Grace and peace to you from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
1 Corinthians 4:1-5 This is the way a person should think of us: as servants
of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2 In this connection,
moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But 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. 4 I 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. 5 Therefore
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. (EHV)
Judging the servants of Christ.
Dear fellow servants of Christ Jesus,
As we
examine the trends of our world, it becomes obvious that we live in a time in
which almost all people presume to have the right to judge everyone else. As soon as a loss is suffered, feelings get
hurt, or even a difference of opinion is expressed, many people assume the role
of judge, jury, and executioner. In such
a climate it becomes difficult to resolve any problem or to have a reasonable
discourse on any subject. For the
church, this begs the question, “What is our proper role when it comes to judgment?” Thankfully, Paul gives us the Holy Spirit’s
instruction for Judging the servants of
Christ.
Paul wrote, “This is the way a person should think of us:
as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.” The Corinthian congregation had become
splintered, with each group claiming to follow a different preacher’s
teachings. Paul’s letter addresses the
foolishness of those divisions among Christians, and though he spoke especially
concerning the unity of apostolic service, his words also apply wherever Christ’s
Gospel is proclaimed. What we need to understand
is that all preachers are to be Christ’s servants, as are all Christian
believers, and we are judged solely on our faithfulness to Christ.
The word Paul uses, here, for “servant” was originally
used for those men who rowed down below in the bottom of a boat. In case you are wondering, they were all
slaves. No one volunteered for that job. The master chose the men he felt were best
able to pull the oars, and those who were chosen had little choice but to row
at the master’s command. The same is
true of those who are called to be pastors.
True pastors are called by God to serve Christ Jesus. Even though ministers are called through a
congregation, we are called to serve Christ the Lord by His choice and command.
These ministers of Christ are also called, “stewards of God’s mysteries.” Many stewards of Paul’s day were also slaves,
yet they were entrusted with the master’s wealth and property and given the
task of making sure that everything about that household ran smoothly and the
master’s wealth be properly used and increased.
Likewise, Christ’s stewards have the task of ensuring that “God’s mysteries,” are properly used and
properly shared with those who need to share in those mysteries, so that
ultimately the Master’s wealth, which is His Holy Church, be increased. Already, we can see that we have quite a lot
to keep in mind when Judging the
servants of Christ.
Some might wonder, “What did Paul mean by “God’s mysteries”? Mysteries in the Greek are almost exactly
like we would expect, they are the secret things. In Christianity, the mysteries are all those
things concerning God that once were unknown to men, but which have now been
revealed. So, “God’s mysteries,” are everything God has revealed about Himself
and His salvation acts which once had been a mystery to everyone but are now
revealed through His Word. Of course, some
things about God remain a mystery as long as we are in this world. In this life, we will never fully comprehend
every aspect of God; never fully understand His power, His holiness, or His
love. Yet, it is imperative that
Christ’s servants be good stewards of the grace and mercy God has revealed to
us to bring forgiveness and salvation to the world.
When it comes to Judging the servants of Christ, Paul’s letter guides us; he wrote, “But
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.” Ordinarily, we all
like to think that whatever we are doing is the best that could be done, and we
like to hear praise for it, even if we secretly know that we don’t always do
the absolute best we could. But, Paul’s
point is that the praise or judgment of men and women really doesn’t matter all
that much, because the Lord’s judgment, which we all will face in the end, is
far more important and far more serious than the judgment of men. In fact, Jesus said, “Do not fear those
who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
(Matthew 10:28)
Now, many people, even many pastors, have
falsely interpreted these words to say that no one should ever judge anyone, or
anything, oftentimes trying to hide their own failings. They tend to do what I just did, which is
skip one little phrase: “It is required of
stewards that they be found faithful.”
This is the standard by which all of Christ’s servants, indeed all
Christians, will be judged. Are they
faithful? You rightly ask, “Faithful to
what?” Many people, even most false
teachers, claim to be faithful, but the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Only those who remain faithful to God and true
to His holy Word, who diligently carry on His work, will be judged faithful by
the Lord. Only those who remain faithful
to His instructions and His command will be judged true. Here, Jesus’ warning echoes in our ears, “But,
if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be
better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned
in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)
Further guidance is found in Jesus’ parable of
the stewards. One steward buried his
talent in the ground hoping that if he only didn’t lose it his master would be
happy, yet he was condemned and lost everything. (Matthew 25:24-30) On the other hand the faithful stewards put
their master’s talents to work and gained a return on his investments, and they
were judged faithful and praised and blessed even more. (Matthew 25:14-23) That’s what the Holy Spirit wants us to
understand: we will be judged on the basis of faithfulness to our Master’s
command, and on our use of His riches, rather than on any human scorecard.
