Christ life & ministry through us results from walking in the...
2 Cor: 10:13-18 · Randy Peterman · Oct 15, 2017
2 Corinthians (2017), No. 39
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261726207311

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, well this morning we're going to wade into further thickness of the boasting. If you have your Bibles, please do turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I'm actually going to start in verse 12, which is kind of a transition verse from where Roger left off, and we're just going to continue Paul's thoughts by just kind of grabbing onto that and attaching to it and moving forward. So Paul is continuing his concern for the measurement of the church against itself rather than in the sight of God. Verse 12, here he says, For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves, but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. For we are not overextending ourselves as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ. Not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows we will be within our sphere enlarged even more by you, so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another. But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord, for it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends."

This is an interesting transition passage because he's going to go into chapter 11. And I think chapter 11 is one of those sections of this book where Roger, Bob, and I are all thinking about teaching it and going, man, that is a tremendous amount of material with some tricky phrases in there. But this morning, we're not into the tricky phrases yet. So we'll play some rock, paper, scissors and see who gets what. So Paul, in verse 12, is challenging this church body not to measure itself against itself.

And what this made me think of is, how many of you have ever watched little children who are maybe, usually it's about the 3, 4, and 5 year old age, who want to see who's taller. Have you ever seen that? The two kids will come and they'll stand against one another and one of the kids will take his hand and he'll do this number. You can't see this on the recording, but their hand goes up a couple of inches and they're taller. See, I'm taller than you and their hand goes up. The measurement accuracy is highly suspect. When we measure ourselves against ourselves, we have a problem. That's the illustration that came to my mind here in this principle. So the question I've got there is, what is the measurement unit of a believer's conditional righteousness?

This is an important one. Bob's given me your out sign from baseball. I suspect he means something else. I'm looking for a very particular word because it's actually, it's a very specific measurement. The word that I think answers this is you're abiding. You're abiding or you're not abiding.

That's the measurement. But Randy, that's not a metric we apply to ourselves. It is. It's the only metric that matters. It's true or false. It's on or it's off. You're abiding or you're not abiding. It's kind of a trick question, Bob, and that's what's bothering you. Are we abiding or are we not abiding?

When we measure ourselves by any other metric, and I'm using metric very carefully because I don't want it to be salvation by works, But if we are evaluating any other thing, then we can get off the beaten path. Recently upstairs, my dad used the phrase, legalism is when we get in God's way, or something approximately worded that way. And when we're doing it by our own power, and our own strength, and our own will, we're not abiding. So that's the metric. I'm either abiding and the Holy Spirit is moving through me and my life, or I'm not. If I measure myself by myself, that's a problem.

So Paul is moving on from twelve and the measurement of self and moving on into this other principle of measurement. And just in case this is vague, let's turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5. And there Paul writes, Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness, and disclose the motives of men's hearts. Then each man's praise will come to him from God.

I agree that abiding is the principle by which God's glory is evident, right? The only thing is if I'm paying attention to how I'm abiding, I tend to take credit for the fact that I'm abiding. Well, that's a personal problem. You could err on that side, could you not? Well, if you're taking credit, you're not abiding. If you're taking credit, you're not abiding. Yeah, true.

We're on the same page. When we say abiding, we're talking about walking in, let's use another way, Paul. So John writes abiding. And Paul uses the term walking by the spirit. And I think we can use those synonymously. So when I say abiding, if that gets a hitch in your get along, think about is Paul writes walk in the spirit.

And that's the context we want to understand that in. And we're going to get into that deeply this morning. So if there's any ambiguity after all of this this morning, I apologize, but we're going to have to go headlong into that. But in the 1st Corinthians 4-5 passage there, God is looking at the motives.

If we're abiding our motive, if we're walking in the Spirit, our motive is God. It's the Holy Spirit moving in us. And so we're not measuring ourselves by ourselves. We're measuring ourselves by the question, am I walking in the Spirit and is the Lord directing my steps.

And Paul is going to go into some of the nuances of that as we dig in here. So verse 13, but we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure to reach even as far as you. So Paul's language here is translated in a few different ways. How many of you have a different translation besides New American Standard? Alright, do you mind going ahead and just reading that out loud on verse 13?

