1 Cor No.8 The final word

Friends who are following from the AV, can I just ask that you particularly concentrate when we get to the fourth and fifth verses of the fourth chapter as it's not too easy from the AV quite to determine Paul's meaning. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 reading from the 18th verse. Do not deceive yourselves.

If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness.

And again, the Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile. So then, no more boasting about men. All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future.

All are yours and you are of Christ and Christ is of God. So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court. Indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear that that does not make me innocent.

It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait till the Lord comes.

He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time, each will receive his praise from God. Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, do not go beyond what is written.

Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? I'd be glad if you'd have your Bibles open at 1 Corinthians and chapter 3. We're going to be looking from the 18th verse of that chapter right down to the seventh verse of the following chapter. And as we work our way through this epistle, we remind ourselves that our syllabus, our program, is directed by the Holy Spirit in as much as he is the author of Scripture.

And our concern is to work through everything that Paul, by the Spirit, would teach the church in these days. That is the great value of expository preaching. The program is directed by none other than God as we work our way through the teaching of this book.

Now, it's a very sobering thought that really should still be in our minds from our time around God's Word last week. For you may recall in the last two verses that I brought to your attention, the 16th and the 17th of 1 Corinthians 3, there is a horrific picture presented of the possibility of someone doing damage to God's temple. If anyone, verse 17, destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.

For God's temple is sacred. And you are that temple. I remind you just before we vault into the 18th verse and following, that the temple of God as we have discovered is none other than the Church of Jesus Christ.

Well then, how can the Apostle refer to the concept of someone destroying the temple? Because we read elsewhere in Scripture, do we not, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. And that of course is quite true. So how do you relate these two seemingly contradictory notions? The destruction of the temple and yet the fact that the temple, the Church of God, can never be destroyed.

Well, you see you've got to make some distinction between the Church of God universal and the Church of God local. There are occasions in Scripture, are there not, when reference is made to damage being done to a specific local church as a result of disorderly conduct or some straying from the truth of Scripture. I remind you of those churches of whom you read in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, great churches in Asia Minor, which had an amazing story at the beginning of the Christian history.

And yet they were erased from planet earth. You go back to Asia Minor even today and it's not very often that you come across a strong church in say modern-day southern Turkey. It is possible for those who through malconduct and doctrinal bad practice, it is possible for the church, the local church, to be harmed and possibly even destroyed.

Well the Apostle puts up this warning because he has a fear. He's concerned at Corinth that the very witness of the church shall in no way be erased by bad practice amongst the people. So then it's from those two verses that rather somber thought that we now move into the 18th verse and right through into the fourth chapter of this epistle.

And it seems to me that the Apostle when he comes to the 18th verse right through to the end of the chapter is dealing with the people of God. And he will tell us two things about the people of God. Then from the fourth chapter and the first verse right down to the fifth verse he's going to be talking to us once more about pastors.

And he has particularly in mind himself and Apollos who were the first pastors of the Corinthian church. And later on in the final section that we're looking at this morning from the sixth verse through to the seventh verse he's going to underline certain principles. Have you got that in mind? Here are three sections of Scripture and the dominant thought in the first section is the people of God.

In the second section the pastors. And in the third section certain principles which Paul underlines. Now what does Paul tell us about the people of God from the 18th verse to the 23rd of the third chapter? Well he tells us two things that are extremely interesting.

Ideally and I underline that word. Ideally there should be two dominant characteristics about the people of God. The first is this.

They are the wise ones of this world. They are the wise ones of this world. Look will you please at the 18th verse.

If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age so he should become a fool so that he may become wise. That's perhaps hard to grasp at first reading but we'll be back to it in a moment or so. The point I'm emphasizing is this.

That the people of God have two dominant characteristics which should make them stand out. First of all they are the wise ones and secondly they are the wealthy ones. Look at the 21st verse.

So then no more boasting about men. All things are yours. Christian people are wise people.

Ideally they are wealthy people. Also if scriptural injunctions are to be fulfilled. Well let's go back to this concept that Christian people are basically wise people.

At least ideally so. What is the Apostle Paul referring to in the 18th right truth of the 21st verse? Well he's referring to the wisdom of God over against the wisdom of men. Because in scripture there are two ideas of wisdom.

