tonight we turn in the scriptures to the book of first corinthians we're continuing our study in first corinthians and in your pew bibles that is found on page 1212 we're reading at verses 16 through 4 1 i'm going to read through chapter 4 verse 1 this is the word of god beginning at verse 16. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy and you are that temple. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God, for it is written he catches the wise in their craftiness and again the lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile let no one boast in men for all things are yours whether paul or apollos or cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future all are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's. This is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. One of the worst scenes in the Old Testament that will help us tonight, I think, understand what's going on here. One of the worst scenes in the Old Testament was under the reign of King David with Absalom, his son's conspiracy and we tend to think that it was a sudden kind of thing but if you really went to the old testament and you began to look at what happened with absalom this is what we get now absalom would rise early and stand beside the way to the gate so it was whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision that absalom would call to him and say what city are you from he would say well your servant is from such and such a tribe of israel then absalom would say to him look your case is good and right but there's no deputy of the king to hear you moreover absalom would say oh that i were made judge in the land and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me then i would give him justice and so it was whenever anyone came near to bow down to him that he would put out his hand and take him and kiss him. He was flattering. Isn't this fascinating? He's giving attention, isn't he? In this manner, here's what it says. Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel. It's that last phrase. He stole their hearts away from the king. See how much that fits 1 Corinthians? What we're dealing with? Of everyone giving honor to men? These men can easily steal the hearts away from Christ. What we don't realize is that this kind of conspiracy really does happen in the life of the church all the time. And we might be shocked how much it happens tonight. We might be shocked as to how much it happens even in our own camps. did they really lack something under King David? In other words, what really happened is when they were lowered and put under Absalom was a terrible thing. No longer was devotion and praise given to the true king. That's what Paul's dealing with tonight. You could sum it up. This is what happened in Israel. That's what Paul's dealing with. That's what burdens him. Paul's looking at this crucial problem of people and leaders who were taking christ's glory who were stealing hearts and giving it to men and paul was immensely grieved over this paul was really grieved over this in our text tonight that the problem had become so bad that they were aligning themselves around the apostles themselves and so this has been kind of a long run here of dealing with this problem which shows how great of a problem it is even to this day they weren't looking at ministry as god looks at ministry they weren't understanding christian ministry as god has defined it and that's the point tonight if i were to sum up what everything that paul has been saying and driving us to understand about this about ministry he is looking at those who are laboring in the church he's looking at pastors he's looking at at under shepherds he's looking at servants and he's helping us, helping you think through how you should think about us and how you should think about the ministry. And what is that? Well, this didn't come out of the blue. The apostles got this from Christ himself. Whoever desires to become great among you, what did Jesus say? Let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. just as the son of man did not come to to to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for men for many you want to think about how you should think anyone who wants to become great in the kingdom let him be a slave anyone who wants to be a leader among you and a teacher in the kingdom let him become a servant because that's what the son of man came to do paul's developing that. Paul's developing that principle in light of a problem that took place in Corinth. And so tonight, if you're taking notes, I did my duty and I'm giving you three points. Number one, he's explaining what you need to know about the ministry. Second, how you need to think specifically about the ministry. And third, why it matters for the ministry. What you need to know specifically about something how you need to think why why it all matters let's start with what you need to know in verse 16 he poses a rhetorical question do you not know there it is do you not know that you are the temple of god and that the spirit of god dwells in you you have to feel the shock of that for a minute tonight saying that to a corinthian church and a corinthian culture all around him you couldn't miss the temples but there was one great temple that sat there in corinth it was the temple to apollos to this day it's the most notable ruin in corinth the pillars are just remarkable it dominated the whole landscape it dominates to this day archaeology in ancient corinth it had 38 columns and the structure with all sorts of statues it was it was really a glorious temple corinth was epitomized corinth was understood and defined by this temple and even further if you went further than this and there were jews sitting there they would have kind of shrugged looking at the corinthian temple the jerusalem temple still stood at this point which makes us all the more remarkable over in jerusalem the grand temple member of solomon that had been tore down but then was rebuilt the glory of the jerusalem temple was still there and it's overwhelming when you think about that the ancient world was full of temples now can you imagine in this corinthian culture hearing this do you not know you are the temple whoa do you feel that the shock of that i mean that that's just as shocking today how many christians are looking for a rebuilt temple do you not know you are the temple of god i find it just fascinating how paul really is addressing this pro this uh this whole perspective