God Calling

It has been said, and playfully,
that our national pastime as Americans is not baseball, but that of criticizing their
local pastor. Someone once quipped that the
frequent discussion around the Sunday table often gives new
meaning to having the pastor for lunch. I’m in a good place now. Now 28 years removed from seminary
graduation and nearly as many years spent in actual ministry.
But it wasn’t always this good. Those early years were rough
indeed. There were times there were many
times when it seemed that I could do nothing right in some people’s
eyes. And I’m not complaining. It comes
with the territory. And it’s indeed an honor to suffer
with Christ. One of the most remarkable verses
to me is where Paul says that we are filling up what is lacking
in Christ’s affliction. Besides, often, and even quite
often, there was something to what my critics had to say about
me. I needed to hear it. I needed
to think it through. I needed to take it in prayer
before the Lord. And there were many times where
their criticisms were very accurate. There were some things that I
needed to learn. I had my own quirks and shortcomings. They’re
all gone now. I’m kidding. There were complaints. There
were denunciations that were unjust and they hurt. But the Lord gives grace. I’ve
commented before that in those early years I began to shy away
from pastors conferences because they typically became little
more than gripe sessions about each pastor’s respective church. I found it draining. and discouraging. After all, I had enough difficulties
of my own. I didn’t need to hear somebody
else’s. So after the lessons were logged
and learned, like many pastors, finding a way to laugh about
it became really part of the therapy. I’ve seen and read many such
anecdotes over the years. These are just a sampling. Good news? The elder board accepted
your job description just the way you wrote it. Bad news? They were so inspired by it,
they formed a search committee to find someone capable of filling
the position. There are many others. One in describing the perfect
pastor said, if he’s attentive to the poor people of the church,
he’s playing to the grandstand. If he pays attention to the wealthy,
he’s trying to be an aristocrat. If he uses too many illustration,
he neglects the Bible. If he doesn’t use enough stories,
he isn’t clear. If he condemns wrong, he’s cranky. If he preaches the truth, he’s
offensive. If he doesn’t preach the truth,
he’s a hypocrite. And if he fails to please people,
he’s hurting the church and he ought to leave. Here’s another
one. The chain letter to a perfect
pastor. The results of a computerized
survey. He preaches exactly 15 minutes
and includes all that the Bible has to say about the subject
in his sermon. He condemns everybody else’s
sin except yours. He never says anything that you
might disagree with. He works 6 a.m. to midnight but
gets eight hours of sleep to stay healthy. He’s also the janitor
after every service. He prepares a sermon every week
for 40 years and never repeats an idea, an illustration or a
joke. And so I am not the perfect pastor. Okay. Enough of all of that.
They’re humorous. They help. They’re therapeutic.
Criticisms are going to come. And in measure, they’re needful
and often accurate, and they still need to be delivered graciously. But they can be used of the Lord
to rightly humble God’s servant. Even Paul himself was not above
criticism. In that funny anecdote I read
a moment ago, in their search for a perfect pastor, the knock
against Paul himself was that he had no tact, he was too harsh,
and he preached too long. And we might chuckle at that
because there’s an element of truth to those complaints. But
truly, there were other criticisms of Paul as well. And Paul takes
them here in chapter four, 1 Corinthians, he takes them right in stride. This section stands at the opposite
end of the spectrum where Paul has been speaking. Whereas in
the first three chapters, Paul was dealing with the very real
challenge of having people improperly elevate him. He turns now to
the opposite concern, that of people having harsh judgments
and criticisms of him. Perhaps these were part of the
crowd that sweetly favored beloved Apollos. They liked his preaching
better. Their critiques of Paul seemed
to center around his preaching, not the content of it, not his
theology, mind you, but perhaps more his delivery. Maybe they
didn’t like his outlines. They didn’t like his sermon titles.
