This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom. We are in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 this week. This is day
one of our look at this wonderful chapter.

We're going to focus on verses 1 and 2 today. In this chapter, 1 Corinthians 4,
as we talked about last week, Paul answers the question, How do you deal with
the life-stealing attitudes of comparison and judgmentalism? Those will steal
the life right out of you.

When you compare yourself to others or you're judged by others, they steal the
life. They steal the fire right out of you. How do you deal with those
attitudes?

And the answer is, we're going to see throughout this chapter, the answer is you
decide to serve God by serving people. That's how you do it. You decide to serve
God by serving people.

That deals with comparison and that deals with judgmentalism. You decide to do
what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 4, the first couple of verses. Listen to
what he has to say.

So then men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with
the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a
trust must prove faithful. In these verses, Paul is actually talking about
ministry.

Service, trust, faithfulness, ministry. And ministry is not a title for just a
few people, the minister of the church. It's really a task for us all.

In the church, every member is a minister. That's a truth that we have to learn
and relearn and relearn if in our individual lives we're going to make an impact
for Jesus and if through the church we're going to make an impact for Jesus'
sake in this world. The church is not just one minister doing all the work while
a bunch of people are watching.

It is all of us ministering together. And actually that person who has the title
of minister in most churches, that person's job is really, according to
Ephesians, to coach all the ministers, to coach us all in doing the ministry
that God's given us to do. The church is not just a place to come once a week
and hear a message.

The church is not just a place to come once a week and take a nap during the
message, which is what some of us do. We said one time, if all the people who
slept in church were laid end to end, they'd be more comfortable. It's not a
place where you come and listen to a message or sleep because you're bored
during a message.

It's a place to make a difference. The church is to be a foundation for
ministry. It's to be a launching pad for real life, for serving others and
making a difference for Jesus in this world.

And in this chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul really addresses the question
of what makes ministers. What makes us the kind of people who can serve for a
lifetime without getting caught up in comparison, without getting caught up in
judgmentalism, are all the other attitudes that we have as human beings that
actually steal the life out of us. 1 Corinthians 4 is sort of a handbook on
ministry.

It powerfully points out to how you and I can be both ministers of God in a
world of need but also see God minister to us while we're ministering to others.
And as we walk through this chapter, we're going to find out that to be
effective, you have to understand the role of ministry. You have to understand
who is the judge of ministry.

You have to get a really good strong grip on the most important attitude of
ministry. And you also have to know the relationship of ministry. And when you
understand the role and the judge and the attitude and the relationship that are
behind our service, behind why we minister, that gives you the strength to keep
on going.

As you do these things, as you make these decisions to understand the role and
the judge of ministry, you are making the positive decisions that keep you from
being buried under the negatives of comparison and judgmentalism that we all
have to face. Here's the point. When you want to compare, decide to serve.

When you feel judged, decide to serve. And this chapter is about how you keep
making that decision. Now in these first couple of verses, we get the job
description of ministry.

And there's really three words in these first couple of verses that I want you
to focus in on. The word servant, the word entrusted, and the word faithful.
Because they describe what ministry is all about.

First Paul says, "We're servants. " And he says, "We're servants of Christ. " To
truly minister for his sake, you have to understand and keep understanding and
keep reminding yourself that you serve people, but you are Christ's servant.

You serve people, but you are Christ's servant. You don't get that turned around
where you're a people's servant trying to serve Jesus. No.

Jesus is the boss. He's the one in charge. He's the one that we're serving.

A servant is somebody who does what it takes to get the job done. And the
service that you do is in following Jesus. So you do what it takes to get the
job done for Jesus' sake.

No matter how menial it may seem to you, you do it for his sake. Even no matter
how spectacular it may seem to you. If he asks you to do something that you
think is above and beyond your abilities, if he asks you to do it, you do it.

You see, service is not just about small things, and it's not just about big
things. It's anything that he asks you to do. That's what it means to be a
servant.

A servant does what the servant's master asks them to do. And Jesus, when he
asks me to do it, then I say, "Yes, Lord, I understand that's what you want me
to do. That's what I'm going to do.

That's the person I'm going to serve. That's the message I'm going to share.
That's the gift that I'm going to give.

