Caught Up in the Good Life

Transcript

GR 1308
10-30-05
Caught Up in the Good Life
I Corinthians 4:6-13
Gil Rugh

By the grace of God we have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ. That is what we are studying, that's what we study every week because we look in to God's Word and see what God has said regarding His work of salvation and His purposes and plans for us as His people in light of that redemptive work.

We are in the book of I Corinthians and we're in the 4th chapter. Awesome to think that we say, turn in your Bibles and here we have the very Word of God, God speaking to us. We have the words printed in black and white, we have the Spirit of God who dwells within us as His people to enable us to understand His truth. God has brought salvation to this sin-cursed earth when He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on the cross. It was so that the penalty for sin might be paid and thus in Christ to provide for the reconciliation of all things to Himself, as Colossians 1 says. And that work of reconciliation focuses in those that are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ. So when a person places his faith in Jesus Christ he becomes a member of God's family, God's household, God's church. Paul wrote to Timothy as we have looked at on a number of occasions in I Timothy 3:15 and said he was writing so we would know how to conduct ourselves in the household of God, which is the church of the living God. And the church of the living God is the pillar and support of the truth. And that's what Paul is writing about and what he is writing to in the letter to the Corinthians. It's a letter to the local church at Corinth, a church that Paul had established several years earlier. Paul has been gone from Corinth after an 18-month stay and it's about five years since he left. So the church is not all that old, but Paul established the church and it is founded in Jesus Christ.

Paul is writing to the church at Corinth and expressing some concerns. The church at Corinth has undergone some adjustments in the time since Paul left, and they've begun to think that they can adopt some of the wisdom of the world and mix it with the wisdom of God and be much more effective. When I came in this morning I had a pamphlet in my box that had come in the mail in the last couple of days, and very well done, a dozen pages or so on a church wide spiritual growth campaign for our churches. Lays it all out very effectively and I'm not going to take you through this in detail, much to your relief and to limit my aggravation. But I did want to share something with you. We talk about the church at Corinth, thinking that they could use the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. The church at Corinth, remember, at this point is not denying the doctrines of the Word of God. They are not denying the truth concerning Christ and His death on the cross. But they are also adopting the wisdom of the world and evidently think that they have become more effective.

There are certain that should become, they are like red flashing lights, and encouraging the churches to use this material, in fact here is one well-known Christian leader who says regarding this program, you are bringing a whole new way of doing ministry. You are taking the church a whole lot deeper, it is amazing. You would recognize the name of that person if I read it to you. We have a whole new way of doing ministry now. Different than what Paul did? Different than we would find in our New Testament? And here is what other churches have experienced if we adopt this program. Attendance grew by approximately 20% in churches that use this material. New groups increased by up to 59%, ministry involvement increased by more than 18%, and tithing increased by up to 20%. Now how can you not want that? Let's see, 1000 people, 20%, 200 people, if we adopt this program. Giving, 20%, that can't be bad. Ministry involvement up 18%. This sounds like any business that would be selling something, doesn't it? What did the church do for the last 2000 years until this whole new way of doing ministry came on the scene and provided for the growth of the church? What about the poor churches for 2000 years that had nothing but the Word of God. They were stuck, doomed to failure, 3% decline.

Go to Revelation 2. We are going to do I Corinthians, this ties, in my mind. Revelation 2. I just want to read a portion of Jesus' statements to two of the churches that he is addressing, the only two churches that are not condemned by Him for activity that is displeasing to Him. The letter to the church at Smyrna begins in Revelation 2:8. I just want to pick up verse 9. This comes from the head of the church, Jesus Christ. I know your tribulation and your poverty. Verse 10, do not fear what you are about to suffer. The end of verse 10, be faithful unto death, I will give you the crown of life. We'll see that in our passage in I Corinthians 4 in a few moments.

Look down in chapter 3 beginning in verse 7. Christ addressed the church at Philadelphia. Verse 8, I know your deeds, behold I have put before you an open door which no one can shut because you have little power. You have little power. And you've kept my word and not denied my name. Here is a church Christ is commending, that are going through trials and suffering and difficulty and poverty. And as you look at them from the world's standpoint they have little power, but they are greatly commended by Christ. Too bad He didn't know the new way of doing ministry. Let me tell you how you can be strong and how you can see real growth. These become ways the church gets deluded and duped into thinking that they can bring the wisdom of the world into the work of God and be much more successful. But sadly it means they'll be like the church at Laodicea who thought they were rich and had need of nothing and didn't know the greatness of their poverty.