Maybe he wasn’t applicational enough. Maybe he used alliteration
or maybe he didn’t use alliteration. Maybe he didn’t tell enough stories. Whatever it was, they were all
over him. And so here in chapter four,
Paul turns from the very uncomfortable idea of them exalting him to
the opposite extreme of their withering criticism. 1 Corinthians
chapter 4, if you would, beginning at verse 1. Let a man regard us in this manner
as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this
case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found
trustworthy. But to me, it is a very small
thing that I may be examined by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even examine
myself. For I am conscious of nothing
against myself, yet by this I am not acquitted. But the one who
examines me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on passing
judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes. Who
will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness
and disclose the motives of men’s hearts, and then each man’s praise
will come to him from God. Now, these things, brethren,
I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes. so that in us you may learn not
to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become
arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you
as superior? What do you have that you did
not receive? And if you did receive it, why
do you boast as if you had not received it? You are already
filled. You’ve already become rich. You
have all you have become kings without us. And indeed, I wish
that you had become kings so that we also might reign with
you. For I think God has exhibited us apostles last of all as men
condemned to death because we have become a spectacle to the
world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s
sake, but you are prudent. in Christ. We are weak, but you
are strong. You are distinguished, but we
are without honor. To this present hour, we are
both hungry and thirsty and poorly clothed and roughly treated and
are homeless. We toil, working with our own
hands. When we are reviled, we blessed.
When we are persecuted, we endure. When we are slandered, we try
to conciliate. We become as the scum of the
world, as the dregs of all things, even until now. I do not write
these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved
children. For if you were to have countless
tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers. For in
Christ Jesus, I became your father through the gospel. Therefore,
I exhort you, be imitators of me. For this reason, I have sent
you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord.
And he will remind you of my ways, which are in Christ, just
as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some have become
arrogant as though I were not coming to you, but I will come
to you soon if the Lord wills, and I shall find out not the
words of those who are arrogant, but their power. For the kingdom
of God does not consist in words, but in power. What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod?
With love and a spirit of gentleness. Now again. In chapters one through
three, Paul has dealt with this repulsive idea, repulsive to
him, of making him and others as the heads of so many different
camps there in the midst of the church in Corinth. The very idea
was abhorrent to Paul. And Paul dealt with it squarely
with that faulty and childish thinking. So that if that was
wrong, How should the Corinthians think of their leaders, Apollos
or Paul or anybody else? How should any church think of
their respective servants serving in their midst? That’s what Paul wants to consider
in these first five verses. where Paul is presenting to us
his insights into the Christian ministry. He has begun even from
chapter three. But in this particular section,
Paul zeroes in on God’s calling to the ministry. What is this
call? What does this call entail? What should the servant of God
expect in his call to serve? his savior. Well, Paul wastes
no time. There in verse one, God’s summon
into his service is first and foremost a call to humility. Look at verse one. Let a man
regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the
mysteries of God. This is Paul’s starting point
of chapter four, a declaration of how the Corinthians were to
regard Paul and his companions for service, how they were to
think of these men. Let a man regard us in this manner,
he tells them. The Greek word here translated
as regard is logizomai, from which we get our word logic.
It refers to the process of reasoning, calculating, considering, and
here it means to form an estimate of someone after gathering the
facts. A reasonable estimate of those
who were leading in their midst. Paul urges them to rationally
think in a particular manner. At almost every turn thus far. That’s what the Corinthians most
needed is to have their thinking adjusted. And so when Paul says,
let a man regard us, he uses a man very generally here of
any person pondering the nature of the Christian ministry. If
any of you, if anyone. What should a man think of the
Christian ministry? What should any person think
about the ministry? He says, think of it or regard
those in Christian service this way, in this manner. And as the verse unfold, Paul
completes his thought in two parts. You see it there, as servants
of Christ and as stewards. First he says, let a man regard
us in this manner as servants of Christ. You might be recalling
that Paul has already said this. Flip back, if you would, to chapter
three, verse five. You’ll see it there. In chapter
three, verse five, what then is Apollos and what is Paul?
Servants through whom you believed. He’s already told us that if
anybody is in ministry, they are servants. So Paul has made this point already,
or has he? Back to chapter four, verse one.
You see the word translated here, servants, is actually not the
same word as was translated there in 3.5. There, Paul used the
word, as you might recall, diakonos, the word from where we get our
word deacon, servant. But that’s not the word that
Paul here uses in 4.1. Here he uses the word huperitates.
