In his sermon 'Ministry In The Flesh', David Green explores 1 Corinthians 16:5-12 to highlight the practical aspects of ministry as exemplified by the Apostle Paul. Green outlines four key priorities in ministry: intentional presence, faithful opportunity, protecting the vulnerable, and clarifying misunderstandings. Paul plans an extended visit to Corinth, showing commitment despite the church's issues. He delays this visit due to a significant ministry opportunity in Ephesus, illustrating the need for discernment and patience in responding to God's open doors amidst opposition. Paul also provides guidance on welcoming and protecting Timothy, a younger, vulnerable worker, and clarifies misunderstandings about Apollos to prevent division. Green emphasizes that ministry involves real people and real sacrifices, drawing parallels to Jesus Christ's ultimate sacrifice. The sermon underscores that ministry is not abstract but involves practical decisions and actions in everyday life.

You can go ahead and take your copy of God's word and let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Today we will take our text from verses 5 through 12. First Corinthians 16, beginning of verse 5, But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia, For I am going through Macedonia. And perhaps I will stay with you or even spend a winter so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go.

For I do not wish to see you now, just in passing, for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits. But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. Now if Timothy comes take care that he is with you without fear for he is doing the Lord's work as I also am. So let no one despise him and send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brothers. Now concerning Apollos our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brothers and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity." And this is The reading of the Word, the infallible, the all-sufficient Word of the living God.

Think about the last time you got a letter from someone you admire. Could be a mentor, a hero of yours maybe, hero of the faith, An author you followed for a long time maybe. You tear it open expecting something profound and What do you find but travel plans. Nothing more but that's what you've got. A scheduling note, an itinerary, A request to look after a mutual friend, maybe not even a mutual friend, perhaps even a friend of theirs, a clarification about someone who can't make it.

You might be tempted to just put it aside and see if maybe an important letter is coming later. But what if this, this letter, The travel plans, the scheduling, the friend, the clarification is exactly what ministry looks like when it's working. What if the mundane is the message? I admit that This isn't the normal text that I would have chosen to preach on a Sunday morning. Quite frankly, it's not the normal text I would have chosen to preach on a midweek sermon.

But being committed to preaching the whole counsel of God's Word, the exposition of the Word, and being a true believer of the profitability of all scripture, there is a reason why it's here. We ought not to skim over it, cast it aside, open it up, Read over it and look for something more interesting. Think of it as less important than the rest of the letter. Because this is as much of God-breathed Scripture as everything else. Paul does tend to sometimes get very personal with his letters.

And here in 1 Corinthians, this is no exception. But why? Why? Why does he do this? And that's number one.

But number two, why is this preserved all the way up to 2, 000 years later for us to read? Why didn't the Holy Spirit just chop it out and give us something more interesting? Well, as I mulled over that, meditated over it, and thought, how in the world am I going to preach this? I think we catch a glimpse of what ministry in action really looks like when we read Paul's personal information here in this text and in others. I mean, Paul didn't just write about ministry in abstract.

He lived it, he demonstrated it, and he wrote it. There were actually names involved, people and places, and he told us about it. So that we could go on a map and we can look at it, so that we can connect people to Paul's ministry in places and understand what was going on. We can as it were take a look at the picture of what was going on in his life, and see for ourselves how it looked. In fact, if you go back to chapter 15 and verse 58, he said, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that Your labor is not in vain in the Lord." And so, yes, he wrote about the work of the Lord.

Yes, he wrote about the labor. But now we understand that he didn't just write about it. He actually worked. He actually labored. And that means something.

He knew what he was talking about. And even in our day, we know the difference. There are men who can sit down and write on paper and tell you how to do missionary work. They can tell you how to do a baptism. They can tell you how to organize a church, how to ordain elders, But they don't do those things.

When they send their missionary reports, they always talk about how it should be done, But they're never doing them. Paul was not just writing in abstract, is what I'm saying. He was actually spending and being spent for the cause of Christ and His gospel. And so the title of my message today is, Ministry in the flesh. Ministry in the flesh.

It's painful, yes, but rewarding. And as we read this text, we find the work of ministry is never abstract. It is made of real people, real decisions, and real sacrifice. They had to be made as he went through life and as he worked with the churches, as he worked with individuals, and as he... All the things that were going on, we see that, we catch a glimpse of all the things that were going on, we see that.

