Greg Robinson - God Hath Made Foolish the Wisdom of this World - Class 5 - He that Judgeth me is the Lord

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1. 0:03

   This is Washan Lake Bible School 2022. This is our third class of the evening by our brother Greg Robinson. His overall theme is God hath made foolishness the wisdom of this world. Our reading has been First Corinthians chapter 4. This is class 5 entitled He that judges me is the Lord. Brother Greg, please. Brother Jason.

2. 0:29

   Good morning my dear brothers and sisters. What is that? OK, good morning, my dear brothers and sisters. OK, much, much better. All right. Yesterday we looked at how important it was to work in the ecclesia, and I think Paul made it very clear to us with a couple of really important examples for us of that. Paul used the example of the field to show us that we need to be sure that we are actually doing the work that we needed to each individually be making sure that we are, that we’re doing our job of planting and watering. He reminded us that God is working next to us in that field.

3. 1:11

   And he reminded us that God owns the field. It’s his field that we’re working in. And then Paul compared the ecclesia to a building, and he said that we need to make sure that when we’re building on the foundation of Christ, that what we build has to be compatible with Christ, because Christ is that foundation.

4. 1:31

   And then he ended. The chapter with with what I think is a really wonderful verse for us to look at or a couple of verses. He says for all things are yours. So everything that God has done and God is doing from the creation of the world, he says is ours. It’s for the purpose of bringing people to be the sons of God. He says whether Paul or a Paulus or Cephas. So all teachers, as her brother Simon said this morning, they’re all servants.

5. 1:57

   They’re all working to do this work or the world itself or life or death or things present or things to come. All are yours and you’re Christ’s and Christ is God’s. So showing us that important role that we have brothers and sisters of helping each other to do that work and to help each other because we’re also servants in part of this equation that he’s that he’s just described for us.

6. 2:25

   So that kind of brings us to today’s class and today’s class on chapter 4, Paul shows us the role of an apostle and he does it several different ways and I think you’ll find them all very helpful. He shows us that apostles role, the role of an apostle, is not one of prestige, it’s not one of power, but it is one of a servant.

7. 2:49

   And Paul works to show the leaders of the ecclesia that they, at this point in time, many of them were out of line because they were looking instead to, to use their human wisdom and their eloquence to become popular. They had followers that admired them and they had become, they had formed factions in the ecclesia, factions that these leaders were ruling over. And Paul’s answer to them is a simple one. If you would just become servants, like an apostle is supposed to be, these problems would take care of themselves. So Paul speaks to them about this, and he emphasizes the point that we all need to be servants. Now, Paul did have a special authority, was the other thing that we noticed in yesterday’s study. And Paul had been appointed directly by Christ to do what he was doing.

8. 3:44

   So we don’t have that kind of a situation today where anybody is appointed specifically by Christ. We’re all servants, and we’re all servants to our brothers and sisters. And in our ecclesias we have what are called serving brethren, people that were chosen by the ecclesia to serve the ecclesia. And I just like to read just a little quote out of the ecclesial guide that I think helps to keep things in perspective for all of us. The ecclesial guide says that brethren holding offices among us shall be described as serving brethren, and that the denomination of each particular office shall have brother or brethren associated with it for the sake of preserving the family character of our assembly in harmony with the mind of Christ.

9. 4:34

   And I think, I think this comes right from the study that we’re doing here, First Corinthians, right from the ideas of Paul. And it is important for us in the Ecclesia to make sure we keep. This in mind because. We’re going to be looking at the role that Paul had as an apostle, and it was a special position that he was in.

10. 4:53

    So we’re servants of each other. So let’s jump in then to Chapter 4. With this in mind. So Paul starts out verse 1. He says let a man sow account of us. And when he says us, he’s talking here about apostles, he’s talking about the apostles that were responsible for the brothers and sisters in the different eccleses. He says, Let a man so account of us, the apostles, as ministers of Christ.

11. 5:21

    And. When you think about what an apostle is, he says, I want you to think about them being ministers. And the word that he uses here, I think is, is, is exceptionally good for helping us to see where we ought to be and what kind of a role an apostle has and, and also what kind of a role we have by extension and doing the work of teaching. So he says, I want you to be ministers of Christ. This word minister means a servant, but it’s not just any servant that he’s talking about here. The word servant here actually means an under rower of a ship. So someone who’s down in the bottom of the ship and that’s what Paul says.

