Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 200 True Wisdom - Part 11 (a series in 1 Corinthians chapters 1-4) FOOLS FOR CHRIST"S SAKE 1 Corinthians 4:6-13 MKJV (6) And these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, so that no one of you may be puffed up against one another. (7) For who makes you to differ from another? And 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? (8) Already you are full! Already you are rich! You have reigned as kings without us! And oh that indeed you did reign, that we also might reign with you. (9) For I think that God has set forth us last, the apostles, as it were appointed to death; for we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men. (10) We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised. (11) Even until this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. (12) And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; (13) being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. Faith does not guarantee prosperity and indeed great faith may end up enduring great hardship for Christ. Paul was a spectacle, a doomed person, an embarrassment, the last of all men, hungry, naked, reviled, the offscouring of all. Paul seems to be a complete failure of "name it and claim it" - he was without a shirt, let alone a Rolex! What faith was this, that could not even pray in clothes or food? What faith ends up with an apostle being "made as the filth of the world?" Surely Paul should be promoted, honored, and covered in glory? How can a man who works miracles not have his own TV show, ministry in Colorado Springs and three-story house? Now there is nothing good about poverty. Throughout Scripture it is seen as a problem, an undesirable state. Paul did not enjoin the Corinthians to become hungry or poor or naked! Paul regards such things as sufferings - and that is what they are. But he endures such sufferings for the sake of the gospel. 2 Timothy 2:10 MKJV Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Indeed Paul is "foolish" with his own life, prosperity and progress in order that he might be wise in Christ and the Kingdom. For Paul "progress" was not material improvement but spiritual improvement and the progress of the gospel. Paul measured the progress in his life not in what he did or did not own, but in how far he had preached the gospel and in how closely he was conformed to Christ. There are two false "ladders" that Christians try to climb - a church ladder of being more spiritual than one's neighbor (we dealt with that yesterday) and a worldly ladder of possessions and positions - of having the high status job and the Rolex. BOTH of these ladders are competitive and carnal and godless and divisive. Paul did not have a competitive ladder, which he was trying to climb. Neither did Jesus, John the Baptist, Abraham or the apostles. Rather they had a faith that they lived out, a gospel they preached and the love of Christ that compelled them. There is no "up" and there is no "down" in Christ! There is no ranking, and no competition; there is only love and fellowship in the Spirit. It is not a ladder with Christ at the top but a fellowship with Christ at the center! The angels went "up and down" on Jacob's Ladder, they did not sit on fixed rungs! Christ is at the center, and we move towards Him! We don't sit on a peg, a rung, a position, that we have to nervously defend. In fact Jesus spent a lot of time getting the competitive "ladder mentality" out of His disciples - with His teaching about ambition, servanthood and the first being last and the last being first. His new commandment was not "envy one another" but "love one another!". Christians have a terrible tendency to rank each other by ecclesiastical position in church or social position in the world. But Paul was no less a Christian just because he was poor and homeless; and Paul was no less a person because people insulted him and Paul was no less a minister of the gospel because he had to work with his own hands to keep himself in ministry. In fact Paul was an apostle and a mighty man of God! How many hungry homeless men of no certain abode are even made deacons? But this one was an apostle! Did God love Paul! Certainly! Then why did God allow all this terrible suffering in Paul's life? Why didn't God make it easier? Because God was more interested in Paul's eternal heavenly glory than in his temporary worldly prosperity. The sufferings Paul was going through for the sake of the gospel were storing up great treasure in Heaven. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 MKJV (16) For this cause we do not faint; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. (17) For the lightness of our present affliction works out for us a far more excellent eternal weight of glory, (18) we not considering the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are not lasting, but the things which are not seen are everlasting. Paul was a fool for Christ, last on every worldly measure of status, not asserting his rights to make money, not retaliating when abused, graciously taking the gospel to the far corners of the world. Paul's great faith was able to go beyond prosperity to glory. Paul could see the weight of eternal glory; Paul knew what his sufferings were doing for him. They were not destroying him - in fact they were perfecting him, they were not subtracting from him, they were in fact storing up reward for him. But the Corinthians would not recognize Paul. They wanted the "super-apostles", the televangelists of their day, the eloquent persuaders full of worldly wisdom. They did not want some ragged homeless apostle in the pulpit! They preferred a touch of class thank you very much! So Paul hits hard - "And these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, so that no one of you may be puffed up against one another. (7) For who makes you to differ from another? And 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? (8) Already you are full! Already you are rich! You have reigned as kings without us! And oh that indeed you did reign, that we also might reign with you." He makes four points in the above passage: 1) Do not be puffed up against one another in carnal status battles. 2) Their self -estimate should be based on God's Word and not go beyond it. 3) The differences among individuals were due to gifts received from God - and not due to their own earned merit. 4) Their sense of social importance, of "reigning and riches" was just pompous self-delusion. Most of us need to hear those points - because our whole society trains us otherwise. People live and die for social status and pride. But such things are inappropriate, indeed even sinful, in the church. If a missionary comes and preaches in old-fashioned clothes - do you secretly despise him? Is the poor man treated as well as the rich businessman? (see James 2). Do you need the validation of a new car or is the validation of Christ enough? Christ was enough status for Paul! He did not need anything else! Now such exhortations are easy to say and hard to do. These are very difficult words. There is a very large part of me that wants both my place in Christ and a high status in the world. Some indeed are allowed this. You are not compelled to be poor - each to their own station in life! But even if you are rich, it should not be your primary source of self-esteem. Christ should always be the ground of your self-esteem and your hope in life. Remember there is no ladder! Not in the church nor in the world, only Christ at the center of all things. Blessings, John Edmiston Were you blessed by Eternity Daily Bible Study? 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