“You are already filled, you have already become rich, you
have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so
that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles
last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to
the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you
are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished,
but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty,
and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil,
working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are
persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have
become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I do
not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved
children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not
have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.” (1 Corinthians 4:8–16, NASB95PARA)
These verses were a long time coming in this letter, and when they
came they came pretty strong. Those to whom Paul was writing had become
boastful in their allegiances and their position within those allegiances. They
were acting as if they had it all and were in need of no one or nothing else.
As Paul indicated with a strong hint of sarcasm, they had become kings all on
their own. They had seemingly gone beyond their teachers to achieve their own
status of rule and reign. Unfortunately, this place that they had gone to was
not a spiritual one, but as he had written earlier was one of the flesh. They
were doing church in their own strength according to their own way. And, they
really weren’t listening to what they had heard from the very teachers who they
used the names of as points of status.
Oh, how great it would have been if they had achieved spiritual
maturity and were in a place where they could reign together such that the
apostles could even share in it with them. But this was not the case and this is
not how God has chosen to work. It is here that Paul turns his attention from
their false haughtiness to the reality of the life of the apostles like
himself. Rather than using exalted men, God chose to use persecuted men to
further His kingdom.
In choosing His apostles, Paul said that he thought God had put
them on exhibit as examples of the way we were to walk and serve. All of
creation was watching these men. Both the men and women who they walked among
and God’s created angels both those who were obedient and those who had been
cast down as cohorts with Satan. These were the men personally given to Christ
by the Father, and Jesus had kept every single one of them except for Judas who
was specifically chosen to turn. This even included Paul who was later added,
and who was penning these words. All of them had a big target on them for the
enemy, but that did not sway them from doing the task that God had given them.
And, while Scripture does not record the manner of death for each of these men,
church history has many traditions that reflect them indeed suffering the
condemnation and martyrdom of which Paul spoke.
They may have been sentenced to death by man, but God had their
lives firmly in His hands and their sentence of life was proven the moment that
each of them stepped out of their bodies and into His presence. The world may
have looked at them as fools for having suffered all that they did for a result
that they could not see, but these men knew just how rich they were, and they
were faithful to the call. All of those who had seen their own glory in their
lives and had adulation upon adulation piled upon them conversely discovered
just how little this really meant.
Let’s read again just how he described the difference…. “We
are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but
you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this
present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are
roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands;
when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are
slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the
dregs of all things, even until now.”
I can hardly imagine anyone answering this advertisement for a
position with the perks stated: fools, weak, without honor, hungry, thirsty,
poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless, toiling with your own hands,
reviled, persecuted, slandered, scum of the world, dregs of all things. These
men clearly endured a lot, more than they thought they had signed up for in the
beginning. When Jesus called most of them they had no idea what was ahead,
except for possibly this one man, Paul. It was Paul that was called by the
already crucified, buried, resurrected and ascended Christ. It was this one
man, Paul, who stood there watching and condoning Stephen’s stoning and was
moved to do the same to others.
We read in Acts chapter 7 and 8, “Now when they heard this,
they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But
being full of the Holy Spirit, he [Stephen] gazed intently into heaven and saw
the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said,
“Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and
rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they
began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a
young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and
said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out
with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this,
he fell asleep. Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on
that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they
were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the
apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.
But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging
off men and women, he would put them in prison.” (Acts 7:54–8:3, NASB95PARA)
It was Saul who was out in front of this great persecution of
Christ’s followers, and it was as he was engaged in this cause that Jesus
stopped him in his tracks and changed the course of his life. We read about
this in Acts chapter 9. “Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder
against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for
letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any
belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to
Jerusalem. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus,
and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground
and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And
he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are
persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you
must do.” The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but
seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could
see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And
he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” (Acts 9:1–9,
NASB95PARA) For three days he waited until God sent Ananias to him. Despite
what Ananias had known of Saul, he listened to these words of the Lord, “Go,
for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and
kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for
My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15–16, NASB95PARA)
And sure enough, Saul (or Paul) came to know suffering along with the others, but they also knew that their suffering was in the greater context of doing it for Christ’s name’s sake. Later to the Philippian believers Paul would write, “although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:4–11, NASB95PARA)
This was Paul who was uniquely qualified by God to write to
these believers and call them to account for their falsely placed loyalties and
twisted view of what it was to be a Christ follower. After having confronted
them in such a strong way he added, “I do not write these things to shame you,
but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless
tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I
became your father through the gospel.” Paul loved them. He had invested
greatly in them, and as one who had become their spiritual father through the
gospel of Christ, he was writing to them to set them on a right course for growing
in spiritual maturity. As a father would set straight his children Paul was writing
to them not to shame them but to give them greatly needed help and direction.
There may have been many men who had come across their paths to teach them, and
they indeed had been wrangling over which one of them they should listen to the
most, but Paul was uniquely qualified to give them this most needed admonishment
such that they would not be torn down but encouraged to set a good and right course
for the future.
With this he added in verse 16, “Therefore I exhort you, be
imitators of me.”
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