12. 6:08

    He says apostles then are under rowers in a ship. Now that sounds great, but I’m show you a picture here that really puts it in perspective, at least it did for me to, to understand where we really are in this hierarchy. So there’s a picture of where we are now. Which, which people do you think we are?

13. 6:30

    Which people do you think the apostles were on here? The other ones down underneath the deck, they’re the ones that have these little holes where their paddle sticks out and they’re able to then move their paddle and to row the ship forward. They’re following directions. They’re working all the time. Working. It’s Christ’s ship, isn’t it? He’s the one that determines the course. Thank goodness for that.

14. 7:00

    I think the apostles then are responsible to Christ, and Christ is the captain. Of the ship. So apostles then are under rowers, and I think that gives us a lot of perspective. It puts us in our place as well. For if the apostles are under rowers, if Paul was an under rower like this, then we must be under rowers as well.

15. 7:24

    We must be still. We must be like him under the deck, rowing in the direction that Christ has shown us. So the leaders of Corinth that were causing the problems in the Ecclesia, we’re acting as if they were up on the deck, that maybe they were deck captains themselves. And you can imagine the ship with three or four or five or how many of her factions and and leaders there were up on top of the deck. And you can imagine them all trying to to lead the direction of where the ship was going to go. At any given.

16. 7:53

    Time wouldn’t work, would it Wouldn’t work. You have to have one master, and we have a master and that masters. The Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul’s hoping then that they’ll get the point. It doesn’t matter how eloquent your talk is, no matter how many friends you have, if you’re not an under rower and you’re on the wrong deck, get back down to being an under rower.

17. 8:18

    It makes it clear to us, doesn’t it, that the apostles were servants and so are we. So he says they need to be under rowers. He says they need to be stewards, and the word steward here is one who rules a house is what that means. So they’re untrusted. Then a steward was, as the word means, is a person who’s entrusted to manage a house. I want you to take special note of that. They were managers of a house.

18. 8:53

    Note that because it’s going to be important in just a minute. So these apostles are servants and they’re a part of Christ’s house, and they’re managing something that’s very, very valuable for Christ. And what is it that they’re managing? They’re managing the mysteries of God. We ran into this in first Corinthians 2, verse 7. The mysteries of God are the truths that were once hidden but have now been revealed.

19. 9:20

    So the apostles have been given something, they’ve been entrusted with something that they have a responsibility to share and to preach to the whole world. So the apostles here, and especially Paul, had a responsibility to Christ because they were servants in his house. They were servants who were managing the mysteries of God.

20. 9:44

    The point that Paul makes is that the apostles were not working for status. They’re under rowers and they’ve got a job to do, and that’s to manage the mysteries of God.

21. 9:57

    And then in verse 2, he throws another word at us that gets us really thinking. He says, moreover, it is required of these stewards, these these servants of the house that they be found faithful servants in the House of Christ have got to be faithful with the mysteries of God. So the message that they teach has got to be consistent with the message that they received.

22. 10:23

    They don’t get to change it. They have to be faithfully communicating the message that they’ve been given, and those messages have to be protected and they have to be delivered. We put these two first 2 verses and some of these words together. And an echo, I think, comes to our minds when we think about it.

23. 10:41

    The apostles were servants who were faithful in the House of Christ. And what do we realize when we hear those words together? Faithful servants. In the house. Don’t we think about Moses? Isn’t that what’s said about Moses? Numbers chapter 12 and verse 7. It says that God’s servant Moses was faithful in all his house, so that the message that God gave to Moses, Moses faithfully communicated to Israel.

24. 11:21

    Come over to Numbers chapter 12 and verse 1. So #7 verse 7 is where we have Moses being faithful in all his houses as a servant. Numbers chapter 12, verse one gives us some some context for why that statement was made. And I think it gives us some context about what Paul is trying to say here about the relationship that Paul has with the Lord Jesus. Christ.

