Christian Leadership That Pleases the Lord

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 3:18, “Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.” (1 Corinthians 3:18 – 4:13)

This is the Word of the Lord.

Immovable Leaders

Well, good morning everyone. It is so wonderful to be together as we look at God’s Word. The theme for this synod is “Be steadfast, immovable, in the work of the Lord.” As I was thinking about “Be steadfast and immovable in the work of the Lord,” I thought, what are some of the things that makes us to be unsettled as Christians? What are the things that makes us to be movable from the work of the Lord?

In recent past, leadership tends to be some of those things. We are seeing more and more books coming out about people’s hurt in church, how the church hurt me, where many people’s faith has been destroyed by the place where they are supposed to go to and be fed. We have seen scandals coming out from the church; scandals that have caused people to say, “What is really going on here?”

Since 2014, we have seen how some leading Christians in the world that we looked up to, that we followed, have actually brought disrepute to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some of us have seen or at least listened to “The rise and fall of Mars Hill,” a podcast that chronicled the leadership style of Mark Driscoll that led to the church’s downfall. Some of us have seen some of the leadership gurus, such as Bill Hybels Ministries, brought to an end. Some of us have seen people like we looked up to, Steve Timmins who was removed from Acts 29 because of the accusations of abusive leadership.

These are some of the scandals that have brought the name of the Lord to disrepute.

But what I’ve seen though in most people in literature, they tend to blame these leaders. And then, of course in the areas of moral failure we should blame them. But I feel like no one is really approaching, taking the blame to the church because, after all, it is us, the church, who made them our leaders. After all, it is us, as a church, who put them on pedestals and listened to them. After all, it is us as a church that paid for their private jet, some of them.

I wish I could get the private jet but I doubt REACH has the money.

How To Regard Christian Leaders

You see, the problem we have as a church is how we are to see Christian leaders. How are we to regard them?

Now Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 4:1, he tells us how we are to view Christian leaders. He said, “This is how one should regard us; as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”

I’m not sure if you have really put that in your CV. And my prayer this morning is that as we go through the text of 1 Corinthians, God will be at work in our hearts, in our lives, that will have the kind of leadership that pleases the Lord. And that’s why I’ve titled this talk “A leadership that pleases to the Lord.”

In coming up with this title, I was actually influenced by verse 5 of chapter 4 which talks about the time when those who serve the Lord will receive their commendation from the Lord. Wouldn’t that be wonderful as a leader, on that day when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, he says to you, “Well done, you faithful and good servant.” (Matthew 25:21)

You know, when you read the gospel though, there also, when the Lord returns, he’s going to say to some, some will go there with their CVs, “Lord didn’t we do these things in your name?” And the Lord says, “I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:23)

So, how can we be the kind of leaders that actually are going to receive that commendation from the Lord? And this is what we are going to look at this morning. But before we do that, please join me in a word of prayer as we ask God to help us.

Lord Jesus, we give you thanks that you are a speaking God. And Lord, we give you thanks for your Word that we could read. Lord, please help me to explain your Word faithfully and clearly. Lord, I pray that you’ll be at work in our hearts, minds and souls. Please Lord, help us to be the leaders that are approved by you, who are faithful to you and you alone. Now, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, our Lord and Redeemer, amen.

Context Of Corinthians

Now before we look at our text this morning, it is important that we do a little bit of a recap of what’s happening in 1st Corinthians so far. So some of you, you remember literally, context. I hope you still do that in your sermons when you preach because the text out of context can be a pretext. So let’s look at what has been happening in 1st Corinthians so far.

You see, 1 Corinthians 1:10 to chapter 4:21 form a part of one sustained argument by Paul, where the Apostle Paul has been dealing with the issues of factionalism within the church. The church in Corinth is plagued by factionalism. You see, Paul is in Ephesus and he received visitors from Chloe’s people. And these visitors from Chloe’s people say to Paul, “Hey Paul, you know, after you left…” Imagine, you planted this church. You stay there for a year and a half, and after you planted the church, what kind of news will you like to receive?