But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. Okay, that's similarly written there, or translated there. We will not go to things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

I like that, without our measure. So the thing about this in the Greek is that it's translated here by the New American Standard, and some of you will notice there's an italicized beyond there. But he says, where it's translated beyond our measure, it's without a unit of measure. It's a metros. Okay?

And that made me laugh because it made me realize that when we use the word meter in the metric system, meter just means measurement. So it's without a measurement. So we will not boast in a realm where there is no measurement. If you're measuring against yourself, Paul says, I don't want to be operating in the measuring against yourself realm because it's a realm without real measurement.

How many of you have ever seen old recipes? When people would do a pinch of something and a handful of that? You ever seen those? We went to one of the historical reenactment places and bought a cookbook Because Abby likes to cook and Jessica is like, let's get her an old cookbook.

You open it up and it's like, you can't make this without a serious amount of intestinal fortitude. I don't know how you would reach in and grab a... I mean my hand is this big, how big is your hand? So your units of measure are approximate. I know, Bob, when you're doing research and you start doing units of measurement, you're getting down in certain cases to very fractional things. When Claire was doing machinery diagnostics in these power plants, he had tons of steel moving and they were worried about ten thousandths of an inch because if that gets off balance, tons of steel can really hurt people.

So measurements, we've gotten them down to great precision and Paul says, I don't even want to deal with your bad approximation. There's no unit of measurement there. So when we talk about this idea of beyond a measure or without a measure, measuring yourself like in verse 12, they're measuring without a measurement. And Paul doesn't want to participate with that in the slightest way.

And what is his action, what's the verb he's going to do with this measurement? He says, but we will not boast beyond our measure. Now, I know when we say boast, that throws everybody off, right? We would go, oh no, boasting. Because we all grew up hearing that that was wrong, right? Don't brag, right? Paul is using that as kind of an exaggeration, I believe. We will not glory or boast And the idea is not that he's promoting boasting. I don't think that that's what Paul's saying. He's saying he's trying to validate his ministry. Remember that? That's been part of this letter. And when we get into chapter 11, you just wait. He's going to turn that, using the analogy, he's going to turn it up to 11 in chapter 11.

But what Paul is concerned about instead is what is the proper unit of measurement. And so he does the right thing, which is not a surprise because he is being inspired by the Holy Spirit here. And he calls in the judge of accurate measurement. He calls in God. God's measurement is perfect. That's not stunning for anybody here, I don't think, theologically speaking. If we say God is the perfect judge, nobody here is offended by that statement.

But God's measurement comes intertwined for us in this context here, when Paul's talking about this. God's measurement is empowered and it's provided and it's carried out with his oversight. If we're abiding, If we're walking by the Spirit, we know what God's measurement is. And we're operating according to His measurement. And Paul is operating according to God's measurement here.

And how big is God's sphere? He says, the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure. How big is God's sphere? God's sphere is everything. And what portion of that did He give to Paul? Who was Paul the Apostle to? To the Gentiles. And so that's an important thing that we think of here when Paul says God's sphere which he apportioned to us. He's not speaking of the infinite nature of God's sphere. He's talking about the stewardship that God had given Paul. What was the sphere of measurement that God had given the Corinthians. Whatever Paul had to teach. Whatever Paul had to teach. Whatever God had revealed up to that point in time through the Holy Spirit and what had been passed along in the epistles and the words there was what they were accountable for. And when I say accountable again I'm not talking about works and legalism I'm just saying that as a believer we have the idea of imperatives and we'll get into that a little later on. Then Paul says, to reach even as far as you.

Now there's a couple ways that that's significant, but on the next page we've got a map. So let's flip over to the next page real quick and you'll see there it's grayscale. I hope it turned out okay. It looked okay. Can everybody see it approximately? Your Bibles might have a map on the back that's clearer.

If you look in the middle of the map on that circle, in the bottom left-hand corner, you'll see Corinth and Athens. So that is where Corinth was at. And the location of Corinth, you had to want to get there. It's not something where if you're in your palm, and you're starting out your journey, and you visited the brethren in Jerusalem, and you go out on this missionary journey, Corinth is not a short walk away.

