Please take your Bible this morning and turn with me to Paul's letter to the Corinthians, the second one, 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 11 through 21. That's our text for today. One of my favorite movies of all time is Chariots of Fire. I don't know if you've seen that years ago when it came out. I could watch it again and again and again. But one thing that stands out to me watching that movie is this time when the runners, both runners at different times who were at the center stage I believe, they get knocked down. And in a race where every second matters, it's like getting knocked down. You know it's over, but there wouldn't be a movie if it wasn't over. They get up, and they run, and they catch up, and they win. And we get our feet knocked out from under us from time to time, every single day. But when you think about ministry itself, there's many times in which we get our feet knocked out from under us, because ministry is a tough undertaking. It requires heart and soul and diligence and perseverance, and yet all the effort can often seem fruitless. The goal of ministry is to guide, and direct, to instruct, and train, and encourage, and exhort. But when we're engaging in ministry, and I'm not just talking about pastors, but certainly pastors and elders, but also each one of us as we engage ourselves in ministry, we find that the people we're trying to teach, trying to help, trying to encourage are often slow to learn and stubborn to apply what is taught. Sometimes people just bail out. There has never been a greater teacher or minister than Jesus. I mean the masses were astounded at the authority of what He spoke. He poured Himself into a small group of disciples. And I was reading this morning in John 14 and Jesus says, I have been with you guys so long and yet you say show us the Father? Have you not already seen Him? Instance after instance, for three years Jesus loved His disciples, served them, taught them. Three years He led them. But at His most vulnerable moments, they abandoned Him. In the garden of prayer, He is sweating drops of blood. He is praying, Father, if there is some other way, let this cup pass for me. And Jesus' disciples go to sleep. He comes back, reminds them, get up, pray with me, watch and pray. Three times this happens and they keep going to sleep. When he was betrayed, they all abandoned him. And then there was Peter who denied that he even knew him. At that point, it could seem like, what's the use? All those years that I poured into their lives, what's the use of all that ministry? Paul was on the cusp of feeling that same sensation. Perhaps you have been too. You have invested time and heart in discipleship, but it seems to no avail. Well, our text this morning intermingles the heart and work of ministry, and yes, some of the heartache of ministry. And it is relevant both to leaders and those who are being led. So please stand with me as we read this text this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 11 through 21. I have been a fool, you forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you, for I was not at all inferior to these super apostles even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches except that I myself did not burden you? forgive me this wrong. 42. Here for the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not Be a burden, for I seek not what is yours, but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps? Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ. And all for your up-building, beloved. For I fear that perhaps when I come, I may find you not as I wish, and that you might find me as you not wish. That perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, 27. conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, 28. and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier 29. and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced. 30. Our fathers, we come to this text this morning. We thank you again for your holy word. All that you have revealed to us and for the unique ways in which it comes to us this morning being no different than some of those very unique ways when we look at this engagement of conversation between the Apostle Paul and the Corinthians and we see him talking about his leadership among them. We see him reproving them for the way that they responded. And we just pray that Your Holy Spirit would speak powerfully and mightily as we give ourselves to understand what is being said here, Lord, and what the message of God is for us this morning. So impart to us Your Word and impart to us Your Spirit. Illumine our hearts and minds. Even help us see Jesus this morning in this text as we come before You, Lord, just saying, and equip us, give us energy, strength, resolve, determination, and zeal to demonstrate our love for You through obedience, through following You, through denying ourselves and taking up the cross. So help us now as we come to this passage. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as we read in this text, Paul is about to go back to Corinth. He's nearing the conclusion of this letter as he's seeking to get them ready for his return visit. So these are the final things that he will say to them before he comes. His passion for ministry and its fruit in the lives of this church is unmistakable This part of his letter brings together points of Paul's defense of his ministry with points of reproof for the way the Corinthians had responded. And in this way Paul sets forth for us a model for ministry. Here are some characteristics that ought to describe ministry. It's guidance for those in spiritual leadership. And as I've said before this morning, that includes all of us, every believer, because we all have a role to play in leading So it's not just for the elders that I'm speaking this morning, not