The scripture reading comes from the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Please follow along on the bulletin, the screen, or your own Bible.
Starting in verse 1, we read,
This is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.
In fact, I do not even judge myself, for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not therefore acquitted.
It is the Lord who judges me.
Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes,
who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.
Then each one will receive his commendation from God.
I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers,
that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written,
that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
For who sees anything different in you?
What do you have that you did not receive?
If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
Although you have all you want, I'm sorry, already you have all you want.
Already you have become rich.
Without us, you have become kings.
And with that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you.
For I think that God has exhibited us, apostles, as last of all, like men sentenced to death,
because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.
We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ.
We are weak, but you are strong.
You are held in honor, but we in disrebuke.
To the present hour, we hunger and thirst.
We are poorly dressed and buffered and homeless.
And we labor, working with our own hands.
When we revile, we are blessed.
When persecuted, we endure.
When slanted, we entreat.
We have become and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuge of all things.
I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to acknowledge you as my beloved children.
For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.
For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord,
to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills.
And I will find out not the talk of those arrogant people, but their power.
For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power.
What do you wish?
Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love, in the spirit of gentleness?
This is the word of God.
Okay, great.
Thank you, Margo.
Let's pray together as we come to this passage.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your word.
God, I confess, sometimes your word is hard to understand.
Sometimes it feels like, what relevance does this letter to Corinthians 2,000 years ago have to us today?
God, won't you come and help us see not just what Paul is saying to Corinthians, but what you are saying to us.
God, I pray that you help us to be a church which is radically Christ-centered.
God, come and crucify our pride, our self-sufficiency.
Come and call us back to Christ in the gospel, we pray.
Lord, as your word, we pray that you will speak to us this morning.
Lord, we pray that each one of us, you will speak to us from something from today, whether it's a line in a song,
whether it's something from the scripture reading, the call to worship, the sermon, that in some way, God, you will speak to each one of us today.
We want to hear from you and take something from this morning that will go with us into this week and help us to hold on to Christ Jesus again.
Amen.
So God, I pray by your spirit, come and do that in your wonderful and gracious name.
Amen.
Okay, I don't know how you feel about problem-solving puzzles like Rubik's cubes and things like that.
I saw Sebastian, I think a week or two ago.
Sebastian is from Ebenezer here and is 100% blind.
And Sebastian was solving a Rubik's cube by feeling the different textures of the different colors.
Is that right, Sebastian?
Well, I must tell you, I don't know anything about Rubik's cubes.
I've tried many times.
I can't solve them.
I have not cracked the code.
I don't know how you feel about those kinds of problems and other problems like that.
Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 4 was a Rubik's cube to me this week.
If you didn't understand anything Margo read while she was reading, that's how I felt Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week.
And I thought, what on earth is going on here?
So let's see if we can make sense of this very difficult passage.
1 Corinthians chapter 4.
What is Paul trying to say to the Corinthians?
And the question then is, what is God trying to say to us?
Well, I think this is the big idea.
Paul wants his readers to understand.
He wants them to humbly receive the leaders that God has given them and to let these leaders help them, the Corinthians, to follow Jesus.
So Paul is saying to the Corinthians, God has given you leaders.
Receive these leaders and let these leaders serve you by calling you to follow Jesus.
And if you think about that, isn't that what God would want to say to us?
For us to humbly receive the leaders that he's given us and to let those leaders help us as a church to follow Jesus.
Now, you may automatically have an objection and say, well, that's very convenient for you to say, Kevin, because you are one of the leaders, right?
That sounds like you're saying, hey, just shut up and follow me, right?
Well, good point.
But I want to raise something.
I am one of the leaders in the church, sure.
But I'm also a member of the church.
In fact, my primary identity is as a member of the church, not as a leader.
There is one primary head of Watermark Church.
His name is Jesus.
And the rest are primarily body.
And so even as elders and pastors, we have leaders called elders and pastors.
