Good morning and happy Aloha Friday! I hope your Friday and your entire weekend is full of fun, family and friends. We have a great weekend planned. Time with our parents, followed by time with friends, followed by a little work on Saturday afternoon and then it all culminates with our big Missions Fair at our church on Sunday. The Missions Fair is a really cool deal, 16 different organizations will be there to present their mission and recruit volunteers that have a passion for the organization’s service. There will also be live international music, missions speakers Skyping from all over the world, games and even an international food challenge that will let you try delicacies from all over the world including dried crickets! Huh, don’t know if I’m brave enough to eat a cricket…
This morning we’re cruising right along through 1 Corinthians and we run right into chapter 4. Paul continues to deal with the divisions within this new church at Corinth by addressing the new believers directly. We saw yesterday that he dealt with the new “infant” Christians and his hope for them to grow into mature Christians and able to better process God’s Word as solid food. Great chapter. (If you missed it you can double back and find it under the 1 Corinthians tab.)
Today, chapter 4 is the final chapter in which Paul addresses the division. Today he will primarily deal with what should constrain Christian conduct. Paul starts off in verse one with a real call out to who we all are as Christians.
“Let a man so account of us, as the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Cor. 4:1)
Let me paraphrase this verse, “the world should see us all as the preachers of Christ and the caretakers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Did you know that if you are a believer that you are a minister of Christ? Did you know that you are also a preacher? How about this one, did you know that you are also a saint? These descriptions are somewhat misused today and thought to be something somebody either achieves in school or is awarded by a church. But all three are descriptions of a someone that has put their faith in Jesus Christ. Let’s look at each more closely.
Ministers - We are all ministers of Christ. Minister is defined as “to tend to, care for, take care of, or look after someone.” This is how we are to care for each other as Christians. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35) We are to love one another and care for one another. You see, you don’t have to go to school or be ordained, Paul says in this verse, you and I are ministers of Christ and this is how the world should see us, by the love we show for each other.
Preachers – you might be saying, “well, Dan I can see the minister thing but I’m no preacher, those guys get up on Sunday and talk for an hour about God.” Yes, we are all not employed by a church to teach God’s Word on Sunday but that doesn’t mean we’re all not preachers. In the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus tells us that we are to “Go therefore and make disciples (followers) of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, TEACHING them to obey all I have commanded you.” How are the unbelivers or ‘infant’ Christians to know more about God unless they are taught? You see you are a preacher whether you like it or not! You and I are to teach and preach the Word of God to 'all the nations.' Of course to do that you l need to KNOW God’s Word. Spend just 5 minutes in God’s Word daily and think of how much of a better preacher you could be for God.
Saint – We commonly think of a saint as someone that an organized religion has deemed to be above others and more holy than most. (St. Francis, St. Michael etc) My friends, this could not be more diametrically opposed to the message of Jesus. As a follower of Jesus Christ, we are all redeemed equally by His blood. We are all saved equally from our sin. He did the work on the Cross for everyone that has ever lived or will ever live. The word saint is derived from a Greek verb (hagiazo) whose basic meaning is "to set apart, " "sanctify, " or "make holy." We are sanctified by Jesus Christ and are ‘set aside’ and ‘made Holy’ by Him not by any man or organized religion. We are saints in Jesus Christ.
Paul’s point here? When someone is watching you at work today are they seeing a saint of Jesus? When someone sees you drive in traffic today are they seeing a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? When someone sees you in public, ie how you dress, how you treat others, how you speak to your family are they seeing a minister of Christ? I heard a sermon one time that said “as we are looking to Jesus daily for an example to model our lives on, rest assured that someone else is looking at your life as an example…what are they seeing?” Wow, that hits hard. Paul is telling us here that as a believer we are ministers, preachers and saints of Jesus. Act accordingly because your life and your actions can either attract or repel others to the message of Jesus Christ. You and I are huge billboards to the world, what does your billboard say?
You’ve probably heard the saying “you talk the talk but do you walk the walk?” That’s exactly Paul’s message here. We say that we’re Christians and follow the example of Jesus Christ but do we post a flowery scripture meme on our Facebook page and then in the next minute curse someone in another post? Do we say we love Christ and then show hate and contempt to another that disagrees with our opinion? Do we cling to the mercy of Jesus and then refuse to give the same mercy to a co-worker or employee when they wrong us?
My friends, the world is watching you more closely than you can ever imagine, what are you showing them?
Have a blessed day in your personal time in God’s Word and may He speak clearly to your heart.
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