1 Corinthians 3:18-4:7

March 3, 2013 | Port Gardner Church

1 Corinthians Part 8 | An Issue of Identity | 1 Corinthians 3:18-4-7

REVIEW

1 Corinthians 3:18-4:7 [18] Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. [19] For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” [20] and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” [21] So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, [22] whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, [23] and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

[4:1] This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. [2] Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. [3] But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. [4] For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. [5] Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

[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?

ISSUE OF IDENTITY

These folks are choosing allies

They are doing so for their own safety and comfort.They are doing so to feel better about themselves

We can’t stop thinking about ourselves

Steve’s FuneralPosts on FB or TwitterMy hair, face, clothes, weight, glasses, education, eating habits, workout schedule, car that I drive, house, relationshipWe’re always thinking of me me me me me me me.

And when we think about others… we’re still thinking about ourselves.

How will this make me lookWhat will they think about meIs this enough time I’m spending helping this personAm I doing enoughAm I doing too much.I feel sorry for them but I’m glad I’m not in their shoes.

And our identity is usually only satisfied by comparing ourselves to others.

Those with less… make us feel better about ourselves.Because we are not as bad off as they are…

Then we compare ourselves to those that are more gifted, fortunate, blessed than we are and…

We feel worse about ourselves because we don’t measure upWe want what they have… simply because we don’t have it and they do.

Both of these are rooted in things that God hates: PRIDE

C.S Lewis wrote: “Pride is not the pleasure of having more as much as it is the pleasure of having more than the next person”

In Chap 4:6

Paul says that he hopes the Corinthians will not be prideful. He specifically says that he does not want them to find their identity in the world, but in the word of God.He doesn’t want them to be “puffed” up. We come from 2 different schools of thought as relates to self esteem.

These cultures have alternated at various times in history.

1. Older folks grew up with the idea that sin comes from pride or hubris

We think too much of ourselves and don’t seem to care what anyone else thinks about usWhen we sin or “misbehave” we need to be taken down a pegThe pride needs to be beaten out of us.It doesn’t matter what we think about ourselves.It matters what others think of us.

The up side is that we do our best to appear “proper” and obedient. Compliant in our families, relationships, jobs, and society. We play well with others. The down side is we feel like we’ve forsaken ourselves. We’ve given up on our dreams and desires because we only listen to what others think of us. We’re manipulated by what others want and we get caught in a game of following orders and living with the status quo.

2. More modern generations grew up with the idea that sin comes from poor self image or lack of pride.

When we sin or “misbehave” it’s because we don’t have a good self imageWe don’t think highly enough of ourselvesWe need to be built up and “loved” so that we don’t have the need to act outWe are told that it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about usIt only matters what we think about ourselves.If we can dream it we can do it.We can do and be anything we want and it’s all OK because if we can think it… we can do it.If it feels good and right to me… it’s good and right. Everything is relative to my desires and feelings.

But neither one of these ways of living works. Listening and acting on what others think of me orListening and acting on what I think myself Madonna in an interview with Vogue magazine said this:

“My drive in life comes from a fear of being mediocre. That is always pushing me. I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being but then I feel I am still mediocre and uninteresting unless I do something else. Because even thought I have become somebody, I still have to prove that I am somebody. My struggle has never ended and I guess it never will.”

She knows herself well:

She’s saying “Now I have got the verdict that I am somebody. But the next day, I realize that unless I keep going, I am not. My ego cannot be satisfied. My sense of self, my desire for self worth my need to be sure I am somebody-it is not fulfilled. I keep thinking I have won it from what people have said about me and what the magazines and newspapers have written. Bu the next day, I have to go and look somewhere else. Why? Because my ego is insatiable. It’s a black hole. I doesn’t matter how much I throw into it, the cupboard is bare. I keep putting all sorts of things into it every morning, feedint it, and the next night it is bare. I have become somebody – but I still need to become somebody”

This is the normal state of the human self. It is what Paul is talking about to the Corinthians.

All these people who are fighting over him and claiming a special relationship with him are showing tremendous amounts of pride. They are unable to enjoy the fact that they know Paul. They have to USE their relationship with him for one-upmanship over each other in the church.

Paul wants them to know that Jesus changes all of this.

At first is sounds like Paul just doesn’t care what anyone else thinks about him. As long as He thinks highly of himself it’s all good. But that is not where he is going.

He’s saying I don’t even listen or care what “I” think of myself. What? You can’t be serious.

Everybody knows that we shouldn’t care what anyone else thinks about us. It’s what “WE” think that really matters. As long as we are OK with ourselves then all is good. The only thing that should concern me is what I think about me.

Counselors tell us: “Decide who you want to be and then be it” because it only matters what you think about yourself.

If someone in our world has low self esteem we seem to have only one way of dealing with it.

Fixing it with high self esteem. We tell them that they need to see that they are a great person, they need to see how wonderful they are. We tell them to look at all the great things they have accomplished. They ned to stop worrying about what people say about them. We tell them they need to set their own standards and accomplish themand make their own evaluation of themselves.

Paul’s approach couldn’t be more different.

He says “I don’t care what YOU think…. AND I don’t care what I think.I have a very low opinion of your opinion of me and…I have a very low opinion of my opinion of me.

Look at verse 4.

“My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent”

You see, if you set your own standards … it’s a trap.

Boosting our own self esteem by living up to our own standards or someone else’s sounds like a great solution.

But it does not deliver. It cant.

