As we sang that hymn a moment
ago, it says here, His honor is engaged to save the meanest
of His sheep. Now as we would normally use
that word mean, we would mean that to be somebody who did bad
things, the meanest, the orneriest, the sorriest. And surely all of that could
be contained in that. Of course, as Paul said, that
he was the chief of sinners. He said, the Lord Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. So in that
sense, you could say he was the meanest, and so the Lord did.
But I don't think that's what the hymn writer meant here, because
In the time in which this hymn was written, the word mean normally
had reference to that which was the lowest, that which was the bottom. It was the meanest.
It was the least. And so what the hymn writer is
saying here is His honor is engaged to save the very least of His
sheep. He won't lose one of them. even
the weakest one, even the one who is out on the hills and is
called in the bramble bush, even as that one whom the Lord said that he would leave the ninety
and nine and he would go and he would search until he found
that one. Of course, it was not enough
that he had the ninety and nine, but he wanted all of them. And
so it is that the Lord Jesus, He would not in any wise abandon
those whom He loves. And He would continue His work
until He had accomplished exactly what He set out to do. And He
does indeed save the meanest of His sheep. 1 Corinthians, and we've been looking here in
chapter 3, and we actually have kind of gone through chapter
3. I want to read verse 20 of chapter 3, and then we're going
to begin looking here in chapter 4. In verse 20 it says, And again,
the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. And that word vain means futile. Now we don't like to think of
our thoughts as being futile, but that's what the Lord thinks
of. I mean, that's what the Lord thinks of all the wisdom of men,
is that it's futile. It doesn't accomplish anything.
You know, we have plans, And we determine that we're going
to do this and we think great thoughts and we do all these
things. And to us they seem so important,
but the Lord sees them for what they are. They're dust. Man is made from the dust and
everything that he has is just a vapor. It's futile. It doesn't accomplish anything.
So the Lord knows that they are vain. And if that be true, if
He has given us wisdom and understanding to know that that is a fact,
therefore, let no man glory in men. Let no man glory in men. But now isn't that what the primary
goal of people in this life is? Don't all the politicians want
you to glory in them? I mean they can quickly point
out all the faults in all these other people as though they,
you know, are the paragons of virtue and they are the ones
that are holding themselves up as being this or that. Let God's people not be taken
in by such things, because it doesn't make any difference who
it is. It doesn't make any difference what they think or what they
may have accomplished. Let no man glory in men. And then listen to what he says.
For all things are yours. Now what he's saying there is,
don't let a man think that he gets what he gets because of
the ways of men or because of the gifts of men or because of
the things that men can bring to them. Because remember what
they were doing? They were saying, well, I'm of
Paul and I'm of Apollos and I'm of Cephas and I'm of this one
and I'm of that one. He said, don't do that. He said
that's the most foolish thing you can do because all things
are yours, not because you got them from men, but because the
Lord gave them to you. And that's the place that we
are to be, not lifting up men on pedestals and all of that. But thanking God for whatever
gifts He may give, but knowing this is the Lord gives and the
Lord takes away. And just as surely as the Lord
gives something, He can take it back if it is so pleasing. So we don't glory in men. We are not glory in men. Why? Because all things are ours. They have already been given
to us by the Lord. He is the giver of every good
and perfect gift. And they come from Him. And so
He says, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life
or death or things present or things to come. None of these
things matter. It doesn't matter if we live
or if we die. If we have wealth, if we don't
have wealth, it doesn't matter what things may come or go in
this world. None of that is of anything because
all things are ours. That's why Paul said, for me
to live is Christ, to die is gain. I can't lose. I cannot
be in a worse condition because the Lord has already given us
everything that we have. And so we are blessed as the
children of God to have those things from His hands. And year
Christ! What a glorious thing! Year Christ! You belong to Him, He said. If
Christ undertook to redeem you, you belong to Him. If He's given
you faith to believe in Him, you belong to Him. He doesn't
give men faith to call upon His name and believe in Him and hunger
and thirst after righteousness only to turn His back on them.
But He causes them to believe because they belong to Him. And
you belong to Him. That's what He's saying here.