And you come back to I Corinthians 4. This is the kind of situation that Paul is dealing with at Corinth. Now it doesn't seem to have progressed to the point of open rebellion against Paul and against Christ, but the seeds are there. I say that there are no doctrinal issues addressed in these opening chapters, but you know when you open the door to bring the world's thinking into the church, soon you will have major doctrinal problems. And by the time we get to chapter 15 Paul will have to deal with issues regarding the reality of bodily resurrection in the church at Corinth. And by the time you get to the end of the second letter that he writes to the Corinthians, there are false teachers and false apostles that have infiltrated among the church and are trying to turn away the church from the teaching of the Apostle Paul and other true apostles. There is no compromise with the devil, there is no compromise with the world for the church of Jesus Christ, because as soon as the compromise begins, the corruption which will pervade the church has begun. And we are lured into it by looking to be successful. And the initial results are everything we could want, humanly speaking.

That's what Paul has to deal with in the church at Corinth. In the opening part of chapter 4 he's pulling together what he has said from chapter 1 verse 18 up until this point, and reminding them how those who are used of Christ are to be considered as servants, as stewards of God's Word, as those who will be judged by Christ, not by men. Look what he said in these opening verses. Let a man regard us in this manner, us, those of us like Paul, Apollos, those who have been used greatly by God. We are servants of Christ. Remember the problem with the church at Corinth is they had divided around their favorite teacher, their favorite leader. There weren't doctrinal divisions at this time, there are personality divisions. Our favorite teacher, the one I like, the one who seems to speak more to my heart, the one who seems to understand me, and these kinds of things, the one who seems to demonstrate the greatest wisdom. Paul says, look, we are just servants of Christ, not great men to be honored, servants doing the will of our master who is Jesus Christ.

Then he further elaborated on that, we are stewards of the mysteries of God. So we are servants entrusted with the responsibility in the household of God. That word steward is a house manager. We are entrusted with the care and the distribution of the Word of God. The mysteries of God refer to the truth that God has revealed, particularly the truth concerning the finished work of Christ, particularly in chapter 2. The work of the cross. That's what we are, we are stewards. Servants who have been entrusted with God's truth and now must guard that truth and disseminate that truth as stewards. The key responsibility is faithfulness, verse 2. The key responsibility of stewards, be found faithful. Now note here how Paul's ministry will be evaluated when he stands before Christ. Was he faithful to the truth? Did he give out the truth as God had instructed him? Remember the household of God is the church, which is the pillar and support of the truth. It's the place where the truth is central, where the truth is proclaimed, where Jesus Christ and His death on the cross is what those people are all about, what that ministry is all about.

In light of that fact Paul will say in verse 3, to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you or any human court. Those entrusted with God's Word and required to be faithful with that Word must not fall into the trap of trying to please people, to win the approval of people. In effect Paul says to the Corinthians, and it's rather blunt, I couldn't care less what you think of me and my ministry. Now later he is going to defend his ministry and argue to convince the Corinthians of how important it is for them to submit to his ministry. But you understand in the bottom line, it doesn't matter what the Corinthians think of the Apostle Paul or his ministry. He is a servant of Christ, not the Corinthians. And he has been entrusted with the revelation of God, he must be faithful, it doesn't matter what humans think. In fact, the end of verse 3, I don't even examine myself. The bottom line is, it doesn't even matter what I think of my ministry. Do you think when we come to stand before the judgment seat of Christ I'm going to walk up, you know these days you're supposed to be self-assertive and tell people how good you are and how effective you've been and how effective you'll be. Do you think we're going to walk up to the judgment seat of Christ and say, Lord, I just wanted you to know I did a tremendous job for you. I want you to know, Lord, that I was a cut above and I did more than I'm sure you were expecting, but that's all right, I'm glad to do it. I just don't think so, in fact I know that it won't be that way. And Paul says, it doesn't matter what I evaluate myself to be because I'm not only not your servant, I'm not my servant. I'm His servant.

