1 Corinthians 4:1-21 | "Be Imitators of Me"

I. Reading of Scripture

1 Corinthians 4:14 ESV

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

1 Corinthians 4:15 ESV

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.

1 Corinthians 4:16 ESV

16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

This is God’s Word, Amen.

1 Corinthians 4:1-21 | “Be Imitators of Me”

II. Introduction

A. Introduction to Theme

How would you describe the role of a minister? A pastor? Clergy? A person set a part for the Lord’s work?

Is a minister a CEO? A Chief Executive Officer of a local church?

Is a minister a nurse? One who is present for every cough and fever and ailment?

Is a minister a chaplain? One who cares for a sick and dying flock?

Is a minister a leader? One who organizes and mobilizes the living for growth and mission?

How would you describe the role of a minister?

What expectations do you have for him?

I searched online and found a blog post by a Dr. Raymond C. Osborne with a job description for “the perfect pastor.” This is what it said:

The perfect pastor preaches exactly 10 minutes.

He condemns sin roundly but never hurts anyone's feelings.

He works from 8 AM until midnight and is also the church janitor.

The perfect pastor makes [$400] a week, wears [expensive] clothes, drives a good car, buys good books, and donates [$300] a week to the church.

He is 29 years old and has 40 years experience.

Above all, he is handsome.

He also knows when somebody is sick and needs visitation even without anyone telling him about it.

He loves to spend time with his family and the perfect pastor has no problem with you dropping in unexpectedly.

And he also spends most of his time in preparation to speak God's Word.

He remembers everyone's birthdate and of course, their anniversary dates as well.

The perfect pastor eats nutritiously, gets his rest, exercises daily, and is always there to listen to you night or day.

The perfect pastor has a burning desire to work with [children], but he spends most of his time with the senior citizens.

He makes 15 home visits a day and is always in his office to be handy when needed.

He spends all day each Saturday preparing the Sunday sermon, and he focuses on his family too.

He also doesn't overburden the church finances, so he holds down a full time secular job as well.

The perfect pastor is always in the next church over!

Now if your pastor does not measure up, simply send this notice to six other churches that are tired of their pastor, too. Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of the list. If everyone cooperates, in one week you will receive 1,643 pastors. One of them should be perfect. Have faith in this letter. One church broke the chain and got its old pastor back in less than three months.

(http://wordsofgrace.blogspot.com/2006/02/job-description-for-perfect-pastor.html; accessed 06 06 2021)

Many of those comments are funny because they are the types of things we expect out of a pastor or a minister.

Each one of us has our own individual expectations of what a minister should be and do. But what does God say a minister is and what does God say a minister should do?

If we choose a minister like we choose our entertainment, we’ll quickly be divided.

This isn’t a problem if you are in a Baptist church, for you can take your group, split off, and form another Baptist church and call a pastor of your liking.

The point is this: We have a tendency to want a minister to imitate us, rather than for us to imitate the minister of God, as God defines a minister.

We want our own private, controllable, priests.

I have seen plenty of job descriptions for pastors that churches have created and sent over the years, and it is amazing how many non-biblical expectations are placed on that office by the people.

If you marked out every line that wasn’t an expectation of God, the result would look like in of those redacted government forms. This is just one small example of how worldly wisdom has influenced and infiltrated the church of God today.

So few of the expectations placed upon a minister are truly God’s expectations for that minister.

In Chapter 3 of this letter of 1 Corinthians, we learned that ignorance in the church was one reason for this.

The church in Corinth did not know how to be godly people, they did not know how God’s church is served, they did not know how God’s church is built, and they did not know that God’s Spirit dwells in them!

The saints had not purged jealousy and strife from their midst, and because of their sin, they were incapable of growing beyond infant-hood, on to maturity in Christ.

They were quarrelling, following their preferred minister, and the result was a divided church that lost her witness for Christ in the world, because she was too content acting and behaving like the world that she didn’t look any different from it!