And Christ is God. Christ is God, essentially, is
what He's saying there. You don't get any higher than
that. Just like Philip said, Lord show us the Father and it
will suffice. He said, Philip, if I've been
so long time with you, you didn't know who I was. Well, you see,
we know who He is. Christ is God's. He is God. He
is the everlasting Father and we don't look for another. We're
not expecting to be moved up into a higher realm. All things
are ours. They've been given to us in Christ. And if they've been given to
us in Christ, they've been given to us in God. What a glorious
thought, dear brethren, that this is no hierarchy involved
here. Let a man so account of us as
the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Now
that's what he says. He says, don't be saying I'm
of Paul. Don't be hanging on to a man's
shirt tails and saying, well, man, I'm going to follow this
guy. He said, don't do that. But he
said, just account of me. If you're going to look at me,
just let a man account of us as the ministers of Christ and
stewards of the mysteries of God. Now, we're not anything,
he said. Now, this is in a realm applicable
to all of God's people, but Paul is applying it specifically to
himself. He's not saying, I'm a minister
and you're not. He's simply saying, this is the
ministry that God has given to me. Now, I believe this, and
that is that all of God's people minister one to the other. And
the purpose of the giving of the gifts of preaching and teaching
is for the purpose of building up the saints of God that they
might perform the work of the ministry among the sons of God. And so we minister one to the
other. And so it's not that, well, here's
a group of ministers. Now you often hear that term,
you know, when you get a bunch of preachers together. And, you
know, they're sitting up here on the chief seats or something,
and we look at them and we say, well, there's the ministers.
Well, dear brethren, when we look over the congregation of
God, we see the ministers because we're ministering one to the
other. That's the purpose of the gathering
of the saints. Now, there are ministries that
are different. Everybody's ministry is not the
same, but all of God's people are called to the ministry. to
minister one to the other. That just simply means to serve.
It simply means to present to one another such things as God
has given to us. And that's what Paul says. Now,
he said, because he's been talking in terms of as these Corinthians
have latched their hands on to Paul or Apollos or Peter or whoever,
and he's saying, don't do that. He said, just think of us as
ministers, just like yourselves, but we've just been given this
particular ministry, and it's not a greater ministry than any
other, it's just that ministry. He said, let a man so account
of us as of the ministers of Christ. Now, who would not want
to be a minister of Christ? when we all want to be a minister
of Christ, and so surely we all are ministers of Christ, because
we are sent among the saints of God with a ministry, and we
are to minister in that way. But he says, so let a man account
of us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries
of God. Now, the declaration of the gospel
is the declaration of the mysteries of God. Now, they are not mysteries
in the sense that God has hidden them from us, but He has hidden
them from the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto us. And
so it has pleased the Lord through the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe, and it has pleased Him to send preachers,
ministers of the mysteries of God, into the world for that
purpose. Now, that's not the only ministry,
but it is a ministry, and it is a glorious ministry, and it's
a blessed ministry, and it's one which the saints of God do
benefit from. And so he said, I want you to
account of us as just ministers of God, whether it's Paul, Apollos,
Cephas. We're not anything special. We're
just ministers of the mysteries of God. that He sent us to do. And we're doing that. And then
He says, Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found
faithful. Now a steward, you remember that
Eliezer, as he was mentioned this morning, was Isaac's, or
not Isaac, but Abraham's steward, chief steward in his house. And
he was sent And being the steward, he was
the keeper of all of Abraham's wealth. Abraham didn't know how
many sheep he had, but Eliezer did. Abraham didn't know how
much gold he had, but Eliezer did. And he kept up with it. And he was a faithful steward.
And he kept it for the Lord, or for his Lord. And so it is
that it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
If a man is going to be a steward, the first thing that a man has
to be in order to be a steward of the mysteries of God is to
be faithful to the mysteries of God. I mean, he can't be coming up with
some idea of his own because it makes everybody happy. Now there are plenty of those
who call themselves preachers whose primary purpose is to make
everybody happy. They want folks to like them
and they want folks to like coming to church. You know, we want
to make church a happy place, a fun place. We want folks to
enjoy their experience. Now I don't want to try to make
it a miserable experience. I don't want to try to do something,
you know, that would just irritate people. But that's not what we're
sent to do. We're sent to tell the truth,
is what Paul is saying. We're sent to minister the mysteries
of God in a faithful fashion as the Word of God unfolds it. And if it tells us something
that we don't like to hear, we've got to listen to it. We've got
to proclaim it. We've got to say it. And it doesn't. It in no wise adds anything to
our stature to declare that which belongs
to our master. I don't know, of course some
of you all are old enough to remember, there used to be a
TV program on when I was a kid. It was called The Millionaire.
