1 CORINTHIANS 4:1-6 LEARN NOT TO THINK BEYOND WHAT IS WRITTEN2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Corinthians 4:1-6 Learn Not To Think Beyond What Is Written

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020.

Well, so far in 1 Corinthians, up through chapter 4 here, Paul has primarily been focused on the issue of divisions and contentions within the body of Christ. And he introduces that in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. He got a report back from Chloe's household about the separations and the issues that were happening within the church. And so he began to address those in chapter 1, and he kind of hit some

a few different tangents along the way, but chapters one through four really all center around this idea of divisions and contentions that were happening over the, you know,

favoring of one apostle over another and they were circling around and saying I'm of Paul and others would say no no I'm of Apollos and it wasn't just a matter of preference of you know style of teaching but they were actually battling each other and causing hurts and issues within the church around these different teachers that had influenced the church.

Well, here in chapter 4, Paul really begins to wrap up this subject. And as he heads on into chapter 5, he's going to change the subject and begin to deal with other things entirely. But here he kind of wraps it up and he sums it up in verses 1 through 6 nicely for us to kind of give us some last thoughts to consider on this matter. Now, as we look at verses 1 through 6, I've titled the message, Learn Not to Think Beyond What is Written. Learn not to think beyond

beyond what is written. It comes from verse 6. He says, And that phrase, that line really stuck out as I was reading through this chapter this week.

Paul wanted the Corinthians to learn not to think beyond what is written. And yet, as I, you know, wrote that down and began to think about that, it's a little bit of a challenging statement because it kind of sounds like, check your brain at the door, just believe what I'm telling you, and don't think about it yourself, right? But that's not what Paul is saying, and that's not what I would suggest to you this morning. But at the same time, I would suggest that there is a real need for us to learn not to think beyond

beyond what is written another way to say that is to think biblically and that is a real need for us today in the corinthian church if they were thinking biblically they would not be having the divisions and contentions that they were having and that's the point that paul is making here

And for us today, there's a lot of divisions, not necessarily between us, you know, these people right here, you know, you could look at and see all the divisions, you know, you know, the middle aisle doesn't count as a division. Okay, that's just social distancing.

But within the body of Christ at large and, you know, the Christians as a whole, there is a lot of division and there is a lot of contention. There is a lot of, you know, taking sides on different things and standing against each other in different ways. And as we look at the climate, as we look at the things that are happening, it's not difficult to imagine more confusing days ahead. And that's a strategy of Satan to bring confusion.

to bring distraction from the truth, to bring contention between us, to separate us and divide us and keep us apart. Well, if the Corinthians were thinking biblically, they wouldn't have those contentions. And I would suggest that it would be good for us as well. If we think biblically, it will break down those contentions, those separations, those barriers that divide us with members of the body of Christ.

Pastor David Guzik says, Paul hopes in writing this, in his writing, it will help the Corinthian Christians to learn to keep...

I'm sorry, to learn to keep their thinking biblically and not to use standards beyond the word of God to judge him or the other apostles. You see, they weren't thinking biblically. As they're comparing Paul and Apollos and Cephas and all of these things, they're not thinking biblically. They're coming up with their own standards. They're using different standards than what the word of God presented. And so that's how they're able to make these distinctions and kind of put these guys against each other when they're not against each other. They're on the same team.

But the issue really is not so much about Paul or Apollos or, you know, taking sides on that, but it's about their ability to judge according to what the Word of God says. And so again, this morning, we need to learn not to think beyond what is written. We're going to start in verses 1 and 2 for point number 1, and that is think about faithfulness to God. Here's what we need to start thinking about.

We need to start thinking about faithfulness to God. Paul says in verse 1 and 2 again, Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. Paul says, here's how you should consider us. You've been considering us in all kinds of different ways. You've been evaluating us and judging us and, you know, coming up with fights between us that aren't really there. Here's how you should consider us.

servants of Christ. We serve the Lord and we're stewards of the mysteries of God. A steward was a particular type of servant that managed resources for the master.

He managed the assets of the household. He made sure that food was given to the appropriate people at the appropriate time. He made sure that investments were made and that, you know, debts were paid back and all of the business dealings of the household. That was charged to the steward.

And the steward didn't own any of it. None of it was his. He used all of the master's resources and he was responsible for making sure that those were used well and wisely. And so that's what Paul says. Let us consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. We don't have any mysteries. We don't have any special knowledge ourselves. We're stewards. It's all God's truth and

that has been given to us and we just manage it. We just distribute it. We just make sure that it's handed out appropriately in the way that God has instructed us. Now Paul goes on to say in verse 2, what's required in stewards is faithfulness. What's required in stewards is that they deal well with the resources the master has given them and follow the instructions of the master.

