THE BOOK OF 1 CORINTHIANS: Living for God’s Approval
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by DaVinci Resolve (with edits)
If you’re visiting us for the first time this morning, we are working through the book of 1 Corinthians, and this morning we are in chapter 4.
Now, just as I think about this whole book, it made me think of all of the sports movies. I don’t know if any of you are into sports movies, right? It’s like, Hailey would say, “Oh dad, not another sports movie,” right? I really enjoy a good sports movie and documentaries. And Venessa read a book—I think it’s The Boys in the Boat. I don’t know if any of you have read that book or have seen the movie. Really good movie, and it’s about University of Washington, and they’re trying to recruit and get a rowing team, a men’s rowing team, for the Olympics. And they were—if I remember correctly, I think they won the Olympics around 1936. It was in Germany somewhere. But they walk you through all of the challenges, and something that really stood out to me was the coach, because the coach is kind of—he’s this hard coach, you know, and he’s expecting only the best from his athletes, and then you kind of see how they want to quit and want to give up and how the coach has to kind of motivate them and speak into their lives and call them to faithfulness.
And the same way this morning, again, as we just, we read through this chapter, we see Paul as, you know, he’s the founder of this early church in Corinth, and—so he planted this church. He was there for about a year and a half, and after he left, there’s some turmoil. And now he’s addressing some of the challenges that is happening within this church. And so he’s kind of this coach, and he wants his team, he wants this church, to be successful. Right? And even for us, you know, as we think about our church here at Salem, we think about the global church, we want the church to be successful.
And a lot of times the enemy and the flesh and different things come into play, and we get distracted, we lose focus, and then we get involved in things that we shouldn’t get involved in, and then you have challenges. And so Paul is speaking to some of those things.
Relationships
So just kind of an overview. As you think about this book, the overall theme is relationships. Right? So it’s really about different relationships within the church, and so we get to learn a lot throughout this book.
And the first four chapters, so chapters 1 to 4, is speaking about division. There’s division within the church, because what is happening—so kind of we see chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, that part of what created the turmoil was that people started to follow different preachers. Some said, “Well, I’m only gonna follow Paul.” “I’m only gonna follow Peter.” “I’m only gonna follow Apollos.” And it got so bad that we actually see—the Greek word, it says that they were “tearing each other apart,” and kind of just ripping each other apart because of their different views on who they were following.
And so now Paul is writing to them to say, “Hey, we got to get our focus right to be, again, to just be healthy and a church that’s not divided.” And so this is the one relationship piece that he’s dealing with from chapter 1 to 4.
Who is Apollos?
So just kind of—you’ll see in chapter 1 and again today in our chapter here that he talks about Apollos. So we kind of have to wonder, “Okay, who is this?” We don’t have a lot of information.
So who is Apollos? And what we know is that he was a Jew from Alexandria, Egypt. He was known for his eloquency and extensive knowledge of the Scriptures. So if you actually have your Bible with you, turn to Acts 18, because I want you to see that. So Acts chapter 18.
I want to encourage you, too, if you don’t have a Bible, order a Bible online. Go to Barnes & Noble and grab one, maybe with some margins on the side so that you can write down some things as we work through this book. So 18 verse 24.
Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor.
So that’s a little bit of the knowledge that we have. And we know that, obviously, he was in this partnership with Paul and preaching the word of God. And we will read a little bit later on kind of on people that mentored him.
A Proper View of the Apostles
And from chapter 1 to 3, Paul is actually addressing these early Christians, and he’s saying that, “You are young believers. You’re actually still in the flesh. You’re worldly.” As you think through some of these challenges and things that they’re dealing with, to say, “You’re not looking at these things as mature believers, but only as babes in the faith. And from a worldly perspective, you’re kind of picking people.” And so, chapter 1 to 3, we see the wrong view on some of these apostles.
Now, in chapter 4, you’re actually gonna see how Paul is addressing, and he’s helping them to have a right view of these different disciples. So, let’s start. 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted…
Alright? So again, chapter 1 to 3, a wrong view. Now Paul is teaching them. He says, “Here is the correct view.” And the first thing that he is trying to communicate to them—again, he’s trying to show them his role as the founder of this church, as an apostle. And it’s a tricky balance here on what he’s trying to do, because you’re gonna see, he’s gonna try and present himself as a servant, as humble, but he also has to share kind of his authority, that they need to listen to him and that they need to follow him. And so, you’re gonna see kind of that balance throughout this passage.