So Paul says, even as far as you. Paul had been called to the Gentiles. But what's one thing Paul did as a pattern? Do we know anything about Paul's pattern when he went into a new town? He went to the synagogues first. If you look there, there's a cross-reference Acts 17 verses 1-4. He went to the synagogue. And it says in Acts 17-1, as was Paul's pattern, he went to the synagogue first and preached to the Jews for several Sabbaths.

Then he got them all riled up. Verse 5. We're not there yet upstairs, but we'll get there. Paul got them riled up. And so the Corinthians were wrestling with feeling like Paul needed to come visit them again. We've already established that as we've gone through this book. And they really wanted to be important and they wanted to come.

But Paul says, guys, God in his Sphere of measurement sent me even to you. That's a great distance. That's a non-trivial amount. Had I thought of it, I would have probably tried to do a Google Maps estimation of walking distance, but it usually does modern roads. So it will give you a very approximate distance. So we won't run with that literally, but it's important.

So Paul would go to the Jews first and the reason why he would do that is he knew what they believed, right? Paul grew up a Jew. When we get into the next chapter we're going to see Paul really knew the law and he knew the Old Testament books. And he would go there and he knew that they would have knowledge of the prophecies of the Messiah.

If you go into a Gentile town where they've never been exposed to the Old Testament and you start talking about Isaiah chapter 53, you might get a little traction. But if you go in there and you find the Jews and you start talking about Isaiah 53, you're going to get a lot more traction because they've probably read Isaiah 53.

And they would also have connections with Gentiles. There's a great likelihood that they weren't isolated. So Paul goes into these towns and he goes to the synagogue first because he knows that he will be able to get started there and get traction there, but he also knows that his ministry is to the Gentiles. So his fear was to the Gentiles, but not excluding the Jews. So Paul's reach was even as far as them.

The question I got there is, do we have a reach as a body today? What's our spirit? Wherever God puts us. That's the right answer. And if we're abiding, if we're walking by the Spirit and He prompts us to go share the Gospel, then it's time to go share the Gospel. Even if we're not evangelists, right? Some people are gifted in evangelism. I am not, and usually when the Holy Spirit tells me it's time to preach the Gospel to somebody, I'm going to be very vulnerable with you and tell you I get a little bit nervous. that's okay because he makes it really clear and it's like oh man here it comes and I get to preach the gospel and you know what has happened I have yet to be beaten up for it but I get real nervous about it sometimes because I'm not called as an evangelist but that doesn't mean I don't evangelize so our sphere is wherever the Lord's put us in doing the actions the Holy Spirit is directing us to So Paul continues on in verse 14, So Paul, when he's talking about his sphere, his stewardship before the Lord, he's saying, because I came in and I'm your spiritual parent, when your sphere is enlarged, my sphere is enlarged also. The ministry of Paul was wherever the Lord took him and his cohort.

That's not shocking to hear, I suppose. But by having established churches within the routes he took, he was able to do several things. When we look on the next page, and you saw that map with the routes, there's three missionary journeys, and there's some overlap there. And I don't think that was accidental.

So let's look at the sphere and the order and why God did that, or why Paul had to do that. So it would be, first of all, to have an opportunity to see how the churches were established and growing by the Holy Spirit. He was their parent. I've got a cross-reference there which we won't follow, but if you look at 1 Thessalonians 2 verses 7 and 11, he says in 7, I was like a nursing mother to you. And then in verse 11 he says like a father. And so Paul saw himself as a parent to those churches and so he came in to see how they were growing as a parent having established them.

And then also, it also hopefully provided a safe place to stay. Out on the highways there was risk, but going in there and having people that cared for him meant that they would be a bit more protective than some new stranger. Or, Paul was a tent maker. Tents are not known as fortresses of safety and solitude. So there was a reality there that Paul was facing in risk that safety would be involved. Also, and he mentions this in a few places in his letter, possible gathering of funding to reach out to other areas. If he can gather that funding that will impact his ability to go further.

And also to teach further what the Holy Spirit had revealed to him and deliver further depth of doctrine. It seems clear that the Holy Spirit was teaching Paul more and more as Paul walked with the Lord. You kind of get the impression that Paul didn't become saved. Jesus didn't manifest himself out in the desert with Paul and taught him everything, and then Paul was done. So Randy, it looks to me like the emphasis here in 15 is that their faith has increased, right? Well, that's a key part of it, but he's looking for that amongst other things, or the fruit of that faith.

