Speaker 1: 0:00

For the rest of us. I'm going to invite us to stand for a somewhat longer scripture reading than normal all of chapter 9 of 1 Corinthians, and then just a few verses from the end of chapter 10 into chapter 11. Beginning in verse 1, the Word of God reads this way Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus, our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who would examine me.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Do we not have a right to eat and drink? Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, as did the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit, or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake because the plowman should plow in hope in the thresher, thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. But I have made no use of any of these rights. Nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision, for I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting, for if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting, for necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel, for if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What, then, is my reward? That in my preaching, I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

Speaker 1: 2:48

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew in order to win Jews To those under the law. I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law. I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law To the weak. I became weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them in its blessings.

Speaker 1: 3:32

Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things, they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. And then in 1 Corinthians 10,. So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God. Just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many. That they may be saved. Be imitators of me as I am of Christ. This is God's word. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

Speaker 1: 4:30

When I was in my late 20s I decided I wanted to lose some weight and I wanted to get in shape. And I told everybody I wanted to lose 100 pounds. I said that in jest. I didn't really need to lose 100 pounds, but I wanted to get in shape. But said that in jest. I didn't really need to lose 100 pounds, but I wanted to get in shape, but I didn't want to be too crazy about it. I was going to work out, start a workout routine, but I wasn't going to change anything about my diet. I wasn't going to start counting calories, I wasn't going to cut out sweet treats and all. I wasn't going to be insane, I was going to be rational about it. So a few buddies and I committed to this program that I don't even know if people still do it, but it was called Insanity at the time. It's probably not a very PC title anymore, but that's what it was, and it was insane. It was a six-week video workout that you could do from home. You could do everything just in the space of this rug right here, and it had us working out 30 to 45 minutes a day for five days a week.

Speaker 1: 5:33

I did not really know what I was getting into when I started, but I quickly found out On day one. Halfway through, I almost lost my breakfast. It was so difficult, but I stuck with it because it was a definite amount of time. It was only six weeks. And then, as things went along, something unexpected happened. The pain of the workouts was so intense, it was so difficult that it made me reevaluate my choices. I thought, if I'm going to suffer this much, if life is going to be this hard for the next six weeks, then it had better be worth it. I'm going to do everything else that I need to do in order for this to actually have a payoff.

Speaker 1: 6:11

So I did start adjusting other parts of my life, so I started to go to bed earlier so that I could wake up early and get through my workout, and let that be the hardest thing I had to do that day. I cut alcohol completely for that six-week period of time, and then I did the thing that I swore that I would never do, and I started tracking my calories and I started limiting myself on food choices and saying no to sweet treats. And then this is just a few weeks in. I actually started seeing results. I was losing weight, I had more energy, I was feeling better, just in the, in the midst of my normal day, and, and then and at that point, the, the prize became clear, the payoff became clear. The benefit of all of the hard work began to materialize. I could actually taste it and I realized that if I could be disciplined and if I could be consistent, even for this definite period of time, I could be thinner, I could be healthier, I could be stronger, I could feel better. And because that prize was so worth it to me. Suddenly I wanted to limit myself. I wanted to say no to sweet treats and to go to bed early. I voluntarily gave up freedoms and limited myself because there was a prize that was worth chasing, that was better than you know the freedom to be able to enjoy whatever I wanted to do. And I shared that. I've shared a little bit about that before, but I can't help but think about that because that's a picture of what Paul is talking about in our passage today. So we're in a series in 1 Corinthians and we've gotten to this section, which is chapters 8 through 10, which is why I included some of the end of chapter 10, which is the end of the section In chapters 8 through 10, that whole section.

Speaker 1: 8:06

Paul takes us into this long conversation about Christian freedom and the liberty that we have in Christ and he says, yes, in Christ we are free. We have a profound freedom free to eat and drink, where the Old Testament food laws don't affect us in the same way as before Christ. We're free to eat and drink. We're free to marry or to be single, as Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 7. We're free to take this job or to take that job. We have so much freedom in Christ.

