Now, you remember, as we started
our study in 1 Corinthians, that divisions had come up amongst
the people there at the church in Corinth. And one of the things
that they were dividing over was preachers. And here in 1
Corinthians 4, these first eight verses, Paul gives us the duty
of a pastor, of a teacher, and their place in our minds and
hearts. He says in verse 1 of 1 Corinthians
4, he said, let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God. Pastors and teachers,
Paul says, first of all, are ministers. And that word literally
translated is servants. They're servants of Christ. Nothing
more. They don't have, you know, some
divine revelation that's different than anyone else. They don't
have any more of a straight hotline to God than any other of God's
children. Children, they're servants of
God. Now, they should be given honor from us because of whose
servant they are. They're ministers of Christ.
We should listen to them for Christ's sake. God's the one
who called them. God's the one who gave them the
message, and God's the one that sent them to us for our good,
for our learning, and they should be given our respect and our
love. But don't exalt them above their
place, out of measure. Just remember that they're a
servant. And then Paul says they're stewards. Now, a steward is a
servant. who manages the affairs of the
household of his master. Maybe you might call them the
chief servant or something. And God's pastors are stewards.
They don't manage household affairs, but they're stewards of the mysteries
of God, is the way Paul puts it. The pastor's job is to make
known the mysteries of God's grace, to make known to us the
mysteries of God's word, to teach the word, and we're to respect
them for the work's sake. Now verse two, he says, moreover,
it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Now
I think every believer would love to be found faithful. In
the end, to be found faithful. I think that's probably one of
the greatest compliments that you can give God's people is
you're faithful. But especially pastors and elders
and teachers to be faithful. First of all, we should be faithful
to the Lord who called us. Faithful to preach Christ. Not
ourselves, but Him. Faithful to preach Him. Second,
to be faithful to God's Word. Look back at Acts chapter 20. Faithful to the Word. In Acts
20 verse 17. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus,
and called the elders of the church. And when they were come
to him, he said unto them, You know from the first day that
I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at
all seasons, serving the Lord, with all humility of mind, and
with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying
and weight of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you. but have showed you and have
taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both
to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in
the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things
move me." That's a faithful servant. None of these things move Neither
count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course
with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus,
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold,
I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom
of God shall see my face no more. Wherefore, I take you to record
this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have
not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. That's
being faithful to the word. I've not shunned and declared
unto you the whole word of God. Third, a servant, a steward is
to be faithful to the work of the ministry. The work of the
ministry. A few weeks ago on a Saturday
morning, I was studying and Tom Harding called. He wanted me
to come preach for him a Sunday or two ago. And he asked me,
Janet told him what I was doing, and she came in and gave me the
phone. He said, well, you got your work boots on, don't you?
I said, yes, I do. It's the work of the ministry.
Faithful to study hard in the Word. This is not something that
you just, you know, flippantly roll out of bed and, you know,
kind of figure out what you're going to say. You study hard
the Word. Look over 2 Timothy, chapter
15. I'm sorry, saying 2 Timothy 2
verse 15. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. If we're going to rightly divide
the word of truth, that's going to take study. It's going to
take a workman to study and seek the message from the Lord. And
fourth, a steward is to be faithful to the people that we preach
to. Faithful to work hard and faithful to give the message
that the Lord has given. Faithful to be with folks, to
preach to the heart of God's people. Faithful to the people
of God. That's a steward, to be found
faithful. Now, verse three, he says, 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.
Now what Paul is saying here is it doesn't matter to me how
you judge me, or how any man judges my ministry, because I'm
not going to stand or fall by the judgment of any human being.
Even my own judgment. Even my own judgment of my own
self. Now that sounds pretty hard, doesn't it? You know, I
first was looking at that, but that sounds hard to say. Well,
I don't care how you judge me. Well, what Paul is really saying
here is it doesn't matter what people accuse you of as long
as it's not true. You know, people were accusing
Paul of all sorts of different things, and it didn't matter
to him really all that much as long as it wasn't true. Paul
knew that the Lord had called him and put him into ministry. So it didn't matter too much
to him if men questioned his ministry or his apostleship,
as long as he knew he was preaching the truth. As long as he knew
he was preaching the gospel, it didn't matter too much to
him if men hated him for the gospel's sake, especially if
those people had come under the influence of false teachers.
And that's what happened at Corinth. They got under the influence
of false teachers and began to question Paul's ministry, his
message, and his apostleship. Now certainly, we would like
to have a good reputation in the community. You know, you'd
like to go out in the community and everybody see you and like
you. And in the church of God, certainly we'd like to have a
good reputation amongst God's people. But that's not our primary
objective. The faithful steward's primary
objective is for people to know Christ, to point people to the
Savior. And if you look in verse 4, here's
how the ministry is judged. Here's how a servant is judged.