about ministry we hear that today and and uh we generally apply that when we hear you're the temple as thinking of our bodies individually. Thinking of the individual body. And that's correct. Our bodies are temples of the Spirit. But that's really not how Paul ever applies it in Corinthians. It's fascinating that Paul, every time, applies the temple to the body of Christ, which means the church. So, in other words, he just said, God's holy temple is the church. Fascinating. now why is that important what did he just do jaws just dropped god just said the church is the temple why is that significant when the original temple was finished do you remember what happened you saw it somewhat in shadowy form when the tabernacle was finished in exodus chapter 40 but you have the same kind of phenomenon when solomon finished praying fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and sacrifices and the glory of the lord filled the temple and the priest could not enter the house of the lord because the glory of the lord had filled the lord's house when all the children of israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the lord on the temple they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and praised God saying for he is good for his mercy endures forever then the king and all the people offered up sacrifices before the Lord the glory fell and they realized God's here and their faces went on the pavement and they were worshiping hands probably raised down to this God if you accept that think about what Paul just said do you not know that you are that temple the body of Christ your view of the church just went out of the roof if you accepted that didn't it the holy God of heaven and earth just said the body of Christ the gathering of God's people wherever they are on the face of the world it's not just in this localized building whenever they gather they make up the temple of God not in a localized man-made temple not on this mountain or in that mountain but in spirit and in truth when they're worshiping think of Bethel this morning God's glory is there He's with them Why does that have to be laid heavy upon us tonight? What is the last thing we have respect for? Church Think about it in our culture we don't even like using the word church i don't know how many times i hear people say i just saw another ad this is not about church it's about this and this and this and this it's not about church it's not about church something has repulsed us about church and here's where we're beginning to be challenged in light of everything he said that we would look at this tonight with different kind of eyes a gathering when we look at this what do we see well we see a gathering of some people and and people come in here and they think oh this this you know there doesn't seem to be anything really glorious about this there's no outward power here tonight there's no outward show here tonight and so our entire approach to all this is is sensual it's how we feel when we come in and and and and we then take it all kind of take it or leave it or it's pretty casual there's nothing because we don't think god's really here that there's nothing really happening and so then and that could transfer to us being here with no real excitement. You are the church, the temple of God. Now, if you accept that, and you believe that, what just dawned on them as Corinthians? Well, what happens when petty squabbles aren't being taken seriously? What happens when you have jealousies and fights? And what is it when someone offends you? And does it really matter if I refuse to talk to them? What is all this stuff? What is gossiping? What is getting angry with members? What is a lack of forgiveness in the body? It's splitting it. It's splitting it. You know how venerated the temple was in Corinth? Oh, it was venerated. People came with excitement into that temple. People walked into the Corinthian temple and man it was just awesome the temple in corinth you walked in and all you saw was splendor and all you saw was glory can you imagine if someone walked up to the corinthian temple and took an axe and started hacking away right at one of the pillars what do you think would happen a cross would go up they would take you out you know every time certain things happen in the life of the church it's like an axe being hit on the structure and what particular problem had ripped apart the church in Corinth factions I hear that there are divisions among you now they had no idea what that meant but Paul's whole point has been to say that their view of the church their view of playing favorites their view of following men was dividing the body of christ it was attacking his temple and last time the apostle was explaining this he was helping people evaluate you don't understand what's at stake here when we're building there are some building with the wrong materials and they had no idea that they were then tearing down the structure if we contribute to tearing down the structure, if there are those who in the building project are actually attacking the structure, what happens? You are incorrectly building on the foundation. And Paul had a strong warning in verse 17 about that. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. So you don't want to wrongly mess with the building project you don't want to do something that would be damaging to the building project and paul was having them then think about how their individual behaviors contributed to that now this is what you need to understand then about ministry paul says as he just raised our estimation of what this is even though it doesn't seem outwardly glorious if that's the case it affects then how now we go forward in how we think about the ministry and so in verse 18 notice what he says let no one deceive himself if anyone among you seems to be wise in this age let him become a fool that he may become wise for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with god i read that here's my summary you'll never be correct about the ministry if you look at it with natural eyes. You have to look at the ministry through God's eyes. And this is what he says. I don't want you to be deceived about the ministry. He's back to the great concern. Their following of men was dividing up and causing factions and confusion in the building of the structure. So he says, I love how he says it, whoever seems to be wise in this age let him become a fool i hope this comes together in a minute i know it's a