Speaker 1: 8:36

But here Paul says if we truly know Jesus, the more we get to know him, we won't always make full use of our freedom. We won't always make full use of our freedom, but we will choose to limit ourselves because there is a prize that is so much sweeter than whatever freedoms that we have. So the mature believer, the more they get to know Jesus, more and more limits themselves and is able to set aside their own freedoms because there's something better. What is that prize? Keep in mind, the Christian life is not easy. Jesus calls us to discipline, to self-control, even to self-renunciation. But what is the gain, what is the prize, what is the benefit that we get from walking that path, from walking the narrow path, as Jesus calls it.

Speaker 1: 9:26

And here, in this passage, I think we see that the great prize of the marathon that we call life, the prize of life is knowing Jesus in such a way that we make him known to others. Knowing Jesus in such a way that we make him known to others, that's the prize. So I want to explore that with three questions to help us understand that. What does that mean? What practical difference does that make? And then how does that happen? So what does it mean to know Jesus in such a way that we make him known? What practical difference does that make in our lives? And then, how does that happen? So, first, what does that mean? The point here that I want us to see is this Knowing Jesus personally and making him known to others are impossible to separate. Knowing Jesus and making him known are impossible to separate. The more that we know him, the more we want to share him and to make him known, and the more that we share him and the more that we make him known, the more we come to know him. The two things are impossible to separate, and I think we see that very clearly in this passage. So let's go back to 1 Corinthians 9. So the apostle Paul who wrote this was clearly. If you look at his life, he was clearly a man running a marathon. He was driven, he was disciplined, he was hardworking.

Speaker 1: 10:55

In a 30-year period, paul undertook four missionary journeys across the Roman world. He traveled over 10,000 miles, much of it on foot. He planted at least 14 churches in major cities across the Roman world. He wrote at least 13 letters that are found in the New Testament, and sometimes his ministry was financially supported. Where he received generous support from outside churches that he had planted, or even from his local ministry, he would receive support, and sometimes it wasn't. There were times where he was ministering but he still had to work with his hands and he fell back on his trade as a tent maker. He knew how to abound and he knew how to be brought low. He knew how to have much and how to have little. And on top of that he was often imprisoned, often arrested and beaten and abused and persecuted.

Speaker 1: 11:49

Why was he running this race? Why did he choose such a difficult life? What was the prize that he was running after? It wasn't money. He never got rich off of preaching the gospel. It wasn't comfort. He certainly didn't choose a comfortable life. It wasn't fame, even I mean.

Speaker 1: 12:07

Paul was known in his day, but he was kind of an obscure figure all things considered in his time in history, and it wasn't necessarily even a heavenly reward. He wasn't running after these things just so that he could be rewarded later in glory. Let's let him speak for himself. So this is Paul in Philippians 3. He says I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And he says in 3 verse 8, he says I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. So Paul's prize, his goal in life, the reason that he did all of these things and that he was disciplined and driven and hard working, his prize was knowing Jesus. Paul realized that in Jesus he found someone so beautiful and so wonderful and magnificent that he just wanted to know him better. He wanted to know his glories, he wanted to share in his sufferings and to experience more of him. So we know that that he wanted to know Jesus. But now flip back to 1 Corinthians 9, because what's remarkable here is how Paul connects that longing to know Jesus with his desire to make him known to others.

Speaker 1: 13:28

So listen to Paul in verse 12. Again, he's talking about his goals. And in verse 12, he says that we endure anything. He said I'll put up with anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. What he's saying there is my number one goal is that the door to Jesus Christ would be wide open and that all obstacles would be removed, that people would see him and they would be able to come to know him. And then, in verse 18, he says this what, then, is my reward? He says why am I doing all of this? What's the payoff? He said this is my reward that in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. So Paul's great reward is the joy of preaching and presenting and sharing the gospel free of charge to people so that they may freely receive Jesus and all of the benefits that are in him.