For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified. But he that judges me is the
Lord. Now Paul says, I don't know anything
against myself in the ministry. That's what he's saying. He says,
I don't know anything that I've done wrong in the ministry. He
honestly, it's like we read there where he talked to the Ephesian
elders. He honestly felt pure from the blood of all men. He
felt like he preached the word of God as faithfully as he knew
how to preach it. Yet, he says, that's not how
I'm justified. That's my, that's the way I see
it. That's my opinion of myself, but that's not how I'm justified.
And that's a good example to follow because every one of us
can vindicate ourselves by our own opinion of ourselves. Just
give me long enough to twist it around and I'll vindicate
myself somehow. Just give me time. But the Lord's
the one, he says, that's going to justify my ministry. The Lord's
the one who judges his servants. The servant's aim is to please
the master and let him be the judge of it, not myself or other
folks. Now, verse 5, he says, Therefore,
judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both
will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make
manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then shall every
man have praise of God. Now be slow. I'm learning this
to be slow to judge every situation. Just be slow to judge it. Don't
be quick. Wait until the facts are in. Wait until you've heard all the
facts now before you just quickly judge any situation. Because
things frequently look different as time passes. You know, as
President Bush left office and his approval rating was just
like the lowest maybe ever. But people said, just wait and
give it time. And he's going to be remembered much better
than he is now because time gives us perspective. And just wait
until some time passes before you're too quick to judge these
things. Wait until you've heard both sides of the story. Just
wait now. Because secrets come out if you
give them long enough. So just be slow. But especially
in this matter of the gospel, be mighty slow to judge one another. Just be very, very slow to cut
off fellowship with someone. Be very slow. I mean very slow
to determine someone doesn't know the Lord. Now that's a serious
statement to say, well, they don't know the Lord. Well, that's
not my business. Just be awful slow to say that
and be very slow to judge that a man isn't preaching the gospel.
I remember, I don't know how many years ago it was, I remember
hearing Henry say, I didn't know it at the time, but he was under
attack and people were saying he doesn't preach the gospel.
And he made that statement, be very slow to charge a man of
not preaching the gospel. And you can't take it back. You
just can't take it back. So be very slow. And there's
a day appointed for these things. There's a day appointed when
everything is going to be open and manifest. There's a day coming
that all these things will be judged, and they'll be judged
by the right person, by the Lord, when He returns. And that day
that the Lord returns in judgment, everything that's now hidden
in darkness is going to be brought out into the light. Men who are
in the ministry for a filthy lucre, they're going to be seen
for what they are. Men who may be deceiving people
whose God is their belly, and that day they'll be made manifest
and the Lord will deal with them. The righteous judge in that day
is going to reveal the motives, the secret motives, secret purposes
of the hearts of men that we may never have been able to figure
out, but he knows and he'll reveal them. And also in that day, true
believers who've been given faith in Christ, that'll be revealed
too. And no matter how much men have
hated you, no matter how much men have hated the gospel that
you preach, no matter how much men hate the Savior that you
adore, that you put all of your hope and confidence in, no matter
how much men have hated you in that day, you'll have praise
from the Savior. That's what will happen. Now,
verse six. Paul says, In these things, brethren,
I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for
your sakes, that ye might learn in us not to think of men above
that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one
against another. Now Paul's applying what he's
been teaching here about divisions and these attitudes about preachers.
to himself and Apollos. He's applying it to himself.
He says, these things apply even to me. Look back in chapter 3,
verse 4. Here's why he's doing this. He
says, For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of
Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul? And who is
Apollos? All we are are ministers, servants,
by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. It
impulsed water, but God gave the increase. You see, don't
think of even me too highly. He's not just saying, well, don't
think all these other preachers too highly. He's applying it
to himself too. Don't think of me too highly.
We're just servants. If we're going to think highly
of anyone, let it be the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us have our
affection set on the Master, not the servants. Now certainly we should appreciate,
be thankful for the gifts and abilities that the Lord gives
His servants to teach the Word. That's why He gives those men
these abilities. It's for our learning, to learn
the Word, to hear the Gospel preached. And we're so thankful
for them. I mean so thankful. But we need
to remember they're just men. Even the best of them are just
men. They're just ordinary men. They're
just a clay pot that the Lord uses to preach the gospel. No
different than you and me, other than the Lord's given them the
ability to teach the word. Look back in Romans chapter 12. Romans 12 verse 3. For I say
through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among
you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to
every man the measure of faith." Don't think more highly of yourself
and don't think more highly of anyone else. Then you ought to
think of them just as a man, because sure as you do think
more highly of them than you ought to, they'll disappoint
you. Now, they will. And you're putting a burden on
that clay pot that it can't bear. It's just flesh. It's just flesh. And when someone thinks too highly
of himself, the flesh becomes puffed up. And if we think too
highly of someone else, too, we're prone to make their flesh
get puffed up. And that always causes problems
when the flesh becomes puffed up. It's going to lead to trouble.
