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Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 1, the Bible reads, Let a man sow account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Now, it's important to get the context of this first part of 1 Corinthians chapter 4 because some of the following verses are often misquoted, misapplied, and used dramatically out of context. And so let's get the context of these first few verses and that will help us understand the rest of the chapter. Okay, if you remember in chapter 3, jump back there if you would quickly, but if you remember there were people that were forming factions in the church, they were divided in the church, and they were following these certain personalities and they were basically competing with one another. And if you look in verse number 4 of chapter 3, it says, For while one sayeth, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? And he talks about Paul, Apollos, Peter, and then look what verse 5 says, Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? So basically they were lifting up these guys a little bit too highly, and Paul's bringing them a little bit down to earth saying, Hey, wait a minute, was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? And he's explaining to them that these guys are ministers by whom they believed, but that they were making a little bit too big of a deal about leaders. Now it's great to have heroes, it's great to have role models, it's great to have a leader, but you don't want to lift up a man too highly and put him on too much of a pedestal, and that's what they were doing, and they were just all about their allegiance to that person as opposed to just allegiance to the word of God and to Jesus Christ himself. Now that thought from the beginning of chapter 3 is picked up again at the very end of chapter 3. That's what he's referring to in chapter 4. Look at chapter 3 verse 22. He brings up the same thing. He brings up the people that he was talking about at the beginning of chapter. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours and your Christ and Christ is God's. Then go right into verse 1 of chapter 4. Let a man sow account of us. Who is the us? The us there is referring to Paul, Apollos, and Cephas. Okay, so this is important. Let a man sow account of us as of the ministers of Christ. Now is that consistent with what it says in verse 5 of chapter 3 when it says who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but what? Ministers by whom you believe. So it makes perfect sense that in the next chapter he says let a man sow account of us, referring to the exact same people, Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. That's going to become important in a moment, okay? But look at verse 2. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. So he's saying what we are as preachers is we are ministers of Christ and we are stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. So what is a minister and what is a steward? Well the word minister is simply a synonym for a servant. To minister is to serve. To be a minister is to be a servant. That is what that word means and so he's saying we are ministers of Christ. We are humble servants. We should not be exalted and worshiped and lifted up too highly on a pedestal. And he says we're stewards of the mysteries of God. What is a steward? A steward is someone who is entrusted with something that belongs to someone else, okay? Like for example, you know, if I loan brother Scott my car, I'm going to say, Scott, I want you to be a good steward of my car. You know, I loan him the credit card and say, you know, I want you to be a good steward of this. That means he's not just going to go out and just buy everything he always wanted on that credit card and, you know, take the car for a joy ride and put thousands of miles on it and so forth. Okay, he's not being a very good steward of what I've entrusted to him that does not belong to him. It belongs to me. That is what stewardship is. That's what it means to be a steward. And it makes sense that a preacher, as Paul, Apollos, and Cephas were, would be both ministers and stewards because they're serving the people by preaching the word of God to them and teaching them the word of God and helping people. And then there are also stewards of the mysteries of God, meaning God has entrusted to them great knowledge and wisdom and they are to use that knowledge and wisdom in a way that would honor and glorify God, not to edify themselves, but to edify others. And it says, moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Now what does faithful mean? Well, the word faithful has two different meanings that are very different from one another. Number one, the word faithful means to be full of faith. If someone is very faithful, it means that they have a lot of faith or that they believe very strongly in the word of God, but more often, that is not what it means, more often what it means is that that person can be trusted, meaning I can put my faith in them. So faithful can either mean someone who has a lot of faith or it can mean someone who is worthy of me putting my faith in them. That's why the Bible talks about God being faithful or Jesus being faithful. What that means is that we can trust God. We can trust Jesus. We can put our faith in him. He's not going to let us down. Well, the Bible says it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Go to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter number 16. And again, when he talks about stewards here, you know, he's not talking about a guy that's going to serve you on the airplane. You know, when he says steward, he's talking about the people who have been entrusted with the mysteries of Christ and he's talking about the same ministers that he referred to in verse number one. He's talking about a preacher or a pastor. Look, if you ever want to be a preacher. If you ever want to be a pastor. If you ever want to serve God in that way, it's a requirement that you're faithful. And what does it mean to be faithful? It means that you can be relied upon, okay? It means that we can trust. You're not unstable as water. You're not here today, gone tomorrow. That means you're consistently coming to church. You're consistently out soul winning. You're consistently, you know, living for God. You're not just disappearing for a few months and then, oh, I'm back in church. You know, you're not constantly missing church. You're not constantly skipping your Bible reading. You know, and then a faithful could also mean, you know, you probably heard this, loyal. Basically, you know, a really faithful, I don't know why this is coming to my mind, but a really faithful dog, you know. This dog is going to stick with you. It's going to follow you everywhere you go. Okay, I don't know why that example popped into my mind. But, you know, old faithful. You know, you can rely on that geyser to go off at the same time every day. Right? And faithful in a dog or how about this, a faithful friend or a faithful follower. Okay, that there means loyal, which again is related to you can rely on that person to be loyal to you. You can put your faith in that person to be loyal to you. Now look at Luke 16 verse 10. It says, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. So that tells me that God is going to test us by seeing if we're faithful in the little things and if we're faithful in the little things, then he'll know, okay, I can trust you with the big things. Look at verse 11. If therefore you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, referring to money, he says, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you've not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? So right there the Bible's teaching that if God's going to entrust us with great responsibility and with great things of our own to take care of