Judgment Loosens Its Grip

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[0:00] So one of my roommates and I have a weekly tradition. We really love to watch television shows together, but it's got to be a specific kind and almost always, it's one of those detective shows, which is a little bit of a problem for us because I have this pathological need to know the ending before it's time. And for some ridiculous reason, my roommate always seems to like to watch the beginning first.

[0:34] So in order to keep my mind, which is by nature impatient, in order to keep my mind satisfied, I like to make predictions all throughout the entire show about what's going to happen along the plot line. And of course, I have this personal challenge that by halfway through the show, I have to make predictions and I have to know the whodunit.

[0:59] So we have this system where I text her all of my predictions so that I don't blow the ending for her inadvertently. But all that to say is these detective shows all have this simple formula and that's probably why we choose to watch them. And they make my predicting so easy because no matter what detective series we watch, there's a formula that kind of, covers all of them. And one formula that I'm convinced exists in all of these detective series is that at some point in every one of them, there is a show that has a plot where the main character gets really, really emotionally involved in the case and he knows or she knows with certainty exactly who the culprit was. And they get so emotionally involved that they, they obsess over this culprit. And they hound that person and they scrutinize every single thing that that suspect does because they're searching for their wrongdoing. They're searching for evidence that says they've done it.

[2:15] And then they watch that person's every move. Of course, on TV, in the end, that usually is the bad guy because that follows the formula. And the audience feels this vindication because that scummy bad guy, well, scummy bad guys deserve to be judged.

[2:37] And they feel vindication because the good guy, the main character, has solved another case yet again. And this main character undoubtedly is the best that this force has to offer and they've solved millions of cases and they're just this great person. And even though they always seem to have some sort of troubled past and even though they always seem to make some kind of mistake, their mistakes are justified because when they make a mistake, they say but they're upholding the law. And I wish that wasn't as close to real life as it truly is, but oftentimes we are our own. Good guy. And at some point in our lives, we have justified ourselves while casting judgment on somebody else.

[3:38] And sometimes, sometimes we've done it just as intensely as that detective on TV who's following that culprit he knows is responsible. So here's some more real life for you. And just a couple months, we're going to be voting for a new president.

[4:01] As far as I can remember, campaigns have some kind of unofficial requirement where the opposing sides search through their opponent's history with a fine-tooth comb and they try to discredit the other. They search relentlessly because they have this need for the other guy to have done something wrong. Okay.

[4:56] So if you look for some for some for some for some for some for some comb, like somebody is looking at you under a microscope, just waiting to find that one thing you've done wrong that they can judge you over. Of course, God is able to do this kind of scrutiny. He's allowed this kind of judgment because he knows all. He knows every part of us. He knows how every person fits together into the eternal mystery that is his kingdom.

[5:30] It is good when God judges. It is less good when other people judge, and it's much less good when other people judge with that intense kind of scrutiny that we were talking about just now. And the question I have for you this morning, or questions, is where do you find the most important things in your life? Where do you experience that kind of scrutinizing judgment in your own life?

[5:59] When have you felt judged or scrutinized by somebody else? And how did you measure up to their expectations? And how did that make you feel? And of course, it's only fair to turn the tables. Have you judged somebody else?

[6:26] Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason? Have you heard them judge you for some reason?

[6:48] Have you heard them judge you for some reason? too hard on yourself and maybe there's been a time when you've been far too lenient on yourself but you have judged others others have judged you and you have judged yourself now the question is what do we do about this we are human and like it or not we do have a tendency toward at least some degree of self-centeredness and that degree of self-centeredness clouds our judgments of ourselves and of others in fact that tendency even fuels our judgment of ourselves and others our passage today continues on in our journey of first corinthians our divided factions of christianity and of christianity for some others others others others others others others others others are running rampant in this community?

[8:12] Well, it's because of all these underlying beliefs of self arrogance and self importance that lead to judgment festering in the community. And those, the arrogance and the judgment, those are also symptoms.

[8:31] They're causes of the symptoms of immorality and of disunity, but they are symptoms of another cause. And that is this misguided understanding of identity of who we are in Christ. And also a misguided understanding of what the gospel truly is.

[8:54] Now, who is it that our Corinthian community is judging? Well, I think perhaps it's a little bit of everybody. Everybody is judging. Everybody is judging everybody else because everybody thinks that they are the best, that they are the authority.