25. 11:48

    So Numbers chapter 12, verse one, this is a chapter about Miriam and Aaron actually speaking out against Moses. So I think you already see that the similarities to what’s happening in Corinth. So Numbers chapter 12, verse one, it says, and Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So there’s different ideas as to what that means that he married an Ethiopian woman.

26. 12:22

    I don’t think that’s particularly relevant to what we’re looking at right now. Let’s just say that Miriam and Aaron had a problem with what Moses had done in marrying this Ethiopian woman. But the point is that Moses, sorry, Miriam and Aaron spoke out against Moses because of this. They spoke out against him, and they said, Hath Yahweh indeed spoken only by Moses?

27. 12:54

    Hath he not also spoken by us? They said God spoken by us too. Miriam was a prophetess and Aaron was a priest, so God had spoken by them. That was true, and they said, so since God has spoken by us, shouldn’t Moses listen to us and do what we think that he should do, or do what we say that he should do here? So Miriam and Aaron spoke out against what Moses was doing and about his authority here.

28. 13:27

    They said we’re just like Moses and we know what happened, don’t we? The Lord heard it. In verse three we get the divine. Commentary What does God think about what what their complaint? Was God says. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.

29. 13:57

    That’s unexpected. That’s not what we’d expect to to read there, but that’s God’s comment about Moses. It’s like when you read that, you think, how could they be saying something against Moses if he is this, this meek man, as God says, the meekest man that was on the the face of the earth and then caught God calls Moses and Aaron and Miriam to the Tabernacle. We come down to verse 6 and God says, hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I, Yahweh will make myself known unto him in a vision and I’ll speak to him in a dream. So that’s how I communicate with people. As we’re going through this, I want you to be thinking about what, what might have been happening in Corinth, because didn’t the brothers in Corinth, didn’t the brothers and some of the sisters have the, the, the gifts of the Spirit in Corinth? Wasn’t that also the case there?

30. 14:57

    And it’s likely that some of these teachers had those gifts as well. And so that their charges against Paul might be the same or very similar to what the charges were against Moses. Verse 7, he says, but my servant Moses is not so who is faithful in mine house? My servant who’s faithful in my house.

31. 15:24

    He says with him will I speak mouth to mouth. I speak to Moses directly. Even apparently he says here that means with clarity. So when I talk to Moses I speak with clarity to him. I speak directly to him, not in not in visions or in dreams and not in dark speeches or in or in riddles. He says, here are we catching the illusion that Paul’s making here?

32. 15:51

    So he’s telling us that God had this direct channel of communication with Moses. It wasn’t like the communication with, with with the other prophets. And then he goes on, and he says, and the similitude or the likeness of Yahweh, shall he or shall Moses behold? So Moses saw the likeness of God, didn’t he?

33. 16:12

    He saw the glory of God. And then the power of Paul’s illusion goes even further. He says, Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

34. 16:26

    You feel the power if, if they’d made the connection, the brothers and sisters that were the problem in Corinth, Do you feel the power of what he’s saying here? Miriam and Aaron were not afraid to speak out against Moses. But they should have been. And there were some in Corinth that spoke out against Paul, but Paul had a special channel of communication with Christ to communicate the message of Christ to the brothers and sisters.

35. 16:56

    Paul’s telling us that, isn’t he? Paul’s explaining to them in a meek way, I think that he had a message. He was a messenger of the gospel of Christ and that he was a direct messenger. To the Lord Jesus Christ, those in Corinth and who are elevating their own importance and questioning Paul’s relationship with Christ were just like Miriam and like Aaron.

36. 17:23

    Let’s put the pieces together of this. So he says. Moreover, it’s required and stewards that a man be found faithful. We made the connection there. Moses was a servant who was faithful in all God’s house and we had those 3 keywords. We had servant, faithful, and house. Moses has this special relationship with God.

37. 17:53

    God spoke directly to him and Moses had seen God’s likeness. Paul had a special relationship with Christ. He’d spoken directly with Christ and he’d seen Christ likeness, hadn’t he? So what were the implications? Moses was under attack from Aaron and Miriam, who were asserting their authority. And Paul, we believe, was under attack from the leaders of Corinth, who were also asserting their authority. And those who were criticizing Moses were actually criticizing God in the same way those that were criticizing Paul were actually criticizing Christ.

