Praises the Servants Due

Praises the Servants Due
1 Corinthians 4:1-5

1 Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries.

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

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.

4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

5 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 commendation from God.

***

1. Did you ever ask, “Lord, what will I get from You by serving You?” Is it wrong to ask such a question? Of course not! It’s natural, isn’t it; it is human!

*Someone may say, “A wrong motivation will result zealous spirit to serve the Lord” O Yes, perhaps so, but let me ask you if it is a wholehearted ministry? Will such a spirit endure temptations and trials?

*But, some may think of profits and benefits. Profit is a kind of wages you get; benefit is a usefulness.

*Others will seek (or “look for”) the praises of God and other people when he served the Lord.

2. I would like to point something from our passage. Written by Paul, the apostle, he himself is confident by saying, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.” He was confronting his enemies, as if they said, “Who is Paul of Tarsus? Only a bald man, poor and has no authority.” Well, Paul is not an inferior—seeking legitimacy from people around him.

3. But then, he says, “I do not even judge myself.” He is no narcissist—putting admiration for himself, or self-centeredness. Well, in our ministry, consciously or unconsciously we tend to be inferior complex or narcissist.

Being inferior means in all you do you tend (or incline) to measure with your friends, and try to think that that friend will look down on you. It is your own imagination that your friend say, “Bla, bla, bla, you are nothing! I’m far better than you!” The fact, however, doesn’t seem like that!

Being narcissist means you put self-praise. It is you, and whatever to so with your life, you let no people to interrupt or intervene. Even, the world is Y O U !

4. But the apostle says not to choose one! Let no one judge you! Let not your self judge, too! Why? Because, “it is the Lord who judge me!”

Hey, wait a minute! Do we not need others to give us advices and suggestions, to improve us in every way we do? Emphatically Yes! What we’re talking about is not asking another to look at us, but to have other people praise us in what we do in serving the Lord; or look down on us to being nothing. And if you believe that in all ways we serve the Lord, therefore you let no people determine praise for what you do to the Lord. You let not your S E L F to praise you. It is only God himself who is worthy to do so. Confidently the apostle says that the things now hidden in darkness will come to light, and the purposes of the heart will be disclosed.

5. But what then should we do? Think of verses 1 and 2. There are 3 things surely important:

We are servants of Christ. We have tasks to do, and the task is from the Messiah. What does Messiah means? He is the leader of a new people of the covenant Lord. He is the promised of Israel. He is the King. So we are under the Messiah Jesus. Well, we have duties of administering what is His (Greek hyperetas), and what He has given us.

We are stewards of God’s mysteries. The word oikonomoi means stewards who have been “entrusted with” managing a household. We are entrusted to position a place in God’s household and within which includes our accountability (or “responsibility”) before Him.

We are to be found trustworthy. Or “worthy of the trust that have been placed in our care.” Not elegance, nor wisdom, nor initiative, nor self-success, but faithfulness to the trust. Yes, fidelity to our Lord for his glory for ever and ever.

God be Praised!

Delivered at the Saturday Prayer Meeting of Teen Commission, September 30, 2006.