Corinthian Pride vs. Paul's Weakness part 2

1 Corinthians 4:6-13

Corinthian Pride vs. Paul’s Weakness

Part 2

As we saw in our last study, there are strong parallels between the Corinthian’s perception of themselves and the image the church today seeks to portray of ourselves to our society around us. Most North American believers today are seeking the same status in our communities that the Corinthian church was pursuing among their community. But in contrast, Paul and the apostles, as they are described in this passage, more accurately reflect the image of Jesus Christ in the eyes of society.

Many of the Corinthian church either believed that they were, or sought to be, prominent and respected citizens with status and influence in their society; while Paul was like a worthless, rejected man condemned to die in the arena. They thought themselves to be wise, strong, and honored; but they believed Paul to be foolish, weak, and dishonored. They are embarrassed of Paul and of the image he portrays to their community. But Paul boasts in the very weaknesses about himself that the Corinthian Christians scorn and seek to avoid any association with.

We left off last week with verse 8 and will pick it up today with verse nine. But let’s first of all quickly review what we studied in verse eight as it leads us into the ninth verse.

The words, “You are already full!” in verse 8 mean they were blessed with an abundance of food. “You are already rich!” Means that they are abundantly blessed with material possessions. The Corinthians like us in North America today were a small minority of privileged people enjoying a wealthy lifestyle.

The problem however is not with their material and spiritual blessings but the problem is with their attitude toward those blessings and with their pride-filled self esteem. They lived for themselves and to satisfy their desires. The Corinthian believers are living with a King’s kid, kingdom prosperity mindset “already” in this life. They wanted to enjoy the blessings of heaven here and now. They had lost sight of the fact that we are engaged in a battle. The reality is that Christ has not yet returned to establish His Kingdom; therefore they are not yet to live as King’s kids but they are to imitate Paul’s example and continue to live the crucified life as verses 9-13 make clear. We are called, not to live a pampered life of a King’s kid, but we are called to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to follow Jesus in living the crucified life and to live with a wartime mentality.

2 Timothy 2:3-4 “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”

Do we live with a wartime mentality as a soldier of Jesus Christ with a great commission yet to be carried out? Or do we live as though the lost have all been saved, as though the Kingdom of God is already established on earth and there is nothing more to do but to enjoy my little piece of heaven here on earth?

Vs. 9

This is a metaphor which would have been very familiar to the people of Corinth in that day. When a Roman military general returned victorious from battle they would have a parade that displayed all the victorious soldiers and the plundered treasures they had taken from the enemy. At the end of the procession would be the captives who were bound in chains to be publicly paraded and humiliated before being led to the arena where they were condemned to die, either in combat as gladiators or to wrestle to the death with wild beasts. This type of brutal public execution in which condemned prisoners entertained the public with their death was referred to as a spectacle, literally a play or a drama for all to see and be entertained.

Thus Paul says of himself and the other apostles, “We have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” This is in contrast to the Corinthian believers who lounge comfortably in the spectator seats, looking down in judgment upon the Apostles in the arena either giving thumbs up to those they approved of or thumbs down to those they didn’t like. This metaphor of verse 9 illustrated how the Corinthian believers had failed to follow the apostles in the ministry of denying themselves for the sake of the Gospel but had retired from the battle to sit on the sidelines as spectators, not sharing in the ministry but watching and critically judging from a distance those who were engaged in the spiritual conflict.

Judging by the criticisms of the Corinthian people Paul sarcastically says it would seem that even the guardian angels have abandoned the apostles and have joined the rest of the world in entertaining themselves with watching them be publicly humiliated for the sake of the Gospel.

But if you look at the beginning of verse nine Paul is not complaining his own difficulties and hardships but he recognizes his circumstances as being where God has put him. His concern is for the Corinthian church who are not following him in the way of the cross but instead they are sitting back in the comfort of the popular way, criticizing and condemning him and embarrassed because the unbelieving community they seek approval from is mocking Paul and his message. In the words of Psalm 1 they are sitting in the seat of the scornful where there is no blessing from God.

