"LET THE LORD ASSESS THE MAN OF GOD!" 1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Introduction

As aforementioned, the church at Corinth had a serious problem concerning former preachers. As mentioned they were divided into four groups. Everybody talking about who was their favorite preacher. We don’t pour cold water on them because these actions are being exercise in today’s churches. Therefore, Paul shares with them this message from the text. I’ve entitled it, “LET GOD ASSESS THE MAN OF GOD!”

I. Consider Preachers For What They Are.

In other words, we should keep our opinion and persuasion to ourselves and let God handle the preacher. First of all...

a. Preachers are ministers of Christ. They are referred to in the Greek as UNDER-ROWER. It refers to the slave who sat in the belly of the large ships and pulled the oars to carry the boat through the sea. Jesus is the Master of the ship and the preacher is one of the His slaves. The preacher is one of many UNDER-ROWING servants. Also, these UNDER-ROWERS were bound by chains. They were allowed to do nothing but serve the Master. Glory to God! No matter how much the preacher means to a person, he is only the UNDER-ROWER, a slave of the Master. Listen, we should not be trying to assess or elevate one above another.

b. Preachers are STEWARDS of God. Therefore, not only is he an UNDER-ROWER, but he also is an OVERSEER. Even though he is a slave God makes him an OVERSEER. As an OVERSEER he is placed in charge of other slaves in the Master’s house. He controlled the staff and ran the operation for the Master. Listen, he was set over other, but he was still a slave of the Master. His work was not closely supervised; therefore he had to trustworthy and responsible. The preacher is made steward over the mysteries of God. Listen, a mystery is not something hard to understand. However, it is something that has been hidden and kept secret from human reasoning, but now revealed by God. The mysteries of God are the truths of God. These truths are clearly revealed to those who it is revealed, but it is foolishness to those who don’t receive it. The preacher is only a servant of God, but he is the servant whom God has made steward over His household, His church, and His people. Paul said in 2 Cor. 3:6, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life”

Eph. 3:7, “Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power”

c. The Preacher must be FAITHFUL. He is not required by God to be eloquent, intelligent, successful, or loaded with abilities, but faithful. He is not required by God to be an administrator, counselor, visitor, door-greeter, as these are important ministries, he is required to be faithful. He is to be faithful in preaching the mysteries of God. He is held accountable and shall be judged for how well he does what he has been called to do. He must not hold back, must not substitute, nor mix some other message with the mysteries of God. 1 Co 9:17, For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. Col. 1:25-26, Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 1 Th. 2:4, “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts” Therefore, we are not judges of the preachers of God. We should not be thinking and talking about the gifts and abilities of one over another or thinking too highly or lowly of them. We are to assess them for just what they are, servants of God, stewards (managers) of the mysteries of God, and faithful to the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly,...

II. Realize that your judgment or approval of the preacher matters little. You see criticism and disapproval hurts and cut to the heart, but they don’t matter at all in the judgment of God. You see man’s judgment of the preacher has no bearing upon what God will do with the preacher. The congregation or some clique in the church may cut him to shreds, break his heart, but it will have nothing to do with the judgment of the preacher’s unfaithfulness and faithfulness. Paul further states that he does not even judge himself. Paul knew that a person who begins to judge his own works either begins to think too highly or lowly of himself. Therefore, he becomes prideful or discouraged. Be mindful Paul is not talking about evaluating the ministry for the purpose of strengthening it, but he’s talking about passing judgment by comparing it to other ministries. Is it as good, fruitful? Is the Lord as pleased as He is with others? The preacher loses focus on what God has called him to do when he finds himself in this mindset. Therefore, he must keep his mind stayed on the Master, the One who has called him to do this great work. Because, it doesn’t matter what others may think. Which leads me to my last point found in verses 4&5...

III. The Master Judgment is all that Matters.

a. First of all the Master, Jesus Christ justifies, proves, make righteous the man and his ministry. For Paul said, “I’m not aware of anything against myself, however I don’t stand acquitted, I don’t stand before you without guilt. However, to his knowledge he has been faithful in the work of the ministry by pleasing the Lord. He says, One thing I know and that is it will be the Lord who will examines me and my work. The Lord Jesus alone will put the stamp of approval on this work.

b. Second and lastly, it’s not another’s prerogative to judge or assess, but it is the Lord. Don’t pronounce judgment before time, that is before the Righteous Judge, the Lord comes. Other words, don’t go around passing judgment before the Lord comes. Because when He comes He will bring to light things hidden in the darkness, He will disclose the hearts of men and each man will receive his sincere pat on the back by God. I don’t know about any other preacher, but I agree with Paul, I’m looking to the Lord for my assessment. I’m not going to focus on what he said or she said, because I know that they are the Tobias and Sanballat, I’m going to stay on the wall because, I’m doing a good work (a God work) and I can’t come down. I know that there are some Festus out there, saying I’ve lost my mind, but I’m going to keep on preaching Jesus...