B. Introduction to Text

Now, in Chapter 4, the apostle, the special messenger of Jesus Christ to His Church, concludes this section that has dealt with division, before moving on to address further problems, by turning the view on himself and on his co-laborers, co-ministers, and he answers this one question —

“How should one regard a minister?”

“How should a person consider a minister?”

“How should one think about a minister?”

In other words - what is a minister? And what does a minister do?

At its core, the division in the Corinthian church centered around how the church members thought about the various ministers - Paul, Apollos, Cephas and Christ. And the apostle is going to get to the bottom of this issue and answer it once and for all - not according to the wisdom of the world, but according to the word of the cross of Christ.

I will remind us all, that this letter is written “to the church” in Corinth, but it is also written to us as well.

We should prayerful consider if we have a problem of division like this in our midst? Or, if we have expectations that are not biblical for our ministers that might lead to a problem like this.

At the least, we should be aware and informed about this, so that we might be on guard, lest complacency set in and we find ourselves just as easily divided.

III. Exposition

Verse 1 begins with this statement:

1 Corinthians 4:1 ESV

1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

“This is how one should regard us...”

So the apostle is giving instructions to the church on how they should rightly view ministers.

First, Ministers are:

A. Servants and Stewards (4:1-7)

We have seen the word “servants” already in Chapter 3:5, where the broader word for “deacons” is used [διάκονοι].

That does not mean that these men hold the office of Deacon, but that they do what Deacons do - as we all should - and serve the Lord and His Church.

But here in Chapter 4, a different word for “servants” is used. The word in verse 1 is the word [ὑπηρέτας].

For our purposes, the meaning is the same. But the apostle is employing a variety of words to communicate the point that as ministers, we are servants. Helpers.

In this case, this word [ὑπηρέτας] would highlight their position as subordinate to another. Meaning, a minister is never at the top of the chart. A minister is never the highest rung in the corporate ladder.

A true minister of God is not someone who boasts in himself, or elevates himself, or makes much of himself. A true minister of God is a servant. Subordinated to another.

And notice the text - who is that minister a servant of?

1 Corinthians 4:1 ESV

1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

“as servants of Christ”

Here is one example of a mistake the church makes today in this regard.

Do we not convince ourselves somehow, that the minister exists to serve a specific church and is subservient to that church, and we often structure ourselves to support that view?

It would be as if I am called by Southside Baptist Church to be the servant of Southside Baptist Church, serving at the pleasure of the congregation, or the Personnel Committee, or Stewardship Committee, or the Deacons.

You need to know I don’t view it that way. God does not view his ministers that way!

[My Ordination Certificate ?]

I am a servant of Christ!

Southside Baptist Church, I am not called as a minister by you, and I don’t work for you! I work for Christ! I serve Christ! I take my orders from Him.

And both of us are better off because of it. And both of us are beter off embracing that and not hindering that!

Because a true minister of God, according to the Scriptures, is a servant of Christ.

And not only a servant of Christ, but also “stewards of the mysteries of God.”

Not servants OR stewards, but servants AND stewards. Both!

Some ministers mistakenly think they are servants only, and not stewards. Others think they are stewards only, and not servants. A minister is called to both!

That word “steward” implies that we have received something. We have been given something that was not ours, but is ours to manage. What have we been given?

The mysteries of God.

They are mysteries, because they are not things you will seek and find in the world. They are revelations that only come from God (GCM). We steward God’s revelation. God’s Word.

The word “steward” in the Greek is [οἰκονόμος], which means, the “manager of a household” (BDAG).

Whose household does a minister manage? God’s household!

Who is God’s household? God’s Church!

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Remember, that was not talking about individuals in Chapter 3. That was talking about the church body.

This same apostle, Paul, in the book of Acts said this to the elders of the church in Ephesus, among his last words to them:

Acts 20:28 ESV

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Who does the church belong to? God.

Who pays careful attention to the flock? The overseers. Pastors are overseers.