Look at the appeal Paul made to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:8 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God”.

Vs. 10

According to 1Cor. 1:23 the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Therefore, the one who lives out the message of the cross in a crucified life is going to be considered a fool by those who are perishing.

Are we willing to be considered fools by unsaved family members and neighbors in order that we might live out the message of the cross? Are we willing to abandon the pursuits of the world and pursue instead something that to the vast majority of the population seems foolish? But in the eyes of God, that which the world thinks is foolish is the ultimate treasure, the pearl of great price for which the spiritually wise will gladly exchange all they have in order to obtain.

Paul is using irony when he contrasts the image the Corinthian believers strive to portray, “But you are wise in Christ.” The Corinthian believers sought to appear wise in the eyes of the perishing; they sought to be powerful and influential. The irony is that 1 Cor. 3:19 clearly states that “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” But Paul in his humble manner and simple faith in God appeared so weak and foolish to the world but was in reality demonstrating the wisdom of God.

“We are weak . . .” Paul was a poor tentmaker and along with the other apostles he was a travelling preacher who owned nothing but the clothes on his back.

“. . . But you are strong.” They wanted their church to be identified with successful celebrities and powerful business men so that they might be seen to be strong.

“You are distinguished . . .” They wanted spokesmen to represent their faith who were eloquent and who could impress the intellectual academics of the Greek culture so that the Christian faith might appear distinguished and be more acceptable.

“. . . But we are dishonored!” Paul did not come with excellence of speech or persuasive words of human wisdom. He was with them in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. (2:1-4). Therefore he was despised by the distinguished members of society.

Vs. 11-13

Here this list of the harsh lifestyle the apostles experienced for the sake of the Gospel is given in contrast to the lifestyle experienced by the “filled, rich and reigning” Corinthian church. Paul’s point in these verses is clear. In contrast to the Corinthians, who, in the eyes of the world, are “filled, rich, ruling, wise, powerful, and honored”, he and his fellow apostles look far more like Jesus. Isaiah 53:2-3 ESV “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Again we are forced to ask ourselves, which example best describes us, the Corinthian example or the example of Jesus and His apostles?

The wisdom of this world would never lead us to live this way; the wisdom of this world leads us to live in the pattern of this world. And as long as we live in the pattern of this world we will for the most part be accepted by this world and be able to live comfortably in it. But the Bible says the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. And the wisdom of God which leads us to embrace the crucified life is foolishness to the natural mind and to the world.We are to be in this world as Christ was in this world but we are not to be of this world.

How do we respond to this? What should our lives look like here in the 21st century living in the affluence of our Western world? I don’t believe we are right to focus on the externals and to try to conform to the external circumstances. This is not a call to pursue poverty or to seek out persecution, hardship and suffering. It is a call to fix our focus on Jesus Christ, rather than on the things the world focuses on and it is a call to pursue Jesus with whole hearted devotion, even if it costs us our possessions; even if it costs us our comfort, our freedom or our honored reputation. We must be willing to forsake all for the sake of Christ and the Gospel.

Let me draw our attention back to verse 2, “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” Faithfulness is being full of faith in Jesus. Always trusting Him, always depending on Him, relying on Him for everything. Never turning to other things to satisfy, never looking to other sources to meet our needs, never letting other things preoccupy our attention, never having other treasures that can entangle us and grip our hearts, but trusting fully in Jesus for everything we need in life. That is what is required of us as stewards. An attitude that loosely holds everything in open hands uplifted towards God saying take it all but give me Jesus.

The Bible does not say that stewards of the gospel are required to seek poverty or that we are required to seek persecution or to seek hardship or suffering. Being a faithful servant of Christ is not about the external things in our life as much as it is about the attitude of our heart. Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If you treasure your health or your prosperity or your comfort and pleasures or your power and status then by default that is where your heart will be and it will be impossible to be full of faith in Christ.

