Leaders are important

1 Cor 4

Rev. Peter R Green, Sunday morning, 12 Oct, 2008
Partly based on a sermon by Pastor Kenneth Humphries, Cookstown Baptist Church, Ulster

WE WERE discussing the cost of mission in Marrickville. One of our then deacons said, “We don’t want to put more money into local mission, because that’s what we pay the pastor for.”

He was wrong, but isn’t it typical? We Baptists talk about every member ministry, but, when it comes to the crunch, even we still think that there is a “professional” ministry who should do the work while the “ordinary Christians” listen to sermons and pay the pastor’s stipend. What a crippled church, what a church of shirkers, we create as we depend on pastors to do the spiritual work!

Make sure your view is balanced. God has called every one of us into a ministry, and the pastor is a very important part of the entire ministry of the church. But the pastor is only a part of the church, not the whole thing.

In fact, Jesus gives apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor–teachers as gifts to the Church so that we can work effectively for him.

Eph 4:8 –12 may seem a bit distant from 1 Cor 4, but there are some clear overlaps.

8 This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
  he led captives in his train
  and gave gifts to men.”

In verse 11, Paul continues

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

You can see what all these spiritual gifts are about. It’s in verse 12. They are given

12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

In 1 Corinthians 4, we see Paul looking at himself and at Apollos, and drawing universal principles out of their ministries.

It doesn’t matter: apostles like Paul, pastor–teachers like Paul’s companion, Timothy — these are important ministry gifts to the church, and they must be recognised if the church is to be truly effective.

I am shy about discussing ministry. I don’t want to focus on myself. But we have to hear what the Bible says, and it does reveal that ministry in the church is the highest of privileges, and a task of the greatest eternal significance under Christ.

Churches have leaders because we need oversight, people who understand the big picture. So, even with every–member ministry someone still has to have a coordinating role.

Of course, you all know how many ministers tire out or burn out. And there was a time a few years ago when it seemed that every second pastor had a stroke or a heart attacks — if he wasn’t having an affair with the youth leader.

Why is this? A church not far from us — not a Baptist one — called a pastor saying that they were really determined to change.

The pastor moved the communion table and they sacked him. It’s no wonder many give up!

There is a church not far away which is run by lay leaders, and it has been stuck in the same place for nearly 10 years, not because those leaders are not hard working and dedicated, but because churches need leaders who see the bigger picture and know how to integrate all the different individual ministries.

So Paul shows us in this letter why leadership ministries are so vital to a church.

The Leader’s Passion (v14-15).

He writes:

 1COR 4:14 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.

Paul has to tell the Corinthians off. They think they are so wonderful, but they have missed the really important things. Paul says,

 1COR 4:8 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!

Paul says this is directly opposite to the experience of the true apostles.

10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honoured, we are dishonoured! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.

In fact, Paul felt that most of the world — including some of the Corinthians — saw the apostles as like scum from a filthy pot, as repulsive as the lumps in a septic tank, to paraphrase the Greek.

I have to confess that, in many respects, our church is pretty good with leadership. But it is so easy to fall into the attitude that pastors are unimportant, not of as much value as the business people and the professionals in the church. It might be a general disrespect for the pastor’s opinion, but it can also show up in lack of care for the pastor and his family. And that is something we always must consider.

So, when Paul calls the Corinthians his “beloved sons” and calls himself a “father” to them, he reveals one of the main goals of being a Christian leader — the goal of building a family, a community centred on Christ.

Paul’s main model for community is a strong, caring family. That’s what a good community is like.

To build community can mean discipline as well as support. When I was younger, pastors tended to tell people what to do, no questions accepted. Then the trend turned to caring, supportive pastors. We need both. I am in the generation which wasn’t quite sure where to put the emphasis.

Pastors who are younger than I am are often more balanced than even my generation was.

When Paul describes himself as a father to the Corinthians, he is saying that he introduced them to Christ, and, in that way, became their father. But he also means that he sees his task as being to build them into a family of people growing up to be like himself.

He wanted to be to them like Elijah was to Elisha. He wanted his own mantle to fall on them so that they would also become leaders just like he himself was.

In the times when Paul was writing, the church desperately needed good leaders, just to get established.

Is today any different? When the Church is faced with such opposition as we experience today, whether it is the persecution found around the world or the efforts of atheists to suppress all religious expression, we need sound leaders. Because remember: as we have seen for several weeks, it is ultimately not wisdom which wins the battle, but godliness, grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

And remember, too, that the two chief lessons for the Corinthians are that they must do nothing to break down community or to hinder the gospel.

Do you remember what Paul told the Ephesians? Apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor teachers do one thing; they equip the saints so that they can serve the world in the name of Jesus and build up the church.

My job is equipping you: your jobs are to serve in Jesus name and to build up the church.