There is worldly wisdom to which the Apostle refers in the sixth verse of the second chapter when he says we do however speak a message of wisdom among the mature but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age. What is worldly wisdom? What characterizes it? What is it verse 18 of chapter 3 that makes a man wise by the standards of this age? Well I ask you the question again. How does the average unbeliever relate to the concept of wisdom and success? Who is a wise man? Well let's say the Prime Minister.

Let's say one of the many presidents in our world. Let's say the successful businessmen. Let's come down to the local situation.

Let's talk about boys and girls who do well at school. Are they not wise by the standards of this age? And there's nothing wrong in one sense. In seeking to be successful as far as the world judges wisdom.

It speaks in terms of getting on, making your mark, owning your own home. That sort of thing. And at one level it's all very fine.

It's all very good. But the Apostle says in another sense it's absolute foolishness. It's the wisdom of this world in as much as it's tied into the here and now.

You might be successful as a businessman. You might be successful as a householder. But when death comes that success is not transferred into the next world.

There are two types of wisdom you see. There's the wisdom of this earth. The ordinary man seeking to be someone and to do something.

Nothing wrong in his pursuits apart from the fact if he's got no other inkling, if he's got no other ambition it's all very much short-lived. It's boxed in to the life that he now knows. But you see the Christian person is not like the worldling.

The Christian person has been made spiritually wise. He is one who in the eyes of God is judged to be a wise person. Why is the Christian man judged wise in the sight of God? Well you see he's not just tied into this earthly order.

He knows full well that eventually death will come. Either naturally so to speak as the body decays or as the result of some catastrophe, some war. He knows that he's not here forever and he doesn't live his life as though all there is to live for is in terms of the here and now.

He's concerned about eternity. He's concerned about his relationship with God and that's what makes him very wise. Now this talk of eternity, of a relationship with God, of coming to the cross and confessing sin in Jesus Christ.

How does that appear to the unbeliever? Well it seems to him absolutely crazy. It seems to him absolute foolishness. And this is what the Apostle has been saying in the second chapter and he'll have to see it again later on.

The wisdom of God, the gospel, and all that that contains when judged by the worldling is crazy. It's ridiculous. So there are two sorts of wisdom.

There is the wisdom of this world and there is the wisdom of God. And the Christian is applauded by the Apostle under the inspiration of the Spirit because being part of the community described as the people of God they are wise. You tell me sometimes young person that you're laughed at at school.

I know something of what it means to be laughed at. I remember my own sensitivity as a lad at a grammar school in the north of England when as very much a loner in my form I gave testimony to Jesus as my Savior. And they laughed at me.

They scorned me. And from time to time it got very painful and very embarrassing. But you see this is exactly what happened to the Apostle.

He says later on in this epistle I've become a fool for Christ's sake. On one occasion later in his life he's brought before one of the Roman officials, a man by the name of Festus. And Paul talks about the resurrection.

He talks about Calvary. He talks about salvation through faith in the precious blood of Jesus. And the Roman official he almost explodes like a human volcano.

And he says Paul you're mad. You're absolutely crazy. Do you really believe this? I says the Apostle I do.

I know you can't understand it because you're an earthling. The eyes of your understanding they haven't been opened. But I'm a wise man because I know something of the wisdom of God.

I'm concerned not just about life as it now is but life as it will be when I stand in the presence of God. So you see this is what differentiates the Christian from the non-Christian. He's wise.

The Christian is in the affairs of God which are foolishness to men. And he turns his back so to speak on the wisdom of man which according to verse 19 is foolishness in the sight of God. The man who just lives to build bigger barns, the tycoon, the agriculturalist, the capitalist who's concerned only about here and now says God you're a fool.

As though you're going to live forever. As though you've harnessed immortality. Well you see these two contrasting standards of wisdom and the Christian is applauded because he's convinced that the most important wisdom is the pursuit after God and giving his life entirely into the keeping of the Christ of God.

So the people of God are basically wise ones. But then again they are wealthy ones. Well you drop down your eyes to the 21st verse.

So then says the Apostle Paul no more boasting about men. He's now speaking to Christian people. All things are yours.

