. Let's pray. Father, we ask today. That you would give us an accurate picture of who you are and what you have done for us in the person and work of Jesus. So that, like Paul, we will gladly spend and be spent for the souls of others. Father, for any one of us who is not following after Christ, who is not carrying the cross and daily dying to ourselves, God, we pray that you would help us.

36:52Help us to pick the cross back up. Forgive us for our failure and our sin. Motivate us and empower us through your Holy Spirit to do the work that you have called us to do in making disciples. God, we don't want to sit on the sideline. We don't want to stand by while men and women and children go to hell. And so we pray, God, that out of joy in the gospel, out of our love and acceptance in you, that we would spend and be spent for the souls. Of others.

37:32In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.