And I want to let you know that as was the case with the church at Corinth, it is also the case with many of us in the church in the 21st century, where many of us have received Jesus Christ as Savior of our lives, but our lifestyle reflects worldliness. Being in the world but not of it on today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard. You know, the Corinthian church had its share of issues. They lived right in the middle of one of the most carnal, depraved cities the world has ever seen. They had come to know Christ, and yet they were having problems parting ways with the world they once knew.
As you'll see today, it's a bigger problem all believers in Christ face, and it's a bigger issue than you might think. We hope you'll stay tuned, but if your schedule won't allow it today, remember to visit our website, pastorpaul.net. That's where you can listen to any recent message on demand, including today's. PastorPaul.net.
Now, let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message: Spiritual Quality Control. First Corinthians chapter three. In the interest of time, although we'll refer to other verses, I want to just pick up the reading at verse 10. 1 Corinthians 3, beginning with verse 10. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder.
and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid. which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation, using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, His work will be shown for what it is.
because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire. and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives. He will receive his reward.
If it is burned up, He will suffer loss. He himself will be saved. but only as one Escaping Through the flames. As we continue to study this wonderful letter of the Apostle Paul. To the church at Corinth, the first of his two letters.
To them. We now come to Chapter 3 That opens With verses we did not read in the interest of time. But it opens with Paul addressing them and saying, Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual. But I had to address you as worldly. as mere infants in Christ.
He goes on to say, I had to give you milk. I couldn't give you solid food. Because you weren't able to receive solid food given your spiritual age. And he says, in fact, you're still not ready. For solid food, because you are still worldly.
Pulp. Is now addressing the fact. That he is calling this church to a higher level of spiritual growth and development. And he opens this section by saying: you all have to understand that although some of you have been walking with God for some time, you are still not spiritually mature. He says, you are still spiritual infants.
And the proof is you are worldly.
Now, what does he mean when he says you are worldly? What he is suggesting is that although you have become a citizen of the kingdom of God, you are still living according to the values of the world system. And I want to let you know that as was the case with the church at Corinth, it is also the case with many of us in the church in the 21st century, where many of us have received Jesus Christ as Savior of our lives, but our lifestyle reflects worldliness. I belong to God, but my values and my allegiance are in the world. And I'm coming to tell you that this book.
Called the Bible is calling us higher. God says, I love you where you are, but I love you too much to leave you where you are. And he is saying, it's time for my church to grow up. I want my people to become mature because I have great plans for their lives. I have great plans for churches and ministries.
I want to shape the world for the kingdom of God, but I can't do it through people who still have worldly values. And so Paul is calling them higher. And he is saying, I want to teach you some things, I want to feed you some spiritual truths, but I haven't been able to do it because you're still worldly. Let me give you a general definition for worldly. It would be this: being more like the world than like Christ.
In thought. Attitude Action and lifestyle. Being more like the world. than being like Christ. In thought, attitude, action and lifestyle.
If I'm saved. But I think more like an unsaved person thinks. Then like Christ Tells me to think in his word. I'm manifesting worldliness. If I'm saved, but my attitudes.
I won't put up with this and I won't put up with that. It's more like the world than like Christ. Because when you look at the Sermon on the Mount, Christ intentionally. Blew our minds with the things he taught. You remember on the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said to these Jewish people who were assuming we'll know the Messiah because he's going to come and lead us in a revolt that is going to shake the Roman world and we are going to become the power people and we'll be in charge.
So they thought that the Messiah was going to be militant. Jesus shows up. And he says. If your Roman oppressor slaps you on one side of your face. Turn your cheek and allow him to slap you on the other side.
You know a bunch of folks sat there and said, Now I know that's not the Messiah.
Now I don't know who he is. But I tell you who he is not. He is not my Messiah. My Messiah is one who's gonna come, put a sword in my hand, and lead me in killing some folk. See, that's the worldly attitude.
If someone slaps you, that's an insult. And by the way, that's not talking about self-defense. I've heard people use that as an argument against self-defense. Jesus wasn't talking about self-defense, he's talking about a slap, it's an insult. It's not genuine harm.
It just hurts your pride. When an oppressor, someone who's in the power position, humiliates you with a slap. Jesus, knowing they were in this position, and knowing that many of them, in their carnal instinct, wanted someone to come and lead them and overthrow the Roman government. He teaches them, no, the kingdom of God isn't about that. When your oppressor tries to insult you, turn the cheek and tell him to have a shot at the other one, too.
Amen.
Some folks said, No, no, no, that's not the way I roll.
Some folks say, I might turn my cheek, but when I come back around, I come back around. You better not be there, that's all I know. Come on, somebody. I know I'm ringing doorbells already. I'm just starting.
But I'm already pushing buttons Ringing doorbells coming down your street.
Some of us, our attitudes have to become more like Christ. Your attitude is not Christ-like. You want what you want. You want to get everybody told, get everybody straight. Uh-uh, wait a minute.
