1 Cor. 16:1-12 | Kingdom Mind

Intro

Good morning y’all. I hope everyone is good.

If I look tired, it’e because I am.

If you haven’t noticed we had DNow this weekend. Serving the Lord and learning about getting still before the Lord.

How scripture should actually impact our lives. How we are made new in Christ.

How Christ Resets us, points us toward the kingdom.

I’m so proud of these kids. They served hard at different mission sites around the community.

I also have amazing parents and adults. None of it would be possible without them. They’re the real hero’s.

Anyways, if you had any part in helping this week, I just want to say thank you, and that it would not have gotten done with out you.

Anyways, let’s get in to it.

Students, y’all have already heard this story that I’m about to tell, I want to tie it in here.

But in 1845 the Southern Baptist Convention is founded as any good baptist organization does, they see the world and go, we gotta send some missionaries.

At that time, China was starting to open up, starting to let foreigners come in. So the SBC at time is like, lets get some people there.

And they find a man there named Samuel Clopton, really good southern name to be honest.

SO they say to Samuel, Sam, you are gonna go to china.

Here is a list of things you are going to need.

You need some clothes,

Snacks, some bedding, bible, should probably take a bible, if you’re gonna be spreading the gospel, might need it.

So Samuel gets all his stuff together, and he’s looking at it

and starts to pack it,

and what do you think he packs it in?

most of us, we are packing in trunks, suit cases, book bags, what ever we can find.

Samuel.

He’s got something different taking all that stuff, and you know what he’s packing it in?

he is packing it in a casket.

Part of the packing list for missionaries back in the day included a casket, because they knew, this was pretty much a one way trip.

So Samuel, packs his casket gets on a boat, sails to china and starts sharing the gospel.

A year later, they took the stuff out of his casket and placed Samuel in it, and did his funeral and buried his bones there in China.

And sent another missionary after that.

And this is what I want you to see, what we are going to be talking about this morning, what lead him to do that?

Samuel’s mind was on the kingdom. Samuel knew, he was taking his life and leveraging everything in it for the Kingdom.

Samuel knew packing his casket was not a dead end journey but a journey to take as many with him in to the kingdom.

So the question we want to answer this morning is, are we kingdom minded, as individuals, as a church, is our mind on the kingdom?

Are we set up to proclaim the coming kingdom as best we can?

In a few mins you will have that invitation to join the kingdom or to evaluate your life, are we geared towards the kingdom or against it?

There is no neutral place with the Kingdom.

So that is where we are going to be this morning, looking at how we impact the kingdom.

Context - Collection

So this morning we are going to be in 1 Cor. 16:1-12,

so if you have a bible go ahead and flip over there and look at it, if you don’t have a bible grab the one in the pew, if you have a bible but it’s at home bring it. If you don’t have a bible at home, take that one in the pew home, that’s yours now.

So let’s set the stage, kids with a kids guide if you are following along here are your three words, Mind, Order and Kingdom. When you hear those, write them down. As many times as I say them.

So let’s set the scene this passage

Chapter 16 is one of those passages that brings us back down to earth.

Chapter 15 is this glorious chapter.

Because Christ is risen we have hope.

Oh death where is your victory, oh death where your sting?

Or as randy put it last week, oh death who’s daddy?

Chapter 15, Paul is dunking on the devil, windmill dunking on death.

Just this glorious reminder that glory awaits.

and then we get to 16, and when we read it you’re like, okay….

Like, at first glance this is Paul’s travel plans and a reminder that he’s taking up some money for the church in Jerusalem.

But the more you read it, the more you understand that Paul is focusing them.

Chapter 15, Christ is risen, you will be raised in glory, all things redeemed in the coming kingdom.

Chapter 16 Paul’s immediate next thought is, — because he is risen we have work to do.

The kingdom is coming, and now we have kingdom work to do. I am coming to help set you up to do it. Be ready.

So with that, let’s read this together. just verses 1-12

but before we do that, let’s pray for our time in the word this morning.

pray with me

pray

Okay cool, 1 Cor. 16:1-12, read this with me.

1 Corinthians 16:1–12 ESV

1 Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. 5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. 11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers. 12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.

So let’s see what we have

First read,— you got really dig there.

But this passage gives us a rich view and invitation to join in the work.

So the first thing we need to see is what is this collection Paul is talking about?

Once we see what this is, it focuses this passage.

And what is crazy, when I was looking into what the collection is about, all the modern commentaries just sort of glossed over it, they just said.