and to handle, we have to be faithful in the little things and in the things that belong to someone else. For example, you know, you want to preach someday. Well, when you come to the preaching class, are you well prepared? Are you doing your best? Are you filled with the Spirit? Are you taking it seriously? Because, you know, when God looks down from heaven and sees you not taking the preaching class seriously, not being well prepared, not having a sermon, you know, not making it a priority, then he's going to think to himself, well, this guy's not serious about preaching. This guy can't even do a good job with a ten minute sermon. How's he going to do with the full length sermon? You know, how's he going to do preaching in a church three times a week? If he can't preach a sermon and prepare a sermon, you know, for ten minutes every two weeks, is he really serious about ever, you know, doing it three times a week for an hour? And so the Bible's teaching us that we need to start being faithful now if we want to be responsible. You know, if you want to be responsible one day for having a wife and children, you know, show God that you're a responsible kind of a guy. Because the Bible says a prudent wife is from the Lord. The Bible says children are inherited from the Lord. You know, be faithful with the areas of responsibility you have right now, and then God will give you greater responsibility. Okay, I mean, there are probably a lot of young men who preach who would like to someday pastor a church. I'm sure there are a lot of single young men that would like to be married. There are married couples who would like to have children. There are couples with children that would like to have more children. There are employees who would like to own their own business someday, right? And I mean, you know, there are people who pastor a small church that might like to pastor a larger church. They want the church to grow. Okay, all of these areas of responsibility and growth and increased load upon us require us to first be faithful with what we have. And sometimes we can look at what we have and say, it's so small, it doesn't matter. But if you're not faithful in the small, you're not going to be faithful in what's big. And so you need to be serious about what you do. You know, you might have a job right now that you don't take seriously. And you're like, this isn't a real job. You know, I'm just doing this temporarily. I'm just filling time. This ain't a real job. I'm not going to give it my best. But you know what? If you're not going to be faithful on that job that's a throwaway job or a temporary job or a filler job, if you're not going to be faithful on that job, then God may not bless you with an important job because He wants to see you be faithful with that beginner job and do your best and give it everything you've got and do your service as unto the Lord and not an amen. And when He sees that faithfulness, then He'll bless you with more. And He's going to look at how you handle your money now and say, okay, can this guy handle being married? You know, can this guy handle a family? Because how's he handling his money right now? And God says, look, you need to be faithful with the unrighteous mammon. You know, if you can't be trusted with it, you know, and if you're going to basically be a tightwad, you're going to be stingy with it and you're not going to give the tithe unto the Lord and you're basically just going to say, you know what? This is my money and I'm going to do what I want with it. Or you're just going to mess it up so bad that you, you know, I've heard people say like, well, I can't afford a tithe, you know, because my finances are so messed up. But again, God wouldn't be asking you to do something that you're unable to do. And here's the thing, people have said they didn't have the money to tithe, but it's impossible not to have the money to tithe if it's the first 10%. And then you see what's left. That's what the Bible teaches. The firstlings and the firstfruits go unto the Lord, okay? And if you can't be faithful with that, if you can't be faithful to read your Bible, if you can't be faithful to pray, if you can't be faithful with your job, you can't be faithful to take care of yourself and take care of your wife and take care of your kids, then how can you take care of the house of God? Because if a man knew not how to rule his own house, how should he take care of the church of God? So do you see how the things that we go through in life are preparation for other things down the road, where God is constantly testing us and seeing how we're doing? And if we do well, He gives us more responsibility. And obviously we want more responsibility in our life. We want to grow as a person. We want to have greater influence and greater capacity for serving Him and for living our lives to the fullest. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 4. So that's a very important scripture in Luke 16, 10 through 12 telling us, hey, you better be faithful in the little things so that God will commit to you bigger things. And he says you better be faithful in the unrighteous mammon so that God will give you the true riches. You say, what are the true riches? You say, what's better than money? I mean, isn't money the true riches? I mean, aren't riches the true riches? But see, if you believe that, you're a fool. Because money in the hands of a fool, what's the saying, you know, a fool and his money are soon parted? But forget that. Just money in the hands of a fool is just a tool to destroy him. It is a tool with which he will destroy himself. The stupider somebody is and the more foolish someone is, the more money you give them, it's like you're just giving them a rope to hang themselves with. It's like you're just giving them firewood to just set themselves on fire. I mean, it's the last thing that they need, okay? Because fools, the Bible says the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. And financial prosperity more than anything. Look at Hollywood. Look at these people. And especially these young child actors. They all become a heroin addict or a pervert or whatever. Because the Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. And then you give a child all this prosperity and money and they can't handle it. You know what is better, according to the book of Proverbs, than gold and silver and rubies? What is it? Wisdom. Wisdom is the principle thing. And I'll tell you something. There are pieces of wisdom that I have in my mind right now that I would pay, I would any day rather have in my mind right now than a million dollars in my hand right now. Because knowledge is what gets you through life and knowledge is what gets you what you want out of life. Knowledge is what allows you to serve God and do what you're supposed to do. Wisdom, my friend. Knowledge, learning something, that's why the Bible says buy the truth and sell it not. And I'll tell you something. I would rather have the knowledge and wisdom that I have in my mind right now than all the money in the world. I wouldn't trade any one piece of it for any amount of money. Because people with knowledge and wisdom can get more money. Because God is going to bless them. Because they're using what they do have properly, God's going to bless them. But you know, you give a fool money and basically it's going into a bag with holes, is what the Bible says. So we need to be careful to realize that if we're going to get the true riches, which the true riches is wisdom, the true riches is knowledge, the knowledge of the holy, the knowledge of God, knowing God, knowing the Bible, understanding the Bible, understanding life, okay? These are the true riches. And it's not something that you can necessarily get always just by listening to a sermon. You know, it's knowledge and wisdom that comes through living your life, serving God, going