Make Me a Servant
Between my junior and senior years in college, I was a high school summer intern at the church I grew up attending. One day I was in the office with our senior pastor and the church secretary (hey - that was her title back then!). She was holding a stack of papers that she accidentally dropped. I’ve never forgotten what happened next. While she bent down to pick them up, I stood there and watched. While our senior pastor bent down to pick them up, I stood there and watched. And then I heard it! As he went to help retrieve the documents, he began to sing, “Make me a servant, humble and meek, Lord let me lift up those who are weak. And may the prayer of my heart always be, ‘Make me a servant, make me a servant, make me a servant today.’” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6U8O_WnPZY) I have never forgotten the simple life lesson he taught me -- you’re never too important to serve because serving is what you are called to do. And this applies to everyone, not just prideful high school interns.
In this week’s passage from 1 Corinthians we see that Paul gets it -- he knows he is a servant -- a servant of Christ and a servant of the mysteries of God (4:1). And we see that some of the Corinthians don’t get it -- they are proud and boastful about who they are and what they have, forgetting that everything in their lives is a gift from Him (4:7). While Paul understands himself, some in the church have deceived themselves.
And so it is that understanding our role (we are servants) and understanding where our gifts and talents come from (God) allows us to stay away from self-deception (3:18) by growing in humility. But this can be difficult in our upside-down world where we are told it is better to receive than to give and where everyone acts as if their abilities are self-endowed.
So what are we to do? How can we avoid a failure to launch? How can we stay away from self-deception? How can we grow in humility? I have two suggestions. First, go back to Monday’s devotional from Pastor John Riley and review that list of 3-5 things that make you special. Then spend some time today thanking God for how He made you. Remember, you are awesomely and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). Thank Him for all He has given you -- your mind, your organizational skills, your people skills, your creativity, your ability to design and build things, how easy code is for you, etc. Whatever it is, give Him thanks for it.
And then second, remember you are a servant. I once heard it said that any person who thinks he or she is too important for the small tasks is not important enough for the big ones. Practice humility by doing the little things, the things you might believe are beneath you. Remember Jesus said He came to serve, not to be served, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
Here’s the bottom line -- you’re not as important as you think you are, so start acting like it! As you do, your humility will continue to develop, your self-deception will continue to decrease and your usefulness to God will grow!
Scott Smith
Connection and Growth Pastor
Deceived by Mediocrity
Have you ever considered the idea that mediocrity is a disease and it is infiltrating our culture at a rapid rate? Its first and most predominant symptom is fear. We fear being noticed, or not being noticed at all. We fear being uncomfortable or being too comfortable. We fear failure or being too passionate. We fear work, but we also fear rest and the self-realization that can come through either. We fear speaking up, but we also fear being heard. We feel safest taking the middle ground; just a little popularity, and a little reputation, but still ready to receive ALL of God’s blessings. We want just enough power to feel like we are in control, yet without the cost.
The disease of mediocrity is one that pervades our culture today, yet it simply is not Biblical. When we think of a mediocre, or a lukewarm church, we most commonly think of the Church of Laodicea spoken of in Revelation 3. Jesus says in verses 15-17, “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Paul’s words to the Church in Corinth are similar as he addresses their complacency in 1 Corinthians 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 reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you.” Complacent, mediocre people think they have already arrived and for fear of being found out, they try to communicate that they don’t need anyone else. They keep up their blinders and aren’t willing to look at the person God has created them to be. This disease of mediocrity existed within the Church of Laodicea, it existed in the Church of Corinth and exists in many of our churches today.
Today’s vernacular calls this, “playing it safe”. To this, Francis Chan says, “Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control. Their focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God.” Safe living may be comfortable, provide just enough recognition and control, but is that what God intends for his children? Not at all. Jesus says in John 10:10 that he came that we may live lives of abundance, to the full, being who he created us to be; a saved people ready to go out and boldly proclaim our hope to a desperate world. This may require taking risks and it will require facing fears, but it is all part of God’s perfect design.
