Who Wants Church Leaders Anyway?

The scripture reading comes from the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Please follow along on the bulletin, the screen, or your own Bible.

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

Starting in verse 1, we read,

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

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

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, for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not therefore acquitted.

It is the Lord who judges me.

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.

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.

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?

Although you have all you want, I'm sorry, already you have all you want.

Already you have become rich.

Without us, you have become kings.

And with that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you.

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.

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 disrebuke.

To the present hour, we hunger and thirst.

We are poorly dressed and buffered and homeless.

And we labor, working with our own hands.

When we revile, we are blessed.

When persecuted, we endure.

When slanted, we entreat.

We have become and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuge of all things.

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

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.

I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

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.

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

But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills.

And I will find out not the talk of those arrogant people, but their power.

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

What do you wish?

Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love, in the spirit of gentleness?

This is the word of God.

Okay, great.

Thank you, Margo.

Let's pray together as we come to this passage.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your word.

God, I confess, sometimes your word is hard to understand.

Sometimes it feels like, what relevance does this letter to Corinthians 2,000 years ago have to us today?

God, won't you come and help us see not just what Paul is saying to Corinthians, but what you are saying to us.

God, I pray that you help us to be a church which is radically Christ-centered.

God, come and crucify our pride, our self-sufficiency.

Come and call us back to Christ in the gospel, we pray.

Lord, as your word, we pray that you will speak to us this morning.

Lord, we pray that each one of us, you will speak to us from something from today, whether it's a line in a song,

whether it's something from the scripture reading, the call to worship, the sermon, that in some way, God, you will speak to each one of us today.

We want to hear from you and take something from this morning that will go with us into this week and help us to hold on to Christ Jesus again.

Amen.

So God, I pray by your spirit, come and do that in your wonderful and gracious name.

Amen.

Okay, I don't know how you feel about problem-solving puzzles like Rubik's cubes and things like that.

I saw Sebastian, I think a week or two ago.

Sebastian is from Ebenezer here and is 100% blind.

And Sebastian was solving a Rubik's cube by feeling the different textures of the different colors.

Is that right, Sebastian?

Well, I must tell you, I don't know anything about Rubik's cubes.

I've tried many times.

I can't solve them.

I have not cracked the code.

I don't know how you feel about those kinds of problems and other problems like that.

Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 4 was a Rubik's cube to me this week.

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

If you didn't understand anything Margo read while she was reading, that's how I felt Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week.

And I thought, what on earth is going on here?

So let's see if we can make sense of this very difficult passage.

1 Corinthians chapter 4.

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

What is Paul trying to say to the Corinthians?

And the question then is, what is God trying to say to us?

Well, I think this is the big idea.

Paul wants his readers to understand.

He wants them to humbly receive the leaders that God has given them and to let these leaders help them, the Corinthians, to follow Jesus.

So Paul is saying to the Corinthians, God has given you leaders.

Receive these leaders and let these leaders serve you by calling you to follow Jesus.

And if you think about that, isn't that what God would want to say to us?

For us to humbly receive the leaders that he's given us and to let those leaders help us as a church to follow Jesus.

Now, you may automatically have an objection and say, well, that's very convenient for you to say, Kevin, because you are one of the leaders, right?

That sounds like you're saying, hey, just shut up and follow me, right?

Well, good point.

But I want to raise something.

I am one of the leaders in the church, sure.

But I'm also a member of the church.

In fact, my primary identity is as a member of the church, not as a leader.

There is one primary head of Watermark Church.

His name is Jesus.

And the rest are primarily body.

And so even as elders and pastors, we have leaders called elders and pastors.

And I, as I listen to this passage, need to receive the leaders that God has put in my life and help them to let them help me to follow Jesus.

The main thing that I need in my life is to follow Jesus.

And God has given me these gifts called elders and pastors that help me to do that.

Okay, so that's what I think the big idea is today.

God wants us to humbly receive the leaders he's given us and to allow them to help us follow Jesus.

Now, you may say, oh, church of Egypt, here we go again.

Is there anything like more irrelevant and boring to my life?

But I think there's two reasons why it's important for us to, why the Bible spends a lot of time talking about church leadership.

The first is this.

The Bible says that the church is not indispensable to one's Christian faith.

And so it's easy for us to think, okay, it's me and Jesus.

That's all that really matters.

But the Bible actually says the church, the Christian community around us, is a vital part of our Christian faith, of us following Jesus.