Now Paul says in verse 4, I don't know anything against myself, I'm not trying to cover sin. But the fact of the matter is, that doesn't mean that I'm okay. The one who examines me is the Lord. Now that is the foundation. Quit trying to promote your favorite. There are things that have to be dealt with, there are judgments that have to be made. And he made clear at the end of chapter 2 of this letter that those who have the Spirit of God are able to discern and judge all things. And then as we move further into the letter he'll talk about things we are to judge. When it comes down to the work of the servant of God and his faithfulness in that work, the ultimate judgment rest with the Lord. We lose sight of that, then ministers get into the business of trying to appeal to the people so that the people will like them and honor them and be attracted to them. And the people get divided around their favorites and personality begins to rule over truth. And they make decisions, not on the basis of the Word of God and His truth and faithfulness to truth, but who I like best. And that it happened in the church at Corinth and is put here in God's eternal Word because it is a message that the church must hear again and again and again.

Christ will judge His servants and His judgment will be thorough and complete. The things that haven't come to light, the things that are hidden in the motives of the heart, that will all be part of the judgment. The actions and the motives that drove the actions, the things behind what I did and then the only praise that will matter will be given, the praise that comes from Christ Himself.

Now Paul is ready to turn his attention and direct what he has to say to the situation in Corinth, and it is a blistering rebuke that he gives to them, filled with sarcasm and irony, that marks them out as a church that has been unfaithful. And what he has done up to this point is to draw analogies and use himself and Apollos, but now he unfolds the disastrous situation in the church at Corinth that they are blind to. That's the sad thing. They think they are doing so well, and in that sense they are on the road to becoming the church at Laodicea, as he will unfold as we move along.

Look at verse 6, now these things, brethren. In all of this Paul is convinced in his heart that most of the people he is addressing are true believers in Jesus Christ. I mean, he has led many of them to Christ. We are sheep and we easily and quickly begin to drift. That's why it is so important that we stay close to the Word have the Word continually built into our lives, we stay in the Word, we stay in the fellowship of God's people, faithful to truth. Brethren, these things, the things I've been talking about, everything back to chapter 1 verse 18. Some would say the particular focus is from chapter 3 verse 5 where he started the analogy of the field, then the building, then the stewardship into chapter 4. But behind that is what he said in chapter 1 and chapter 2. These things that I've been talking about. I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes. Figuratively applied translates into one compound word—metaschemata. Schemata, scheme, we bring it over into English as scheme. Word that refers to the outward form or manifestation of something, that preposition on the front means another, another form, another scheme. I've changed the form of these things, I've applied these things to myself and Apollos in a changed form. Some would say he is referring to the analogy of a servant working in a field or a laborer working on a building, or a steward entrusted with a stewardship, the Word of God. And that's true. But what he is doing also is focusing attention on the fact that I've used myself and Apollos, earlier Cephas, as examples, and they may be some of the divisions in the church at Corinth. But it goes beyond that. I just wanted you to learn a lesson. If you have to think of Paul and Apollos a servants, then remember that is true of everyone else who is used of the Lord in your life and ministry as well. Not wrong to appreciate and love those that the Lord uses in our lives, it is wrong to transfer our allegiance to them, become their followers instead of Christ's followers and thus end up dividing the church over it. Paul will put this in balance because he's going to tell the Corinthians they ought to become imitators of him. We won't get to that point today, but there is a balance, but the focus is we're just servants. The honor goes to Christ, the glory goes to Christ, the allegiance goes to Christ. We've become disciples of Christ, not disciples of Paul in that sense, not disciples of our favorite teacher, our favorite pastor, our favorite minister, whatever. We are followers of Jesus Christ and committed to Him and the truth concerning Him.

So I have applied these things to myself and Apollos, changed the form of it, so that we become the focus. Part of Paul's purpose is not to further divide, but to bring the Corinthians along. Rather than jumping in and directly attacking people in the church at Corinth, which might have further polarized them, he has laid a foundation for them to be able to look more biblically at what is taking place in the church. I've done this for a purpose, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written. You may learn not to exceed what is written. That expression, what is written, translation of one Greek word with a perfect tense. Perfect tense refers to something that happened in the past and it continues to stand into the present. What is written is used 30 other times by the Apostle Paul. It always refers to Old Testament scripture, and I take it, it does here as well. Five times up to this point the Apostle Paul has referred to the Old Testament scriptures, and he introduces it this way, what has been written. And what Paul wants the Corinthians to learn from the example he has used of himself and Apollos as leaders who are only servants, who are only God's workmen, God's slaves, God's stewards, is you ought not to think of these servants beyond what the scripture says you should think of them.

