Lessons in Gospel Leadership

Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 4

INTRODUCTION: The Story of a Colorblind Child.

There are a lot of things to dislike about social media but one of the things I truly enjoy is how many videos of inspiration are circling around the internet that social media has the ability to connect us to.

I recently came across one such video. It was a video capturing a young colorblind teenage, for the first time, receiving a pair of glasses designed to help him see color.

The amount of sheer joy that was on his face when he put the glasses on is hard to describe.

He walked around the room he was in taking in each and every single item and each every colorful detail on those items.

Because of his condition, he wasn't able to see the world as it really was. At least not until he received special glasses. With these new lenses he received the necessary help for him to see the world as it was intended to be seen.

And in some ways, when I hear that story, I think about us, the church.

You see, without the lens of the Gospel we are not able to see life as it was intended to be seen. We aren't able to rightly understand the matters of life, relationships and in the case of this chapter, leadership, without that Gospel lens.

When we don't wear the Gospel on the eyes of our heart, we'll naturally gravitate towards unhealthy and even dangerous forms of leadership…versus leadership influenced and shaped by Jesus.

Of course, some of us may be saying “well, ok, cool that just means once I get saved I’m good to go. I’ll be looking at the world through my Gospel lens and all will be well.

That brings me to another important part in this video.

There are several moments in the video where this young man takes these new glasses off and I'm sure you can guess what happens every single time he takes them off? His perception of the world around him reverts back to his life before the glasses. A colorless world again. He usually puts the glasses back on.

The lens of the Gospel works in a similar way. We can sometimes take them off and start looking at the world the way always looked at it. We can start looking at relationships and leadership a certain way. Believing, for example, that leadership is about ASSERTING power and force, it’s about doing whatever you have to do to get your way, its about fame and/or celebrity.

Whenever we aren’t looking at life through the lens of the Gospel, we will be compelled to define good leadership just like the rest of the world.

The Christians in Corinth seem to be making a similar mistake which is part of the reason divisions are forming and spiritual immaturity appears to be very prominent.

So, Paul, in the next 21 verses is setting out to help them understand what good Christian leadership actually looks like.

Let me tell you a couple reasons why this matters:

You will lead someone. You may lead as a parent. You may lead as a supervisor. You may lead as expert in a field. You may lead as a pastor. Don’t know what you lead but I do know more than likely, at some point you will lead and it helps to know what good leadership looks like.

You will follow someone. You will follow your church leadership. You will follow a boss on a job. You will appoint and elect leaders. You will follow a team lead on a volunteer project. So, it is equally important as a follower to know what you should expect in a good leader.

Paul lays this groundwork. In fact, he sets the stage right out of the gate in verse 1.

1 Corinthians 4:1 ESV

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

Gospel Leadership Is About Faithful Service

Picture Paul saying in this verse, I know some of you are pumping us up and treating us like stars and that’s where you’re going wrong. Rather, when you see us you should us regard us as SERVANTS and STEWARDS.

It’s not celebrity. It’s not glitzy and glamorous. It is SERVICE AND STEWARDSHIP.

Be careful not to see STEWARDS as the type of folks that show up on airplane fights and serve and attend to you.

One scholar said, the stewards here in chapter 4 are more or less like ESTATE MANAGERS. In other words, the owner of some fortune entrusts the handling of that fortune to this very trust.

Paul is saying, as apostles, this is what God expects of us. He expects us to conduct his business on His behalf as if He was doing it himself. And what is His business?

The sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Proclaiming and reflecting the Kingdom of God.

This is what is meant to be a steward of the mysteries of God.

It’s for this reason that we hear in verse 2:

1 Corinthians 4:2 ESV

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

Notice what Paul says is required.

Faithfulness…not fame…not fortune…not celebrity…not power…FAITHFULNESS.

This is how one pastor puts it:

“A steward is just a servant. He doesn’t run the household, the master does. His only responsibility is to do what the master tells him. So if the master tells him to invest money in something that completely tanks, the steward doesn’t take the blame. On the other hand, if the master gives the steward an order that leads to great success, the steward doesn’t get the credit. Success and failure are master words; faithfulness is the concern of stewards.”