38. 18:42

    The power there, I think is, is remarkable for us. All right, let’s go back to First Corinthians chapter 4 with this idea in mind. And we see this special relationship that Paul has with Christ and the special responsibility that he has in delivering the message as a steward because he is definitely the faithful servant in Christ’s house. And so he says in verse three, he says, but with me it’s a very small thing that I should be judged of you. Or of man’s judgment while saying, look, you’re saying negative things about me, you’re trying to discredit me. I’m being judged by the factions in Corinth. But that’s that’s really a small thing. It’s not important.

39. 19:33

    It wasn’t important to Paul how he was viewed by them because their judgment was based on man’s wisdom, just like it wasn’t important to Moses. It was really what his Lord thought That was what was important. That’s what mattered. So in verse four, he says, for I know nothing by myself. He’s he’s, he’s explaining the truth here. My judgement of myself is not reliable. I I find that when I judge myself, I cut myself slack. I could justify just about anything that I do. You ever experienced that, right? If we do, we do something wrong.

40. 20:16

    We can. We can justify it if someone else does the same thing. Wow. Can’t believe that you did that, Paul, saying, yeah, I find that I’m just just not reliable in judging myself because I can do this, because I can justify myself. So he says. Yet I’m not hereby justified. So just because I justify myself, he says, that doesn’t mean that I’m righteous. That doesn’t mean that I’m justified, he says. Because I do have a judge.

41. 20:48

    He that judgeth me is my master. He that judgeth me is the Lord, he says. And it would be up to Christ if he was a faithful servant in his house or not. And it would be up to Christ if the others were faithful servants in Christ’s house or not. So. It’s a key point, I think, to understanding the relationship. Paul also goes on to say, don’t try to judge other people’s motives for us.

42. 21:15

    Don’t try to think about what someone else is thinking because you’ll most likely be wrong When you when you try to put together all the motives for someone else’s actions and you kind of stack them up and you work out why they’ve done what they’ve done and you’re ready to go and you’re ready to go have a conversation about them and to and to tell them the mistakes that they’ve made based upon your your judgment of their motives, you’re most likely going to be wrong.

43. 21:41

    I think we’ve probably all experienced that, haven’t we? He says don’t let that become a source of strife because it can be so damaging. And he clarifies all that in in verse five. He says, therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come. So to the self appointed leaders, Paul says since man’s judgment isn’t reliable, it’s best if we let Christ judge and when Christ comes he will judge. He says they both bring both to light. Sorry.

44. 22:13

    Both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, so the things that no one knows about, and to make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then she’ll every man have praise of God, so their motives will will be exposed. He says let Christ be the one who judges the motives of others. That’s what Aaron and Miriam should have done. And that’s what we should do also. Well, then Paul shifts gears a little bit. And we talked about this verse 6 already. Paul’s trying to to work with the people in the ecclesia that had this issue with elevating themselves and maybe trying to fill that void that they thought Paul had left in what the truth was all about.

45. 22:59

    And we talked about the fact in in chapter 1 that that Paul was using the names of Paul, Apollos, Cephas and of Christ in place of the people that he was actually speaking about. You remember Paul saying that? And so here he’s saying, just to make sure that, you know, just to make sure that you’re clear on this, I, you need to know that I’ve been using my name and Apollos’s name to show the factions that were in the ecclesia. I have in a figure, he says.

46. 23:30

    Transferred to myself and to Apollos those names. For your sake. So I’ve used my name and Apollos’s name in place of the others. He didn’t literally mean that it was Paul, Apollos, Peter in Christ. So why wouldn’t he want to mention their names? I’ve had actually a few people come up and suggest that to me that it would have been, it would have been more like Paul to actually come up and say it was brother this, brother this, brother this and brother this that were actually the issues and to put that in the letter.

47. 24:02

    Why might he have have? Chosen not to do that and to do this instead and to use these other names instead of referring to them directly. It’s almost like the the idea behind Matthew 18, isn’t it? Where you go to a brother personally and you speak to them directly so that it doesn’t become an issue. That’s then in front of everybody. It increases the odds of them being able to solve the problem if we don’t embarrass them in front of everybody. Now, there’s times when that needs to happen and there needs to be that correction that’s that’s very public. But there’s also times when when correction needs to be done privately.