[9:11] But in this particular passage, it's Paul whom they've placed under this deeply scrutinizing microscope. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 4. This morning we'll read up through verse 13. We'll see that Paul is placed under this microscope, and we'll see his response to the community.

[9:41] 1 Corinthians 4. This then is how you ought to regard us, as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now, it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

[10:02] I care very little. I do not care if I am judged by you or by any human court. Indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear. But that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in the darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.

[10:32] At that time, wait until the Lord comes. And then, when the Lord comes, each will receive their praise from God. Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, do not go beyond what is written. Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.

[10:58] For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you cannot do? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? Already you have what you want. Already you have become rich.

[11:20] You've begun to reign. And that without us. How I wish you had really begun to reign so that we might also reign with you. For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of a procession, like those condemned to die in the arena.

[11:43] We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are so strong. You are honored. We are dishonored. You are great for you for you for for you you for for you for you for you for you for for for for for for for for for Our God, we thank you for your word. We ask your blessing upon it. May we receive your word to us. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[12:53] So there's some sarcasm here, and Paul has to do a careful little dance. It's funny because a little later in the same chapter, it seems that the Corinthians are saying that Paul is not a very good speaker, certainly not as well spoken as he is written, but I have always really loved, sometimes been amused, but almost always stunned by Paul's way with words, and this is no different. Paul chooses every word so carefully.

[13:30] Even in that very sarcastic passage at the end, I'm a little amused, but I'm also stunned at the absolute truth behind it. Here, in this passage, Paul has to do this careful little dance. He's been leading up to it in the first three chapters. First, he must demonstrate his own humility, because this is a church who is so arrogant, they are very arrogant. They are fighting constantly over who is right and who has the authority and who's the best. And so up until this point, he's had to demonstrate his humility, because they're not going to listen to him if he's just another voice claiming authority.

[14:17] Beyond that, he has to demonstrate humility, because he is, in fact, a humble servant. It's not an error he's putting on. He demonstrates humility because that's what is important. But the problem is, then, he must also demonstrate his authority.

[14:35] And both, of course, are true elements of his identity in Christ and within the church, but it's this very delicate balance. He didn't establish his authority first. And maybe that's how these Corinthian leaders, these Corinthian voices, would have wanted him to do this. And maybe if he had established his authority first, people would have disregarded him.

[15:07] But either way, that's how he would have started, is with his humility. He would have started with his humility, whether they listened to him or not, because that is what's important. They were all trying to boast, and he needed to show them that it's always humility first.

[15:30] Because that is who we are first in Christ. Didn't Jesus himself say that the first should be last and the last should be first? And didn't Jesus himself humble himself before he was raised to glory? As Christians, we will be crowned, but first and foremost, we are humbled before God, and we live in humble service. We are humble before God. We are humble toward Christ and his children. And so first and foremost, Paul says, I am humble and you ought to be humble too.

[16:10] So Paul's first move in this dance of this passage was to say, I can't boast. In fact, I'm lowly, and not just lowly, I am a servant. And now this I find fun. I said I really like Paul's carefully chosen words always, and this is one of those cases. There are several words for servant. And in verse 1, Paul used a very special word. Most places in the Bible would not have used this word. Most places in the Bible would use diakonos or dolos for servant. And so it stands out here. When Paul is very specific about the word hyperetes, which was an ancient Greek title. And so I want you to think of this image.

[17:09] This word stemmed from a word which originally referred to somebody who was on a vessel rowing and rowing. And they weren't rowing by themselves. They were in the bottom of this vessel. Rowing with tons and tons of other rowers. It was sweaty and dirty and gross and hard work. And they weren't even able to take the credit for all the hard work because they were among this throng of other rowers.

[17:44] Paul is a servant. And not just a servant, but one of many. And they're all working equally hard. Now later this word was broadened to apply to an entire body of people who performed service in a vessel.

[18:06] So here is Paul among the grime and the grit, working hard and not in a fun way. Amongst a whole throng of other servants, each doing their own part. They are not the ones who determine the direction of the vessel. It's God who is the one who determines the direction of the vessel. They just follow these orders and row. And it's together that they row this vessel into the right place.

[18:37] Paul is calling the Corinthians to be a body together who serves God above. And he puts himself among them. First he humbles himself and he says, I am not above you. I am a servant with you. And we are not all rowing in a different direction. We are all rowing in the same direction, or at least we ought to be. Rowing in the same direction, all of us together, working to move this vessel in the direction that God the master has chosen for it to go.

