Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 4:1–7
Date: June 18, 2023
Event: The Third Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 6], Year A
1 Corinthians 4:1–7 (EHV)
This is the way a person should think of us: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2In this connection, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3But it is a trivial matter to me if I am evaluated by you or by a day in a human court. Why, I do not even evaluate myself. 4I do not in fact know of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this; rather, the one who evaluates me is the Lord. 5Therefore judge nothing ahead of time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light whatever is hidden in darkness and also reveal the intentions of hearts. Then there will be praise for each person from God.
6Brothers, I turned these things into a lesson using myself and Apollos as examples. I did this for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then you will not be arrogant, favoring one person over the other. 7For who makes you so special? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
God’s Word is God’s Work
As the pastor sits at the bedside of a member who is near death, words of comfort escape him. What can he say? What can he do? He is paralyzed with worry that he might say something wrong and upset the person who is going through so much—or the family standing there beside their loved one. He’s in his own head and can’t get out of it. Near-panic starts to set in. Isn’t this what he trained for? Isn’t this his job? Why can’t he get words to come out of his mouth to bring God’s comfort and truth to the person and family?
You sit with a friend in the living room, sipping coffee. Your friend starts asking some pointed questions about faith and spirituality, about forgiveness and the afterlife. You freeze. How can you be clear in these answers without closing the door on future conversations? How can you witness to God’s truth and be loving at the same time? And why is this a struggle? You’ve been going to church for decades, listened to countless sermons, and studied at more Bible classes than you can even remember. How is there not a single, concise way to answer these questions coming to mind?
Maybe you’ve been in these situations before and maybe it continued to go south and you felt like you missed a great opportunity to share God’s truths with someone who needed to hear it. But, perhaps, you also had a moment where you couldn’t come up with something in your mind but thoughts just came. Words flowed from your mouth that you had not prepared, had not rehearsed, were not memorized, but summarized the truth of what you knew from God’s Word. Perhaps it wasn’t exhaustive or completely satisfying to the questions or concerns of those you were talking to, but it was certainly better than staying silent in a panic.
In those moments, I often recall Jesus’ promise to his disciples not long before his death, describing the world and situations they would be working in: “Be on your guard! People will hand you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand in the presence of rulers and kings for my sake as a witness to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. Whenever they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand what you should say. Say whatever is given to you in that hour, because you will not be the ones speaking; instead it will be the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:9-11). Jesus made a promise that words would be given to his followers in the moment of need. This is not an absolute promise that every time an opportunity arises words will just be given to you, but it is a promise that it can happen, and perhaps you’ve experienced it happening at times. Perhaps there have been times where you gave a summary of God’s truths that you couldn’t repeat later even if you tried, but it was exactly what needed to be said in that moment. “You will not be the ones speaking; instead it will be the Holy Spirit.”
This is the line of thought that Paul is emphasizing in our Second Reading for this morning. He’s stressing that the ministry of the church is really God’s work, not our work. That we are mouthpieces for God, not the source of truth and the foundation of the gospel. This work depends on God; this work is God’s.
And this is a fitting thought for us to consider as we head into the congregation’s 60th anniversary celebration next weekend. Because whether we think of our personal witness or our corporate, congregational work, it remains true that the work is ultimately not ours, but God’s. He entrusts it to us to do as well as we can, to be wise and faithful with the opportunities and resources he gives us, but ultimately, he gives us what we need and he brings the results.
We’ve spent a decent amount of time with Paul’s letters to the Christians in Corinth over the last few weeks, so you’re probably familiar with some of the issues they had. A lot of the problems stemmed from divisions, and those divisions largely fractured along the lines of dedication to different teachers. People would proclaim allegiance to Peter, or Paul, or Apollos, and assume that their dedication to one human being made them better than others who adhered to another Christian teacher or apostle.
And this, Paul says, is folly because it misses the point. Christian teachers, apostles, pastors are not in competition with each other—trying to gain the biggest following—but are all servants of God for the sake of the spread of the gospel. This is the way a person should think of us: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. In this connection, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. One is not greater than the other. The call to Christian leaders and teachers is not to be flashier than others or more effective than others, but to be faithful with what God has given. They are not proclaiming their own wisdom or power, but are caretakers of God’s mysteries.
In a time of reflection as we have in front of us, it makes sense to think back over the history of our congregation and its ministry. But as you consider the past, do you find yourself dedicated to one pastor over another? Would you say, “I follow what Pastor Waldschmidt taught” or “I am dedicated to Pastor Geiger” or “Pastor Mammel was the one who could really do God’s work” or “Pastor Strey was the one who was worth listening to” or even more alarmingly, “I would only trust Pastor Shrimpton”?
Or if your history with Gloria Dei doesn’t reach that far back, maybe you think back to other pastors in your life—pastors who baptized you, confirmed you, oversaw your wedding, baptized your children, brought God’s Word to you later in your life in a way that you had never understood it before. While it is certainly not wrong to value the work of a specific pastor or teacher or Christian friend who meant a lot to you or brought comfort in particularly challenging times, we are often tempted to hold the messenger in higher esteem than the message. And, unfortunately, that can mean holding human beings in higher esteem than God.
So we do well to check what pedestals we place people on and remember that all of the work that any called worker does, or any congregation does together, is really God’s work. You and I cannot earn our own way into heaven or get other people there, but God can and does through the life and death of Jesus. You can I cannot make ourselves or other people believe that Jesus is their Savior, but God can and does. You can I cannot make good come from all trouble, but God can and does. You can I cannot bend our wills to align with God’s will so that we serve him in thanksgiving, but God can and does.
Jesus emphasized this reliance on God for all things when he sent out the twelve on that early mission journey in our Gospel. They were not to take a lot of supplies to care for themselves, but they were to entrust their care to the people they served, and really, it was trusting their care to God who worked in those people the will and ability to take care of these called workers from God.
Paul urged the Corinthians to consider these truths for a very specific purpose: I did this for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then you will not be arrogant, favoring one person over the other. For who makes you so special? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? We do well to remember that our forgiveness is not about us, but God; our faith is not about us, but God; our eternal life is not about us, but God. These are mercies we have received, not wages we have earned. Our natural work is sin that earns hell; God’s work for us is mercy and forgiveness in Jesus—therefore we have heaven as a free, gracious gift.
In our personal lives, in our congregational life, in our physical life, in our spiritual life, no matter through which outward means it appears that our blessings have come, see God as the source of it all. God speaks his Word to us and through us. God creates and sustains our faith. But God’s grace alone, we will be with him forever in eternal life. Let us not boast about ourselves or any other human being. Instead, let us boast in the mercy, wisdom, and love of our Creator and Savior! Amen.