48. 24:37

    And I think that’s what Paul’s doing here. He’s using these names because he doesn’t want to, to, to burn the bridge of the opportunity of trying to help them out. And I think that’s the mark really of a true apostle working for what’s the best for the people trying to to help them.

49. 24:54

    To get to a place where they would be able to, to make corrections to what they were doing. And so that’s what he says next. He says that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

50. 25:11

    He’s saying it’s all about helping the leaders to learn that they are not higher than others. And that’s why I think he goes through that comparison with Moses to show them the position that they really were in and and to show them how how problematic that thinking was for for Miriam and Aaron and how they were probably heading down the same Rd. Verse 7.

51. 25:36

    Then he says, for who maketh thee to differ from another? And what has thou that thou didst not receive? Now thou didst receive it. Why does thou glory as if thou has not received it? So what is he talking about here? So maybe one of us has a photographic memory. I wish that was me, but maybe someone does have a photographic memory.

52. 26:08

    Where did you get the skill? Got it from God. So should you glory in the skill of of having that that memory. What about a super logical thinker, someone that could figure things out all really quickly and really easily? Is that to your glory? No, it’s, it’s, it’s to God’s glory, right? Because God’s the one who gave it to you. Maybe understanding, maybe a great writer, They’re all the same.

53. 26:32

    So in Corinth there were some that were boasting about the spirit gifts that they had been given, right? Where did they come from? This is this is just a gift that God gave you. Why should you? Why should you think that that somehow has made you better? You’re just been given that in order to teach the Word.

54. 26:50

    And while we may have honed those abilities, Paul’s telling us that those abilities came from God. So there’s no room for anyone to boast.

55. 27:00

    It must be so difficult for our God, who gives us these abilities to do His work. And when we succeed, then we take the credit for the ability that he gave us. And then God ends up not being glorified, which is the whole purpose. Paul changes what he’s talking about in the next few verses. He almost lays out for us a checklist of what an apostles life is like.

56. 27:30

    And he says if you’re like this. You’re not an. Apostle. But if you’re like this, you. Are an apostle, and he actually calls out those that they thought that they were rulers. In the ecclesia, in these next few verses, he’s saying. Everybody should look at themselves. And tell me or tell themselves, I guess judge for themselves if you’re living the life of an apostle. So let’s see what he has to say.

57. 27:53

    Verse 8, he says, now ye are full, now ye are rich. You’ve reigned as kings without us. So look at yourselves. You have everything you want. You’re ruling. Over your own subjects, you have these followers in the ecclesia. You’re raining like kings, he says. Are you ruling over your brothers and sisters? Are you being honored, praised and glorified? He says to them.

58. 28:28

    And then he says, I would to God that you did reign, that we might reign with you. I think he’s saying here, it’d be nice if that’s really how it was. It’d be nice because we’d like to be raining there right next to you. And maybe Paul’s thinking about if that was the case, what would it be?

59. 28:46

    Where would we be? We’d be in the Kingdom, wouldn’t we, if that was actually how it was because we would actually have that job of of ruling over the nation’s verse 9, What does he say? He says for? I think he says for or. The reality is I think that God has set forth that setting forth there is to display on a stage.

60. 29:10

    So we set forth on a stage, all of us, the apostles last, and he says last. He doesn’t mean that the last ones to get up on the stage. What he means there is that they are in the lowest of circumstances. They are the lowest of the group. And we know that’s right. We know that’s exactly how an apostle should be because that’s the cross of Christ.

61. 29:35

    That’s the glory of God. That’s what Christ did. He says as it were appointed to death for were made a spectacle were made at a theater to the world and to angels and to men. He says really how we should feel is. Like we’re on a. Stage humbled and condemned to death. If we’re following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ who was displayed for all to see in verse 10, he says we’re fools for Christ’s sake.

62. 30:10

    So people think we’re crazy. People think we’re fools. They look at us if we’re that way, if we’re if we’re living for Christ’s sake, he says, but you are wise in Christ. The world looks at you as if you’re you’re wise. Must not be right. We’re weak. The world, in its wisdom, sees us as weak.