And I, as I listen to this passage, need to receive the leaders that God has put in my life and help them to let them help me to follow Jesus.
The main thing that I need in my life is to follow Jesus.
And God has given me these gifts called elders and pastors that help me to do that.
Okay, so that's what I think the big idea is today.
God wants us to humbly receive the leaders he's given us and to allow them to help us follow Jesus.
Now, you may say, oh, church of Egypt, here we go again.
Is there anything like more irrelevant and boring to my life?
But I think there's two reasons why it's important for us to, why the Bible spends a lot of time talking about church leadership.
The first is this.
The Bible says that the church is not indispensable to one's Christian faith.
And so it's easy for us to think, okay, it's me and Jesus.
That's all that really matters.
But the Bible actually says the church, the Christian community around us, is a vital part of our Christian faith, of us following Jesus.
And therefore, how the church is structured and how God brings the church into our lives is very important.
How we think about it is very important.
But the second reason is this.
If you've been around for more than a month in this world, you'll know of all the terrible stories of church abuse or church scandals or churches imploding that result from dodgy and bad leadership, right?
And so if we want the church to be healthy and strong, it's important that we understand what does the Bible have to say about church and how it's structured and church leadership.
Okay, so in this passage, I think Paul's going to answer three questions.
Who do church leaders serve?
Secondly, what do church leaders do?
Okay, that's a good question.
And thirdly, how do they actually do what they are called to do?
So let's dive in and see how we can answer.
So firstly, who do church leaders serve?
In 1970, an academic called Robert Greenleaf coined a phrase in his seminal essay called The Servant as Leader.
He coined this now ubiquitous phrase, The Servant Leader.
Okay?
And for us, we yawn when we hear that idea.
Servant Leader.
Okay, we've all heard that concept.
But in the 1970s, it was revolutionary and very new.
Everyone thought, this is amazing.
Leaders are actually servants.
Now, of course, that idea has been around for forever, right?
I think the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, I don't know if that's how you say his name, 5th century BC, he spoke about servant leaders.
And of course, that's what the Apostle Paul is writing here.
And so look what he says in verse 1 of our passage.
I hope you've got your Bible or bulletin with you.
He says,
This is how one should regard us, apostles.
We are servants.
Servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
And we must be found faithful.
Okay?
So that's similar to what we saw last week.
Paul says,
What are church leaders?
We are servants.
Okay?
But servants of Christ.
Then he says,
So Paul says,
We are servants.
But then he says,
You think that he means,
Okay, we are your servants.
But actually, look at what he says.
We are servants of Christ.
We are Christ's servants.
So Paul's telling the church that,
Yes, the leaders,
They are servant leaders.
They're not meant to be CEOs or presidents.
They're not building their own brand or their own organization
or their own empire.
They are servants to the church.
But they're also not democratically elected leaders.
They're not voted by the people,
for the people,
answerable to the people.
What does he say?
Who are they answerable to?
Paul says they're servants of Christ.
They've been sent to the church by Christ
to serve Christ's church with the gospel.
And their job is to be faithful to what Christ has told them to say.
I don't know if you know this phrase.
Sometimes you hear this kind of in politics.
Someone will say,
I serve at the pleasure of the president.
Or I serve at the pleasure of the chief executive.
And what they mean is,
My job is in the hands of the president.
When the president doesn't want me to do my job,
I'm out of here.
Paul says,
We serve at the pleasure of Christ.
So Christ is the one who sent us to then serve the church.
Paul says,
Church leaders serve at the pleasure of Christ.
And they serve the church best
by seeing themselves as servants of Christ
to the church.
Now that's a very delicate balance to get right.
So Paul's saying on one hand,
we are servants to the church.
On the other hand,
we are servants of Christ to the church.
And what's happening here is that
when earlier on,
in chapter 3,
Paul writes and says,
Who are leaders?
Who is Paul?
Who is Apollos?