We catch a glimpse of all the things that were going on in the life and the work of the Lord. As Paul was working with the churches and the missionaries and the people, the decisions that were being made and all of those things, we see that. So we look at this text, We'll divide this up into four priorities of ministry. The first one is in verses 5-7 we see intentional presence. Verses 8-9 we see a faithful opportunity.

Verses 10-11 we see protecting the vulnerable. And in verse 12 we see clarifying misunderstandings. Of course, more things can be said about ministry, but I want to focus in on what we find here in 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verses 5 through 12. So this will be our outline as we dig into the text. And so the first thing we want to look at is intentional preference, intentional presence rather.

Now when we talked about ministry, I'm not just trying to limit this to pastors or missionaries, but I want you to understand that Ministry involves all of God's people to some extent or another. So if you're a member of the church, ministry involves you, involves me, involves all of us. We all play a part to some extent or another. So we all have work to do in the ministry. I don't want anybody to zone out, so he's preaching to preachers.

He's preaching to missionaries. We all have work to do. Being a member of the church is not meant to be a pure warmer, Although that's part of it. We ought to be in church. We ought to be present, preaching of God's Word.

But that's not all of it. Notice verses 5 through 7. But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I'm going through Macedonia, and perhaps I'll stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go, for I do not wish to see you now just in passing, for I hope to remain with you for some time if the Lord permits." Notice Paul's heart as he wrote to them, and he said, as the laborer, the worker, especially here the pastor missionary, but also all of us must have a vision for the future. The church of Corinth was in terrible shape. Now if you put yourself in the shoes or the sandals as it were of anybody in the Roman Empire who was a Christian.

And you heard of what was going on at Corinth. Would you have had much of a vision for the future of the church at Corinth? Probably not. Many would have given up on them long ago, but not Paul. You see, and we often talk about how Paul took time to write them this letter, but what we miss sometimes is that he not only took time to write them this wonderful letter, But he commits to visiting Corinth after traveling through Macedonia.

You see, and not only that, but he refuses to rush the visit. He was willing to put himself on the line, his reputation and everything that he was, he commits to visiting Corinth, not just for a lunchtime visit, Not just for an afternoon coffee or tea and then, well, I've got to go, have a great time, hope everything goes well for you. But he says there, He says there in our text, he says, I do not wish to see you now just in passing, for I hope to remain with you for some time if the Lord permits." He says, I'll stay the whole winter in the previous verse. Perhaps. That's some time.

He's willing to spend time with them. He's willing to commit to them a whole winter season if need be. What's your commitment? What's your commitment? I'm a pastor, so as I read this I thought of pastoral ministry.

I'll say it, I've said it before, I'll say it again, genuine Pastoral care requires long-term, deliberate investment of time. Short-term pastors just aren't able to shepherd the flock the same way long-term pastors are. But Paul wasn't a pastor, remember that. He was a missionary. He could have said, man, I established this church.

This is now somebody else's problem. I've got other things to do. I'm gonna move on. Y'all deal with your problems. But he didn't.

You see. So what we get from this is it's not just the pastors. Paul's desire to spend extended time with the Corinthians reflects his love and care for them and his vision for the church. He wasn't giving up on them in spite of their problems, and even with their problems. He was willing to be associated with them.

I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits. Think about your own life and where you are. The people that God has placed in your life, your family, your neighbor, the church here? Are you just willing to give them a lunch visit, coffee time, tea time, and then move on? Or do you have a long-term vision?

Are you willing to spend the winter? Genuine care costs time, And that's exactly what most people are willing least to give. Paul's commitment to the Corinthians is clear, but he can't go to them yet. The reason reveals the second priority of ministry. Sometimes, faithfulness means staying put, not because it's comfortable, but because God has opened up a door right where you are.

And so that brings us to point number two, verses 8 and 9. So he expressed his willingness to come, but then in verses 8 and 9 he says, but I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a wide and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries." Paul delays his visit because there's a significant ministry opportunity in Ephesus. It's opened up. Now he doesn't describe to Corinth exactly what it is, but he doesn't have to.

