Let God Be the Judge

Transcript

If it’s your first time here this morning, or I’ve not met you, my name is Greg Taylor. I serve as one of the lay pastors here. And this morning we’re going to be continuing our series, Christian Living in the Current of Culture. And this is going through 1 Corinthians. So please open up to 1 Corinthians. We’re going to look at the first 13 verses of chapter 4 this morning. If you didn’t bring a Bible, there should be one under the seat in front of you. And this text will be found on page 896. If you would please stand for the reading of the Word of God. First Corinthians 4, verses 1 to 13. Hear now the word of the Lord to you.

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful

— 1 Corinthians 4

(ESV)

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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, for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 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. I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers and sisters, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive?

If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us, you have become kings. And would that you did reign so that we might share the rule with you. For I think that God has exhibited us, apostles, as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour, we hunger and thirst. We are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. When slandered, we entreat. We have become and are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things

— 1 Corinthians 4

(ESV)

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Servants and Stewardship

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Let’s pray, shall we? Our Father and our God, we ask you this morning, God, to empower all of us by the Holy Spirit to hear these important words from Scripture that we need to hear, that we need to grow in maturity and holiness. We need the Holy Spirit’s work in us to apply this word. So God, please give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts and minds that will act upon these truths. Correct in us, God, what needs to be corrected. We commit this to you in the name of our great Savior, Jesus, amen. He’s not a very impressive-looking fellow, is he? He’s a little bit shorter and pudgier than I imagined. He talks kind of funny and he’s slow. You notice he stutters a bit? Seems like all he ever talks about is the cross this, the cross that.

He never makes any persuasive arguments like Apollos and Hermes do. Paul from Tarsus claims to be a great apostle of Jesus, says he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. I find it hard to believe that this guy is the best there is in Asia Minor. Can you believe Jesus would have chosen this guy to be the apostle to our people? I’m not really sure he even is an apostle. Now we don’t know exactly what the Corinthians were saying about Paul. I don’t think it’s too hard to imagine that it might have gone something like that. We know the Corinthians didn’t think him to be an eloquent orator, like many of their gifted speakers and philosophers. His message wasn’t full of philosophical jargon. Paul’s message was Christ and him crucified. See the Corinthians likely didn’t understand the kind of intense suffering Paul and his companions had endured at the hands of both Jews and Gentiles.

They didn’t fully understand that Paul and his companions were the appointed representatives of the ultimate king, the king of kings, who also himself was looked upon as unimpressive by worldly standards and was rejected when he came. The Corinthians also didn’t understand the kinds of people that God frequently uses to accomplish his purposes in the world. People like Paul, Peter, Mary Magdalene, Polycarp, Athanasius, Augustine, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, J. I. Packer, R. C. Sproul. You hopefully get the picture. In fact I’m not sure that the Corinthians would have been all that impressed with Charles Spurgeon or J. I. Packer. Since Spurgeon burst onto the scene at just 18 years of age as a dynamic preacher with no formal education and J. I. Packer had a very gaunt figure and a soft voice due to growing up with multiple health challenges his entire childhood after being hit by a

truck as a seven-year-old boy. So this brings me to ask you a question this morning. Do you assess and do you approach church leaders and people in your church doing ministry with a spirit of judgment and criticism that is stoked by pride? Or do you view their work through a humility that knows that God alone is the judge and He will assess our service? Do you look at what Scripture says faithful service should look like as opposed to what you think is best or what you prefer or what you judge to be best based on the very limited knowledge you have of most people in most circumstances? You see what Paul is now addressing in this section this morning is the fact that the Corinthians were going around judging Paul and other people’s works as if they had some kind of right to do so, as if they possessed some knowledge of just how Paul and others

were doing as it relates to God’s assessment of them. They were self-appointed fruit inspectors. The problem was they were incompetent for the job. Moreover, their criteria for judging didn’t align with Scripture and the things that God says are important. Here in these 13 verses you’re going to come to see that Christian service requires servanthood, stewardship and sacrifice for which God will equip and whose results God alone will assess. Now the sense here in these early verses relates to that of Christian leaders. But there is a broader application that relates to all Christians because as Jan will get into next week, later in this chapter, we’re going to see that the Corinthians were told to imitate Paul, be imitators of me, he will say. All Christians are to be servants of Christ. Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily

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Judgment and Reward

and follow me. We must live as he lived. He set the example for us to follow. We are to be bondservants of Christ and this includes being good stewards of the gifts and the resources that he’s put in our care to use for the kingdom until we die or he returns. It includes a lot of sacrifice at times. Anyone who wants to live faithfully for Christ will have to sacrifice. Life will at times be hard. Contrary to one televangelist, this is not your best life now. And if you think it is, then you probably need to check yourself because you may not be living for Christ, but rather you may be living for your own comfort and yourself. Now to see all these things in our text this morning, I’ve divided it up into four sections. We’re going to see servants and stewardship, that’ll be verses 1 and 2.

We’ll see judgment and reward, verses 3 and the first part of verse 7. Equipped for service, verses 7b to 8. And then finally our fourth section, we’ll see sacrifice required and that’s verses 9 to 13. So let’s jump into our first section this morning, servants and stewardship. Look at verse 1 with me. This is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. Now this word here for servant relates to the person who would be pulling the oars on an ancient ship. It is to labor literally in the bowels of the ship. It implies that it is very hard work. Being a Christian leader or being a Christian who serves faithfully is not an easy thing. It requires hard work and sacrifice and faithfulness. Jesus himself set the example for us by girding up his loins and washing his disciples’ feet.

He didn’t do that so that we would literally wash each other’s feet, although there’s nothing wrong with that. He did it so that his chosen people and his leaders would be humble servants. He said in John 13, truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Jesus said that Paul was his chosen instrument to carry the message of the gospel to the Gentiles and that it would bring Paul much suffering, and indeed it did. It’s not just Paul and the church elders or the missionaries, the deacons. We are all to be working for Christ in the works that he gives us. Consider Paul’s words in Ephesians 6, talking about service. He says, don’t do this by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of

Christ doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man. Doing whatever good anyone does, he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or free. Let’s consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 24. He said, therefore, you also must be ready. The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Now, stewardship means being faithful to Jesus in all that you do, because he has entrusted to you resources and duties and roles, finances, and the very gospel truth itself. When Paul says, stewards of the mysteries of God, that is a reference to the gospel

truths about Christ that have been revealed in the apostolic and the church age. They were hidden. They were mysteries prior to that. The mission of the church is to make disciples, and this involves carefully stewarding the gospel and the souls who come to faith. Think of Jude 1.3. We are to contend earnestly for the faith. This requires faithfulness to the truth. In the Bible, a steward is one who manages his master’s affairs, the household. Think of Joseph working for Potiphar in Genesis. Let me ask you, how are you doing in stewarding what the Lord has entrusted to you? It’s different for all of us. Are you being faithful? Or if Jesus returned tonight, would you have cause to be worried and fearful? Have you invested in heavenly treasure? Or are you spending everything on your own pleasure? Are you making any disciples? Or if you’re a newer Christian and you’re not yet to that place in your life, have you

found someone to disciple you so that you can grow up in the faith and then in turn go and make disciples, go and disciple someone else? This is all part of our stewardship, friends. Jesus said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. How you manage your affairs says a lot about your heart. Let’s pray to be those people who are servants for Christ, who practice faithful stewardship, knowing that this is God’s plan for us. We’re in this together. Now let’s look at our second section, judgment and reward. God alone is the judge of our works and the one from whom we will be rewarded. Look at verse 3 with me. Paul says, 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, for I am not aware of anything against myself.

