God's Messenger
God's Messenger
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
October 19, 2008
Sometimes I am just amazed at the impeccable timing of God.
Next week, someone in our church has planned
A “Pastor Appreciation” luncheon.
There could not be a more relevant passage of Scripture
To preach on the Sunday night before, than this one.
You are familiar with the events surrounding Corinth during this letter.
Paul just spent several chapters dealing with their division.
And of course the face of that division centered around
Different individuals love for specific pastors.
“I of Paul” “I of Apollos” “I of Cephas”
Any time a person chooses to align themselves under one specific pastor, it reveals something.
1) They weren’t giving enough credit to other pastors.
2) They were giving too much credit to one of them.
And Paul was one of those pastors
That was involved in the confusion.
On one hand,
There were those who did not rightly appreciate Paul
It happens when people give too much credit to the current pastor,
And not enough to the previous ones.
“I’m glad you are here, because Bro. So&So, just didn’t _______________”
On the other hand,
Some had never gotten over Paul.
It happens any time no preacher can ever measure up to a previous one.
Paul is caught in the middle.
Some over appreciate him.
Some under appreciate him.
He writes the text tonight, to help us understand
Exactly how a pastor should be appreciated.
And as I said, this gets pretty relevant.
How are we supposed to approach a pastor appreciation Sunday?
Please know that these types of passages are difficult, but relevant,
And I am certainly aware of those who are on our CD list,
Who attend church under other pastors
TO KEEP FROM BEING OVER OR UNDER APPRECIATED PAUL GIVES FOUR TRUTHS ABOUT GOD’S MESSENGER THAT EVERYONE SHOULD UNDERSTAND.
#1 THE RESPONSIBILITY OF GOD’S MESSENGER
1 Corinthians 4:1
There you see it right off the bat,
Paul is giving you the whole point of the text.
“Let a man regard us in this manner”
Of course the “us” there refers to Paul, Apollos, and Cephas
And it rightly transitions down to anyone who has ever
Held the responsibility of preaching the word of God to you.
Paul is telling us flat out, how to view such men.
“Let a man regard us in this manner”
2 WAYS
1) “As servants of Christ”
The Greek word for “servants” here literally means UNDER ROWERS.
It was the word used for the lowest of galley slaves.
In that portion of the ship, they had no ranking status.
They were all slaves, and none ranked higher than another.
That is the term Paul gives himself
And every other minister of the gospel.
We are just galley slaves. We are “servants”
You don’t have to bow down before us.
You don’t have to worship the ground we walk on.
As far as personal worth is concerned, we have no more than any man.
Our main operation is simply to keep the ship moving.
We are workers for Christ.
Paul actually gave a vivid description of this in his second letter.
2 Corinthians 4:8-12 “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.”
We are just humble servants,
Gladly sacrificing our own personal comforts for the purposes of Christ.
And every preacher in the world must have such an attitude.
It is easy for preachers to adopt other views.
Their names are on the church signs.
Their pictures are on the church billboards and web pages.
But we are merely “servants of Christ”
The glory is His
The honor is His
He is the One people need to see.
“The donkey that carried Jesus at the triumphal entry,
Knew the applause was not for him.”
We are servants.
2) “and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
Here Paul gives the description of our service.
Our particular service involves explanation of “the mysteries of God.”
Our service is simple.
We are simply to take the word that God explains to us,
And explain it to the people.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Paul told the Ephesians:
Ephesians 3:8-10 “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”
God had chosen to reveal the mystery to him.
And his job was to pass it on.
This reveals to us again, the only legitimate function of the pastor.
In a day when some want to be CEO’s, or humanitarian champions, or when some even desire to be a political voice;
The function of the pastor has always been extremely clear.
WE PROCLAIM THE MYSTERIES OF GOD.
THERE IS ONLY ONE ABILITY BASED REQUIREMENT.
1 Timothy 3:2-3 “An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.”
When Paul wrote the list to Titus, he expounded.
Titus 1:7-9 “For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”
When Paul wrote to instruct Timothy, his point is easily seen.
1 Timothy 1:3 “As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,”
1 Timothy 4:11-16 “Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
1 Timothy 6:2 “Teach and preach these principles.”
1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge" — which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”
2 Timothy 1:13-14 “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”
2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
We are servants and we are stewards.
This is our calling, this is our equipping.
This is what you can and should expect from us.
That is the responsibility of God’s messenger.
#2 THE REQUIREMENT OF GOD’S MESSENGER
1 Corinthians 4:2
Paul says here, “In this case”
He is referring to the aspect of being a steward.
In regard to being a steward of God’s mysteries, “it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.”
And this is another very enlightening truth.
In today’s society, there seems to be an ever growing list
Of criteria by which to evaluate a pastor.
Many times when people return to Spur, the question is the same.
“How big is the church at Spur now?”
My standard response is: “Not as big as it was when I came.”
But the point is that people have all sorts of criteria
By which to evaluate a pastor.
· His education or experience…
· Size of the congregation…
· Size of the budget…
· Number of baptisms…
· Amount of mission involvement…
BUT NONE OF THOSE MEAN A THING WHILE EVALUATING A MINISTER.
According to Scripture, there is only one criteria
By which a messenger of God is to be evaluated.
Paul says it here.
“it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.”
GOD REQUIRES FAITHFULNESS.
Now that does insinuate a couple of things.
1) ACCURACY
A messenger of God must be
True to the accuracy of God’s message.
Paul told Timothy.
2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
God’s word has only one meaning,
And that is the meaning that the messenger of God must proclaim.
He does not have the right to twist, malign,
And reinterpret God’s word to say what he wants it to say.