He tells them he's willing to come, but he says, I've just got to stay here for now he says he says the door of opportunities come and there are many adversaries so serving the Lord can be can be both exciting and scary all at the same time. If you don't know what I'm talking about, serving the Lord for a little while longer, you'll figure it out. But that's the way it is sometimes. That's the way it is A lot of times actually. A door of opportunity is open, but opposition is mounting, and I'm gonna stay here at least until Pentecost.

Responding to God's open doors, trying to make our plans, all those things require discernment and patience. Our plans must be adjusted sometimes, but understand something, and this goes along with some of the sermons I've been preaching lately God's plans never have to be adjusted never he knows what's going on Where God has placed you right now, in your job, in a neighborhood, in a season, in a church, wherever you are, the door seems wide open, But the adversaries seem real too. Don't mistake opposition for a sign to leave. Opposition as confirmation that the work matters. Sometimes it may be time to leave, but not always.

I want to say something right now to this church specifically. Opposition is not evidence that God has abandoned the work. It may be the clearest evidence that he hasn't. The enemy doesn't waste effort on ministries that are going nowhere. In a battle, in a battle, in a battle, where is the heat at?

Not in the sidelines, not on the field, not where nothing is happening, nor the picnics are happening and all that. It's in the front lines. It's in the front lines. That's where the battles happen. That's where the heat of battle is going on.

The enemy doesn't waste his efforts on ministries that are going nowhere, the ministries that are doing nothing. If there is pressure, there is resistance. If it feels harder than it should, ask yourself whether Paul's logic applies. Is there an open door that stay, keep working, trust the God who opened it to defend what he started. This isn't an abstract point for any of us.

Not really. There is a wide door and there are real adversaries and the temptation some days is to wonder whether it's even worth it. But God's Word written by the hand of Paul, who by the way, knew something about adversaries, scars, and hard work. Won't let me go there. He stayed in Ephesus not because it was easy, but because it was open.

And he was willing to go to Corinth, not because Corinth was an easy work, but because it was God's church. It was the Lord's church, You see. The God who opens doors does not open them by accident. He opens them for a purpose, and He sustains the men and women who walk through them even when it costs something. So we stay.

We stay. What we find in this text is that Paul is putting his full trust and confidence in the Lord, but he's also managing his own ministry. You see, here's a man who believed the sovereignty of God, but he also believed in the responsibility of man. How do these two work together? Well, we see it in the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul.

He is lying in bed in hope that God would work it all out in Ephesus and that God would work it all out in Corinth. He got up every morning and He went to work. He made plans and He did them. His plans, his opportunities, his adversaries. We see him sorting these things out on paper right into the church at Corinth.

Complex, yes. Painful, yes. But a great blessing all at the same time. Ministry in the flesh. But now the letter begins to take a turn in this text as he turns outward.

He thinks of someone else, someone younger, someone who may not be able to take care of himself in Corinth, which this individual is probably the one who was carrying this letter for Paul. Man that's familiar to us, but he was probably afraid that the folks there at Corinth might eat him alive because he was younger and more vulnerable. And that is found in verses 10 and 11. Now if Timothy comes, take care that he is with you without fear, for he is doing the Lord's work as I also am. So let no one despise him but send him on his way in peace so that he may come to me for I expect him with the brothers." Timothy was a concern for Paul, not because Timothy wasn't useful in the ministry, but rather because Timothy was younger, he was more vulnerable.

So he exhorts the church of Corinth to welcome him, to receive him. He was doing the Lord's work, same as Paul. In other words, receive him like you would receive me. Explicitly, he asks them not to despise Timothy, that the church would receive him and send him away in peace. I mean, think about it, this is the church that squabbled over Paul and Apollos and Cephas.

Imagine what they do with the younger preacher. Thought about this part of ministry, and I thought about this, you know, is there a Timothy in your life? A younger person in your life? Someone younger in the faith, less established, more easily dismissed, who needs you to go ahead of them and say a good word. You may be the only person with the standing to do it.

Paul didn't assume someone else would speak up for Timothy. He did it himself. I know when I was starting in the faith and then later in the preaching, older men spoke up for me. Through the years I've had opportunity to speak up for younger men. But we ought to, we ought to do that for younger people.