So what would overextending look like? If this is Paul and he's worried about overextending, or he's using the analogy of overextending, what would that look like? Given what we just saw as some of the reasons why he behaved the way he behaved. Lack of growth. lack of funds, lack of safety and provision, all of the things that are there. So Paul is saying, I'm going out and I have this fear that's been given to me by God, and God is doing the providing, proving out that fear. So the fear and the overextending would have been obvious, but he's saying that's not what happened.

If the church in Corinth had not been visited by Paul, the Holy Spirit may have sent others. And Paul emphasizes that he's trying to go where other people have not gone. But it's possible that in Corinth, and we know from 1 Corinthians, that Apollos came, right? Apollos showed up. And some people favored him more than Paul. And some people favored Peter more than Paul. But Apollos showed up.

But God had sent Paul to Corinth as a proving out of what God was doing in his measurement through Paul. And when we use that idea of measurement there, it's not for comparison between one believer and another. We don't all have to measure up to Paul, right? So the next question there is, now that Paul had reached the church in Corinth, how did he hope this would impact his ministry?

Like a springboard to go take the next step beyond them. So there's two parts of it. One, he's hoping that what he's established there is bearing fruit. And that's what Bob was getting at. And one part of it is that then Paul knows that's established. Now I can go somewhere else.

And so in verse 16 he's talking about preaching beyond Corinth, so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another. And when we look at what Paul is closing in on here, we have to look at that map of Corinth and consider really key political and shipping influences that Corinth had that were abnormal compared to almost every other church. Corinth was on what is called the isthmus of, I can never say that word, I can say any of the Greek words, can't get isthmus out of my mouth. Corinth was on the isthmus of Corinth, and I'm gonna laugh at myself when I listen to this again later, right?

And at its narrowest point, it was four miles wide. Okay, that's not very wide. And it was about 20 miles long. So it's like a narrow stretch about 20 miles long and four miles wide. And so if you wanted to get from Athens to Corinth, you were going to go on that Ithmus. And there was a shipping industry because you could save a lot of time not going around that whole peninsula You could go in, hit one side of that four mile stretch, and you could pay to have slave labor haul, if it was a small ship, the whole ship. Otherwise you could have the cargo hauled all the way across. And four miles, even if it takes one or two days, is a lot faster than going all the way around that peninsula. And so Corinth had a massive number of people that traveled through it.

And so when Paul is saying, I wanted to have, you know, approximately sitting here, I wanted to have my sphere increased because of you, it's because they have prime real estate. You know, it's that location, location, location, that's what matters the most. So Corinth has prime real estate. And Paul had hoped that in establishing that church, they would have extended his sphere of influence. And so we see here that Paul is expecting from them that they would be able to increase their sphere, which would increase his sphere, and then in verse 16, so that he could go reach other places and preach the gospel beyond them. You guys have a massive amount of influence You're here at this perfect location to be able to reach people going north and south and east and west and all across the Mediterranean. And he wants to go beyond that because he's established them.

And he doesn't want to boast where others have been. He doesn't want to glory in where the others have been. He wants to be able to go before the Lord and say, I went where you sent me. and where he wants to reach every soul on the face of the planet for the gospel. Because Gentile is a really small word for a really big idea. It's everybody else that's not a Jew, right? Paul's been sent to them. So do we as believers have the same fresh soil calling that Paul is looking for? Anybody have an opinion on that?

Well, if you volunteer at the airport, you're going to have a fresh start. You're going to end up trying to show up at the bottom and you're going to pile out into the terminal. Yeah. And it really is contextual on where the Lord has called you. I've run into believers who are legalistic about evangelism and they think every Christian should always be evangelizing wherever they go, always, always, always. And if you're not, you may not be a Christian or you're not a good Christian. And I think that's terrible, and it's legalistic, and it's not founded by the scriptures. However, there are evangelists, and the Lord may give them fresh soil all the time, and wherever they go, that's how they're wired.

And the Holy Spirit moves in them, and they just preach the gospel wherever they go. So the answer is, it depends. But I want to keep harping on that, because I think it's important for us to recognize that it's not a rule that we just get to apply legalistically. it's going to require that we abide, that we walk in the Spirit. He will open the doors and preach the gospel. In verses 17 and 18 he says, But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord, for it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.

