How Grace Transforms The Church

1. How Grace Transforms The Church

2. 1 Corinthians 4:1—16 becoming spiritual adultspart #3the marks of a true servant

3. 4:1 Let people regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 It is necessary for stewards to be trustworthy.

4. 4:1 Let people regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2It is necessary for stewards to be trustworthy. marks of a true servant trustworthy

5. 4:1 Let people regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2It is necessary for stewards to be trustworthy. marks of a true servant trustworthy • ability vs. availability

6. 4:1 Let people regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 It is necessary for stewards to be trustworthy. marks of a true servant trustworthy • ability vs. availability • faithful to the Word

7. 4:1 Let people regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 It is necessary for stewards to be trustworthy. marks of a true servant trustworthy • ability vs. availability • faithful to the Word • Be diligent to present yourself to God as a worker he approves, one who accurately handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

8. 4:3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord who will examine. 5 So don’t make judgments about anyone before the Lord returns. He will bring our darkest secrets to light and reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.

9. 4:3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord who will examine. 5 So don’t make judgments about anyone before the Lord returns. He will bring our darkest secrets to light and reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. marks of a true servant integrity

10. 4:3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord who will examine. 5 So don’t make judgments about anyone before the Lord returns. He will bring our darkest secrets to light and reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. marks of a true servant integrity • pleasing people vs. pleasing God

11. 4:3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord who will examine. 5 So don’t make judgments about anyone before the Lord returns. He will bring our darkest secrets to light and reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. marks of a true servant integrity • pleasing people vs. pleasing God • peril of people-pleasing

12. 4:3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord who will examine. 5 So don’t make judgments about anyone before the Lord returns. He will bring our darkest secrets to light and reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. marks of a true servant integrity • pleasing people vs. pleasing God • peril of people-pleasing • someone else’s approval is a trap!

13. 4:3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord who will examine. 5 So don’t make judgments about anyone before the Lord returns. He will bring our darkest secrets to light and reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. marks of a true servant integrity Am I seeking the favor of people or of God? Am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10

14. 4:3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord who will examine. 5 So don’t make judgments about anyone before the Lord returns. He will bring our darkest secrets to light and reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. marks of a true servant integrity • pleasing people vs. pleasing God • peril of people-pleasing • someone else’s approval is a trap! • being “true to yourself”?

15. 4:4My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord who will examine. 5 So don’t make judgments about anyone before the Lord returns. He will bring our darkest secrets to light and reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. marks of a true servant integrity • pleasing people vs. pleasing God • peril of people-pleasing • living before the “audience of One”

16. 4:7 What gives you the right to judge between God’s servants? What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? And if everything you have is from God, why do you boast as thought it were not a gift?

17. 4:7 What gives you the right to judge between God’s servants? What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? And if everything you have is from God, why do you boast as thought it were not a gift? marks of a true servant gratitude

18. 4:7 What gives you the right to judge between God’s servants? What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? And if everything you have is from God, why do you boast as thought it were not a gift? marks of a true servant gratitude • a reality check to our pride

19. 4:7 What gives you the right to judge between God’s servants? What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? And if everything you have is from God, why do you boast as thought it were not a gift? marks of a true servant gratitude • a reality check to our pride • lacking gratitude distorts self understanding

20. Throughout the centuries there were men [of virtue] who took first steps down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision. • Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. • From the wheel to the sky-scraper, everything we need and everything we have comes from one attribute of man—the function of his reasoning mind. • —Ayn Rand 4:7 What gives you the right to judge between God’s servants? What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? And if everything you have is from God, why do you boast as thought it were not a gift?

21. 4:7 What gives you the right to judge between God’s servants? What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? And if everything you have is from God, why do you boast as thought it were not a gift? marks of a true servant gratitude • a reality check to our pride • lacking gratitude destroys relationships, while gratitude cultivates closeness & objectivity

22. 4:7 What gives you the right to judge between God’s servants? What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? And if everything you have is from God, why do you boast as thought it were not a gift? marks of a true servant gratitude • a reality check to our pride • lacking gratitude creates spiritual blindness—false and suspicious views of God

23. 4:7 What gives you the right to judge between God’s servants? What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? And if everything you have is from God, why do you boast as thought it were not a gift? marks of a true servant gratitude • a reality check to our pride • practice of gratitude • draws you close to God & awakens spiritual passion

24. 4:8 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 kings so we could reign 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.

25. 4:10 Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise! 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 without a home. 12 We work wearily with our hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us and are patient with those who abuse us.

26. 4:13 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.

27. 4:14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as beloved children. 15 For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. I became your father in Christ when I taught you the Good News. 16 So I urge you to imitate me.

28. 4:9 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. marks of a true servant example of sacrificial humility

29. 4:9 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. marks of a true servant example of sacrificial humility • ultimate paradox

30. 4:9 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. marks of a true servant example of sacrificial humility • ultimate paradox • Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his live for my sake, will save it. Luke 9:24

31. 4:9 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. marks of a true servant example of sacrificial humility • ultimate paradox • world’s verdict & God’s verdict

32. Thank God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of God in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. • 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 4:9 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.

33. sweet picture of a vital spiritual community

34. sweet picture of a vital spiritual community • why not join in tonight!

35. sweet picture of a vital spiritual community • why not join in tonight! • where is God nudging you to mature as a servant of Christ?