Now look at Paul's five previous uses. Back in I Corinthians 1:19, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside. That's a quote from Isaiah 29:14. Look at verse 31 of chapter 1, just as it is written, Jeremiah 9:22-23, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. And that's the heart of all these quotes. Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. All the focus and all the attention of what is done by the servants and the slaves should be given to the Lord so that you glory in the Lord, not the servant. Look at verse 9 of chapter 2, just as it is written, things which eye hath not seen, ear has not heard, which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him, quoting from Isaiah 64:4. Chapter 3 verse 19, it is written, He is the One who catches the wise in their craftiness, Job 5:13, and the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are useless, verse 20, quoting from Psalm 94:11. The scriptures make clear we are not to put our trust in man, we are not to have our pride in man, we are not to glory in man. And even those that God uses in our lives are to result in all the glory and all the honor going to God. Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.

So when you come to chapter 4 verse 6 Paul says I've done this with Apollos and myself so that you can learn not to exceed what is written, not go beyond the scriptures which says that all our glorying and all our boasting must be in God, and that you don't obey the scriptures and you begin to glory in men, and you begin to honor men, and you begin to gather around men and thus divisions are created. Again, we're not talking about being faithful to the truth. Paul will defend the truth that he presented and say that they ought not to follow other teachers, teaching other doctrine. But dividing, for example, around Paul or Apollos who had the same doctrine, but I just like him and I'm willing to split the church over the one I like and the one I don't like, is what he is dealing with.

The end of verse 6, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. It becomes a matter of exalting self. We begin to talk about why he is better, it's not clear things. Well, he teaches the truth of the substitutionary death of Christ, this teacher does not. He's wrong, I will not follow him. Well we are talking about you know I like him, he's got a great personality, has a winning way with people, he does this............. Now all of a sudden ................ Wait a minute, things are lost. Who gave him his personality? This is where Paul is going. Who gave him his gifts and abilities? It's just a matter of arrogance because then we don't honor our leader, but we pride ourselves that we are followers of this wonderful leader. And we look down on those who are not followers of this wonderful leader. We're talking about we divide the church and the church at Corinth, that local church, divided over these kinds of things.

When he says at the end of verse 6, so that no one of you become arrogant. Some of you have a marginal note that says literally puffed up, and that's what the word means. It's a colorful metaphor for being filled with wind. We say, he's a windbag, or he has a big head. Those kinds of things. Here the person has no substance. You know the blowfish, I've seen them on nature programs. They're threatened by the enemy and he just fills up with air, so he looks to be more than he is. Well this would be a good word for him, that's what arrogance is, somebody puffed up, there is no substance, they just have become somebody in their own thinking.

So that no one of you become arrogant on behalf of one against the other. You know, we're to appreciate one another, even the differences in our gifts and abilities and talents. Paul says when he wrote to the Romans, let each of you think of others as better than themselves. Easy to allow the worldly way of thinking to come in and pretty soon we compare ourselves and think of why I am better, why our group is better and why.......

Verse 7, what Paul is going to do is ask three direct questions that are focused on the matter whatever they are, whatever they have has come to them as a gift of God's grace. So what in the world are you boasting about? Who regards you as superior? The word translated superior literally means to separate, to divide out, to distinguish between. And the idea, who distinguishes among you, is the result of that if they thought some were superior and others were inferior. But who has made the distinction? Ultimately, it goes back to God, and so the second question, what do you have that you did not receive? He has already said in chapter 1 that all the gifts were graciously bestowed upon them by God. This became a cause of division in the church at Corinth also. So we get to chapter 12 he has to deal with that. Here it's about leaders, but who made the distinctions among you? Why is that teacher maybe more effective than this teacher? Why does that teacher have a better personality than this teacher? Why does .................. What do you have that you didn't receive? Everything that we have, every good thing, every good gift, every perfect act of giving come down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow caused by turning, James 1 tells us. Everything, every good thing has come to us either by common grace, by common grace we mean God's grace bestowed on all His creation. He makes the rain to fall on the wicked as well as the righteous. Or by God's special grace, and for the church at Corinth he's talking about special grace, the grace that has brought us salvation. So if everything we have has come as a gift of God's grace and we as God's children understand that, then just what are we boasting about? What are we playing ourselves off one against another over? I make a bigger difference in this ministry than so-and-so, so-and-so says I make a bigger difference in this ministry than so-and-so, I've been more effective than they have. Wait a minute, what are you bragging about? Maybe you are.