History has repeatedly demonstrated that comfort and ease and affluence and prosperity and safety and freedom often paralyze the church; because we so easily fall in love with these things. The prosperity and freedom that the wisdom of the world would lead us to think should free up volunteers who are able to invest lots of time and money for the cause of the gospel instead produces the exact opposite: weakness, apathy, lethargy, self-centeredness and preoccupation with personal security. Studies have shown that the richer we are the smaller the percentage of our income we give to the church and its mission. John Piper, (“Let the Nations be Glad”, p. 95) It is a strange principle but hard times, like persecution, often produce more personnel, more prayer, more power, and more open purses than do easy times. Persecution can have harmful effects on the church, but prosperity is even more devastating to the mission God calls us to.

The point here is not that we seek persecution or poverty but that we must be very cautious with prosperity, beware of excessive ease, and avoid indulging in comfort and affluence. It can cripple you spiritually. And we should not shrink back from hardships or be afraid of persecution because that is what God uses to strengthen and build His church. He causes hardships to work together for our good.

We, like the church in Corinth, tend to look to the same things the world relies on for success, power and influence. But when the church is stripped of all these external things we are forced to depend upon the Lord.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” And Paul grew though his trials so that he was eventually able to say with conviction, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul was strong in persecutions because Christ’s power was Paul’s only power when his sufferings brought him to the end of his resources and drove him to rely wholly on Jesus. This was God’s purpose in Paul’s thorn, and it is His purpose in all our suffering. God desires for us to rely wholly on Him. Therefore to be full of faith is to trust that God is working good in our lives when He deprives us of those things that grown to mean too much to us.

There is a persistent call in the Bible not to accumulate more and more things but rather to give more and more and to be deprived of things if love demands it. We are not called to give what we have simply so that we can be without, but we are called to give so that God may be glorified in the eyes of those who receive.

We ask, “How should we then live? Is it wrong for me to have the possessions that I have? There are no easy rules in the Bible to tell us whether the call on our lives is the same call of the rich young ruler to give away all that we have or if it is the call of Zacchaeus to give away half of what we have. (Piper, p. 100) We are to simply hold everything loosely in open hands before the Lord acknowledging that it is all His and continuously offering to let Him take it and use it as He desires. It is not about what we have or do not have, it is about our attitude toward what we have and towards what we have lost. Philippians 3:7-8 “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

Think about this: We cannot demonstrate how precious God is to us by being happy with His gifts. Of course if we are ungrateful it will certainly prove that we do not love the giver of good gifts, but gratitude for gifts does not prove that we love the giver. The thing that proves to all that the Giver is precious to us is the glad-hearted readiness to leave behind all His gifts in order to follow Him and be with Him. This is why suffering is so important to the mission of the church. It is difficult to bring the world to see the value of God when we live a lifestyle that communicates a love of things. But when we suffer loss and yet are still filled with joy and love we can, with authenticity and power, say to the world: Hope in God – for He truly satisfies. (Piper, p. 101)

The desire for riches is deadly. Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, was struck with Namaan’s leprosy because he could not pass up a reward (2 Kings 5:26-27). Ananias and his wife dropped dead because desire for money prompted them to lie (Acts 5:5-6). The rich young ruler could not enter the kingdom of God because he was unwilling to part with his wealth (Mark 10:22-23). The rich man who feasted sumptuously and neglected Lazarus was tormented in Hades (Luke 16:23). Paul said that the desire to be rich plunges men into ruin and destruction (1 Timothy 6:9). God tells us about these tragedies not to make us hate money but to make us love Him. (Piper, p. 102)

That’s where our focus needs to be. Not looking at the externals of our lives in an attempt to all conform to some external standard of Christ-like monasticism. That is a form of legalism. It is looking to the externals to make you acceptable in God’s sight. But God is looking for hearts that will trust Him and follow wherever He leads whether richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, for better or for worse, trusting and following faithfully all the way, led by the Spirit of God. With open hands trust your life to Him and say, “I gladly relinquish control of it all that I might have and enjoy you supremely, I will follow you wherever you lead me.”