In 1928, American author John Shedd wrote, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” How are you built? How do you want to live your life? Are you a ship in the harbor, afraid to face a possible storm? If you stay in the harbor though, you will also miss out on the wind in your sails and the glory of sailing on the open sea; being who God designed you to be.
Lynette Fuson
Director of Care & Counseling
Deceived by Image
Being a product of the 1980s there was a spike in interest in the wonderful sport of tennis. On TV it looked easy, fun, and because of a certain player and a slogan, many kids became interested in giving it a try. Andre Agassi did a campaign for a camera company and the slogan he made famous was, “Image is everything!” They had used him to promote tennis to the masses and recruit a new generation of players and consumers. I was one of them. Before I took a lesson or really played, I made sure to have the right shoes, clothes, and racket because the image meant more than actually being able to play. Just to confirm, tennis was not my sport!
In 1 Corinthians 3:18-4:14, Paul contrasts his image wearing rags and even comparing himself to scum or garbage versus the wealthy and highly thought of people in Corinth. His point was simple, image is everything and it can deceive easily. He did not want people to fall easily to the deception the world offered and wanted them to look at what mattered, the heart. Paul had visited and written this group of believers and his desire was for them to grow in spiritual maturity. He wanted them to not worry about the image they created, but instead allow Christ to transform them. He wrote them as children he loved and wanted the best for them so they could take steps to maturity.
Sometimes it is easy to worry about our image more than our heart. We try to make everything on the outside look a certain way which then doesn’t actually reflect what is on the inside. I tried to look like a tennis player more than just learning to be one. Paul did not want that for the church in Corinth and that is not what is needed today. Let’s not be deceived by image and instead allow Christ to work in and through us. Is there a way you are portraying an image more than living out your faith? Is there something you are hiding behind that you need a little help overcoming? God is there for you, go to him in prayer and ask him to help. We are here to pray and help you!
Pastor Jeremy Johnson
Family Pastor
What Makes You Special?
How long would it take to make a list of 3-5 things about you that makes you special?
Take a look at the list. What parts of the list are you responsible for and what parts should be to God’s credit? Understanding this distinction is a big part of Paul’s gripe against the people in Corinth. Look at what he wrote in 1 Cor 4:7, “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” Paul seems to think that everything we have that makes us special comes from God.
Looking at Paul’s words for the folks in this book makes it seem like the believers in Corinth may have been proud of their wealth or their status in the world’s eyes. It also seems like they were judging Paul for not living up to that status or their worldly ideals. Naturally, Paul tries to dissuade them of that folly and those misplaced priorities. That is why he points out that all they have, everything they have, whatever they have, and whatever they place their value in, really comes from God.
Since everything that makes us special comes from God, it shouldn’t be a source for pride, it should be a source of thankfulness. Over and above that, salvation through Jesus and the connection with God via the Holy Spirit gives believers so much that Paul continues in verse 8, “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich!” This spiritual wealth is what Paul wants them to focus on and be content with. The people were looking at worldly wealth and status and thinking that is what made them special. Paul wants them to focus on their spiritual blessings and status. Towards that mindset, he adds, “Without us, you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!” He wants them to know and embrace the righteous status they actually have in, through, and from God. He gives them some sarcasm here because they had access to kingly spiritual positions but they were focused on the earthly ones.
How about you? How about me? Do we realize that there is so much that makes us special and all of it comes from and through God?
Pastor John Riley
Jr. High Pastor
Build with Care
But each one should build with care. - 1 Corinthians 3:10
In a few months, I get to take a team of about 50 High School students and leaders down to Mexico to build some houses. I absolutely love this trip! I love seeing students work harder than they ever have before. I love helping them to get a glimpse of the way that much of the rest of the world lives. I love seeing them wake up exhausted at the crack of dawn every morning to go put in a full day’s work of service on their Spring Break! I absolutely love how this trip builds character in their lives! And as a Pastor, I really, really love being able to walk away from a finished house at the end of the week.
The truth is that I don’t actually get to finish too many things as a Pastor. I get the amazing opportunity to teach and guide people. I get to pour into people and to plan programs that help build people into disciples of Jesus who live in His way with His heart. I love that, but I almost never get to walk away from a finished project. All of us, myself included, are “works in progress.” So, that’s one of the reasons why walking away from a finished house is so satisfying for me.