Who is Kevin?
We're nothing.
We're just servants.
On one hand,
that sounds like,
Oh, great, servants.
Okay, we just get to tell them what to do.
And Paul says,
No, no, no.
We are God's servants.
And we speak on his behalf
and do what he tells us to do.
So we don't change the message
to make it more palatable.
We don't run around doing
what everybody necessarily is telling us to do.
We've got a mandate from Christ.
And we serve the church best
when we answer what Christ has called us to do.
And that's really important
because in chapter 3,
Paul says,
Who is Apollos?
Who is Paul?
We are nothing but servants, right?
And so some people in the church are saying,
Okay,
I've got my servants at work.
I pay them a little bit
and I tell them what to do.
I've got my servants at home.
I pay them a bit
and I tell them what to do.
And then they hear Paul say,
Oh, we are servants.
And they say,
Oh, okay.
Now I've got my servants at church as well.
I'll just tell them what to do.
And Paul says,
No, no, no.
We are servants of Christ
that are called to serve the church.
Now, here's the question.
Why is Paul saying this?
Why is he making this distinction?
If you are a little bit older,
you might remember
there's a pop song from the 1970s, okay?
Bernard.
And is Bernard here?
And the song goes like this.
It was by Carly Simon
and the song is called
You're So Vain.
Do you know that song?
Okay.
And the chorus goes like this.
It says,
You're vain.
The word vain means self-opinionated,
conceited, right?
And the chorus goes like this.
You're so vain,
you probably think the song is about you,
don't you?
Okay.
Anyone know that song?
Okay.
Ron,
I don't know you know that song.
Okay.
Well, a few years ago,
a pastor called Alex Duke
wrote an article called
You're So Vain,
You Probably Think This Church Is About You,
right?
Don't you?
And so that's what's going on in Corinth.
There are these guys,
and Paul says,
Okay, we are servants,
and they say,
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
We've got our servants at work.
We've got servants at home.
Now we've got our servants at church.
We're just going to tell you what to do.
And Paul says,
No, no, no, no.
We are servants of Christ,
and we serve the church best
when we know who gives us our mandate.
Who are we answerable to?
We're answerable to Christ.
If we are not answerable to Christ,
we'll twist the message.
We'll say what you want us to say.
We'll try and become popular.
We'll try and win your favor.
We might not be faithful to the gospel.
Now, I must say,
I don't see this often at Watermark.
I don't experience this often at Watermark.
But this does happen from time to time,
and I hear it happens a lot in various churches,
and we're all susceptible to this.
And what is the root of this?
This thinking of saying,
of wanting to demand
and just tell people what to do.
What's the root cause of it?
Well, Paul tells us here.
In fact, he tells us three times.
Look at verse 6.
He says,
My hope is that none of you may be puffed up.
The word there is proud or arrogant.
Verse 18, he says,
Some of you are arrogant,
as though I were not coming to you.
Verse 19,
But I will come to you,
if the Lord wills,
and I will find out,
not to talk of these arrogant people,
but their power.
What's the problem in the church in Corinth here?
The problem is there's fraction,
there's dividing,
there's division,
there's fighting,
there's camps.
But what's underneath the surface?
What's leading to this conflict,
this fighting?
It's actually,
there's pride.
There's a sense of arrogance.
There's a sense of entitlement.
There's a sense of self-sufficiency.
And so some people are saying,
Oh, it's all about us, right?
I'm so vain.
This church is probably all about me.
And another group saying,
No, it's about me.
And they're causing division,
and fraction,
and fighting.
And so pride is not only manifesting itself
in the division between the leaders and the church,
it's also manifesting itself in the division
between various church members.
How are they treating one another?
And so they're getting political,
and divisive,
and there's factions,
and there's arguments,
and it's leading to conflict with one another.
And pride and selfishness
is tearing this church community apart.
And friends,
sin always does that.