Equipped for Service

But I am not thereby acquitted, it is the Lord who judges me. Now Paul’s main concern is not what the Corinthians think. It’s not what anyone else thinks about him. His main concern is what does God think. Paul is taking a self-assessment of his service and his stewardship. He says, I’m not aware of anything against myself. But then he says, I am not thereby acquitted, it is the Lord who judges me. Because Paul knows he has blind spots. We all do. And he knows that God will point out those things he needs to deal with. God will correct him where he needs it. And this is actually a mark of great maturity and humility. To know that God will point out those things to you that you need to deal with. That God alone is your judge. Now because the Corinthians had these divisions that Paul addressed back in chapter 1 and

chapter 3, the Corinthians were choosing up various leaders to follow. The people that they considered to be the best ones according to their worldly standards. Clearly there was some element of judging that was being leveled against Paul in favor of other teachers. We’re pretty sure Apollos was one of them. Look now at verse 5. Paul says, 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. Right here Paul is pointing back to what the previous verses were talking about as it relates to him being judged. And he’s saying to the Corinthians and to us, don’t do this. This is a really common refrain in Scripture. That we mere humans cannot judge other people. We don’t know all the facts.

We don’t have all the details. We cannot read motive. Remember that you cannot know the motives of another person unless they reveal those motives. God alone can judge the heart and knows the motives of why people do what they do. This is spoken of in Proverbs 24, 23. Partiality in judging is not good. The New Testament covers this kind of judging three times in Romans, chapter 2 and twice in chapter 14, twice in James 2 and 4, and by Jesus in Matthew 7. Jesus said, judge not that you not be judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Now this should not be confused with the use of biblical discernment. Because in the next chapter we’re going to see Paul say that he had pronounced judgment on a man who had fallen into serious sin.

Remember too the Bereans in Acts 17 were commended for taking what Paul taught them and testing it against Scripture. Jesus said, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. He said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruits. He said, behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. So there is a case for which we need wisdom and we need judgment and we need discernment. But that judgment is based on what the Scriptures say. And it’s typically related to what someone is teaching or how they are acting. Notice in verse 5 when Paul says, before the time, before the Lord comes, this is a reference to what’s commonly referred to in the Bible as the day of the Lord.

That is when Christ returns and everything ends as we know it now. That event will usher in the age to come and will reveal everything. I’m really glad we’ll finally know the answers to all the mysteries that have puzzled us in this life. Verse 5 again, the Lord who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart, and each one will receive his commendation from God. Right here when he says things now hidden in darkness, this is a metaphor for hidden sin. It may not come to light in this age, but it will in the age to come. Each one will receive their commendation from God. Very similar to what we heard last week, every person will be rewarded by God for their works. All we have done will pass through the fire. It’s a reference to judgment.

Not the kind of judgment unbelievers go through. When we get to talking about works and talking about rewards, it can sometimes make us nervous. It can make us uneasy. For some people it really creates some tension for them, especially if you’ve spent any time in a works righteousness system. But it shouldn’t, because this is really, really clear in Ephesians 2. Look at it with me. Ephesians 2. I’m going to read verses 8 through 10. Paul says,

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them

— Ephesians 2

(ESV)

. The works come out of the faith and grace. The reward is for your faithfulness as a Christian.

The works do not have any bearing on whether or not you’re saved. That’s only by grace. That’s the gift. But God’s people should seek to and desire to be pleasing to our Heavenly Father. We should be doing those things that he’s called us to do. So rewards are to be greatly valued by Christians, because they are a reflection of Christ’s approval of us. The approval are those things that we have done in service to him with right motives. How often does the idea of heavenly rewards and being pleasing to God motivate you to serve? There’s like six different crowns talked about in the Bible that we can earn. All these different crowns that can be earned, that we’ll receive in heaven. That’s the kind of treasure we are to labor for. That’s what it means to lay up treasure in heaven. And I really hope that you give this some thought and that you think about this and

that you let this motivate you to serve Christ in faithfulness as a servant, knowing that there will be rewards to come in the next age. Now look at verse 6. Paul says, I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. In essence, what Paul’s saying here is that he and Apollos don’t go around judging each other’s works, nor should the Corinthians, because to do so would be a prideful sin. It’s what he refers to as being puffed up. This is an amazing quote by John Calvin. He says, The Corinthians were giants in pride and children in faith. As if any of these Corinthians, or as if any of us for that matter, can know the motives

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Sacrifice Required

behind the works of another person. And notice that when Paul says learn not to go beyond what is written, this is a reference to us staying within the boundaries of Scripture. We need to be people who always start with the Scriptures as we begin to assess something or a situation or an issue with a person. What does God’s Word say about it? This is how we can make accurate judgments on what teachers say and when people may be spewing some sort of nonsense or false teaching that is not biblical. The Scripture is our guide to discern the truth. So let me ask you, is this where you start? Do you first seek out what the Bible says about something? Or do you just use your own judgment and your own feelings to guide you? Friends, we need to be Bible Christians. We need to be people who let the Word be our starting point.