And it’s the only time in all of Paul’s writings that he does
use this word, which makes it extra noteworthy. Paul has a
very specific purpose for using this particular word on this
occasion. Words have meaning. And oftentimes,
very specific meaning, the word originally referred to one called
an under rower. You probably already begun to
develop an image in your mind of what an under rower was. These were men, rowers on a ship,
oarsmen, if you will, those who manned the oars, who obviously
did their work in the lower level in the belly of the ship. And
it could be that they were under in that sense. And then in many
ships, especially larger ships, there were multiple tiers and
you did not want to be on the bottom tier. Well, it could have been under
in that sense, but the reference here isn’t necessarily to the
fact that they worked below deck or the fact that they were below
another tier of rowers. The reference is simple. They
were under another’s command. They were under rowers. They
were not in charge. That’s Paul’s point. And in time,
the word came to refer not just to oarsmen, but to anyone who
worked under the authority of someone else. He was an under
rower. Interestingly, in the Gospels,
the word is most often translated, at least in the NAS, as officers. And that sounds very much like
a much more important title than an under rower, except that those officers were
always under a higher command, a captain, a general, Caesar
himself. Such a one is really a low level
servant. Someone might call them underlings,
subordinates. How do we regard you, Paul? As
an under-roar, as a subordinate, as a low-level employee, a simple,
unglorified, and inferior workman. That’s it. But even the Apostle
John is referred to by this title, Acts 13 5. Luke uses this title
to refer generally to anyone who taught God’s word. He was
an under rower. So lest we think that this is
an entirely worthless position, we must notice first in whose
service these men are. This is what gives their efforts
significance. Paul was an under rower, a servant,
a subordinate of the Lord Jesus Christ. And with that thought,
what a privileged and glorious service that it becomes. Paul’s
whole point here is that he and any who are truly in Christ’s
service exercise no real authority of their own. They do God’s bidding. They do what they’re asked to
do and what they’re told to do. They speak what God tells them
to speak and no more. But recall that I said that there
are two parts to Paul’s admonition here. Not only let a man regard
us as servants, under rowers, subordinates, but let a man regard
us as stewards, stewards of the mysteries of God. This word,
this title is really quite different from the previous because in
the first century culture, a steward, a steward at home was a very
important person. Jesus speaks of this person in
Matthew 24 as he illustrates the command to faithfulness for
his disciples. And he tells this story about
the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge
of his household. This is a steward. He’s in charge
of the entire operation of his master’s home. Such a one was
the housemaster. He was the one in charge of all
the household affairs. The master of the home had entrusted
to him a great deal of responsibility. We might think of such a one
as a head butler. One who was chief in charge of
all the house servants in a well-to-do home. He was in charge and he
was in charge because he had been entrusted. This is the sense in which it
is used both by Peter and Paul elsewhere. There’s a sense where
Paul uses it here. He says that an overseer must
be above reproach as God’s steward. You’re a servant. You’re a servant
in the house. You’ve been entrusted. Peter uses this. Same image to
put this responsibility on all believers. First Peter 4.10,
as each one has received a special gift, employ it, put it to use
in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace
of God. Every believer has received a
gift package. We are all supposed to be serving. And Paul isn’t reversing course
here on his initial term, that of an under rower, a servant.
The steward was indeed a servant. He was just a servant that was
tasked with a great deal of responsibility. A steward was tasked with not
only securing the things needed for the household, groceries
and the like, he was also responsible for distributing those things.
And Paul captures this for the sake of the application to the
Christian ministry. Look at the end of the verse.
They are good stewards of the mysteries of God. In the case
of God’s stewards, it’s not a matter of providing physical nourishment
for owners and staff. The steward in Christ’s household
dispenses what Paul calls here the mysteries of God. It’s this
that’s been entrusted to them, and it’s this that they are expected
to dispense. We’ve already crossed with this
word earlier in this epistle, mystery, chapter two, where we
saw that such mysteries of God are at some point hidden to human
understanding, but in time revealed by God. It’s the gospel. The understanding of the gospel
was completely covered over. And yet with the coming of Christ,
it was revealed and fully declared. It’s once again, the news of
the gospel justification by faith alone in Christ alone, once hidden,
now revealed, which the stewards are to liberally dispense. It’s important, crucial, really,
to note that stewards These stewards do not create or disseminate
their own message. It’s not their role. They don’t do their own material.
