1 Corinthians 4:1-7 Faithful Stewards

1 Corinthians 4:1-7 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

1This is the way a person should think of us: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2In this connection, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3But it is a trivial matter to me if I am evaluated by you or by a day in a human court. Why, I do not even evaluate myself. 4I do not in fact know of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this; rather, the one who evaluates me is the Lord. 5Therefore judge nothing ahead of time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light whatever is hidden in darkness and also reveal the intentions of hearts. Then there will be praise for each person from God.

6Brothers, I turned these things into a lesson using myself and Apollos as examples. I did this for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then you will not be arrogant, favoring one person over the other. 7For who makes you so special? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

Faithful Stewards

I.

It’s that time again. Time for the annual performance review.

A checklist is in the hand of the evaluator. There are numerous items to evaluate during the last period of employment. Has the employee performed well enough to meet expectations? Has the effort and the output of the employee been noticeable to the boss? Might there be certain expectations that were never actually included in the job description? Are there things that might be considered a demerit that weren’t really the employee’s responsibility? Will the reviewer be fair?

No matter which side of the desk you have found yourself on, it can be a nerve-wracking process. It feels like a necessary evil of the business world. Employees and employers need to have the same expectations and understanding of the criteria involved to do their respective jobs.

But evaluations aren’t just restricted to the workplace, are they? You find yourself acting as the reviewer dozens of times every day if you stop and think about it. Snap judgments are formed about people you see in the grocery store or walking down the sidewalk. When you watch the influencer on social media, you make a judgment about that person, too. News stories are filled with opportunities for your own determination about who is the good guy and who is the bad guy.

It seems that the congregation in Corinth had decided it was time to evaluate their pastors. Paul mentioned it earlier in his letter: “For the news I heard about you, my brothers... is that there are rivalries among you. 12What I mean is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas’” (1 Corinthians 1:11-12, EHV).

There were factions in the congregation of believers in Corinth. They seemed to be based on eloquence and education and personality. Sometimes they even went so far as to try to evaluate metrics for success—how many converts each one had gathered in, perhaps. They were treating their pastors like celebrities or CEOs.

The modern-day believer opens the checklist for the performance review.

Education. To be a pastor in a Wisconsin Synod church, he has to have his Master of Divinity degree from the Seminary. Perhaps it would be even better if he had advanced degrees, like a Doctorate.

Preaching. The pastor ought to be dripping with charisma. The sermons are to always be “relevant,” whatever that is judged to mean in the moment. Not only should he be able to attract attention with his personality, he should be able to use the microphone well and employ all the other tools that indicate a well-honed and polished ability at public speaking. He should be eloquent.

Teaching. Pastors have to teach Bible classes and Confirmation Classes. Just like his sermons, his teaching ought to be relevant and first-rate.

Personality. He’s got to be outgoing and always have a smile on his face, even when things are grim. He has to be able to take a joke, but only make jokes when the evaluator thinks they’re appropriate.

Leadership skills. He must be a powerhouse in leading the members of the congregation. Excellent at everything the congregation wants to do, and willing to be the first one to be there for every activity or program.

Numbers. Take a look at the growth of the congregation—or negative growth. Check the average attendance at worship each week, as well as the number of livestream views.

Paul asks: “Who makes you so special?” (1 Corinthians 4:7, EHV). The people doing the evaluating of Paul and the others—and pastors today—tend to focus on their own gifts and achievements, or the things they want to see in others. That’s how the division and the pride and the anxiety got going in the first place. So how should we regard pastors and teachers—and ourselves—in the church?

II.

Paul said: “This is the way a person should think of us: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries” (1 Corinthians 4:1, EHV).

We don’t use words like “steward” very often anymore. Airlines got rid of “steward” and “stewardess” and changed it to “flight attendant.” Flight attendants are those who manage the comfort and convenience of the travelers in their area.

Steward also referred to people in a large household who would manage the concerns of the household. That’s the way Paul is using the term. Pastors are merely managers of someone else’s wealth—God’s. The steward doesn’t own the treasures, but distributes them. Pastor’s aren’t called to invent the message, but deliver it.

