1 Corinthians 4:1-13
     This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 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.

     6 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. 7 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? 

     8 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! 9 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. 10 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! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 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.

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                                                                 1 Corinthians Chapter 4:1-13

     
     Paul opens this part of his letter with the words “This, then…”  Those words denote a summary culmination of what he has penned thus far.  The focus is being placed back onto the Christian.  A wake up call for the reader to remember the magnitude of what we proclaim.  The reason God has given us the knowledge of Himself through Jesus Christ.  What is that reason?

All teaching, correction, rebuking and righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16) that has its origin in the Bible, is to be applied in action to our present lives. 

     How we forget this.  So many times we ride off on our spiritual horses into sunsets that are not our horizon.  How we carry the great commission like Paul Revere riding through the streets of iniquity distributing the gospel of freedom to sinners and derelicts.

     How we don our Christian clothes and climb aboard our Mayflower and go do Christian things with Christian people, eating Christian cookies and wearing our Christian socks. 
 
     So often we want to skip, or at least gloss over the entire book of Matthew and just go fulfill our mission as Christian missionaries (Matthew 28:18-20).

     But leading up to that call, that “great commission”, there was a whole lot of teaching about self denial, about loving our enemies, about denying the flesh, about sacrificing and giving and sharing. 

     We rush out to share Jesus before we carefully consider repentance and ministry motivation.  Not taking into account what Jesus said about prayer or helping the poor or about switching seats with God in the cab that is your life. 

     Why am I telling you all this?  Back to those first words of this chapter…“SO THEN”.  Those words are a set up for action. 

Too many Christian want to be Christian before they are really Christian. 

     Meaning, to be “little Christ’s” is not something to be taken lightly nor is it something that happens the day after you say yes to Jesus. 

      There is a growing season, a time of maturity.  Paul speaks of it, Peter speaks of it.  Many great men and women of God had a training period.  A time that connects the gospel that saved you to the gospel that saves others.

Christian maturity is the bridge that connects the gospel that saved you, to the gospel that saves others. 

     Is there a difference?  Of course not! Not in the gospel itself, but rather in the presentation.  This is not the first time Paul had to deal with Christians who had the right heart and motive, but just weren’t ready to take on the world.

Romans 10:2
For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
 
     “This, then…” Paul says.  This then is what you ought to look like.  This is how you ought to act.  This is how you ought to be living.  Here is what should happen to you based on your life and growth in Jesus. 

     From the time I brought this gospel and formed this church, you guys have been floundering; Been tossed about like a wave.  Following this person, listenening to that teaching, reasoning through human wisdom.  Now listen, my teaching is genuine, it is sanctioned and it is truth, “THIS, THEN…”

V1-5—This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 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.
 
Christian maturity is presenting the things of God in front of people, so that in front of God, you may be able to present people. 

     I have seen many knowledge-less new believers, who ooze with zeal but do more damage to the gospel than good.  I was one of them when I first got saved.  I wonder if when we are before the throne if there will be 2 groups of people standing behind each one us.  One group representing who we turned off by our knowledge-less zeal and one group who we brought near after a time of maturity in Christ.

     You must learn that despite how it may look to the world when you act like Jesus, the things you do are for the Lord.  The way you work is for the Lord.  Everything you do is for the Lord.  People look at me like I am crazy when I do free work, or proclaim that the Holy Spirit prompted me to do this or not do that.

     So we present the things of God to people despite how those acts may be viewed by others.  We present Christianity to others because in front of God, as Paul says, our conscience is clear; our motive is the gospel and nothing else.  Now that I have presented the Kingdom in truth, despite how it looks, I can stand before God one day and present to him the people it affected. 

     Paul says he cared very little what people think. This was the problem with this church; they wanted to fit into a pagan-istic philosophical society that had to reason every action and warranted every move. 

     Paul says, “STOP!  You cannot be a mature Christian and conform to the world’s standard of thinking…like I did.”

V.6-9—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. 7 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?
8 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! 9 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.
 
Here is what we need to learn to be effective evangelists…

Christian maturity is placing oneself at the end of the procession. 

