In the text today the Apostle Paul is basically saying that the people of Corinth should think of him as a servant of Christ and manager of God’s secrets. But here is what I want us to see today Paul basically says I’m here as a servant of Christ to be faithful to Him and give you the message of truth and I don’t really care what you or anyone else thinks about me. IT DON”T MATTER what you think because God is the one who is going to judge me and I have to be faithful to him.
Paul was at a place in his life where he knew where he stood, he had been whipped, imprisoned, run out of town, mocked and ridiculed. He had been talked about, slandered and shipwrecked, and through it all he had been faithful with the message he proclaimed. He was at a place where he knew the gospel message was more important than his feelings. It didn’t matter what anyone thought of him, it didn’t matter what anyone said about him, it didn’t matter what anyone did to him, he was going to preach like there was no tomorrow, he was going to preach like people’s lives depended on the message. When we look around today we should all feel that way, because you know what? People’s lives do depend on it.
So as I was preparing this message I realized something, I need to apologize to all of ya’ll, not because I haven’t been preachin the word. I think I have been preaching the word and what God is giving me, mainly because I aint smart enough or eloquent enough to do this on my own. But because I can do better, I have been too timid when I preach, I need to apologize because I haven’t been bold enough when I spoke, I need to apologize because I been like one of those flex fuel vehicles that sometimes runs on 4 cylinders, sometimes on 6 cylinders and sometimes on all eight cylinders. I need to apologize because I’ve had some days when ya’ll was getting a six cylinder when I should have been giving you 8 cylinders all the time.
But I was worried that some folks might be a little uncomfortable if I was a little too loud, I worried that folks might get scared if I was a little to animated with my movements, I worried that some folks might tell me to calm down that I was scaring the children and the old folks, and I worried that someone might think I looked foolish.
Well I’m at a point where it really doesn’t matter what anyone thinks as long as I am proclaiming Christs, because I don’t have to answer to man I have to answer to God. As I was preparing this message I reached a place where I felt like God was telling me to quit worrying about what folks thought, and get to work.
I have been praying for a few months that God would pour out a fresh anointing on me and that if revival in the church was about to start that I wanted to be a part of it. You know what I felt God saying to me? He said, “you aint using what you got. Why do you need more if you’re holding back part of what you are already getting?”
But you know what? We all do it, we hold back our worship, and we hold back our praise. Why? Because we worry what the person behind us might say, we worry about what our neighbor in the pew might think. We hold back in church because we are afraid of what folks may think, say or do. We hold back our worship and praise to the almighty because we worry about being judged by man when it is God that we will answer to.
Why do we hold back our praise for our savior at church but have no problem throwin down some praise for our favorite ball team? We don’t worry what folks will say when we holler Hotty Toddy, Hail State, or Roll Tide!!! Hey I’m not judging I’m just saying. We can cheer our favorite team and not worry but are afraid to give an Amen or Glory or even to raise our hands when we pray or sing. We just got back from XTREME Winter Conference and I didn’t see anybody that was worried about raising their hands to worship God. But what happens when we get home? We might say , “well it was a different atmosphere” and you may be right I agree that Toby Mac, Newsong, Ledger & Casting Crowns create a different atmosphere but you and I can create our own atmosphere of praise if we would just quit worrying about what other folks thought. We need to have the attitude of Paul “I could care less if I’m judged by you or any other human court, I must answer to God.”
We hold back witnessing to others because in today’s world that is politically incorrect, and people may call us names or even persecute us. Luke 9:26 tells us Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
We cannot afford to be embarrassed or ashamed or scared to share the gospel, we are called to take up our cross daily and follow Him.
If you want to be a Christian you must realize that people are gonna talk, they are gonna make fun of you , they are gonna ridicule you, it says so in Matthew 10:22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. A song by Taylor swift tells us what we can do about it, “Haters gonna Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate shake it off, shake it off.
We have been called to a higher calling and life is too short to worry about what other people think, because it doesn’t matter what they think. God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us. He was humiliated, talked about, beaten, and hung on a cross to die. It didn’t matter to Him what everyone thought, did or said. All that mattered to Him was the will of the Father. We need to quit worrying about what people are going to think or say about us, because they are going to do it regardless of your actions so you may as well praise Him anyway you see fit because it doesn’t matter what they think it only matters what God thinks.