That's the prayer that I'm going to pray. What you've asked me to do is what I'm
going to do. " We are servants.

It starts there. But then Paul uses the word "entrusted. " "Servants," he says,
"who have been entrusted with the things of God.

" Servants have to have something to do. And when Paul talks about this word,
uses this word "entrusted," he's reminding us that being a servant of Christ is
more than just a job. It is a trust.

You have been given, I have been given, this trust from him. He has trusted
something into our hands. What has he trusted?

He has entrusted into our hands the building of his church. Jesus said, "I will
build my church. " He's building it, but he entrusts part of that into our
hands.

What's he entrusted into our hands? He's entrusted into our hands a message, the
good news. He has worked in your life to let you know that the good news, the
good news of who Jesus is, the fact that he died and was resurrected, that he's
given you life, new life because of his death and resurrection, that's good
news.

But that good news is more than just something that happened to you. It is
something that has been entrusted to you. You and I are to now make sure that
other people get to hear the good news.

Again and again, Paul says, "That is my trust. " We are servants who, because of
God's grace, we have been entrusted with this task of letting other people know
who Jesus really is. And we do that by serving other people in his name.

We do that by sharing the message in his name. We do that by praying in his
name. We are entrusted, servants who are entrusted.

And then Paul says, here's a third picture to remember, a third word, faithful.
It's those who have been faithful who will be considered the greatest of
servants, servants entrusted with a job and were to be faithful in that job.
Now, let's just make this really simple because I need that many times.

At a restaurant, you go into a restaurant and you sit down and you have a
servant. We call them the waiter. They come and they wait on you.

They serve you. They bring the plates to you. They bring the water glasses to
you.

They fill your water glass if you're thirsty. They come and they serve you. They
are a servant and they have a trust.

They're entrusted with your table. And they can either do well at that trust or
not well at that trust. They're watching over that.

And they also need to be faithful in that to which they've been entrusted by
watching your table, making sure. I just went out with my son Luke to a
restaurant this last week and he was very thirsty. So the servant, the waiter,
it seemed like every five minutes was coming by and filling up Luke's water
glass.

He was being faithful and filling that glass again and again. He could have
ignored it once we sat down, but he didn't. He was faithful.

That's what you and I are to do. You're a servant. You know that.

That is your role in this world. And you've been given a trust. And I don't know
what your table is, your trust is.

It may be a church. It may be a family. It may be a school.

It may be a single individual. It may be a task that God has given you that is
just taking your breath away that you could ever do that. I don't know what he
has entrusted you with, but whatever it is, that's your trust.

And now you take that trust and your task day to day, day to day, is to be
faithful. Faithful in that to which he has entrusted you. We're to follow Jesus
in this.

At the end of his ministry on earth, Jesus prayed in John 17, "Father, I have
been faithful. I have been faithful with that which you have given me. I have
been faithful to serve you.

" He was faithful in fulfilling his service. So you and I, we follow him. Don't
get discouraged.

Don't give up. Because sometimes you want to get discouraged and give up in
ministry. No, you're faithful to keep filling that water glass, to keep doing
that thing that he's asked you to do, realizing there's a reason.

I may not see it, but that thirsty person, that thirsty person is being served.
This task of ministry that we're talking about, it's the rest of your life. You
may retire from your job, but you never retire from serving.

I don't know where God has for you to serve right now. It may seem like you're
not serving in as great a way as you did at one time. It's really not how it
looks to us that's the most important.

Really, the question is, I'm a servant. The question is, God, what's the table
you've given me right now? And how can I be faithful to you at that point?

Really, the question for me today, for you today, is this. Where do you need to
be faithful? Where do you need to be faithful to serve someone today?

What's he asking you to do today? Let's pray together. Jesus, that's what I want
to know.

That's what we want to know. What have you entrusted us with today? Who do we
need to serve?

What message do we need to share? Where do we need to serve? Show us, Lord.

Show us now. Show our mind. Show it throughout the day.

As we walk through the day, let us see it. Give us eyes to see where we need to
be serving. And when we see it, Lord, I pray that you would give us through your
Spirit the strength, the grace, the power, the unselfishness to be faithful.

And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Join us tomorrow. We're going to talk
together about the right way to judge your ministry.