[19:17] We're in this together. We're in this together. Join me in humility as a servant that we might direct this vessel to the right place. We as rowers, maybe we think we're the best rower in the vessel. But at the end of the day, we don't direct where it goes because we can't. That would be disastrous. We can't see where we're going. We don't have the master plan. God alone does. God knows every person throughout all of history. God knows every person in the future. God knows how these intricate puzzle pieces work together. God knows the mystery that is the kingdom. The mystery that Paul refers to here in this passage. God alone knows the mysteries of God and he can reveal some of them to people. But that's still just a small glimpse. And so we must row together in the way that we are directed.

[20:36] Now, though he first illustrated himself as just one humble servant in a vast crowd of other humble servants, Paul and the apostles really did have a special role in the church. In fact, it was a role given with the very authority of Christ.

[21:00] To lead the people and to handle that little piece of the mystery of God that God had revealed to them. And to do so with the utmost care and the utmost import. So Paul gave a special role to the people. And Paul gave a second illustration of servitude. Which was the word oikonomos, or steward.

[21:25] A steward was entrusted with a very special role. We might think of somebody who is put in charge of an entire household. While any servant would have to be subordinate to his master, a servant could be important in their own service. In their own right. For instance, think of the servants of a king. They include military officers. They include counselors and administrators and ambassadors.

[22:01] If a king were to send such a person to do something, well, they'd be a servant of sorts. And that king would straight up expect people to give that servant their full cooperation. And they would straight up expect the people to respond to the servant as though that person were acting with direct authority of the king himself.

[22:30] If the people did not recognize the king's authority through such a servant, the king would regard it as an insult not just to his servant, but to he himself. Is it hypocritical here that Paul is spending this entire passage trying to teach the Corinthians to stop being so arrogant? Trying to tell them that their arrogance is causing disunity amongst themselves and even amongst the body of Christ.

[23:06] But then presenting himself as the steward? Actually, not at all. Because Paul knows that his identity is in Christ. He's anchored on the word. He has been affirmed by others in the body of Christ in his calling.

[23:28] He's been affirmed by other apostles. He has discerned this path through prayer and through godly contemplation. It does not bring him bragging rights or glory. In fact, in it, in many ways, this is a calling that leads to a dangerous and difficult and frustrating path. A lonely path. We can see it from the way the Corinthians are bad-mouthing him. No one would choose that.

[24:02] And he did not choose the spot of honor for the sake of being in a spot of honor. Instead, he chose to follow the direction of the master who sent him, even when that brought trial and pain. Because God has granted him the authority. And authority is necessary. Because the people need leaders.

[24:32] Maybe we don't want to admit that. Maybe we want to say we'd be great if we all led ourselves. But that's not, that's not ever going to lead to unity, unfortunately. Just look at Corinth to see why. The only thing the Corinthians seemed to be unified in was their disobedience.

[24:57] And that's hardly true unity. They needed somebody to oversee the servants and the household to make sure that house didn't descend into ruin. Now remember how we said that politicians are always under extreme scrutiny? Well, so are the leaders of the church in Corinth.

[25:23] Everybody wanted to be in charge. So some were bad-mouthing Paul and some were bad-mouthing Apollos. And they were looking for a reason to discredit them, to discredit Paul. So he couldn't win the slot of being in charge.

[25:43] Imagine a household full of servants. And in the most desirable spot is the steward. And the servants all want that top position because it gives them some sort of power. Or at the very least, they want somebody in that position that will somehow benefit them. So they gossip and they sabotage and they judge. And they do those things because they believe that they are the best and they believe that their interests are the most important. They throw insults at the steward. They complain about the duties which he sets for them. They complain about how he runs the house. But at the end of the day, the master has set those rules not the steward. The steward is simply carrying out the master's wishes.

[26:47] As long as the steward is working in such a way that keeps the master happy, then nothing else matters. The other servants can speak bad about the steward, but the steward sees, or the master sees that the steward is not happy. He is working for his wishes and for his benefit. And so he's happy. And because the steward does not answer to the other servants, he doesn't run the household even as if it were his own. He answers only to the master and no other opinions matter.

[27:30] And so Paul did not fear this scrutiny or the judgments of the Corinthians. He had worked for God. And as such, he tried his very best to keep his conscience clean before God and before God's people. So even if he had maybe inadvertently made a mistake with which the Corinthians could come and charge him or take umbrage over, Paul's conscience and heart were righteous before God.