through trials and tribulations, coming out the other side, and it is so valuable and God is up in heaven deciding what he's going to reveal to you and what he's going to hide from you, my friend. Because God does hide things from people and the Bible says, remember Jesus Christ? He thanked the Father and said, I thank thee, Father, because you've hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and has revealed them unto babes, for even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. God will give you true riches of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, spiritual benefits if you will be faithful with the unrighteous mammon, if you will be faithful in the little things. And so take every little thing seriously, take your job seriously, take your money seriously, take your wife seriously, your kids seriously, take your responsibility. Look, you're given responsibility at church, for example. For example, playing the organ, like my son. Playing the piano, like brother Matt. You're given any other responsibility that you're given to read the scripture, to lead the singing, whatever the case may be. God's watching to see how you do and if he sees you doing a good job, he gives you more. He sees you doing a poor job, he says, not faithful. And it's required in stewards that a man become faithful. It says it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful, meaning you're faithful first, then you get the stewardship, then God commits it into your hand. He doesn't commit it into your hand and see how you do with it. No, he commits something small into your hand. You know, it's like, for example, my parents didn't just trust me with the car the first time I learned how to drive. They didn't just toss me the keys and say, go learn how to drive, son. You know, first I had to show them that I knew what I was doing. And then they trusted me a little bit, they trusted me a little more, okay. Now let's get back to the rest of the chapter. I want to spend time on that point because it's a critical point of the chapter. But look at verse 3. So we just finished the part that it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self, for I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God. So right here is a passage that people love to take out of context, right there with, you know, judge not, out of Matthew 7, without getting the passage and what he's talking about. Because yea, if you were to, let's say you were to just isolate this, right, and this is what people do when they have a wrong interpretation of scripture. Let's say we just totally isolated this and just said verse 5 is what we're isolating. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come. Right there, man. Don't judge anything. Well, you know what would be so ridiculous about that? Is that 1 Corinthians teaches us to judge more than any other book in the whole Bible. Because remember back in chapter 2 when it said in verse 15, for example, For he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judgeth no man. Or how about chapter 5? Go to chapter 5. It says in verse number 12, For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without, God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Here he's telling them to judge this guy who's committing fornication with his father's wife. And they're commanding him to judge. Go to chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Verse 2. Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? And you say, but you told us not to judge in chapter 3. I don't know what to do. So in chapter 3, we're being told not to judge. In chapter 6, he's railing on them for not judging enough. And then also if you go back to chapter 4. I keep saying chapter 3, I meant chapter 4. Also, look what he says at the end of verse 3. Yea, I judge not mine own self. But then compare with what the Apostle Paul said in another place when he said, for if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we're judged, we're chastened of the Lord. So in another place, Paul is telling us, we need to judge ourselves so that we don't end up getting a spanking from God and getting chastised and whooped by God. If we would judge ourselves, we'd not be judged. But here he's saying, I judge not mine own self. Look, this is why it's important to get the context and understand the scripture. Because often words in the Bible have more than one meaning. For example, the Bible says, you know, God is not a man that he should repent. But then there are about 30 verses that talk about God repenting. Now, those that are fools and unlearned and unstable will just say, oh, the Bible's filled with contradictions. Well, that's because the Spirit of God must teach the Word of God and those who don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, the Bible says the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God and their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them for they're spiritually discerned. And look, it's not very hard to understand this passage and to see the difference between the judging that he's talking about in chapter 4 and the judging that he's talking about in chapter 5, 6, 2, and all the other places where he tells us that judging is a good thing. Now, in Matthew 7 we know that the problem with that judgment was the hypocrisy. And he says, you know, you're judging people for things that you're guilty of yourself. That's what Romans 2 deals with at the beginning of Romans 2. So the Bible tells us in many places not to judge people for things that we're guilty of ourselves. In other places, he tells us not to judge after the appearance, but to judge righteous judgment, not to just automatically look on the appearance and just jump to conclusions, okay? Well, what is the judgment that he's talking about here? Well, if we get to context, if you remember, they're elevating these guys very highly, right? He's telling them, hey, you need to stop following man to that extent and lifting up man and putting him on that high of a pedestal. Because remember, he's saying, look, who is Paul? Who is a Paulist but ministers by whom you believed? Not, we did not, we were not crucified for you. You weren't baptized in our name. We're just your servants. We're just servants. We're just stewards of the mysteries of God. He said, it's required of stewards that a man be found faithful, verse 3. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of my known judgment. Yea, I judge not my own self. What is the judgment that's being referred to? It's when people are looking at these leaders, Apollos, Paul, and Cephas, and deciding which one is better and deciding which one they're going to follow and saying, you know what? I'm of Cephas because Cephas is greater than Paul and Apollos. And another one was saying, if you get the context from chapter 3, I'm of Apollos because Apollos is greater than Cephas and Paul. Now see, with that interpretation in mind, watch how the verses make perfect sense now. When you get the context of having read chapter 3 and then go into chapter 4, he says, but with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you. What kind of judgment is he referring to there when he says it's a small thing that I'm judged by you? How were they judging him? They were doing what? Basically deciding how good he is. He's not saying, you know, if somebody's living in sin, in fornication in the church, if someone's committing adultery in the church, you know, don't judge. No, God told us to judge that in 1 Corinthians 5. You say, oh, you know, someone's stealing money from someone else in the church. Don't judge. No, we're supposed to judge that, okay? Someone's just an open, blatant, flagrant sin. That's not even us judging anyway, that's just us repeating the judgment of God. But you know what? That is an appropriate judgment that needs to be judged and say, hey, wait a