They only declare what God has commanded them. Let a man regard
us in this manner, Paul says, as servants of Christ, as stewards
of the mysteries of God. In the summons to service for
Christ, first of all, we have to note
that it is a call to humility, but there’s more. Look at verse
two. God’s summon into his service
is a call to humility, and it’s a call to integrity. Look at
verse two. In this case, moreover, it is
required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. Paul says it’s not enough merely
to be called into or even actually serve in the function as an under
rower or as a steward. You don’t just show up. Answering the call is only the
beginning. There’s more to the story. One
must also be faithful in the course of one’s stewardship Paul
says it plainly, it is required of stewards that one be found
trustworthy. The first verse speaks of the
church’s duty to rightly and appropriately esteem God’s workmen,
but the workmen too have a duty. They are called to faithfulness. He is expected to be trustworthy
with that which God has entrusted to him, namely the gospel and
its attendant doctrines. God’s steward is expected to
be upright, faithful, to operate with integrity in his use and
his treatment of God’s word. Jesus told another parable. This
time in Matthew 25, this one about a steward that entrusted
his household responsibilities to others. This time, not a steward
per se, but mere slaves, the lowest level servants in the
home. And the house owner comes to
the slaves with eight coins in his pocket. and he disperses
them. To one he gave five, to another
two, and to the last only one. And you know the account. Two
were faithful, the third was not. Paul knew this lesson well. He knew of faithful churches,
and he knew of unfaithful churches. He knew of faithful men, and
he knew of unfaithful men. He knew men who were faithful
in their God-given callings. And Paul writing here to the
Corinthians is not concerned about a handful of coins. There
is no other material than God’s word with which one of God’s
servants is called to be faithful. He’s to be faithful with God’s
word and the dispensing of it. He’s not to make it up as he
goes. It’s not to embellish the text. He’s not to edit the text. Something that might be uncomfortable
is to preach the word. The whole counsel of God, and
there’s no other response but that of faithfulness. He’s called
to faithfulness, not in relative measure. Just as a genuine servant
of God would not think of either adding to God’s message In his
commitment to faithfulness, neither can God’s servant take away from
his message. Either extreme would have to
be judged as unfaithfulness by the heavenly master. A trustworthy
steward goes where the master assigns. He declares the message
that the master gives him. His only concern is that of faithfulness. One cautious shepherd explained
it in these terms, listen. The ministry of teaching once
confided by God to a man, the question is no longer if he is
more or less eloquent, more or less profound, more or
less captivating. God, who chose and sent him,
has a loan to deal with all of those questions. In other words,
he says it’s God’s business whether he’s eloquent or relevant or
captivating. God, who chose and sent him,
has a loan to deal with these questions, but only if he is
faithful. That’s the steward’s responsibility.
That is to say, if he gives out conscientiously what is committed
to him, if he puts all the gifts and powers with which he is endowed
into the service of the task, if as a devoted servant, he is
only one interest, the cause of his master. A household servant
wouldn’t conceive of planning the menu or serving only what
was pleasing to him. God’s steward, except to sacrifice
his own trustworthiness, cannot generate or communicate any message
other than that which God provides. A steward does not do his own
thing. He does the master’s bidding
exclusively. It is required of stewards that
one be found trustworthy. There’s a third mark. As we consider the call to the
Christian ministry, God’s summon into his service is not only
that of a call to humility and a call to integrity, but thirdly,
a call to scrutiny. Paul basically says, you’re going
to be looked at, you’re going to be examined, you’re going
to be taken apart. Look at verse 3, but to me, it
is a very small thing that I may be examined by you or by any
human court. In fact, I do not even examine
myself, for I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet by
this I am not acquitted. But the one who examines me is
the Lord. Remember at the outset this morning
we spoke of those who were critical of Paul? Well here, Paul speaks
to that critical spirit, quite frankly. And to our ears, Paul’s
words might sound a bit abrupt, or direct, or even harsh, and
that doesn’t need to be. Look at the verse, if you will.
Paul says, to me, it’s a very small thing that I may be examined
by you. It’s not that the Corinthian
church was so harshly judgmental of Paul that he disregarded it
all. They weren’t there yet, but they
were examining him. They were scrutinizing him. It’s
more than just a passing observation that this word is used only six
times in the Gospels, this word examining. Six times in the Gospels
and Acts, and usually in a courtroom setting, Jesus or Peter or Paul
being examined. And then once it’s used in a
good sense, of the noble Bereans who receive the word with great
eagerness, examining the scriptures daily. Other than those six occurrences
in the Gospels and Acts, This word is used nowhere else but
1 Corinthians, where it’s used eight times. Well, we might even
say that the Corinthians were given to scrutiny. They were very adept at taking
people apart. They were very adept at observing
and criticizing others. And in Paul’s case, they were
scrutinizing him. His preaching, his ministry,
almost his every move. This isn’t the trial per se that
he’s referring to, at least not yet, but this scrutiny is laying
the groundwork for a trial. Consider this phrase, pardon
me, consider this phase, the investigative phase. This is what the Corinthians
were doing. And Paul has a very surprising response to this.