     As the parade goes by, each float, each section gets less and less fanfare.  Paul’s big transfer from teaching to application is that, not only are we ok with God placing us at the end of the procession, but in every case that is in our own power, we actually go out of our way to make sure that is where we are standing. 

     Christian maturity is to seek out the lowly places, to seek out the menial jobs in the kingdom, not just be ok when God puts us there, but to look around and ask yourself, “where do I need to be that is most likely a place or a thing no one else wants to do.”  That is maturity in Christ.  Paul goes on in similar fashion…

V.10-13--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! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 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.
 
Christian maturity is denying your right to be right. 

    A fool for Christ.  Through a series of contrasting behaviors Paul shows them that they were not who they thought they were.  He shows them that there is more to this Christian walk than what they were currently doing. 

     Paul says no matter how lowly we become, how despised, how mocked and badly treated, we are to answer kindly.  We are to respond with love.  We are to work hard and not complain.  To deny what may very well be rightfully yours for the sake of gospel.

     Too many servants of God proclaim things like,

“But I am the pastor of the church do I not have the right to a few fringe benefits?” 
 
“I am a missionary to the poor, do I not have the right to nice hotel once in a while” 

“I am volunteer at the homeless shelter do I not have the right to a fine restaurant once in a while?”

“I am always helping people do I not have the right to be recognized by the a
ssembly once in a while?” 

Thankfully Jesus never said, “I am the son of God do I not have the right to forgo this whole crucifixion thing?”

On and on it goes. 

“Do I not have the right to defend myself when the world is attacking me?”

“Do I not have the right to defend the safety of my family and my own well being…” 

…oooops, wait! Stop!  This brings up an interesting topic within the body of Christ.  A side bar if you will.

     At what point do we stop denying our right to be right and move into the position of the world’s doormat?  At what point to I give up my right to defend myself and just roll over and without defense, take it?  The scripture is clear…

Luke 6:29
If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

Jesus in the garden told Peter to put away his sword, “I could have called legions of angels” 

Jesus at his trial remained silent.

Jesus being hit mocked and spat upon remained still.

      Yes to be a little Christ means to endure as Jesus did and the only way to do that is to be sure that your persecution and mockery is checked by…

V.4. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
   
     Yes as we appear before God during our trials and we appear before him, not innocent, but with clear conscience, we will be given the grace and strength to endure.

     But try and defend yourself riddled with guilt, anger, un-forgiveness, resentment, jealously, rage, vengeance, any of it, and the reaction to the attack will be much different. 

          But is there a line?  Is there a boiling point?  Is there a biblically acceptable time to retaliate; to defend oneself?  That can be answered biblically with something like this…

Matthew 18:21-22 
Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

     These two scriptures are often connected and joined but should they be?  Jesus did not say to allow someone to hit you 70 x7.  Sometimes all it takes is one Christ like reaction to cause eyebrows to go up.  One godly response to turn heads.

     When we take persecution quietly people take notice and wonder what makes us different.  But the same person who continually ignores beatings and mistreating might then reverse an onlooker’s opinion.  They might say, “That is Christianity?  To be the world’s doormat!  To roll over time and time again and be abused and mistreated?  What a turn off.”

     I am of the opinion, (this is just my opinion. many other pastors do not share it, but some do), that Christians are not the worlds doormat and we have a right to defend ourselves. 

     Just like there are biblical grounds for divorce; if you follow biblical actions in your reactions, you have a right to defend yourself. 

     If some fool wants to kill me because I preach the gospel, and barges into my church with a gun for no other reason than he hates God, should my wife become a widow and my children fatherless because of one fool with a grudge? 

     Should I allow myself to get robbed or shot and my wife raped because someone might say “Well Jesus did not retaliate.”  Again opinion, shared by some, not shared by others.
 
     So yes, Christian maturity is denying your right to be right, but you need to personally decide what you’re going to do after they slap the left cheek and then slap the right one.  For me, I will turn the other cheek, but after they slap that one too, all bets are off.

Be Blessed

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