Sermons on 1 Corinthians 15:10

… responsibility of eldership. 1 Corinthians 15 and in verse 10, he says, By the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them. I was a hard worker, he says. And the word there is I was toiling." I was toiling. When he writes in Galatians and chapter 4, he uses the same word in verse 11. Let me just turn to Ephesians. Galatians 4 and verse 11. I fear for you that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. The word there is my toiling. When he writes to the Philippians, he uses the same word in the 16th verse of chapter 2. As you hold out the word of life in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor—and the word there is kopeao—I did not labor, work, toil, expend myself for nothing. In other words, he says, this responsibility of laboring in the Word and in doctrine, of directing the affairs of the church, he says, let nobody be in any doubt, this is work. …

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… earlier in the passage, of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace. By the grace of God, he writes later to the Corinthians, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not in vain. No, his grace wasn't in vain. He was a living testimony to the power of God that he's mentioned in chapter 1, the incredible goodness and greatness of God's power. And as a result of that, necessity, he says, has been laid upon him. He's aware of the fact, as he says, that he was not an obvious choice. His name Paul, Paulus in Latin, means small. History says that he was probably a small man. He was small both by name and by height, and he was small in his own estimate. This is not false modesty. This is not Uriah Heep. No, this is Paul applying to himself what he wrote to others in Romans 12, let not one among you think of himself more highly than he ought, but let him think of himself with sober judgment according to the measure of grace that God has entrusted to him. That's exactly what he's doing here. I always made a minister of this. I didn't sign up for this. I was made a minister of the gospel by God's grace. And it fascinates me, he says, because from my perspective, I think I can legitimately claim the high position of being the least of all of the saints. …

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… I have no shot at building my life 1 Corinthians 15.10 By the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace to me was not without effect. the effectiveness that the grace of Jesus has on somebody's life. By the grace of God, I am what I am. The law says, do it yourself. Grace says, receive my power. I'll tell you, you are where you are today, not because your work ethic, it's the grace of God. You have what you have, not because you're amazing, it's the grace of God. Everything in your life is a byproduct, not of you, but of God's mercy and his faithfulness. So he said, by the grace of God, read it again, by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. Second Corinthians 12, verse nine, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me, may rest on me. Grace will, I'm telling you, it will save you. Grace will shape you. It will strengthen you. The power of Jesus will get all over your life and give you the strength to say no to the wrong thing and yes to the right thing. Grace will give you the power to break this addiction and to create a new addiction. …

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… because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is in me. whether then it was I or they so we preach and so you believed now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead how can some of you say that there's no resurrection of the dead if there's no resurrection of the dead then not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain we are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only? We are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, for by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made …

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… are ye now made perfect in the flesh? And then 1 Corinthians 15, verses 9 and 10. Here's the apostle Paul. For I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was within me, or which was with me.'" Now, perfect is a beautiful word, but perfectionism is an ugly word. What is perfectionism? Well, perfectionism is that disease of judging yourself by your achievements. Now, we're not here to teach psychology, certainly not humanistic psychology, but I want you to listen to how a psychologist described perfectionism. And a perfectionist are those whose standards are high beyond reach or reason. PEOPLE WHO STRAIN COMPULSIVELY AND UNREMITTEDLY TOWARD IMPOSSIBLE GOALS, AND WHO MEASURE THEIR OWN SELF WORTH ENTIRELY IN TERMS OF PRODUCTIVITY AND ACCOMPLISHMENT. …

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