Who makes a person an overseer? The Holy Spirit of God does! Not a church. Not an ordination council. But the Holy Spirit of God!

Let me give you one more Scripture:

This is found in 1 Timothy 3 in a section right before the qualification of Deacons. This is in the qualifications for such Overseers. Listen to what God’s expectation says:

1 Timothy 3:4 ESV

4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,

The root for the word “household” is part of our word “stewards.”

A minister, called by God, set apart by God, is responsible for managing God’s household, God’s church, and this includes the work of administration.

Some well intentioned saints have told me that they wish they could reduce some of my administration duties so I can spend more time on ministry. But that is backwards! I am one man, incapable of meeting the ministry demands of an entire congregation. The Biblical pattern is that the qualified, God-called minister administrates and oversees the household, and in so doing equips the saints for the work of ministry.

Why is it so essential that a person administrating God’s household is held to such high standards? Because he is managing what belongs to God, and he is accountable directly to God!

Unfortunately, many pastors are not interested, or skilled in administration. Some wrongly view administration as something that is anti-spiritual.

So they farm out the administration of the church to committees of lay people in the church, some of whom clearly don’t qualify scripturally.

And what that pastor is doing, who farms out God’s expectations to others - he is abdicating his God-given responsibilities and putting his dear flock in great peril by placing them, if unqualified, in a position that is accountable to God to their peril - a position that was not given by God to them.

If you dig in deep to the committee structure prescribed even in our own church governance, we have prescribed committees, and those committees vote, and the pastor doesn’t get a vote!

He is a non-voting member, that can be excluded by a chairman from the meeting if the matter pertains to him.

Which means, effectively, our church is structured on paper in direct contradiction to God’s accountable design, so that the God-given authority to administrate has been watered down to mere lip service for the man of God that is accountable to God for that very work. That is a scary thing! (Thankfully, we have not been operating like that, but we need to get our operating documents corrected).

There may be good reasons for setting things up the way they are, but at the end of the day - that’s not God’s way.

I don’t know about you, but we’ve seen already in 1 Corinthians that doing things a human way leads to destruction. I’ll opt for God’s way every time. If we do things God’s way, then when problems arise they are God’s problems, not ours. And God knows how to handle problems.

But do not hear all of this and think that a minister is not at all, accountable.

1 Corinthians 4:2 ESV

2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

This is why a list of qualifications are given for Overseers in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1. People may aspire to this office, but they must first be tested and found faithful.

When the first Deacons were prayerfully chosen in Acts 6, men were chosen that were full of faith and the Holy Spirit. They were men that were found faithful.

You may ask - well how do you judge a minister, then?

Listen to how the apostle responds:

1 Corinthians 4:3 ESV

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.

1 Corinthians 4:4 ESV

4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

A minister is always being judged.

Did he come visit me enough in the hospital? Did he preach an entertaining enough sermon? Is he making decisions fast enough? Is he making the right decisions? Just a few examples of modern judgments.

But given all of the judging, the apostle says - that’s a small thing, to be judged by you.

Southside Baptist Church - it is a small thing to be judged by you!

It is also a small thing to be judged by myself, and I don’t mind telling you that no one is more critical of me than I am of myself!

I wish I was like the apostle Paul who said “I do not even judge myself” because I judge myself often and harshly, and I need to work on that.

But this is a Gospel Message I need to hear as a Minister of Christ —

“It is the Lord who judges me.”

“It is a very small thing that I should be judged by you - I do not even judge myself - It is the Lord who judges me.”

Are you concerned about how to judge a minister of God? That judgment is not for you. It is for the Lord.

And the Lord protects His Church.

But if we insist on “doing church” our way, then it is not His Church, and God won’t get involved.

But if we are obedient to being God’s witnesses, who do God’s will, as revealed in God’s Word - God’s Way, then we show that we are God’s Church - and God protects His Church. Let God be judge!

1 Corinthians 4:5 ESV

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.

In other words - WAIT on the Lord.

