Preparing For the Right day
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Servants of God
Servants of God
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
Verse 3 is what brings out the issue. The Corinthians have been judging Paul by their standards and decided he was less than stellar. We can see hints of what they were likely saying about Paul from the earlier chapters.
He wasn’t wise or eloquent - but came to them in fear and trembling
He was weak - always the one being abused and suffering
He was only preaching milk - and they thought that reflected on his deficiency rather than their own
He may have started this church but he didn’t do much to build it up - despite Paul’s claim to be a wise master builder
And Paul tells them their judgments aren’t worth anything to them.
I’ve never watched the show, but there’s a scene from Mad Men where you have two guys riding in the elevator.
One guy is fuming, looks at the other man and says “I hate you.”
The man replies “I don’t think about you at all.”
He was just some intern or something. Who cares what someone with no power or influence thinks about you?
Paul is in something of a similar situation with the Corinthians. Confronted with all of their harsh criticisms and slander ,Paul just can’t find himself too worried. But it’s not that Paul doesn’t care about the Corinthians - he has an incredibly deep love and concern for them. It’s only because he’s much more concerned with Gods opinion. He won’t even judge himself favorably - not because he’s got something weighing on his conscience, but because nobody’s opinion matters other than the Lord’s.
The Corinthians were boasting about belonging to one teacher or the other. Paul says in verse 1 that he’s a servant and steward of Christ.
As such, he would be judged by one criteria - faithfulness.
Not fine speech or book smarts
Not being impressive or prominent in society
Paul wasn’t going to dress the gospel up as something it wasn’t. He was faithful to the story of of Jesus Christ crucified. And he was faithfully living out the cross shaped life himself, throwing away everything that once had value in the pursuit of being like Jesus.
The phrase “human court” is literally a “human day.” Paul’s playing off the idea of the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is when God is revealed and every knee bows. It’s the day when everyone is struck with the full impact of their sins. It’s the day when we might finally get a grasp of how far above us God actually is.
It’s also the day when according to Isaiah 2:12
12 For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
Human days were the times when man thought he was all there was and ever could be. It was the day when man looked at himself with pride and lifted himself up. But every human would be brought low on the Day of the Lord - that was the only day worth preparing for.
Connect
Connect
I wish I could keep those realities in mind like Paul does and not care about judgments and critiques that don’t ultimately matter.
But we care a lot about what people think.
We care about what complete strangers think about us. Every day is pajama day at home - until I go outside or one of you comes over.
It’s why FaceBook and Instagram are so popular and addicting. You can throw something out into the void and get immediate and quantifiable feedback in the number of thumbs that people click on. We care so much we begin to crave those numbers.
Caring about our reputation is fine. The problem is that we care too much about what people think.
It’s why anxiety and suicide rates for teen girls started to rise with those thumbs and hearts on social media. Suddenly what strangers think can be a matter of life and death for some people.
It’s why we have such a hard time sharing the gospel. What if they think I’m a weirdo? What if I come across as judgmental and backwards?
Paul is giving us the proper perspective - there’s a day coming that will be far more important than any day we’re worried about down here. The day where you could tell God how many likes your posts got, how many strangers you charmed, how many people thought “That’s the kind person who goes to heaven” and not have any of it matter.
It doesn’t matter is you are universally beloved or hated by the world - God is the only vote that counts.
Pronouncing Judgment Before the Time
Pronouncing Judgment Before the Time
And that cuts both ways.
Paul won’t let anyone’s opinion aside from God judge his faithfulness
And he puts it back on the Corinthians - you shouldn’t be judging because all it does is fuel pride and division
5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. 6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
Paul warns us not to think we can have our own day of judgment here and now where we get to decide who stands or who who falls.
And it’s for a really important reason: We can’t know what’s going on in each other’s hearts.
We think we do.
We know that they’re just pretending to be a Christian
We know that they’re just so arrogant
We know they’re bad parents
We know that that person is spiritually weak
Some of us thought that about a family in Tucson that showed up late to services every single Sunday. 10 minutes or more, well into the third song and past the opening prayer, and forget about bible class!
You think “I show up on time! I guess God just isn’t really that important to some people.”
Then we find out he worked overnight shifts for border patrol. He worked all Saturday night into Sunday morning, came home long enough just to get a shower and the only thing he wanted to do more than pass out in bed after a long night, was to come to church.
Going Beyond What is Written
Going Beyond What is Written
When we start making these judgments, because we think we have it all figured out, we’re going beyond what is written and getting arrogant.
We know that they’re just pretending to be a Christian - and I’m the real deal
We know that they’re just so arrogant - no humble like me
We know they’re bad parents - I know how to fix that kid
We know that that person is spiritually weak - and I have it all figured out
That’s going beyond what’s written. What is written are all of the Old Testament passages he’s been quoting throughout the letter that put our wise judgments in the proper light.
We think we’re so wise and discerning because we can read between the lines:
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
We’re so proud when we called out a situation long before it happened.
31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
We think we know it all
19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
When we make judgments of the heart, by our standards, thinking that our vote is what matters - we’re going beyond God’s standards that only he can accurately measure.
God is the one handing out commendations. It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks of you. and it doesn’t matter what you think of everybody else. It doesn’t matter if everyone thinks you’re weak, or a villain, or doesn’t even know you exist. God will recognize faithful service no matter how unseen or misunderstood it is by the rest of us.
Over-Realized Eschatology
Over-Realized Eschatology
Rather than judging anyone else, we ought to be more reflective.
If the teachers that loved and emulated were nothing more than servants…
7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
The Corinthians were turning the gifts of God into trophies - something they had earned.
