“1 Corinthians 4”

Saturday, March 04, 2017

Christians are servants of Christ. He is our Master; we are His slaves. Our lives must be spent in His service, doing His work to the salvation of souls with whom we come into contact. We should share Christ and His truth with everyone we meet.

Christians are stewards of God’s blessings. We do not own the truth, for example, but we have been entrusted with the responsibility to share it with others. God’s primary requirement for a steward is faithfulness. The apostle Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Faithfulness is always tested by persecution and trials. The apostles lived “as men condemned to death.” Stewards must be willing to be “fools for Christ’s sake.” In the first century, disciples were considered “the filth of the world.”

But the problem with the first century Corinthians (one of their many problems) was that they were arrogant and puffed up about their relationship with God, not humbled by their forgiveness through the grace and mercy of the Lord. They considered themselves to be full, rich, and to be reigning as kings. They could have been powerful, effective workers for God, if they had been humble and submissive to His will.

Paul shows them that he and others (the other apostles, primarily, but anyone who served God humbly) simply considered themselves to be servants of the Lord. Paul used his stewardship to instruct people about how to become and live as children of God, not to rule over and dominate as inferiors. Paul refers to “my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.” This is the pattern of God’s truth that is the same for everyone.

The New Testament is a pattern (many don’t like that word today) for both our personal lives (Philippians 3:17) and for the things we do collectively as a church, the family of God (2 Timothy 1:13).

The New Testament directs how the church is to worship. That is the pattern for us to follow today The New Testament teaches us how the church is to be organized (Philippians 1:1). That is our pattern. The New Testament shows us what the mission or work of a local church is supposed to be (1 Timothy 3:15). In all of these areas, God has not merely given us suggestions, but a pattern that we should imitate, in order that we might please Him.

The church at Corinth needed to grow and change a number of things so that they could be acceptable to the God of heaven and earth. This letter was written to help them and us please our God.

--Roger Hillis

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