Now, when we look at that first, the way that he’s kind of, the word that he’s describing him, he says, “I am a servant of Christ.” So, he’s talking about Peter, and he’s talking about Apollos as well here, and it is interesting, that word—a lot of times in some of the other letters, when Paul introduced himself, he uses the word dolos, right? But here, he uses a different word. And actually, in the Greek here it means “under rowers.” Paul deliberately chooses this word to emphasize his humility and complete submission to Christ’s authority.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve watched some of these older movies where you have kind of slaves in the bottom of a boat where they’re kind of rowing. I’ve got just a movie clip for you because this is exactly—this is from the old Ben Hur movie—what Paul is trying to describe here. So, if we can…
“Battle speed for Tatum.”
“Battle speed!”
So, that’s the image, right? So, when you watch that again, so, this is the image that Paul is trying to communicate and to say this is his role. Remember looking back at chapter 1 through chapter 3? Because people were kind of elevating the preachers and the speakers, and they’ve made them kind of these spiritual superheroes. And now Paul is giving them a correct view on how they should look at them and to say, “Hey, I’m just an under rower. I’m not in charge. I’m just part of a team. And the leader here of this ship is Jesus Christ.”
Paul as Steward
And then he continues to say:
… as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.
Now, this word “entrusted” here is actually the Greek word “steward.”
Now, I don’t know that we’re gonna get far through this chapter, but at least I want to share with you a couple of things that’s been speaking to me this week as we look at this passage, because I want us—we want to look at this letter in context as Paul was writing to the early church. But it is amazing, when we read this book, how there’s different aspects that really just challenges us. And there were some things just in these first verses that was challenging me as your pastor. And again, just the weight of what it means to be a pastor and the weight that it carries for us to be a Christian and to represent Christ well.
And so here he’s using this word “steward.” Now, what he’s meaning with this is—the biblical context, the way that we have to think about this is—when the master, owner of maybe property or house or farm, and then he would have slaves or servants, and then he would hire another servant that would kind of oversee the other servants. So this would be kind of the manager of other servants, right? But this steward (servant) is still just a servant to the master, but he’s taking care of the master’s property, he’s taking care of the rest of the slaves, and so big responsibility, because again, it is not his property. It is not his finances. It is not his belongings. He is just managing some of these things.
And so this is what Paul is trying to communicate. He says, “First of all, I’m just a steward. I am a steward of the mysteries of the gospel.” And so what he’s communicating here is to say, “God has called me. I’m an apostle, I’m a preacher, and God has called me to preach the mysteries of the gospel.” Now, kind of what he’s meaning here with the “mysteries” is just to say it is the mystery of the death and resurrection of the gospel, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, how we can preach the gospel, what Jesus Christ has done, how that can bring change and transformation into our lives.
We Are Stewards
Now, kind of just thinking about this whole idea about being a steward, and this is the part that just kind of hit me differently this week, because we are reminded that God owns everything. We are his stewards. Can I hear an amen? Okay. Listen to this again. God owns everything. We are his stewards.
Psalm 24:1,
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
Right? We might think that we own and have a lot of things, but at the end of the day, if we’re very honest with each other, everything belongs to the Lord, and we’re only stewards to these things. And one day, we’re gonna stand in front of Christ, and we will have to be accountable. Even when we think just about—not just think finances and property, but think about your family, your talents, your gifts, right?
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.”
That’s the parable of the talents.
Faithful Stewards are Productive
Now, I want you to know, as we think about this area of being a faithful steward, and what Paul is trying to communicate to them, is to say that a faithful steward is productive. It’s not just kind of having this title, but it is actually to use your gifts and your talents for the kingdom of God, because you have that awareness that at some point, Christ will return, and you and I will have to give account. So that’s even with this parable of the talents, where the owner was chewing one of the servants out because they just kind of buried the talents. And God wants us to be productive, to make a difference, and not just look up to the sky and say, “Que será será, we’re just kind of waiting on Jesus Christ to return. And in the meantime, we’re pretty much useless,” right? It’s like, no, we look up, we’re excited, but we also are in a place where we are productive for the kingdom of God.