Paul’s wondering where that idea came from. What makes you guys different, high and mighty above others? What do you have that wasn’t a gift from God? And why are you acting as if you’ve done everything yourselves?
The problem is verse 8:
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!
God wants to richly bless us and have us rule in his kingdom. But that comes later, and the Corinthians were already celebrating it too soon.
Here’s the order of operations in God’s plan
After Jesus’s death and resurrection he ascends into heaven.
He promises that he’s coming back, and in the meantime we have the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit transforms the life we live right here, right now. We’re empowered to live a new life - to be spiritual people.
This is all a prelude to when Jesus comes back. Only after the second coming do we receive the Spirit in full, become perfect, and truly reign in God’s kingdom.
The Corinthians were stuck on step 3, thinking it was the final step. Already they had everything God had to offer. Already they were rich with God’s blessings. Already they were ruling within the fully realized kingdom of God.
And because the story had already wrapped up and they were already kings - that means they’ve won! What’s the point of suffering? How could some lose like Paul teach a bunch of winners like us?
So we have two ideas of what a spiritual life looks like.
The Corinthians version looks impressive, is full of miracles, powerful speeches, and freedom from concerns of the flesh.
Paul’s spiritualty looked like Jesus.
By skipping to the end of the story the Corinthians we’re trying to bypass the life that Christ lived - one of suffering and care for each other.
Compare and Contrast
Compare and Contrast
Verse 9-13 he does some compare and contrast. This is what my life looks like and this is what your life looks like.
Which one looks more like Jesus?
9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
Paul says he’s last, a man sentenced to death as a spectacle. He likely has something called a Triumph in mind. When Roman generals returned to Rome after a successful campaign they would parade through the streets, showing off the soldiers, the treasure, and the captives. The one’s who came last in the parade were the captives who would be publically executed in the Colosseum for the cheering crowds.
Was Jesus at the front of the line, or at the back? Was he watching someone die, or dying himself on a cross for all to see?
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.
Paul says he’s a fool, weak, and looked down on in shame while the Corinthians were wise, strong, and honored.
Was Jesus a fool for getting himself crucified? Hanging on the cross while having insults hurled at him from the people who put him there?
The Corinthians were jumping the gun and trying to reach the glory of the gospel without the suffering of the cross. But we can’t reach the glory of the resurrection without dying on the cross first.
11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
The Corinthians were looking at life wrong because they thought they were a step ahead in the plan. Paul says right now, to the present hour, we’re still in the stage characterized by the cross.
We’re ragged and homeless
We’re working with our hands to earn a living
We’re insulted and persecuted
We are the lowest of the low - Just like Jesus was
The Corinthians were embarrassed by Paul. Can someone so weak be our apostle?
And Paul wants to remind them that someone as weak as Jesus is their God.
Like Father Like Son
Like Father Like Son
14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
Paul doesn’t want to shame anybody. He’s not having an emotional outburst and trying to put the Corinthians in their place. He’s simply putting out a principle that children ought to look like their parents.
Paul was the one who brought them the gospel, the story of Jesus suffering and dying on the cross. They should be imitating him as he imitates the one who gave him life. The imitation of Christ is then a demonstration of who they belong to.
Connect
Connect
One of my favorite things about being a dad is seeing a part of me passed on down to my girls. They’re just like me and the woman I love more than anybody!
Parents hear it all the time, especially if the kid does something really embarrassing, “That’s your kid!”
Do people see that same connection between us and the one who gave us life? Does our life look Jesus, or more like someone else?
If we look like we take more after the world it’s because we have the same problem as the Corinthians - we think we’ve already arrived and are already in heaven.
Of course, nobody is actually denying that there’s a coming death and there’s something more to our existence than this present life. But we certainly live like this life is the goal.
Its why we put more effort into networking for our careers than talking to people about the gospel
It’s why we stay home by ourselves in front of the phone or tv instead of being with and serving our neighbor
It’s why we let politics dominate so much of our life. It affects what matters to us - life right here and now!
We need to remember that there’s a more important day than today - the day of the Lord.
A day where the passions of hearts will be revealed
A day where we will be rewarded according to our work in the church
A day in which all of us will realize we spent far too much time and energy on things that will simply cease to exist
Get Ready For That Day
Get Ready For That Day
In order to get the Corinthians ready for that day Paul says they need to get ready the day when he shows up for a visit.
18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
Some are arrogant. Paul isn’t coming here, and even if he did what can he do?
The arrogant, he says, will be found out as nothing more than something puffed up - full of nothing but hot air.
Because the kingdom of God isn’t in talk but power.
But what kind of power?
Not the kind of power the Corinthians were obsessed with
The power of miracles
The power to charm
The power to gather a following
But the power of the cross (1 Cor 2:5). The power seen in the lives of Jesus and Paul, that no matter how beat down you are, no matter how much you suffer, no matter how low you go - you still keep going for God. The power to cast off all the cares of this world for the hope of glory that Jesus has for us.
If they can’t stand on the day Paul comes back, do they have any hope on the Day of the Lord?
Application
Application
The Corinthians wanted to put qualification on the gospel
You needed to be spiritual like they were
You needed to be wise by their standards
You needed to impress them
You need to be eloquent and well-spoken
God requires only one things of us
2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
Don’t let other standards hold you back from serving God
Don’t hold others to those standards either
Be faithful to the gospel of the cross that endures no matter what.
Invitation
Invitation
There’s great day coming - are ready?
God’s not going to judge as against each other - being better than Maynard doesn’t count for anything.
Are you faithful? Are you trusting in the gospel of the cross? Are you serving God in whatever capacity he’s deemed fit to supply you with?