Someone has said that the church needs far more of the sword of the Spirit than the spirit of the sword. Are you quick to hear something in a sermon and start trying to critique the preacher? Or do you ask yourself, was this faithful to the text? Was Christ preached? Was the gospel made known? If you can answer yes to those questions, you should say hallelujah. Maybe you were inconvenienced because it went an hour. You didn’t get to lunch as soon as you wanted to or it wasn’t as entertaining as you might have liked it to be. You answer those other three questions, man, you walk out, hallelujah, the gospel was known. Christ was made much of. It was faithful to the text. It was exposited from the text. Look at the first part of verse 7. For who sees anything different in you? This can actually be better said, who judges between you?

It’s rhetorical because no human can be your judge. Tony Cook tells the story of George Whitefield and how he resolved to not create any stumbling block for John Wesley and the Methodists who, like him, were preaching the gospel in the colonies in the 18th century. Cook writes the following. He says, even though they had been close friends at Oxford, they were often in sharp disagreement with each other. Wesley held strong Arminian beliefs emphasizing free will while Whitefield was a Calvinist emphasizing predestination. Both men led countless thousands to faith in Christ, but they were at odds theologically. When Wesley first began to preach against predestination, he called it blasphemy and a monstrous doctrine. Whitefield said to him, why dispute? I am willing to go with you to prison and to death, but I am not willing to oppose you. Whitefield though was later outraged when Wesley wrote an anti-predestination pamphlet

and sent it to America where Whitefield had been having great success. Even though they never came to terms over their theological differences, they eventually learned to respect each other. One of Whitefield’s followers who obviously still held great animosity against Wesley said to Whitefield, we won’t see John Wesley in heaven, will we? Whitefield humbly replied, yes, you’re right. We won’t see him in heaven. He will be so close to the throne of God and we will be so far away that we won’t be able to see him. That requires some serious humility to respond to other people’s works without any judgment knowing it is to the Lord that a person stands or falls. God alone has that place and each of us must use our own gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to us to do the works God has prepared for us. Knowing that this is His will for us and He will one day reward us for them and that

by doing good works and serving in this way, we will bring glory to the Lord Jesus for saving us. That brings us to our third section, equipped for service. Look at the second part of verse 7. What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Paul is saying here that God has given them everything. He has equipped them with the spiritual gifts they need individually to then use corporately. And this is a really good time that you can ask yourself this question as you hear this. You think to yourself, okay, am I using my gifts for service? Ask yourself this same question, what do you have that you did not receive? Because everything you have is from God specific for you. From God for you. Think about that for a minute.

I mean, this should cause us to have great humility, great thankfulness to God, worshipful hearts that He has gifted us to serve uniquely and differently. Look now at verse 8. This is a really interesting part of the chapter where Paul begins to use sarcasm against the Corinthians. He says, already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us, you have become kings and would that you did reign so that we might share the rule with you. Friends, this is biting sarcasm. I mean, he is poking at them and pushing their buttons to get their attention. Please remember how much stock the Corinthians put in their giftings. They were puffed up with how gifted they thought they were. They did not know what they did not know. They were really in great need of spiritual maturity. They didn’t realize God had already by the Holy Spirit’s sovereign choosing given them

gifts they needed to fulfill His will for them in the Christian service they were to do. But they were judging everything by worldly standards and they missed it. To see that would require humility, something they were lacking. And I think it’s, if we’re honest here, it’s something that we all lack, humility to one degree or another. I can tell you that the older I get, the more convinced I am that pride is the root of most of our sins. I see it in myself the older I get. On one hand, I am very thankful that I see it so that I can confess it and seek the Lord to help me cut it out by the roots. But on the other hand, I hate it. I hate that I’m still dealing with it to the extent that I am. Some of you may know that I lived in Bakersfield for 22 years and the soil there is amazing.