And in that program, There was a guy, and of all things he had,
his name was Michael Anthony, and that happens to be my first
and middle name. I always wondered when I was
growing up if my mother named me after this guy, but of course
that program came on later than when I was born, so it couldn't
have been that. But in any event, this guy by
the name of Michael Anthony, He was a steward over this rich
man's fortune. The guy's name, I think, was
J. Beresford Tipton, if I remember right. And he was this millionaire
guy, had a bunch of money, and before he died, he wanted to
give all of his money away. And so he would give to Michael
Anthony the a charge to go and deliver. He would find these
people that he thought were worthy of the money. This Dave Beresford
Tipton. And then he would send Michael
Anthony with the money to find these people and give them the
money. And so you always were hoping
that Michael Anthony would show up on your doorstep. Now I used
to think when I was a kid watching that program that Michael Anthony
I mean, I just had it in my mind that he was the one giving them
the money. But Michael Anthony didn't. I mean, he was paid.
He was just a paid servant. He didn't have the money. It
wasn't his money. He was just bringing it to them.
He was a steward. So he didn't have the money,
but the guy that had the money was giving the money. And that's
what the gospel is. The one that has the money is
the one that's giving the money, and the steward is just the minister
of the one who's ringing the doorbell and handing over the
check. That's all that somebody who's
preaching the gospel can do. They don't have anything. We're
all sinners just like everybody else. We don't have anything
to give. But he said here, it's required
in stewards that a man be found faithful, but with me, It is
a very small thing that I should be judged of you. He said, I
don't care if you say you want to be of Paul. It doesn't make
any difference to me. He said, that doesn't make me
think more of you because you say, well, I want to follow what
you've got to say. He said, because I'm not judged
by you. Neither does it make any difference if you say, well,
I don't believe a word you're saying, because it doesn't make
any difference. If nobody believes it. See, because
a steward, if he's found faithful, he's just carrying the message
that he's been given. Now, he can't carry a message
somebody else has been given. Now, a lot of times preachers
think they can go off to a seminary or a Bible school or somewhere
and they can learn how to be a preacher. Well, I'm telling
you, you can't learn how to be a minister of the mysteries of
God. You can't do it. Only the Lord
can give a man those mysteries, write them upon his heart and
send him forth with them. And it has nothing to do with
the man. There is no pat on his back or nothing else because
he is nothing more than just a stone that the Lord raised
up and used for that use. And that is what Paul says. It
does not have anything to do with us. But with me it is a
very small thing that I should be judged of you. Or of man's
judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self. He said that, man, I'm really
doing a great job. Or I'm really doing a poor job.
He said, I'm just trying to do the only thing I can do. I don't know. You know, just
giving you my personal testimony, when I write something or when
I preach something or anything, I don't know if it's any good
or not. I don't know if it's doing you any good or whatever. All I can do is just deliver
to you what the Lord delivered to me. And if it is beneficial,
it's because He gave it. If it's not beneficial, it's
because I was not faithful. I mean, that's just the facts
of life. And so he said, I don't even judge myself because I just
committed all into the hands of the Lord, for I know nothing
by myself. I don't know. I don't have any
more wisdom about the Scriptures than anybody else does. If I
see something and I say something, it's just because God showed
it to me. And He didn't show it to me for
my sake. See, the gifts that God gives
to His people are not for their benefit, but it's for the benefit
of the body. Now this is where a lot of people
go wrong in their quest for spiritual gifts. Because you've got a lot
of people, they want spiritual gifts so they can be benefited
by them. I remember a lady one time saying
that she had, I forget how many it was, seven of the spiritual
gifts and she was working on number eight or something. I
don't know what it was. I can't remember exactly the
details. But anyway, she was trying to
get these things. Well, brethren, we're not sent
out here to try to get these things, but rather if we are
given these things to give them. even as they have been given
to us, because they have not been given to us. The gifts are
given to profit the whole body, and that is the purpose of the
giving of those things. For I know nothing by myself,
yet am I not hereby justified. But he that judges me is the
Lord. So being a minister of the stewards
of the mysteries of God, that does not make a man to be justified
before God, it doesn't add to his stature with the Lord. I
mean, the Lord doesn't say, well, you know, some people have this
idea, it's like, you know, he was a faithful preacher all his
life, and now he's gone on to his great reward. Well, listen,
the Lord doesn't have any regard to how good of a preacher somebody
was. Because He is the One who made
them, and they could have been a poor preacher or a good preacher,
but they're just exactly the kind of preacher He sent and
He wanted them to be. And they're not justified or
set apart because of that, because it's all of the Lord. He that
judges me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before
the time until the Lord comes. who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts. And then every man shall have
praise of God." He said, we are not in the business of going
around praising men, because the Lord is the only
one that is worthy of praise. And when the Lord comes, He will
do as He sees fit to do. And all that he will see fit
to do is to glorify the name of Christ. And that's all that
anybody that's a faithful steward of the mysteries of God desires
to see is the name of Christ exalted. And so when somebody's
desiring something else, you can be sure they're not a faithful
minister. What if old Michael Anthony had
gone to people's houses and said, I'm going to give you this million
dollars? You know, I've been saving this money up And I just
decided to give it to him. And he went around doing that.
