1 Corinthians 4

Those who would bring a word from heaven, a word of Jesus, to His hungry church here on earth are delivering a message that is beyond them. Who is sufficient for these things? We are “stewards of the mysteries of God.” We speak authoritatively from the Word of God about things that our eyes have not seen, our ears have not heard, and our hearts have not really been able to imagine. It is no wonder that we sometimes feel like we just cannot keep on going. Yet the Lord who calls His servants will return one day, and He is faithful. He enables us to be found trustworthy with the message of the kingdom of heaven until the day when heaven and earth are one again.

To stand before God on that day, and to have to answer Him concerning our faithfulness to His Word as His ambassadors is enough for us to think about. We need not be concerned about what any lesser authority feels about the clear teaching of the Scriptures. People-pleasers make timid preachers. They worry too much about what everyone else thinks. Paul was not in their number.

In fact, we need not even concern ourselves too much with what WE think of ourselves and our preaching. We are stewards of the high King of heaven. We serve a better Master than ourselves. This does not mean that we show disrespect to church courts or insensitivity to the capacities of a weak congregation. It does mean that we need to give the pure message of the Lord’s truth with a heart of sympathy toward people. We want to bring God’s truth to others in a way that might help them to hear it and love it. We attend to both purity and peace because this is what the King of the kingdom would have us do as those who would feed His sheep.

The Lord will be the judge of any minister of His Word, and the perfect time for that judgment will be at the time of His coming. Today there are many things that are hidden from our inspection and understanding. On that day, all the facts for a proper evaluation will be in the light. Today there are many secrets that are sealed within the hearts of men. On that day, the light of God will “disclose the purposes of the heart,” and the Lord will commend His servants for the faithfulness that He has given them to Jesus and the church.

Paul’s real concern in bringing up this matter is not his own reward or that of Apollos. The real problem is that others within the Corinthian assemblies are getting caught up in boasting in people. They are acting proudly about those gifts that they have received from God. They are behaving like puffed-up royalty rather than servants of the King who died for us on the cross. To such proud leaders, some of the real apostles look ridiculous. They want the ministry to have more outward glory perhaps, and men like Paul look too low. Others from Jerusalem are apparently more impressive.

The true apostles are not putting on a show to impress anyone. If there is a show, it is like a victorious army coming home from war, dragging behind them foreign prisoners in chains. Paul says that he feels like one of those prisoners. He is a prisoner for Jesus, and he is something of an embarrassment to men who think that the ministry should be more regal. Such men are in the tradition of the original disciples who argued with each other about which of them was the greatest.

Paul speaks with some sarcasm here, because he cares for the church in Corinth as a father for his adult children who seem to be in danger. Does he need to remind them that God used him to plant this church? Has their “father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” become an embarrassment to them?

They really need to take another look at the spiritual and heavenly nature of the ministry of the word, and put off all these foolish, fleshly, worldly thoughts. Instead of being embarrassed by Paul, they need to imitate him. Paul, in his lowliness, is been an imitator of the Messiah. It is cross-love that is on display. Whatever suffering he gives himself to is for the sake of the bride of Jesus. If they do not learn to follow in this way through the love of the Lord, they will be proud and destructive ministers, unfit for the title of “servant.”

Paul will come to them soon, and they may learn more about him and his authority in that visit. More importantly, the King who shed His blood for His church has a way of visiting over the centuries, and He will surely visit when He comes again with His holy angels and the community of the redeemed. Do not forget Him. Do not forget His return. We cannot stand against the power of His final judgment. It is time for us to kiss the Son, lest we perish. It is time for us to embrace a vision of the ministry that could rightly be called Christian.