It’s been often said that “God has not called us to success but to faithfulness” and if we we find success along the way so be it.

In fact, when you shift this paradigm, what becomes success is in fact FAITHFULNESS to God.

The steward is only striving to please one and that one is his/her master.

It’s for this reason that verses 3-5 make so much sense.

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...

Paul makes a very interesting statement here.

“It is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court”

What does that mean? It means your judgment of me is ultimately EXTREMELY INSIGNIFICANT.

Why? Because a STEWARD’s performance, a SERVANT’s performance can only be measured by the MASTER! It doesn’t matter how others ultimately perceive him because he is ultimately approved and disapproved only by one. And how is that one measuring him? He’s measuring him by whether or not He is FAITHFUL!

Success in Gospel Leadership is not NECESSARILY answered with how many people you’re leading, how much money you generated, or how valuable of a commodity you are now or your ministry is now. Kingdom success is measures by one question ARE YOU FAITHFUL to the assignment that your master has given you!?

Application: As we sit here this morning, many of you are held captive in your life by a number of different masters.

Your employer and coworkers and their impression of you holds you captive - and so you work harder and longer to try and prove everyone wrong.

Some of you spend hours scrolling screens and sharing carefully constructed images of yourself - because you are held captive by the fear of what this fake world would think of you if they saw and knew the real you

Some of you are held captive by your family, your friends, or your boyfriend, or girlfriend - so you constantly allow yourself to bend to their pressure and twist who you are into knots in order to satisfy their endless expectations of you.

Even as a church planter, there’s metrics out there and scorecards. How many members does your church have; how much money does your church receive

Here’s what I’m saying to you…I’m saying if you’re not careful you’ll allow yourself to be a STEWARD to so many that you’ll live your entire life in service to all of these voices when ultimately ONLY one voice and one approval ultimately matters! His!

ARE YOU FAITHFUL to His Kingdom work for your LIFE?

Now this is where it could go REALLY off the rails because, for many people, what I just said gives you an opportunity to shrink your circle of counsel and start looking only to yourself as the barometer of truth for how well they are living life and as long as they can say, “I’m happy. I feel good.”, they say to themselves, “I’m being FAITHFUL”

2Pac used to have a song where he says “Only God Can Judge Me…So all you other [expletives] get out of my business”.

Now, most of y’all wouldn’t use the expletive (some of y’all would :)), but you will still kind of have this incomplete thought…which oftentimes doesn’t turn upward towards God but rather turns inward on us and ultimately becomes

“ME JUDGING ME.”

“ME BEING true to MYSELF.”

“ME LIVING for ME.”

There is another word for that PRIDEFUL and DANGEROUS.

So, for those who might be thinking that Paul is heading in that territory, Paul takes his thoughts a step further in verses 3-4.

1 Corinthians 4:3–4 (ESV)

3 ...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.

Paul says look I’m not even content with allowing my identity to be shaped by my own impressions of what I want out of life, and where I’ll find fulfillment, or where I’ll find happiness.

One of the most dangerous rule you can govern your life around is ALWAYS DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY!

Twice, we read in the book of Proverbs...

Proverbs 14:12 ESV

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Proverbs 16:25 ESV

25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Again REMEMBER, A STEWARD’s performance, a SERVANT’s performance can only be measured by the MASTER

It doesn’t ultimately matter what others think and doesn’t even matter what the SERVANT thinks. What matters is FAITHFULNESS to what the Master has assigned the SERVANT.

Paul gets that and as a faithful servant, He is pursuing that.

He’s searching His own life and making an evaluation.

“I’m not aware of anything against myself”

You guys have some beef against me. I’m not as eloquent as some of the other leaders you hold in high regard. I don’t carry the same GREEK Philosophical skill that y’all enjoy in others but that’s OK because I’m not living to receive your approval

And I’ve evaluated my life and I believe I’m following Jesus. I believe I’m obeying His call to love Him and love my neighbor. I believe I’m operating faithfully as the apostle He has called me to be!