minute, this isn't going to fly, okay? But what judgment should we not make deciding how good someone else is and ranking people against each other and he says this, if we compare ourselves amongst ourselves, we're not wise, he says elsewhere in the book. So he's telling us, don't compare yourselves amongst yourselves, you're not wise. So what he's saying here is, you know, with me it's a very small thing that I should be judged of you. Basically what he's saying there is, you know, how much I care about what you think of me is very small. How much I care about your opinion of me as a preacher or how good of a job you think I'm doing as pastor, it's a very small thing to me. I mean, think about it. It's a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. He's saying, you know what? How much I care about man's opinion of me or of your opinion of me is very small because I want to be judged by God and God alone because that's the person I care about pleasing. And if I please God and you think that I'm not measuring up but he thinks I am measuring up, it's a very small thing to me to be judged of you, okay? And then look what he says next, yea I judge not mine own self. What's he saying there? Elsewhere he said he did want to judge himself so that he would not be chastened by the Lord. The judgment that he is going to do of himself is he's going to look at himself like David did and he's going to look for sin in his life to try to judge that sin and condemn that sin and get that sin out of his life. That's the kind of judging we should do of ourselves. We should constantly be examining ourselves for sin so we can get the sin out of our life. That's a good way to judge ourselves. But you know what? He says I don't judge my own self. He's saying I'm not trying to see how good I am so that I can say well look how good I am or I'm better than so and so. I'm the greatest of the three men that are listed, these three apostles, Apollos, Cephas, and Paul. And of course Cephas is just another name for Peter, the same Peter that was with Jesus all the way through his ministry and everything, one of the twelve disciples. And so here he's saying, you know what, I don't even judge myself. I don't care what you think about me. I'm not sitting around thinking about how good I am or comparing myself to one of these other preachers. You know, that's not what matters. He says I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Now look, he's saying the Lord judges me and I don't judge myself because I know nothing by myself. Here's what that means. That means, you know what, I don't know how I'm doing in God's eyes because I'm not God. And I don't know about you, but I've often wondered, how am I doing? You know, have you ever wondered, is God pleased with me? Because look, we know that we're doing good, but we know that we're coming short in other areas. And so sometimes I wonder, you know, does God look at me and think, man, this guy's doing a great job, sure he's got a few shortcomings, but man alive, you know, I'm very pleased with him. He's doing an excellent job. Or is God looking at me just shaking his head just saying, you know, I guess he does some things right, but what about all these failings? And we wonder, you know, how am I doing? But you know, God does not, let's say we do a certain amount of Bible reading, God, is this enough? Do I need to read more, am I overdoing it? And God doesn't answer that. He doesn't tell us how much to go soul-willing, he doesn't tell us how much to read our Bible, he doesn't tell us how much to pray, he doesn't tell us any of these things. And I believe that the reason why he doesn't give us a measuring stick to measure it by is because, look, you're either doing good or you're doing bad, right? Let's say you're trying hard tonight, and there are people who don't even care what God thinks, they don't even care about trying to serve God. But the people in this room tonight, the majority of the people that are here tonight, I believe that you're here and you love God and you're trying to do a good job. You're trying to serve God. You're trying to use your life in a way that would please Him. You're trying to win souls. And you've probably wondered like I have, how am I doing? But here's the thing, there's only one of two answers. Either God's going to tell you, you're doing great. You're doing really great, I mean you're doing way better than anybody around you. Or he's going to tell you, you're doing poor. I'll give you a D plus, or I'll give you a C minus. And you're trying your best, right? And he's giving you a C minus. Now look, either one of those answers is not going to be good for you to know. It's just better that you don't know. Because if he tells you, you're doing great man, A plus, extra credit, you're going to be like, well I'm good, I'm good because I can back off a little. Because I was kind of pushing it a little hard. Now I know that God is just thrilled with everything I'm doing. I can slow down a little and still be getting the rewards. I'm still in God's grace, you know. He's still going to bless me. Well then that might not be good for you, or it might go to your head. You might be filled with pride, you might slow down. Or let's say he tells you, you know what, you're a D plus. And you think you've just been really working on it, you're going to get discouraged and probably just say, well what's the use? I give up. That's why he just doesn't tell you. He just says, you know what, just leave that with me, just do your best, take up your cross and follow me, be perfect, just strive for perfection, do your best. Now look at it with that in mind. He says, "'For I know nothing by myself, yet am I hereby, not hereby justified. But he that judgeth me is the Lord, therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsel of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.'" So think about this now. Let's say we've got Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, right? But forget them. Let's say there's three modern day preachers. And we just pick three modern day preachers and we'll just call them Preacher A, Preacher B, and Preacher C, right? And they're all Bible-believing preachers, they're all serving God, they're all, you know, winning souls, they're all doing the right things. And we want to decide, you know, which of these guys is better, which of these guys is greater, okay? Do we really know which one is greater? And we might be able to look and say, well this guy, I mean, he's doing way more. You know, his church is a lot bigger. No, no, no, this guy is way better because, you know, he's, you know, and we can just go on and on. But here's the thing though. God one day is going to bring all the secret things to light. He says, don't judge anything before the time. God's going to bring the dark things to light, the secret things to light, and he will manifest the counsels of the hearts. The things that we don't know, God will one day bring those things to light and then basically we will know, you know, who's going to have the greatest authority in the millennium and who's going to receive the greatest rewards and who's going to be over ten cities versus, you know, this block, okay? We're going to know that someday, but we don't know it now. Because I guarantee you there are a lot of preachers today, listen to me, even amongst the independent Baptists, even amongst people that are King James Bible only, even amongst people that are soul winning, okay? I guarantee you there are some preachers that are lifted up very highly in people's minds that are not going to get the rewards that people think that they're going to get. And if we were to ask people, which preachers do you think are going to get the great rewards? Oh man, for the so and so, Pastor so and so, so and so, you know what? And you know what? Those guys, they might be in the back of the