The Real World: Corinth - Jesus and a Servant's Heart
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The Transforming Truth: To see Jesus move powerfully in a church and for a city to be transformed, it takes a servant's heart in the people who have been entrusted with His gospel.
During his second missionary journey between 52 and 53 AD, the apostle Paul left Athens to establish a new congregation of Christians in the city of Corinth. He spent eighteen months in that region and, at the time of the writing of I Corinthians (about three years after Paul's departure), scholars estimate that the church was between 50 and 60 people. All churches that you see today were at one time a church plant. These were started by a leader with a group of people whom Jesus appointed to worship Him and be ever increasing influencers in the communities in which He placed them. Paul takes time to describe his heart as a model for those who would shape these cities to become all that Christ created them to be. As we study this section of Paul's letter, we can see the elitism and entitlement that we need to avoid, and the example which we need to follow to reach Chicago and the nations with the good news of Jesus.
Elitism
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. (1 Corinthians 4:1 NIV)
Through the Holy Spirit, Paul carefully chooses his words to instruct the Corinthians about Jesus, Paul's role, and our place in God's church. The first thing that we are to recognize in this passage is that we are called to be not only God's children, but also His servants. Jesus came to the world to proclaim the message of salvation through His perfect life, miracles, death on the cross for our sins, and His resurrection from the dead. It is the only way to reconciliation with the Creator God whom the whole world will one day stand before in judgment. Any child that does not serve in the family to advance this cause has a misunderstanding of who Jesus is and what He has come to accomplish. An immature child thinks that the world revolves around them and that they are merely to be recipients, rather than participants; takers, rather than givers in the house in which they live. Jesus said otherwise:
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ” (Luke 17:5-10 NIV)
A sure way to increase your faith in Christ is through service in His gospel cause. There is no substitute for this. Part of the barrenness that people feel in their walk with Christ is they find no outlet to give from what they have received. They become like a stagnant pond where the waters never flow. You are fed spiritually when you are involved, like Jesus, in finishing God's work:
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” (John 4:31-38 NIV)
While learning this, the disciples thought that because they had a particular proximity to Jesus, because they had received privileged instruction and training, that they would eventually graduate to a place of special privileges as Jesus' elite team. To the contrary, Jesus said that his intimate instruction and investment in their lives was preparation for greater service. The word (Greek: Hyperetes) literally meant a subordinate, an attendant, or an assistant in general. This means you are literally supposed to be waiting on Christ, as a server in a restaurant, to fulfill whatever He desires in your environment and in the lives of others.
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:2 NIV)
This is the idea of the stewardship. As with the apostle Paul, God has entrusted you with the knowledge of salvation through Jesus Christ. Your acts of charity and love in His name can literally help lead people to reconciliation with God as you hold out the truth of the gospel to those who surround you in the city.
In the following quote, you have this designation of characters:
The speaker: Screwtape, a devil The recipient: Wormwood, another devil The One Wormwood calls "Our Father": Satan The Enemy: God The patient: A human being Virtue: Godly qualities Desirable qualities: Fruit of the sinful nature
"Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient's soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary....Think of your man as a series of concentric circles, his will being the innermost, his intellect coming next, and finally his fantasy. You can hardly hope, at once, to exclude from all the circles everything that smells of the Enemy; but you must keep on shoving all the virtues outward till they are finally located in the circle of fantasy, and all the desirable qualities inward into the Will. It is only in so far as they reach the Will and are there embodied in habits that the virtues are really fatal to us....All sorts of virtues painted in the fantasy or approved by the intellect or even, in some measure, loved and admired will not keep a man from Our Father's house; indeed they may make him more amusing when he gets there." -C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (Letter 6)
One can mistakenly hyperspiritualize the idea of serving Jesus. You can make it to seem that God has to appear in glory each time He wants you to do something practical and of service to him. Instead, you ought to see the need in the church or the environment in which He has placed you, and find a way to help fill it.
“Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
Entitlement
Our culture is dominated by a sense of entitlement. People feel that because they are living and breathing, they should have all of their desires, whims, and needs met while putting forth minimal efforts to obtain them. Though Jesus' message is one of grace, giving us what we do not deserve, His mission is one of stewardship in which He entrusts people, lives, and communities to us. In this manner, we must be shown to be faithful.
In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. (1 Timothy 3:8-10 NIV)
The more mature you are in God, the more that you have a responsibility to serve, because you realize that it is not solely about your well-being, but the well-being of the family. You get to, more so, have the attitude of a slave to those that you come to serve and to whom you are to reflect Christ. A servant in the Corinthian culture had none of the rights that we enjoy today. A servant was not honored or lauded. A servant did many things in secret for the benefit of the master that never received attention or praise. As servants of Christ, we entrust ourselves to our Heavenly Father who sees and will judge everything. Having the heart of a servant will allow you to keep moving forward whenever you find the criticism and resistance that will come as you attempt to serve God where you find yourself.