just for the deacons, not just for you if you're a ministry leader, but it's for all of us. But it is especially for those in leadership. All the things that we see coming out in Paul's example in his model are things that we need to pay attention to. But Paul also instructs those who are led, and that includes all of us too. Because there are some ways in which we are led by others. We're certainly to take up our cross and follow Christ, be led by Him. This is a spirit which is to permeate our hearts. So what Paul says here not only gives a model for ministry, but it also gives a model for being led. So I want you to see both of these things this morning. And I'm going to begin by focusing on the model for ministry, the model of ministry. What should it look like? What are five components that we see in this text this morning which are essentials for spiritual leadership? First of all, we see in what Paul says about his ministry in the Corinthians that he was marked by perseverance. We noted last week that Paul had performed the signs of a true apostle there when he was at Corinth. But he makes the effort here to describe the way in which he did that. He says he did it with the utmost patience. The idea is presented variously by different translations as they seek to communicate to us the Greek that Paul used when he was talking about this way in which he carried himself on when he was with them. And three words come across in the different translations, all of which try to get at this thing I'm calling perseverance. And those include the word perseverance, but also patience and endurance. Ministry is somewhat like running a marathon. It is a long race. And you don't sprint out 100 feet and get it over with. It is something that requires a determination from the outset to realize it's going to be carried on for a distance. Ministry is not instant anything. It takes time. It takes the time of a farmer planting a field. You put the seeds in the ground, you water, and you wait. for the proper time before you take the next step. Ministry is like that. It requires patience. If you're not willing to endure there will be no fruitful ministry. And in fact, you know, Jesus in giving us the parable of the soils even gives us one picture in which the seed takes root in shallow ground and springs up and looks like everything is great. But over time, the sun comes up and it wilts and dies and there's no fruit. So is ministry that is thought to be like jello, instant jello or instant pudding. You just put the milk or you put the water in, you stir it up, you wait 30 seconds and you start eating. Now the fruits of ministry take time, and they take effort, they take persistence, they take sticking to it. Any time that there is a hope of progress before us, there will be obstacles. They will rise from the outside like things like persecution and trials that arise from the outside. But not only the inside, trials and struggles, the obstacles to fruitful ministry are also on the inside. on the inside of people's hearts in terms of addictions and in terms of hard attitudes that have to be turned over. Obstacles will be there on every side. So any effective leader in ministry must exhibit perseverance. See people who are struggling with sin will struggle. And we must bear with them in the struggle. And that's the way God is with us. God never makes light of our sinfulness. He never simply overlooks it. He doesn't turn His head from it. He is always displeased by our sin. And it is always to be taken seriously by us. But God is a persevering God. He's patient. I'm so thankful for the way He describes Himself through the psalmist in Psalm 103. It just comforts me so much. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, 46. nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, 47. nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 48. so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him. As far as east is from west, so far does He remove our transgression from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. for He knows our frame that we are but dust." God knows that. I praise God that He knows it and He's mindful of it and He deals with us accordingly. So leadership first and foremost in this way of persevering is exhibited through the heart of God. If the Lord were not patient none of us would have a chance. Well we need to put ourselves behind those eyes when we start looking at each other in terms of ministry, in terms of encouraging and exhorting and trying to help people grow. We need to have the same patience, the same kind of perseverance. If we're not patient our brothers and sisters don't have a chance with us. Paul wrote to the Ephesians These words, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Effective spiritual leadership requires this quality, perseverance, bearing with, taking up a mindset that I am going to do this for the long run and understanding that, you know, We're dealing with people. We're dealing with sinners. And so, we'll run, not a sprint, we're not going to get the jello mindset of instantaneous anything, but we're going to persevere and stick with it, and stick with people even when they drag, and even when they got off course, and even when they hurt us. You see that's the way Paul was with the Corinthians. He performed these miracles and yet he says, While I was doing these signs and wonders of the Apostle, I was doing them with endurance and the utmost patience. That's one of the marks of ministry that needs to characterize each of us to make us better leaders in each other's lives. And there's a second quality that we see in Paul's example here as he gives us a model for leadership, essentials for spiritual leadership. There's sacrifice. Paul's concern in ministry, you catch from what he says here, Paul's concern with ministry was not