You cannot know the purposes of someone’s heart. I cannot know the purposes of someone’s heart. But God does, and God will bring those purposes to light when the Lord comes.

Already, the apostle is setting up a theme he will touch on later, for he himself will come to Corinth and find out the power behind the talk.

Here, he is saying - Jesus will come, and in that day He will find out the power behind the talk and His judgement is just, and perfect, and righteous, and final!

Wait on the Lord!

A minister of God is an example of this.

1 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

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.

Do not “go beyond what is written.”

Make God’s Word your foundation, and do not go beyond it!

No one has special revelation that God has not already revealed.

Ministers are merely fellow-workers serving the same God. But it is God who owns the field, and the building.

And a true minister of God is a minister of the Word, and the Word is what people see that matters most.

1 Corinthians 4:7 ESV

7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Underline that word “receive.” That is the important word.

Everything we have, we have received from God. Everything a minister has, has been received from God.

John the Baptist said this —

John 3:27 ESV

27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.

[…]

John 3:30 ESV

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

We cannot receive even one thing unless it is given from heaven -- Unless God gives it to us!

So in Corinth, they were boasting about things as if those things were of their own working. As if they had things that God did not give to them.

And the apostle says - God gave you everything! You received everything! Don’t boast as if you have what you have because you gave it to yourself. You have what you have because you have received it from God! Boast in God!

“How should one regard a minister?”

As Servants of Christ and Stewards.

But also, as —

B. A Spectacle (4:8-13)

The apostle uses a bit of irony here.

4:8

1 Corinthians 4:8 ESV

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!

They boast as if they have it all figured out and have all success without the help of the apostles.

And the apostle says - I wish it were so, so that we could share the rule with you!

But it is not so. That’s why the apostle says it the way he does. They are divided and deceived because of their sin.

One commentator (Conzelmann) says it this way:

“The Corinthians misjudge the situation: between the present and the ‘goal’ there intervenes the [Second Coming] and the judgement, which they in their spiritual self-assurance believe they have behind them.” (Herm, 31).

Yes - they do reign as kings in Christ! But not yet, in the way they think.

Yes - they have become rich! But not yet, in the way they think.

Yes - all things are theirs! But not yet, in the way they think.

These things will come to fulfillment in the right time, in the end time, but not in this time, not yet. Christ will come again first. Judgement will take place first.

None of us will escape a judgement.

The Corinthians think they are living now in the fulfillment what will be, and they are wrong! And the apostles, again, serve as an example of this.

1 Corinthians 4:9 ESV

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.

That word “spectacle” is the word [θέατρον], where we get our word “theatre.” The apostles are first in God’s list but not in the world’s (can’t remember who said this). In the world, they are a spectacle. To angels and men, a spectacle.

Meaning God has placed the apostles, and ministers of the Gospel, as people who are to be seen and who are watched and who are visible. And their life will show people Christ.

Their lives are lived for Christ’s sake!

1 Corinthians 4:10 ESV

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.

1 Corinthians 4:11 ESV

11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,

1 Corinthians 4:12 ESV

12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

1 Corinthians 4:13 ESV

13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

That’s how the world treats ministers. That’s how the apostles were treated.

And unfortunately, that’s how many churches treat their own ministers too. And that is a tragedy.

[…]

Who does that sound like? Who else did that? Jesus did.

True ministers act like Jesus as they wait, for the return of the Lord! True ministers know that in that day, God’s way will win the day!

Just as they are not judged by you, the true minster of God is also not ultimately cared for by you - although God would use you to do that, and God expects that of you!

[…]

The true minister of God fulfills his mission to live a life that testifies to God no matter what happens in the world!

He is a Servant and Steward.

He is a Spectacle to the world.

And lastly,

C. A Spiritual Father (4:14-21)

1 Corinthians 4:14 ESV

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

The apostle is not writing to shame them. The goal is not to shame them - although they deserve it. Instead, the apostle views the Corinthian church, in all their dysfunction, as his beloved children.

The text takes on a more tender tone here.