And therefore, how the church is structured and how God brings the church into our lives is very important.

How we think about it is very important.

But the second reason is this.

If you've been around for more than a month in this world, you'll know of all the terrible stories of church abuse or church scandals or churches imploding that result from dodgy and bad leadership, right?

And so if we want the church to be healthy and strong, it's important that we understand what does the Bible have to say about church and how it's structured and church leadership.

Okay, so in this passage, I think Paul's going to answer three questions.

Who do church leaders serve?

Secondly, what do church leaders do?

Okay, that's a good question.

And thirdly, how do they actually do what they are called to do?

So let's dive in and see how we can answer.

So firstly, who do church leaders serve?

In 1970, an academic called Robert Greenleaf coined a phrase in his seminal essay called The Servant as Leader.

He coined this now ubiquitous phrase, The Servant Leader.

Okay?

And for us, we yawn when we hear that idea.

Servant Leader.

Okay, we've all heard that concept.

But in the 1970s, it was revolutionary and very new.

Everyone thought, this is amazing.

Leaders are actually servants.

Now, of course, that idea has been around for forever, right?

I think the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, I don't know if that's how you say his name, 5th century BC, he spoke about servant leaders.

And of course, that's what the Apostle Paul is writing here.

And so look what he says in verse 1 of our passage.

I hope you've got your Bible or bulletin with you.

He says,

This is how one should regard us, apostles.

We are servants.

Servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

And we must be found faithful.

Okay?

So that's similar to what we saw last week.

Paul says,

What are church leaders?

We are servants.

Okay?

But servants of Christ.

Then he says,

So Paul says,

We are servants.

But then he says,

You think that he means,

Okay, we are your servants.

But actually, look at what he says.

We are servants of Christ.

We are Christ's servants.

So Paul's telling the church that,

Yes, the leaders,

They are servant leaders.

They're not meant to be CEOs or presidents.

They're not building their own brand or their own organization

or their own empire.

They are servants to the church.

But they're also not democratically elected leaders.

They're not voted by the people,

for the people,

answerable to the people.

What does he say?

Who are they answerable to?

Paul says they're servants of Christ.

They've been sent to the church by Christ

to serve Christ's church with the gospel.

And their job is to be faithful to what Christ has told them to say.

I don't know if you know this phrase.

Sometimes you hear this kind of in politics.

Someone will say,

I serve at the pleasure of the president.

Or I serve at the pleasure of the chief executive.

And what they mean is,

My job is in the hands of the president.

When the president doesn't want me to do my job,

I'm out of here.

Paul says,

We serve at the pleasure of Christ.

So Christ is the one who sent us to then serve the church.

Paul says,

Church leaders serve at the pleasure of Christ.

And they serve the church best

by seeing themselves as servants of Christ

to the church.

Now that's a very delicate balance to get right.

So Paul's saying on one hand,

we are servants to the church.

On the other hand,

we are servants of Christ to the church.

And what's happening here is that

when earlier on,

in chapter 3,

Paul writes and says,

Who are leaders?

Who is Paul?

Who is Apollos?

Who is Kevin?

We're nothing.

We're just servants.

On one hand,

that sounds like,

Oh, great, servants.

Okay, we just get to tell them what to do.

And Paul says,

No, no, no.

We are God's servants.

And we speak on his behalf

and do what he tells us to do.

So we don't change the message

to make it more palatable.

We don't run around doing

what everybody necessarily is telling us to do.

We've got a mandate from Christ.

And we serve the church best

when we answer what Christ has called us to do.

And that's really important

because in chapter 3,

Paul says,

Who is Apollos?

Who is Paul?

We are nothing but servants, right?

And so some people in the church are saying,

Okay,

I've got my servants at work.

I pay them a little bit

and I tell them what to do.

I've got my servants at home.

I pay them a bit

and I tell them what to do.

And then they hear Paul say,

Oh, we are servants.

And they say,

Oh, okay.

Now I've got my servants at church as well.

I'll just tell them what to do.

And Paul says,

No, no, no.

We are servants of Christ

that are called to serve the church.

Now, here's the question.

Why is Paul saying this?

Why is he making this distinction?

If you are a little bit older,

you might remember

there's a pop song from the 1970s, okay?

Bernard.

And is Bernard here?

And the song goes like this.

It was by Carly Simon

and the song is called

You're So Vain.

Do you know that song?

Okay.

And the chorus goes like this.