Now I'm going to turn to Jeremiah 9.23 and 24. Jeremiah We don't do a lot of quoting or reading of Jeremiah and Holly Hills, but maybe that will change someday down the road. Jeremiah is quite a book of prophecy, but Paul quotes it, but he quotes it in a special way. So let's follow along as I read this, 9, 23, and 24.

Paul writes, Thus says the Lord, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches. But let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. For I delight in these things, declares the Lord."

Now, does that sound like what Paul said? Anyone? Paul's not doing it word for word, is he? He's summarizing it. And I think it's worth noting that Paul does that, as do some of the other writers in the New Testament, not because they're changing what the authors intended to say, but sometimes the summary is an easier connection for the reader that was familiar to the Old Testament.

When you have a familiar connection with somebody, have you ever found that if you watched a movie that someone else watched. You can say, remember that one part? And you just kind of hit a few things. And you don't have to go back and read the script back to them for them to understand, because it's familiar together.

Sometimes Paul will do that, and other authors in the New Testament will do that. Here's a quick summary to remind you of the bigger picture. So that's what's going on here. Paul's not rewriting the Old Testament. But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord. For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.

And this is where I wanted to go into the measurement and the commending based on some other cross references that I think have some valuable context for us to consider. So we already read 1 Corinthians 4 verse 5. Let's turn also to 1 Peter 1.7.

This is one of my favorite verses in 1 Peter, but in the Bible I had before this one, all of 1 Peter was underlined. It turns out if you underline the whole thing, underlining stops being valuable. So actually, that was partially why I got a new Bible, was like, okay, I need to start over and be a little bit more careful what I underline. But I was on the airplane reading 1 Peter and I underlined the whole thing. Well, you and J. Verne McGee have the same opinion. Every passage is the most remarkable passage. It's true, it's true. What's your favorite verse of the Bible, the whole thing?

So, 1 Peter 1.7, So that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So the proof of your faith, and as Bob pointed out earlier, and I think it's worth just flipping back briefly in 2 Corinthians, Paul was concerned about their faith in verse 15, not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be within our sphere, enlarged even more by you. So the idea here in 2 Corinthians is, as he's talking about this being commended by the Lord, there's a complexity that is a rich chain of doctrines The first doctrine is that we need to be walking by the Spirit.

Galatians 5.16 says if you want to stop fulfilling the desires of the flesh, you need to be walking by the Spirit.

But then Ephesians 2.10 tells us that God has good works planned for us to do. Not works for salvation, but works that reflect His life in us. And so the next link in the chain is that as we're abiding, not only are we not going to do the desires of the flesh, but we're going to see the fruits of the Spirit. And then the next chain link is what we saw in 1 Corinthians in chapter 3 where Paul wrote about the rewards that would come when we go into the heavenly places. God's going to burn away all the works of the flesh and what will be left will be the rewards and the gems and the precious stones. So who empowered the good works? The Lord. And who rewarded us for those good works? The Lord.

It's so not fair in the best possible way. Right? If you're like my 11 year old daughter, who's almost 12, she loves justice. She wants everything fair. And I'm like, wow, Christianity is just like not fair. It's not. Just wait. You know, it's not fair because God is loving and he bestows blessing on us.

There's rumors that we might go over Ephesians the next session. It's a strong rumor. Roger's heard it too. And in Ephesians chapter 1, it tells us about God's riches being poured out on us. That's not fair. That's awesome. That's loving benevolence, right? That's agape.

So as we take a look at these things, the difficulties are there to prove God's faithfulness and they prove out the measurement of His work in us as we abide. The Lord then commands those who are abiding eternally. That commendation is eternal. Those rewards are eternal. What gets burned away? the unremarkable stuff, the non-commendable stuff. What's left? The eternal commendable stuff. And that's amazing.

So when we read imperatives in the New Testament, and this is something I wanted to kind of dig into since Paul was talking about this sphere of influence and talking about how he was expecting behavior from Corinth, right? Because he's expecting them to be preaching the gospel to expand his sphere. That's a big expectation.