“It’s for the poor in jerusalem.”

Which cool, but Corinth is not the only church Paul is collecting from

He is collecting from Galatia, Rome, Ephesus, all of these churches he is collecting aid for Jerusalem.

But is not just the poor,

Every city has poor folks, why is he collecting?

I finally found it in a commentary from around 1900, but this is the crazy thing, the collection was for the poor jewish christians in Jerusalem.

Because that is where the persecution is at it’s highest.

Think about it, the Jewish people who followed Jesus were considered apostate, they were cut off from the faith in their mind.

A lot of the time we think Christian persecution, we think Roman, Christians being fed to the lions, Nero lighting his garden parties with the flaming corpses of crucified christians. The wild stuff

But it started at home, the Jewish people who followed Christ were cut out, they lost everything

So Paul is adamant that this collection be done well and in a timely manner.

This was super important to Paul.

And this collection isn’t just alleviation of poverty, it mainly is, but this is a statement Paul is making.

Look at who he is collecting from, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Rome.

These are gentile cities. These are greek cities.

and I love what this commentary says about the collection.

it says,

“This particular collection was very important to Paul since he was not only concerned about the well-being of his own people (the Jews), but relief from Gentiles would demonstrate that Christian charity was not tied to race or ethnicity”

The kingdom is not Jewish or Greek, Western or Eastern, Black or White. The kingdom is found in Christ.

Paul is making this statement,

Christians join with other christians for the sake of the kingdom.

Paul is meeting physical needs to further help meet spiritual needs.

So knowing this, what is Paul telling us?

Let’s look at it.

Mind

The first thing we need to see is that if we are gearing our lives toward the kingdom, it starts with our mind, we have to decide to leverage ourselves towards the kingdom.

Our theme for Dnow this weekend was Reset, we used Romans 12:2 “2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

If we are going to be kingdom minded, it has to start in your mind.

One of the worst things the culture of the last few decades has produced is this notion that we need to follow our hearts.

Can I tell you right now, that is stupid. Following our heart is following our emotions and our emotions are crazy drivers.

Where are my youth Parents at or the transportation committee people,

Every year when we go to camp, we need drivers to drive the big bus, imagine parents when you get there at 6:00 am I’m like just like, pray for us, one of our High School boys is gonna drive the big bus for us, i know he’s been up all night packing and drinking mtn. dew, it’s gonna be fun.

What are you doing with your kid? You’re getting them off that bus. My chaperones are getting off the bus.

We can’t let our heart drive things. It starts in the mind.

Our minds inform the heart, not the other way around.

It is both easy and hard. Because we have to decide first that christ is better, that the kingdom is better this way.

It’s like losing weight, you know how you do it? burn more calories than you intake. Eat less. but as we all know, it ain’t that easy.

We have to decide in our minds that christ is better.

And to do that we have put to death our pride in our mind that says we know better.

Paul is telling them, this is what you do. This is how we help. This is how we further the kingdom by building up among the people of God.

It starts with our minds, We have to decide, but it doesn’t end there.

Order

Let’s keep going,

Paul tells them this is how the collection will be done.

There is a specific way you need to do it so that it will be effective, and efficient.

He is saying do it this way.

This has been a major theme of the book. this idea of there is a certain best and right way to do things.

So what I want us to see if we are going to be kingdom minded, then how we order ourselves matter. How we order the church matters.

Because what we do in here, affects what we do out there. How we relate to each other in here, directly impacts how we relate to the community.

Are we setting ourselves up to be kingdom minded now and in the future?

So one of the biggest joys of the last year and some change has been being Dad. I love being Dad. If you don’t know me, My wife and I have a little girl named Price, and she’s not really little, I like to call her my little big girl, cause she’s 16 months old but she’s the size of a 3 year old. No joke, she’s 34 pounds and almost three feet tall. She’s a big girl. Strong, move the furniture around at my house. Big Girl.

But one thing she won’t do is walk, — and I say won’t cause we have seen her stand up and take steps, but she won’t just take off.

She just stands there, wants you to hold her hands, and then she’ll walk. And if you let go of her hands she cries and falls on the floor and takes off crawling.

Everywhere she’s going, she crawling, and she won’t walk girl is just stubborn.

And right now crawling is fine, it gets her to where she likes to go.

But she can’t crawl forever.

The future that she is going want, she’s gonna have to walk. She’s gonna have to stand up and walk.

Church family, the same is true for us, we can only crawl for so long. It’s fine for a time but if we are going to be effective in the future, how we order ourselves matters.