However, every time I go, I’m reminded about a devastating story that a Youth Pastor friend told me about a similar trip that he took with his youth ministry. They did the same thing. They worked hard, they woke up early, they poured themselves into the project and finished a beautiful new house. However, as they were getting ready to leave, he told me that his entire team watched in horror as a crew of workers from the city came with a bulldozer and tore down the house they just built!
What happened? Well, apparently, the ministry that they were working with did not do their homework correctly. They did not have the correct building permits and the deed for the land hadn’t been finalized, so the entire project was destroyed!
I can’t imagine how demoralizing that would have been for a group of teenagers. However, the point is one that we need to remember when we are building into people spiritually. This is not a sprint! There is no need to rush the process. We must never take shortcuts when we are witnessing to people, when we are training them, and when we are helping to build disciples. We must “build with care.” There are no quick fixes for developing fully devoted disciples of Jesus. It takes time, it takes effort, and it is a team project. We need to work together as a church to build with care.
My question for you today is, are you a part of the team? What part can you play in building up people with care?
Josh Rose
Teaching Pastor
The Work and the Reward
If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
1 Cor 3:14-15.
I used to read this passage imagining a scene from a movie with a stunt man crashing through the flames as a perilously engulfed, heat-soaked building crashed around his dramatic escape.
I read the passage with a different image today. In this chapter, Paul is discussing Christian maturity, growth, togetherness, and legacy. He switches illustrations, in verse 9, from that of a farmer working the fields to that of a building being built, “For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” There, that was the swap, from farming to building. The builders are Christians who are building up the church. The quality of their work will be tested by fire. Today when I read the passage, I don’t picture a building burning, I picture the people I know as the parts of the building that will be tested by fire. My family, friends, partners in ministry at the church, neighbors, anyone in my life or circle of influence is going to be shown for what they are on “the Day” (verse 13) of judgment. Has what I’ve done helped people around me escape the fire?
Their future is a reflection of the quality of my work. Am I building people upon the foundation of Jesus Christ (vs 11)? If my work and influence are not leading people to live for or know Jesus, then my work will burn up before my eyes, “the builder will suffer loss” (vs 15). If my life is helping people know Jesus, trust Jesus, and walk in the way and with the heart of Jesus, then those people are the “gold, silver, costly stones” of verse 12 that survives. The way I imagine it now, is that those people, unscathed by fire, are all the precious reward I need. How about you?
Pastor John Riley
Jr. High Pastor
What You See is Not What You Get
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
Recently our oldest daughter decided she wanted to become a gardener. She wanted to plant and grow a few spices in a planter in our backyard. So she did what all who are gardeners do - she went to the local home improvement store and bought, with my money, a small planter, some soil and fertilizer, and some seeds. Then she filled the planter with the soil and the seeds and began the process of watering and waiting, and watering and waiting, and waiting and waiting. Eventually, some green began to poke its way through the soil and a small spice plant slowly began to emerge. Success!
In 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, Paul reminds us of our role in other people’s spiritual growth - we are the planters and the waterers. And he reminds us of God’s role - He is the grower. Knowing this moves us to adopt a posture of recognizing that while we do have an important part to play, we don’t get to control the ultimate outcomes. We don’t get to say how fast or slow someone’s growth will occur. We don’t get to say how much growth will occur. We don’t even have a guarantee that any growth will occur (how many of us have planted seeds that never grew?). What we get to do is plant and water. And wait, and wait, and wait, hoping that what we see is not what we’ll get.
As it is with gardening, so it is with the investments we make in the spiritual lives of others - it requires persistence and patience that is rooted in God’s desire and ability to bring growth, and it’s also based on a faith that knows that something is always going on beneath the surface, even if we can’t see it now. And what is true of the planting and watering we do in others’ lives is also true of the planting and watering they do in ours. Just like we are waiting to see some growth in “their lives,” so too they are waiting to see some growth in ours.