Speaker 1: 14:24

And then look at 22 and 23. Paul says I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all. Paul says this is why I do it. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them in its blessings. So what is the win for Paul? What is the prize he's running after in the thing that he wants to win? He wants to win people, all kinds of people, to Jesus Christ, not only to enjoy his private personal relationship with Jesus and his peace and his tranquility, but to share with as many people as possible in the blessings of the gospel. So the prize that he's chasing after his big goal in life. Is it to know Jesus personally or is it to make him known to others? Which is it? And the point that I want you to see is that we cannot separate those two things. Paul brings those two things together. The more that we know Jesus, the more we will want to make him known to others and and seek opportunities to do so and remove obstacles from that. And the more we make him known to others, the more we we give him away, the more we share him, the more we actually have him, the more we will get to know him.

Speaker 1: 15:42

As all of you know, we recently returned from our vacation in Canada, northern Ontario, and we have this privilege to be able to go to this fishing cabin up in this remote area, to this fishing cabin up in this remote area, and it's beautiful. It's so secluded and quiet and peaceful and tranquil and I enjoy my time up there so much. But when I go up there this year and last year are the years that we've recently gone I can't help but think about you people. I think about Adam, I think about John, I think about Alex, I think about my friends, I think about Billy, I think about the other, billy, and you know all of you who have not named. I think about you people and I think, man, they would love this. I wish they could see this and I start to scheme and fantasize about like how can we get like a men's trip to come up here, because I know that my friends would love this. And I think that's within all of us that when we experience real beauty, when we experience something really special, it is a natural reaction to want to share it. It's a natural reaction to want to bring someone else in, someone that we know and love. We do this with everything that we really love.

Speaker 1: 16:53

Christopher McCandless learned this the hard way. In the book Into the Wild describes his experience of disappearing into the Alaskan wilderness to experience the beauty of nature and disconnect from society and modern life. And he got out there in the summer and fall and winter and experienced some profound things. But he got stuck there in the winter and sadly starved to death and he was found the following season in a hunting cabin and a cryptic note was scrawled in his journal and he wrote toward the end of his life. He said happiness is only real when shared. And I think one of the things that he realized up there was that, yes, it was beautiful and tranquil, but he had nobody to share it with, and he felt himself longing to share all of this with someone.

Speaker 1: 17:45

I feel that way about a lake and a cabin. How much more should we all feel that way about Jesus Christ, the one who gives rest to our souls, who leads us beside still waters, who feeds us on green pastures, who shepherds our soul, who satisfies the deepest hunger of our hearts? The more we experience a profound beauty and peace and magnificence in our Lord Jesus, how much more should we feel, man, I wish everybody knew this Jesus. I wish my friends could hear about this Jesus or could understand him. We want to share the things that we find the most beautiful and compelling, and so the more we know Jesus as beautiful and compelling, the more we cannot help but speak about him.

Speaker 1: 18:32

And that's what Paul says here in verse 16. Paul says if I preach the gospel, he says, I have nothing to boast about. It gives me no ground for boasting. Necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. Paul says I'm not. Ministers have a right to get paid. Paul says, but he's like I'm not doing this for money. He says I cannot help but do this. Woe to me if I don't. You know, paul had been given special privileges that we don't have, not every Christian has. He saw the risen Christ who appeared to him on the road. But those privileges that special knowledge of Jesus gave him. It did not drive him to just enjoy his relationship with Jesus all by himself. It gave him this inner burden that he absolutely had to share this with the world, this privilege that he had of knowing Jesus. He had to share this with everyone.

Speaker 1: 19:27

The more that we know Jesus, the more that we cannot help but want others to know him too, because he's just that good. Help but want others to know him too because he's just that good. And the opposite, paradoxically, is true as well, because the more we strive to make him known and speak of him to others and minister to others, the more we do that, the better we get to know him. Jesus is the one thing that the more we give away of him, the more of him we have, the more that we seek to teach others about him, even if it's just our own children or our neighbors or our friends or our spouse. The more that we seek to teach others about him, the more we learn about him and the more we get to know him.

