What does it look like to live and grow in the gospel? In our passage today, Paul shows us that mature Christians willingly lay down personal rights and suffer unjustly. And we respond with love, grace, kindness, and compassion to everyone, especially those who oppress or persecute us so that our lives will evidence the message of the cross that we proclaim.
Notice how Paul teaches this:
“You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. 9 Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.10 Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. 11 Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. 12 We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. 13 We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment”
1 Corinthians 4:8-13 NLT
Question 1. Please list every way in which Paul describes himself and the other apostles:
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Here we see how Paul is living out the message of the cross. His self-descriptions are cross-descriptions. Wasn’t Jesus treated as a “prisoner of war” when He was “condemned to die”? Wasn’t Jesus a “spectacle to the entire world”? Didn’t He look like a fool as He hung and bled for us, as He purposefully died to His own rights to rescue us from sin? Didn’t He look weak, and wasn’t He ridiculed? Wasn’t He hungry and thirsty, cold and beaten? Didn’t He bless those who cursed Him, and wasn’t He patient with those who abused Him? Wasn’t He treated like garbage, taken out the gates of Jerusalem to the city dump so that we could be treated as treasures, received into the gates of glory in heaven?
God calls every believer to receive the cross as such good news that it changes our lives! As we immerse ourselves in the cross and take our stand on it (1 Corinthians 15:1), we will look, sound, and feel different. Jesus proved His dedication to us on the cross, and now “Our dedication to Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:10) moves us to take up our cross and follow Him.
“Our dedication to Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:10) is the motivation behind 2 Corinthians 4:10, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you” (2 Corinthians 4:10-12). As CS Lewis said, “Die before you die, there is no chance after.”
If you want to live and grow in the gospel, ask yourself these questions:
Am I willing to let my dedication to Christ make me look like a fool (1 Corinthians 4:10)?
Am I willing, even glad, to surrender my rights so that others might see the message of the cross in my life?
Am I willing to suffer, go to any lengths, to show the love of Jesus to one who might become His treasure through faith in the gospel?
Question 2. How would you answer the three self-assessment questions listed in this lesson? Please share.
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If you cannot answer yes to the three personal evaluation questions, come to the cross of Christ, look up, see His heart of love and His sacrifice for you. Ask Jesus to grow your faith so that you can follow Him.
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