So when we read this imperative behavior concept, I wanted to kind of dig down deeper. So I've got a list of things here. Sorry, I'm the son of an engineer, and I do some engineering myself, so we like lists. If we're not abiding, we're not doing the imperatives with the right motive, and we're being legalistic. We're doing it of the flesh. Legalism is getting in God's way. So if we're not walking by the Spirit, we could be doing something by the wrong motive.

How many of you have heard when you were younger, let's say, as a believer, you've heard Christians should X. And this is the most algebra we'll have in this class. Christians should X. And then you feel like you've got to always do X. Even if you're not abiding. Even if you're not walking by the Spirit. You were told Christians X. That's what we do. And so you get good at it. And you don't understand it. but you can X. I was a good Xer when I was young.

But it's possible for not abiding to do what looks good on the outside, but it's not abiding. And so Paul, when he's giving the imperative, the assumption, the starting point, is that we're walking by the Spirit. That the newness of life in Christ is being manifested because we're walking in fellowship with Him. If we think we're abiding but not doing them, we may not be abiding. That's one possibility. But we also may not be called to always do all the things all of the time. Paul tells us we should be hospitable in Romans chapter 12, for example.

But that doesn't mean that 365 days out of the year you better have somebody over. I can tell you as a married husband that I definitely need time with my wife alone. And I can tell you as a father of my children that as much as they love it when people come over to our house, they need time with dad alone. And sometimes I need to go be friends with somebody else and go to their house so they can be hospitable or whatever else may come up. And sometimes I have to go to meetings.

So, and that's not an abiding thing, right? It's not like I'm not abiding because I'm not bearing this fruit of hospitality 365 days out of the year. We're likely to be growing in these imperatives as the Holy Spirit grows us in Christ. Recognizing we're not doing one of the imperatives may be a place the Holy Spirit is specifically growing us for future edification of the body. As Bob has asked before, how you doing at that or with that? There's times when we are weak in an area that the Holy Spirit is intentionally going to grow us in.

How many of you have discovered later in life that there was some part of the Christian life that no one had ever taught you about? I think all of us can. I know that Roger, Bob, and I have all used that as illustrations, right? Oh, when I was a new Christian I thought I was supposed to do this, but later on no one had ever taught me Later on I found out about something else.

So it's good to understand that growth is progressive. This is a conditional thing we're looking at. The next one there is that when the Holy Spirit moves us to do the imperatives, the source of the work will be undeniable. And that's important. What's your motive? As we saw in 1 Corinthians 4-5 and in 1 Peter 1-7, the motive was undeniable. The motive was God and the Holy Spirit moving in us. In the context of imperatives, think about it as a place to add in your mind by the Holy Spirit.

So for example in Romans 6.11 Paul writes, even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. But we could add safely, we're not adding to the scriptures when I say this is just a context for imperatives most of the time but check your context, by the Holy Spirit. So we might read that and say, even so consider by the Holy Spirit yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit is going to drive those truths deeper and deeper into your life.

And the application will then mature over time, right? It's easy to say, I know what it's like to reckon. But we don't know all the ways God is going to grow us in the reckoning. Alright, so we got a conclusion here in this commending and the measurement and the sphere of influence.

God has set up a unit of measurement that Paul is re-emphasizing. The idea of abiding or walking by the Spirit. The unit of measurement is you either are or are not abiding. It's on or off. If you're a software person like I am, you think, ah, Boolean. It's logic. It's true or false, right? You're abiding or you're not abiding.

And so because of that, we know that if we are abiding, we see that chain where God has put the works in place for us to do, and that he's going to reward us for that. And we know those rewards will bring glory to God, and we will boast in God of his kindness, his love, and his generosity in grace for all eternity with those rewards. Our sphere, wherever it is, if we're abiding, will be manifested.

So should we be afraid to measure ourselves in a biblical context? And this is where I know Bob has got a strong opinion. Should we measure ourselves? I think Paul is actually telling us we should, but in a very special context, okay? Very special context, because otherwise we get, like Bob pointed out, so he got ahead of my lesson. If we're looking to ourselves and saying proudly, I'm abiding, we're probably not abiding. Or he says that's my problem. No, no, I said that jokingly, come on now. I'll accept that as a conclusion.

The careful subtext here is Paul is not against evaluating and measuring things, but what he's looking for is the measurement is am I abiding or not. If I'm abiding, I'm not measuring and looking at it and glorying in myself. I'm looking to him. If I'm walking in the Spirit, I'm walking in fellowship with him. So that's the measurement.