Well, Paul received news, “Hey man, after you left and we are having quarrelling, we are having factionalism. Some people say, “I belong to Paul.” Others say, “I belong to Apollos.” And we see that actually in 1 Corinthians 1:12. The NIV is not helpful in that it says, “Some say, “I follow Paul. I follow Apollos.”” Actually the word there is actually, “Some say, “I belong to Paul. I belong to Apollos. Another says, still another says, “I belong to Cephas, to Cephas. Still another says I belong to Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:12)

Is it not worth it though, to realize that the issue of this division is not theology – it’s personality cult, something that the church continues to struggle with to this day. I mean, many church councils know when you are about to change a rector, it’s like, the first question is; is a church going to die when the previous guy goes? Because somehow Christians tend to derive their identity from their pastors not from Jesus.

And Paul this morning is going to tell us how we ought to see Christian leaders. Some people are saying, “I’m of Paul and I’m of Apollos.” Now if you look at Paul and Apollos, these guys could not be more different. In Acts chapter 18, we read about their personalities, in many ways. In Acts 18 we read about Apollos arriving in Corinth. Now Apollos is an African. This guy is charismatic. He is from Alexandria. I mean, this guy wins debates. In fact, in Acts 18:28, Apollos silences the Jews in debates, proves from Scripture Jesus is the Messiah. Now Apollos has a little bit of a problem theologically. You know charismatic people – at times theology can be a little bit wonky. He only knows about the baptism of John. And then of course a wonderful couple from the church have to take him aside and teach him the gospel more clearly.

So that’s Apollos. He’s your guy. This is Mr Church Growth. This is Mr “Let’s just go out there and stand for Jesus!” This is your guy! I mean, if you are a church council and you are looking for the rector – Apollos is the guy you choose.

Now on the other hand, there’s Mr Paul. Now Paul is a theologian. He’s also very learned. In Galatians 1:11 to tell us, he tells us his theology, he did not learn it from anyone, he was taught by Jesus himself. I mean, this guy is an academic. He wrote most of the New Testament. For the theology people among us, Paul is my guy, you know. He’s the guy you line up for to buy his books.

But Paul has a little bit of a problem. In fact, the Corinthians seem to have had a problem with him, because of this one problem: he’s kind of boring. He’s the kind of a guy when he preaches you want to apologize to the people who you invited to church. I mean, look at how it’s described in 2 Corinthians 10:10. His letters are weighty and forceful so you read his stuff, but in person, he’s unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.

Now, to make matters worse for Paul, when you read in Acts 20:9, while the guy was preaching, and Luke even puts there “talking on and on.” You know how the academics can be. And young man Eutychus falls into a deep sleep and dies. I mean, put that to your CV for a church job! “I’m such a brilliant speaker when I preach people will just fall asleep!”

So the Corinthians are like, “Anyone but Paul! I mean, He’s great, shame. Ag shame, we like his books but he should stay there.” And Paul had to deal with this factionalism in the church, these two different personalities between him and Apollos.

Worldly Wisdom Uses The Wrong Standards

Isn’t that interesting though many churches fight over the same things to this day? You have your “Mr Paul” people – the theologians. And then you have the charismatic people who need some life, man. You know so and so, he doesn’t have life in the sermon. Can you imagine the various factions? Your guy theology is brilliant, your guy’s theology is good but man, he’s boring. Now your guy is good but his theology has some shortcomings. In fact, Mark Driscoll famously said, “What is good theology if people are dying in the church?”

You see, for many people, it’s all about the charisma, while for others, is all about the theology. I remember when I was an undergrad student at GWC, some of my classmates are here, we used to have our fights. You had the John Piper guys and you had the NT Wright guys and then Facebook came up later and then there was a group of John Piper and there was a group of NT Wright. And Christians spend more time talking about these leaders than they talk about Jesus.
Christians spend more time defending these leaders than they proclaimed the gospel. So you see there’s a problem in the church that Paul has to address and that is a misunderstanding about the true nature of Christian leaders.