It says,

You're vain.

The word vain means self-opinionated,

conceited, right?

And the chorus goes like this.

You're so vain,

you probably think the song is about you,

don't you?

Okay.

Anyone know that song?

Okay.

Ron,

I don't know you know that song.

Okay.

Well, a few years ago,

a pastor called Alex Duke

wrote an article called

You're So Vain,

You Probably Think This Church Is About You,

right?

Don't you?

And so that's what's going on in Corinth.

There are these guys,

and Paul says,

Okay, we are servants,

and they say,

Yeah, that's right.

That's right.

We've got our servants at work.

We've got servants at home.

Now we've got our servants at church.

We're just going to tell you what to do.

And Paul says,

No, no, no, no.

We are servants of Christ,

and we serve the church best

when we know who gives us our mandate.

Who are we answerable to?

We're answerable to Christ.

If we are not answerable to Christ,

we'll twist the message.

We'll say what you want us to say.

We'll try and become popular.

We'll try and win your favor.

We might not be faithful to the gospel.

Now, I must say,

I don't see this often at Watermark.

I don't experience this often at Watermark.

But this does happen from time to time,

and I hear it happens a lot in various churches,

and we're all susceptible to this.

And what is the root of this?

This thinking of saying,

of wanting to demand

and just tell people what to do.

What's the root cause of it?

Well, Paul tells us here.

In fact, he tells us three times.

Look at verse 6.

He says,

My hope is that none of you may be puffed up.

The word there is proud or arrogant.

Verse 18, he says,

Some of you are arrogant,

as though I were not coming to you.

Verse 19,

But I will come to you,

if the Lord wills,

and I will find out,

not to talk of these arrogant people,

but their power.

What's the problem in the church in Corinth here?

The problem is there's fraction,

there's dividing,

there's division,

there's fighting,

there's camps.

But what's underneath the surface?

What's leading to this conflict,

this fighting?

It's actually,

there's pride.

There's a sense of arrogance.

There's a sense of entitlement.

There's a sense of self-sufficiency.

And so some people are saying,

Oh, it's all about us, right?

I'm so vain.

This church is probably all about me.

And another group saying,

No, it's about me.

And they're causing division,

and fraction,

and fighting.

And so pride is not only manifesting itself

in the division between the leaders and the church,

it's also manifesting itself in the division

between various church members.

How are they treating one another?

And so they're getting political,

and divisive,

and there's factions,

and there's arguments,

and it's leading to conflict with one another.

And pride and selfishness

is tearing this church community apart.

And friends,

sin always does that.

Whether it's the sin of pride and vanity,

whether it's something else,

it always has a vertical component

between me and God,

but also a horizontal component.

It damages relationships.

And so the question is,

what should Paul do?

He has this church,

there's pride,

there's conflict,

there's division.

What should Paul do?

How should Paul solve the problem?

What should all church leaders do?

That's a really good question.

Well, notice,

what Paul doesn't do

is he doesn't give them three tips

on how to improve their life.

Paul doesn't say,

come and,

whoa, sorry, sorry, sorry.

I apologize.

Paul doesn't say,

come listen to our sermon,

I'm going to give you five ways

to be successful in life.

He doesn't give them three tips

to self-help and self-improvement.

What does Paul do?

He pushes them back to Christ

and the gospel.

He reminds them

of who Jesus is

and what the gospel is.

He calls them back to Christ.

And that makes sense

because if the problem

in a church community

is pride and arrogance

and self-sufficiency,

what you don't need

is three ways

to improve your life.

That's like going to a doctor,

he does an MRI,

a blood test,

he comes back and says,

listen,

there's a serious problem.

You've got cancer.

He has Panadol, right?

That's a bad doctor.

For Paul to say,

there's pride,

there's division,

there's conflict in the church.

Yeah, let me just give you

three tips to improve your life.

That's not going to help them.

What does he need to do?

He needs to call them

back to Christ.

And that's what Paul does.

Friends,

that's what all good church leaders do.

What do church leaders do?

They call us back to Christ

and the gospel.

Elders,

deacons,

pastors,

CG leaders

call us back to Christ.

Week in and week out,

they remind us

that Christ

is the hope

in this life,

in life and death.

They remind us

our only hope

is in Christ alone.

They remind us

that Christ

is a sure and steady anchor

as we sang earlier,

Nate.

So Paul reminds them

and calls them

back to Christ.

