Act Like Men (Ordain Yourself!)

A grown-up church doesn’t just get older; it takes responsibility. We wrap our 1 Corinthians journey by focusing on Paul’s final charge in chapter 16—organize tangible generosity, persevere in contested mission fields, and honor the unseen people who make church life sing. We start with the Jerusalem relief fund and the practical wisdom baked into it: weekly rhythms, personal participation, proportionate giving, and real accountability. It’s a blueprint for mature generosity that still works when needs are far away and relationships are mediated by trust.

From there we turn to mission in tough places. Paul stays in Ephesus because a wide door and many adversaries show up at once. That paradox—fruit alongside resistance—becomes a cue to dig in, not back out. We talk about how churches today can read that moment, why church planting is essential rather than optional, and how senders can sustain planters through hospitality, funding, prayer, presence, and patient encouragement. Think of “hard soil” becoming fertile through steady work; over time, landscapes change.

Finally, we spotlight the household of Stephanus—ordinary believers who “appointed themselves” to serve. No title, no program, just open doors, meal trains, early arrivals, and the habit of noticing who is missing. Paul urges us to recognize such people and to be subject to them by imitation. That’s the culture we want to build: outward-facing generosity, tenacious mission, and humble service that refreshes weary hearts. If you’re longing for a resilient, connected church that can weather cultural strain and still bear good fruit, this conversation offers practical steps and a hopeful path forward.

If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review—then tell us: where do you see “hard soil” that needs planting?

Chapters

• 0:00 Scripture And Series Conclusion
• 2:50 Growing Up Means Responsibility
• 5:14 Giving For Jerusalem’s Relief
• 9:20 Regular, Personal, Proportionate Giving
• 12:55 Networks Of Care In Crisis
• 16:30 Lessons From Plague And Collapse
• 20:25 Preparing Through Church Unity
• 24:40 Healthcare As A Church Experiment
• 28:20 Tenacious Mission Amid Opposition
• 32:10 Supporting Pauls And Timothys

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Our scripture reading this morning comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 16, last chapter in Corinthians. We are finishing our series in 1 Corinthians this morning. In verse 1, the word of God reads this way. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord as I am. So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers. Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Now I urge you, brothers, you know that the household of Stephanus were the first converts in Achaea, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. Be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanus and Fortunatus in Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people. The churches of Asia send you greetings. Achillah and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord come. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. May God bless this reading of his word and preaching of his word. Julie and I had been married for many years and even had our own children before we got off of our parents' phone plan. And I remember the day when we got our own phone plan, and she disconnected from her parents' family plan, and I disconnected from mine. And it was the moment when we truly entered into full adulthood. I know some of you in here are newly married and are likely still on your parents' phone plans. And maybe some of you have can remember the day when you got off and got your own. But you know, growing up is really about one thing. It's about taking on responsibility. Growing up is not just about getting older. Sadly, many people get older but never take responsibility, and so they remain childish. And at the same time, or on the other hand, all of us know young people, even some children who seem unusually mature, and this is probably because that they have had to take on responsibility. Children have very little responsibility, and grown-ups have lots of responsibility. And that's what growing up is all about. Today we're finishing our series in 1 Corinthians, and we called it Bless This Mess. And the whole series has been about growing up as a church, growing up into the full stature of maturity in Christ. That's really what the letter of 1 Corinthians is about, is a young church needing to grow up. Paul says in verse 13, act like men. And since that time, this has been the title of many men's conferences, but jokes on them because this is not so much a call to be masculine as it is a call to be grown up. Act like men and not like children, is what Paul is saying. And what Paul shows here in his final words is that mature churches don't just take care of themselves, but they take responsibility, take on responsibility for what God is doing beyond themselves. That's what Paul wants for the church in Corinth, and also for us: to grow up into Christ, to stop thinking like children, and to start carrying responsibility not only for what's happening here, but for what God is doing in the world. And so as we look at these concluding words of Paul, there are three things that we see here that help us understand this idea of growing up and maturing. Number one, mature churches look outside themselves. Number two, mature churches persevere in mission. And then finally, number three, mature churches honor those who labor among