He basically says, no big deal. Gather what data you will. It
doesn’t faze me. Let me explain this. Paul isn’t
saying that he’s above just criticism. He isn’t mocking the Corinthians
as if he did not care about their legitimate concerns. He only
means to inform them that he keeps their evaluations of him
in perspective. It isn’t a big deal to him that
this church has criticisms of him. In fact, it probably isn’t
a big surprise. He says it’s a very small thing.
Criticisms by other people of us. They should never surprise
us. The truth is they don’t know
the half of it, right? Paul’s just a man like any other. He has his shortcomings, he has
his faults, but he’s not surprised by their critical thoughts, nor
is he devastated by them. He’s kind of ambivalent about
their criticisms. He says, you want to scrutinize
me and my work, in a sense, that’s okay. It’s not a big deal, it’s
a very small thing. Again, he isn’t saying that their
concerns amount to nothing, he’s merely keeping their critique
in perspective. But Paul goes even further. It
isn’t just that the Corinthian scrutiny that Paul downplays,
he even says that he feels the same way about any human court. This is much grander than his
initial statement. There’s an interesting twist
here in the original, in the Greek. The Greek text literally
calls it a man-like day. We come across the idea of the
day of the Lord in scripture relatively often, both in the
Old Testament and the New Testament. And we’ve even crossed it already
in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1.8. Invariably, the day of the
Lord refers to the day of the Lord’s judgment. It’s the Lord’s
day. So what Paul does here is play
upon this phrase, the day of the Lord, in order to suggest
a coming trial before a human court, the day of man. A man
like day. And Paul says, I’m not afraid
of that day. I’m not afraid of the day of human court. I’m not
afraid of being hauled in there. and taken to task. In fact, he
says, I’ll go one step further. I do not even examine myself.
This is why I say that Paul is not being cold or unfeeling.
It’s not just that he disregards the Corinthians criticisms or
disregards human criticisms. He disregards all human criticisms,
including his own. He says, I don’t even examine
myself. It’s kind of a funny looking image, really, if you
think about it. Paul interviewing Paul. Paul
scrutinizing Paul. Paul building his case by examining
Paul. It’s not just that the Corinthians
or any human court were no threat, but he didn’t even engage in
this activity personally. So Paul doesn’t make a big deal
about the Corinthian scrutiny. Even as they’re preparing for
a trial, he wouldn’t make a big deal about any earthly trial.
And he doesn’t lose sleep trying to build a case against himself.
Why? Why does Paul take this attitude
regarding the examination by the Corinthians, by any human
court, or even his own? Because he says he’s not the
judge. Look at verse four at the end. The one who examines
me is the Lord. When he says that he’s not conscious
of anything against him, Paul isn’t foolishly claiming some
kind of sinlessness. Paul knew well the battle against
sin. For that very reason, he disciplined himself, 1 Corinthians
9. To young Timothy, he confided
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among
whom I am foremost. And to the Philippians, he acknowledged
that he put no confidence in the flesh. He didn’t even trust
himself. This is a saved, godly man, resting
in the righteousness of Christ, and daily growing in sanctification
like any other believer. But again, he’s keeping this
whole idea of a trial, a case against him, in perspective.
And to that end, he’s unaware of any indictable offense against
him. Even in his own heart and mind,
he’s not speaking here absolutely, but with regard to his mission
as God’s steward. He believed that he had done
his job as an apostle, as a pastor. He was not conscious of any occasion
or any degree of dishonoring the Lord as a steward. He preached
the whole counsel of God, as he says in Acts 20. And yet,
even that was not a complete exoneration. Paul says, even
by this, I’m not acquitted. And yet Paul, and really any
servant of the Lord, one day will be examined. Because as
Paul informs the Corinthians, the one who examines me is the
Lord. And with that, we come to the
fourth consideration of the call to the Christian ministry. This
summons into Christ’s service is not only a call to humility
and a call to integrity, a call to scrutiny, but it’s a call
to accountability. Would you look at verse five?