Speaker 1: 20:10

So I start us today with this point that knowing Jesus and making him known cannot be separated. If you don't have a burning desire to make him known, you need to get to know him better. You need to spend more time with him and discover the rest and the peace and glory that is found in Christ, and you will want to make him known. And if you strive to make him known, you will get to know him better. So that's point one. Those two things cannot be separated. That's what that means. But what practical difference does that make in our lives? When knowing Jesus and making him known when that becomes the prize that we are running after, and making him known when that becomes the prize that we are running after, practically speaking, it leads us to more and more voluntary servitude, and I'll show you what I mean and just the practical outworkings of that.

Speaker 1: 21:05

So from the previous chapter, the Corinthians had been arguing that they have freedom in Christ to eat food offered to idols and we had talked about that last week where there are these public festivals where meat is served. And don't the Corinthian Christians have a right, as Christians, to go and eat, knowing that the idols have no real existence? And part of Paul's answer to them is that, though they are free, and maybe they do have this right, that there's something better. There's something far better than food or meat, however rare it was for them to get that, and it was the joys of knowing Christ and making him known. And so if eating meat offered to idols puts a stumbling block in the way of someone knowing Christ, it's just not worth it. Paul says if Jesus is our treasure, we should be willing to let go of any freedoms or rights that we have that might get in the way of others knowing Jesus.

Speaker 1: 22:02

And then, in verses 1 through 18, paul gives this extended example from his own life. He makes the argument first that ministers of the gospel have the right to be paid. He makes this argument from common sense. He's like you know, think about the. Don't those who share in the farming have a right to share in the crop. And so he makes the argument from common sense. And then from the Old Testament scriptures. He says don't the scriptures say the same thing? And he establishes it there. And then, finally, from the command of Jesus. In verse 14, he says in the same way, the Lord meaning Jesus, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

Speaker 1: 22:41

So why is Paul making this argument here, in this conversation, about freedom in Christ and setting aside our freedoms? Why does Paul begin to talk about this, about freedom in Christ and setting aside our freedoms? Why does Paul begin to talk about this? Well, Paul is crafty and he's actually doing two things in getting into this discussion. Number one he's giving them an example. In verse 15, he says but I, paul, have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing now these things to secure any such provision.

Speaker 1: 23:11

So Paul did not receive any money from the Corinthians during his ministry among them. He worked his trade as a tent maker. Potentially he received outside support from other churches that he had planted, and in writing this, he's not now asking for any money. So he did this and he did this, as he says, so as to present the gospel free of charge and to remove any stumbling blocks. He perceived somehow that if he were to get paid by the Corinthians, that maybe he could be seen as some kind of charlatan just doing this for the money, and that could be a hindrance to the gospel message. And so he set aside the right to be paid. He says I have this right. Ministers have this right. He set that aside for the sake of the gospel. So the first thing that he's doing is he's giving them an example of how he has done that. But the second thing that he may be doing is he may be subtly encouraging the Corinthians to pay the gospel laborers who are among them. So he's establishing he's like hey, this is what I did. I set aside my right. That's not normal. I did that for the sake of the gospel. But ministers should be paid. And so he may be subtly encouraging the Corinthians to pay the ministers who are among them, but he sets aside that right.

Speaker 1: 24:26

And he concludes his example by saying this in verse 19. He says, for, though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them. And in verse 22, I have become all things to all people. That by all means I might save some To the Jew. I can appear as a Jew even though I am not myself bound to some of the traditions and the ceremonial laws. I can go ahead and adopt those limitations and I can live among them and I can be just like them in order to reach them. And he says to the Greeks I can be as one, outside the law, I can quote Greek philosophy with the best of them, I can eat what they eat, I can dress how they dress, I can wrangle with the best of them.

Speaker 1: 25:11

To the weak, he can talk about his own weakness, he can come alongside those who are weak and say you know what? I'm weak too, and here's how I've struggled. All things to all people. And this isn't about being deceptive. It isn't about being a chameleon who has no true personality and you can never really get to know them. It's about having the right priorities. It's about running after the right prize. The great prize, the great goal is knowing Christ and making him known. And if that's the goal, this means that in every situation that we're in with whoever we're surrounded by, we learn how to make inroads with all kinds of people, by not focusing on our differences or what sets us apart, but by finding our commonalities and by capitalizing on them.