You know the Apostle Paul would tell the Corinthians later, I labored more than all the other apostles and he quickly says, yet it wasn't me, it was the grace of God in me. I don't even get any credit for all that hard work because you know it was God's grace. I mean think about it. Why do you have a healthy enough body to get out of bed and come here today? That's just God's grace. Why is your mind sound enough to be able to read and comprehend the precious Word of God? That's only God's grace. Why are you saved and your neighbor is not? That's God's grace. I mean, what do we have that we don't have from God's grace? Why are we in a country where we can be gathered here and there are people hiding for their lives today, believers who wonder whether they might be killed today? I mean, what is the explanation? We say, yeah, we know that. Then why don't we live that way? We're not like the Corinthians, we've never been infected by pride in our church. I'm glad that that is so, I'm sure it has something to do with my humble leadership that we've never had to deal with pride. I mean, we know it's not true, right? We all find ourselves, if we're not careful, drawn into this kind of thinking and we fail to appreciate it is God's grace. We give lip service to God's grace, the church at Corinth would have, too. They were taught by Paul. But they were no longer living grace. What do you have that you didn't receive? If you receive it, why do you boast as if you've not received it? One person wrote this, the Corinthians are a perfect example of how abundance, not just material abundance but even abundance of spiritual gifts, leads to loss of restraint and perspective. The very blessings of God, as we're going to see, clouded their thinking and divided the church.

Turn back to Deuteronomy 8. This is not a new warning to God's people. With additional revelation there is additional responsibility. But God warned His people of this in the Old Testament. The nation Israel, Deuteronomy 8, as they're preparing to go into the land that God has promised them, there are some solemn warnings and the impact of this warning you'll see how it is true of the Corinthians as we move along in the following verses. Deuteronomy 8:10, find Israel about when they go into the land that God has promised them, and it is a prosperous land and they would prosper in the Promised Land. Verse 10, when you have eaten and are satisfied you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His ordinances, His statutes which I am commanding you today. Otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, have built good houses and lived in them, when your herds and your flocks multiply, your silver and gold multiply, all that you have multiplies. Then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord our God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, brought you through that terrible wilderness, provided for you water and food.

Verse 17, otherwise you may say in your heart, my power, the strength of my hand made me this well. But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers as it is this day. You see it's God's grace. Here through Moses God is addressing His people, and you know what He tells them? You're going to enter into greater prosperity than you have enjoyed. You're going to have great homes, you're going to have more wealth, more possessions, more things than you need. And the danger facing you is you're going to get caught up in the good life and progressively I will become less important to you. My Word will become less important in your life and more of your life will be taken up with the good things I have provided. And we know the sad history of Israel—that very thing happened to them. And we're about to see Paul's stinging sarcasm that that very thing has happened to the church at Corinth. They are but 5, 6, 7 years old in the Lord as a church, and they are caught up in all the good things. And dare I say that we face this in our prosperous nation as believers, in ways that when I've been in other countries where believers are just trying to get enough to get by for today, places where perhaps they've already lost all their possessions, their homes, their church building, and all they have is what they today. There is a passion, a zeal, perhaps it was true of the church at Smyrna, the church at Philadelphia, the church poor, the church with no power. But somehow the church at Corinth had lost. You know one of the things we have a hard time doing is maintaining a fervent Christianity where the church of Jesus Christ is truly committed to the Word of God, truly committed to the cross of Jesus Christ. We have such a good life, it's just hard to fit God in, isn't it? I mean,...............

I've shared with you and I'll go back several years, but there have been parents here that have asked if we would cut back our programs for high school kids because they are just so busy. We have school activities, we have sports activities, we just have so many things and our families are so busy. We'd like to have less. Well why don't you go to school and tell them to have less? Cut back on the sports. You know a hundred years in eternity it won't matter if your kid was best player or the worst, but it will matter about their spiritual life. I mean we're so busy, Sunday nights, we've marked that out as family night. We have Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, but somehow we had to have Sunday night. You know, our weeks are busy and our prosperity has brought us busyness, filled with things that take us away from the Lord. We have nicer homes than we ever thought we'd have and we prosper in greater ways than we ever thought we would. But somehow it just gets harder and harder to fit the Lord in, doesn't it? And we are happier when there is good reason and if the church will cut back on what is expected, that's good. We don't want to deny the Lord, but with all that we have going it's not easy to fit Him in.