63. 30:35

    But you’re strong. The world looks to you. And sees you as strong, not humbling himself yourselves instead promoting yourself. It sees you as honorable, but we’re despised. And so as Paul continues you, you could see the difference. He says, if these things are the way that it is, then something’s wrong. You’ve got it backwards. You’re you’re you’re looking to rule over people. If that’s the way that it actually is with you, he says in in verse 11, this is how apostles live. He says even to this present hour, we hunger and thirst and are naked.

64. 31:13

    It’s a struggle for us. Our our existence is difficult. We go without a lot of things and he says we’re buffeted. That’s literally we’re slapped in the face, he says, and we have no certain dwelling place. I think that’s a pretty accurate description of how the life of the apostles were. We contrast that then to the to the leaders in Corinth that we’re living. As kings ruling over the people, if you will, they had these people that would that would work for them and do things for them and cover their expenses.

65. 31:48

    Verse 12 says and we labor working with our. Own. Hands. What was Paul doing? He’s making tense, wasn’t he? That’s what he was doing when he got the Corinth, not living off the Ecclesia. And it’s something we we read about that Paul did by choice and we begin to see that that was the existence that he had when he was in Corinth.

66. 32:10

    He says being reviled, we bless. So when when someone criticizes us in an abusive way, we speak well of them being persecuted. He says we suffer it when people are hostile to us. We just we just put up with it. That’s what an apostle does, he says. And finally, verse 13, he finishes his his his points. He says being defamed.

67. 32:33

    We entreat. So when people speak poorly about us, slander us, we entreat literally it means to to call to one side. We appeal to them gently. We try to work with them to try to help them were made as the filth or or the refuse of the world and we’re the off scouring or The Dirty scrapings of all things to this day.

68. 32:59

    So the whole list then that that Paul gives us here of what an apostle does. Is is is pretty? Straightforward, isn’t it? An apostle isn’t lifted up. Apostle is humbled apostle. An apostle is a servant. And that’s what the the leaders of Corinth should have, should have figured out for what he has to say here.

69. 33:23

    So then in verse. 14 Paul says, I write not these things to shame you. I’m not trying to discredit you. I’m not trying to embarrass you. I’m trying to get you to to, to figure this out, he says, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. So he begins the next section with this idea of fathership and sonship, and he says, I’m warning you as if you.

70. 33:54

    Were. My sons, because this is what an apostle does, and this is what we all should be doing. We should be treating each other as if each other is our son. Or our daughter. He says for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, this word instructors is an important one to understand. Here the word instructors is the word pedagogue. It’s a servant whose job it was to take the children to school to make sure that they got to school each day. And the pedagogue would be paid to do this to, to drop the kids off at school, to make sure that the kids did the homework and they were in charge of their their general conduct. Now the same word is used in in Galatians chapter 3. It’s probably we won’t look it up. Galatians chapter 3, verse 24, it says the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. So Paul uses this word there to show that the the the purpose of the law was to bring them to Christ, but that it was Christ, it was Christ who would who would save them. So these pedagogues then they did their job, but they’re concerned for the children was very limited. They were like the hireling, if you will, because they were paid.

71. 35:21

    Their main concern, the main motivation in working with the the children would be getting the paycheck at the end of the month and being paid for what they did. They were definitely not a substitute. For a father. And so Paul says, it didn’t matter if there were 10. Thousand of these. That’s not what we’re looking for. 10,000 hirelings or 10,000 pedagogues. What we need?

72. 35:43

    Are fathers, he says, yet ye have yet have ye not not many fathers? For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. So Paul’s telling them I’m not like the pedagogue. Instead, I’m like your Father,

73. 36:04

    you’re like my sons. I’m not doing this to get paid. That’s important. I’m doing this because I love you and because I want to save you. That’s the difference here between a pedagogue and Paul who was their father, between as it says, you’re the instructor that they had to Paul. The brothers and sisters were his children. Let’s go over to first Peter chapter 1. There’s a couple of couple of verses that I think helpful to to point out this idea here of our sonship by the word of God and how we’re born of God’s word and how Paul was in a way their father because he had delivered to them that word. So first Peter chapter one verse 23 says being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Come over to James chapter 1.