line. Because you don't know the counsels of the hearts. You don't know what they're really doing. You don't really know, you know, what their motivations are and what kind of recompenses they're getting in this life. Because remember, a lot of things, you can even do great things for God and get your reward now, right? Didn't the Bible teach that? I mean, didn't the Bible say, hey, when you sound a trumpet, when you do it for the praise of men, you have your reward? But when you do it secretly or when you do it and you don't get the praise of men or when you help people that are not going to pay you back, he says you'll be recompensed in the resurrection of the just. So let me just give you an example. Let's say there's a preacher, right? And he's a great soul-winning preacher and he wins a lot of souls to Jesus Christ and he preaches a lot of good Bible sermons, but he desires popularity so he stays away from unpopular subjects. He stays away from negative preaching. He preaches a very good message, but it's a positive only message. Well, that man is going to go far in this life. He's probably going to be a very popular preacher because he's preaching so many right things and when people hear things that are right, they gravitate toward things that are right when they're saved. I mean, when you're saved and you hear something that's right, you know, the Spirit is saying, yeah, that's right, you know, and you like that and you gravitate toward the truth. The truth is what draws people in and that's why there are false religions out there who mix in truth because the truth, it draws them in. And so the truth that's drawing them in is great, it sounds good, it's positive. But wait a minute, what if then, because they chose that route, they're exalted very highly while they're on this earth? And I mean, they did a lot of good, they got a lot of people saved, they preached a lot of good sermons, they taught a lot of good truth, but maybe they were very exalted while they were on this earth, they were very loved while they were on this earth, and they were showered with a lot of money and they had a lot of houses and cars and lands and really they just never suffered any persecution. They never really went through a whole lot of suffering because they weren't preaching things that would get them into that kind of hot water. Can you see how that guy could basically do a lot for God, but then God might look at him and say, you know what, you did great, man. I hope you enjoyed that reward, you know what I mean, because that was your reward. Did you like it? Because you know what, when you get to heaven, whatever you're rewarded in this life is going to seem really small and, what, that was my reward? That was like 10 years, that was 30 years, that was 50 years, you know, all eternity. So that's what you got to think about, my friend, you got to think about the fact that you don't, and look, I don't know if that's how it's going to be, I was just throwing out that really random scenario and I was just making that up as I go along. I don't know if that's how God looks at it, but that's the whole point of this passage. We don't know how God looks at it. We don't know how God looks at a guy like that. We don't know how that guy's going to get rewarded. And then I think of other people that might have really preached a lot of unpopular things, you know, gone through a lot of suffering for standing on the Word of God, but maybe they were weak on soul winning. Maybe they were weak on other aspects of the Christian life, they weren't really getting a lot of people saved. They weren't really emphasizing the Gospel like they should have. You know, how's that guy going to be rewarded? Because he definitely suffered, and the Bible says if we suffer we shall also reign with them and he suffered for all the right reasons. Look that's what I'm saying, we don't know how God is going to judge. I mean God does not give us the paradigm that he uses to decide who gets what reward. So the bottom line is we need to strive to please God in all areas, you know, preach the whole Word as a pastor, be a Christian who reads their Bible and prays and goes soul winning, you know, and just be balanced. Do everything. Don't just get into one thing and then let everything else suffer. You know, what if you're doing a lot of soul winning but you're living a sinful life? Or what about the guy who's living a really pure life but he's not doing a lot of soul winning? Look, we don't really know exactly how God is going to rate this or how God is going to reward this. So it's pretty hard for me to decide right now who's the best Christian I know, or who's the best Christian in this church, because I don't know everything about your life. I don't know everything about, you know, how God rates different strengths and different weaknesses. I don't know. I mean, you know, how does he rank the single guy, you know, who's dedicating a lot of time to the Lord, versus the family guy who has less time but maybe his kids grow up and do a lot? How does that rank? I don't know. None of us know. I'm not pretending to know. I'm not insinuating that I do know. What I'm saying is we have no idea, so do you see how it's foolish to rank and say I'm better than so-and-so, or so-and-so is better than me, or she's better than her, or he's better than him, we don't know. So it's best to just do our best, serve God, strive to be well-rounded and to serve Him in all areas, and do our best in all areas, and you know what? He'll do what he sees fit, and let's not worry about how other people are doing, let's just worry about how we're doing. Let's not say, man, I'm working so hard for church, he's doing nothing. You don't know. It's better not to worry about being better than someone or worse than someone around you. You might be discouraged, saying, man, I could never be as great as so-and-so, and maybe you're better than him. You don't know. So it's just better not, look, here's the key. Don't compare yourself with other people. Compare yourself to Jesus, then you'll always have more to do. You'll always come up on the short end of the stick and let that motivate you to do better. Do not compare yourself to the people around you. That's what he's referring to. Look at verse 6, and these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes, that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written. See what I mean? It's about thinking of people too highly. He's saying, you know, some people that you think really highly of, someday you're going to find out something about them that might not make you think that they're as hot as you think they are right now. And he says, not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. See, being puffed up, thinking that you're better than another, or that one guy is better than the other guy, and so forth. For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, is it thou didst not receive it? He's saying, look, everything you have is given to you. You know, you think you're great because you have all this knowledge? God gave you that knowledge. The preacher gave you that knowledge. The Bible gave you that knowledge. Your fellow church member gave you that knowledge. Your soul-winning partner gave you that knowledge. Well I'm a great soul-winner. Yeah, but somebody taught you soul-winning. If somebody had not taught me soul-winning, I would not be a soul-winner. Because I wanted to be a soul-winner long before I became a soul-winner. But it wasn't until somebody taught me to be a soul-winner that I became a soul-winner. So can I really glory in myself and say, oh, I'm a great soul-winner? No, because you know what? I wouldn't even be a soul-winner at all if somebody had not taught me. Many somebody's taught me and got me going. He says everything you have was given to you, whether it's your knowledge, whether it's your