Hold up. The question is, what would God have you do in that moment?
Some of us have attitudes that do not reflect the kingdom of God at all.
Some of us in our cars do not reflect the kingdom of God at all. It's bad when you get flipped off by somebody with a fish on their car.
Now, you expect that from worldly folk. Because they're in a hurry and they're frustrated and they want what they want. I want that lane and you're in there. Get out of my way. You're going too slow.
Get out of my way. You expect that in the world because they don't have love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, gentleness, kindness. But when you are a child of God and yet not accessing the fruit of the Spirit. You will act just like them. I said you'll act just like them.
You can have just left church. And act just like them. In fact, I have heard from the parking ministry. That there are times. When as people are leaving the house of God.
Not you, but someone on your row. Leaving the house of God. And you know, take you a little while to get out of these lots because we're a growing church. God is sending people, saving people. That's why we exist.
We're not here for convenience, we're here for the kingdom of God. When you come to church, you have to have a stadium mindset. When you leave the stadium from the big game, there are more people there than are going to be at any one of our worship services. You know you can't just run out and just be out of the lot in two minutes. You get out when you get out.
At least here, you're leaving here with the victory. When you leave the game, chances are your team lost. And when you leave here with an attitude, blowing horns and waving folk out and get out of my way, I got somewhere to go. It doesn't reflect the love of Christ.
So some of us are worldly. In our thoughts, worldly, in our attitudes. Worldly in our actions. Where your actions don't reflect the values of the kingdom of God, the teachings of the word of God. You're not supposed to be a cursing Christian.
You're not supposed to be a fornicating Christian. You're not supposed to be a lying Christian, a stealing Christian. A person whose life is reflecting worldly actions. There ought to be a difference between righteousness and unrighteousness. Still ahead, the rest of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Shepard.
Our mission at Destined for Victory is to serve you and all of our listeners by sharing timeless truth for a victorious life. And one of the reasons we're able to do it is because of your prayers and financial support. As summer approaches, giving to ministries like Destined for Victory often declines, so your gift is especially appreciated today. Give now by calling 855-339-5500. Or give safely and securely at pastorpaul.net.
God doesn't expect Christians to be perfect, only that we're willing to be perfected.
Now let's listen closely to the rest of today's message, Spiritual Quality Control. And so the word is calling us higher. You say, Are you preaching perfection that all of us had to be perfect in every detail? No, no, but we're on an upward journey. Where you're not making excuses where you're coming short.
Where you're saying, God, take me higher. God, I don't like that attitude. I don't like that besetting sin that's still in my life. I want to put it on the altar. I want to give it to you.
Oh God, I want my life to reflect your glory. I want to be salt and light in this world. I don't want to be salt that's lost its saltiness. Because Jesus said then you're good for nothing. And I want to tell you, we got in the 21st century a lot of good-for-nothing Christians.
They have a profession of faith, but we've got to answer the call to go higher in the kingdom of God. Thoughts, actions. Attitudes and lifestyle. Your lifestyle ought to reflect the kingdom of God. Your lifestyle ought to be one that the Bible would support and endorse.
And you want to live your life as a person who is a citizen of the kingdom of God, who has embraced God's values for your life. I say often that Christianity is not smorgasborg. You can't just go down the row and pick out what you want. You can't customize it. That's why a lot of folks like eating, you know, at these buffet places and all, where you go in and you pay up front.
They're smart, they get your money up front. And then you go on out there, and they have all these different food stations, and you get to go around and pick, no, no, I don't like that. Oh, no, no, no, no, no way. Oh, yeah, here's my, I love this dish. And a lot of people try to do that with their salvation.
Try to do that with the word of God. I come to tell you: when you come into the kingdom of God, you come on Jesus' terms. Amen.
Jesus said to the rich, young ruler, You got three things going for you. You're rich, you're young, and you're in charge. Man, is that the American dream or what? We want to be wealthy. Money, money, money, money.
Want to be wealthy? We all sit now. I enjoy it too. I watch The Apprentice too, and everybody's trying to work for the Donald. And all that, and he's showing all the trappings of his success, and he loves telling them: one day, if you work hard enough, you will have some of this.
Just chasing the American dream.
Well Jesus said there's no life in those things There's no life in it. If God blesses you with material things, use it for His glory. But there's no life in it. That's not the dream. That's not the end all.
Things are a means. The end has to be more significant. What does it profit a man if he gained the whole world? Have his name on everything: jets and casinos, and hotels, bottles of water, everything. Jesus said, what does it profit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?
I know this is tight, but it's right. And I come to tell you that God has called us not to pursue those things. If God blesses us with them, fine, but they're not an end-all. They are a means to accomplish God's purpose for our lives. And he was rich.
That's the American dream young. Even those of us who are no longer young, we're trying to still pretend that we're young. Nothing wrong with it. Do your thing. Knock yourself out.
Whatever you can do to fix up, I'm with you. I'm middle-aged with some of y'all. I'm trying hard. Trying hard. I'm trying.