What does he mean? I remember back in the unsophisticated but nonetheless spiritual church that I was brought up in as a lad. We used to sing a little chorus and doubtless the cynics would have smiled and shrugged their shoulders at these mad Christians. I'm richer than a millionaire just because he cares.

And in one sense that didn't like sophistication. Because you see the Christian is a person who having made his peace with God as a result of the gracious dealings of God has entered into an inheritance which is incomparable to anything that this world has to offer. The Apostle makes this point very very clear.

When writing to the Romans in that glorious eighth chapter of that epistle. He speaks of the generosity of God and towards the end he says what then shall we say in response to this? If God before us who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? Says the Apostle Paul the generosity of God.

It's impossible to measure. And Christian people therefore are are rich. Beyond compare all things are yours.

You're wealthy people. Well why is he saying this? Well simply you remember because these Christians have been quarreling. Alas that's a characteristic of Christians down the years that are most quarrelsome bunch.

It seems to me that the characteristic is still as dominant today as it used to be two thousand years ago. It's an unfortunate trait but it's there. And what have these Christians been quarreling about? Doctrine? Well not to a great extent.

They have been quarreling about personalities. Paul, Apollos, Cephas. Great men of God who have ministered to the church.

Certainly Paul and Apollos physically. Cephas, Peter perhaps indirectly. And there are some who've aligned themselves with Paul.

Some who've aligned themselves with Apollos. And some who align themselves with Peter. And when Paul looks at this he says you know it really is quite stupid.

Who is Paul? Who's Peter? Who is Apollos? Well he answers the question earlier on. He tells us in the fifth verse. These are servants through whom you came to believe.

That's verse 5. These are gifts of God. You can forget their personality. Remember their function.

These are individuals through whom God has shown his great generosity to you. So to say you're a Paul man or an Apollos man or a Peter man is almost to limit the gift of God. He's given you the lot.

So you're very wealthy because you've got good teachers. Don't let partisanship creep into your spirit at Corinth. So that you turn aside some of the men that God has given you.

And align yourself to one. It's not the identity of the man that's important. It's the source of his gift.

Even God himself. That makes you rich. I answers the Apostle Paul.

I'm not going to leave it just there. You're not only rich because of the men who are your teachers. You're rich because you've got the answer.

You've got peace in this world. You've got peace whether life comes or death comes. Whether you live, you're God's.

Whether you die, you're God's. Whether you live or you die, you belong to the Lord. You've no need to get upset about the present.

You've no need to get worried about the future. Why? Because God has his hand upon the whole situation. All these things are yours.

Ministry gifts in terms of men that God has bequeathed. Peace in life and in death. Knowledge that the future has a plan for you.

And that future has been controlled or will be controlled by God. All things are yours. And you are of Christ.

And Christ is of God. Here were these Corinthians you see and they were a little bit proud. A little bit puffed up.

Behaving immaturely as many of us often do. So what does Paul now do? He brings them again to the feet of Jesus. You're of Christ.

He belongs to you. You belong to him. What marked Christ in his earthly life is humility.

The way that he went to the cross. The servant fashion in which he conducted his career. Now you're of Christ.

You have the wealth of Christ at your disposal. And Christ is from God. Oh, how blessed are you? Are these people? So you see how Paul first of all talks concerning the people of God.

They are the wise ones. They are ideally the wealthy ones. This is how they are to understand themselves.

All right. Let's move on then. But how is Paul to understand himself? What should our attitude be to Paul or to pastors in general? Well, look at the fourth verse of the fourth chapter.

So then, it says our writer, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as of those entrusted with the secret things of God. How does Paul judge himself? Well, here's a piece of autobiography. You don't often get that in the scriptures, not where Paul is concerned.

But now he's telling us something about himself, what I am, what I want to be, what I want to receive. What are you, Paul? Well, he tells us, I am a servant. You are to regard me as a servant of Christ.

And that's a very interesting word. It differs from the earlier use of the word servant in the third chapter. It's got the idea of a man who is an under rower.

You say, what's an under rower? Well, you remember those old fashioned ships? They had no engines in those days. How did they propel the ship along the water? Well, they did so by human engines or if you like, by slaves. And says the apostle, I regard myself as an under rower.