He intends to instruct them. To warn them as beloved children.

1 Corinthians 4:15 ESV

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.

1 Corinthians 4:16 ESV

16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

1 Corinthians 4:17 ESV

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.

What Paul is teaching, he is not limiting to the church in Corinth. He is teaching these same things everywhere, and Timothy - Paul’s disciple and child in the Lord, will prove that to them.

The apostle, the spiritual father in Jesus Christ through the gospel, makes this appeal to his beloved children —

1 Corinthians 4:16 ESV

16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Mimic me! Do as I do! That is the true appeal of a true minister of God, because he is not a minister of himself, but a minister of God, a servant of God. Pointing to God!

His life will reflect the will and ways of God.

Don’t follow me. Follow Jesus. But imitate me - as my life does just that!

But some people in the church were arrogant. They thought that Paul was all talk and he wasn’t going to actually come visit. They thought they could get away with their sinful ways.

Perhaps Paul will simply hide behind his words in this letter, to no real effect. He’s all talk!

And Paul - as the servant of Christ, and witness of Christ, gives an illustration of what Christ will one day do --- Christ is not all talk. Christ will come. So Paul, will do as Christ will do - Paul will come.

1 Corinthians 4:18 ESV

18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.

1 Corinthians 4:19 ESV

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.

1 Corinthians 4:20 ESV

20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

This is why liars are cowards. This is why the Devil, the Father of lies, is a coward. Because you can hide behind words, but you cannot hide behind power.

You can hide behind words, but you cannot hide your works.

Your works will show forth the power behind them.

And the kingdom of God is a kingdom of power - not of talk.

If the word of the cross is true, the power of the cross is true too!

If the word of the cross said Christ died for your sins, that is not mere talk. Christ died for your sins and atoned for them, once for all!

If the word of the cross says Christ was buried in the grave, that is not mere talk. Christ was buried in the gave, burying your sins “in the grave of God’s forgetfulness” (A.R.)!

If the word of the cross says Christ did not stay dead and buried, but was raised in power - then that is not mere talk. Christ was raised in power! And that means Christ is alive, and watching everything that is happening. And Christ will come again.

And all will know it, when he comes again. All will see him then.

Revelation 1:7 ESV

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

This is the gospel through which, in Christ, the apostle became a spiritual father that the church in Corinth did not have many of!

And a good father does not abandon his children. At times, he disciplines them. But always, he shows his children how they are to behave and act as a mature adult in Christ.

If a minister is a minister of God at all, his talk is backed by power - because he does not speak of his own accord, but he speaks the word of God! And the word of God will do a work. It will not return to God void. Be sure of that! And that same word will hold that minister accountable in the judgement.

IV. Conclusion

A true minister of God is a servant of Christ and a steward, a spectacle, and a spiritual father.

A. Gospel Proclamation

Here is the sum of it all. As the Corinthians are divided over who they follow - Paul comes and and tells them what a true minister is.

A true minister of God reflects Christ —

Christ — who became a suffering servant, who stewards all things because he was given all things, who became a spectacle, despised and rejected by men, and who becomes to us the Way to our Heavenly Father - who will never abandon us.

When you look at a true minister - you should see Jesus in that minister! You should see the word of the cross lived out! You should see the Gospel of the Kingdom! You should see the power behind the talk.

And this leads to one final word of exhortation -

C. Exhortation & Application

Every one of us, in Christ, is a minister! This is the grace and gift of the Gospel!

The Holy Spirit gifts each of us with a gift for ministry. Some of us are set apart as apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Some of us are given other manifestations of the Spirit for the common good. But all of us are ministers - servants, stewards, spectacles, and spiritual fathers and mothers as God has given us.

And all of us humble ourselves, and bow the knee and serve Christ!

The apostle asks -

1 Corinthians 4:21 ESV

21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

You decide - but know this - he is coming.

For the Corinthians, Paul was coming.

For all of us, Jesus is coming.

How would you like him to come?