Come back to I Corinthians 4. This is where Paul is going and it is stinging sarcasm, bitter irony that he's going to move to. Look at verse 8, you are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us. Ought to highlight those words, already. You have already, you have already, you have become, you are already filled, you have already become rich. You've become kings without us, us apostles, us, the ones used of God to bring you the truth that He has revealed, men like myself and Apollos and Peter who have brought you the Word of God and brought you life in bringing you the message of Christ. But somehow the kingdom has begun without us. You are living like you are in the kingdom. That's what he says the last part of the verse, makes that clear. I wish that you had become kings so that we might also reign with you. In other words, they are living like the kingdom had started. It had not, they were not in the kingdom, but they were living like it. The good life had started for them. You are already filled, you have already become rich, you've already become kings. Sounds like the church at Laodicea. Revelation 3:17, people in the church at Laodicea said, I am rich, I have become wealthy, I need nothing. Jesus said, you don't know how wretchedly poor you are. Without us, you can't be in the kingdom without us, in effect Paul says. You are living like the kingdom had started, and you're doing it without us. I wish it were true, because if you were reigning as kings we'd be reigning with you. Because remember, the apostles are going to sit on 12 thrones in the kingdom as well as judging the 12 tribes of Israel. The kingdom has not begun. Paul says I could wish it were true, but you're living like it was, and that means you are being unfaithful to the one who will be the king when the kingdom is established.

Look how he goes on, verse 9, to draw a contrast. And what he's going to do is draw the contrast between the experience of the apostles and the experience of the Corinthians. And lest we think that well they're apostles, they're expected to live differently, before we are done with this chapter Paul is going to tell them, you ought to be living like us. That's the stinging rebuke contained in the comparisons that he draws.

Verse 8 says you're living like you're in the kingdom, but it isn't so. I wish it were, but it's not. For I think God has exhibited us apostles last of all as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. The message of the cross lies behind this. In chapter 1 verses 25-27 Paul wrote about God choosing the weak things and the despised things and the foolish things. And He is using men like Paul and other apostles, but they are the scum of the earth. God has exhibited us apostles last of all, we are not at the head of the line, we're not the honored ones. Oh you're living like kings, we've been displayed as those who are last—men condemned to death, men like those who are being led into the arena and perhaps the last ones. Those are the ones who are there for the final spectacle, their death will bring the events of the day to close. Paul has no misgivings, no misconceptions. He has no power theology that it's going to get better and some day in my lifetime they're going to realize that we apostles are the ones who serve God and we are............... We're on our way to death, and we are a pattern. We've been exhibited as those condemned to death. We've become a spectacle to the world, theatro. We get the word theater from this. We are on stage for men and angels to behold as those condemned to death in a life of suffering, service to Jesus Christ because we preach the cross.

What a contrast between verse 8 and verse 9. The Corinthian church that were supposed to be followers of Christ, serving Him, and they're living as though they are filled, they are rich, they are kings, living like the kingdom had begun and Paul and the apostles are on display for men and angels to see those condemned to death for faithfulness to Christ. Something is wrong, something is wrong. The kingdom has begun for some and not for others, the kingdom will begin for all of God's people at the same time, so we're not in the kingdom. And the life exhibited by the Apostle Paul is the life to be expected of faithful servants of Jesus Christ.

Even the angels are beholding. Remember angels, according to what Paul wrote to the Ephesians, are spectators of God's work of redemption in the world, because they have never experienced redemption because there was never salvation provided for angels who sinned. So they observe God's work of redemption, and the carrying out of that plan of salvation as suffering servants are faithful with the truth of the cross and carry it to others and give their lives in that ministry. They are on stage for all to behold, men and angels. And not to see how glorious we are, we are men condemned to death. Paul had not illusions that it was going to get better. He'll write his last letter to Timothy, II Timothy, on the verge of his impending execution. It doesn't come as a surprise. For Paul it is not a matter of if he will give his life for Christ, it's a matter of when. We have the death sentence. As followers of Christ there can be no other and he sees that as the pattern for others.

Look at verse 10, we are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ. What sarcasm. We are fools, the morons. Remember that word from the opening chapters? But you are prudent. This is a word there that means sensible. I mean, they think that they are the sensible ones, they've worked out a plan that works, using the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of God, and we have something sensible. It would be easy to look at Paul and say, if he wasn't such an out-and-out fanatic, he might do more for Christ in the world. You don't have to offend everybody with the gospel. The Corinthian church thought they had arrived, I mean, here we are, we don't deny the gospel. We preach Christ. Well we've become sensible with it, we have a plan that works, we'll produce 20% growth if you use this plan, 20% increase in giving, 18% more people involved. I mean, it works. There is nothing wrong with using the world's wisdom as long as we don't deny God's wisdom, then everything is wrong. So Paul wants to distinguish himself from the Corinthians now. We are the fools for Christ's sake, but oh yes, you are the prudent in Christ, you are the sensible in Christ. Sarcasm. You can't mix the wisdom of the world with the message of Christ, the wisdom of God, and be serving Christ faithfully.