little challenging i'm reading this and thinking that has a two-fold application those who are looking at pastors and thinking that's where it is or thinking that that's in them that's where the power lies and they think that's where the wisdom lies paul has an application for that thinking and it also then he has an application for those who think themselves that they are wise. When we look at people who serve us, and if we're thinking, you know, they have so much understanding and so much wisdom, they have so much abilities, they're the ones who really grab me. You need to know, if your eyes are set on that, you've forgotten all of worldly wisdom is foolishness with God. And if those in these positions think that it's about that, by their great intellect and by their great abilities that they're doing something great in the kingdom, then they should deny themselves and become a fool. Do you kind of see how this is coming together? The temple of God is holy. You're the temple. But their view of the ministry and their factions were crumbling the structure. I want to ask the question, what does this look like in the Reformed world tonight? I have gone steadily after everything else. I have steadily addressed and gone after things in this series that I believe that we've seen trends of in our country and we've looked at broader evangelical circles and looked at the pomp and the show of everything and human wisdom and the cool guys and all that kind of stuff where we think all the power is. And I've addressed that. But we could neglect looking at our own camp, couldn't we? And I would be a little bit hypocritical if I did that. Ah, we reform people. We don't have this problem. We don't have this problem. No, no, no. Do we? We're not into the praise bands. We're not into the show. We're proper. We're proper. Our words are correct. Don't think that aligning around men is not just as much of a problem in our tradition as anywhere else. Maybe it works. Why do I say that? Reformed theology is a head and a heart theology. Absolutely. But when it comes too much about the head, what do you create? Pride. Paul even will say that later. Knowledge does puff up. And what is the danger? In reaction to the fluff of evangelicalism, we align around the greatest thinkers and praise God for them. We in the reform world, though, love the academic superstars. That's who we gravitate to. Now, we should all be thinkers. I want every pastor to be a thinker. I want him to be a theologian. But you don't get to the heart, right, without going through the head. But I've seen something terrible happen in our camp. I don't know if you've ever been frustrated in the life of the church over how many theological fights that take place. A lot. Obviously, it takes wisdom because some of those issues are good and correct to fight over. I mean, when the doctrine of justification by faith alone is being assaulted, you know, if we won't stand for that, we're not even deserved to be called Christians. If you won't fight and stand for something, why do we even deserve the label? Christianity is, Belgic confession, being discerning about testing the spirits to see whether they be of God. And it's not leading just this isolated, comfortable life and never standing on anything. That's not Christianity. That's not what I'm talking about. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the frustration of what happens when some strange idea is proposed to the church as a matter of truth. And this is how you feel when it happens. Are you kidding me? Here we go again. That issue has never been a problem in the history of the church and now some authority is riding on it and he's made it a big issue and he starts aligning people around him. And the layman stands back from this and says, well, Okay, maybe, you know. But then he sees the fighting that results from it. And all these factions start happening. And nobody knows what to do with it. Nobody knows what to do with it. It hasn't been a discussion in the church, and now all of a sudden books get published, sides get taken, and more and more people are aligning around a hero. And this is what's sad. The fruit of it is what? Desperation, discord, division, fighting, all because of a certain kind of theological tinkering that doesn't even fit what Belgic 7 said tonight. Belgic 7 said, we have everything necessary for salvation. And now someone's pushing something on us that we should accept that has nothing to do with that. So we always got to push the limits and create a mark and leave a mark so that we get established. It's hard for the layperson to deal with. These are the minds in the church. These are the trained ones in the church. These are the ones who know the Greek and the Hebrew. And so goes. Personalities grow. People of God get caught up in it. Some get incredibly frustrated. Hands go up. Is this what church life is like? And the question is never asked, is that really beneficial for the life of the church? Or have we fallen into the trap of becoming wise in our own opinion? And that's what Paul's saying tonight. When we're advancing things that could be pushing us or our wisdom to be an accepted authority, verse 17, can't we just destroy the body? Paul reminds us whether we fall into the evangelical pop star trap or we fall into the academic reform superstar trap, whatever we're naturally attracted to, it's easy to neglect God's wisdom and forget that it is the foolishness of the message preached that God has given to save those who believe. That's what the big picture is. Our own version of wisdom couched as Christian to advance us is dangerous and paul is saying be careful of that and he uses two old testament passages to prove it tonight it's remarkable which one he chooses did you notice what he chooses there for god catches the wise in their own craftiness lo and behold guess where that comes from that's eliphaz that's job five you remember who eliphaz was boys and girls eliphaz was one of job's friends job gets knocked down job has all of these sufferings that come upon him and here comes this wise guy coming up and you should read his speeches wow you ever read them and think how eloquent and he offers three amazing powerful speeches in the first speech he says job you've sinned in the second speech he belittles job and says you're being chastened and in the third and last speech he accuses job of foolishness and by the end of it god comes down and rebukes him you're wrong you've got me all wrong