soul-winning, okay, your good looks. You disdain someone who looks inferior to you. You know, you're very good looking, so you disdain the one that's not good looking. You disdain the one, you're tall, so you disdain the short. You have a great physique. You disdain the one who does not. Okay, look, God is the one that made you look the way that you do. God is the one that gave you, you have talent to play music and you disdain those. God gave you that talent. You have money and you disdain the beat-up car out in the parking lot. By the way, that's my car, okay? My car has 325,000 miles on it, yes, you heard me right. My car has 325,000 miles on it, a cracked windshield, a broken gas cap, and the front of it is literally held together with stitches of wire. I mean, I stitched it together with THHN. That is my car and the license plate says KJV only to prove it, okay? And let me tell you something. You know, you drive a fancy car and look down on the guy who's got a beat-up car, you know what? He's saying, who gave you the power to get wealth? God gave you the power to get wealth. And then sometimes the poor man can look down on and disdain the guy with the nice car and say, oh man, love of money is the root of all evil. Just saying, you know? So you see how this kind of judgment and disdain can go both ways. And it's just not right. Mind your own business. Do your best. Serve God. And you know what? I just like to think of everybody the best possible. I don't like to hear bad things about people in church, even from their own mouth. Don't burst my bubble. I want to think you're a great person. I want to think, you know, and obviously if you have a serious problem, come to me and talk to me and I'll help you with your serious problem, okay? Obviously I'm more than willing to help you with your serious problems. But I'm going to tell you something, I think you're great, you know? So just keep that in mind, okay? I think everybody in this room, I think you're great. I mean, I'm looking at everybody, I'm thinking you're great. So you know what? Don't ruin that for me, unless you have to. You know, if there's something really important, but let me tell you something, I'd rather just keep thinking you're great and take that with me to the grave. I just want to die thinking, man, my church members are all great. They're like the best Christians in the world. And you know, and if I find out on the other side, I'll probably be so happy about so many other things, whatever, that's their problem by then. I don't want to know about it now, you know? But anyway, obviously if it's one of those really serious things, we'll talk about that next week in 1 Corinthians 5, but if it's anything short of that, I don't want to hear about it. If so-and-so smokes, I don't want to know about that. Unless it's listed in 1 Corinthians 5 as being a really bad sin to get somebody kicked out of the church, you know, like they're fornicating with their dad's wife or something, then yeah, I need to know about that so that we can throw them out of the church. But I mean, look, I don't need to know, did you know that so-and-so listens to this music or did you know that I saw so-and-so walking out of this movie or did you know that I saw so-and-so smoking a cigarette, I saw so-and-so, you know, doing X, Y, or Z, I saw so-and-so in a short skirt, I saw so, you know, it's like I don't want to know about it. Just don't tell me about it. And don't tell other people about it either, you know, because I would just rather just think the best of people and not judge people, you know, in the way that we're talking about judging right here in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. So let's keep going. I've got to hurry up here. But it says, you know, if you received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? And he says, now ye are full, verse 8, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us, and I would to God ye did reign that we also might reign with you. And what is he saying there? He's saying, you know, he's been gone for a while, you know, he'd been there, he'd founded things and won souls and started the church and done all that, and he's basically saying, you know, now that he's gone, you know, they're basically just living it up while he's gone. And he says, you know what, that's great, man, I want you to be prosperous, I want you to be rich, I want you to do well. He says, hey, that we also might reign with you, you know what I mean? Hey, let's all be prosperous, let's all do well, but don't be puffed up about it. You know, and when things are going good, and I would say things are going pretty well in my life right now. You know, I'm thinking of a lot of areas in my life where things are going great. This is when I'm nervous. I even said this week, and I mean, not everything is going perfect in my life, but I always have, you know, my own share of stress and troubles, but you know, I almost was thinking this week, man alive, I better be really thankful to God, because things are going so well it's scary because when things are going this well, something's about to go wrong really bad. You know, I'm thinking about the last time things were going this good, and the kind of stuff that happened. So you know, he's saying don't be puffed up by prosperity. You know, God shouldn't always have to bring us through tribulation to bring us to our knees and make us turn to Him. You know, we should just be turned to Him in the good times, and then He won't always have to bring those things into our life that are so negative. He says, "'For I think that God had set forth us, the apostles last, as it were appointed to death, for we are made a spectacle unto the world unto angels and to men.'" So if we combine that with verse 8 where he's saying, you know, you're full, you're rich, you've reigned as kings without us, hey I would to God you did reign, I think it's great that you're doing so well. In fact, I'd like to be doing well with you, because it seems like right now, God has said us apostles last. What he's saying is, we're not doing so well. I'm glad you're doing so well. I'm glad you're so financially well off, because I'm not. So don't be puffed up, don't think that you're better than me or something, because you know, and again, this just flies in the face of the prosperity preaching that says, the more you serve God, the better you're doing, the better your life's going to go. Because look what he says in verse 9. He says, "'We're made a spectacle unto the world,'" meaning that, you know, the world makes a mockery of us, "'and to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you're wise in Christ. We're weak, but ye are strong, ye are honorable, but we are despised.'" What's he saying there? You know, seems like everything's going great for you. Things are going pretty rough on us, but don't get to thinking that that means that you're serving God and we're not. He says this, "'Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted.'" Buffeted means somebody's hitting you. I mean, buffeted means, you know, this is buffeting, I mean, it's beating on somebody. He's saying, we're getting beat up. We're hungry, we're thirsty, we're naked, we have no certain dwelling place. Now today, the charismatic movement and the name it, claim it, Pentecostal prosperity preacher would say, well, you know, you're not right with God then. You must not have enough faith, Apostle Paul. You're not serving God because if you were serving God, you'd have gold rings on your fingers like me, you know, you'd be driving a fancy car. You just need to put your hand on the screen, you know. You just need to send in, you know, a thousand dollars and you'll get 10,000 next week. You just don't have the faith, brother. If you're naked and hungry and thirsty and getting beat up, you're living in sin. And that's what the three friends of Job tried to tell him too. And it's false. It's always been false. Old Testament, false. New Testament, it's false. God does not protect His people from ever going through any suffering or hard times or tribulation. He takes us through those things sometimes for our benefit and for our glory and for His benefit and for His glory. And they said, we have no certain dwelling place at the end of verse 11. You know what he's saying there? He's saying, man, I'm not even sure if we can keep staying at the place that we're staying. You know, I don't have a certain dwelling place. I don't even know what return address to put on this letter of 1 Corinthians. I'm going to have to write 2 Corinthians just to tell you where I'm at so you can write back. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, they did write back to him. But it says here, we lay a labor, verse 12, working with our own hands. He said, I know you guys don't want to break a nail over there. You know, you guys are in the ministry full time. And you don't lift a finger of manual labor. But he says, you know what, man, I'm working with my hands. So should the person who works in the ministry, quote, full time look down on the guy who's working a job, pastoring and working a job? Should the guy who's pastoring and working a job look down on the guy who's in the ministry full time? No. You know, God brings different people through different phases in life and He has different callings for different people and we're supposed to walk in the calling wherein we're called. Not to judge others in the sense of thinking, well, I'm better. Okay, I'm better because I work a physical hands-on job like Paul did and that guy doesn't. No, that's not right. Or well, I'm better because I'm in the ministry full time. He doesn't have enough faith to step out and go full time. You know, well, either way, you're wrong to think that you're better than somebody because you know what, people are just different, they don't have to be better. Is one better than the other? On an individual basis, God knows who's better and God will reward the one who's better more than the one who's not, but don't judge it before the time because that time is a long ways off in the future. Is everybody getting the gist of this chapter? See how when you get things in their context and you read the chapter in context, it all makes a lot of sense because he's all saying the same thing that he was talking about in chapter 3. He says we labor with working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless. And when people basically, you know, tell us we're trash, you know, we bless them. We say God bless you. Being persecuted, we suffer it, meaning we endure it. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, isn't that a pretty strong statement? And are the off scouring of all things under the sea. What does it mean, off scouring? You know what it means to scour something or a scour brush? This is what it's like. It's like you're doing the dishes and there's just the caked on residue of the food. The old leftover food that's caked on and you're just scraping it off and just chunks of it are flying off. And then you take those chunks of just old dried on crusted food that you've scoured off with the scrub brush. He's saying that's basically what we are in this world. That's how the world looks at us as that kind of filth and off scouring and trash. Now, do you think Paul was just really heavily exaggerating here? Or do you think that it's possible that people who serve God can sometimes be looked at as filth of the world by the ungodly world that we live in, okay? Look what it says now. I don't think he was necessarily exaggerating. I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. And again, he's not trying to shame them. He's not trying to say, well, I'm better than you because I'm suffering. He's saying, look, don't get puffed up because you're not suffering and I am. I'm not puffed up that I'm suffering and you're not. He says, you know, I'm not trying to say, I'm just trying to warn you that your day in the sun may be over soon and that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So just be prepared for your little holiday to end because, you know, your life's not always going to be as perfect as it seems to be right now. He says, verse 15, for though ye have ten thousand instructors... and keep in mind, why is he writing this? Because people are basically, if you study the whole book of 1 Corinthians and you study the book of 2 Corinthians, people are starting to basically reject Paul. Paul's not as great as you think. It's all about Cephas. It's all about Apollos. Paul's washed up. Paul's not a great preacher. Paul's not a great man of God. He's just trying to correct that amongst these people. Not to lift people up too highly and not to denigrate him too much when he's the one who won them to Christ. He's the one who taught them everything that they know. So he says, you know, in verse 15, for though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, I know Apollos has taught you a lot, I know Cephas has taught you a lot. He says, in fact, you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet of ye not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I've begotten you through the Gospel. He's saying, you know what, you only have one Father. And he's not saying I'm the Pope, I'm going to be called Father Paul now. What he's saying is, I'm your spiritual daddy, because I begat you in the Gospel. Because the Bible often uses the illustration of getting somebody saved as begetting them. As giving birth to that spiritual child. Just as my wife and I have produced seven physical children, we have reproduced after our own kind. That's why my children look like me, that's why they look like my wife. Because I have reproduced, I am human, I have produced a bunch of little humans. Well I am also a saved, born again child of God, and when I go out and win people to Christ, people are born again, and I am reproducing after my own kind by producing spiritual children. Spiritual sons and daughters that are born again into the family of God. And just as it takes a husband and a wife to produce a child, they're both necessary. You can't have one without the other, unless you're, you know, into sci-fi, you know, test tube stuff. But, you know, you can't have the one without the other, you've got to have the mother and the father. Well it's the same thing with soul winning. You know, basically what you have is you have, we're in the yoke together with Jesus, you know, basically we have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the seed is the Word of God. Just as the man provides the seed, right? But then the woman provides the egg and that's how life is produced, okay, there's your science lesson children on where babies come from. You know, just as the man produced the seed, you know, the seed is the Word of God, but then we have to be there to travail, to work, to labor, to sweat, to bring forth children unto God, to bring forth souls into the kingdom of God, to beget sons and daughters. And so the bottom line is that it takes both the human minister by whom they believed, and it takes God himself, the two parents, if you will. And again, don't take the illustration too far, but it is an illustration that God uses many times. If you doubt me, you know, look at Romans 7, look, I mean there's a ton of places we go, I don't have time to prove that to you. If you don't believe me, then I'll explain it to you whenever you want. But he says here, I've begotten you through the Gospel, you're my spiritual sons, because I want you to Christ, and he says, wherefore, or for this cause I beseech you, be ye followers of me. He said, look, don't forget, I'm the one who got you saved, I'm the one who taught you all this stuff, why aren't you following me, why do you want to follow everybody