with what he could get for himself from the people. Rather, he wanted them for Christ. He makes that point several different ways. He brings up the past, for one, the past that in that past he had not taken anything from them. He had determined not to be a burden to them. He wouldn't let them support his ministry financially. because He wanted them to know that this was not about Him. This was not about Him getting something for Himself. He wanted them to grasp that this was about what they could... they would be giving to Christ. It's not about, you know, receiving some benefit from them. He had a right to it, but He chose not to take it because He was determined to demonstrate to them that He was not in this thing for personal gain. So Paul declared, I seek not what is yours, but you. He didn't want their material goods. He wanted them to be sold out to the Lord. So Paul also viewed himself as a parent making a sacrifice for his children. You know, it's the obligation not for children to save up for their parents, but parents to take care of their children. That's just what parents do. And Paul says, that's what I was doing when I was among you. And then how about this statement in verse 13? I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. There to me is the picture of a marathon runner who has just crossed the line. Usually I don't watch a lot of marathons. I don't find it exciting TV. But what I have watched when I do is the finish line. And what happens when those runners cross the finish line? They have spent and have been completely spent. They don't have usually hardly energy to go one step further because they have left it all on the track. That's what Paul is saying here about the way he behaved among the Corinthians. He put it all out there. And not only did He do it, He says He had done it with joy. And He is going to continue to do it because He's still running this marathon with them. Most gladly therefore will I spend and be spent for your souls. So it's Paul's determination to do whatever is necessary to pour himself out completely for the spiritual well-being of these believers. He doesn't want their money or belongings, but what he does value is them. Paul reminds us of the sacrificial leadership of Jesus. Jesus, the consummate Good Shepherd. What does a shepherd do? A shepherd watches over sheep. Sheep are animals that generally are known to be defenseless, vulnerable, and lacking in sense. Jesus is the good shepherd because He truly cares for His sheep. He is watching out. He is providing for them. He will not leave them when they are threatened. He lays down His life for their well-being. He spends Himself and is spent for them. He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out and no one can snatch them out of His hand like Paul He doesn't have interest in our stuff, but in our hearts, and therefore in our loyalty. And like Paul, He doesn't have interest in those things, but Jesus spent everything and was spent completely on the cross so that He could pay the price that needed to be paid for the well-being of His sheep. He exercises care and protection over His sheep to keep them for Himself. He took sin's curse from His sheep to redeem us from it so that He might have us as His own. Sacrifice. Not only do we not tend to want to give into things for the long run to be persevering, we also tend not to want to sacrifice. We tend to want to have it easy. Anything you can't get easy in this world, people just seem to not really, many times, want to have. But it's those who pour out their selves, persevering. It's those who are willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary, who have an effect. And it's leadership that is sacrificial to have an impact upon each other. Thirdly, this morning, we see in Paul's model for ministry and these essentials that are part of this is there's love. Paul says in this text, 42. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? He's speaking of how his sacrifice for them demonstrates his love for them. 43. It should go without saying that God-glorifying spiritual leadership is fueled by love. This is really a sacrificial love because what Paul says here about this love, he says, you know, if I love you more, am I to be loved less? He senses that they're not keeping up with him in this outpouring of love. And as a result, he's saying, you know, I'm pouring myself out for you, but I'm going to keep on doing it because I love you. I'm determined to seek your well-being. It does not love if loved in return. It loves anyway. That's God's love for humanity. He did not set His love on us because we were lovely or worthy or even had the capacity to love Him in return. Now while we were sinners, that's when He loved us. And why does He love us? The why is because of His great grace. And so we get the privilege then in spiritual leadership 13... of displaying this kind of love to others 14... when by the same grace we pour out our hearts to them through persevering ministry, 15... keeping on and continuing with them. Sometimes it seems like you've invested yourself 16... in someone only to have them bail or resist. You're let down. Disappointment is the only word I know that describes how it is when somebody just kind of wanders away or says, I don't want that anymore. All the excitement that you experience for what you thought could be in their lives evaporates and you might be tempted to just give up ministry altogether. Give up relationship building. Give up trying to feed in each other's lives. But you can't. You can't. If you're really a leaner, because you're not motivated by the result. You're motivated by love. You're motivated by God's love for you. His unconditional persevering love. And His call for you to emulate that same kind of love. I mean Jesus says, this is how you'll know, this is how the world will know you're my disciples. If you have love for one another. So we need Perseverance. We need sacrifice. We need love. Another thing Paul draws attention to here is a Godward focus. This is what is driving him in all that he has said. He is so uncomfortable when he starts to talk to the Corinthians about what he's done and what's happened and the ways in which God has demonstrated His power through his life. He doesn't like doing it. And the reason He's doing it here is not because He wants to toot His own horn. It's not because they want to say, Yes, Paul, you're the greatest. It's just because He wants them to understand God has called them to this and here's the truth and this is the way it is. In all of it, Paul has a Godward focus. In verse 19, Paul asks this. Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? You think we're just trying to build a following with you, that we care about our reputation, just we're trying to make this to keep you? No, Paul says it is in the sight of God. that we've been speaking in Christ. And all for your up-building, beloved." Again, we love you. We're driven by love. And what we want to see is you grow. We want to see you built up. We want to see you edified. We want to see you following Christ more faithfully. And so all that we've said about ourselves has been before God. We're actually not seeking to impress you. We're just seeking to be faithful to God in what we have done. So Paul isn't just worried about his reputation, he's worried about faithfulness because this is not Paul's ministry, it's God's ministry. This is not Paul and his self-preservation. His concern is what will build up and grow and strengthen and fortify and purify these Corinthian believers. What won't accomplish the goal is if the Corinthians go after these false teachers. that have come in." So this is the model of spiritual leadership. We are in it, not for us, but we serve others before the face of God to accomplish the work of edification, the work of growing others up in Christ. When Paul was exhorting Timothy to preach the Word, he pointed to the very same thing. Paul said to Timothy, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the Word." We preach the Word not to draw a crowd. We don't do what we do in this place to draw a crowd. Godward focus means we do what we do in this place to please God, to obey Him. Our hearts are on Him and our hands are open before Him. And so that what we do is because He is looking and because He has given clear instruction. And this is an important component of spiritual leadership. We're accountable to God. We're serving Him. So again, we're not motivated because people like us or people pat us on the back. Ultimately, we're motivated because we want to hear God be pleased, God be praised, God be glorified. That is something that's crucial to their being, perseverance and sacrifice. Driven by God, we pour ourselves out. Driven by God, we continue. Driven by God, we love with the kind of love with which He is loved because we stand before His face and He looks upon our hearts. This Godward focus helps us to fight pride, and self-aggrandizing methods, and is willing to be humbled, and willing to be mistreated, and willing not to be popular if necessary, because what we care about is not statistics, but faithfulness. And then there is a fifth mark of Paul's model of ministry in this text. And it's really the combination of love and hate. There is a hatred of sin and an affection for holiness. And see how this comes out. This chapter closes with an expression of concern on Paul's part. I'm coming back to you and I'm afraid of what I'm going to find. You're going to find me not as you would wish because I might not find you as I would wish. Because sin is in the camp. I'm afraid sin will have been in the camp. Sin will have been among you. So he is concerned that he might find evidences of selfishness like quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. And next he mentions ungodliness that is rooted in fleshly desire, impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality. He's afraid they will not have repented. What does this display about Paul? A concern that reflects a hatred of sin, and a love, and an affection for holiness. He wants to see ungodliness eliminated from the church and in its place. He wants to see righteousness flourish. This is loving leadership. This is what leadership is all about. You know, sometimes if you go to the bookstore and you start looking at the books that are available on leadership, they're all geared by certain goals in mind. And even the books that come out that are catering towards church and church leaders, they're looking... much of them look at what can be produced in the way of people in the seats. And I'm all for having more people in the seats. But if you're trying to get sinners in the seats, there's some things that really want to attract them. The motivation for ministering in a church is partly fueled by the concern that Paul exhibits here. It's not as important. The issue is not how many people are here. The issue is how much holiness has gripped their hearts and how much sinfulness has been repudiated by them, how they are fleeing from unrighteousness and pursuing godliness. This is the mark of leadership. This is a kind of aspect of pursuing excellent leadership in the church that we need. We need people with hearts of concern like Paul has. He wants to see things that are against God and His holiness put out and things that embrace Him and embrace purity and embrace unity and glorify Him to flourish. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 6 says, Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing. A sense pervades our society that love closes its eyes whenever it sees others doing wrong. It tries not to notice because it must not judge. And it does not want others judging when they observe us doing wrong. So I won't judge them, they don't judge me and we just live in this world to pretend. But to behave in this way is not to love, and it's not to lead. And whenever we confront sin with one another, what's happening? There is a sort of a conflict. There is an inherent conflict when we confront these things. What Paul is saying here is confrontational. And so leadership must sometimes be confrontational. We shy away from confrontation because often, especially when guilt is inflamed because relationships are threatened. But we have to decide. Are we going to fight each other or are we going to gather to join the fight against sin? Paul refused to be deterred from loving leadership. He understands that the greatest destroyer of relationships and the greatest inhibitor of the progress of God among a people is sin. And one of the greatest evidences of a lack of love is sitting idly by while others disobey God and destroy themselves and each other with wrongdoing. And so what does Paul do? He leads. He gives them a warning. I'm about to come again. 33 third visit it is coming and I sure hope that I will not be put to tears by some of you who have not repented. He loved holiness and he hated sin. And in this way Paul exhibits effective spiritual leadership. So there we have five important characteristics. Obviously they apply to elders and group leaders and ministry leaders and deacons. But as I have said, they apply to all believers. Each one of us has the opportunity and each one of us has the privilege and the responsibility to lead one another. And we need to focus on growing in these areas to lead one another well. Well, I also want to spend just a little bit of time talking about some do's and don'ts of being led. So there's five marks of effective spiritual leadership. Well, you know, we all fit in both of these categories. We're all in the position of leadership and we're all in the position of followship as well. So let's look at also some ways in which we can glean from Paul things we should do as those who are being led. 22. And things we should not do as those who are being led. I don't have much time here, but I do want to mention them. Because excellent spiritual leadership profits little without a willingness to be led. The writer of Hebrews says to let your leaders watch over your soul with joy and not with groaning. Here are some keys that will that derive from what Paul says here that will help us help, allow our leaders to watch over us with joy and not with groaning. do commend your leaders. What does that mean? Well, verse 11, let's see where Paul brings this out. In verse 11 Paul tells the Corinthians that he ought to have been commended by them. They should not have been so quick to jump to the side of these invader apostles, but should have commended Paul to them. The picture seems to be, you know, they have so quickly and easily been swayed by the invaders that they took up positions against Paul. 13th Corinthians 2.14 Rather than saying to these invaders, 13th Corinthians 2.14 Did you hear what Paul said? 13th Corinthians 2.14 Paul taught us this. 13th Corinthians 2.14 You need to listen to what Paul says. 13th Corinthians 2.14 Instead they took up with these outsiders 13th Corinthians 2.14 and saying, Yeah, Paul, what they say this. 13th Corinthians 2.14 Paul said, You know, because of the signs that were done 13th Corinthians 2.14 among you, you should have been on my side 13th Corinthians 2.14 and defending me from the get-go. 13th Corinthians 2.14 In fact, commending me. 13th Corinthians 2.14 Urging them to hear what I said. That's why God sent me to you. I preach the gospel. I help get this church going. And again, it's not me, me, me. This is God's work. You should have seen God working and commended that. I would say secondly, do love your leaders. That comes out when Paul had said in verse 15, If I love you more, am I to be loved less? There's a dynamic between leading and being led which involves not only love on the part of leadership, but also love on the part of those who are being led. Those who appreciate and understand the sacrifice and the perseverance that are being poured out into their lives. and are grateful for it. And before the face of God, see God's working through them and appreciate what God is doing in their lives through them. And express and help get this cycle going of love, you know, from one to the other. Encouragement and support. They were so quick to jump to the sides of the latest, greatest arrival in town and they spurned the sacrifice of Paul. I said, I've been loving you more. Pouring it out. You're loving me less. That shouldn't be." Thirdly, I would say, do trust your leaders. Paul brings this out, he said, you know, you're thinking we took advantage of you? You're thinking that we somehow deceived you by not taking your money? But the point he's making, at least part of it, is you didn't trust me. Those who are being led who don't trust those who are leading, I mean, what kind of a recipe is that for? Don't be quick to suspect their motives, the motives of leaders. Is it possible that they could have wrong motives? Yes it is, but don't jump against them the first chance you get. As Paul said, did I take advantage of you? Do you just think we were defending ourselves? These suggestions clearly come from the invading super apostles, but the Corinthians too easily bought what those invaders were selling. And that undermined Paul's sacrificial leadership among them. It made all that he was trying to do among them not have the kind of effect it otherwise would have. do trust your leaders. Don't be quick to suspect their motives. Now don't give them a pass on everything, but just don't be ready to jump against them and take