Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians, chapter 3.
Our text today addresses a deeply relatable and universal human problem: The tendency to measure ourselves against other people. To try to figure out how we stack up, and whether we are superior or inferior to them. The tendency to be overly concerned about how people perceive us.“Do they like me?” “Have I offended them?” “Are they happy with me?”
For the past three chapters, Paul has been addressing the problem of division in the church. Because they had forgotten their focus on the message of Christ, they began to center their identity on human celebrities. Whether Paul as the founder, Apollos as the new powerful preacher, Cephas (Peter) as an imminent external influencer, or the rejection of any human authority, saying “I answer directly to Christ, not to you!”
When we take our focus off of Jesus Christ and His mission for our church, we start focusing on secondary or lesser issues, and this results in disunity and strife. As we learned last week, Paul says this is evidence of spiritual immaturity. This is ironic because the basic argument each group made was that its way of thinking was superior to the other’s. More mature. Deeper. In response, Paul says at the beginning of chapter 3, rather pointedly, none of you is superior; this argument is evidence that you are all spiritual babies! (Ouch, Paul!)
In our passage this week, Paul goes one layer deeper.He teaches us that all this worry about how we are being perceived by others, or all this pride in how we perceive others, has a common root. Chapter 4:6, the middle of our passage today, is at the heart of his argument:
1 Corinthians 4:6 (CSB)
Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another.
The word Paul uses here, “arrogant,” is also sometimes translated, including in later chapters, as “puffed up.” They have an inflated sense of self. An inflated focus on self.Swollen, like a balloon ready to pop.
Their core problem is that since they have taken their eyes off of Christ, they have centered their attention on lesser individuals: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, but those are just symptoms of their bigger problem: is that they themselves have become their own center of attention.
When we do this, we put ourselves in a courtroom of our own making. Sometimes we’re the prosecutor, building a case against others to feel superior. Sometimes we’re the defendant, afraid of what everyone thinks of us. Either way, we’re in the wrong courtroom, chasing the wrong verdict.
Let’s read the passage and trace Paul’s argument.
The Wisdom of Christ
In the past two chapters, Paul has pointed out that they are thinking about themselves and about each other all wrong. They are judging according to the world’s categories, the things the world finds important, significant, and powerful. They are not judging according to God’s categories of right and wrong, wise and powerful. He calls them spiritual infants in their thinking. And now he continues that same rebuke: “Stop deceiving yourself in thinking that you are so wise.”
1 Corinthians 3:18–23 (CSB)
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so that he can become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written, He catches the wise in their craftiness; 20 and again, The Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are futile. 21 So let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is yours—22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come—everything is yours, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
As he has been since chapter 1, Paul shows that arguing over which human leader is better shows they have it all wrong.
He turns their claims of “I belong to Paul, I belong to Apollos” on their head and says, “You don’t belong to them, they belong to you! Everything belongs to you, because you belong to Christ!”
You don’t need to vie and scrape for position by claiming a connection to any mere human leader. Why does it matter who you are affiliated with, which famous person’s name you can drop, which celebrity knows your name when you are known, loved, and cherished by name by the Most High God of the universe!?
Romans 8 teaches us that God is working out everything in the whole world: past, present and future, everything in your life for the good of those who love him. Even death, because of Christ, on the last day, has no sting, no victory! Christ wins! And because you belong to Him, you share in the victory! All those things belong to you. Your destiny is secure because of Jesus’s finished work on the cross. Why are you worried about proving earthly superiority based on which tribe you belong to? You are setting your sights too low.
Paul says, " Don’t use my name, or Apollos’s name as a way of deciding how important you are! Compared to Christ, we are nothing!
The Judgment of Christ
He continues, how should we think about our leaders in Christ?
4:1 A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God.
Mere servants, managers of the mysteries of God. Some translations stay stewards. What is a steward’s job? To take care of the thing entrusted to them by the owner. How do we know if a steward is doing a good job?
v2 In this regard, it is required that managers be found faithful.
Faithfulness. Paul says the measure of a minister is faithfulness. Is he doing the task assigned to him by the master? Okay, so that’s the standard, the way we know if a minister is doing a good job. And here is where Paul gets weird. A faithful minister cares very little about what you think of him.
v3a: It is of little importance to me that I should be judged by you or by any human court.
So far, so good. Every secular psychologist will tell you this. Don’t worry about what other people think of you. Notice this doesn’t say “doesn’t care at all” but rather just “its of little importance.” Not nothing, “little.” It’s a data point. Something to prompt a check-in, but he is not living for the approval of people. But then….
v3b: In fact, I don’t even judge myself.
Okay now that’s different. “I care very little about what you think of me. I care very little about what anyone thinks of me. I care very little about what I think of me.”
So how does he navigate internally? How does he make judgments about how he is doing to help him know if he needs to make changes?
v4a: For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this.