Speaker 1: 26:05

I'm going to give you an example of what I mean. So we have lovely friends who live in the neighborhood and we have a lot in common with them. We met them somewhere along the way a few years ago, probably at the park, our kids playing together. We've got a lot in common. The husband is a carpenter, we're both musicians, there's, you know, we like the same food. There's so much commonality. But they're not believers and they're far more politically and socially progressive than we are. There's lots of big worldview differences and we could choose to focus on either one of those things.

Speaker 1: 26:44

But we met them a few years ago and we struck up this relationship. One of the first things that they learned about us is that we're Christians and we're Christian people, we love Jesus, and that was okay and we continued on in our friendship with them. But a few years into that friendship, we were having dinner together one night this was somewhat recently and the conversation turned toward politics somehow, and they were absolutely shocked to discover that we had voted for a different candidate than they voted for in the last election and, on top of that, that our politics were different. They had no idea. They assumed that we were just like them because we had never really talked about it. And a few years in they discovered this. But it was fine because we had there was so much rapport in that relationship already. You know that was just. We are still in a good friendship with them.

Speaker 1: 27:38

But the point that I'm getting at is that over the years we had lots of opportunities to talk about Jesus and to minister and to lead them toward Jesus uh, in in subtle and slow ways, because we never talked about politics or because we never focused on the things that divided us but found areas of commonality that we could capitalize on. I knew that in this relationship, political conversations were not going to be the thing that I was going to be able to capitalize on in order to open a door for the gospel. If anything, there were going to be an obstacle or a stumbling block that, if I can do anything to remove it, I would like to do that. So, to continue Paul's language, it's as if, to the liberals, I became as a liberal, not being myself liberal in the sense that they are, but having a liberality in Christ. So this is what Paul means when he talks about limiting ourselves, setting aside our freedoms, setting aside our rights and preferences in order to become all things to all men that we might save some. The good news in that is that that recent revelation hasn't really changed anything about the relationship, because we spent years building good rapport before ever going there.

Speaker 1: 28:57

So again, this isn't about being deceptive. It's not about withholding information or doing a bait and switch. It's about being strategic and wise. Your priority in life needs to be knowing Jesus and making him known as much as you can, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, toward the end of the whole section in verse 31,. He says so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, however you live, however you exercise your freedoms, wherever life takes you, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God. Just as I try to please everyone in everything, I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Speaker 1: 29:47

Now, this is not about being a people pleaser. It's not about having our highest priority being well thought of by everyone. That's not what Paul means when he says don't offend anybody. At some point we're going to have to offend someone. But here's the idea. I hope that when we offend people, or if we offend people, that we offend them with the gospel of Jesus and with nothing less than that, because there's no need. The gospel of Jesus is offensive enough, but he is the one stumbling block that people need to deal with. So we have to remove every other stumbling block that would prevent people from getting to him.

Speaker 1: 30:24

As that becomes your priority, you begin to seek points of connection with all kinds of people rather than points of difference, because if you can find points of connection, then you can find opportunities to make Jesus known. So get overwhelmed with the beauty and the goodness of Jesus. Do that and seek points of connection and commonality with everyone around you so that through you they might begin to see him. And what could be better than that? What would be a better life goal than living that kind of life? So that's the practical difference that it makes. But finally, how does that happen? We learn to become all things to all people from imitating our Savior Jesus, who has become all things for us. We look at Him and look to Him and imitate Him. So this whole conversation that Paul is having we're going to be looking at it again next week as we continue into chapter 10.

Speaker 1: 31:25

But the whole discussion spans 8, 9, and 10, and it concludes in 1 Corinthians 11, 1, which I've included in our scripture reading today, where Paul says be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Now it's easy to take that out of context and make that just sort of a universal principle and that's fine. But we should appreciate this is a specific context. Paul says imitate me as I imitate Christ, specifically in the fact that we set aside our own freedoms and rights for the benefits of others. Paul says imitate me in doing that. I'm only imitating Jesus in doing that. Paul's saying I'm not original, I didn't come up with this. I'm only imitating the one who did it first, the one who did it for me and the one who did it for you.