Whether it's the sin of pride and vanity,
whether it's something else,
it always has a vertical component
between me and God,
but also a horizontal component.
It damages relationships.
And so the question is,
what should Paul do?
He has this church,
there's pride,
there's conflict,
there's division.
What should Paul do?
How should Paul solve the problem?
What should all church leaders do?
That's a really good question.
Well, notice,
what Paul doesn't do
is he doesn't give them three tips
on how to improve their life.
Paul doesn't say,
come and,
whoa, sorry, sorry, sorry.
I apologize.
Paul doesn't say,
come listen to our sermon,
I'm going to give you five ways
to be successful in life.
He doesn't give them three tips
to self-help and self-improvement.
What does Paul do?
He pushes them back to Christ
and the gospel.
He reminds them
of who Jesus is
and what the gospel is.
He calls them back to Christ.
And that makes sense
because if the problem
in a church community
is pride and arrogance
and self-sufficiency,
what you don't need
is three ways
to improve your life.
That's like going to a doctor,
he does an MRI,
a blood test,
he comes back and says,
listen,
there's a serious problem.
You've got cancer.
He has Panadol, right?
That's a bad doctor.
For Paul to say,
there's pride,
there's division,
there's conflict in the church.
Yeah, let me just give you
three tips to improve your life.
That's not going to help them.
What does he need to do?
He needs to call them
back to Christ.
And that's what Paul does.
Friends,
that's what all good church leaders do.
What do church leaders do?
They call us back to Christ
and the gospel.
Elders,
deacons,
pastors,
CG leaders
call us back to Christ.
Week in and week out,
they remind us
that Christ
is the hope
in this life,
in life and death.
They remind us
our only hope
is in Christ alone.
They remind us
that Christ
is a sure and steady anchor
as we sang earlier,
Nate.
So Paul reminds them
and calls them
back to Christ.
And look at how he does this.
The first thing he does
is he reminds them
of Christ's grace.
Look at verse 7
with me here
in our passage.
Paul says this,
he says,
For who sees anything
different in you?
Or another way of saying that is,
what makes you different
from others?
What have you
that you did not receive?
If then you've received it,
why do you boast
as if you didn't receive it?
Andrew Wilson says,
this is Paul's
entire theology
in one sentence
and the most beautiful question
in the New Testament.
What did you receive,
or what do you have
that you did not receive
by grace?
Okay?
So,
he has this church,
his conflict,
his division,
his fighting,
and he's saying,
everything you have,
everything that we are,
our salvation,
the gospel,
our standing,
our wisdom,
our education,
everything that you are,
everything that we have,
you receive by grace.
It's unearned,
unmerited,
undeserved,
not because you're brilliant,
not because you're amazing,
it's God's undeserved grace
and kindness
to you.
So again,
Andrew Wilson says this,
grace,
more than any other
Christian teaching,
pulls the rug
from under self-reliance,
our boasting,
and our pride,
because if everything we have
has been given to us
by God,
how on earth
can we boast
as if somehow
it's ours by right?
Okay?
So Paul comes to him
and he says,
listen,
there's pride
and there's division
going on in the church.
How can I help them?
And the one,
the first thing he does
is he says,
everything you have,
everything you are
is by God's grace.
Now you may say,
well that's not really true.
I mean,
I've worked really hard
at my career,
I worked hard
at my university,
I studied,
I've put in long hours,
I've achieved this.
Okay,
yes,
but let's just think about this.
You could have been born
to the untouchable castes
in India,
right?
You could have been born
to the Masai Mara
in Tanzania
under a tree somewhere.
Everything you have,
your education,
your brains,
your intellect,
everything you have
is grace alone.
Been given to you
by grace alone.
And therefore,
there is no room
for boasting,
for pride.
And that's why
throughout this letter,
Paul is constantly
reminding us
of Christ
and the cross,
Christ
and the gospel,
Christ
and grace.