them. So first, mature churches look outside themselves. Mature churches create and participate in large support networks. Create and participate in large support networks. During Paul's third missionary journey, which is uh he was undertaking at the time of writing this letter, the church in Jerusalem was struggling. Due to a combination of factors, they were experiencing some extreme financial hardship. They had an abundance of orphans and widows that depended on church support. They were facing persecution, and on top of that, there was a famine in their region that affected everybody, but just made it especially hard for them. And as churches around the Roman world grew in prominence and in prosperity, the first church, the grandmother of all the others, the one in Jerusalem, had fallen on hard times. They had fallen into extreme poverty. So Paul inspired the churches around the Roman world, like the Galatian church and the Corinthian church, to take up financial offerings that could be sent to Jerusalem to help them. And this is what Paul says in the first four verses. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. The Corinthians desired to support this struggling church. Paul told them about their plight, and they desired to help. This is a church, and these are people likely whom they had never met, and likely for whom most of them will never meet, but to whom they owed so much. And Paul tells them how they should do this. The offering, he says, should be regular. He says it should be collected every Sunday on the first day of the week, which would have been Sunday. When they meet together, they should set this aside. He says it should be personal. He says each of you should give, each person in the church should have a personal connection to this project. And it should be proportionate. Paul says, as he may prosper, as they prosper in their business dealings, they are to remember that there are people that are struggling that need their help. Furthermore, this fund should have accountability, oversight, and accreditation. Paul says it it is to be sent by the hands of accredited men to Jerusalem. And you have to remember that we live in an age of ones and zeros and instantaneous bank transactions. But for them to transport a large amount of money from Corinth to Jerusalem, which was a huge distance, meant traveling together in a posse. It meant having chests of gold being carried by animals and even sewing gold into the lining of their clothing so as to evade marauders. It was no easy task. But anyway, Paul is saying here that mature churches are not just concerned with their own well-being, but also concerned with the well-being of Christians all around the world and churches all around the world, especially those who are being persecuted and those who have fallen on hard times. Churches that are enjoying security and peace and prosperity and growth, which is a good thing, they have an obligation to support and to relieve their brothers and sisters around the world who are under attack and who are struggling. During the second century, there was a global pandemic in the Roman Empire. Historians call it the Antonine Plague, and you can read about it. It was likely smallpox. It tore through the empire for 15 years and killed as much as one quarter of the population, 25%. To give a comparison, less than half of 1% of Americans died from COVID-19, which was a pandemic that lasted only about a year. The Antonine plague, on the other hand, lasted 15 years and killed up to 25% of the population of the Empire. It was absolutely devastating in every way for the Roman Empire. It was especially bad in cities, as these things often are. So in the cities, those who had resources fled, along with the pagan priests leaving pagan temples empty. But Christians are the ones who stayed. Churches stayed open, believers met together for worship, they carried on their ordinary lives. And more than that, Christians cared for one another. They cared for the sick, they buried the dead, not only their own sick and their own dead, but also those of their neighbors. And churches cared also for struggling churches, sending money and relief to one another across the empire to places that were more severely affected at different times during that period. As the Roman Empire was falling apart, and as institutions and leadership was failing, the Church of Jesus Christ was coming together, creating its own networks, creating its own structures, creating its own systems, and taking care of its own people rising to the occasion. And that's the point that as Christians, we have a citizenship that transcends national and ethnic boundaries and transcends even the boundaries of our particular local church, and we are obligated to care for one another and be connected to one another. I've spoken with many people recently here in our own church and elsewhere who are concerned about how our culture and our institutions and the things that we rely upon seem to be collapsing. And let me speak to that for a moment. The idea of church unity, not just unity and peace within one particular church, but a broader fellowship and network of churches that spans the region, the nation, or even the globe, it's a nice idea to think about from an armchair. But when good things collapse, when institutions and societies collapse, church unity becomes incredibly practical and crucially important. The church, after all, survived the collapse of the Roman Empire, which was an absolutely devastating period in history. The church survived and preserved the best things