My wife and I just celebrated this past week 24 years married, and I said, My Lord. 24 years married, and I said to her the other day: when were we no longer young? I didn't want to say when did we get old.
So I said, when were we no longer young? And she said, well, baby, I'm still young. Oh. The woman that God gave me to walk with me. Forsook me.
I was trying to get my arms around being middle-aged, and she said, You on your own? I'm telling you the truth. I said, all right, I'll just have to plow through by myself then. I'm trying to get my arms around this. But I tell you what do what you can look as good as you can Work out, eat right, do what you can.
Buy the products they say it'll make you look better. Go on, try it. Try it. You might like it. It might work.
Who knows? Give it a shot. And they got wonderful things now. You're losing hair and want some more, you can buy some. You know, I'm telling the truth.
They'll match it to your color. It'll be just fine. They'll blend it right on in there, folk won't even know. Do your thing. When I started losing mind, you know, I knew some brothers were going to the hair club and all that different stuff.
And I said, no, I don't think I want to go that route. After a while, I just said, The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's why I tell young folk, take your pictures now. Take your picture.
I'm trying to help you now. Take your pictures now. Dress up, look sharp, so later on, when your kids don't think you used to be the bomb, you can show them. That was me. Back in the day look better than you look right now Y'all messing up my message.
Where am I? Rich, young, and he was a ruler, he's in charge. Everyone's trying to climb the ladder in some discipline, in some area. But let me tell you something: beware of climbing a ladder when you don't know what building it's leaning against. You need to be climbing toward the purpose of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
So, whatever your educational pursuits, pursue them to the glory of God. Whatever your career pursuits, pursue them to the glory of God. But know this: life is about pleasing God. And doing his will. And Paul said, these are the things that you'll never embrace until you forsake your worldliness.
And there's no bargain basement price on following Jesus. Jesus told that rich young ruler, you got some things going for you, but one thing you lack. I need you to sell out and surrender to my will. I need you to give it to the kingdom of God. Devote your life and all that God's blessed you with to God's purposes.
And the Bible says that young man walked away sad. Because he wanted Eternal life, but he wasn't willing to pay the price. And I'm not fooled by today's growing churches. I know that not everybody is there to pay the price. And I'm here to tell you that we can't lower the standard because the Word of God tells us what the standard is.
No clearance sale on Christianity. If you get in today, you don't have to surrender to the will of God. Have price. Not in the kingdom of God. He said you're worldly.
And God cannot get His work done through your life. And he goes on then to give them a couple of signs or symptoms of their worldliness.
Now, there are many symptoms of worldliness, but in this particular text in 1 Corinthians 3, he talks about two of them. The first is division, which we already covered in chapter 1. He re-addresses that subject. He talks about the fact that you all have jealousy and quarreling among you. You're still worldly.
He said you're acting like mere men. See, when you're called to the kingdom of God, you're called not to live an ordinary life, but an extraordinary life as you pursue the plan of God. And he said, you're acting like regular people, like folks who don't even know Christ. You're acting like mere men. He says, Look at this.
Some of you are saying, I follow Paul, another, I follow Apollos. You are acting like ordinary people. Then he says, What is Apollos? Who is Paul? They're only servants through whom you came to believe.
As the Lord, watch this, has assigned to each. His task. I want to let you know, one of the signs that they demonstrated their worldliness through was division. He says another is not understanding that your goal in life is to fulfill your task, what God has assigned you to do.
Some of us practice division, and we talked about that earlier in the series. You have preacher prejudice. You only want to hear the word of God through certain people. That is not the will of God for your life. You are to be so open that if God wants to use a child to speak his truth to you.
You say that's the truth. I don't care who it came through. And you know, every now and then your children will call you on your stuff. Come on, I need to hear some parent amen.
Sometimes your children will call you on your stuff.
Well, I I thought we I thought you said that we're not supposed to act like that. And there you are stuck. And the best thing you can do is say, you know what? You're right. Amen.
You're right. I am not acting right right now. I appreciate you letting me know. And I need to tell God I'm sorry and ask Him to help me. Then, at least, they can respect your sincerity when they see you not willing to admit that you're coming short.
What you're teaching them is hypocrisy is okay. Uh Jesus was never afraid to convict people of their sin, but his focus was always on what he did to overcome it. Remember, the world does not need to be scared out of hell, it needs to be loved into heaven. Our website, pastorpaul.net, is the place to go to listen to our program on demand or to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite digital platform. While you're there, you may want to check out our online store for some great resources to help you grow in your Christian faith, including books and video messages from Pastor Paul Shepard.
It's all found at Pastor Paul.net.
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Nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even our own mistakes. Here's Pastor Paul. God can get you from where you are to where you ought to be. I know you made some mistakes. I know you messed up in some areas of your life, but God loves you in a ridiculous way, and He's gonna get you from where you are to where you ought to be.
That's next time in our continuing message, Spiritual Quality Control. I hope you'll join us. Until then, though, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory. Yeah.