another side. And also we see this, do listen and apply their teaching. That comes out when Paul is reminding them that he's told them before about all these things that are breaking them up as a fellowship, all these personal sins, jealousy, anger, quarreling, hostility, slander. He's counseled them, he's taught them. Paul spent a lot of time in Corinth pouring into them, here's the way you need to behave to one another, you're not driven by selfishness. And these other things would evidence a self Self-love and self-importance, don't do that. Listen to what I've said. And then the second thing, just focusing on that sexual area, that sensuality saying, you know, I'm afraid when I get there some will not have repented. In other words, I've told you. So the principle for being led, one of these do's is do hear and do apply the teaching of the spiritual leaders God has placed into our lives. Don't humble them. Don't make them mourn. That's what Paul's going to do when he gets there if they haven't grown in these areas, if they haven't left these things that they were devoted to formerly. This is at stake in the pursuit of holiness. And there's one word that seems to me to come out of all four of these different do's. That word is loyalty. a common emphasis running through each of these four elements of being led. Exhibit loyalty. Some Christians are like butterflies. Now we all ought to be like butterflies in one sense, right? Because we talk about what is a new life, you come from a... what are those things that crawl? The bugs? Caterpillars. And you know they're transformed. We ought to be not... we ought to be butterflies in that sense, not what we used to be. But there's a way in which believers should not be like butterflies. I see butterflies, they flutter around lightly everywhere they go. They're beautiful. Their beauty is in this, though, that they're very light. And when they land anywhere, it's just for a short period, and then they're off again, fluttering around. Pretty to look at, but not a good example in that way of what a Christian ought to be in terms of leading, being led, being connected in the lives of other people. We ought not to be like butterflies in that way. Some people flutter from this place to that place. always landing lightly and not sinking deeply. They go from church to church without really getting rooted. You know, it was astonishing to me studying recently the membership of Grace Community Church, and I know it's going to be true at every church that this is going to be true to a certain extent, but the number of people who have come and then who are no longer here. They're still here, but they're not here. And I'm not trying to just, I'm not trying to take out my sledgehammer and beat on them right now. I'm just trying to point out there's a pattern here of butterfly-ness. Me landing for a little while but not digging deeply and then jump off to something else. This is American culture. You know, we do this a little while, that a little while, that a little while. We look for the latest, greatest thing. Everybody's going to be standing in line for the next iPhone when it comes out because we want the latest, greatest. And people tend to let that whole cultural drive push them also when it comes to their involvement in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not the pattern we see exhibited by Paul here, both in terms of leading and in the Corinthians being led. For there to be effectiveness in the context of this kind of relationship, it calls for engagement of continuing together with brothers and sisters who are feeding into our lives. Of making a commitment to hang in there to go through the ups, the downs, and the challenges. So we don't need to be butterfly Christians, but we need to be like Redwood Christians. where what describes us in terms of our relationships and our commitment and our willingness to know each other and to contribute to one another is that we are dug down deep. We're dug down deep in the Word of God first and foremost, right? But out of that we're also dug down into each other's lives. That's not to say we'll always be together in the same way. But when we're together we need to have that kind of relationship that is even when we're maybe physically apart we have an ongoing concern. Our lives relate to one another and we continue to have some impact on one another. If we don't dig down We'll lack the impact. And leadership and being led are just kind of superfluous subjects. See, what Paul is talking about here demands that there be engagement. Demands that there be attachment. Demands relationship. And that's just something that's largely missing in our society and in many churches today and to a certain degree in many of our lives. I need to take from Paul and what he says about leadership and what he says about being led. Ask yourself, how can I grow in this area? What can I do today that will change the way I am or deepen the way I am connected with the body in general and with the body in particular? May God use this to help us be an effective body. The Grace Community Church continues to grow as a body. We continue to dig down deep together before the face of God for His glory, serving Him. Let's pray. Our Father, we come to You this morning thankful for what You've shown us in Your Word and earnestly asking that You would help us to be leaders and be led according to your word in a way that not only honors you, that's the first and foremost thing, but honors you, but also is the way of greatest impact that you would have in each other's lives through one another. So as we look at this text and ponder it for the next week or so, I pray that you'll bring great dividends to our hearts and lives. By the power of the Spirit working through the word of God, In the name of Christ Jesus, we pray. Amen.