What is the true minister of Jesus Christ like? What is his job? What is required of him? What will God’s judgment be like? This message is especially appropriate for those who have a calling to serve Jesus Christ in a special way.
Teaching Notes:
The True Minister of Jesus Christ
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Intro:
We are in a section, beginning at 1 Corinthians 1:10 in which Paul is rebuking the Corinthians for exalting various ministers and creating divisions in the body. Paul wrote chapter 3 to correct the problem of regarding ministers too highly. There he said that he and Apollos were only God’s fellow-workers, that they planted and watered, but only God could give growth. Thus, they weren’t anything. Now he writes chapter 4 to correct the problem of regarding ministers too lowly.
In this section, we get a Biblical glimpse of the minister of Jesus Christ.
1. He is the Servant of Christ: The word “minister” and “servant” are exactly the same word. In fact in Greek the word for “servant” here means “underrower”. This was the servant who took his place at the bottom of the ship, and rowed under the orders of someone else. Of Christ: this gives him dignity. Yes, he is a servant, but not any old servant. He is the servant of Jesus Christ. They were called and sent forth by Him to preach His Gospel. They were His ambassadors, standing in His place and stead and representing Him, and therefore should be respected and esteemed for His sake.
What kind of a servant is he? A steward of the mysteries of God. A steward was a servant whom the master entrusted the direction of his house and in particular the care of distributing to all the servants their tasks and provisions (Lu.12:42). What exactly is the Servant of Christ supposed to distribute to God’s people? The mysteries of God. These are the great truths of Scripture, those things hidden to God’s OT people, but now revealed in the NT.
2. He Is Required to be Trustworthy: The word “trustworthy” could also be translated “faithful” as it is in most older translations. The minister is not required to be successful; he is required to be faithful. Some of God’s greatest men were failures according to men: Noah, Jeremiah. Some of God’s rebellious men were successes in the eyes of men: Jonah. We must not care about worldly or human success. We must simply do what God has commanded us to do, and leave the results to Him. He will reward us, not for our worldly success, but for the kinds of building materials we used in His temple (1Cor.3:14).
3. He Is Not To Seek Man’s Approval:
A. The Situation at Corinth: some of the believers were criticizing Paul and demeaning him. They were of Apollos or Cephas or Christ, and had little regard for him. They were examining him and his ministry and finding fault.
B. How Did Paul Respond to their Criticism? To him it was a very small thing! He didn’t get uptight or angry or sad. He just didn’t pay much attention to it. To Paul man’s criticisms or judgments had very little weight. What mattered to Paul was God’s evaluation of him.
C. Paul’s Self-Judgment: In this text, we have 3 kinds of judgment: man’s judgment (3:3), self-judgment (3:4), and God’s judgment (3:5). Paul didn’t judge (examine) himself. As far as he was consciously aware, he wasn’t aware of anything against himself. Now, Paul is not saying that he is not aware of a single sin he had ever committed! In context, he is saying that when it comes to faithfulness to the ministry God had entrusted to him, he was not aware of any personal unfaithfulness.
D. God’s Judgment:
1) When will God Judge? When the Lord comes. Judgment Day will take place when Christ returns. Mt.25:31-46.
2) What will God do when He judges? Bring to light the things hidden in the darkness. This may be speaking of hidden sins, the evil things we are ashamed of, the skeletons in our closet. OR, this may be speaking of the good things we have done that no one ever knew about because we never told anyone. The second interpretation fits better with the context (“and then each man’s praise will come to him from God”). And disclose the motives of men’s hearts: right now none of us can infallibly discern the motives of any other person, let alone our own motives! Only God knows man’s motives perfectly. Note: the motive from which we do a deed, is just as important if not more so, than the deed itself. When God judges, He will not only take into account what we have done, but why we did it.
3) What will be the result of God’s Judgment? Then each man’s praise will come to him from God. “Each man” here refers to each believer. The unbeliever will receive no praise from God, but be cast into hell. Only the believer will hear words of praise and commendation from God. This is speaking of the rewards that will flow to believers at the Final Judgment. Perhaps our rewards at this Day of Judgment, will be made up, at least in part, of God’s praise of us.
Life Applications:
1. Ministers, Realize Your High Calling! You are servants, yet, but servants of the Lord Jesus Christ! What calling could possibly be higher than that? What calling could have any more dignity or importance in light of eternity? None! As Spurgeon used to say, “If God calls you to be a preacher, don’t stoop to be a king!”
2. Ministers, Faithfully Dispense God’s Mysteries! That is our primary calling. We are to be like the faithful and wise steward whom his master put in charge of his servants to give them their rations at the proper time. Give yourself to God’s Word! Soak in it. Meditate on it. Study it. Memorize it. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Then dispense the riches of God’s mysteries to God’s people faithfully.
3. Ministers, Be Faithful! Don’t worry about having the biggest church, or winning the most people to Christ, or being famous, or the keynote speaker at retreats and conferences. Just worry about doing what God has called you to do, and leave the results to Him!
4. Ministers, Don’t Seek the Approval of Men! If you do so, you will fall into the trap of being a man-pleaser. God can’t use a man-pleaser. We must seek God’s approval, otherwise we will begin to say and do things that are expedient but do not glorify Him.
5. Believers, Don’t Rashly Judge Ministers of Christ! Wait until the Lord comes, and He will do a perfect job of it. Yes, we are to inspect the fruit of ministers. Yes, we are to judge their teaching. But we are never to judge their motives, because we don’t know them. Be careful of usurping God’s prerogative of judgment.
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