You see, factionalism reveals a fundamental name problem with our hearts as a people of God. Factionalism tends to happen when people use different value judgments and these judgments tend to be influenced by culture, not by the Bible or the gospel. The Christians in Corinth lived in a culture that was influenced by the Sophist philosophy. And the Sophist philosophy, they prized content. Sophists tend to prize, above content, prestige. The Sophists tend to prize organizing philosophy above frank confession. It was all about personalities.

And that’s why, for the Corinthians, Gordon Fee said their slogan was, “Anyone but Paul.” You see, Paul was a guy who was concerned that you understand the gospel properly. The Sophists prized the rhetoric above the truth. The Sophists prized money above the people and reputation above integrity.

And those are the things some of us are concerned about more. When people question you, what’s the first thing that you tend to think: my reputation. You don’t think at times like, is there a truthfulness to what people are saying about me? You see, the Sophists, the Corinthians were judging Paul using the criteria of the Sophists.

I like what the Apostle Paul does, especially if you look at verse 3 of chapter 4. Paul says, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court.” (1 Corinthians 4:3)

Wouldn’t that be nice as pastors? I mean, in reality, many of us care a lot about what our church members say. That’s why when people don’t commend you on your sermon, you kind of feel a little bit, “Was that good? You go and seek the approval of people.

But Paul was a guy who was so content in his identity in Jesus that he cared very little what people thought of him. You see, the problem at times when we lift up certain leaders, when we use worldly wisdom instead of the cross of Jesus, is that we don’t look at Christians in the right perspective.

Some of you know this already. How many people yesterday asked you, “How’s the ministry going?” But you know what they mean by “How’s the ministry going?” – they actually try to find out what’s the numbers of your church. And you know what’s behind that is whether, how financially viable your church is.

But how many of us have been asked by your fellow gospel workers, “How many people are getting saved in your church? How many marriages are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus? How many gospel growth in terms of people maturing in Jesus?” Many of us, we don’t use that as a criteria for ministry. We are stuck on the glory of numbers.

Please don’t get me wrong: numbers are not bad. Numbers are good but we should have a right regard in how we evaluate people.

Worldly Wisdom Deceives

You see, in 1 Corinthians chapter 3:18 to verse 20, Paul says, “Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” (1 Corinthians 3:18-20)

In these verses, Paul uses a first imperative and he says to the Corinthians, “Do not deceive yourselves.” The problem that many people have is self deception. Some of us tend to think in ministry we are successful because we are deceiving ourselves by focusing on the wrong things. Some of us tend to think we are a failure in ministry because I need to have a second job to sustain my family and we forgot that the guy who wrote this thing, he says, “I work hard with my bare hands.” (1 Corinthians 4:12)

Have you noticed how he ends the chapter, the verses from verse 13 on? He is despised. He does not reign. He does not have the power that everyone else has. He is being ridiculed. But many of us don’t view that as a successful ministry. You see, the problem at times we have as evangelicals is that we tend to, at times, might I even say it, value charisma more than godliness.

Phumezo sometimes reminds me, the problem sometimes with us, sometimes we even value English more than godliness. If your English rolls a little bit, we tend to think you’re a better leader than those whose English is very, you know, the rough accent. Not the people who say “sing.” No, the people (who say) “singing.”

And Paul said don’t deceive yourself. Some of you maybe, your council is going to give you a fat bonus this year and you think you have arrived but self deception can be a very dangerous thing, friends.

In high school, back in the days when you still had standard grade and higher grade in maths, one of our friends – we were doing maths and this guy was boasting, “Guys, I’m nailing it!” And all of us knew he’s not that great in maths. I mean, he’s nailing it? And he like, “No, I’m acing this paper, guys! Maths is not bad after all!”

And then we checked the first page. “Dude, St John’s College doesn’t do standard grade!” Maths is higher grade. You are using the wrong standard to measure your success.”

When we gave him the right maths paper his heart sank. I mean, the guy had to go and take a cold shower. He was about to faint because he realized he had missed the mark. But when he was using a wrong criteria to measure himself, you know what happened, you were proud, prideful and boastful. And that’s the problem the Corinthians had.

