1 Corinthians 4

To read this text CLICK HERE

I Corinthians 4:4-13, Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you!  For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. 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 strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!  To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.

You have to love the apostle Paul's sarcasm! He has really had it with the Corinthian church's arrogance.  You see, they think they are mature, healthy, and effective.  They think they have arrived.  But Paul is making it quite clear: No, you have not!  Why? Because they are worldly in their thinking, they are full of themselves, they have no desire to make sacrifices or suffer.  They are comfortable, concerned more about status, popularity, and reputation than about serving Jesus.  Paul makes this interesting argument that a servant is not greater than his master.  The Corinthians clearly think they are better. 

Jesus said in Matthew 16:25, "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."  Part of the Christian experience is giving up one's life, one's wants, one's desires, and even one's comfort, basically the things of this world, in exchange for the things of Jesus. What things of this world might you still be holding onto?  If you were to be brutally honest with yourself, can you relate to the Corinthians?  Spend some time in prayer about this today.  How might God be speaking to you through this chapter today?

Let's pray...Lord Jesus, How I often forget that there is simply an audience of one.  God, help me be fully and totally devoted to you.  The things of the world are temporal but you are eternal; reveal to me the things of the world that I have yet to submit to you.  More of you, less of me.  Amen.