He says,
yes,
I know,
that's foolishness
to the world,
stupidity
to our culture,
but the wisdom
and the power
of God
is found in Christ
and the gospel.
Christ
and Christ alone.
Christ's grace
crucifies our pride
and annihilates
our self-sufficiency
and unites us
where there's division.
And so,
look at the last sentence
in our passage.
Paul could have come
and just smoked him,
right?
He could have said,
you guys,
stop it right now.
Otherwise,
I'm going to,
but he doesn't.
He says,
let's just think about this.
He says,
everything you have,
everything you are,
it's Christ's grace alone.
Let's look at the last sentence.
He says,
shall I come to you
with a rod
or shall I come to you
with love
and a spirit of gentleness?
He's an apostle.
He started this church.
They're rebelling
against his authority.
Of course,
he could have come
with a rod.
But how's he first
going to appeal to them?
He's going to appeal
to them with grace.
And so,
Paul comes and he says,
he says,
friends,
the kindness of God,
remember the grace of God.
Friends,
let me just ask you a question.
If you're stagnant
in your walk with God,
if your faith
has become a bit dull,
if you're bored with Jesus,
if you're constantly
in conflict
with other Christians,
is it possibly
because you've forgotten
the grace of God?
Forgotten the mercy of God?
You've forgotten
how Jesus went to the cross
for a sinner like you,
like me,
like us?
Is it that the gospel
has become familiar
and blasé
and no longer real
and vivid to us?
What Paul does here,
the first thing is,
he says,
reminds them of God's grace.
But that's not all he does.
He does something else.
And he also tackles
their pride
and their vanity.
And Paul tackles
their pride
in quite an unusual way.
He uses sarcasm
and irony
to show them
just how ridiculous
their pride is.
I don't know
if you've ever
experienced this, okay?
If somebody says
something really ridiculous,
and then somebody
imitates those people
in an exaggerated voice
to show them
how ridiculous
they sound, okay?
So maybe,
let me give you an example.
Maybe you're watching
the NBA finals, right?
And somebody, like,
makes the shot
and they miss the hoop, okay?
And somebody
that you're watching
with says,
that's such an easy shot.
I could have made
that shot any day, okay?
And you think,
that's such an easy shot.
I could have made
that shot any day, right?
What do you do?
You're repeating
what they're saying.
You're imitating them,
but in an exaggerated voice
to make them sound ridiculous, okay?
Does that make sense?
Or maybe,
you've got two children at home
and the one,
your son says to the other son,
hurry up,
we're going to be late.
And the other son says,
hurry up,
we're going to be late, okay?
Do you get it?
So sometimes you,
Greta, why are you laughing?
Okay?
Paul is going to do that.
He's going to use sarcasm
and irony
to reflect what they're saying
to show how ridiculous they are.
Now, if you in youth,
this is no excuse
to be sarcastic
with your brother and sister, okay?
No excuse.
Look at what he says.
Look at verse 8 with me.
He says,
already,
you have all that you want.
Already,
you've become rich without us.
Without us,
you've become kings.
And he says,
actually,
that would be a good idea.
We wish that you were kings
because then we might share
some of the rule with you.
Okay?
So they're saying,
we don't need you leaders.
Who are you leaders anyway?
We've got everything we need.
We rule in life.
We reign.
We don't even need you.
And Paul says,
you don't even need us.
You reign in life.
You're rich.
You've got everything you need.
And then,
remember in chapter 1,
Paul says,
when God called you,
you weren't very rich.
You weren't very powerful.
You weren't very strong.
You weren't very honorable, right?
Well, now look at what he says.
Verse 10.
We are fools,
but you are so wise.
We are weak,
but you are so strong.
We are held in disrepute.
You are held in honor.
So they are saying,
we're so wise.
We're so strong.
We're so honorable.
We don't need you leaders.
And Paul's saying,
you are right.
You guys,
you think you're somebody, right?
No, really.