And look at how he does this.

The first thing he does

is he reminds them

of Christ's grace.

Look at verse 7

with me here

in our passage.

Paul says this,

he says,

For who sees anything

different in you?

Or another way of saying that is,

what makes you different

from others?

What have you

that you did not receive?

If then you've received it,

why do you boast

as if you didn't receive it?

Andrew Wilson says,

this is Paul's

entire theology

in one sentence

and the most beautiful question

in the New Testament.

What did you receive,

or what do you have

that you did not receive

by grace?

Okay?

So,

he has this church,

his conflict,

his division,

his fighting,

and he's saying,

everything you have,

everything that we are,

our salvation,

the gospel,

our standing,

our wisdom,

our education,

everything that you are,

everything that we have,

you receive by grace.

It's unearned,

unmerited,

undeserved,

not because you're brilliant,

not because you're amazing,

it's God's undeserved grace

and kindness

to you.

So again,

Andrew Wilson says this,

grace,

more than any other

Christian teaching,

pulls the rug

from under self-reliance,

our boasting,

and our pride,

because if everything we have

has been given to us

by God,

how on earth

can we boast

as if somehow

it's ours by right?

Okay?

So Paul comes to him

and he says,

listen,

there's pride

and there's division

going on in the church.

How can I help them?

And the one,

the first thing he does

is he says,

everything you have,

everything you are

is by God's grace.

Now you may say,

well that's not really true.

I mean,

I've worked really hard

at my career,

I worked hard

at my university,

I studied,

I've put in long hours,

I've achieved this.

Okay,

yes,

but let's just think about this.

You could have been born

to the untouchable castes

in India,

right?

You could have been born

to the Masai Mara

in Tanzania

under a tree somewhere.

Everything you have,

your education,

your brains,

your intellect,

everything you have

is grace alone.

Been given to you

by grace alone.

And therefore,

there is no room

for boasting,

for pride.

And that's why

throughout this letter,

Paul is constantly

reminding us

of Christ

and the cross,

Christ

and the gospel,

Christ

and grace.

He says,

yes,

I know,

that's foolishness

to the world,

stupidity

to our culture,

but the wisdom

and the power

of God

is found in Christ

and the gospel.

Christ

and Christ alone.

Christ's grace

crucifies our pride

and annihilates

our self-sufficiency

and unites us

where there's division.

And so,

look at the last sentence

in our passage.

Paul could have come

and just smoked him,

right?

He could have said,

you guys,

stop it right now.

Otherwise,

I'm going to,

but he doesn't.

He says,

let's just think about this.

He says,

everything you have,

everything you are,

it's Christ's grace alone.

Let's look at the last sentence.

He says,

shall I come to you

with a rod

or shall I come to you

with love

and a spirit of gentleness?

He's an apostle.

He started this church.

They're rebelling

against his authority.

Of course,

he could have come

with a rod.

But how's he first

going to appeal to them?

He's going to appeal

to them with grace.

And so,

Paul comes and he says,

he says,

friends,

the kindness of God,

remember the grace of God.

Friends,

let me just ask you a question.

If you're stagnant

in your walk with God,

if your faith

has become a bit dull,

if you're bored with Jesus,

if you're constantly

in conflict

with other Christians,

is it possibly

because you've forgotten

the grace of God?

Forgotten the mercy of God?

You've forgotten

how Jesus went to the cross

for a sinner like you,

like me,

like us?

Is it that the gospel

has become familiar

and blasé

and no longer real

and vivid to us?

What Paul does here,

the first thing is,

he says,

reminds them of God's grace.

But that's not all he does.

He does something else.

And he also tackles

their pride

and their vanity.

And Paul tackles

their pride

in quite an unusual way.

He uses sarcasm

and irony

to show them

just how ridiculous

their pride is.

I don't know

if you've ever

experienced this, okay?

If somebody says

something really ridiculous,

and then somebody

imitates those people

in an exaggerated voice

to show them

how ridiculous

they sound, okay?

So maybe,

let me give you an example.

Maybe you're watching

the NBA finals, right?

And somebody, like,

makes the shot

and they miss the hoop, okay?

And somebody

that you're watching

with says,

that's such an easy shot.

I could have made

that shot any day, okay?

And you think,

that's such an easy shot.

I could have made

that shot any day, right?

What do you do?

You're repeating

what they're saying.

You're imitating them,

but in an exaggerated voice

to make them sound ridiculous, okay?

