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1 Corinthians 4:6-13 ESV
6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? 8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
I.THE TRAGEDY OF YOUR BEST LIFE NOW (6-8)
A.Wealth & prosperity right now are not necessarily, marks of maturity & blessing right now.
B.The way of the cross is to for us to become a cosmically public spectacle being marched to our own deaths.
II.THE TRAITS OF CHRIST’S LIFE NOW
A.We are to be fools for Christ, not wise in the world. Weak and dishonored, not strong and esteemed.
B.To be a fool for Christ’s sake means we are mocked for what we do, not just what we say we believe.
C.To be a fool for Christ’s sake requires we forsake a middle-way Christianity and embrace the narrow gate and narrow way. (Matthew 7:13-14)
D.To be a fool for Christ’s sake means we return evil with good in the face of being treated like scum.
III.THE TREASURE OF CHRIST FOR ETERNITY
A.What lies ahead of us in Christ is worth the trouble facing us today. (Romans 8:18)
NEXT WEEK:
1 Corinthians 4:14-21
Listen to Your Daddy: A Defense of Pastoral Authority, Care, & Discipline