Here is a teaching on chapter 4 of the book of 1 Corinthians. If you want to check out previous Bible studies and chapters from now on, join our group here. Once you get added to that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and see all the chapters and their study guides as they are being taught.
I did want to say a quick prayer... LORD, I pray that You lift up every person reading this right now. Please open up our eyes, our ears, our hearts, and our minds to You LORD. Please help us to see the truth, know the truth, discern the truth, and live by the truth. Please give us knowledge and understanding to know exactly what it is that we are reading and the wisdom to implement it in our daily lives. LORD, please help us to see the truth, know the truth, discern the truth, and live by the truth. Please help us to be able to stand firm in our faith and not be deceived by this world. LORD thank you so much for every single thing that you've done and for giving us Your truth and giving us eternal life in heaven. I love You with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.
1 Corinthians Chapter 4:
1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's heart. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
Alright, so I am going to stop right there and discuss these verses with you guys here. What Paul says in verse 1, the apostles are servants of Christ. We as believers of Jesus Christ are also servants of Christ. We have to serve Jesus, follow Him, obey His commands, rest in His teachings, and spread the gospel to others so that they may know about Him, be saved by Him, and go to heaven also when it's their time to go. We as believers of Jesus Christ have the Holy Spirit within us and we are entrusted with the secret things of God. We have to let the Holy Spirit guide us and show us the truth, and spread that truth to others so that they may not be deceived by worldly people or worldly things. In verse 2, we must stand firm in our faith, always remain faithful to the LORD, and look towards Him. We have to seek God and His kingdom and righteousness and not be conformed to this world and materialistic things.
In verses 3-5, the only opinion that we should care about is the opinion of God. He is the only one that can judge us. The opinions and judgments of others don't matter, and even the opinions of ourselves and the way we judge ourselves don't matter. The only thing that matters is the judgment from the LORD. The LORD loves us so much and cares for us. God is our provider, our creator, He is the Almighty, and His judgment is the only one that matters. Whenever the LORD comes back for His people He's going to bring light to what was hidden in darkness, and the motives of people's hearts and the evil and corruption of this world are going to be exposed. We just have to stand firm in our faith, we don't need to judge others, we don't need to listen to the opinions of others or worry about what people think about us. We just need to focus on looking towards Jesus, seeking to live and have a heart like Him, following Him, spreading the gospel, and staying in constant relationship with Him. Once Jesus comes back for his people and the light exposes men's hearts and all of that, we will receive praise from God. That's the only praise that matters. Praise from men doesn't matter, it doesn't have any significance in our lives. Only the judgment and opinion of God are what matter.
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6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against the other. 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?
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings—and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! 9 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. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
14 I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children. 15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?
Alright, those are all of the verses of chapter 4 of the book of 1 Corinthians, but I'm going to discuss these verses with you guys here. In verses 6-7, Paul is saying here that he and Apollos have applied these things to themselves. So they don't judge others or even judge themselves because the LORD is the one that judges them. We have to learn the truth of God's words, share that truth to others, and we have to let the Holy Spirit guide us and only do what the Holy Spirit tells us to do and apply the truth of God's words in our lives. Whenever we are discerning the truth of God's words, we are letting God judge us, and we are not trying to judge others or ourselves, then we won't take pride in any person over another. We know that God is in complete control, He is the Almighty, and nothing else matters. The judgments or opinions of other people don't matter. In verse 7, we are all mere humans and we are not any different than any other human. Everything that we have we received from God so we can't boast about our accomplishments, our wisdom or anything that we have because it was given to us by God. We are nothing without God, we have to humble ourselves and always put God first no matter what and not put anyone else above God or boast about anyone or anything in this world.
In verse 8, Paul is using sarcasm here when he tells them that they already have all that they want and they've become rich and become kings. Paul is trying to shake them out of their pride and thinking that they are self-made and boasting about all of the things that they have accomplished. We know that we are nothing without Christ and we have to spread the gospel to others in hopes that they may be saved also, but we also have to let others know whenever we see things like Paul is seeing here with them being full of pride and having arguments and all of that. We have to correct them and remind them to humble themselves and that we have nothing without Jesus and we are nothing without Jesus.
In verses 9-13, the apostles that were out here spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and all of that were being made spectacles in the world. They were being humiliated and imprisoned and all of those things. In John chapter 15:18-25 Jesus tells His disciples that the world is going to hate them and to keep in mind that the world hated Him first. In chapter 16 of John in verse 33 Jesus says "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." So these apostles were being treated badly, they were considered low in the world, and they were hated because they spoke of the name of Jesus. Some of these same people that crucified Jesus were also the people that hated the apostles. What Paul says in verse 10, he's being sarcastic because these people in the church of Corinth were thinking that they are so wise in Christ, they are strong, and they are honored. Paul and Apollos and other apostles of Jesus Christ were out here dedicating their lives to spreading the gospel and letting the Holy Spirit guide them and these people in the church of Corinth were thinking that they were more spiritually privileged or blessed than the apostles. The apostles were humiliated and treated badly and dishonored, but they continued to let the Holy Spirit guide them and they didn't let pride get in the way of the opinions or judgments of others, they just were guided by the Holy Spirit and spoke the truth of God's words.
What Paul says in verses 12-13, the apostles worked hard to spread the gospel of Jesus and to let others know about Him so that they may be saved by Him and go to heaven also. No matter what troubles they faced, they continued to stand firm in their faith and let the Holy Spirit guide them, to preach the gospel of Jesus, bless others, and love and serve others. No matter how badly they were treated they never let that stop them from their mission on this earth and their task to spread the gospel of Jesus in hopes that others may be saved.
In verses 14-17, Paul is telling these people in the church of Corinth that he is trying to warn them. He doesn't want to shame them for the way that they have been acting, but to warn them not to let pride get in the way and to imitate Paul. Paul sought to live and have a heart like Jesus and that's how we should all live our lives. In verse 17, Paul tells these people in Corinth that he's sending Timothy to them and Timothy was faithful in the LORD and he would remind them of the way of life in Christ Jesus. Paul had been preaching about this way of life and portraying it to others throughout his ministry and him spreading the gospel and all of those things. We have to follow Jesus, seek to live and have a heart like Him, let the Holy Spirit guide us, portray the fruit of the Spirit to others, and love and serve others.
In verses 18-21, some of these Corinthian Christians were arrogant and they thought that Paul was afraid to visit them, but he said if the LORD was willing then he would come to see them. Paul only did what the LORD told him to do and was led bu the Holy Spirit, so if it was the LORD's will then he would come to Corinth. These Corinthian Christians loved talking about their success and boasting but their words had no power. With the kingdom of God, the power is in God and in the cross. Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins, without that we wouldn't have eternal life in heaven. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. So we have no power without the cross, without Jesus, and without God choosing us. We have no room to boast about anything and it is our duty to spread the gospel of Jesus to others in hopes that they may be saved by Jesus and go to heaven also when it's their time to go.
1 Corinthians Ch 4 Study Guide
Whose judgment is the only one that matters? Why?
Where do the things that we have come from?
Why were the apostles humiliated and treated badly?
Why is it important to let the Holy Spirit guide us?
What is your biggest takeaway from this Bible study?
So that concludes this Bible study on chapter 4 of the Book of 1 Corinthians. Next time we're going to go into chapter 5 so make sure that you stay tuned for that.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights