How do you like to be seen? What’s the image you like to portray to the outside world? Maybe for you its self confidence, or knowledgeable, or “too cool for school”.
At a golf course, four men approached the sixteenth tee. The straight fairway ran along a road and bike path fenced off on the left.
The first golfer teed off and hooked the ball in that direction. The ball went over the fence and bounced off the bike path onto the road, where it
hit the tire of a moving bus and was knocked back on to the fairway.
As they all stood in amazement, one man asked him, "How on earth did you do that?"
He shrugged his shoulders and said, "You have to know the bus schedule."
So maybe you’re one of those guys who turns a bad shot off the tee into a way to show off your knowledge – you meant to do it that way.
Well, today we’re going to talk about the difference between how we want to be perceived as Christians, and how we should be perceived. Remember the end of chapter 3 – Paul gave us the key to his message: we are free as long as we are subject to Christ who is subject to God. The problem in Corinth was that a whole bunch of people were so caught up in their own selves and who they knew that they forgot about all that. And they figured that Paul was really a nobody and who should listen to that guy anyway?
1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.
Paul says there are two ways I want you guys to think about us: servants and stewards.
1. “Servants” means “under-rowers.” They were the guys at the bottom of the ship that rowed, following the orders of the guy above. “We’re not supermen” Paul says, just regular guys taking orders like you.
2. But we are also “those entrusted.” The NIV rendering there of the Greek word for steward. This was the guy who administered the house for the owner – ordered 50 gallon drums of milk from Costco when they were running low and stuff like that.
So we’re nothing special, but we’ve got an important job to do. The Corinthians probably agreed with the first title – under rower. Get down in the bottom of the boat and “pull!” But steward?
We’ve go to be sure that when we deal with others in the body of Christ that all row at the same time, instead of using our oars to hit the other rowers – or not row at all. We all know what happens then – the boat goes in circles. We do that by giving respect to the job the other person has to do.
The “secret things of God” does not mean that these guys possessed confidential data that was on a “need to know” basis – like the upper echelons of management circles. Paul is referring to the secret of Jesus Christ – a secret that was now out. It also shows the focus of their message – not power or prestige, but the spreading of the gospel.
So next, Paul gives some characteristics of what a Servant/Steward should be like:
2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
The bottom line is: are you trustworthy to carry out what the Lord has told you to do? That’s the mark of a good steward. It’s not how many converts you got compared to the other guy – you may lead to only one salvation your whole life – but if you obeyed what God told you to do, then you were a faithful servant.
3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
This isn’t some arrogant boast – “I’m so above you that it doesn’t matter what you say about me.” And he’s not exempting himself from human government oversight. What he’s saying is that I don’t care what you say about me, or what any human says about me – I don’t even care what I say about myself – what matters to me is what the Lord says about me – have I been faithful to what He has called me to do.
4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
We get so worried about what other people think about us or expect of us – and we get so condemned by that “feeling that we’ve done something wrong” or that we haven’t done enough. That’s the meaning of the word “conscience”. Do you sometimes feel like you blew it – you didn’t say enough, you said too much – what’s important is that you listen to the Lord, do what He says by the power of the Spirit – do your best – then leave the results up to him.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
We are so impatient – we want instant results. We do something for the Lord and we see no fruit and we think “I must not have heard right.” And we condemn ourselves. You know – God doesn’t wear a Timex. He’s not concerned about how long something might take – so don’t throw away what you’ve done – you simply don’t know how it fits into God’s long range plan. At the end, He’ll tell it all – you’ll find out how that conversation in the line at Fred Meyer fits into the Grand Plan – and you’ll learn how your willful disobedience to God caused you to miss His blessing.
See – all this takes ministry out of the human realm. We think – wow, Billy Graham must get all kinds of rewards – I’m nothing compared to him. Billy will be judged on whether he was faithful, not on the number of people saved under his ministry. It also means that we don’t elevate one person above another.
6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. 7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
Our problem is we start believing our own press clippings. We lose track of the source of blessing in ministry. We start thinking we had more to do with it than we really did. But the Corinthians apparently thought they were something special. So Paul gives them a taste of some bitter irony:
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings-and that without us!
Not! I’ve seen it many times – believers, and churches, set up mini kingdoms. Lots of people and lots of money and lots of power over those people and that influence goes to some folks’ heads. A small minority of rich Corinthian’s had an undue amount of influence over the church – but they had it backwards.
How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! 9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.
To really be a “king” in the kingdom of God is not to have the most, but to give the most. Its not to be the most powerful, but its to be the most available. Its not what you’ve done, but have you been faithful. Paul uses the example of those sent to the lions – the lowliest of the low – to show the Corinthians their error.
They thought they were so special – and so knowledgeable that they could ignore Paul’s position as an apostle, and his instruction.
10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!
We’ve got to stop assigning value to who we are and what we do based on the standards of the society around us. As Jesus said: to be first, you need to be last.
Matthew 20:25-28
25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Paul doesn’t let it go at that – he gives them a picture of what being a disciple is really like:
11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
Ya, that’s what I aspire to – the title of “the scum of the earth.” I think Paul is saying “this is what real discipleship is all about – you guys have it backwards.” Rather than being at the front of the line, to be a leader you are in the back.
And further – look at the qualities of character: when the Corinthians were challenged they fought like dogs to get their way and stick up for themselves. Its all part of jettisoning the world’s way of dealing with others.
Now Paul softens his approach – slightly.
14 I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children.
I like this approach to correction. Instead of condemning them, Paul says he wants to warn them that the path they are walking down isn’t a good one. How do we correct others? Do we just lambaste them? Or do we gently try to bring a different perspective and say “look, if you continue down this road, there’s going to be trouble ahead.”
In at least three places in the New Testament, we are told to deal gently with those who go astray (Galatians 6:1, 2 Timothy 2:25, Hebrews 5:2).
15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
A guardian in the days that Paul wrote was a slave who accompanied the children to school. That role isn’t the same as the parents who bore and raise the child. Paul gave birth to the church and brought many of them to Christ. It’s a special position not shared by the evangelists that came later on.
The word “imitate” here is from the Greek word “mimetes” (mim-ay-tase). You can tell that this word comes down to us as the word “mimic” or “mime.” Paul says if you really want an example to follow – look at the life I lead in the Lord and use it as an example of how you should live.
Hebrews 13:7-8 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Talk about someone to imitate. It’s all a chain, like our key verse, 3:23. We imitate Paul, Paul imitated Christ, Christ imitates the Father. The question is, who do you imitate?
17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
Timothy was a young pastor that Paul discipled and sent out on several missions like this one. He later became the pastor of the church at Ephesus.
18 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?
Talk is cheap. What really matters is the power – that is, the power of the Spirit to work through a person’s life. The Corinthian leaders were so arrogant and thought they had it all together. But what was the fruit? Division, schism, immorality, worldliness, pride.
Paul is a living example of what a Christian should be: humble, preaching and leading people to Christ, undergoing hardship with honor and patience.
He says “you guys have a choice. Either you get with the program and humble out, or I’m going to have some very strong words for you – consider this a warning from your dad.”
Conclusion
So in conclusion, let’s look at the characteristics of a mature Christian, as opposed to a baby.
Mature Immature
Goal is faithfulness (vs 1 & 2) Goal is success
Source of success is External (vs 8) Source of success is Self
Suffers honorably (vs 9) Boasts unrealistically
Becomes a fool for Christ (vs 10) Inflated sense of self importance
Imitates Christ (vs 16) Imitates the world
Humble (vs 12-13) Arrogant (vs 18)
May we also imitate Paul as he imitates Christ, as He imitates the Father – not in arrogant boasting about self, but humble faithfulness to the call of God, even in the midst of turmoil.