[28:11] Not by anything he had done or earned, not because of his place of power, not because he was a church leader, but simply because of the grace of God. It was God's saving grace which is unfathomably greater than our mistakes and our sins. Paul, living into the grace of Christ, would be judged righteous by the only judge who ever has any right to truly judge.

[28:53] So arrogance and false judgment were destroying the unity of the church at Corinth. They couldn't work toward the common goal of the kingdom because they were too busy trying to prove their own individual worth and carry out their own agendas. And each person wanted to be their own master. Each person knew that they knew best. And all this ridiculousness stemmed from a grossly misinformed understanding of their own identity that is rooted in a grossly misinformed understanding of the gospel and of Christ.

[29:35] So we get into some really sarcastic verses here where Paul is talking about how the Corinthians seemed to already have their glory and their crowns. Well, there's a point to all of this sarcasm. Corinth wasn't a notoriously material rich area.

[29:58] They had assumed, that they already had their heavenly crowns. This comes from this misunderstanding of the gospel. They had assumed that the coming of the kingdom had already arrived in its entirety. And they had made it, so to speak. They felt that they had the right to arrogance because they were among those who had already arrived at salvation and their race was run, and they were done. And so they could maybe lord over others how to become righteous.

[30:42] And so they viewed themselves as kings and queens of sorts. Their identities in Christ needed an overhaul. This is why the body of Christ needs many people, and some of them leaders, because on our own, our individual theology and understanding gets all messed up. We need each other to kind of keep each other in check. We need each other to discern the will of God. We can't do that all on our own.

[31:17] And therefore, since their understanding of the gospel was skewed, their identity was skewed too. They built their identity on this false understanding that they had made it. And that they had received salvation. And that they could help to bestow it on others.

[31:37] It's why they felt so justified in their arrogance and ultimately why they were able to descend into disobedience. They needed to know that the kingdom of heaven had been established, but in fact is still coming, is still being built and prepared. They needed to know that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, we enter as servants because we have been gifted salvation.

[32:10] They needed to know that they were on a journey, a continuing journey of self-growth and community growth that would take a lifetime, that takes a lifetime for each of us. We need to know and be reminded of these things. From time to time. The crown comes as an inseparable package deal with the identity of being a joyful and humble servant to Christ. And what's funny is that this servanthood is actually incredibly freeing. Just as God has always intended it to be. Because God is omniscient. He knows the best way to direct the ship that will bring the best of all things to all people and glory to his kingdom. Whereas we only know what plays out right in front of us in our own time. In fact, often, we don't even know what's best for ourselves.

[33:16] We may be servants, but we serve a loving master who has our best interests in mind. And he loves us deeply. And his work for us is to revel in what he made us to be. Freeing ourselves from this arrogance not only helps us to have unity within the body, but it frees us from the judgment of the world and the judgment of ourselves.

[33:44] And it is so freeing. Free from the pressure of having the weight of having to keep people in line. We don't get to judge people and that's freeing. Because we don't have to call the shots. Because we don't have to be responsible for making the whole world right.

[34:06] It is so freeing to not have to be the judge. Because we don't have to be the judge of ourselves. Because other people don't have to judge us. We are free to be made righteous in the gift of Christ. We are free to be the salvation for us. And we are free to just be who God created us to be.

[34:37] So think of this. Who can judge the steward's work? Only the master. Are you a steward? Have you ever felt ill-equipped? Well, guess what? That doesn't count. Only God's opinion of you and of your work for the kingdom counts.

[35:02] Do you feel pressured to conform to the world around you sometimes? Or do you feel like maybe you'll be a disappointment to others or like maybe others might judge you? Well, guess what? That doesn't count. You have the authority from the master to make the choices that will please him. You don't have to feel pressured to conform. You have the freedom to be who God created you to be. And how about the flip side of that coin? Do you struggle to take direction or advice or correction from somebody who might be a leader in the body? Think through where their authority comes from and whether they are giving that advice under the direction of the master. Because if you can discern that they are a good and honest leader for Christ, then sometimes taking that direction is equally freeing because that direction comes from the voice of God.

[36:10] So here's what we'll leave you on. You are free to do this. Receive the power and authority, not of humans judging, not of your own judgment, but the power and authority of the Spirit by living humble in this world before Christ. Be the servant that God has prepared and created you to be, dedicated to the service of the kingdom and yet wholly free in the gift of his grace.