You really are somebody.
We're nothing.
You don't need us at all.
And he's showing them,
what's he doing?
He's showing them how worldly
and how secular
their thinking has become.
Paul's reflecting their own words
back to them.
He's saying,
can you guys see
how ridiculous you sound?
Can you see how proud you've become?
How arrogant you've become?
Can you see how worldly
and secular you've become?
And he's reflecting his words
back to them
to show them
how ridiculous they are.
Now, why is he doing that?
Why is Paul doing this?
He wants to call them away,
call them back
from this worldly,
secular thinking,
this pride and this arrogance
to humility
and towards following Christ.
It's kind of like
if you're swimming on the beach
and there's a rip current,
a rip tide
and the lifeguards on the beach
say,
this is the safe swimming zone.
Swim within these parameters.
And then they see somebody
drifting into the dangerous waters.
What do they do?
They blow their whistle
and say,
hey,
you come out of the rip current,
come out of the dangerous waters,
come swim here.
Paul is saying to these guys,
you're drifting,
you're pride and you're arrogance,
you're drifting into dangerous territory,
come out of the waters,
come back to biblical Christianity.
And what is biblical Christianity?
Remember that everything you have
is by grace alone.
Come back to Christ
and the gospel.
And so look what he says
in verse 14.
He says,
I write these things to you,
not to shame you,
not to scold you,
but to admonish you.
Admonish you means to warn you,
my beloved children.
He says,
I'm blowing my whistle,
come back,
come back to Christ.
Your pride and your arrogance,
you're drifting away
from biblical Christianity.
Come back to Christ
and the gospel.
Verse 17,
he says,
that's why I sent Timothy,
my beloved and faithful child,
to remind you
of how I follow Christ.
What's Paul doing here?
Friends,
what Paul is doing
is what all Christian leaders do.
He's not giving them three tips
on how to be successful in life
and how to reign in life
and how to get ahead
in their career
and three ways
to parent their kids.
He's calling them back
to Christ,
Christ and the gospel.
And why is that?
The reason is,
this is Christianity
in a nutshell.
To love,
trust,
and obey Jesus.
To love Jesus,
to trust Jesus,
to obey Jesus.
That's Christianity,
discipleship in a sentence.
That's what leaders do.
We pour ourselves out.
We serve,
we shepherd,
we teach,
we instruct,
we encourage,
we correct,
we call to repentance,
calling away from
the thinking of the world
and the attitude of the world,
calling us to Christ,
to love,
trust,
and obey Jesus.
And here you see Paul,
he's doing these two things.
He's saying,
come away from
the thinking of the world.
Come away from
the attitude of the world.
Come away from
secular hard attitudes.
Come away from
pride and arrogance
and follow Jesus.
Hold on to Jesus.
Trust,
love,
and obey Jesus.
He's calling to these two things.
And these two words,
what are the biblical words for this?
Faith and repentance.
Repentance and faith.
In some ways,
you could say,
faith and repentance
are the two
words,
the two motions,
emotions,
the two actions
of the Christian life.
Faith and repentance,
repentance and faith.
The lifelong pattern
of turning away
from the kingdom of self,
the turning to the kingdom of God.
Turning away from
the patterns of this world,
turning towards
the patterns of Christ.
Turning away from
the thinking and the heart
and the attitude
and the idols of this world
to hoping in Christ.
Faith and repentance
are not just the way
into God's kingdom,
they're the way
of God's kingdom.
Not just the way
you become a Christian,
they're the way
you grow as a Christian.
And so Paul here,
he looks at this church
and he says,
there's a problem here.
There's pride
and there's arrogance
and there's self-sufficiency.
What do you need?
You need repentance
and faith.
You need to turn away
from self
and turn towards Christ.
What do church leaders do?
They've got one message.
Friends,
if you've been here
the last seven weeks,
Paul's kind of just said
the same thing
for seven weeks in a row,
right?