We should consider when we study God's Word and the Lord teaches us something in the passage, and we learn from it, and we see I'm not doing whatever that is, we should consider that not in a legalistic way, not in a fleshly way, not in a way that we could take credit for. But instead, in a prayerful consideration, Lord, through your Holy Spirit, teach me about this. Do it in me if that's your will.

That way there's no guilt, right? If the Holy Spirit isn't leading you to be hospitable 360 days out of the year instead of 365, right? If the Holy Spirit isn't leading you to hospitality and that's not your gift, there's no guilt there and there's no shame there. But we look at it and we measure things by the abiding standard. And that's safe. That's okay. There's no guilt. There's no judgment.

I can't come up to Roger and do anything other than prayerfully walk in fellowship with him as co-abiders. I can't come to him and say, Roger, you're supposed to X because I'm supposed to X. I said I was only going to do one algebra thing, that's two.

But the stewardship that is there is one of abiding, and the Lord will give us a sphere wherever it is in an abiding state, and he will move in us to make it clear that we're supposed to be doing something that is an imperative. If you're a hand, don't try to be an eye, like Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

Taking time to reflect on your walk and seeking prayerful guidance as you mature is not bad, but resting in Him is the key. We're not trying to promote legalism and works-based salvation, but we are trying to promote walking in the If you're walking in the Spirit, God's sphere is infinite, and your sphere is just as big as He wants it to be.

And you know you're fulfilling it. So no guilt, no blame, no shame. Spiritual growth happens when we recognize who we are in Christ and rest in those things as the Holy Spirit impresses those truths upon us. And He conforms us into the image of Christ, conditionally, where we were already conformed positionally. And that is a measurement we can trust.

Not ourselves. Any other thoughts? Disagreements? Things you wish I didn't say? Because I'm not promoting legalism when I say that there's imperatives here. I really want to emphasize that. Today's Hungry Heart fits well, Randy, and I'll just say a little bit about it.

And all that is rendered inoperative is the old man, and thank God for that. When we're finally prepared, our Lord says, when I died, you died. And I went to the cross, I not only took your sins, but I took you. I not only took you as a sinner, but I took you as a being that all that you are by nature, your good as well as your bad, your abilities as well as your disabilities, yes, every resource of yours, I took you as a worker, a preacher, an organizer. My cross means that not even for me can you be or do anything out from yourself, but if there is to be anything at all, it must be out from me, and that means a life of absolute dependence and faith.

How little does one know of the antagonism of our own nature to the will of the father who thinks that service can be undertaken without that self-pronunciation which can only be learned by experiential knowledge of the superiority of his ways and counsels. I'm almost done. We never surrender what we value until we find a better. And man is so full of himself and his own will that until he finds out the sovereignty of his father's will that he can be neither an obedient nor a suitable servant.

So that's not in contradiction to anything. No, no, not at all. That's good. It's another life is what it is. And when I tend to say how well I'm doing, I'm failing. And that's my problem. Maybe everybody else's. Sure. No. Well, when we walk in the flesh, we fail. Right?

That's guaranteed. We've got a 100% track record of that. But when we abide, we don't. And that's why I always want to encourage us, when we ask how good are we doing at it, and the answer is not well, that our response to it isn't to give up. Right? That's what we do. How many of you have ever gone on a diet at the New Year? And you get five days in, and you fail at it, and you give up. And that's the thing. Because it's a life, there is no giving up. It's continuing to walk.

And when we discover, oh hey, I'm stinking it up over here, we walk back right to fellowship. And we know that we can do that with confidence. And then we don't have to worry about the unit of measurement. But we know it's not us. We're not measuring ourselves against ourselves.

Alright, any other thoughts? Thank you for sharing that, Bob. That's particularly germane. Alright, well let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you and we're grateful that when we read this we can understand that we're not boasting in the flesh, but instead we're resting in the Spirit. And we know our life is in Christ and we pray that as we walk In this newness of life, we would encourage one another and come alongside one another in the gracious liberty that we have in encouraging and that we would be abiding and knowing that the sphere that you have provided is a stewardship that you have planned and we can rest in that. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.