And so he says that they are faithful. This kind of was so encouraging me too, verse 2. It says,
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
Now, when we look at this, it says, “Must be very gifted.” “Must be pretty.” “Must be able to be a good worship leader,” right? It’s like, no. It is so encouraging that Paul is saying—and again, as he’s speaking to us as faithful stewards to say, “Here is the requirement of what it means to be a faithful servant,” right? What does it mean for us to walk this earth? It means—kind of the key thing that Paul is looking for is this—to be faithful.
Now, this is a hard one. It challenges us, it challenges our culture and some of those things, because really, when we’re honest—and this is not something where I want to come this morning and judge you and say, “Oh, you’re not faithful in this, you’re not faithful…” We all have different areas in our lives where we maybe are not quite as faithful in the way that God wants us to be faithful. And so what Paul is saying to them, and kind of in this whole being a steward, so he’s saying, “You need to be productive. You kind of, you got to be active here.” And he says, “For me to be the servant and for you guys actually to look at me to be a godly example, I need to be faithful.”
Areas of Faithfulness for Stewards
And so a couple of things as we look at areas where we need to be faithful as stewards:
Number one, to be good stewards of the gospel. I’m not gonna read all of these passages for you. You can just kind of make a note. But to be a steward—and this is actually the main point that Paul is trying to communicate to them here is to say, “I am gonna be faithful in preaching the word of God.” Right? This is what it means. This is what it means for Paul. And for us, the same way, we have to be faithful stewards to the gospel. When we have that opportunity to share God’s Word, we got to do it.
We have to be good stewards of our time, right? A lot of times it’s so easy for us to waste time. And that’s one thing we know, that time is short, and that it’s easy to just, you know, lose time. But again, Paul is calling us to say, “Man, we have a limited amount of time. What are we doing with that? Are we living as faithful stewards with our time?”
This is maybe the one that is most common for us and maybe an area that we think about immediately as we think about stewards of our finances, and kind of all areas of our lives. I know I have definitely—the Lord might have a little bit of a conversation with me, especially in this area, maybe sometimes on technology, right? It’s like, “Man, probably should not have spent my money on that. That was probably a waste of money.” But again, for us to just think about areas on where do we spend our money. When we stand in front of God, and when he’s calling us to that faithfulness, and he says, “Hey, I’ve blessed you with…” whatever salary that might look like and whatever you might receive, it’s like, what did you do with that? Were you faithful to the things that God has called you to do with your finances?
Another big one. We need to be good stewards of our relationships. This is another, it’s a hard one, because, you know, working with people, that’s complicated. Last night we were watching The Middle, and they were dealing with, in this middle—I don’t know if you’ve seen the family show, and it was a show on Thanksgiving, and the different family dynamics, right? And it’s like, just the craziness and relationships, and it’s like, yeah, relationships can be so hard, and yet God is calling us to be faithful stewards to the relationships that the Lord might be placing in your life.
Fear of Man vs. Fear of God
And then he continues. Let’s continue to read here. Verse 3.
I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
And so what Paul is—again, think of context—what he’s trying to communicate to them. He wants to give them an accurate view on the apostles. And so he’s now saying, “I want you to know that I am really driven by how God sees me. That there’s not a fear of man in my life.”
Now, this is a hard one for all of us, right? When we think about the fear of man, it’s a desire to be liked or to be accepted. Now, who of you sit here today and you can say, “Well, I don’t care. I, you know, it’s like, it’s not a big thing for me to be liked.” Right? We all want to be liked. In a sense we’re all people-pleasers. Praise the Lord—you know, when you’re a teenager, that’s a big thing. And as you get older, praise the Lord, that’s getting less and less, right? And you find your identity. You understand your calling, and you start to realize that, man, it is way more important to fear God than it is to fear man.