But now, without question, the Lord does give gifts to his people,
doesn't he? I mean, without question, he
gives gifts to all people, all of his children. But particularly,
as we're talking here about preachers, he gives men gifts to teach the
word, to preach the gospel. There's no denying that. Well,
how do you handle that? Do you just pretend like, well,
the Lord, you know, didn't give him that gift? How do you handle
that? How does a person keep from getting full of himself
when the Lord blesses by giving these gifts? Well, you do that
by remembering verse 7. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why didst thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Believers are different than
unbelievers. You are. Not by nature. Not because you figured out something
somebody else couldn't figure out. You're different by the
new birth. You're different because the
Lord made you different. The Lord made a difference in
election. In eternity past, God made a
difference in election. He chose one and passed another
by. God made that difference. He
didn't choose one because one was any better than the other.
They weren't. They're exactly the same from
the exact same lump of sinful flesh. But God made a difference.
He chose one past the other by. God made the difference in calling.
Two people hear the same message, preach at the exact same time
from the exact same preacher. One of them hears. One of them
hears with the ear of faith. One of them loves it. One of
them sees Christ in it. To the other one, it's just words.
What's the difference? The Lord made a difference in
calling. The Lord spoke to the heart of
His sheep and not to the other. The Lord made the difference
in showing mercy. Mercy is sovereign mercy. Look back at Romans chapter 9.
The Lord made the difference in mercy because it's sovereign
mercy. He gives it to whomsoever he
will. Romans 9 verse 11. For the children,
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. God made the difference. The
only difference between those two boys was God chose Jacob. That's the only difference. Pastor
Esau lied. You're here this morning. I hope you're here because you
believe the gospel. You want to hear it preached. Well, who
gave you the faith to believe it? God did. So then you can't be puffed up
against the unbeliever, can we? Because God's the one that gave
faith. You're here and you have some
understanding of God's Word. You have some understanding of
what it is that we're reading. Well, who gave you that understanding?
Why aren't you still in darkness? Why isn't all this just still
a mystery to you? Because the Lord called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light. He made the difference.
You have some desire. You find some desire in your
heart. to do good works. And then there's some ability
to do good works. And then occasionally we might
even do some of them. Occasionally. Who gave you that
gift? Who gave you the ability? Who
gave you the desire? Look at Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2 verse 10. from where
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." See,
God made the difference, didn't he? Maybe we haven't fallen publicly
like someone else. Were you going to be puffed up
against them? Who kept you from falling? Who kept me from falling?
Look over at Jude, verse 24. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling. If we haven't fallen, it's all
due to him who's able to keep you from falling and to present
you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior
be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now and ever.
Why? Because he made the difference. Look at Galatians 6. Verse 1. Brethren, if a man be
overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a
one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. I'm telling you, it's God who
made the difference. Maybe someone's able to give
more than someone else. Well, who blessed you with the
resources to be able to give in the first place? Well, God
did. It's all His. He said the cattle
on a thousand hills are mine. If I need these, they won't ask
you. They're all mine. He gave it to us, and we simply
return what He gave to us. It's God that made the difference. The Lord makes the difference
between the prince and the pauper. I'm talking about in this world.
Nebuchadnezzar learned that. He learned that the Most High
ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he
will. And he setteth up over it the basest of men. Well, so
what if you're set up in some position in the world? Some position
of authority or responsibility or leadership? God just put the
basest of men there, even if it's me. He setteth up over it
the basest of men. God made the difference. And
all this that we're talking about applies to preachers, because
that's what Paul's talking about here. Some men do have more gifts
and abilities than others. We talked about that last week.
There's some who are master builders and some who are apprentices.
But God gave the gifts. God's the one that gives gifts
to different men. And we're thankful for them.
But we need to be sure that the one who gave the gift is the
one who gets all the praise. That's what John the Baptist
says, I must decrease and he must increase. And certainly, this is a shocking
thing that these people of Corinth that fall into, they gloried
in who preached the gospel to them. When we do that, we're
glorying in a man. And you may have, and thought
all of you did, sit under the ministry of the most gifted preacher
of our generation. Well, where do you got the glory
in? Who put you there? Who sent Him to you? Who gifted
that man? It's God. God made the difference. You know, believers, people who
understand grace ought to be known as a thankful people. When
you receive a birthday present, We had two birthday parties in
the past week for my daughter, Savannah. She opened a present.