And so Paul says the issue here is not, you know, which one has a better ministry, which one has the right ministry, which one, you know, says it the right way or the best way or which one, you know, shared the right doctrine or the issue is not, you know, your favorite. The issue is faithfulness to God. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way. The main issue is not, is Paul popular?

Or is Apollos a better preacher than Paul? The main issue is, has Paul, Apollos, and Peter been faithful to do the work assigned to them? Paul says, you're considering us and you're thinking about all kinds of things about us and our ministry to you. But what you're not thinking about is, has each one been faithful to the ministry that God has given to him? That's what's important.

That's the real thing that matters. And for you and I, not just for evaluating ministers in this way, for you and I today, it's an important thing to consider as well. We need to be thinking about faithfulness to God. We need to learn not to think beyond what is written. And what is written is that we need to be faithful to the Lord. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus talks about the importance of being faithful and wise as a steward.

It's not just the Apostle Paul who is a steward, but you and I are stewards. We have resources that the master has entrusted to us. We have time, we have energy, we have strength, we have financial resources, we have opportunities that are things that God has given to us. We're stewards. And Jesus said in Luke chapter 12, verse 43, "'Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.'"

You're going to be blessed if when the Lord comes back or when you go to be with him, the Lord finds you in a place where you are being a good steward, where you are being faithful with all that God has entrusted to you. In Matthew chapter 16 verse 27, Jesus says, "...the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and he will reward each one according to his works."

There is a reward that is there that Jesus will give to each one according to his works. It's according to the faithfulness that we have with what God has entrusted to us.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. We're all going to stand before the Lord. There is going to be an accounting, and what's going to be evaluated is not how well we dressed, not how well we made our presence on social media, not how well we did this or that, right? What's going to be evaluated is...

our faithfulness to the Lord? Were you faithful with what God gave to you? Think about faithfulness to God. As you think about faithfulness to God, one last scripture reference to consider is Hebrews chapter 4 verse 13, which tells us there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

When we stand before God and he evaluates our faithfulness, there's no hiding, there's no secrets, right? Everything is laid open and bare before him. He knows the hearts, the motivations, every detail about the things that we did and why we did them. Think about faithfulness to God. Moving on to verse 3, we get the second point to consider this morning, and that is think little about what others think.

So while we need to think about God and faithfulness to him and what he says, we also need to learn to not think so much about what other people think. In verse 3, he says, but with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. And so Paul says, look, you guys have all these thoughts about me and opinions about me, and you guys are, you know, fighting on my behalf when I never asked you to for things that, you know, I'm not actually fighting about.

He says, as for me, you know, it's a small thing that I should be judged by you. It's not a big deal. You have this opinion. Okay, so what? I don't count that highly, Paul is saying. That's not an important thing to me. It's a small thing that I should be judged by you. It's something that we need to learn how to do. Sometimes we can be, you know, really bothered by other people's opinions of us. But we need to learn to think little about what others think.

Now, we can take this too far and ignore, you know, accountability and ignore, you know, the body of Christ that God has established and gathered us together, right? There is the place for God to use other people in our lives. At the same time, we need to be careful that that doesn't override the first point, and that is faithfulness to God, that we pay more attention to him than what other people say, right?

That faithfulness to God precedes the opinions of others, that we seek to and look to be faithful to God above all else. Jesus put it this way in Luke chapter 12, verse 4 and 5. He says, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he is killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him.

That's another way of Jesus saying, think about faithfulness to God. Yeah, you can be really swayed by the opinions of others out of fear or desire for notoriety or popularity or esteem or whatever it might be. But Jesus says, your focus is in the wrong place. You need to be thinking about God because you're going to stand before God. Think about faithfulness to him and think little about what others think. Proverbs chapter 29 verse 25 says that the fear of man brings a snare.

but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. When our lives are dictated by the fear of what others think, it's a snare, it's a trap. We're going to find ourselves entangled and caught up. But if we will fear the Lord and trust in the Lord, we shall be safe. Well, still here in verse 3, but also moving on to verse 4 for point number 3. Point 3 is think little about what you think.

So we need to think about faithfulness to God. We need to think little about what other people think, but also I need to learn to think little about what I think. What I think, usually I don't think a little about. I think a lot about what I think because I think it and I'm pretty sure I'm right. But Paul says in verse three, with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.

For I know of nothing against myself, yet I'm not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. Here the Apostle Paul says, okay, you're thinking these things about me. You've come to these conclusions and you've decided this about me. I'm not too interested in that. That doesn't bother me one way or another. He says, in fact, you know, I can't even come to a real solid conclusion about my own self. I don't even judge myself. Paul says, I don't know of anything against myself.

He says, look, I've got a clean conscience. I don't know of anything that, you know, I've walked away from the Lord on. I don't know of anything where I've been unfaithful to the Lord. But he says, I'm not justified by this. To stand righteous before God is not about, you know, whether you have a clean conscience or not. It's not about if you can remember, you know, anything that you've done wrong. The Lord is the judge and he knows all the things that are going on. He says, it's the Lord who judges me.