Did you see that’s what they keep on doing, even with Paul? They are puffed up in favour of one (chapter 4:6) against the other. And Paul says, “Be careful of the criteria you use to evaluate your ministry and the ministry of others.”

Do not evaluate people using the wisdom of this world, “:For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” says Paul in verse 19. (1 Corinthians 3:19)

Paul has been clear to the Corinthians since chapter 1: 18 to chapter 2 verse 16 that human wisdom is foolishness in God’s sight. Why? It does not value the cross of Jesus.

The Jews, they want to see power and that’s the problem we have as Africans. We want powerful ministries – deliverance services and people go to church for that. But the Greeks, they were more sophisticated. They wanted the academic stuff. They were seeking wisdom. But Paul said, “…but we preach Christ and him crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and the Gentiles.” (1 Corinthians 1:23)

But the Corinthians were using the wrong value systems.

You see, when you use wrong value systems, you may pronounce judgment before the right time and that’s what Paul had to rebuke to the Corinthians in chapter 4:5. “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.” (1 Corinthians 4:5)

Can I tell you, friends, the honest truth? None of us on this side of heaven knows who has a successful ministry and who doesn’t. Only the Lord’s verdict will matter.

And therefore, do not pronounce judgment of people’s ministries before the appointed time. Only the Lord when he returns, he will reveal the motives of people’s hearts.

And friends, can I be, can I confess to you this morning: I struggle with the motives of my heart. Sometimes I’m so concerned when I preach – yes I want to get God’s message right, I want people to understand God’s word better – but what is the motivation? Is it that Jesus is glorified that people get to know him as their Lord and saviour, or, “That Vuyani is a nice guy.” And it’s hard at times to see the motives of my heart. “For the heart is deceitful above all things. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

But when the Lord returns it’s all going to be laid bare.

And for some of it, for some of us, we know the motives of our hearts, because if the money was to dry up, you would leave what you are doing. You’re going to go and seek something else.

The other problem with worldly wisdom is not the fact that it’s self deception, it’s also, it tends to be very divisive and arrogant. (Sorry, the air of Joburg is not agreeing with me at all.) You see, the problem with worldly wisdom; it makes people to identify more with a person of the leader than with Jesus. And that is what Paul has been dealing with in these first four chapters.

And Paul has to tell the Corinthians, “No more boasting about human leaders!” That’s chapter 3:21. “Stop boasting about human leaders!” (1 Corinthians 3:21)

It’s an imperative. It’s a command. It’s not a suggestion. Stop boasting about your gurus. Stop boasting about your theologians. Because who are your gurus? Who are the people you should be following? You should be following Jesus. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1:31, Paul makes it clear that we should only boast about Jesus Christ – not human leaders.

Now last year, I was working with Seme on his honours dissertation. Seme walked into my office the other day. I had given him readings. And one of the readings was, Seme, you need to read Vuyani Sindo and D.A. Carson. I’m thinking, “I know this stuff. I did my PhD First Corinthians!” So Seme walks into my office one day and I was seeing, man, he was trying to be diplomatic.

And I’m one of those people who, like you know, just just spell it out, man. Like, you know? He said, “Vuyani, I have a problem with your PhD and D.A. Carson.” My pride! Man, yoh! I struggled a little bit! My pride! I’m thinking, you know, I wanted to say, “Do you know who marked my PhD?” But I like that won’t come out right, so let’s listen to Seme .

Seme told me, “See, the problem with all of you guys,” First of all, he said, “I’m disappointed with you as an African.” “Yoh, I’m like, hey…this guy is getting close.” He says to me, “No, you missed the metaphors of leadership in First Corinthians.” Okay. “And also D.A. Carson doesn’t talk about the metaphors of leadership in First Corinthians.” Oh really?

So this sermon is influenced by Seme.

Christian Leaders Are Stewards

So how are we to regard Christian leaders? Seme, thanks to him, in chapter 3, Paul’s actually using an agricultural metaphor. He uses the agriculture metaphor that he actually is the one who plants, he’s a farmer. But God is the one who causes the growth. That’s the first metaphor of leadership. You know what? You don’t grow the church. You need to have a right view of yourself. None of us have the power to grow ministry. Only God grows ministry.