And so this is what Paul is saying, to say, “Hey, I am driven. This task that the Lord has for me, I am driven. I fear God, and I don’t fear man. I’m just gonna preach the gospel. It doesn’t matter what happens to me.”
Proverbs 29:25 says,
The fear of man lays a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
When we crave approval from people, it can lead us away from God’s truth. Can I hear an amen?
(I wonder if I should say this. I’m gonna get in trouble.)
Interesting, when we look at our political climate right now, you know, we see all kinds of different debates, we see the things that’s happening kind of on the media and the politicians trying to make their case. Interesting, over the years as we watch them, how things shifts. Their views on things shifts because they want the vote and approval of man. And you know, which is scary when we are willing to compromise because we want that approval. But you know, easy for me today to pick on the politicians, and they’re in front of us; they’re kind of easy to pick on right now, right? But even when we look at our own lives, right, how many times have we, when we’ve been in a hard situation where we’ve maybe compromised because we want that approval. And then to rather to stand up for God and to say, “You know what, God’s approval is way more important to me than people’s approval.” And again, it’s not an easy thing to always do that.
I love this quote from Oswald Chambers. He says:
“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”
Isn’t that powerful? That’s so challenging. And so for us to wake up every morning in our identity in Christ to say, “God, you have called me to be a good steward of this life, and you’ve placed me here. How do I make everything count? Because I fear you.”
And it’s not this “ooh scary” fear. It’s a reverence, right? And to just have that aweness of God. Like, “God, you have called me in a big scope of things. I’m nothing. But it’s by the grace of God alone that I can be here, that you’ve blessed me with finances, that you’ve blessed me to be in Duluth, right, and to have all the blessings that’s in my life. But Lord, how do I use all of that to honor and please you? And not to be swayed by all of the things of this world.”
Proverbs 9:10 says,
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Now, when we look at scripture, right, it’s always men and women that had a fear of the Lord that made a difference, that the Lord was able to use. When we look at just the story of Esther, right, her approaching the king, that saved the whole nation, God’s people. When you think about Moses, John the Baptist, Nehemiah, Daniel—it’s people that feared the Lord. And I just think in this day and age that we’re living in, the Lord is calling us to be brave. The Lord is calling the church to say, “Be without compromise,” right? But again, a key thing here is to say, “I need to understand what is God’s convictions.” Because if we don’t study his Word and if we don’t understand what God’s convictions are, right, and his principles, then it will be hard for us to live that out and to have that convictions in our own life, and then we will be influenced by the world.
And so this is what Paul is just saying. He’s like, “Hey, I am not gonna be fearful. I’m not gonna be worried about your judgment and your criticism. I’m gonna be faithful to God, and I’m gonna just preach faithfully.” And what a great challenge for us, kind of, as we go through this time period. And I think that we will continue as a church to experience more and more persecution. I think it will get harder for us to say, “I’m a Christian” and to have biblical convictions. But then to be on a place to say, “Who am I gonna fear? Am I gonna fear men, or am I gonna fear God?”
Because at the end of the day, you and I will not be judged. When Jesus returns, it’s not gonna matter. The people—every knee will bow, and each person will have to give account for their life to Christ. So who cares? And again, I know standing here and sitting here today, it’s easy. But when you are on your own, when you’re in school, when you’re in the workplace, and there’s certain things that are being said and being done, that’s not always easy, to be bold and to be people of conviction. And not just to be—because sometimes you get people that’s full of convictions, but they’re just jerks about it, right? They just want to be tough and create drama. And this is not what Paul is calling us to say that there needs to be a deep godly conviction, and when we stand up, let it be out of love, let it be out of grace, right?
And we see that as such a great example when we look at the life of Daniel and the way that he influences the Babylonian culture. He’s not a jerk about it, but he’s a man of conviction, and he’s able to do be a godly example in those hard times.
Paul’s Rebuke
All right, let’s continue. Let’s do verse 6.
Now, brothers and sisters…
How much time do I have?
Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
Now, kind of, you’re gonna see verse 7, verse 8, Paul is really sarcastic. He’s really stepping on their toes here.
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.