Does that make sense?

Or maybe,

you've got two children at home

and the one,

your son says to the other son,

hurry up,

we're going to be late.

And the other son says,

hurry up,

we're going to be late, okay?

Do you get it?

So sometimes you,

Greta, why are you laughing?

Okay?

Paul is going to do that.

He's going to use sarcasm

and irony

to reflect what they're saying

to show how ridiculous they are.

Now, if you in youth,

this is no excuse

to be sarcastic

with your brother and sister, okay?

No excuse.

Look at what he says.

Look at verse 8 with me.

He says,

already,

you have all that you want.

Already,

you've become rich without us.

Without us,

you've become kings.

And he says,

actually,

that would be a good idea.

We wish that you were kings

because then we might share

some of the rule with you.

Okay?

So they're saying,

we don't need you leaders.

Who are you leaders anyway?

We've got everything we need.

We rule in life.

We reign.

We don't even need you.

And Paul says,

you don't even need us.

You reign in life.

You're rich.

You've got everything you need.

And then,

remember in chapter 1,

Paul says,

when God called you,

you weren't very rich.

You weren't very powerful.

You weren't very strong.

You weren't very honorable, right?

Well, now look at what he says.

Verse 10.

We are fools,

but you are so wise.

We are weak,

but you are so strong.

We are held in disrepute.

You are held in honor.

So they are saying,

we're so wise.

We're so strong.

We're so honorable.

We don't need you leaders.

And Paul's saying,

you are right.

You guys,

you think you're somebody, right?

No, really.

You really are somebody.

We're nothing.

You don't need us at all.

And he's showing them,

what's he doing?

He's showing them how worldly

and how secular

their thinking has become.

Paul's reflecting their own words

back to them.

He's saying,

can you guys see

how ridiculous you sound?

Can you see how proud you've become?

How arrogant you've become?

Can you see how worldly

and secular you've become?

And he's reflecting his words

back to them

to show them

how ridiculous they are.

Now, why is he doing that?

Why is Paul doing this?

He wants to call them away,

call them back

from this worldly,

secular thinking,

this pride and this arrogance

to humility

and towards following Christ.

It's kind of like

if you're swimming on the beach

and there's a rip current,

a rip tide

and the lifeguards on the beach

say,

this is the safe swimming zone.

Swim within these parameters.

And then they see somebody

drifting into the dangerous waters.

What do they do?

They blow their whistle

and say,

hey,

you come out of the rip current,

come out of the dangerous waters,

come swim here.

Paul is saying to these guys,

you're drifting,

you're pride and you're arrogance,

you're drifting into dangerous territory,

come out of the waters,

come back to biblical Christianity.

And what is biblical Christianity?

Remember that everything you have

is by grace alone.

Come back to Christ

and the gospel.

And so look what he says

in verse 14.

He says,

I write these things to you,

not to shame you,

not to scold you,

but to admonish you.

Admonish you means to warn you,

my beloved children.

He says,

I'm blowing my whistle,

come back,

come back to Christ.

Your pride and your arrogance,

you're drifting away

from biblical Christianity.

Come back to Christ

and the gospel.

Verse 17,

he says,

that's why I sent Timothy,

my beloved and faithful child,

to remind you

of how I follow Christ.

What's Paul doing here?

Friends,

what Paul is doing

is what all Christian leaders do.

He's not giving them three tips

on how to be successful in life

and how to reign in life

and how to get ahead

in their career

and three ways

to parent their kids.

He's calling them back

to Christ,

Christ and the gospel.

And why is that?

The reason is,

this is Christianity

in a nutshell.

To love,

trust,

and obey Jesus.

To love Jesus,

to trust Jesus,

to obey Jesus.

That's Christianity,

discipleship in a sentence.

That's what leaders do.

We pour ourselves out.

We serve,

we shepherd,

we teach,

we instruct,

we encourage,

we correct,

we call to repentance,

calling away from

the thinking of the world

and the attitude of the world,

calling us to Christ,

to love,

trust,

and obey Jesus.

And here you see Paul,

he's doing these two things.

He's saying,

come away from

the thinking of the world.

Come away from

the attitude of the world.

Come away from

secular hard attitudes.

Come away from

pride and arrogance

and follow Jesus.

Hold on to Jesus.

Trust,

love,

and obey Jesus.

He's calling to these two things.

And these two words,

what are the biblical words for this?

Faith and repentance.

