Faithful Stewards

Video Talk

1 Corinthians 4:1-5 ESV

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 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 his commendation from God.”

This was Paul speaking to the church in Corinth, and he included “and our brother Sosthenes” in his initial greetings to the church (chapter 1). So, he could have been speaking here about himself and Sosthenes, or he could have been thinking of himself and the other apostles. And from reading what he wrote here it appeared to me that he and/or they were experiencing some level of persecution and criticism against themselves, which Paul frequently faced. And Paul frequently, as well, had to come to his own defense against those false criticisms and false accusations.

Now he was addressing these words to the church, even though they were not all walking with the Lord as they ought, and so he was having to correct them in some matters. But he was appealing to them to regard him and the other apostles, and possibly including this man Sosthenes, as servants of Christ and as stewards of the mysteries of God. So, he was asking that they honor him and show him respect, not out of pride, but because if he was to teach them they had to acknowledge that he had the authority of God to teach them and that they were indeed genuine servants of the Lord.

And then he spoke of the importance of being faithful to the calling of God on our lives to be his stewards, i.e. those who are entrusted with the word of the Lord and who are his faithful servants. And we are all called to be faithful to the call of God on our lives to be his followers, and to forsake our sins, and to obey his commands, and to live holy and godly lives, to the glory of God. But if we are faithful servants of the Lord in today’s Christian culture, and we take God and his word seriously, and we are walking in that truth, we, too, will be criticized and falsely accused and thought to be oddballs.

And then he talked about people judging him by human thinking and reasoning, and not justly and according to the Scriptures. And this will happen to us, too, when we are serious about the Lord, and when we are following him in truth and righteousness. For not everyone is going to accept us and be thrilled over our commitments to Christ, not even many professing Christians will these days. So others will make false judgments against us based on their upbringing or based on their culture or their traditions or based on their own personal prejudices, or whatever.

And they may judge us prematurely without knowledge and without understanding. But judging others prematurely may also entail condemning them and writing them off as no good when God is not finished with them yet. But this is not saying that we cannot judge according to the Scriptures or that we cannot judge righteously, for in 1 Corinthians 5 we are instructed that we are to judge the church, and in the rest of the Scriptures we are taught to judge rightly according to the truth, and to test the spirits, and to reject the lies and to embrace the truth.

And I like it here that Paul, although he was claiming innocence in the matter of which they were making a judgment about him, he was not claiming that somehow he had arrived and that he was absolutely perfect. And I faced something like that quite a few years back where I was being falsely accused, and I let my accusers know that I was not guilty as charged, but that I was not claiming absolute perfection. I was just innocent with regard to the specific accusations being made against me. But Paul was a righteous man who lived what he claimed to believe and what he taught.

And that is how we are to live, too, in humility, but in faithfulness to our Lord and to his calling upon our lives. And it is perfectly okay to defend yourself against false accusations against your character. Paul did that regularly, and so did Jesus. Yes, Jesus remained silent during part of his mock trial, prior to them putting him to death on the cross, but he was not silent through it all, nor was he silent throughout his time of ministry on the earth. He came to his own defense many times when he was being attacked by his opponents. But sometimes he didn’t, and he found other ways to turn them away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge-4ujvlItY

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Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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