But the one I want us to focus on, the metaphor this morning, is in chapter 4:1. “This is how one should regard us: as servants of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Corinthians 4:1)

And then, I know all of you have stopped looking at your Greek Bible so this is to make you feel guilty for having taken my Greek classes and not using it! The first thing Paul does in this verse, you will notice he uses the present imperative “logizetso” which is from “logizomai” to count. Think about it, apply mental capacity in how you consider Christian leaders, in how you evaluate them.

But the other thing Paul tells us here is how we are to view Christian leaders, it’s another different word in the Greek that Paul uses. It’s the word “huperetes.” Now many of us will have understood Paul when he talks of Christian leaders as servants or when he talks of Christian leaders as deacons, “deaconos.” But Paul uses a term “huperetes” which is derived from the word under-rower. It’s a picture of people in a ship. The guys under at the bottom where no one else wanted to do – what the slaves used to do – rowing the ship in a stuffy, stinky, sweaty place.

And they were rowing this boat at the beat of the captain. And who is the captain? Jesus, not them. It’s not about your vision, as wonderful as your vision is. It’s not about your mission statement. It’s about Jesus’s vision and the mission.

So, Paul said that’s how we are to view Christian leaders – as servants. Not any kind of servant; the lowest of the low. The servant thing, Paul says how Christian leaders were to view them, is as stewards. This is again still there in chapter 4:1. It says, “This is how you should regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Corinthians 4:1)

The term “steward” here is “oikomonos” – someone who has given, who was left in charge of the household, someone who had responsibilities of the household or the estate of his master, someone who was responsible for running the estate on behalf of the master.

And this person knew that they were accountable to one person and one person only: the
master, not the other slaves. So you’re at the bottom in terms of understanding your role.

But you also have quite a privileged position. You are at the top but you are a steward of what? That’s what many pastors tend to miss. You are the steward of the mysteries of God. Now, from chapter 2:7, Paul has explained to the Corinthians what the mysteries of God are. It is not that those who have gone to GWC have this secret knowledge they know on the side – it is the gospel. It is how God saves people and brings people to himself through the death of Jesus on the cross. It’s how God has revealed his plan of salvation to us.

And Paul says that’s the job we are given to do. Your primary task is actually to steward – tell people about the gospel. You can come up with creative ways of doing that but people should know you as a cross person, the one who points them to Jesus, not as a leadership guru. They should know you for your passion for Jesus.

Christian Stewards Are Faithful

Now if you are a steward and your job is about discharging the gospel, what is required of you is that you do that faithfully. It is required of a steward that they been found faithful, says verse 6. Remember, you are representing God. In chapter 1:9, we are told that God is faithful.
Represent God well by being known as a person who’s faithful to what God has called you to do.

Now, because I’m representing God and I’m called to be faithful, guess what? Stop caring about other people’s judgment of you. Look at verse 3: “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.” (1 Corinthians 4:3)

I mean, some of us care more about certain people’s views of us and we live all our lives trying to please them, but you are not their steward. You are a steward of God. And you know the beauty friends, when the Lord Jesus returns, all of us, that’s who’s going to be the greatest equalizer of all, will be exposed and will give account to him. And what should motivate you as a Christian leader is to look to Jesus and make sure that when he comes, he’s going to say to you “Well done, you faithful and good servant.” (Matthew 25:23)

Wouldn’t it be terrible, while we have the biggest funeral for you, everyone flies all over the world to attend your funeral because you are famous, but you miss Jesus and he says, “I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:23) Wouldn’t that be a waste of life, because you lost sight of the Gospel.

Let’s pray. Oh Lord Jesus, it’s so easy to be caught up on the things of this world. Lord, it’s so easy to love our positions more than we love you, to love our titles and earthly achievements more than we love the gospel. Lord, will you please help us to be faithful as ministers in this denomination, to discharge your gospel to the lost world. Lord, we ask all of this in your name, amen.