He must be faithful to understand and proclaim
The correct interpretation of God’s word.
2 Peter 1:20-21 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
And it is the Holy Spirit’s interpretation that he must preach.
You must be able to trust that when a man stands before you,
That he has been faithful to rightly divide God’s word,
And that he is explaining to you it’s intended meaning.
He must “be found trustworthy.”
I don’t care how witty…
I don’t care how charming…
I don’t care how seemingly relevant…
You must look through all of that and ask,
If the preacher is correctly explaining God’s word.
2) ENDURANCE
Meaning, he must be faithful to continually proclaim God’s word.
Society itself puts enormous pressure on God’s messenger
To altar the message, or to reshape it
To be more palatable to a tasteless generation.
God’s messenger must resist such temptations,
And be faithful to continually preach the WHOLE COUNSEL of God.
2 Timothy 4:2-5 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
And so you see the requirement to God’s messenger.
He must be evaluated by this standard.
He must not be evaluated by any other.
You cannot require anything more, you must not require anything less.
The responsibility of God’s messenger
The requirement of God’s messenger
#3 THE REVEALER OF GOD’S MESSENGER
1 Corinthians 4:3-4
Here is where Paul gets to the heart of his point.
It is obvious that he was under scrutiny and evaluation
Some gave him too little credit.
Some gave him too much credit.
PAUL DIDN’T GIVE A RIP ABOUT EITHER
(3) “But to me it is a very little thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact I do not even examine myself.”
Certainly Paul was not being rude, or ungrateful,
But he is very straightforward.
While it is nice to be appreciated, and never fun to be antagonized, Paul does speak the truth of the matter.
AND THAT IS THAT IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER.
Paul says “it is a very little thing”
It doesn’t matter if it is on a personal level,
Or if he was actually brought before a “human court”,
Paul still doesn’t care about the verdict.
(Read Galatians 1&2 and listen to Paul not care about the big wigs)
Their approval meant nothing to him.
In fact Paul said, “I do not even examine myself.”
It doesn’t even matter if he thinks he is doing a good job.
Many a preacher took a nose dive in the ministry
When they started listening to their own self-evaluation.
And Paul’s self evaluation was good.
(4) “For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted.”
It’s good that I approve of my ministry,
But that doesn’t mean anything either.
WHY?
“but the one who examines me is the Lord.”
Paul said, your appraisal, and my appraisal are a very little thing,
For neither of us gets the final word.
It is God and God alone that matters.
James Merritt wrote:
“It doesn’t matter what this world thinks about your ministry. It doesn’t matter what the politically correct, the intellectually elite, or the financially powerful think about your ministry, or what the deacon with the spiritual gift of criticism thinks about your ministry. It doesn’t matter if anyone else is standing and clapping when you hit the finish line as long as Jesus is! I want the crown, but the greatest privilege of my existence will be to cast that crown at the feet of Jesus and proclaim Him as my Lord.”
Next week, you all may approve.
Next week, you all may disapprove.
And neither means a thing, for a minister stands before God
And God alone, and His examination is the only one that matters.
That is why Paul started that great passage to Timothy out like this.
2 Timothy 4:1-2 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
Timothy needed to know who was keeping score.
You may be hated like Jeremiah, or praised like Balaam, NEITHER MATTERED, AND NEITHER WAS CORRECT.
There is only one who gets to make the final call on a messenger of God,
And that is God.
The responsibility of God’s messenger
The requirement of God’s messenger
The revealer of God’s messenger
#4 THE REACTION TO GOD’S MESSENGER
1 Corinthians 4:5
And this is where I really want to apply it to our situation.
Being that now you know what we are:
Servants and Stewards
Being that now you know what we are evaluated by:
Faithfulness
Being that now you know who evaluates us:
God
HOW SHOULD YOU RESPOND TO THE WHOLE SITUATION?
“Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time”
Many assume that Paul is here saying not to run down a preacher,
For God will get him soon enough.
And that most certainly could be part of it.
BUT IT IS MORE THAN THAT
In fact, the Bible does give instances
In which a messenger of God should be punished.
1 Timothy 5:19-20 “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.”
The emphasis of this passage is not on making sure
That people don’t negatively judge him.
The emphasis of this passage is making sure that people
Don’t dump unmerited praise on him.
Paul is saying, “Don’t just give your pastor an automatic reward, simply because you like him.”
And Paul then gives two reasons why.
“but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”
You see, there are two things about me
That you can’t possibly know.
1) “the things hidden in the darkness”
2) “the motives of men’s hearts”
Those are two things that you can’t possibly know,
And so handing out tons of praise as though your preacher is the next apostle Paul is dangerous.
Now that is NOT TO SAY, you can’t appreciate your pastor.
That is certainly NOT TO SAY you can’t follow his leadership.
In fact, listen to these verses:
1 Timothy 5:17 “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.”
Hebrews 13:7 “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.”
Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
1 Corinthians 16:15-16 “Now I urge you, brethren (you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints), that you also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.”
Paul is not saying you should not appreciate him.
Paul is not saying you should not obey him, or follow him.
In fact, many times he exhorts his followers to imitate him.
What Paul is saying is that the final verdict is not out on him
Or on anyone else who is a messenger for God.
DO NOT GIVE THE FINAL VERDICT ON GOD’S MESSENGER
BEFORE GOD DOES.
Instead, so long as he is a servant and faithful steward of the word of God, then follow his lead.
And this is how God’s messenger should be treated.
And as far as appreciating the pastor is concerned.
I’ll leave you with one verse.
3 John 3-4 “For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”