Because how we order ourselves in here directly effects how we relate to people out there.

Are we setting ourselves up to be effective in this future world. Are we seeing God’s word as God’s word.

As the actual revelation of God, or are we seeing it as a suggestion.

See look at the world around us, look at the culture. The world we live in right now is bombarding us with all sorts of ideas, all sorts of ways to think and honestly, not think.

These students we have in here they are facing things us adults never even thought of.

And what This means is that, this isn’t a problem for the future church. Our students are the church right now, they’re not the future of the church, they are the church right now.

That means the church right now needs to be ready.

How we order ourselves in here matters, because the goal is the kingdom. The goal is the coming kingdom.

Too often we lose sight of the goal,

Have you ever seen in a football game the RB or WR breaks away from the defense, if he just keeps running it’s a TD, but dude will start jogging and the defense catches up, or worse, the guy will start to celebrate too early and drop the ball, fumble the ball.

We have to keep our mind on the goal, if we start to put other things ahead of that, we are out of order.

Sometimes, we worry more about the business of the ministry of christ and forget the christ of the ministry.

We have to set ourselves up to proclaim the Christ of the ministry.

Paul is reminding us, in this passage and in the whole of this book, that God is a God of order, and has laid out how things are to be done.

Are we going to walk into the kingdom? Are we ordering ourselves to be kingdom minded?

Kingdom

and if we are, if we are doing those things, what is the kingdom that we keep talking about?

Way back in the day, when a kingdom was said to be coming, it meant that a conqueror was coming.

Through out history there have been good kings, and bad kings, good kingdoms, and bad kingdoms.

Even just in the history of the hebrew people, you have good kings, King David, but also not good kings, King Saul.

Even outside the hebrew people, the bible credits Darius the Great and Cyrus the Great as being the Great.

But When a kingdom is said to be coming, a conqueror is coming. Things will be destroyed, or things will be restored.

In all of Jesus’s ministry, the thing He spoke about the most is the coming of the kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is at hand.

So what is the kingdom?

In the Kingdom, all things will be made new, all things are restored, sin is no more, the death of death is at hand.

Christ is on the throne.

Revelation gives us this picture. Rev. 21:1-7

Revelation 21:1–7 ESV

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

This is the kingdom, this is what we are walking towards.

So the question we need to ask, is do we want that? And if we do act like it?

Do we act like this is where we want to walk to?

This is the kingdom, and the gospel is Christ on the throne.

Watch this church, the gospel is the good news that Christ is on the throne.

The gospel of Christ is his ascension to the throne. That is the new that we get to tell church.

Yes we tell of redemption from sin, yes we tell of restoration of life, yes we tell of the relationship offered, the grace handed down. But none of that matters if Christ is not on the throne.

but the good news is that he is.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that he has made a way for us to be sons and daughters of the King, because he’s the king.

He is adopting us, despite of ourselves.

The King says to us, I love you, I will take your place so that you can have a place in the kingdom as sons and daughters.

The good news is that Christ, died in our place for our sins.

The sins of the world, of all time, are no more because of the person and work of Christ.

That is the good news. Death is defeated, the king is alive.

P2Christ

So what do we do church? If we are kingdom minded? We exist in the space called the already but not yet. Christ is on the throne, redeeming and restoring, but we are still here in this fallen world.

What do we do?

Church we have to see the world for what it is, broken. And we have to see ourselves for who we are, broken, but not without hope.

Being kingdom minded is trusting in the hope that we already have.

We know how this thing ends.

So who are we church?

We are heralds of the king, given a message of hope to a broken and dying world.

We have to walk boldly with our message. Walk in to this brave new with the only message that can restore it.

invite People in to the kingdom. And so right now, I want to do that.

If you are in here and you are sitting there wondering, man I don’t know if my mind is actually on the kingdom. Or if you are sitting there thinking, I don’t know the king, or I don’t need the king, I’m good enough.

I need you to see that you can only be for or against the kingdom. There is no middle ground.

There are no neutral parties when it comes to the kingdom. So ask yourself, do you know Him?

Do you actually know the risen savior? Do you actually see him as king and Lord, do you see him as savior.

We are going to pray here in a moment, and then sing, and if what I described is you, I want to invite you into the kingdom. I want to invite you to come and see that the Lord is good. That he is on the throne and making a way for you to have right relationship with Him.

That Christ is better, that Christ is the only thing worth giving our lives to. That Christ is on the throne. Y’all pray with me.