Maybe you're getting
a bit bored of Corinthians.
Okay, that's okay.
Paul said one thing.
Christ and Christ alone.
Christ and the gospel.
Christ and grace.
Hold on to Jesus.
So how does Paul do that?
What is his tools
that he does?
Well,
the New Testament's
got lots of things,
lots of ways
that we do this,
but in this passage,
Paul gives us two.
And so let's just look
at them very briefly.
Paul does two things.
The first thing he does
is he uses scripture.
He uses scripture.
Look at verse six with me.
It's a very tricky passage,
a very tricky sentence,
but look what he says.
He says,
I've applied these things
to myself and Apollos
for your benefit,
brothers,
that you may learn from us
not to go beyond
what is written,
that you may not be puffed up
in favor of one
against another.
Now,
what on earth is he saying?
It's an extremely complicated
sentence in Greek,
but scholars tell us
what he means here is this.
Don't go beyond
what I've quoted
in the scriptures.
Remember the scripture
that I've brought to bear.
Throughout the whole
of 1 Corinthians,
Paul keeps on quoting
scripture,
left,
right,
and center.
He's quoting the Old Testament,
Isaiah,
Jeremiah,
the Psalms,
Job.
He's been quoting scripture
after scripture
after scripture.
And all the time,
what is the scripture saying?
He's saying,
don't boast in yourself,
boast in Christ.
Don't hope in yourself,
hope in Christ.
The wisdom of this world
is foolishness,
but the wisdom of God
is the one that makes sense.
The weakness of man is,
the strength of man is weak,
but the strength of God
is really what changes you.
He's been quoting
throughout the whole Old Testament,
Paul has been bringing
scripture after scripture
to say,
stop trusting
in the things of the world,
trust in Christ.
But he's saying,
don't take it from me,
listen to what God's word says.
And so you think
you're so smart,
Corinthians?
Well,
look at what God's word
says is real wisdom.
You think that power
is attained like this?
Let's look at what God's word
says about power.
You think that you're impressive?
Look what God says
is impressive.
Paul keeps on saying,
don't just take it from me,
look at what the scriptures say,
look at what God's word says.
Friends,
this is what all good
church leaders do.
They say,
don't listen to me.
Who am I?
I've got nothing wise
to tell you.
Who cares what I think
about life
and how life should work?
Let's listen to what God says.
Friends,
most of you are way,
way smarter
than I'll ever be.
Who cares
but what I think?
And so when we come
to church on Sunday,
you don't want to hear
what some idiot on stage
has to think about life.
We want to hear
what does God have to say?
Which is why
week in and week out,
we're opening up the scriptures
and saying,
what is God saying?
What is Paul saying
to the Corinthians?
What is God saying
to us?
Week in and week out,
we want to listen,
read,
explain,
understand,
and apply
what is God's word saying?
Now,
what does that mean for us?
Let me just ask you
one question.
In your CG's,
are you throwing out
human wisdom?
Or are you listening
to what God is saying?
Is everyone in the CG
just saying,
this is what I think,
this is what I think.
Or are you saying,
let's see what the scriptures say.
Let's see what God has to say.
Friends,
scripture is like a spotlight
that shines through the fog
and the mist
and shines clarity
on what really matters.
Scripture is like
a clarion call
through the echo chamber
of our culture
where we're all
hearing this echo chamber
of look after yourself,
impress yourself,
and be more wise
and more smart.
Scripture speaks truth
and says,
this is what wisdom is.
This is what power is.
This is who Christ is.
And so we listen
to scripture.
Here's the second thing
that Paul does.
Is he not only applies scripture,
he uses personal example.
Look at verse 15
and 17 with me.
Paul says,
although you have
countless guides
or teachers in Christ,
you do not have many fathers.
For I became your father
in Christ Jesus
through the gospel.
I urge you then,
be imitators of me.
