July
21st 1
Corinthians 4
1:
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and
stewards of the mysteries of God. 2: Moreover it is required in
stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3: 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. 4: For I know nothing by myself; yet
am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5:
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. 6: And 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. 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 dost thou glory, as if
thou hadst not received it? 8: Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye
have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign,
that we also might reign with you. 9: For I think that God hath set
forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are
made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 10: We
are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak,
but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. 11: Even
unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and
are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; 12: And labour,
working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being
persecuted, we suffer it: 13: Being defamed, we intreat: we are made
as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto
this day. 14: I write not these things to shame you, but as my
beloved sons I warn you. 15: For though ye have ten thousand
instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ
Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
Having
lowered his ministry in the eyes of the Corinthians such a way that
the focus of their attention is on Christ rather than Christ’s
servants, Paul now speaks about his and his companion’s ministry.
He says, let every many understand that we are servants of Christ and
stewards or custodians of the mysteries of God. The chief
characteristic of a Steward is that he is faithful. Paul says
actually l see your judgment of me as a very small thing because the
really big thing for me is that l am answerable to Christ. He is the
one who judges me. So let us not judge each other before time. When
the Lord comes, we will all see everything. Everything which is done
in secret will be revealed and Christ will reveal our inner thoughts.
And on that day everyman will have praise from God. You must not
think too highly of me or Apollos so that you do form into groups and
take a superior attitude to each other. After all who makes us
different? And what do we have that has not been given to us? So if
what we have has been given rather than inherent ability then what is
the point of being proud. You Corinthians are rich in Gods blessings
and full of all the good things of God. You have been like royalty
without us and l wish that you would reign and that we might reign
with you in all the good things of God. I think that God has set us
apostles as the last in line. We are appointed to suffering and death
and we are an entertainment to the world and to angels and men. We
are considered fools by all men but you are considered wise. We are
weak yet you are strong. We are despised but you are honoured by all.
Even at this very moment we are hungry, we thirst, we are unclothed
and violently pushed about, We have no fixed abode, We work until we
are exhausted, We work to provide for our own needs, When we are
reviled we bless in return. When we are persecuted we suffer it in
silence. When we are defamed we plead our case. We are made to be the
filth of this world and the garbage of all men right up until now. I
am not writing this to make you feel ashamed but I say this because
you are my much loved children and l want to warn you of the evil of
party spirit. Although you might have ten thousand bible teachers but
you have not many fathers in the faith. Because in Christ Jesus l had
brought you forth as my own children in the faith through the gospel
l preached to you.
- What is the first requirement of a minister of the Lord?
- Why should we not be absorbed in examining one another and especially the Lords servants?
- How does Paul characterise the Apostolic ministry?
No comments:
Post a Comment