This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

We're continuing to walk together through 1st Corinthians 4 this week, Day 3.
We're going to focus on verses 7 to 13 this day. And as we look at these verses,
we're going to be looking at verses about the attitude of ministry.

These are verses about two different attitudes. One of them will steal ministry
away from you and the other one will give you a lifetime of ministry, of making
difference in other people's lives. The two attitudes that Paul talks about here
are arrogance and humility.

Sometimes we can become arrogant, sometimes we can become selfish. And if you
think you can never become arrogant or selfish, then you need this second
attitude, and I do too, the attitude of humility. Paul talks in these verses
about the building blocks of arrogance and he also talks about the building
block of humility.

How does arrogance get built into our lives? Because you've seen it. People who
are trying to serve Jesus but somehow in it they seem very selfish, they seem
very arrogant.

And if you've seen it in others, you have to admit, "That could happen to me. "
What are the building blocks of arrogance and how do I resist that? How do I
bring humility into my life?

Let's look first of all at some building blocks of arrogance, some attitudes
that come into our lives that build arrogance. The first attitude is the
attitude, "I'm the exception. " Everybody else is important, but I'm the
exception because of how important what I'm doing is right now.

Paul talks about that in verse 7, "For who makes you different from anyone else?
What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you
boast as though you did not?

" The truth that they had been taught, they were beginning to boast in Corinth
as if they had discovered it all by themselves. So Paul points out this danger
of the fact that I'm the exception, I'm more important because of what I'm
doing, because of who I am, because of how successful the ministry is, because
of the kind of people that I'm serving, nobody else cares about these kinds of
people. Whatever excuse you give, this attitude in the back of your mind, "I'm
the exception," that's a building block of arrogance.

And you see it in the demand for special favors, you see it in wanting to be
moved to the front of the line, you see it in all kinds of ways. "Danger," Paul
is saying here, "danger," because you're unable to recognize the contributions
of others. You think it's all about what you're doing.

You get this hyper-focus where all you can see is the ministry you're doing, and
it is the only important ministry that needs to be done. And in that, there
comes a day when really, to accomplish your ministry, you need all the eyes to
be on you. That's the danger.

You ignore the truth in this, that all of it's from God, and you cut yourself
off from the power source, God Himself. I'm the exception. That's one of the
attitudes that's a building block of arrogance.

A second attitude that's a building block of arrogance that Paul points out here
is, "I don't need anybody else. It's just me and Jesus. I don't need anybody
else.

" Verse 8, "Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. You've
become kings, and that without us.

How I wish that you really had become kings, that we might be kings with you. "
Now if you think there's never sarcasm in the Bible, you've never read this
verse. Paul is obviously being sarcastic with them as he writes, "Holy
Spirit-inspired sarcasm.

Already you have all you want. They're acting like they're kings, like they have
everything. I don't need anybody else.

I've already arrived is the idea here. They were rich. They were kings.

Without your help, I don't need anybody helping me right now. Thank you. " Paul
says, "How I wish that were true.

How I wish that were true. " But there is something in all of us that's tempted
to think, "Well, I've arrived. I've made it.

I don't need you. I don't need anybody else. It's me and Jesus now.

" Paul is saying here there's great danger in that. You cannot minister alone.
You can't fly the Christian life solo.

We're like geese. We have to have each other to have strength for the journey.
You know how geese fly in a V and one will come out in front and fly for a
while, and then another will come out in front and fly for a while because you
need each other to have the strength to do what God wants us to do.

If a goose was only flying 10 feet, it could do it by itself, but it's making
this long journey. So they need each other. If all you had to do was 10 minutes
of ministry or 10 years of ministry, you might be able to do it by yourself, but
God wants you and I to be involved in a lifetime of ministry.

We need each other. So this attitude, "I don't need anybody else," that's a
building block of arrogance. And then a third building block of arrogance is
this building block of appearances, and I'd call this, "I need to look good for
God's sake.

I need to look good for God's sake. The world's looking at me. The world's
looking at Christians, and I need to look really good.

" Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthians about this in verses 9 and 10,
"For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the
procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a
spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for
Christ, but you are so wise in Christ.

We are weak, but you are so strong. You are honored. We are dishonored.

" What a picture Paul paints here. He talks about a procession. In Rome, there
was a procession whenever a country had been conquered, the procession would
come in, and first the conquering heroes, and at the end of the procession would
be those who had been conquered, those who had been brought back as prisoners of
war.