74. 37:19

    James says the same thing. He tells us we’ve been begotten with the word of truth. James chapter 1 and in verse 18 says of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. So he’s talking here about the fact that we’re his children that were born through the spirit seed that’s planted in us, that word of God that develops in us that leads to a new birth as it it begins to change our mind, as it creates in us this new creature, this new way of thinking and leads ultimately to a new birth in immortality.

75. 38:10

    And Paul’s telling them that I’m the one that’s planted that seed in you and I’m the one who loves you and has made it my responsibility to help that process continue in you. Think about what Jesus told Nicodemus. He says we have to be born of the water and of the Spirit. We have to be born of the word of God.

76. 38:33

    So this spiritual birth is what Paul’s talking about here that he wanted to have take. Place in all. Of them as the seed that grows inside them. And Paul was concerned with the development of that new life in each of his brothers and sisters. At the same time, the pedagogues would not be thinking about this development. Instead they were thinking about their paycheck or their prestige, their status in the ecclesia. You think about the kings of Israel, at least most of the kings of Israel.

77. 39:07

    They they were, they were given a position of authority over the people of Israel. And if they’d focused on helping the people, saving the people, they would have been a great success. And, and the whole nation would have been converted and many more would have been saved, but they focused instead on their position and on their power and didn’t spend much time at all, and some spent none at all on spiritual development. All right, back to First Corinthians chapter 4. Paul says, Wherefore I beseech you, be followers of me. That word followers there means imitators of me. In other words, I want you all to be followers of fathers, I should say, of me.

78. 40:02

    And if we understand how Paul cared for the spiritual development of his brothers and sisters, we’d understand exactly what Paul is talking about here, instead of looking for ways to to to be popular. Look for ways to help the spiritual development of your brothers and sisters, he says. You too can change your ways and become like fathers if you will become the servants of your brothers and sisters, and if you will put the salvation of your brothers and sisters first, that’s the solution. Become a servant.

79. 40:40

    That’s what Moses was, wasn’t he? He was a servant that was faithful in God’s house. We have to keep in mind the point that that was being made at the beginning of the chapter. Moses was different from his brethren. Come back with me to to Numbers chapter 12 for just one, a couple of verses here and we’ll look at that just one more time. So Numbers chapter 12 verse 6, we see how Moses was different. He says, God says, and he said, Hear now my words, if there be a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all my house With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches and similitudes?

80. 41:49

    Sorry. And the similitudes of Yahweh shall he behold. Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? So Moses. So Paul was telling us that he was different from his brethren, that Christ had spoken directly to him, that he had seen Christ. And so Paul had this greater responsibility. He had this greater responsibility to deliver faithfully the words of God to his brothers and sisters. And so Paul calls on us to be followers of that, to be faithful with the word of God and working to save our brothers and sisters.

81. 42:30

    Verse 17 if we come back to First Corinthians chapter 4, So Paul says with this in mind, with this idea of saving our brothers and sisters, with this idea of showing you what it’s like to be a father, sharing the word and helping to plant the word into into each other. He says, for this cause I’ve sent unto you Timotheus. And what does he call Timotheus?

82. 42:55

    Verse 17, my beloved son, Why does he use that term, my beloved son? Because Paul had also planted the word in Timotheus and Timotheus was Paul was a father, like a father to Timotheus. And then he says, and he is faithful in the Lord. And where does he get that idea? Again, he follows the pattern of Moses, doesn’t he?

83. 43:23

    One that’s, that’s faithful. You’ve got this beloved son who’s faithful. And Paul sent Timothy then to be a faithful servant in Christ’s house in Corinth. And what would he do when he got there? It says, Who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every ecclesia.

84. 43:47

    And so Timothy was in Corinth. And Timothy would remind them of how it had been when Paul was there, when the preaching got into gear. And Timothy would be able to show them the cooperation that he had with Paul and to show them that there was no rivalry between he and Paul. And hopefully they would be able to see that both he and Paul were servants working for the salvation of the brothers and sisters in Corinth. Verse 18, he says, but some are puffed up as though I would not come to you.

