Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Introduction

We all mimic something.

But what we mimic may reveal more about ourselves that we’re ready to admit...

And if there’s anything I want us to walk away thinking about today…as we follow Jesus in a world that doesn’t by mimicking him and his way of life.

So if you’re not there yet, open with me to 1 Corinthians 4. I’ll read the passage, pray, and then we’ll get started.

Mimicking Godly Church Leadership

If you remember from chapter 3, Paul is still working on the issue of Division in the church at Corinth—he’s heard there’s fighting, jealousy, arrogance and that the church has been picking and choosing which leaders they’re actually going to follow.

And his point was that, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be in the church!

You’ll remember from last week that a major point Paul made was that the Corinthians should have been more spiritually mature than this.

They should have known better.

Instead, they’re acting like children who don’t get their way.

But as he get’s to chapter 4, he starts to answer one of the obvious questions that comes up… “how do we pursue spiritual maturity”?

In other words, how do we grow up?

And there are a lot of good ways to answer that question.

But in 1 Corinthians 4, Paul talks about one essential way we grow and develop as followers of Jesus.

He says this: you need a spiritual role model.

Look at v. 14 (1 Cor.

4:14-16

1 Corinthians 4:14–16 (ESV)

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.

For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

That word imitate is the Greek word mimetes—where we get the English word mimic from.

It means more than just follow an example…it means to “take on a way of life.”

It means to be like the one you are mimicking.

And Paul’s concern is that they don’t have anyone who really living out the way of Jesus they can easily look to.

They don’t have a role model.

So, he wants them to see him as their role model.

Not because he’s as good as Jesus…or gets everything right…but because he is living as a credible follower of Jesus.

He’ll actually say this same kind of thing later on in the letter in 1 Corinthians 11:1.

Mimic me as I am straining to be more like Jesus.

Godly Church Leadership

And to set all this up, he starts by explaining his posture as a leader…what he is like (which is something we would need to know if we’re going to mimic him).

But what he records here are some of the most profound verses on Godly church leadership in the New Testament.

So we’re going to camp out here for a bit, both to see what Paul was like, but also so that we get the snapshot of what godly church leadership is supposed to be like!

And I’m using leadership in a general sense—because what Paul says here applies to far more than just pastors or elders…but really, it applies to anyone who has spiritual influence.

So if you’re here and are like, “Well, I’m not really leading anything right now...” don’t check out on me.

Like you might not be leading an official ministry in the church right now…but that doesn’t mean you don’t have spiritual influence somewhere…it might be at home, or even at work, or in your small group, it might be in a one-one-one relationship with someone else.

Secondly, if you’re not leading right now, you still find yourself having spiritual leaders…and I think this helps you have a framework for what that is supposed to look like!

Last thing I’ll say, you might be here today and not a follower of Jesus…but you’ve heard stories of messed up things done by church leadership, which rightly raises up a lot of questions.

I think this helps give the standard of “here’s what git’s supposed to look like.”

And honestly, know what the real thing looks like will help us all better spot a counterfeit version.

Look at v. 1 (1 Corinthians 4:1-2)

When he says this is how you should regard “us”, he’s talking about himself, Apollos, Cephas and the other leaders who’ve come through the Corinthian church.

He says, we are Servants and Stewards.

And these are both words that we could easily pass over without giving a ton of thought to them, but I think it’s essential for us to understand.

Stewards of Christ

That word for servant in the original language is the only time Paul actually uses this word in the New Testament.

It shows up in a few other places and it’s usually talking about an officer or a guard.

The important thing for us to know is that it always describes someone who is subordinate to someone else.

It describes some who answers to someone above them.

And that’s exactly what Paul says here: that as a leader he is a servant of Christ…meaning he answers to Jesus.

And that’s not an arrogant statement, like someone saying “I only answer to the boss.”

It’s actually this recognition that Paul knows he’s not really the one in charge!

He is a leader under someone else’s authority.

He will give an account to how he conductions himself as a servant to the Boss.

Godly church leaders see themselves as servants…they work at the bidding of the boss!

And Paul says the boss is Jesus.

And it’s scary how fast we can loose sight of this!

Because when you find yourself in a position of influence over other people—that can become so easy to take advantage of.

That influence can quickly become a lot more like manipulation when there are no guard rails put up against it!

But you see, the servant as Paul’s talking about, is not looking to accomplish his own agenda, but the agenda of the one he serves.

Godly church leaders are not looking to build their own little kingdoms they can sit on top of.

They are not looking to build a name for themselves.

They don’t sit back and insist on their own way…their own way of doing things…they serve.

Stewards of the Mysteries of God

Look at that second word: stewards.

In the original language it’s the word oikonomos.

And it’s word that means something: household manager, or most of us would think of something like a manager position in company.

The manager has significant influence, but they’re not the owners.

Stewards, like servants, are in submission to the one who is actually in charge.

In this case, he says they are stewards of the mysteries of God.

What he means is that godly church leaders see as part of their responsibility that they’ve been entrusted by God with the message of the Gospel—the good news of Jesus.

They’ve been entrusted with the mystery of how God offers forgiveness to humanity through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

They’ve been entrusted with seeing that message shape and form those who are under their influence…for their good and growth as followers of Jesus.

And again, the point is for both Servants and Stewards, their work is not about them.

Servants and Stewards know they are not top dog.

They work for another.

They represent another.

They report to another.

They are held accountable by another.

Godly church leaders are first and foremost godly followers.

They are not on top.

They become servants of everyone else.

And by the rest of cultures standards, they drop to the bottom of the pyramid.

Their influence looks upside down and backwards compared to how it happens in the rest of the world.

Look at v. 6 (1 Cor.

4:6-13) Paul says:

And if it sounds like Paul is being little overly affirming it’s because he’s being sarcastic with them.

And he’s trying to show them how twisted their own views of influence, power, and leadership have become…and, ultimately, how antithetical it is to the way of Jesus!

One of the things we talked about at the beginning of this series was about the city of Corinth was a relatively new city…it was rebuilt by the Roman empire about 100 years before Paul was there and the Romans populated Corinth with former slaves, foreigners, outsiders.

But that meant Corinth was one of the few places where someone could actually start to climb the social latter…and in a world were you pretty much had to be BORN into wealth and power…and were given it by virtue of your family, Corinth was one the rare places people not born into power could gain it themselves.

It was a proud city.

This is what the Corinthians were all about…making something of yourself.

And when we know that, we see how jarring Paul’s words really were.

He says, tongue-in-cheek, “You, Corinthians are RICH!

You’re KINGS, You REIGN, You’re WISE, STRONG, HONORABLE!

But if were saying this to their face, he’d be using air quotes.

Because he contrasts that with the model of godly leaders…that they, in comparison, are fools, weak, in disrepute, they hunger and thirst, poorly dressed, homeless, reviled, persecuted, slandered…like the scum of the world and refuse of all things…which means exactly what you think it means.