god catches the wise in their own craftiness and here paul uses that to illustrate the point he quotes a life as a statement which turned out to be an oracle against himself and then paul quotes psalm 94 the lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they're futile it's fascinating in that psalm the lord goes on to say understand you senseless among the people and you fools when will you be wise he who planted the ear doesn't he hear he who formed the eye doesn't he see he who teaches man knowledge in other words do you think he doesn't know your intentions in making things about you? This is the point. In all of this challenge, because we can't see things the way God sees things, God's saying, I see it. I know what you're doing. I'll catch the wise and I'll catch them in their own craftiness. So what's Paul doing? He's saying this is the kind of stuff that's tearing down the church. This is the stuff that's attacking the temple. This is the stuff that you should see as somebody taking an axe and striking at Christ's church. And so how does he correct it? He says, it begins with you guys learning how to think about us. That's chapter four, verse one. Let a man so consider us as what? Servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. You need to start thinking of us in this kind of way and we need to behave this way. That we are merely slaves, Stewards is fascinating. It was a term for the chief household slave. Can you imagine saying that in a Corinthian culture? We are the chief slave in the house. We're not freelancers building our names. I love what one commentator says. When it comes to our assignment, stewards are not freelance operators. This is radically different from the world's perception of leaders as free. High status dawns bestowing benevolence on all those of lesser status. You need to think of us a certain way. And we need to promote that. We need to promote that in what we do. Wasn't this all over Jesus' ministry? Sons of Zebedee, the mother comes up with her sons, kneeling down and asks something of Jesus. He said to her, what do you wish? She said to him, grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and your other on your left in your kingdom. Moms would love to exalt their kids, man. I'm going to tell you. Here's what happened. And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. It started a fight because they wanted preeminence. Jesus called them to himself and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and those who are great exercise authority over them yet it shall not be so among you but whoever desires to become great among you let him be your servant whoever desires to be first among you let him be your slave just as the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many you want to be great become an absolute fool if that's what servants are to be then to elevate them out of their nothingness is to take christ's glory and that leads to this final brief point tonight why does it matter because it affects you paul says in verse 21 with a big therefore here's the conclusion here's why let no one boast in men for all things are yours whether paul or apollos or cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future all are yours and your christ and christ is god's don't boast in men why because you've got everything already i mean this is really powerful isn't it you're thinking too little about the ministry you're thinking too little about who you are and what Christ has done for you. When you align yourselves under men and you're doing this faction stuff, you've limited what God has given you in Christ. He's given you him. Why would you go to the lesser when you've got him? He's given you his son. You get access to him you can commune with him you can talk to him you're christ's and you know it's kind of like this morning with jacob i'm not going just to the house of god i'm going to god el bethel i'm going right to christ this is what the reformers said you don't need any other mediator you've got him why would i boast and try to find happiness and in doing that in some man and then tear down and hit the structure paul is saying you're not realizing what you have here's the point servants belong to you we're yours we're yours it's kind of a radically different presentation than the old dominey who ruled with an iron fist isn't it it's been a tragedy in our tradition and there's things that i step into often in the life of the church i don't want to and historically the caricature and the of the pastor who runs everything and rules with an iron fist and is in every aspect of men i hate that i don't want that pastors belong to you you belong to Christ you are the holy temple purchased with his blood servants the world life death everything it's all yours you're already rich he's going to say in the next section and that's what he's saying to you tonight look what you're involved with look at who you are how you should think and why it matters and then you'll see how dangerous it is to rip apart the body of Christ in foolish disputes over foolish ideas, over things that we should never tamper with, playing pastoral favorites, dissensions and divisions. We all need the mind of a servant. We all need the mind of Christ. And may God give that to me and to you in the Escondido URC. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bow the head repenting and asking for forgiveness. Starting right here, I do that. That often we have wanted the glory ourselves. And that we haven't realized how destructive this is in your body. And we ask for forgiveness for this. And we ask that as we look internally tonight with things that are hard and challenging, nothing's easy about the ministry, that conviction would come upon us in the right kind of way. And that we would see that what we're a part of is a structure where the foundation has already been laid and that foundation is Jesus Christ. May we all take heed how we're building on that and what we value. And may your saints tonight realize how much they have. They have everything. And raise up a new generation of preachers who have this mind of Christ, who are humble. You think of Moses, who's known as a humble man. All of that shows the most humble man who ever walked on the face of the earth who denied himself and went all the way to the cross that we might have life. May, Lord, Your church be built strong and kept free from these divisions. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.