else? And he says, for this cause, if I send unto you Timotheus, look at this, who is my beloved son? Was the Apostle Paul the physical father of Timotheus? No, but he was the spiritual father of Timotheus in the sense that he won Timotheus to Christ. And it says, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church. Now you say, why is Paul so interested in them following him and doing things his way? Is Paul just a megalomaniac? Is Paul just a control freak? No, if you read the whole book of 1 Corinthians, part of doing things his way was getting that fornicator out of the church. I mean, there were a lot of things that they were doing that are wrong. The women are speaking up and doing the teaching in the church when he said that women are supposed to keep silence in the church, it's not permitted under them to speak, in 1 Corinthians 14 he's going to get to that. In all these different chapters, we're seeing problems in the church, sin in the church, people are eating meat sacrificed unto idols. This guy's committing fornication with his dad's wife, nobody's saying anything. Joyce Meyer's getting up behind the pulpit to preach. I mean, it's just, you know, he's saying, look, don't you remember what I taught you that I want you to Christ? Why don't you listen to me? If I was right about the Gospel, maybe I'm right about this, hear me out, hear what I have to say, I'm sending Timothy to remind you of my ways. Okay, and look, he's saying follow me as I follow Christ. Not just follow me because I said so, follow me because the Bible said that what I'm saying is right. And so he says, now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you. They're saying, he's not going to come, he doesn't have the guts to come here. He's not going to stand up to us, he's a paper tiger, he writes this big letter where he sounds all tough and he, you know, he's going to cloud up and rain. You know what, have you ever met him in person? He's not that tough in person. He wouldn't have the guts to come here and say the things he's saying. And later on in the book, in 2 Corinthians, Paul reiterates over and over again, he says, you know what, you think I'm mighty in letters and I'm contemptible in presence, he said I'm going to show up, I'm going to be mighty in your face. I will show you how I can be in person. He says here, you know, now some of you are puffed up as though I would not come to you. But I will come to you shortly if the Lord will and will know not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power. You know, a lot of people have blown off their mouths, he said they're all talk, let's see how much power they have when I'm there. And let's see how much of it's just a bunch of hot air. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power, he's saying it's not about just a bunch of talk, it's about the walk and it's about the power of God. What will ye? He's saying it's up to you, shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness? He's saying, look, I'm coming, as long as God allows me, I don't know what God's going to do, but he says if God will, if God allows me to, I will come shortly. And when I show up, I'm either going to show up in love and in the spirit of weakness or I'm showing up with a rod to do some beating. And he says the choice is up to you, he's saying look, don't, it's not me sitting around deciding am I going to come and be rough and be hard and be militant or am I going to show up and be loving and meek and humble and nice, he's saying no, the choice is up to you. And look, this is how God, you know, Paul, obviously the apostle Paul is the apostle Paul, but you know what, God's the same way. It's like how do we want God to be toward us, with a rod all the time or in the spirit of meekness and love? Look, we often sometimes get mad at the one who's disciplining us, whether it be God or whether it be the human instrument of discipline, okay? Whether it be parents, you know, or whether we're getting chastised on the job or whatever. Whatever the human instrument of our chastisement is, we sometimes look at that and say, oh man, you know, my parents are always on my case. You know, my boss is, you know, but really, you decide. Look at Romans 13 and I'll close with that, Romans chapter 13. You decide, because the Bible talks about the fact that in Romans 13 all legitimate authority in this earth comes from God. Because if there were no God, there would be no legitimate authority in this earth, right? Because, you know, if there's no God, then why would children have to obey their parents? Who says that? Who says I can't steal if there's no God? Animals steal all the time, if I'm an involved animal. So if there's no God, parents can't really prove that they have authority over their children. Bosses can't really prove that they have authority over their wife, okay? Bosses can't really prove they have authority over their workers, and the government cannot prove that they have authority over the people in their nation if there is no God. For example, you know, our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, okay, relies on this philosophy of the social contract. Basically it says that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, okay? Which comes from the philosophy of, I believe, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu, and others. But wait a minute, is that really true? That governments derive their powers from the just consent of the governed? Because wait a minute, what if there's somebody who doesn't consent to the government? What they're really saying, well we derive it from the consent of 51%. Yeah, 51% of idiots, because the vast majority of people in this world are idiots. Because the Bible says broad's the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there at, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leads to life, and few there be that find it, and look, there are more fools in the world than there are wise men. It's that simple. So is it really just for a government to rule over people who don't consent? If governments supposedly derive their just powers from the consent of the governed? That is not a legitimate philosophy. I believe that government derives its power from God. Now the reason why this is important is that if government derives its power from the consent of the governed, that means that the governed can say, please enslave me, please take away my guns, you know, please charge me more taxes, I'm a fool. And then 51% say aye, and guess what? Everybody's stuck with a tyrannical, communistic government, which is what our country is going towards, socialism, communism, whatever you want to call it. Okay, why? Because they think, well it comes from the consent of the governed, and if this is what people want, this is what we're going to give them. Now let's go with Pastor Anderson's philosophy, which is just Romans 13's philosophy. The government derives their power from God. Now if the government derives power from the people, can't they get more power whenever they want? Let's put it on the ballot. Give the government more power, yes. Well now they just got more power, but what if the power comes from God? Can the government get any more power? No, because God told them in Romans 13 and in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, he told them how much power they have. He said, here's the power that you have as human government. That's it. They take way more than that, but they're outside the scope of what God gave them. But all legitimate authority comes from God. The legitimate authority that our government has, which is about 1% of what it does, that comes from God. The legitimate authority comes from God, all authority. Read it, Romans 13. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive themselves damnation. You say, what do you mean by powers? It's defined in verse 3. For rule.