Faith and repentance.

Repentance and faith.

In some ways,

you could say,

faith and repentance

are the two

words,

the two motions,

emotions,

the two actions

of the Christian life.

Faith and repentance,

repentance and faith.

The lifelong pattern

of turning away

from the kingdom of self,

the turning to the kingdom of God.

Turning away from

the patterns of this world,

turning towards

the patterns of Christ.

Turning away from

the thinking and the heart

and the attitude

and the idols of this world

to hoping in Christ.

Faith and repentance

are not just the way

into God's kingdom,

they're the way

of God's kingdom.

Not just the way

you become a Christian,

they're the way

you grow as a Christian.

And so Paul here,

he looks at this church

and he says,

there's a problem here.

There's pride

and there's arrogance

and there's self-sufficiency.

What do you need?

You need repentance

and faith.

You need to turn away

from self

and turn towards Christ.

What do church leaders do?

They've got one message.

Friends,

if you've been here

the last seven weeks,

Paul's kind of just said

the same thing

for seven weeks in a row,

right?

Maybe you're getting

a bit bored of Corinthians.

Okay, that's okay.

Paul said one thing.

Christ and Christ alone.

Christ and the gospel.

Christ and grace.

Hold on to Jesus.

So how does Paul do that?

What is his tools

that he does?

Well,

the New Testament's

got lots of things,

lots of ways

that we do this,

but in this passage,

Paul gives us two.

And so let's just look

at them very briefly.

Paul does two things.

The first thing he does

is he uses scripture.

He uses scripture.

Look at verse six with me.

It's a very tricky passage,

a very tricky sentence,

but look what he says.

He says,

I've applied these things

to myself and Apollos

for your benefit,

brothers,

that you may learn from us

not to go beyond

what is written,

that you may not be puffed up

in favor of one

against another.

Now,

what on earth is he saying?

It's an extremely complicated

sentence in Greek,

but scholars tell us

what he means here is this.

Don't go beyond

what I've quoted

in the scriptures.

Remember the scripture

that I've brought to bear.

Throughout the whole

of 1 Corinthians,

Paul keeps on quoting

scripture,

left,

right,

and center.

He's quoting the Old Testament,

Isaiah,

Jeremiah,

the Psalms,

Job.

He's been quoting scripture

after scripture

after scripture.

And all the time,

what is the scripture saying?

He's saying,

don't boast in yourself,

boast in Christ.

Don't hope in yourself,

hope in Christ.

The wisdom of this world

is foolishness,

but the wisdom of God

is the one that makes sense.

The weakness of man is,

the strength of man is weak,

but the strength of God

is really what changes you.

He's been quoting

throughout the whole Old Testament,

Paul has been bringing

scripture after scripture

to say,

stop trusting

in the things of the world,

trust in Christ.

But he's saying,

don't take it from me,

listen to what God's word says.

And so you think

you're so smart,

Corinthians?

Well,

look at what God's word

says is real wisdom.

You think that power

is attained like this?

Let's look at what God's word

says about power.

You think that you're impressive?

Look what God says

is impressive.

Paul keeps on saying,

don't just take it from me,

look at what the scriptures say,

look at what God's word says.

Friends,

this is what all good

church leaders do.

They say,

don't listen to me.

Who am I?

I've got nothing wise

to tell you.

Who cares what I think

about life

and how life should work?

Let's listen to what God says.

Friends,

most of you are way,

way smarter

than I'll ever be.

Who cares

but what I think?

And so when we come

to church on Sunday,

you don't want to hear

what some idiot on stage

has to think about life.

We want to hear

what does God have to say?

Which is why

week in and week out,

we're opening up the scriptures

and saying,

what is God saying?

What is Paul saying

to the Corinthians?

What is God saying

to us?

Week in and week out,

we want to listen,

read,

explain,

understand,

and apply

what is God's word saying?

Now,

what does that mean for us?

Let me just ask you

one question.

In your CG's,

are you throwing out

human wisdom?

Or are you listening

to what God is saying?

Is everyone in the CG

just saying,

this is what I think,

this is what I think.

Or are you saying,

let's see what the scriptures say.

Let's see what God has to say.

Friends,

scripture is like a spotlight

that shines through the fog

and the mist

and shines clarity

on what really matters.

Scripture is like

a clarion call

through the echo chamber

of our culture

where we're all

hearing this echo chamber

of look after yourself,

impress yourself,

and be more wise

and more smart.

