cliques A small group of people with shared interests, who spend time together and exclude others #Part5) Maintain a Christ-like Heart of Patient Service. Paul is a model of Christ-like service to help brethren go to heaven (I Corinthians 3:5). Paul’s actions calculated, not to make himself look good, but to serve the Corinthians’ best interest. He assured the recalcitrant Corinthians, “It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and all for your upbuilding, beloved” (II Corinthians 12:9; cf. II Corinthians 10:8; 13:10). He was selfless servant, even if his critics put the worst spin on his actions (II Corinthians 1:17,23). Paul’s servant’s heart is revealed in his motivation: “not that we lord it over your faith but are workers for your joy” (II Corinthians 1:24). Sometimes a preacher is personally hurt by thoughtless, mean-spirited brethren. He can lose his tender, loving heart and become cynical and allow his hurts to angrily seep out in his preaching. It comes across as “fussing at the brethren,” instead of preaching “to” the welfare of the church. Preachers, as an example of Christian service, must die to self and model selfless humility of being a slave of Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 4:1-11). In I Corinthians 4:1, Paul said he was Christ’s “servant” (Gr. huperetes, lit. “an under rower” as a slave on a galley ship). He did not see himself as a “big name preacher.” He was not “anything” of great consequence (I Corinthians 3:7), because spiritual growth only comes from God (I Corinthians 3:6). Paul saw himself as just an “earthen vessel” (a clay jar) that had the privilege of carrying the precious gospel “treasure” (II Corinthians 4:7). He had no ego to bruise, because He had died with Christ. So, he didn’t care if he was critiqued (I Corinthians 4:3). “We preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (II Corinthians 4:5). He gladly would forego personal privileges and rights to help the brethren advance the cause of Christ (I Corinthians 9:12,19,22,23). He always held out the hope of reconciling their differences (II Corinthians 6:11-13; 7:2). In serving the welfare of brethren, ministers must engage in humble introspection (I Corinthians 4:4; II Corinthians 13:5). In dealing with difficult brethren, I must honestly ask myself, “I am part of the problem?” We’re still a work in progress, with various flaws to overcome (cf. Philippians 1:15,17). So, if we have a prideful, overbearing ego, it will surely expose itself in conflict with brethren. Remember that John Mark experienced temporary failure in preaching (Acts 13:13, 15:38), but he learned from his shortcoming and later became a very useful preacher (I Peter 5:13; II Timothy 4:11). We should see our problems as our teachers to refine our character (James 1:2-4).
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 06:05:15 +0000
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