I'm not on the top rank. I'm just low down. I'm a very meek person.

Oh yes, I'm exercising a ministry. I'm rowing, but I'm just an under rower. There's someone else who is my captain.

But if it helps the ship to move along with the effort that I put in, then I'm quite prepared to do that. What am I, says Paul? I'm an under rower. I'm a steward.

That's another word that he uses. It's lost unfortunately in the NIV translation. They've substituted something else.

He refers to himself in terms of one who has been given a trust. And really that's what a steward means. If a man was very wealthy, a landowner, he had many slaves, did he not? And the slaves, they'd look after the plantation.

You remember the stories that Jesus told in this sort of area. Well, a landowner, he would want a slave to be in charge of the rest of the slaves. Or else he could never go off on his own journeys on further commercial enterprises.

And that's the word that Paul has in mind. I'm a steward. I'm an overseer.

As far as my master is concerned, I am a slave. As far as others are concerned, who come within the orbit of my ministry, I am an overseer. That's my relationship to the congregation at Corinth.

An overseer, a slave to Jesus, but someone who has pastoral responsibility along with Apollos and any other man so gifted in regard to the congregation at Corinth. That's what I am, says the Apostle Paul. Now what do I want to be? Look at the second verse.

It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. That's what I want to be. You see, an overseer by very logic of the use of that word engages in service when his master is away.

You remember the story again that Jesus told, the parable of the talents. The man who entrusts his goods to his servants goes away and then he returns. Now during the time that the master is away, the good steward looks after his business well.

And that, says Paul, is precisely it for a pastor. That's the way that I regard my ministry. The master, physically speaking, is away.

What do I want to be? I want to be a servant. I want to be a good overseer. I want to be faithful.

Why do you want to be faithful, Paul? Well, he'll give you the answer to that question at the end of the fifth chapter. At the end of the fifth verse, rather, when he says that the time will come, in effect, that the master will return. And what do you want to receive when the master returns, Paul? At that time, says the Apostle, generalizing his answer, each one will receive his praise from God.

I'm working for the approval of the Lord. I'm working knowing full well the day will come when I'll stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and he will evaluate my ministry. You see the point? Paul is a steward.

Paul is an overseer. His charge is this congregation and other congregations. But the day will come when he'll have to give an account.

And notice the Apostle isn't too concerned about what the Corinthians in themselves may say of his ministry. Verse 3, I care very little if I'm judged by you. He doesn't even think it's important as to how he judges his own ministry.

Verse 4, my conscience is clear. But that does not make me innocent. What is the most important thing at the back of the mind of the Apostle as he thinks of his ministry obligations? That the day will come when he will stand before God, when he will be stand before the Lord Jesus and have to give an account as to his stewardship.

In other words, he's back again with the whole idea of that day that reference was found to in the 13th verse of the third chapter. The day of judgment. Not the day when the Lord God will differentiate between those who are saved and unsaved, but rather the day when one will stand before the Lord Jesus and he will judge as to how you've lived your life.

And whether you did anything that was worthwhile, this whole business of the gold and the silver and the precious stones over against the hay and the stubble. Paul has that day always at the forefront of his mind. It won't let him go.

If I had time, I'd take you right the way through this epistle and onto Philippians and onto Thessalonians and demonstrate to you that the concept of that day was so paramount, was so much to the forefront of the thinking of Paul. He will have to stand before God on that day and give an account as to the way that he controlled and conducted his ministries. And my dear friend, so have you.

So have I. To stand before God on that day. Well, let's complete our study and do so very quickly. Paul has referred to the people.

He's referred to the pastors. Now there are one or two principles which we can rapidly absorb from the sixth verse and on into the seventh verse. He says, now brothers, verse six, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit.

What's he referring to there? Well, the fact that he's regarded his ministry in different illustrations. He's referred to himself as an agricultural worker, referred to himself as a building worker. He's referred to himself just recently as a steward, as an overseer.

And he's very concerned that as he runs this particular illustration and he directs it towards himself and Apollos, that these Christians at Corinth may realize the full importance of his teaching. You see, he's got at the back of his mind, this quarreling, these disputes, the fact that if this tendency remains unchecked, these very Corinthian Christians might destroy their part of the temple of God at Corinth. And Paul can't bear the thought.