You can grow almost anything with water and a little fertilizer. In fact, that part of California, the San Joaquin Valley, is some of the most fertile farmland on this planet. It accounts for roughly one-fourth of this country’s produce and nuts. But that soil also grows some of the most prolific weeds you have ever seen. And for people who like to keep a nice turf lawn, one of the most dreaded weeds is known as nut grass, nutsedge, as it’s called in gardening books. We always called it nut grass growing up. You see, what happens is that nut grass gets into your lawn and you kind of have two choices with nut grass. You can either dig it up and it leaves holes all over your yard or you can spray an herbicide on it that is so strong it pretty much kills the rest of the grass.

Listen to what one gardening website says about nut grass. The most prolific means of nuts edge reproduction is through underground tubers known as nutlets. Most nutlets form within six to ten inches of the surface but may reach 18 inches deep. Those depths protect nutlets from the effect of many common herbicides in cold winter weather that might otherwise kill them. Nutlets may survive hidden deep in soil for 10 years before emerging to produce new nuts edge plants. When they appear, the tough sprouts can pierce through the thickest mulch and landscape fabric. You see the picture of this thing. It’s unbelievable. Pride is like nut grass. It gets deep into us. It gets deep into our heart. It has roots and it has nutlets that get down in there. And they can only be eradicated by the Holy Spirit’s divine work in our hearts. And that requires us as believers to stay vigilant against it.

You don’t ever kill it once. You have to kill it every day. And you have to learn to recognize it and ask the Holy Spirit to help you see it and to help you cut it out by the roots. And when it grows back, keep killing it. There is a really good reason why we’re told in our Bibles quite a few times that we must have an accurate and a realistic and a healthy view of ourselves. Why is that? It’s because we think way too highly of ourselves and our works, which means that in turn we think way too lowly of others and their works. Twice in Proverbs, the exact same proverb in 14.12 and 16.25 says, There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. In Proverbs 26.12, do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him. You never want to be called a fool in the Bible. Paul exhorts the Romans in 12.3, For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God has assigned. The Corinthians were just plagued with pride and an over-realized self-assessment of how gifted and good they thought they were. But Paul, being a good pastor, came at them with fatherly care and exhorted them to stop it.

So how are you doing with this pride? Do you see where pride is stoking sin in your life? Do you think too highly of yourself at the expense of constantly putting others down? What if you’re just doing that in your own heart? Listen to David, a man after God’s own heart, and how he was seeking these hidden things of his heart. He wanted to make those pure in God’s sight. He says in Psalm 119.12-14, who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Friends, recognize God has gifted us all differently. You cannot know the motives of other people, and therefore you need to be thankful for

every gift that you have. It is from God. And this should bring you to a place of humility and praise that God has equipped you for service to Him. And as for how others are doing and what they are doing, if it is not apparent sin, or wrong or illegal, leave it for the fire. God will sort it out. Cody said this last week, no one is getting away with anything. Now we come to our last section, sacrifice required. Gospel ministry is often quite difficult. It was very hard for Paul and his companions. I can tell you that it can at times be hard for the elders of this church, for the elders of every other church, and it’s hard for Christians just seeking to live faithfully for Christ in what Jesus called a perverse and crooked generation. Look at verse 9. Paul says, For I think that God has exhibited us, apostles, as last of all, like men sentenced

to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. Paul uses a word here where he says that we have become a spectacle. That word spectacle was used to describe the Roman prisoners being paraded into the amphitheater. They did this to Jesus, made a spectacle of Him. Paul says they are fools for Christ, they are weak, they are held in disrepute. He contrasts that with the Corinthians who thought they were wise and strong and honorable. One commentator says, From the Corinthians’ perspective and from the world’s perspective, the Corinthians really were wise and strong and honorable, while Paul was foolish and weak and dishonored. But God did not share such worldly perspectives.