Our Lord Jesus commanded us, “Go and gather disciples from all nations by
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you. And surely I am with you always until the end
of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) To be faithful stewards of our Lord, we must
be sharing with those around us all the rich blessings Christ has given us, and
we must not deviate even one little bit from His teachings.
Our judging
instructions are starting to take focus.
We are not to judge anyone based on our personal ideas, our own
preferences, or our own decisions. Rather,
we must hold to God’s Word, follow it whole-heartedly, and share His salvation
with the world.
Therefore, if we should
encounter a steward who is unfaithful with the Lord’s command, that is, one who
is unfaithful in his use of Jesus’ words, we should correct, rebuke, and seek
his repentance, but if failing in that, we should run screaming the other
way. On the other hand, when we find one
who proclaims the truth of Christ, who shares God’s means of grace in their
truth and purity, we should walk with him, working together to continue his
faithful stewardship so that we can all enjoy the Master’s praise.
Of course, to know
which servants are faithful, we ourselves must be well-versed in God’s
Word. We can hardly tell who is
preaching the truth, can we, if we have only the unfaithful servant’s message
to follow? Therefore, Christians must
always be like the Bereans and immerse ourselves in God’s Word, continually checking
to make sure that what the preacher proclaims is, in fact, the truth of God’s
Word. And if we are faithful in doing
so, we will hear our Lord’s declaration that we too are “more noble-minded than the Thessalonians.” (Acts 17:11)
Our sermon text instructs us on Judging the servants of Christ. I think it is obvious that everyone has at
times improperly judged someone.
Perhaps, we had our feelings hurt.
Maybe, our toes were stepped on by the proclamation of the Law. Many simply despise hearing the truth. Sometimes, style issues cause offense. Thus, we all need to confess that we have
been guilty of improperly judging others.
Recognizing our true role as Christ’s servants, we are forced to admit
that while none of us can read another person’s heart, we find it far too easy
to usurp the role of the Judge. But, we
are not the Master. We are not the
Judge. Rather, we are called to be God’s
stewards to properly invest the riches of His mercy and grace in the lives of
our fellow troubled sinners.
Today, many in our world would claim to be
free, and that they will serve no master but themselves, which is nothing more
than arrogant and foolish rejection of Christ’s authority. We must recognize, however, that there is no
middle ground—whether we like it or not, we each serve a master, either Christ
or Satan—those of us who have been called to faith serve the Lord Jesus, while
those who reject Christ, or His Word, continue serving the devil.
Dear Christian friends, the evil deceiver once
stole the whole human race away from our Lord.
Yet our Lord Jesus, in His great love for us, bought us back with the
price of His blood, shed on the cross.
In this same letter to the Corinthians we are told, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is
within you, whom you have from God? You
are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) The price
for our release from the servitude of the evil one was Jesus’ own life, given
by Him on the cross at Golgotha where Jesus willingly sacrificed Himself to
rescue us from the eternal death we deserved when we were His enemy’s slaves.
In our sermon text, St. Paul wrote, “I
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.” There will likely be days when we cannot
identify anything we are doing wrong. On
the other hand, there will be days when we feel we have sinned greatly against
our Lord. In either case, we are not
justified by what we find in ourselves.
Our justification is from Christ alone.
Justification is God’s declaration of innocence. The Father in heaven looked upon His Son’s
death on the cross, a death caused by all the sinners of the world including
you and me, and without any merit or worthiness on our part, God declared us
innocent, forgiven of all sin for Jesus’ sake.
Because we have been declared innocent, as have
all the other people in the world, we now have the Lord’s command to share that
not-guilty verdict with those around us.
If we deny Christ’s command, or if we try to add anything to, or take
away from His instructions, or if we withhold The Father’s not-guilty verdict
from any other repentant sinner, we are no longer faithful stewards. Therefore, let us make it our life’s mission
to live for Jesus’ sake, not worrying about the judgment of those around us who
may, or may not, be working for the Lord.
Rather, we will live concerned only about the judgment of our Lord
Jesus, who has already declared us innocent of all sin.
Paul said, “Therefore 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.” While we may find
it tempting to think that we can determine the faith in other people’s hearts,
in truth, we have no command or ability to do so. We do have to judge the words and actions of
others in order to ensure that they do not lead us astray from our Lord, and so
that we can help them learn God’s truth, but we judge their words and actions
only by the true standard of God’s Word.
My friends, in all honesty, we know that our
works and our faith don’t deserve our Lord’s praise. Rather, these things are the evidence that we
are His, so when we remain true to God’s Word, and true to our Lord, the one
true Savior of the world, then we will receive His praise, because He loves us
as His very own. He owns us. He bought us with His blood. Therefore, let us not worry about the
judgment of men, but only about the judgment of the One who has already
declared us innocent after paying for all our sins with His perfect life. Because our Lord has made us His own through
faith, let us now live always as His faithful stewards and servants. All glory be to Jesus. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life
everlasting. Amen.
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