So he says, brothers, listen to what I've said about my responsibility, about Apollos's responsibility, and learn for God's sake, learn from us. Learn what, Paul? Well, he puts down two or three particular principles. Do not go, verse six, and towards the end, and I've got the NIV, it's not so clear in the AV, do not go beyond what is written.

What does that mean? Well, it's an interesting search to try to discover a verse in the Old Testament that refers actually to that phrase. Indeed, there isn't one. In other words, what I'm arguing is this, the Apostle isn't quoting the Old Testament as such.

What is he doing? Well, it seems to me that these very groups at Corinth had all got their own particular slogan. Peter's men, they got their slogan. Paul's men, so to speak, they got their slogan, and so on.

One of the slogans, for example, is quoted in the twelfth verse of the sixth chapter. Everything is permissible for me. You see, they were free from the law.

They could do anything. Sexual immorality, it didn't really matter. Everything is permissible.

They got their slogan. Says, Paul, you want a slogan? All right, I'll give you one. I'll give you a slogan that will last you in time and through eternity.

Don't go beyond what is written. In other words, what God's Word says, you do. When Paul quotes from Jeremiah in the first chapter of Corinthians, he makes reference to that expression, it is written.

When he talks later on about spiritual gifts, he says, I have received of the Lord that which I have taught you. When he speaks of the resurrection, he speaks about the things which God has communicated to him. Don't go beyond Scripture.

That's what he's saying. And Scripture gives you no right to break into various groups. Scripture gives you no right to split the Church of God into various sections.

Brothers, he says, in the name of Christ, don't go beyond Scripture. That's a basic principle. And the second one, don't get puffed up.

He uses that word very often. It's lost again in the NIV. Sometimes it's translated as arrogant.

And you see that that word comes up time and time again. This was the possibility of these Christians, you see. It was spiritual pride.

Do not go beyond what is written. Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. Spiritual pride, it's the disease of evangelical Christians.

They have the right emphasis. They have a fuller understanding of truth or their particular group. And as a result of this, there was partisanship, even here at Corinth, right at the beginning of the Christian Church.

And it's been with, as I say, down the years of Christian history. That's why you've got denominationalism. And Paul argues against spiritual pride.

And he brings them back to the basic thought that their salvation, verse 7, is entirely due to God. How can you be proud? What makes you different from any other Christian? There's nothing at all. What do you have that you didn't receive? Is there any spiritual blessing that came your way from self-manufacture? Of course there isn't.

Therefore, why do you boast as though you're superior to your brother, as though you have a special understanding, as though your particular group is right? Says the apostle, boasting should be excluded. He's already told us this before, has he not? Let him who boasts. The last verse of chapter 1, let him boast in the Lord.

My time is more than spent. What has Paul been saying? He's been arguing against the possibility of destroying part of the temple of God. How is that done? By not recognizing as congregations of Christians just how fortunate we are.

We are the wise ones. We are the wealthy ones. Let's glory in what God has given us.

And let's not fall out. Let's not quarrel. Let's remain at one.

And what about our pastors? Let's not think in terms of great, illustrious individuals. These men, they come from God. Their personality is really quite irrelevant.

The point that matters is this. They have been given to us by the Lord. And what does a true pastor want to do? He wants to be faithful in his office.

He wants to receive the well done from the Lord Jesus at the end of his earthly journey. And what are the controlling principles for any congregation who wants to please the Lord? Don't go beyond Scripture. Test everything from this book.

Don't be puffed up. Remember, in the last analysis, you are what you are by the grace of God. And every man, every woman who enters into heaven will come as a blood-bought person for whom Jesus died.

If you want to glory in anything, then glory in the Christ. For there is none other, not even a personality within a church, who deserves glory. God will not give his glory to another.

That is the teaching of these verses. May the Spirit apply it to our hearts. None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good.

Father, we bless you for the all-sufficiency of Christ. May the greatest boast that's ever on our lips be this, I belong to Jesus Christ by the grace, the free unmerited favor of God. For his sake.

Amen.