Where he admonishes them, therefore, do not go on passing judgment
before the time, but wait until the Lord comes. Who will both
bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose
the motives of men’s hearts. And then each man’s praise will
come to him. from God. He says there’s going
to be a trial. And not by some local church,
not by some human court, not even a trial by self-examination,
but an examination by the Lord himself. And so Paul urges restraint,
restraint from examination and the passing of judgment because
God will have his day in court. There’s a pattern here similar
to what we saw in chapter three, there in chapter three, after
clarifying his discussion about the nature of Christian ministry,
his conclusion in verse 21 is, so then let no one boast. And the same pattern occurs here
in verse five, even though it’s translated here as therefore,
it’s the same word in the Greek. Paul says here that because God
will judge, so then we should not. This does not nullify the church’s
responsibility to judge the sinful behavior of people, but we judge
their behavior, not their motives. We cannot judge their motives
because we do not know their heart. But there is coming a
judge who can judge both deeds and motives. There will be a time for judgment
of this nature. And so Paul’s plea is to cease
passing judgment and to wait until the Lord comes, he says.
He’s coming. And he’s coming to judge. We
just don’t know when. Any just judge needs to know
the facts, including and especially the motives of men’s hearts. But there’s only one judge that
can examine the motives of men and to do so righteously, only
God can do this. Just like anything, it’s not
enough to preach. It’s not even enough to preach
well. but to preach the right message with the right motives.
This is exactly what Paul was dealing with in Philippians 1,
right? There were people preaching from evil motives. So it’s deeds and it’s motives
that God will uncover. Only God can examine and expose. Only God can bring to light the
inner secrets of a man. What he refers to here is the
things hidden in the darkness, which would include not only
bad things, but good things. God will expose those. He’s the
Lord. Jeremiah says of him, he who
judges righteously, who tries the feelings in the heart, who
sees the mind and the heart. And having exposed them, only
God. Only God can righteously disclose the motives of men’s
hearts. Both must be known. Deeds and
motives, men cannot do this, no church can do this, no human
court can do this. Everything will be open and laid
bare, even the motives of men’s hearts. But note this ending. Then and only then, when the
Lord, the judge has come and examined and brought to light
and disclosed, only then will each man’s praise come to him
from God. This had to have struck both
the Corinthians and their would-be earthly leaders. It had to have
struck them so significantly. Those who had succumbed to the
adulations of a crowd, this one phrase indicts both. It indicts
the Corinthians and it indicts those that were currying favor
with them for noise. As one pastor noted, what a sting
lay in this last word addressed to both the frivolous admirers
and to the self-sufficient orators who had excited this profane
enthusiasm. It was wrong, it was wretched
in Paul’s eyes, and it was wrong in God’s as well. These leaders
sought the praise of men and the Corinthians gladly provided
it. But such feeble praise could
easily be reversed by a higher court. God’s judgment, God’s
approval, God’s praise is all that matters. And note that the
other alternative, that of rebuke, isn’t even featured here in this
passage. We know that there will be such,
God will render to each according to what is due, but here all
he deals with is praise. And this makes it clear that
earthly praise is utterly pointless. It’s completely vain, empty to
seek or hope for men’s praise. It’s the Lord’s praise that counts. It’s the only praise that matters. It is that sentence which every
servant longs to hear the Lord express. Well done. Good and faithful servant. Would you humble yourself in
his glorious presence? Our merciful King. We come before you just in the
quietness of our hearts, and we thank you for this passage.
We thank you for this text. We thank you for what Paul was
doing in his ongoing discussion with the Corinthian church. And
Lord, we thank you for this restored perspective of what the Christian
ministry is. It’s not about people and personalities. It’s not about polish. Not about perfection. It’s about taking the opportunity
with the gifts that you have given us and serving to the glory
of Christ alone. Our merciful King, we humble
ourself before you and we do pray that you would grant us
by your grace, humility and integrity, a preparation for true scrutiny. and ultimately your own accountability
in our lives. Lord, help us to keep that alone
in focus as we seek to serve you. It’s in Jesus’ name that
we pray. Amen.