Just like Paul did here. Timothy would prove valuable for Paul in the ministry. Certainly, certainly the church of Corinth could have done done him bad had Paul not spoken up for him. So This is ministry in the flesh, ministry in action. Some things that we maybe wouldn't think of if we didn't see this portion of the letter.

But that's not all. Paul, after defending Timothy, he turns to a name that would have raised some eyebrows in Corinth, and that is Apollo's. Again, the church was split. Some said they were of Paul, others of Apollo's. What he says next is a reminder of the one thing which kills more churches than almost anything else, and that is the failure to communicate clearly.

But Paul makes a good effort to clarify misunderstanding. Look here at verse 12. Now concerning Apollos our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brothers and it was not at all his desire to come now but he will come when he has opportunity. People are people and Sometimes the only thing separating us from the first century men and women of the Bible is just that, just a few centuries. Behavior is often the same when it comes to them and us.

There was bound to be some suspicion about Paul writing about coming and all of a sudden Apollos isn't. What's going on here? Why is Paul saying he's willing to come and spend an entire winter? But Apollos hasn't come. What's happening here?

Paul must have prevented him. And that would be going on in the minds of some people. And when it started in the minds of some people, guess where it would have come out? It would come out of their mouths. Before you know But there'd be more trouble in that church.

After all, Apollos was the favorite in a few in that church. Paul tells them plainly that he encouraged a Paulist to come. Now his explanation is not foolproof. You understand that. Sometimes it doesn't that.

Sometimes it doesn't matter what you say, some people will never believe it. But Transparent communication is better than no communication and often prevents destructive rumors. Paul promises them that they will see a polish soon. That he does plan to come. Just not yet.

We think about this in our own lives. Is there a misunderstanding in church or family or workspace right now that a clear honest communication conversation could resolve before it heartens into division. Paul didn't let it sit. He named it and did what he could to try to correct it. It takes courage, but it is part of the ministry.

In church life, we know sometimes you do all of that. Try to talk it out as much as what you can. And the split still happens. Someone leaves angry. A friendship fractures.

A family stops attending. That's one of the most painful things that happens in churches. One of the most painful things that happens in the ministry. There's no easy word for it. But this passage quietly reminds us that even Paul couldn't hold every relationship together.

After all, he had organized the church of Cornith, and look at what a mess they were in. But what we can do, what we can all do, is tell the truth, act in love, and trust the God who builds his church to do what we cannot. As we bring this to a close, we've walked through four snapshots, if you will, Four scenes of Paul at work as he plans this extended stay with this troubled church. He holds his ground in Ephesus because the door is open and he won't walk away from it for now. But he writes ahead to protect a younger man who might be eaten alive.

He sets the record straight about Apollos before gossip hardens into faction. None of this is abstract. We're talking about real people, real places, and all of it is costly. Real decisions are being made and it's real sacrifice. This is this is ministry in the flesh.

This is what the work of the Lord looks like when it takes on flesh. And that phrase takes on flesh ought to stop us. Because before Paul ever wrote a letter or booked a passage to Macedonia, there was one who modeled this perfectly. Jesus Christ did not manage the problem of human sin from a safe distance. He didn't take it on in abstract.

He didn't send a principal. He sent himself. Jesus, the Father sent his Son. And he entered into our mess, our Corinth, if you will, our confusion, our guilt, and he stayed. He didn't just come for coffee or tea.

They didn't just come for a winter season even, but all the way to a cross. The most non-abstract moment in human history is the God, man, Christ Jesus coming in the flesh, bleeding on real wood for sinners with real names. You see, he didn't just die in the hopes that maybe someone would come. He died for real people, real individuals. And he's never left us nor forsaken us, and he never will.

If you're here today and you don't know him, that sacrifice was for people exactly like you. Not a category. He didn't die for empty seats, he died for individuals. He knows our names. He wasn't just passing through, he came to stay.

For those of us who do know him, the call of this passage is plain. Ministry is not just a theory, you know, just words on a paper. Find a person. Make the hard decision. Protect the one who is vulnerable.

Tell the truth before the rumor spreads. The work of the Lord is not a concept. It's what you do on Sunday, yes, but Monday too. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and every day that ends in Y.

The people who God has placed in your life. Real people, real decisions, real sacrifice. May God help us all to be what we ought to be in the work of the Lord. Let's be dismissed with prayer.