85. 44:27

    So Paul says there’s still a problem, is there are some in the ecclesia that have pride. There are some in the ecclesia who are working against what Paul is doing and they’re doing things because they don’t think that Paul is ever going to come back to Corinth. He says, as though I would not come to you. They thought that Paul was timid. They thought that Paul was, was, was weak, that his message was weak.

86. 44:59

    And they said there’s no way that Paul is going to come back and, and, and step up and, and, and change things that are happening here in the ecclesia. His ways are are unsophisticated. And so they grew more and more bold about opposing the teachings of Paul. And by sending Timothy first, Paul hoped that they might realize that Paul was going to come and that he was going to work to try to correct things in the ecclesia.

87. 45:29

    And so Paul says, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will. So Paul says, make no mistake, don’t think that I’m not going to come. Because if the Lord will, I am going to come and when I come, he says and will know not the speech of them, which are puffed up. When I come to to to investigate what’s happening there. When I come to check into the problems, I’m not going to look at the words of eloquence that they’re speaking. I’ll be looking for a lot more than just words, but the powers. I’ll be looking for the actions.

88. 46:09

    I’ll be looking for the results. I’ll be looking for what’s being. Brought forth by this. I’ll be looking for spiritual development in the ecclesia that only comes when the Word of God is faithfully taught to the brothers and sisters, he says in verse 20. For the Kingdom of God is not in Word, but it’s in power.

89. 46:32

    The Kingdom of God is about actions and about taking up the cross. Back just a couple of pages to 1st Corinthians chapter one verse 18 back to what we talked about a couple of days ago back to the power of the word back to the power that it has to save. First Corinthians one verse 18.

90. 46:56

    He says for the preaching of the cross is to them that are that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. In verse 21 he says, What will ye? What do you choose? Should I come to you with a rod? What does he mean by rod?

91. 47:30

    What does he mean? Shall I come to you with a rod? Obviously he’s not going to come and beat those leaders of the Ecclesia into submission. That’s not what he’s saying here. So what does he mean by shall I come to you with a rod? Here’s what Vines has to say the word means or the applications of what the word is, and I think they’re helpful to look at. Vine says that a rod is a staff, a rod or a scepter. It’s used of Aaron’s rod.

92. 48:01

    And what do we think about when we think about Aaron’s rod? We think of Aaron’s rod that butted, right? We think about God acknowledging the responsibility that he had given to Aaron. It’s used as a staff that’s used on a journey, so something to help us on our way. It’s used of a ruler staff or as a scepter.

93. 48:27

    It’s used of authority. Then it’s used as a rod for chastisement. So for correction, it’s also used as a as a measuring rod. So something that’s used for judgment to determine if something is, is, is faithful. We get the idea then of this being direction and correction. So Paul’s asking them to get things corrected so that he does not have to bring the correction of Christ.

94. 49:01

    But what did Paul want? What was Paul looking for from them? What did Paul hope to be able to come to them with? In love and in the spirit of meekness. He says in love and in the spirit of meekness. And I think again, we can’t help but miss the connection with Moses, who is faithful.

95. 49:33

    It was a faithful servant for God’s ecclesia, and who was very meek above all the men which were on the face of the earth. What a great. Comparison, that is, for us brothers and sisters to look at. When we think about Paul, we think about him after the pattern of Moses. We think about the importance of us being faithful, taking God’s message and not changing it, but delivering it as it’s been given to us, to our brothers and sisters, and looking not for our own advantage, not for our own status.

96. 50:14

    Or or or feeling good but do looking for the well-being of our brothers and sisters because we love our brothers and sisters and we want to be their servants. That’s what an apostle is, and that’s what we are called to be as well. And sisters, and that’s what would take, that’s what it would take to solve the problems that the ecclesia in Corinth faced. And that’s what we’re going to do tomorrow’s tomorrow. We’re going to look and take what we’ve learned in Corinthians so far in these first four chapters. And we’re going to look at how what we’ve learned would actually reverse the process that we looked at in our first class of the Ecclesia being infiltrated by the ways of the world.

97. 51:02

    And we’ll see how. What Paul’s? Taught us here the relationships and the service that we can give to each other can reverse those things and bring the ecclesia back to a place which is focused on saving its members and upon the cross of Christ.