about the Roman Empire so that they could emerge again later. So how do we, as Christians in the Western world, how do we prepare for when trusted systems begin to fail? Things that we've all come to rely upon. For example, cost of food and availability of government assistance, the healthcare system, the need to engage in healthcare and to pay for it and the availability of it, the economy and inflation, the housing market, school systems, the nation itself. How do we prepare for the failure of some of these institutions? And the answer is broad and robust church unity and networks of care and support in the church. And I'll give just one example. And this is not a perfect example, it's a simple example. But in my opinion, the healthcare system in our country is collapsing. It's on its last legs. Insurance does not seem to be worth it. The number of available doctors and specialists is artificially capped by the systems that control it. The cost of healthcare and of pharmaceuticals are skyrocketing. Practices are driven by extreme profit. Healthcare is ruined in the hands of large corporations. I think everybody can agree to that. But it's also ruined in the hands of the government. So what are we to do? Well, I think about, and again, this is just this is an experiment, this is an idea, but I think about the Christian Medichaires that have cropped up in recent years. Our family participates in a Christian Medishare. It's a network of believers and churches all around the country that support one another in our medical needs. So when we have a medical bill, we can submit it to the network that we're a part of, and people from all around the country will send us checks to help pay for that need. This is just one of many, many examples of how when institutions and society fall apart, the church can and must come together to care for one another, to create our own systems of care. As the church, we cannot wait for anyone to come and save us, other than Jesus, of course. He is going to come and save us. But apart from that, there is no government, there is no program, there is no social institution. We must come together as good things that people rely upon fall apart. Mature churches look outside themselves and figure out how to support one another. That's point one. Point two, mature churches, excuse me, mature churches persevere in mission. Mature churches tenaciously support mission work in difficult places. Paul was such a boss. In verses five through nine, he shares his travel plans, and in eight through nine, he says something that I think is just ice cold. In verse eight, he says, But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. And there are many adversaries. And this happened often in Paul's ministry. He would enter a city, people would come to faith in Christ, sometimes prominent people, people with means, and a door for effective ministry would be opened. But at the same time, many would arise to oppose Paul and oppose his message, often to the point of violence. Things got so bad for Paul in Ephesus that he almost lost his life there and would not have made it back to the Corinthians. But when Paul experienced those two things together, when he experienced both fruit and opposition at the same time, he realized that he must stay. He must stay until this baby church was established and no longer needed him, was able to stand without him. He was tenacious. Paul relies on the support of churches like the Corinthian church to do this work. As he discusses his travel plans, he says in verse 6, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go. So as Paul visits the Corinthians, he expects their hospitality, that they would host him, that they would allow him to stay with them. And he also expects their support to launch him into further lands. He encourages them to give financial support to Timothy as well, because he is doing the same kind of work as Paul. In verse 10, he says, When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord as I am. So let no one despise him, help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers. Mature churches support churches that are in hard places. We said that in point one. And mature churches also support the gospel in hard places. Mature churches look to the parts of the world that have the most spiritual darkness and the most need for Jesus and the most bleak and dismal prognosis. And they tenaciously support gospel work in those places. And when we see that if in such a place God opens a door for effective ministry, we capitalize on that. We put resources there, we engage with that, we we pray for that and with that. When you think about Iowa, what do you think about that that land of spiritual darkness? I don't think about spiritual darkness, I think about farmland. I think about golden waves of grain. Today, Iowa is known for its vast fields and its fertile soil, it's where we get our food from, but it wasn't always that way. The same is true in parts of New England. If you visit there today, you can see old stacked stone walls that are lining the farmlands and the countryside. Where did those stones come from? Well, they came from out of the ground. The first settlers in those areas, before they could ever plant anything, they spent entire seasons not planting, but removing rocks and tilling hard soil just to make the soil usable and fertile and fit. In Iowa, early settlers faced thick prairie sod that was nearly impossible to plow. If you were an early settler to that land, you would not have thought of it as a rich and fertile land. They had to