Or another translation: “My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t mean I’m innocent.” He is paying attention to his conscience. There are several passages where Paul points to a clear conscience as the indicator of whether we are heading in the right direction. But notice that he is even self-skeptical of his own conscience: “It’s clear, but that doesn’t mean I’m right.”
This is what humility looks like. “I’m not overly concerned with people’s opinion of me. I’m not overly concerned with my own opinion of myself. I pay attention to my conscience, but I know that even that can be wrong from time to time.” So what is it that Paul is concerned with?
v4b: It is the Lord who judges me. 5 So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.
Paul reminds us that judgment day is coming, on which the righteous, omniscient, just, and merciful judge of creation will render his final verdict with perfection.
Wait for that. It’s not that we don’t care at all what other people think of us; it’s that we care far more about what God thinks of us.
The day is coming when every hidden motive will be exposed, and every act of quiet faithfulness will be praised. Why are we scrambling for verdicts that won’t matter 100 years from now, let alone 10,000 years from now?
6 Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another.
Paul is setting an example for us on how we ought to think about ourselves. If we are puffed up and making judgments about who is better than who, we’re in the wrong courtroom, one of our own making. We are not waiting for God's judgment.
We are also to use God’s standard for judgment. He has revealed His will, His commands, His promises in His written Word. The Bible. We are so prone to ignore it or add to it. We use the world’s categories of wisdom and worth. We create extra-biblical expectations and standards for one another, and this is how we get caught up in judgment over one another.
Finally, Paul reminds us that everything we have that causes us to feel pride in our ability or superiority over someone else’s gifts, wisdom, or way of thinking was a gift from God in the first place. Isn’t it funny that even though we call them “spiritual gifts” or “grace from God”, which literally means it was something that wasn’t ours, that was given to us, that we so quickly forget the giver and start thinking of it as something inherent to ourselves, and a reason for feeling superior?
The Gifts of Christ
Paul wraps up today’s passage by calling the church to its senses. His language is pretty intense. A loving warning.
1 Corinthians 4:7-21 (CSB)
7 For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it? 8 You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us—and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you! 9 For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! 11 Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless; 12 we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the scum of the earth, like everyone’s garbage. 14 I’m not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children. 15 For you may have countless instructors in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church. 18 Now some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk, but the power of those who are arrogant. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?
Paul’s concern is that the church is getting way ahead of itself. “Look at how amazing we are! Look at these wonderful gifts from God! He must think we’re pretty special to give us such grace and power!”
There is a hint here that Corinth was falling into the same deception we call “the prosperity Gospel” - the false teaching of“health and wealth, name-it-claim-it, speak it into existence by faith.”
We will reign as kings with Christ in the new creation, but in this life, we should expect suffering and hardship on the mission. Paul again points to his example and says, “Don’t think that the way of Christ is the path to great comfort with all your preferences being met.” But it is the way to true, lasting, eternal life.
When we take our focus off Christ, we become self-focused and place ourselves in the wrong courtroom. Scrambling for a verdict that tells us that we are in the right in all of our opinions and preferences. That we are superior to others in the way we think. We’re looking for commendation and praise from men. This will always lead to division and strife.
We need to remember whose judgment actually matters. The solution to the problem of self-centeredness is Christ-centeredness, Gospel-centeredness.
- Remember that you belong to Christ! You are known, loved, valued, and treasured by God. What other commendation or praise do you need?
- Concern yourself with faithfulness to what He has called you to. God has given you a mission to be on and gifts to use for the common good, and He has placed you in a church that He wants you to use them in. Your task is not to judge how everyone else is doing; your task is to be found faithful in your calling.
- Wait for His judgment. For His praise and commendation. We are not to look for praise and affirmation from men (though it is important that we give affirmation and honor when we can!), we are looking for it from God.
- Don’t go beyond what is written. Pay attention to God’s revealed will and word. Don’t add to it, or subtract from it. Use God’s categories to understand how you fit into Jesus’s church and mission, and how to be faithful to Him.
- Remember that what you have is a gift. This is the ultimate equalizer. We have nothing to boast about or about which to feel superior to anyone else. Everything we have is undeserved grace from God. This leads us to gratitude. This leads us to appreciate God’s work in others’ lives rather than envy or despise what they have.
Everything we have, we have received — and that includes our salvation. We placed ourselves on the throne. We judged for ourselves what was right and wrong. We built our own courtrooms. And that rebellion rightly earned God’s judgment.
But instead of condemning us, the true Judge stepped down from His throne. In Christ, He took the verdict we deserved, so that all who trust Him might receive the verdict we could never earn: justified. Loved. Accepted.
When the only verdict that ultimately matters has already been secured in Christ, our arrogant hearts can be humbled, and our anxious souls can finally rest.
Let’s pray.
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