“For who makes you so special? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7, EHV). Just like pastors and other called workers, God’s people aren’t to be evaluated by earthly standards, either. Everything is a gift.

We all tend to act as mini-judges—of pastors, of fellow members, even of ourselves. All of this leads to discontent, self-righteousness, and division.

Paul gives the correct standard: “It is required of stewards that they be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2, EHV). Faithfulness to the Word is what is required.

“But it is a trivial matter to me if I am evaluated by you or by a day in a human court. Why, I do not even evaluate myself” (1 Corinthians 4:3, EHV). Evaluating ministry by human standards often leads to false conclusions. A “successful” ministry might well be masking unfaithfulness to the Word. Statistics don’t always tell the full story.

“The Lord... will bring to light whatever is hidden in darkness and also reveal the intentions of hearts” (1 Corinthians 4:5, EHV). Some pastors might do whatever it takes to pad the statistics everyone can see. Sermons can be tailored to make sure no offense is given and to get lots of people in the seats. God will bring these things to light. Things hidden in the darkness aren’t hidden from him.

III.

So how are pastors and other called workers to be evaluated? “This is the way a person should think of us: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2In this connection, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful... 4 the one who evaluates me is the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2, 4, EHV). Pastors are to be stewards of God’s mysteries.

God’s mysteries are things that don’t make sense to human understanding. We spoke about the Trinity just a few weeks ago. No human being can understand three persons in one God completely.

The most important mystery is the mystery of salvation. The Psalmist David explains God’s attitude toward both sin and the sinner: “You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil. With you the wicked cannot dwell. 5The arrogant cannot stand before your eyes. You hate all evildoers. 6You put to death those who speak lies. The LORD is disgusted with bloodthirsty, deceitful men” (Psalm 5:4-6, EHV). God absolutely abhors sin; not just sin in the abstract, but sin committed by every single individual.

What David wrote is absolutely true. But at the same time: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them...21God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:19, 21, EHV).

The mystery of salvation is deep because, while God hates sin and the sinner so much, he also loves the sinner so much that he sent Jesus to do something about it. When Jesus hung on the cross, carrying the sins of the whole world, God treated Jesus like the personification of sin. God the Father abandoned God the Son on the cross in order to make the payment for sin required so that people could be seen as righteous and holy in his presence.

It’s unfathomable. It’s a mystery, as Paul said.

Pastors are to be faithful to that message. Both halves of it. Pastors are to condemn sin and the sinner in one breath, and in the next announce the forgiveness Jesus won for all sinners on the cross.

IV.

The Apostle John wrote: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1, EHV). There is a place for testing. Paul said the Lord will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of hearts. That will happen fully when Jesus returns at the Last Day. Until then, it is still appropriate to compare what a pastor says with what is clearly written in God’s Word.

“Brothers, I turned these things into a lesson using myself and Apollos as examples. I did this for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then you will not be arrogant, favoring one person over the other” (1 Corinthians 4:6, EHV). The Bible is always the standard for the steward of God. Look to God’s Word to see whether the pastor is faithful. Follow the faithful stewards of God’s mysteries.

If Christ judged us—pastors or other Christians—by our performance, none of us would stand. Pastors have not been perfectly faithful. Congregations and individual Christians have not been perfectly faithful, either.

The mystery of God’s love for us still stands. The same Lord who will bring to light what is hidden in darkness is the Lord who died for us. The same Jesus who sent his servants into the harvest field—and still sends them—is the One who came to be the Servant for sinners first.

Because of Christ Jesus our failures are forgiven and our standing before God is secure. That means that our service—both as pastors and as Christians—is a response to God’s love for us, not an anxious performance hoping to do well on the next evaluation.

Because of what our Savior has done for us, when Jesus returns “There will be praise for each person from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5, EHV).

Because Jesus has already secured our place in his kingdom, each of us can spend our lives faithfully serving until the Master returns. Amen.