spend years breaking up tough ground to reach the potential underneath. Farming in hard places requires a special tenacity. But through that tenacity, the landscape changes. The landscape itself can change. What once was unyielding ground becomes fertile, producing fruit, abundant fruit, because tenacious farmers endured the opposition of the land. Paul was a pioneer church planter. He intentionally sought out parts of the empire where the soil was hard and rocky, where no one had ever planted the gospel before. And he would go and he would stay for years clearing the ground and enduring opposition and nurturing little churches until they could stand on their own. And because of his work, because of people like Paul, the most pagan cities of the Roman Empire became some of the most famous and fruitful places in all of church history. So just to make an application here, mature churches support church planting in hard places. Church planting is not just a niche interest that some churches might choose to get involved in. It is an essential part of what it means to be a healthy and mature church. Maturity looks beyond itself to the dark and difficult place, places where Christ is not yet known. And whether that be in a city or in distant lands or in other parts of our country, and we do this by supporting the Paul's and Timothy of our own time, not just by sending them money and feeling like we've done our part, but by being a refreshment to them, by praying for them, by visiting them, by having them visit us, by forming real relationships with them, and most importantly by encouraging them to continue their difficult work that they're probably often tempted to quit. St. John would not exist without churches and individuals that did that for us. And so as we mature, we must continue that legacy. Whether it is church planters here in Cincinnati and parts of the city that don't have healthy churches, or workers that are in dark and distant fields where there are yet no churches. The more difficult and more dark the soil is, the more interested and the more tenacious we should be in supporting the work of the gospel there. How? By finding faithful people who are already doing this work and partnering with them, and by raising up people from our own midst whom we can send into those fields. That's point two. Point three, mature churches honor those who labor among them. Paul ends the letter by commending the household of Stephanus. In 15 through 18, we learn that the household of Stephanus were the first to come to Christ in Corinth. They were the first fruits of the church in Corinth. We also learn that Stephanus, along with some others, have come to visit Paul in Ephesus. They reported to Paul how things were going. They delivered Paul's letter to the Corinthians, and they likely were able to answer questions that the Corinthians might have had. So they did all that work. There is no evidence that Stephanus was an elder or a leader in the church. He could have been, but he also could have just been an ordinary member. But this is what Paul says about him in verse 15. He says, Now I urge you, brothers, you know that the household of Stephanus were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. Now, what does that mean? Every church has people like Stephanus. People who are not paid, they're not ordained, they may not even be formally recognized in any leadership role, and yet they devote themselves to the service of the saints. The Greek term for devoted themselves, it's a funny term. It means that they ordained themselves or appointed themselves, which means that nobody asked them to serve. No church officer, no church leader tapped them and asked them. They simply see needs and they meet them. They set themselves to be servants to the church. Stephanus and others like him devote themselves to the service of the saints, not for any reward, but because they love Jesus and they love his church and they love his gospel, and their work is often unrecognized and thankless. And that's why Paul talks about them. So what does Paul say that we should do with them? In verse 18, he says, give recognition to such people. And then in verse 16, he says, be subject to such as these and to every fellow worker and laborer. So first of all, we should recognize them and thank them, both publicly and privately. Not because they need it, they probably don't, but they deserve it, and we should. And then secondly, we should be subject to them, which means that we should learn from them and follow in their example, because the best way to thank them is to join them and to follow in their example. These people don't need your thanks. They don't need your applause. They have what they need in Jesus and they serve because they love him. But it is right that you should thank them. But what they really want is for you to join them. Mature churches recognize, honor, and imitate those who labor among them as servants. I think of a woman from a previous church of ours. When we lived in Dayton, we had a ministry on Uti's campus, and Uti's campus is situated in the middle of an affluent old money neighborhood called Oakwood. And I think I'm trying to think of how Oakwood would compare to a neighborhood in Cincinnati. Parts of it are like Indian Hill, other parts of it are like Hyde Park. But uh this woman had a large, hospitable home, a big house in Oakwood that was within walking distance from campus. And she got connected with our campus ministry. She was a stay-at-home mom who devoted herself to the service of the saints. Her doors were always