Scripture speaks truth

and says,

this is what wisdom is.

This is what power is.

This is who Christ is.

And so we listen

to scripture.

Here's the second thing

that Paul does.

Is he not only applies scripture,

he uses personal example.

Look at verse 15

and 17 with me.

Paul says,

although you have

countless guides

or teachers in Christ,

you do not have many fathers.

For I became your father

in Christ Jesus

through the gospel.

I urge you then,

be imitators of me.

This is why I sent Timothy,

my beloved and faithful child

and Lord,

to remind you

of my ways in Christ

or how I follow Christ

as I teach them everywhere

in every church.

So Paul says,

you've got lots of teachers,

lots of people

who can tell you

the right things,

but no one to really show you

how to live the Christian life.

But follow me,

imitate me,

says Paul,

as I show you

what it means

to follow Jesus.

Friends,

the Christian life

is so much more

than just head knowledge.

Yes,

we need to be taught

God's word

from the scriptures.

That's extremely important.

But,

the Christian life

is more than just

listening to sermons,

more than just going

to Bible studies,

more than just reading

Christian books.

The Christian life

is what does it mean

to follow Jesus

in the real nitty gritty

areas of life?

When life is hard,

what does it mean

to follow Jesus

when relationships

are difficult?

When you have money

or you've got no money?

When you're looking

to retire?

When work is difficult

or colleagues are difficult?

When you get that job

or when you lose that job?

When you have children

or when you don't

have children?

When life doesn't

go your way,

how do you follow

Jesus then?

And Paul says,

you can't just learn

that from books,

you must have

Christian community.

You must have

those around you

who are showing you

how to follow

the Christian life.

Here's one

simple application

for us.

If you're a parent

here this morning,

it doesn't matter

how many church services

you take your children to,

it doesn't matter

how many VBS programs

you sign them up for,

it doesn't matter

how many Bibles

you buy them

when their children

line up their bookshelf

with Bibles,

what's really going

to shape their faith

more than anything else

is your faith.

And very seldom

will our children

grow in their faith

and the love

of the Lord Jesus

more than our faith.

We can buy the Bibles,

we can sign them up

for programs,

but what our kids

really need

is to see

that our faith

is real to us.

Paul says

you've got countless

teachers,

countless guides,

countless kids

ministry teachers,

okay,

but what you really

needed

is someone to show you

what the Christian life

is all about.

So friends,

let's conclude.

What has God

been saying to us

today?

Well,

1 Corinthians 4

shows us that

God wants us

to humbly

receive the leaders

that He's given us,

to receive them

as His servants

and to allow them

to help us

to follow Jesus.

Church leaders,

pastors,

CG leaders,

deacons,

elders,

they're not CEOs,

they're not trying

to build their own kingdom,

they're not calling people

to elevate themselves,

no,

they are servants.

Servants of Christ

to serve the church

and they serve us,

the church,

best when they're

faithful to Christ

and they are calling us

to faith and repentance

to follow Jesus.

Let's pray together.

Father God,

I must confess

that sometimes,

as we said earlier,

your word is

difficult.

God,

we see that

we see church community

is sometimes difficult.

2,000 years ago,

the Christians

in Corinth

were struggling

to get along.

There was conflict

and division

and the conflict

and division

was because of

something in their hearts.

Father,

we must confess

that even today,

21st century Hong Kong,

that same root

of pride,

vanity,

that root

is in our hearts.

God,

we have the same

temptation ourselves.

And God,

when we find ourselves

in conflict

with others,

it's because of that

as well.

Father,

I pray,

won't you help us

to be a community

that can so treasure

and cherish

the grace of God,

that can so remember

that everything we have

is from you,

that God,

it'll melt our pride,

it'll crucify

our self-sufficiency.

It'll humble us,

God,

and call us back

to you.

God,

I pray by your spirit,

won't you be at work

in our church

and in our lives.

Be at work

within us,

God.

Help us,

God,

to be a church

that receives

your scriptures,

not the word of man,

not the opinion

of leaders,

who cares what

the elders

and the pastors,

thank God.

We want to be a church

that hears what

you have to say.

And so won't you help us?

And then God,

help us to be a community

that can set the example,

that can help one another

in the real nitty-gritty

areas of life

to follow you.

God,

we need your grace,

we need your spirit,

we need your help

to do these things.

Come and help us,

I pray.

In your great name,

Amen.