She didn't say, oh, look what I did. I was very thankful. She said, thank you. Thank you. That's a gift. You didn't have
to do that. It's a gift. Well, how much more
should a believer be thankful for the gifts that the Lord gives
us? You talk about undeserved. It's grace. It's undeserved.
And all the glory and all the thanks and all the praise goes
to the Lord who gave it. It's both physical and spiritual
gifts. Look over at James chapter 1. Everything we have, everything
comes from God. He made the difference. James
1 verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above. It cometh down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. And
here's the greatest gift. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. It's God who made the difference.
And I'm telling you, if it's of grace, and we claim to be
sovereign gracers, if it's of grace, boasting is excluded. Absolutely excluded. That's what
Paul said in Romans 3. If it's of grace, boasting is
excluded. I read this this week. One of
the writers said this. Beggars may glory in those who
support them, but not in themselves. A beggar may glory in the fellow
that gave him a gift, but not in himself. And how many times
have we been told what we are? Mercy beggars. Mercy beggars
may glory in the one who gives mercy, but never in ourselves. Now, verse 8. Now, Paul says,
you're full. Now you're rich and you've reigned
as kings without us. And I would to God ye did reign,
that we also might reign with you. And what he's saying here
is now you think you're full. Now you think you've arrived.
Now you think you don't need to grow in grace anymore because
you know so much you don't need to be taught anymore. And that's
got to be the worst attitude for anyone to have who claims
to believe grace. To be full of yourself. To be
proud of grace. To be full of yourself. Not full
of Christ. Not full of His grace. Not full
of the Spirit of God. Not full of faith. Not full of
joy and peace. Not full of spiritual knowledge.
But full of yourself. Can you think of anything worse
to be full of than yourself? And Paul says, now you think
you're rich. You think you're rich in all
this ability and all this knowledge and understanding. He's not talking
about them being rich in faith or rich in good works or rich
in love or rich in mercy. What a horrible situation to
be in when you think you're so rich, you don't need God anymore. And people with this kind of
attitude, they think they're so full of themselves. that they
didn't need preachers anymore. And worse yet, they despised
the old preachers who very first came to them and preached to
them the simplicity of Christ. They thought now they're too
advanced for those fellows and they're too advanced for their
message because we're too advanced for simple things. They thought
that they were so full of knowledge, they looked down their noses
at the servant that God sent them to preach Christ to them.
And all that shows is immaturity. That's what that shows. It's
a lack of understanding. That's the attitude of a teenager,
isn't it? When you're teenagers, but teenagers
think, oh, I don't need, you know, I know so much more than
my parents. They don't know nothing. If I
could just get on on my own, everything would be better because
I know everything. Teenagers know everything. And you got
to get a little older till you realize how dumb you really are.
And that's what's going on here. They're teenagers, just teenage
brats who think that they're still full of themselves. And
a person who's truly learned something, has truly gained some
knowledge, loves those old teachers even more. And that's true in
a worldly sense and it's true in a spiritual sense. When I
was in high school, I had a teacher. A grouchy old woman, and probably
grouchy because I was her student. I mean, that woman grated on
my last nerve. I mean, I just celebrated the
day when I got out of her English class. Miss Sylvia, you remember
Miss Sylvia? She rode herd on me just, oh
my goodness sakes, I just... And she got me off in the corner
one day and she said, you're not giving your best effort and
I won't have it. I mean, oh my goodness. I love
that woman. I mean, now, I love that woman. I probably learned more from
her to help me in my everyday life than any teacher I ever
had. I was a teenage brat. Now maybe I'll learn something. That's what this is talking about.
And Paul says, you think you're kings. And you think you reign. You think you reign without us.
You're looking down on us. You've risen above us. And he
says, I wish it were true. Because if it were true, what
he's talking about is, that would have been the day Christ returns.
Because when he returns, then we will reign together. And all
this will be over. We'll be done fighting this flesh.
We'll be done fighting the sin that's in us. And it will reign
together. There'll be no more divisions.
There'll be more of this fighting and fussing and feuding. We'll
be together. And then we'll know something.
Then we'll look back and think, boy, I didn't know anything.
I mean, I didn't know anything. But until that day, I mean, I
long for that day. But until that day, it really
struck me how much we need to pray for humility. to pray for
a teachable spirit, to pray for more grace, because well-taught
people can fall into these traps. These folks weren't somebody
who just didn't have any good teachers or anybody to teach
them something. They ain't had the best, and
they still fell into these traps. It just shows us how completely
dependent we are on our Father. Alright, well, Lord bless you.