True Apostles
Notes
Transcript
Servants and Stewards
Servants and Stewards
How do you act when you go to another s house?
Do you move stuff around or throw your stuff all over?
How do you act in your family home?
Differently than in a guests?
How do you treat your own home?
That it is yours and Ill do as i want
or
as a steward of the property
Our perspective changes when our environment changes in this world
But what if we treated it ALL as God’s gift to us?
Today we are looking at Ch 4 of our Study in 1 Cor.
Last week Cory spoke on the Temple and the Spirit that should be considered.
So then Paul moves in to the MINISTRY OF APOSTLES
Lets not get caught up on that Word, which is a word that has caused division in the church.
Paul is addressing our role -— MY ROLE in this LIFE
To truly GLORIFY GOD AND GROW OTHERS
we MUST have the mindset of Servants
and that involves conquering our pride.
it is too easy to take about
our EDUCATION, our EXPERIENCE, and our EXPERTISE
but in Reality -----
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
that alone SHOULD give us a MIND CHECK
How can i do all things....… THROUGH and BECAUSE of HIM
We have a ROLE to play in our Life, now that we are Lovers of Jesus
We...… must exercise our......
Roles as Servants
Roles as Servants
As role as a servant is to get the OWNER of the House right.
We are guests in this world, not owners of the world
We leave the earth with exactly as much as we came into it with.....
The factor that MUST matter is what did we do for the Kingdom of GOD
Is your Legacy Building to Glorify HIM, or YOU?
God wants you to prosper of course HE does.
But God is bigger that 100s or 1000s
God’s math is not the math of the World
How much is your account balance on serving others....
Odd to say it this way
BUT
if the Good your do for others was a 100 bill with Jesus on it
would your have more of them than the ones with Ben Franklin on it.
Take a moment and weight that BANK ACCOUNT.
you realize there is NO amount of money or fame that gets you a pass into HEAVEN.
It MUST start with a MINDSET
1 Corinthians 4:1–2 “1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.”
People around us should SEE US as Servants
One of my favorite verses to clarify this is :
Philippians 2:5–8 “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
This is the Key Today:
If Jesus, God in the flesh, came to serve
then why do we take an attitude contrary
Is our mindset to Serve Others?
We do we seek to BE SERVED
Its not your house.....
its not your material property
you steward it, you don’t own it.
Got gave you everything you have
and you should WORSHIP HIM because of the Good Good Gifts received.
Not the straw, but the Gold
not the sticks, but the Precious Gems of CHRIST
He is the Foundation
Humility vs Arrogance
Humility vs Arrogance
When we see it as ALL HIS
All for His GLORY and PURPOSE
it changes our perspective.
The issue really is SIN
and our PRIDEFUL nature
We sadly, believe we DESERVE
Gosh How that word gets us in Trouble.
I Deserve, especially when our sinful mind seeks to manifest it.
Driving someone cuts you off
or
doesn’t leave you merge in to the lane
Think on it… isn’t the reason that you feel you deserve.… them to accommodate you??
Those are little ways that we JUDGE
1 Corinthians 4:3–5 “3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.
4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”
Do you care more about BEING RIGHT
or DOING RIGHT?
Wow that is a tough question
The COMMENDATION that Matters is From GOD alone
DO YOU LIVE For the THRONE?
Do you DO -— for the WELL DONE from GOD alone.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Paul goes into some Sarcasm in vs 8-13
He is addressing and REBUKING their HAUGHTY attitude.
Friends -— when i mediate on this I realize that I am guilty.
I have a degree, I have achieved these honors,
I have experience and successes in life.
But if i claim them to BUILD myself UP
then i am doing GOD a thorough INJUSTICE
I did nothing on my own.
So why would i bring up my DEGREEs, my Pedigrees.
My intellect comes from ---— [all my efforts and inputs to higher learning???]
NO --— they come from the LORD
Straight --- As in high school and college
Paper on my wall -— Framed to Highlight
Magma Cum Laude
whatever
it is dust in the wind.
telling me how smart I am, it talk it has no power
BUT if i lead to love
lead to Grow others
than my degrees don’t matter
Look Cs can get degrees
but obeying and teaching the WAYS of CHRIST
That is straight up an A
I am to LEAD you by EXAMPLE
LOOK -— all this UNIVERSITY Stuff is from MAN
God doesn’t need you to have a BA, M Div, or even a PHD
to Grow Others
You need HIM, and the WORD of GOD.
You need the GOOD NEWS.
Cory said it last week… you need to KNOW the WORD, and LEARN IT.
Checking off you listened with out LEARNING is Foolishness.
Admonishment
Admonishment
Taking sides only divides
The only side that matters is God’s
it matters that you GET YOUR THINKING RIGHT
Paul admonishes the Corthinians
and in the same way admonishes us.
Admonish --— is to rebuke or correct.
Paul is ending this section of thought through Scripture with DIRECTION.
We must be reminded that it is
NOT ABOUT US
it is NOT about YOU
IT IS ABOUT HIM
Look you need to LIVE YOUR PURPOSE,
YOU NEED TO LEAVE A LEGACY.
The man that was Lead to the Lord -— that starts a ministry in the Phillipines.
The Pastor that endured my EARLY CHRISTIAN years.
That say me good from SINNER TO SAINT.
from man of the world, to MAN OF GOD
Not Saint as in Perfect.
BUT SAINT as a FOLLOWER, a Practitioner of CHRIST
Look at our Last verse for today
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.
17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
18 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 of these arrogant people but their power.
20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
How do you want your visit with your church leader to go?
LOL did you think i meant ME??
The LEADER you need to LIve in Fear of is JESUS alone
I am here to do my part....
No i don’t think of myself that way, yet it is a role of the Leader of Servants
To encourage, rebuke, correct and teach
Look here is the message----
We are called to be servants
we are called to Glorify God
To Grow Others in Christ
not with talk, but with the power of the Spirit of God.
We are to lead them to the Water of Life and teach others to Drink.
As for you and me
Do you want to face Christ fearing the rod,
or knowing of His love and Gentleness.
Lets close in Prayer.