We are fools for Christ's sake, you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong. Back in chapter 1 verse 27, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the things which are wise, the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. Something is wrong, the Corinthians are on the wrong side here. Paul says we are weak, you are strong. Something is wrong. God has chosen the weak things, but you're proud now that your followers of Christ were also strong. Watching a program this week that some of you may have seen, an hour long program on evangelicalism in America. And oh boy, have we become powerful. One pastor of a large megachurch says, well in three hours the White House will be calling me. Well isn't that wonderful. Oh you don't seek out the White House, they seek out you. That's right. And the United States needs to know it was evangelicals that put our President into the White House. And evangelicals have expectations that they're going to be repaid, and we're going to get the right Supreme Court Justice or there will be blank to be paid. Right? I mean, we're somebody, we have power, we have influence, and we're to be reckoned with. The Corinthians would love us. Paul said, we're weak and you are strong, we're the ones who have become sensible, we know how to work this world's system and also use the wisdom of God. No you don't, you've just become deluded. We're weak, you're strong. Paul had to say, I had to come to an adjustment in my thinking, we won't turn there, but in II Corinthians 12 he said that he prayed that the Lord would remove his thorn in the flesh. And then he said the Lord made clear to him, My strength is perfected in weakness. So then Paul said, I had to adjust my thinking and realize when I am weak, then I am strong. Heaven forbid we only have the message of the cross. We have to have our people in government, we have to have our senators, our congressmen, our Supreme Court justices, our President, they we are strong. We don't know the difference between weakness and strength. Where is the evangelical church going? How are we different than any other power group in this country that says we can marshal enough people to get our way, and this is what will make the difference. I grieve when I watch these men on there and they're talking about the Supreme Court and they're evangelical leaders. I do not think the future of our country depends on who is running the Supreme Court, I'm sorry. That doesn't mean I don't have opinions. I think what the church is here for is to proclaim the message of Christ. Washington need not call unless they want to hear the message of Christ. That's all I have to say, that's all the church has to offer.

You are distinguished, we are without honor. Isn't something wrong? The Corinthian church has come to the place where they are distinguished, they are respected in the world, they are people to be dealt with. And Paul says, we are without honor. Something wrong? Are there any greater servants in the plan of God by the grace of God at this point in time that we can tell, than the Apostle Paul? And he is without honor and the church at Corinth is viewed as distinguished. One person wrote this, if the Corinthians, however, are wise, strong and honored, they must be kowtowing to the world's standards, which brings into question whether they are truly Christ's. Somewhere that line is crossed, they are not only using the world's wisdom with the wisdom of God, you no longer understand the wisdom of God at all. Then you have become the church at Laodicea that Christ says, I just want to vomit out, I don't want anything to do with you.

Verses 11-13 go quickly, 10 verbs and 4 participles, bracketed by these statements you ought to underline. Verse 11, to this present hour and the end of verse 13, until now. To this present hour until now. Contrast that with the already of the Corinthian situation, already filled, already become rich, become kings. To this present hour until now, here is what we are, we apostles. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, are poorly clothed, roughly treated, are homeless. We toil, that word to labor to exhaustion, with our hands. I mean, Paul wasn't full time, you know. He labored and worked hard with his hands among the Corinthian elite. This would not be respected because effective teachers and philosophers didn't do manual labor. Paul said, I am slaving away with my own hands so I have food to eat today, so I can present the gospel to people tonight.

When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate. Little different than you see evangelicals saying, we're going to call the Republican Party to account. If they don't follow through on their promises then they can't expect our vote. I mean, we've gone to the silliness edge. Here Paul says, we really are persecuted, I mean, he really knew what it was to suffer, to be beaten, to be imprisoned, to suffer scorn and rejection. But he responded like Christ said we must respond, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and so on, like Christ Himself responded as Peter would write in his letter.

