Marks of the Committed – Part 1 (Chantilly)

2 Corinthians 11:1 CSB – I wish you would put up with a little foolishness from me.

2 Corinthians 11:17 CSB – What I am saying in this matter of boasting, I don’t speak as the Lord would, but as it were, foolishly.

Proverbs 26:5 CSB – Answer a fool according to his foolishness
or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.

Mark of a Committed Christian: Integrity in Relationships

2 Corinthians 11:20-21 CSB – In fact, you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone is arrogant toward you, if someone slaps you in the face. ²¹ I say this to our shame: We have been too weak for that!

2 Peter 2:17 NLT – They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

John 8:34 CSB – Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

Hosea 8:7 CSB – Indeed, they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

Galatians 6:7-8 CSB – Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, ⁸ because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

Mark 12:40 CSB – They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

“Take advantage” = “to bait a hook”

2 Corinthians 11:21 CSB – I say this to our shame: We have been too weak for that!

The Primary Mark of a Committed Christian is Integrity

Philippians 2:15-16 CSB – [you are called to] be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, ¹⁶ by holding firm to the word of life.

Integrity means….

Proverbs 20:7 CSB – A righteous person acts with integrity;
his children who come after him will be happy.

Mark of A Committed Christian: Scars

2 Corinthians 11:23-27 CSB – Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death.

²⁴ Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. ²⁶ On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; ²⁷ toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing.

Isaiah 53:5 NKJV –

He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

“Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.” – Billy Graham

Matthew 16:25 CSB – Jesus said, For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.