AND THIS SHOULD BE THE POSTURE we all walk in...

Goodness, IMAGINE a world where Christians weren’t slaves to the voices of the culture and allowing the impressions from the outside to be constantly shaping who they are AND at the same time weren’t slave to the voices within and constantly allowing ourselves to be held captive to our own voice and desires...

But instead were in constant evaluation of their lives using the standard of God’s word, the consultation of God through prayer, and the counsel from other wise saints received in humility.

IMAGINE what that world would look like!!!!

And yet that Paul doesn’t end there...

Since He says I CANNOT ACQUIT MYSELF. In other words, I can live a life in which I seek to be totally faithful to me and still be WHOLLY unfaithful to God.

Paul is allowing his leadership to be driven by one metric, “AM I BEING FAITHFUL TO GOD’S CALL FOR ME!”

Paul is inviting you to look at leadership through a whole new lens. It’s not about whether others approve of your life, nor is it even about whether you approve of your life, it is about FAITHFULNESS TO God’s call over your life.

Why? Because it is the Lord who judges me!

Gospel Leadership is not about WORLDLY BOAST

In verse 1-5 Paul is using himself and Apollos as a way of helping the Corinthians understand how they should VIEW true Gospel Leadership and says as in verse 6.

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers...

Paul basically says in verse 6, “I told you how you should regard me and Apollos in order that you may learn how to view ALL leaders. I placed myself out there as reminder to you that we, the church, have a completely and totally different measure for what constitutes true leadership than the world does.”

But here he makes a move from what SHOULD BE HAPPENING to what is ACTUALLY HAPPENING...

1 Corinthians 4:6–7 (ESV)

6 ...that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written...

Here is the reason for the divisions that’s happening in the church, here’s the reason for the factions because they’ve gone beyond what is written to determine which leaders are fit and which leaders are not.

There is a strong temptation to keep looking outward for our cues on leadership, because oftentimes folks that are going beyond what is written may have a larger following, or they may be wealthier, or they may be more popular, or they may have a larger mass of people who like them

Now as we’ve said earlier in this sermon series, that’s not to say that there is nothing to learn outside of Scripture,

However, it is to say nothing learned outside of Scripture should ever replace Scripture as the measure by which we use to evaluate what success looks like in our lives, our relationships, and leadership. The Gospel is the lens by which we SEE life as it is intended to be seen.

Don’t use the world’s standards to evaluate success!!!!!!

Why should we not do that Paul?

1 Corinthians 4:6–7 (ESV)

6 ...that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 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?

The world’s measurements for successful leadership has a tendency to lead towards pride and division.

APPLICATION: Today’s HYPER PARTISANSHIP

More and more and more, we’re lining up behind leaders, celebrating leaders and measuring leaders on all the wrong attributes...

We’re asking whether or not they can own the liberals or own the conservatives…

We’re asking whether or not they can get things done without ever asking will they do so with honor, mercy, grace, and justice...

We’re not holding them accountable to serve anybody else as long as they are willing to serve ME.

This is “going beyond what is written...” This is not what Scripture tells us

Leaders like this are plentiful and plenty of them will build strong followings, but they should never be the standard for what the church sees leadership as…because the eventual end is DIVISION and PRIDE.

This is exactly what has become of the Corinthian church which is why Paul is now shifting to a more direct rebuke of that display of PRIDE that has led to so much separation...

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?

In verse 7, Paul pops their swelling pride with a series of questions: Who, What, and Why?

1 Corinthians 4:7a (ESV)

7 For who sees anything different in you?

Who has declared you above anyone else? What makes you special enough to look down on others?

Some may say well Paul, the world tells me my value is in what I possess? My knowledge, my wisdom, my eloquence, my money, my celebrity, my beauty, my strength, my inheritance, my car, my house...To which Paul

1 Corinthians 4:7b (ESV)

7 ...What do you have that you did not receive?