And Paul says, "At the end of the procession," that's where we apostles are,
"like men condemned to die in the arena. " We're not at the front of the parade,
we're at the end of the parade. And not just that, we're condemned at the end of
the parade.

That's what we look like, he says many times to the world. When it came to
appearances, apostles did not always appear very powerful. And sometimes, if
you're not careful, appearances can become more important than ministry.

With tongue and cheek here, Paul is pointing out how the Corinthians had fallen
into that trap. He says, "We're fools, but you look so wise. We're weak, but you
look so strong.

We're those who are dishonored, but you look so honored. " Paul's point here is
there's great danger in needing to look wise, in needing to look strong, in
needing to look honored. God may honor you at times.

God may use your strength at times, and even that strength may be seen to the
world. But there may be other times when you need to look weak. There may be
other times when God needs to bring dishonor into my life, into your life.

I hate those times. In order to do His purpose in you, and even to do His
purpose through you. And when appearances become more important than the
ministry, then I can't really do the ministry He's asked me to do.

The danger Paul is talking about here is this, true servants are evaluated by
who they serve. Not by how they appear, but by who they serve. And the truth is,
Jesus was dishonored.

Jesus was regarded as weak. Jesus was rejected. And if I'm going to serve Him,
sometimes I'm going to face those very same things.

And if I cannot face those things, how am I going to serve Him? I need to look
good for God's sake. Sometimes I need to look weak for God's sake.

Sometimes I'm going to be dishonored for God's sake. I don't like that. You
don't like that.

But that's the truth of ministry. How do I face that? How do I face having to be
dishonored for God's sake?

How do I face admitting I need other people? How do I face realizing I'm not the
exception? The truth is, we're all equally in need of Him.

Well, there's one attitude that helps me to face it, and that's the attitude of
humility. It's the attitude that Paul talks about in verses 11 to 13 when he
says, "To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty. We are in rags.

We are brutally treated. We are homeless. We work hard with our own hands.

When we are cursed, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure it. When we are
slandered, we answer kindly.

Up to this moment, we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the
world. The only attitude that keeps you ministering for the rest of your life is
humility. And Paul needed humility.

Listen to the picture of his life. We think of all the great things he did,
building churches, making a difference, but that's not how it felt in his daily
life. How it felt in his daily life was hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed, the
scum of the world, the dregs of all things, he says.

When it came to appearances, one of the greatest ministers of all time, the
apostle Paul, said, "I look like a stagnant pond. I look like the grounds at the
bottom of the cup. " Can you imagine the advertisement for being an apostle in
that day?

It was not a, "Join us and be all you can be. " It was, "Join us and become the
scum of the earth. " The truth of the matter is, God allowed dishonor to come
into the life of Paul because that was his role in ministry.

And you and I may never have to face something like this, or you may be facing
something like this right now. But the question is, the question is, do I
realize that as I follow Jesus, I may have to face even this? I have the
humility to realize even if I have to face this, it does not in one fact dent
who I am in Jesus.

In fact, the truth of the matter is, it may let the world know who he is in ways
that I can never imagine. Ministry for all of us, whether you have to face
something like Paul faced or not, and most of us won't. Ministry for all of us
means work in a dirty world.

This world is dirty, and that means it has to be cleaned by somebody. And you
and I, we're not called of God unless we recognize that that means I've got to
scour and scrub sometimes. I've got to get down on my hands and knees and be in
contact with this dirty world.

Ministry means work in a dirty world. And it takes humility to clean when things
are dirty. It takes humility to get involved.

And I can draw back from that and pretend it's not there. That's what the
Corinthians were doing, or I can do what Paul did. I can get in contact and not
so concerned about my appearance as I am about the world seeing that Jesus loves
them, the world seeing Jesus in me.

Jesus was not at all concerned about his appearance. Jesus was concerned about
sharing the love of God on the cross. He was not concerned about his appearance.

Jesus gave himself for us on the cross, concerned only about loving us. Lord, as
we pray today, as I pray today, I ask you, give me a new heart. Give me a heart
of humility and help me to recognize that what you're asking me to do today may
seem great or may seem small.

In all of it, it means contact with a sometimes dirty world. So Lord, when you
asked me to get down on my hands and knees and scour and scrub, help me to
realize that's in essence what Jesus did on the cross. He humbled himself so
that I could know your love.

Jesus, help me to see where I can humble myself today. Give me the humility to
bless. When I am persecuted, give me the humility to endure.

When I am slandered, give me the humility to answer kindly. In Jesus' name I
pray, amen.