Never think you can’t do it. It doesn’t take might. It doesn’t take human power. It takes holiness and grace and the Spirit of God, because you — and I — were created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Paul gives the Corinthians a serve, but not to shame them. What does shame achieve? It weakens some and angers others. This is a warning. Paul wanted them to grow up in Christ, to become his own worthy successors in God’s work, to have minds filled with truths to create a change in their way of life.

So if I ever correct and warn you, and it’s uncomfortable, before you decide to give me a pension and a ticket to a far away place, remember that is my role. It is not always possible to equip or to mend without cutting away damaged and useless bits.

In Numbers 16:23-35 we meet Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the rebels against Moses.

Moses told the Israelites to stand clear of the tents where these three men and their families lived. The rebels and their families came out of the tents, and the ground opened beneath their feet and swallowed them up.

God takes leadership seriously! Let’s make sure we do, too!

The Leader’s Heart (v16, 17)

Paul writes,

16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I am sending 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.

Does Paul sound arrogant or boastful? You could understand him in that way. But remember the things he told the Corinthians he had experienced as he pursued his goal of effective ministry. He has faced hardship and suffering in his quest to serve Jesus and his church.

Is there a better example to follow?

I have said that, through the years I have been here, I have preached through my crises. I am no Paul.

But here, too, I believe I have provided a model, a model of someone who gets up and starts over again, a model of someone who perseveres. I have many great weaknesses, and I don’t particularly want you to mimic those; but whatever I have that is helpful, whatever I have that reminds you in any little way of Jesus — that is my gift to you.

Someone said to me recently that my children must have been blessed to have a father like me. I don’t know that I particularly blessed my children. But I do know that other people often think of me as a kind of substitute father.

Similarly, many people think of Neph as a Kuya, as a big brother. Gloria is everyone’s aunt. We all have roles in making this church a true family of God. Whatever is of good report in any of us, mimic it and grow through it!

Of course, Paul had to confront arrogant resistance to his authority. There were some in the church who thought they knew better than Paul and could do as they liked. And Paul warned them that he would not be easy on them when he returned.

He will not judge them by their words, but on whether there is evidence that their faith is real. He will look for evidence of God’s power at work in them, not for evidence of their ability to sound good.

This raises an important issue for all of us, myself included. How much power, how much spiritual power, do we really manifest? Where is the evidence of spiritual lives?

By their fruit you shall know them,

said Jesus

You may be the captain of a powerful battleship, but when the lights ahead are a lighthouse, it is not the lighthouse which will have to alter course to avoid a collision!

It doesn’t matter who else has a good plan for you to follow: there is only one light which will keep you safe in the wildest of storms. And that is where power lies: when we steer the course directed by the captain of our souls.

So Paul points to himself as a model Christian, a pattern for others to follow if they would be believers. As Christ reflects God, Paul reflects Christ. It didn’t matter that some scorned him. It was not a matter of words, but of actions springing from a heart of faith. Some of the Corinthians despised Paul, but he wasn’t boasting: he was testifying to the truth.

Any of us can testify to the truth if we are walking daily by the Saviour’s side.

Robert Murray McCheyne wrote, “It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”

Paul claims to be just such a minister. The Kingdom of God is not just words: it is power. Holy leaders produce a holy people.

You see, Paul wants the whole church to live a life-style that will display unity. Why? Because its only in that environment that God can bless.

PS 133:1 How good and pleasant it is
  when brothers live together in unity!

 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
  running down on the beard,
 running down on Aaron’s beard,
  down upon the collar of his robes.

 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
  were falling on Mount Zion.
 For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
  even life forevermore.

The leader’s preaching (V17.)

As we already saw, Paul sends Timothy to remind them of the fact that he always teaches the Word of God in every church. Paul doesn’t single out the Corinthian church for powerful teaching and preaching. This is how it’s to be carried out in every church.

The Corinthians need to understand that Timothy comes with full authority. It is not formal authority, but it is the authority which comes from knowing Paul’s own teaching and preaching.

Paul was a man with confidence in God’s power — and in the leader he had chosen to help rebuild the Corinthian church.

Paul was commited to God’s truth; he was a commissioned by God’s will; he was compelled by God’s knowledge!

His one goal in life was to preach the Word of God wherever and whenever he could. And there was a very simple reason: he has been commanded from the Scriptures.

As we read in 2 Tim. 4:2-4.

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Whether preaching to the lost or to the saints, all you are called to do is preach the Word of God.

Not that any of us will get off scot free. There will always be critics, as Paul himself discovered in Corinth.

Conclusion.

We pastors, we leaders, have to preach. Sometimes it will be comforting, sometimes it will be discomfitting. It depends on what you need. God will lay it on my heart. Depend on him to bring to you what he wants you to hear. Some Corinthian Christians didn’t like anythuing they heard from Paul: he was too straight with them.

And pray for those who labour among you — Neph, I, or any of those who lead. Our goal is that we all should grow together in effective ministry according to Christ’s pattern. Pray for us and you pray for your own growth. AMEN.

© Peter R. Green 2008. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)