How can you boast about what you have when nothing that you have is actually yours…

If you would have stayed with Scripture, you would have remembered God’s words in Psalm 24:1 “1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,”

If you would have stayed with Scripture, you would have remembered God’s words in Job 41:11 “11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.”

1 Corinthians 4:7c (ESV)

7 ...If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

You’ve gone beyond what is written to measure success and instead of making you faithful, it has made you, self-centered, divisive, and prideful...

This happens in EVERY SINGLE walk of life.

Show me bad team dynamic in the office and I’ll show you at least one person and possibly more with a sense of entitlement…Almost as if there saying I’m doing you a favor by gracing with my presence...

Show me a struggling marriage and I’ll show you at least one person and possibly two with a sense of entitlement…A seething inaudible whisper inside of them that’s saying to the spouse in the middle of another argument “You’re better just happy that I’m still here. You’re so lucky to have me”

Tiger Woods after he was caught very publically in multiple affairs held a press conference to apologize to his family, friends, and fans. I’ll never forget one particular thing that he said?

“I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled, and thanks to money and fame, I didn't have to go far to find them.”

Show me a explosively divided church and I’ll show you at least one person and probably a lot more with a sense of entitlement.

“Y’all are so blessed to have me with my deep knowledge of Scripture, or my crazy talent, or my crazy work ethic, or my deep pockets.”

The biggest remedies to division in church is ENDLESS GRACE WRAPPED IN ENDLESS HUMILITY. Two qualities that the outside world would have laughed at the Corinthians for trying to display but two qualities that were on the most prominent display when the God of the Universe took on the cross to save the World!

Gospel Leadership is not about WORLDLY SUCCESS

Paul attacks another pillar of their faulty understanding of leadership and maturity in verse 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!

If you didn’t notice reading the first time Paul is speaking sarcastically in verses 8-10...

The Corinthians seemingly have everything they want...

They’re fat and they’re happy. They’re set. They have what they want. They’re pursuing power. They’re pursuing wealth and they are following those who have the ability to get them there and ignoring those who can’t.

IS THIS SUCCESSFUL GOSPEL LEADERSHIP?

I love what Paul says at the end of verse 8. Basically, “man, I wish it was time for that because I would love to enjoy that”

Because Jesus hasn’t revealed any of that to me yet...

Can you imagine Paul showing up in the 21st century western evangelical churches? And see us chasing the money, chasing the power, chasing the cars, chasing the houses, chasing the seats, chasing the influence, and doing all of it in the name of Jesus?

You don’t have to because this is what is happening in Corinth.

You see this is what happens when you take the Gospel lens off of your eyes and you view your world based on the way everyone else around you is viewing.

You begin to equate earthly success with Kingdom success…earthly power with Kingdom power…earthly leadership principles with Kingdom leadership principles.

But what does Paul say to all of this? Verse 9

1 Corinthians 4:9–12 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. 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. 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;

Paul says you want to understand Kingdom leadership? Look at us…Look at those that the Gospel was entrusted to! Look at those that Jesus entrusted His ministry to. Look at our lives and tell me what you see!!!!

God has exhibited us in LAST PLACE....

God has displayed us like men condemned to die...

God has made us a spectacle to the watching world...

While you fight to show off your wisdom, everyone looks at up and thinks we’re fools

While you push and claw to grab a hold of seats of power, we move in weakness only sustained by the power of Christ. Traveling from city to city being beaten to within an inch of our lives and yet continuing on in the name of Jesus...

While you sachet into the more prominent distinguished corners of your community, people look at us and shake their heads in shame...

We are hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless, working hard, hated, persecuted, slandered, treated and viewed like EVERYONE’s GARBAGE

And we are the Apostles God has called to you…

This is the path of true Gospel leadership…the path of sacrifice…the path of suffering…the path of rejection…the hard path...

A Response

And what does Paul want us to do with that?

1 Corinthians 4:14 ESV

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

DON’T BE ASHAMED, BE REORIENTED

1 Corinthians 4:16–17 ESV

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.

Change your understanding of leadership from a worldly perspective to a Gospel perspective...

Application: In order to lead for Jesus, we must be willing to lead like Jesus