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, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. (1 Corinthians 4:3-5 NIV)
Jesus was found faithful in His Father's house (building the church), and therefore was exalted to having the name that is above every name.
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. (Hebrews 3:1-6 NIV)
Some who aspire to be leaders in the church need to realize that they first need to be found humble and trustworthy serving in their own.
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? (Luke 16:10-12 NIV)
The reality that many gifted, intelligent, talented people in our culture don't realize is that leadership in the world, and most especially in the cause of Christ, comes at great personal cost and death to our own souls. This includes all of our romanticized notions of fame, importance, and getting paid to do exactly what we want to do. The life of a servant is often hard, inglorious, and challenging, but, in the end, if Jesus is glorified, lives are saved, and disciples are made, it is worth it.
Now, brothers and sisters, 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 be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. 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? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment. (1 Corinthians 4:6-13 NIV)
We have no importance or function except that which is given us by God and acknowledged by men. You have no authority to lead as a representative of God except through the authority of His written Word. This means you don't have the ability to pick and choose the manner in which you will ultimately serve Him. This begs that you ask the question, however, "What are your motives for doing what you do?" If it is selfish, and not for the honor of Christ, the difficulties that arise with your calling to serve will squelch your fire to fulfill that trust.
“When obedience to God contradicts what I think will give me pleasure, let me ask myself if I love Him.” ― Elisabeth Elliot
A servant pampered from youth will turn out to be insolent. (Proverbs 29:21 NIV)
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” And they had nothing to say. When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:1-11 NIV)
Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men; it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before his nobles... (Proverbs 25:6, 7 NIV)
In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1 Peter 5:5, 6 NIV)
In the workplace as well as in the church, let your humble, excellent, fruitful service make way for you rather than your selfish ambition and striving. In that way love for the people that you are there to serve, rather than position, power, or prestige, will be what drives you. This is the M.O. that leads to everyone's good and not just your own. This is the attitude that Jesus Christ commands and displayed through His own life being laid down on the cross for the sins of the world. We are called to carry our cross and serve with the same attitude.
An Example to Follow
“The day we find the perfect church, it becomes imperfect the moment we join it.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon
This is our life's work and hope that it will be yours as well. A defining characteristic of parenthood is the responsibility that you have assumed for another individual's life or a family unit's well-being. This is the inevitable place of progress within the church and in our world. It is easy to be an arm-chair quarterback, in arrogance judging the players on the field who are actually making plays. It is easy in the world to be a pundit for all of the issues that beset it. It is easy in the church to criticize the deficiencies and lack that you see, rather than as a parent, a guardian, and a family member, taking responsibility to help it. In Christ, we are called to be the humble problem solvers, spiritual parents, and guardians to the church that He is intent to build.
I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit? (1 Corinthians 4:14-21 NIV)
You do not need a pulpit just because you have gone to Bible college; nor does it guarantee that people will listen to you. It is the Word of God that gives you the authority to preach, and your life experience which validates your message in people's eyes. If you want the world to listen to you about Christ's design for relationships, get married, settle down, and raise godly children. Follow your leaders' example.
As a Christian, you are a child of God, a co-heir with Christ, and part of a people who belong to one another in Jesus. However, as Paul highlights here, you are also to be servants of Christ in and through His church. The question is, "How are you practically serving?"
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:3-8 NIV)
This attitude of being a servant should translate even into your workplace. In the church, as a part of the family, you should aspire to be either a mother in the faith, a father in the faith, or a guardian of the precious lives who Jesus is redeeming. As a servant, you can find practical ways to serve through:
1) Children's Ministry 2) Hospitality and Greeting Ministry 3) Follow-Up and Community Group Leading Spending time with others and inviting them into your group of friends to build community. 4) Set-Up and Tear Down 5) Media and Tech Team 6) University and Outreach Ministry 7) Volunteering with the Jesse White Tumblers 8) Event Planning 9) Worship Team 10) Making meals for others just to be a blessing and inviting someone into your home (even if it's peanut butter and jelly!). Be quick to be an encourager of others and find positive things to say in regard to your community of faith.
We have wonderful people in our church who are servant hearted, loving, and kind. Because Jesus is good, demonstrated the ultimate servant's heart, and His work is real, we count it a privilege to serve Him and our world together as a family.
Take-Home Truth:
1) Attend the Spiritual Gifts Training offered next weekend to discover how God has gifted you to serve. 2) Speak to someone at our hospitality table or email info@2ndcitychurch.org to identify a way that you would like to serve in or through the church.
Second City Church- The Real World: Corinth Sermon Series 2013