Note the end of verse 13, we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things until now. I want you to understand we don't see a change in process. Up until recently, this is the way we were treated. This is a stinging, sarcastic rebuke to the Corinthians who are already living as filled, as those who had become rich who were kings. And the apostles are suffering as the lowest of the lowly, the scum of the world. That word translated dregs literally means the scrapings off the bottom of the shoe, like if you walked through those streets in those days. You step in the mud, you step in the garbage, you step in the dung. Well you'd scrape off your shoe before you went in the house. That's what he was—we are the scrapings off the bottom of the shoe. I mean you just can't express any lower view than the world had of the apostles. We're the scum of the earth, the scrapings off people's shoes. What a contrast with the way the Corinthians were viewed. They were honored. Paul views that as a declaration of their unfaithfulness to Jesus Christ, they had adopted the wisdom of the world. Remember we are followers of Christ's.

Isaiah wrote concerning Christ and I'll just read it to you, from Isaiah 53:2, 3, concerning Christ. Remember, now, we are His followers and Jesus said it is enough for a servant that he be like his master. Here's what Isaiah 53:2 says, He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Now how is it that the followers of this One so rejected by men has become so honored and valued in the world? Paul rebukes the Corinthians by saying, there is no other answer, but you have been unfaithful. You have converted to the wisdom of the world and tragically you think that you have been prudent, wise. Because from the world's view you are successful. Here they are not denying the gospel, and they're honored, they're comfortable, they're a church that has respect in the world, a church that people in Corinth might want to go to. Isn't that good. Doesn't that sound prudent and sensible? But the problem is they are no longer following the One who was despised and rejected of men. Their compromise had come at a terrible cost. And what Paul is telling the church at Corinth, you are no longer anything like true followers of Christ. It's not well, you can expect to suffer, but we're not apostles, so that's not true of us.

Down in verse 16 he'll exhort them, be imitators of me. Doesn't mean we want to go out and see if we can be offensive, see if we can do everything we can to make people dislike us. But let me tell you, you go out with the message of the cross of Christ, that will do the job. It wasn't because Jesus Christ didn't have a good personality. I think He probably had the best personality of any man who ever lived, it wasn't tainted by sin. It wasn't that He didn't do things properly, we know He did. But He was despised, not esteemed. There was nothing about Him that people were drawn to, He had no appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men. We want those we identify with to be people that sort of like the world, are the kind of leaders and so on so that we don't have to be embarrassed if we follow them. Is our identity with them or with the Word? If a man stands here in a poor suit with holes in his shirt and is teaching the Word of God we say, I hope none of my friends came today and saw the suit, just not quite what we want.

We begin to subtly allow the world to shape us. What are we like as a church? We wouldn't be like the Corinthians. Well, we are, probably. What is our testimony? We get embarrassed when people say negative things about our church. I can't tell you how many times people say, why do so many people have a negative view of Indian Hills? That doesn't concern me nearly so much as why so many people don't have a negative view. Do they know that we are identified with the Christ of the cross? Do they know that we are absolutely committed to the One in whom the only hope of salvation is focused? There is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. Do they know the message we preach is that they are lost and on their way to hell and unless they turn from their sin and believe in Christ, they are doomed forever? Do they know that they cannot be around us very long until they will hear that truth? Or have we become wise and sensible, prudent. We have the balance of being acceptable in the world and even having some honor. People may not agree with us, but they respect us and honor us and we don't push our beliefs on anyone. And we have forged a compromise............. Well, are we like the Corinthians or are we like Paul?

I'll read you one quote and we're done. Part of the reason why Paul's stance seems alien to many of us is that we have unwittingly become more like Corinthian Christians than like Pauline, that is biblical, Christians. Many of us are well to do and comfortable, with little incentive to live in vibrant anticipation of Christ's return. Our desire for the approval of the world often outstrips our desire for Jesus' “well done” on the last day. The proper place to begin to change this deep betrayal of the gospel is at the cross, in repentance, contrition and renewed passion, not only to make the gospel of the crucified Messiah central in our preaching and teaching, but in the lives that we live.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, that we have been called to take up our cross and follow Christ. We realize that He also said that anyone who will not take up his cross and follow Him cannot be His disciple. And anyone who loves father or mother, sister or brother, family or friends more than Him cannot be His disciple. Lord, it is awesome that we fallen, sinful human beings are called to be followers of the Son of God, called to experience salvation, cleansing from sin and to receive new life in Him. Lord, how easy it is for that initial passion and excitement and enthusiasm for the One who loved us and died for us to grow cool and corrupted by a desire to be accepted and honored by the world, to live comfortable lives, to enjoy the good life. Lord, I pray that we might examine ourselves as your church in this place to see if indeed we are like the church at Corinth or like the life of the apostles in their commitment to Christ. We pray in His name, amen.