I'm not made right with God. I'm not justified by my clean conscience. It's the Lord who judges me. I can't judge myself because I don't have all the information. I don't have all the facts yet. I don't even know my own heart, right? In Jeremiah chapter 17, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it? And God says, I do. I search the heart. I test the mind.

even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. And that takes us back to point number one, think about faithfulness to God. You don't know your own heart. I don't know my own heart. I need to think little, less about what I think, have a less esteem of myself because I don't know my own heart. I don't know all the inner workings and the sinful motivations and the things that are happening. I need to think more about what does the Lord say?

He's the one who searches the heart. We can easily get caught up in this real impressed with ourselves, you know, that we think we're great. Or we can go the other way and say, boy, I'm just terrible and just be overwhelmed with how little we think of ourselves. But thinking little about what I think isn't...

being mean to myself and you know dissing myself and talking down to my about myself thinking little about what i think is it doesn't matter what i think god says i'm his child god says he loves me god says i'm special right like it what matters is what god says god says i'm right with him even if i don't feel right with him god says i'm right with him so i'm going to think little about what i think and think a lot about what he says and value that more than my own opinion

And so whether we are glorifying ourselves or the opposite of glorifying ourselves, whatever that is, it's not about what I think. It's not about what conclusions I come to. It's about what does the Lord say? And so that brings us to point number four, and that is think about what the Lord thinks. Think about what the Lord thinks. Verse four and five, "'For I know nothing against myself, "'yet I'm not justified by this, "'but he who judges me is the Lord.'"

Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God. Again, Paul says, I don't know about anything about myself or against myself, but the Lord judges me and he knows. Think about what the Lord thinks. And you know, the great thing about the Lord is he's told us what he thinks. He wrote it all down for us and we have the scriptures before us.

So we can learn. What does God think about marriage? What does God think about difficulties between people? What does God think about life and death? What does God think about this issue or that issue? And we can learn what God thinks. We can consider what God says. There's a lot that we don't know about our own selves and about the hearts of others, but there's a lot that we do know about

about what God thinks. And so we can dig into the word of God and explore and consider and uncover what it is that God thinks. But here Paul is saying we need to be careful not to judge anything before the time. Before which time? Before the time when Jesus comes back. Do you ever become convinced of something before all the facts come in? Has that ever happened to you ever in your life? No? Probably not ever, right? No. You've always waited for all the facts to come in, right? No. No.

The proverb says the first one to plead his case seems right until his neighbor comes and questions him, right? Like it's so easy for us to become convinced of things too soon before we have all the information. And that's what Paul is saying here. Look, you're judging Apollos and Paul and Peter. You're judging their ministries. You're coming to conclusions about their ministries and you don't have all the facts. You're looking around at each other. You're coming to conclusions about each other's lives and you don't have all the information. It's too early.

It's not time yet. Pastor David Guzik puts it this way. He says, you Corinthians act like judges at athletic events, qualified to give some the trophy and to send others away as losers. But Jesus is the only judge and you are judging before the events are over. Right. Can you imagine the Olympic judges throwing up their scores before the person has actually participated in the event? Right. Or finished their event.

That that's that's what we do when we come to conclusions about others when we come to conclusions about ourselves Apart from what is written. It's too early. It's too soon. We don't have all the facts We don't have all the information therefore judge nothing before the time it's not time for that yet And when jesus comes he says look he's going to uncover everything. He's going to bring to light the hidden things And reveal the counsels of the hearts all those things

Remember, we're naked and open before the eyes, you know, of whom we must give account. And then in that day, when the Lord returns, it's not just going to be him who sees all, but all things are going to be uncovered and revealed. And then he says in verse 5 that each one's praise will come from God. God will praise those who walked with him, those who were faithful to him. And so again, we need to think about faithfulness to God.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, the Corinthians who were passing judgment on Paul were actually playing God and assuming to themselves the privileges that only God has. He says, how often in my own ministry have I made this mistake? How easy it is to misread a situation and misjudge a person. Think about what the Lord thinks. It's easy for us to misread a situation.

to judge a person, to come to conclusions that are not time. It's not time for that yet. It's too early. But if we will stick to the information we do have, the written word of God, if we will stick to what the scriptures actually say, instead of assuming motivations of people's hearts and coming to conclusions about, you know, what's happening within us,

or how successful that was, right? Even if, you know, the event is over and we're like, okay, we're coming to conclusions about it. We still don't know the aftermath. We still don't know the long-term effects. It's too soon to come to those conclusions. Instead, we need to think about what the Lord thinks. And again, he's written that down for us. The Lord spoke to Joshua right at the beginning of his time in leading the children of Israel.

And he said, look, the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Joshua, you want to do well? Fill your mind, fill your heart with the things of the word of God night and day. You need to think about what the Lord thinks.

And then you'll be prosperous and successful. Well, finally, fifth point to consider found in verse six, think about the problems this solves. If we will think about what the Lord thinks and think little about what I think and think little about what others think and think about faithfulness to God, think about the problems that this will solve.

Paul says in verse 6, As I said, up to this point in 1 Corinthians, Paul has mostly been addressing the contentions and divisions that were happening between people in Corinth.

And so here, as he's kind of wrapping that subject up, he says, look, I've been saying all these things and I've transferred these things figuratively to us, talking about stewards and servants and farmers and builders. And I've been talking about all these things to help you to learn not to think beyond what is written. Because this is an issue that's dividing. This is an issue that's causing issues, contentions and divisions, right?

As each one would say, I'm of Paul or I'm of Apollos. And again, more than just a, hey, I really like when Apollos shares or you know what I mean? But it was an issue that they used to divide between people, to break relationship, to break fellowship between one another. And Paul has been saying, look, this is not right. This is an issue. This is causing harm in the body of Christ. And if you'll think biblically, that will resolve things

So many issues within the body of Christ, so many issues of division, and so many issues that we get angry at each other about and get frustrated with each other over, and so many issues that cause us to divide are resolved by us thinking about faithfulness to God and thinking less about what others think and thinking less about what I think and instead thinking about what the Lord thinks. We read through Romans chapter 14 recently, which is about the liberties in the body of Christ.

And the liberties in the body of Christ were causing people to divide whether or not you should eat meat, whether or not you should worship on this day or that day. And Paul said in Romans chapter 14 verse 4, This judging and conclusions that we come to about one another, it's not a new thing in the church today. It's something that's been going on since the beginning. But it will be resolved eventually.

If we think biblically, instead of coming to those conclusions and judging one another in those ways, well, I eat meat and I don't eat, or you eat meat and I don't eat meat. And so, you know, it's more spiritual to do this. It's more, you know, you'll be better in your relationship with God if you worship on this day instead of that day. The liberties that we have in Christ are important and valuable and different. And there's great variety. We have personal convictions that the Lord gives us.

And we are free to follow those convictions. And so we need to be careful not to think beyond what is written and hold people to standards that God has never set for everybody. There are standards that God has given to you personally that God hasn't given to everybody else. And so those are not standards for you to judge by. Don't think beyond what is written. Go back to the scriptures. Now that doesn't mean, you know, find a scripture, twist it so that then you can apply it to people. You know, be faithful in your studying of the word of God.

The problems solved by not thinking beyond what is written. It's a long list. We've just been focusing on the divisions and contentions within the body of Christ because that's what Paul's been focusing on here in 1 Corinthians. But when we don't know how to think biblically, it sets us on a bad foundation. Remember Jesus in Luke chapter 6, he gives the parable of the wise and the foolish builder. He says, build your house upon the rock.

That is to hear the words of the Lord and put them into practice. Learn how to think according to what the Lord says, according to what the scriptures declare. And you'll build your house upon a strong foundation. A weak foundation in a home doesn't just cause cracks and divisions. It causes all kinds of problems and it leads to greater and greater damage. But if we'll have a solid foundation and get back to the scriptures as our foundation to not think beyond what is written and

but to use the word of god as the standard by which we think as the standard by which we judge by the as the standard by which we come to conclusions we'll set ourselves on a strong foundation again it's a strategy of satan to bring confusion to distract from the truth to divide us against one another let's learn to think biblically it's a real need for us today

There's more confusing days ahead. You thought these last couple months were confusing? There's more confusing days ahead. There's a greater need for us to be rooted and grounded in the word of God, to learn to not think beyond what is written, to protect us as a body, to protect you as an individual, to keep us in the place where God wants us to be. I want to finish by reading a short exhortation from the Apostle Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3.

He gives this exhortation to Timothy, starting in verse 10. He says,

but evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ. All scripture is given by inspiration of God.

is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for us as imposters and deceivers grow worse and worse, that you would help us to learn to use your word to evaluate all of our thoughts, all of our attitudes, all of our decisions, and all of our actions. And Lord, help us

to learn, to not think beyond what is written, but to tie all those things back to what you teach us in your word. Lord, you'll keep us centered. You'll keep us grounded. You'll keep the truth clear as we dig deep and lay our foundation upon the rock. And so I pray that you would teach us that, Lord. Help us to hold fast to you and what you say. And Lord, it's so easy to get caught up in what others say and their opinions and what they think and what others are doing. And

Lord, they're not the standard. We don't know all of the information yet. Help us to think less of what others think and to think less about even what we ourselves think. But Lord, may your thoughts be magnified, be lifted up, be held high in our hearts and minds. Lord, that we might hold fast to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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