So the whole tone here, Paul is very sarcastic. And what he’s telling this church is to say, “Oh, you think you have arrived.” Right? “You think you are so cute, and in your worldly view of things, you kind of think that you know it all. But who are you?” Like, “Look at the apostles, all the things that we have gone through, some of the slander and the hard things, to actually be faithful to the gospel. And here you are in the flesh, and you just say, ‘Oh, look at us. We have arrived. We are so cute and so good in our own wisdom.’” And so that is what Paul is addressing here.
Paul’s Invitation
Now, I like the switch here in verse 14, because now you’re gonna see the softer tone of Paul. Here’s kind of the pastoral heart that is coming through here. Verse 14.
I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
Kind of just to make a note there, what he means with that word “guardian,” he’s saying—the Greek meaning behind it is like if there’s a servant that is taking your kids to school and pick them up to make sure that they get to school safely and they get back to the house safely. And so he’s saying that there’s many of those types of people in your life, but not a lot of spiritual fathers. And so he says, “I want to be your spiritual father. I want to be one that will really speak into your life that’s spiritual mentor.”
And now he’s gonna invite them to say, “You can follow me and you can imitate me.” Verse 16.
Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?
And so Paul is just saying, “I’m coming. I’ll be visiting, the Lord willing. How do you want me to come? With a rod? Are you gonna listen? Are you gonna get your act together? Or do you want me to come with a gentle spirit?”
“Okay, Paul, we want you to come with a gentle spirit. We’ll prefer that this morning.”
Closing Remarks
But just a good word this morning for us, kind of as we think about our own lives and what does it mean to be a steward. How is God calling you right now to be a good steward in your family, with your time, with your resources, with your talents? And the good thing is, even if you look back at your life—and maybe you’re in a place to say, “Man, I have really messed up. I really was not a good steward of my time and my resources, my gifts and the talents.” Then praise the Lord for grace! Because even again, the early church messed up. We all mess up. But this is our opportunity. Today’s a new day to say, “What’s maybe one or two things that I can change? Lord, I’m gonna look at some things that you have blessed me with, some things that you have called me that I’m a steward of, and I want to take better care of that. I want to use that for your kingdom.” And so just maybe as you think about your own life this morning, it’s like, with some areas that you say, “Hey, God is maybe challenging me in this area to be a better steward.”
And then just this whole idea of your identity in Christ this morning. This was really encouraging to me. It was challenging as well. I just felt like the Holy Spirit stepping on my toes to say, you know, it’s so easy to be fearful of man. And as we, you know, are in a very interesting time and as the church will experience more and more persecution, will we be faithful? Will we be those faithful stewards that will stand till the very end and without compromise?
And we know that in the last days, whenever that is—and I think we already see some of that—that there is this great falling away. We are already seeing part of that, right? You guys are amazing that you’re here this morning. But when we look at this world, this is not normal anymore. There’s already so many people in this world that is not believing and that has given up on their faith.
And so I want to encourage you even today, while things are going well, make that commitment in your own heart. Say, “Lord, I will be faithful to the very end. I might have to pay a price, but I will be faithful.”
We were watching—we were trying to, with our exchange student, we were trying to find just a good movie, and we, you know, something that is healthy, and we took her to… is it White Bird? It’s kind of based off the Europe… What’s the movie? The smaller, the first one? Wonder, Wonder. And White Bird, but it goes into some of those Germans that had a conviction to protect and that were hiding Jews in their homes. And just powerful, powerful, when you watch those again, those people that had conviction to say, “What is happening in our culture and in our country is not right. God wants me to take care of these people, even if it costs me my own life.”
And so for us, even to say, “The things that we believe in, according to God’s Word, am I willing to die for those things?” Is that how strong that conviction is in our lives? And so I pray that it will be true for us and that we will continue to grow into that. So let us pray.
Just as we’re sitting here this morning, I want to just want you to think about stewardship, maybe some things that the Lord has blessed you with in your life—some responsibilities, your workplace, resources, your time, your family. And maybe as you think about some of those areas, just maybe areas that you know in your own heart this morning that you have not been a good steward of. And so just to bring that to the Lord this morning, to ask the Holy Spirit, “Help me. I want to be a better steward. I want to honor you with those things.” And so maybe if there’s some areas this morning, just bring that to the Lord.