Speaker 1: 32:15

Jesus is the ultimate example of one who, though he was free from all, made himself a servant to all. Who, though he was in the form of God, voluntarily took on our limitations and became as one of us, in a nature like ours, that he might become a high priest for all mankind. Who, though he enjoyed the comforts of heaven, he descended and made his home in our fallen world and he suffered. He suffered because of our sin and the ways that we have destroyed and warped his creation. Though he knew no sin, he became sin for us on the cross and he bore the guilt of our sins, and upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. When we prioritize making Christ known and when that leads us to set aside our own rights and our own freedoms and our own preferences for the good of others, the only thing that we're doing is dimly imitating what our Lord has done for us.

Speaker 1: 33:21

Few people could have been more academically successful than a guy named Henri Nouwen or Henry Nouwen. A guy named Henri Nouwen or Henry Nouwen Nouwen was. He was a Catholic priest in the 20th century and he was a brilliant biblical scholar and theological scholar. He taught in the highest universities in the world. He taught at Harvard and at Yale. He wrote best-selling books. He was a sought-after speaker. He could have easily spent his life in the high places of the world academic circles, speaking engagements, book deals but at the height of his career he stepped away from all of that and moved into a community called L'Arc, which was a home for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and he spent his life living among and living with and ministering to people who could never fully appreciate how truly smart and brilliant he was, nobody cared. Nobody had read his books there. They couldn't read his books. They didn't know who he was. He was just some regular guy to them. They could never appreciate that.

Speaker 1: 34:33

But on reflecting on that, he wrote that toward the end of his life he said the people I live with may not read my books, but they teach me more about God than I could ever write. And he found that, in setting aside his rights and his credentials and his privileges for the good of others, he actually got to know Jesus better. He got more of Jesus than he ever could have gotten from his academic circles, and he imitated Jesus, and he gave us a shadowy picture of what Jesus has done for us, because who more than Jesus condescended to spend his life with people who could never fully appreciate who he actually is? That's what Jesus has done. The calling today, then, is to know Christ in such a way that we begin to make him known to others and to pursue that goal as the greatest goal of our life, which means that we end up more and more becoming servants of all and we learn how to make connections with people for the sake of the gospel. And so how do we grow in that. How do we do that? We do that by looking closer and closer, more and more, at what Jesus has done for us, and we remember this from Romans 5.

Speaker 1: 35:49

Paul says for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God chose his love for us in that, while we were still sinners, christ died for us. Someone might be willing to die for a good person whom they love. You might be willing to take a bullet for your spouse, or to die for someone who's particularly good, but who would die for a faithless person? Who would die for their abuser or their enemy, someone who has mistreated them and ignored them? Who would do that? Jesus would. Only Jesus would.

Speaker 1: 36:29

Let's imitate him, let's seek to know him and make him known.

Speaker 1: 36:35

To that end, let us pray.

Speaker 1: 36:38

Our Father.

Speaker 1: 36:41

We thank you for these words from Paul and we pray that you would help us to make sense of them.

Speaker 1: 36:47

Help us to make sense of the fact that that we have liberty and freedom in christ. But the sweetest joy of life is not just an individual liberty or experiencing our own freedom, but it is to know jesus and to make him known, to know jesus in such a way that we cannot help but make him known. That's sweeter. And when we look to Jesus, lord, we see someone who laid aside his privileges, his rights and his powers for the good of others and the salvation of others. Help us to appreciate that he has not just done that for others, but he has done that for us. That he has not just done that for others, but he has done that for us. Help us to personalize that and to personally apply that to our hearts and our minds and our spirits, and we pray, god, that you would help us to imitate him as we go from here in all that we do this week. Let's seek to know him and to make him known wherever it is that you send us, and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.