This is why I sent Timothy,
my beloved and faithful child
and Lord,
to remind you
of my ways in Christ
or how I follow Christ
as I teach them everywhere
in every church.
So Paul says,
you've got lots of teachers,
lots of people
who can tell you
the right things,
but no one to really show you
how to live the Christian life.
But follow me,
imitate me,
says Paul,
as I show you
what it means
to follow Jesus.
Friends,
the Christian life
is so much more
than just head knowledge.
Yes,
we need to be taught
God's word
from the scriptures.
That's extremely important.
But,
the Christian life
is more than just
listening to sermons,
more than just going
to Bible studies,
more than just reading
Christian books.
The Christian life
is what does it mean
to follow Jesus
in the real nitty gritty
areas of life?
When life is hard,
what does it mean
to follow Jesus
when relationships
are difficult?
When you have money
or you've got no money?
When you're looking
to retire?
When work is difficult
or colleagues are difficult?
When you get that job
or when you lose that job?
When you have children
or when you don't
have children?
When life doesn't
go your way,
how do you follow
Jesus then?
And Paul says,
you can't just learn
that from books,
you must have
Christian community.
You must have
those around you
who are showing you
how to follow
the Christian life.
Here's one
simple application
for us.
If you're a parent
here this morning,
it doesn't matter
how many church services
you take your children to,
it doesn't matter
how many VBS programs
you sign them up for,
it doesn't matter
how many Bibles
you buy them
when their children
line up their bookshelf
with Bibles,
what's really going
to shape their faith
more than anything else
is your faith.
And very seldom
will our children
grow in their faith
and the love
of the Lord Jesus
more than our faith.
We can buy the Bibles,
we can sign them up
for programs,
but what our kids
really need
is to see
that our faith
is real to us.
Paul says
you've got countless
teachers,
countless guides,
countless kids
ministry teachers,
okay,
but what you really
needed
is someone to show you
what the Christian life
is all about.
So friends,
let's conclude.
What has God
been saying to us
today?
Well,
1 Corinthians 4
shows us that
God wants us
to humbly
receive the leaders
that He's given us,
to receive them
as His servants
and to allow them
to help us
to follow Jesus.
Church leaders,
pastors,
CG leaders,
deacons,
elders,
they're not CEOs,
they're not trying
to build their own kingdom,
they're not calling people
to elevate themselves,
no,
they are servants.
Servants of Christ
to serve the church
and they serve us,
the church,
best when they're
faithful to Christ
and they are calling us
to faith and repentance
to follow Jesus.
Let's pray together.
Father God,
I must confess
that sometimes,
as we said earlier,
your word is
difficult.
God,
we see that
we see church community
is sometimes difficult.
2,000 years ago,
the Christians
in Corinth
were struggling
to get along.
There was conflict
and division
and the conflict
and division
was because of
something in their hearts.
Father,
we must confess
that even today,
21st century Hong Kong,
that same root
of pride,
vanity,
that root
is in our hearts.
God,
we have the same
temptation ourselves.
And God,
when we find ourselves
in conflict
with others,
it's because of that
as well.
Father,
I pray,
won't you help us
to be a community
that can so treasure
and cherish
the grace of God,
that can so remember
that everything we have
is from you,
that God,
it'll melt our pride,
it'll crucify
our self-sufficiency.
It'll humble us,
God,
and call us back
to you.
God,
I pray by your spirit,
won't you be at work
in our church
and in our lives.
Be at work
within us,
God.
Help us,
God,
to be a church
that receives
your scriptures,
not the word of man,
not the opinion
of leaders,
who cares what
the elders
and the pastors,
thank God.
We want to be a church
that hears what
you have to say.
And so won't you help us?
And then God,
help us to be a community
that can set the example,
that can help one another
in the real nitty-gritty
areas of life
to follow you.
God,
we need your grace,
we need your spirit,
we need your help
to do these things.
Come and help us,
I pray.
In your great name,
Amen.