I can’t live up to my parents’ standards and that makes me feel terrible.I can’t live up to your standards and that makes me feel terrible.I cant live up to society’s standards and that makes me feel terrible.

So I set my own standards but I can’t live up to them either. And that makes me feel terrible … unless I set incredibly low standards. And are low standards that solution? NO. Because then I feel terrible because I realize I am a person with really low standards. Trying to boost our self esteem by trying to live up to our own standard or someone else’s is a trap … not an answer

So now we start to see where Paul finds that sense of self, that sense of identity…. And He seems to go way off into territory that we know nothing about. Think about this.

Paul was a man of amazing stature and accomplishment. He was probably on of the top 10 most influential leaders in the history of the human race. He had every reason to have High Self Esteem yet in 1 Tim he says he is the “chief of all sinners”. He says he’s the worst.

We’re not used to this kind of behavior are we?

If you are good at something… you know it. You act like it. It defines you. We’re not used to someone being totally honest and totally aware of all their flaws…but then still has incredible poise and confidence.

We have difficulty doing this don’t we?

It’s because we are constantly judging ourselves.Paul doesn’t do that.

He doesn’t let the Corinthians judge him and he won’t judge himself…

He is saying that he knows about his sins but he doesn’t connect them to himself and his identity. His sins and his identity are not connected. He will not let a sin destroy his sense of identity.

He also does not see an accomplishment and congratulate himself.

He sees all kinds of sins in himself and all kinds of accomplishments too-but he refuses to connect them with himself or his identity. He knows he’s the chief of all sinners, buthe won’t let that stop him from doing the things that he is called to do.

I could not be more different from this guy Paul.

When I think of myself as bad… I don’t have any confidence. If I think for myself as a sinner,as someone filled with lust and anger and greed and all the things Paul says he’s filled with, I have no confidence because I’m judging myself constantly.

We set our standards and we condemn ourselves.

Our ego will never be satisfied this way.

Paul’s bringing us to new territory.

He’s not puffed up… he’s filled up. He’s not thinking about himself anymore.

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity says

If we were to meet a truly humble person, we would never come away from meeting them thinking they were humble. They would not be always telling us they were a nobody (because a person who keeps saying they’re a nobody is actually a self obsessed person). The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel-humble person is how much the seemed to be totally interested in us.

Because the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or less of myself, it is thinking of myself…. Less.

Gospel humility is not needing to think about me.

Not needing to connect things to me. It ends thought such as… I’m here with these people. Does that make me look good? Do I want to be here? I stop connecting every experience, every conversation with myself. I stop thinking about myself.

Tim Keller calls it “The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness”

This is not high or low self esteem. This is not self hating or self loving… but self forgetting.

It treats our ego like…. the toes on our feet. It just works. It doesn’t draw attention to itself. The toes just work.

Here is a test: (I’ve failed this test a million times)

The self forgetful person isn’t hurt particularly badly by criticism.It won’t devastate them, won’t keep them up late… won’t bother them.

Why? Because the person who would be hurt is putting too much value on what other people think.

The world then tells us to deal with this by saying

Who cares what they think? I know what I think. Who cares what those idiots think? It doesn’t bother me.

If you are self forgetful your ego is not puffed up but filled up.

And criticism doesn’t hurt. You listen and see it as an opportunity to change. Sound idealistic?The more we know Jesus, the more we want to change.

Wouldn’t it be great to be a person who does not heed honor- nor is afraid of it?

Someone who does not lust for recognition –nor is frightened to death of it?

Wouldn’t it be great to look in a mirror and not admire yourself, but not cringe either?

Or wouldn’t you like to be free of the torment of regret?

I’m not this guy… but if we keep going the direction Paul is going, we could start to enjoy the things that are not about me in this life. How cool is that? Not thinking more or less of myself… just thinking of myself…. Less.

What we are all looking for… Paul, Madonna, you and me… is an ultimate verdict. An ultimate verdict that says we are important and valuable.

We look for this everyday in all our situations and relationships.

And everyday we are on trial. We put ourselves back in the courtroom.Our human identity puts us back on trial every single day. It’s how we work.

Everything we do is providing evidence for the prosecution or the defense. Some days we feel we are winning the trial and other days… we are losing.

But Paul has figured out the secret.

For him the trial is over. Because that ultimate verdict is in.

He knows they can’t justify him and he knows he can’t justify himself.

He says that it is the Lord who judges him… it is only His opinion that counts.

Do you know that it is only in the gospel of Jesus Christ that you get the verdict before the performance?

For every other religion or philosophy of living …the verdict comes after the performance.

In Christianity, the moment we believe, He adopts us into His family.

And God says to us… you are my child in whom I am well pleased.

You see, our verdict is in. And now I perform based on the verdict.

I don’t have to do things to impress Him or build up my relationship with him. I don’t have to do things to make me look good. I can do things for the joy of doing them. I can help people … not to feel better about myself and not so I can fill up the emptiness.

Maybe you know this… Maybe you don’t.

In many ways, this is great news for me today.No matter how many times I’m told this…I still like to put myself back in the courtroom.

This is why we have to re-live the gospel every day…

We have to hear it and speak it and re live it over and over and over again. We have to constantly ask ourselves… “what am I doing back in the courtroom?”

Like Paul we can say… I don’t care what you think… I don’t even care what I think… I only care what the Lord thinks.

And the Lord said

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and YOU are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.

Let’s live our lives out of that!