The Corinthians’ wisdom, strength, and honor stood only according to worldly principles that God did not recognize. If the Corinthians wanted true strength, wisdom, and honor, they would have to seek it by being weak and foolish and dishonored like Paul. Now look at verse 11. To the present hour we hunger and thirst. We are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. When slandered, we entreat. We have become and are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

This is part of what is often called Paul’s catalog of suffering, along with four other passages found in 2 Corinthians. And he’s not pointing all this out to the Corinthians to get them to feel sorry for him, but rather he’s doing it to show them and to show us the upside-down nature of Christian service compared to worldly standards. He wants them to see what a life of sacrifice sometimes requires and to point out that their values are aligned with the world more than with Christ. Paul and his companions were living like their Master, Jesus. Let’s think about it for a minute. Jesus was put on display. He was sneered at. They wagged their heads at Him. Come down from the cross if you’re the Christ. They mocked Him, blasphemed Him, humiliated Him. He was constantly being put down and judged by the Jewish leaders, and He was thought

to be a fool by the Romans. What kind of king are you? Let’s close out this morning by looking at what may be, I think, the greatest words in the Old Testament about Jesus, who He is and what He has done. I’d love it if you opened your Bibles to Isaiah 53 and follow along with me. I’m going to read this slowly because I think it’s important this morning for us to drink deeply of Christ. And I think as you see some of the things that are pointed out in here about Jesus, you’re going to see a lot of overlap with Paul and his companions. I’m going to start reading in verse 2 of Isaiah 53. For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground, He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.

Not sure the Corinthians would have been all that impressed with Jesus. 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. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.

All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. And as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of My people? And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him. He has put Him to grief when His soul makes an offering for guilt.

He shall see His offspring. He shall prolong His days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied. By His knowledge shall the Righteous One, My Servant, make many, many to be accounted righteous. He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide Him a portion with the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. And He bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. This is who Paul was imitating. And this is who we at some level must imitate as well. We are to be like our Lord. Isaiah 53 lays out in great detail who Jesus Christ is and what He has joyfully and obediently done for you. He suffered horrifically in your place to the point of death to forgive your sins and

to save you from God and His wrath. He has given you His righteousness because we have none. This is what it means to be justified. We have His righteousness. And He has made the way for you to have eternal life by defeating death in His resurrection. Are you here this morning and can you say that you indeed know this Jesus and that you have put your faith in Him for the forgiveness of your sins and to receive eternal life? If you answer yes to that question, hallelujah, praise the Lord, I’m so glad. If you struggle to answer that question this morning or you answer no to that question, let me urge you in the strongest possible way I know how, you must turn away from your sin. You must turn to Christ. You need a Savior and there is only one, Jesus Christ. We’ll be here after the service if you have questions about any of this.

I’d be more than happy to have a discussion with you about what it means to become a Christian. Maybe you do know Jesus and you find yourself a little more like the Corinthians than you’d like to be. You’re struggling with being judgmental. You’re realizing you’ve got issues with pride or you’re aligning yourself more with the world than with Christ. This is a good thing to learn about yourself if you’re struggling with this because it means that you can go to Jesus right now and you can confess this, you can repent of this, you can tell Him your struggles in this area and He will not only forgive you, but He will by His Holy Spirit help you change. We heard this last week, all things are yours. All things are yours. We see it today. What do you have that you did not receive? God has given you everything to live for Christ and to do that faithfully requires servanthood,

stewardship and sacrifice for which God will equip and whose results God alone will assess and reward. Ray Steadman says the following about the gifts of God and how we’ve been empowered. He says this, he says, it gives me confidence without conceit. You see, I have a sense of being able to cope, of being able to handle life and yet I know I don’t deserve this gift of grace. I have it. Therefore I can’t be conceited about it, but I can be confident in it. I remind myself that I am part of the plan of God, that God is working out all things to a great and final purpose in the earth and I’m part of that. Whatever I do today has purpose and significance and meaning, even the smallest, most apparently insignificant word or relationship is involved in that great plan. Therefore it has meaning and purpose.

So friends, may you use all things that are yours and use everything you have received from Christ to serve Him, remembering that there will be rewards in heaven for these things that you have done for Christ, even though right now they may seem insignificant. Every time you make a decision to do what is right, every time you make a decision to live in obedience to God, He is pleased and you are storing up treasure in heaven. And friends, let God be the judge. Let God be the judge. He alone has the knowledge of what people do and why they do it and He will test and reveal all things in His time. Let’s pray.