Regardless of whether you’re waiting to see growth in someone else’s life or your own, know that it is God who causes the growth and ask Him to help you wait well, remembering that what you see now is not what you’re going to get later.
Scott Smith
Connection and Growth Pastor
Jealousy vs. Partnership
Have you ever worked really hard at something only to realize that the recognition you think you deserve is going to another person? Or have you watched someone take credit for your idea and then receive opportunities that you long for? Areas in which you know you could succeed but instead, someone else receives the applause? But what if the results are the same regardless of who makes the suggestion or proposes the great idea? The mission is accomplished and people still grow, change, and are drawn to the grace of Jesus. Yes, even as Christ-followers, it is easy to give in to the temptation of jealousy.
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul continues to address the self-centered immaturity and immorality of the people at the church in Corinth. Verse 3 says, “for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” Immaturity harbors jealousy whereas a mature believer recognizes that the work is about Christ, not themselves. Notoriety, fame, and prestige are solo expeditions.
Verses 9-10 go on to say, “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.” We could expand verse nine to say, “You are God’s non-profit ministry. You are God’s generosity, supporting missionaries all over the world. You are God’s hands, planting a seed, that someone else will water.” The point is not who gets credit for the work, but rather how it is received. Proverbs 14:30 does not mince words, “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like a cancer in the bones.”
When we come to the realization that all we do is for the glory of God, it takes away the weight of needing recognition for ourselves. When our hearts are attuned to the message of Christ, to the hope that he offers, we are free to lose sight of ourselves and give God the glory for all!
Lynette Fuson
Director of Care & Counseling
Time to Grow?
1 Corinthians 3:1
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.
The City of Corinth was bustling with commerce, had an outdoor theater that could seat 20,000 people a diverse population, but also a temple of 1,000 prostitutes and abundant taverns on the south side of the marketplace. Can you picture it, this place of affluence but also of darkness? Paul was preaching in the city of Corinth to believers who had not grown in their faith though they had believed for years. The church had divisions, aberrant beliefs, and practices. The consequence: stunted spiritual growth and idolatry. How does the church in Corinth compare with churches in our country today?
I remember when our sons eventually weaned from milk to baby cereal, and then pureed vegetables and fruit. Nothing solid until they could chew and digest it. Can you imagine feeding an infant a big hunk of steak? I remember the first few spoonfuls of baby food being spit out because they didn’t even know how to swallow it from a spoon. It was a little frustrating (and messy) until they got the hang of it, and most parents persevere until they do. Paul was concerned for the believers in Corinth and persevered in teaching them how to grow and mature in their spiritual walk.
How does a person go from spiritual immaturity to maturity? What is your spiritual calorie intake? What is your steady diet, spiritually speaking? Are you spending more time or at least an equal amount working on your spiritual self as your physical self? The choices we make spiritually determine how long we stay infants, adolescents, and teenagers in our spiritual growth. I know I was stuck in adolescence and teenagerhood much longer than I could have been because I was ignorant of the importance of spiritual growth and how to achieve it. Because of that immaturity, I made unwise choices and decisions and reaped the unpleasant consequences.
Spiritual growth occurs when the believer is transformed by the renewing of his/her mind. And the renewing of your mind happens at the rate by which we learn the Scripture and obey it. Scripture states of itself in Hebrews 4:12: The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Powerful, yes?
Even mature Christians have moments when emotions get the best of them, but emotions out of control and ruling your life consistently isn’t evidence of a Spirit-filled life but rather an out-of-control infant. Spiritually mature individuals, because of their regular diet of the Word, can discern truth from error. They see life through the lens of the Book penned by the Author of life. Regardless of your level of spiritual maturity, there will always be areas of your life God needs to work in. Will you pray Psalm 25:5 (NLT) with me:
Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All-day long I put my hope in you.
Deb Hill
Executive Assistant
Growing Through Grievances
Series: 1st Corinthians - Failure to Launch
Text: 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 | Speaker: Pastor Ryan Lunde
March 27, 2022: On Sunday, we continued our multi-week series in 1 Corinthians. We hope you've enjoyed the Failure to Launch "season" of messages. This was the last message in this season of the series.