And then word got back to old Jay Bearsford Tipton up there. Now what would he have said to
Michael Anthony? He said, You are taking glory
to yourself, buddy, that you do not deserve because the money
is mine. And so let every man that would
declare the gospel always be mindful. That is what the Lord
has that is important. And every man shall have praise
of God. That is, he will have praise
in his heart for God. And whatever praise is due unto
men will be sufficient for whatever the Lord sees fit. And I believe
the Lord will have praise for His people. I don't think he'll
say, it'd be like, you know, you've got an old dog and you
say, get in here, you sorry hound. That's not going to be like that.
He's going to say, well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Enter thou into the joy of the Lord, because you see, every
one of God's people are precious to Him, whether they thought
they was a sorry lowlife or not. Every one of them is precious
in His sight that belong to Him. And every one that belongs to
him, he will receive with gladness. Just like that old father went
out every day and he looked for the coming of his prodigal son. And he waited there when he saw
him. When he saw him, he didn't go sit on the porch and say,
oh wait till that sorry joker comes up here. And I'm going
to show him just how much trouble he caused me. No. No, when he saw him, the scripture
says that he ran, and he fell on his neck, and he kissed him.
And he said to the servants of his house, he said, kill the
fatted calf. Well, there's my son that was
lost. He was found. Oh, what a glorious thing. What
a gracious Father we have who loves His people with an everlasting
love and He draws them with cords of love and He provides everything
for them that they could possibly ever need. And He holds back
nothing from them. And He says, Enter thou into
the joy of the Lord, and then shall every man have praise of
God. Because you see, the Scripture
says that There was a great multitude with crowns upon their heads. But they took their crowns off
and they cast them down at His feet. Because you see, those
who are brought to the knowledge of Christ know that there is
nothing in themselves that would give them a place of standing
before God. But it is simply the mercy and
grace of Almighty God towards His people. And these things,
brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to
Apollos for your sakes." Now he said, I'm taking this whole
message here and I'm applying it to me and Apollos. He said, I'm telling you, don't
glorify men that ye might learn in us not to think. of men above
that is written. Let no man glory in another man. That's exactly what he had already
told them, was it not? He said, that's what I want you
to know. I'm being specific here, he said,
so that you don't think I'm just kind of speaking in generalities.
He says, I'm talking about me and Apollos. He said, don't think
of us in any high way. Don't do it. that no one of you be puffed
up for one against another. How foolish is such a thing that
we should raise one of God's children above the other? Because,
you see, we are to esteem one another above ourselves. And
if each esteems the other above himself, there can't be You know,
we're just constantly lifting one another up, are we not? I
mean, if I hold you up higher than me, and then you hold me
up higher than you, and we just keep lifting one another up,
what can be the detriment in that? How can we be harmed in
that? But there's benefit to God's
people in such a thing. Why would we be puffed up one
against another? Especially, he says, in saying,
well, I'm a follower of Paul as though that sets me above
someone else. No. He said, what's Paul? What's Paul? How is that going
to be of any benefit to anybody? For who maketh the evil differ
from another? I believe that this particular
verse of Scripture If you were ever, if ever you had the inclination
to start thinking of yourself above somebody else, whether
they be a believer or an unbeliever, when you start thinking of yourself
as above somebody else, or a cut different, or you look at somebody
and say, well, that's sorry, no good for nothing. We do that
every day, don't we? I mean, we look at people, well,
you know that sorry joker, I mean, he ain't worth killing. Be careful. Because who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what do you have that you
have not received? And if you have received it,
if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory? as if thou hadst
not received. Who maketh thee to differ? Oh, that verse might be, if you're
going to get a tattoo, you need to get that tattooed up here
on your forehead, but get it tattooed backwards. So that when
you look in the mirror every morning, you'd see it, and you
can read it, you know, like those signs on the front of the ambulance
where you'd see it in your rearview mirror. So when you look in that
mirror, you can read that every day. Or probably a better thing
is just tape it up there on your mirror, and then you won't have
to get the tattoo. But for who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what do you have that you
have not received? And I believe that's what Paul's
message to these Corinthians is. I think he's kind of bringing
that to a head right there. What does any of us have? Paul,
Apollos, Cephas? It doesn't matter. Brethren,
none of that matters. Christ is all. And He's the only
one worthy to be praised.