open, and at any time of day you could go there and find college students studying the Bible or doing homework or being fed a home-cooked meal or talking about their problems or their boyfriends, or just playing a game, or just socializing. She opened her home to college students, especially believing college students and their friends. Not far from her, in a neighboring community, was a low-income subsidized apartment building filled with single mothers and their children. There were zero adult men in that building, but lots of kids. So she organized an effort to take college kids a few times a week to do after-school tutoring for the kids there, for the kids that lived in that building. No one ever asked her to do any of these things. This was not the idea of an elder or a church leader or a pastor tapping her on the shoulder and asking her to do this. No one ordained her to this task, no one recognized her, no one appointed her to this. She appointed herself to the service of the saints. And I will say that I don't remember often thanking her. Instead, we often took her for granted. And sometimes she would do things that annoyed or offended us because she too was a sinner. And so we were very ready to complain about the things that bothered us about her, probably much more than we were ready to recognize and thank her, much less to imitate her. People like this serve the saints not for any reward, but because they love Jesus, and they don't want you to thank them. They don't need you to thank them, although we should. They want you to join them. So, in conclusion, what should we do? Two things. Recognize them. Well, what do they look like? Women who regularly open up their homes, and people from church are over there several nights a week or one night a week or every other week, but their home becomes a place of refreshment for the saints. It becomes a place of mission. Men and women who arrive early and stay late, who are organizing kids' ministry, who are helping to lead events at the church, who are giving their talents to lead and worship. People who go out of their way to greet and welcome visitors, even if you're not scheduled. Scheduled as a greeter. Somebody new shows up at church and you don't recognize them, and you you ordain yourself, you appoint yourself to go introduce yourself to them and to invite them out for coffee. People who notice when someone is missing. People who are in church and they realize, oh, I haven't seen this person in a while, I haven't seen this family in a while. I will appoint myself to be the person who reaches out to them and sees how they're doing. Women who organize meal trains for new babies, for those who are sick, for new mothers, people who are simply a refreshment, a breath of fresh air for the life of the church. Everything is better when they're around because they are such servants. Paul says in verse 18 that they refreshed both Paul and the Corinthians. They were just a refreshment everywhere they went. It's the same word that Jesus uses in Matthew 11 when he says, Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I will refresh you. Like Jesus, they are a refreshment. Recognize them and tell them often that you appreciate their service, even though they don't need to hear that. You should do it. And then secondly, join them. Let their devotion to the church inspire you to follow them and let us stir up one another to good works. Don't wait for someone to ask you to serve. Don't wait for someone to appoint you to a ministry or a team or a committee or a commission. Appoint yourself. Ordain yourself like they did. And remember, when you do that, and when they do that, we are only imitating our Savior, who died for us while we were still his enemies. No one asked him to do it. No one voted him in. No one appointed him. All of his friends abandoned him on the night when he was betrayed, and still he looked to the Father and he said, Here am I, send me. I appoint myself to this task. We give thanks to Jesus and we recognize him now only after he has suffered for our sins. Those who devote themselves to the service of the saints imitate the Lord Jesus. And we should imitate them as they follow him. To this end, let us pray. Father, we thank you for your faithfulness to us as we have studied through this letter to the Corinthians, and we pray that you would help us to grow up as a church, to grow up in every way into the full stature of the manliness of Christ. And Lord, we pray for these words that we have considered today. We thank you, God, that we are part of a network of churches. We thank you for our presbytery. And we pray, God, that you would help us only to build and expand upon that, that we might create things that are bigger than our church can handle on our own, but that together we can create networks of care for one another. We pray that you'd help us to do that. And we pray also, Lord, that you would open our eyes to the need for church planting, both locally and in places that are far off. Raise up men to do that work and help us to find them and support them. And finally, Lord, we pray that we thank you for the many people like Stephanus who are in our midst, who have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. Bless them, strengthen them, encourage them. May we be an encouragement to them. And Lord, help us to recognize them and to imitate them, to become like them, and to do the same things, to devote ourselves to the service of the saints, because Jesus, that is what you have done for us. And we pray all of this in your matulous name. Amen.