Discipleship Guide
Wellspring Family:
As we begin our journey through 1 Corinthians on Sunday mornings over the coming months, our invitation for you is to extend the conversation into the weekday parts of our lives. This weekly guide can be used individually or corporately - in silence with the Lord or with our friends, life groups, and family - as we learn to walk in Christ with one another.
Each week we’ll walk through the scripture from Sunday along with 2 or 3 reflections on that passage, we’ll introduce practices for reflection, and we’ll include a family practice to walk through with the kids in our lives.
As we dive into the word, may we journey together in the Miracle and Mess of Spiritual Growth!!
Week 5 :: Judgment, Two groups of Threes, and Fatherhood
If you missed out on our sermon from Sunday, it’s a great place to start. You can watch or listen right here.
1 Corinthians 4:1-21
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 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.
6 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. 7 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?
8 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! 9 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. 10 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! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 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.
14 I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. 15 Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?
Day 1 - Grow To Maturity
Day 1 - Judgment toward one another
Our son - so compassionate and always a lover of legos - is now an architect who works with a firm who builds affordable housing around Denver. We often hear about his projects around the dinner table - what he’s drawing or rendering or finding proper city cody for! Sometimes we’ll even get a screenshot of plans that we can enjoy with him. The other day, however, he took David and me on a tour of some of his projects that have come into construction and it was a proud mom moment to see the plans he’s drawn and redrawn (and redrawn) come into actual brick and mortar! He proudly gave us a tour of one building, though because it is still under construction, he had to talk us through each space and help us have an imagination for the final product. I can’t wait to see it! The final building, full of residents, laughter, conversation, and life, will be very different from every other stage in the process.
So it is with us.
Paul tells the Corinthian church to “judge nothing before the appointed time”, which is when Jesus returns. The Corinthians were judging others, including Paul, on the basis of “the best and brightest”, and according to the culture they lived in. The problem with that is “all human judgments not only lack God’s omniscient perspective but also remain premature (v. 5). The “appointed time” is defined as when “the Lord comes,” that is, Judgment Day. Only then will all facts be known and all the thoughts and intentions of human hearts disclosed (cf. Matt. 10:26), enabling a wholly fair evaluation of Christians’ behavior.” (Craig Blomberg)
This is a little confusing to us because in this letter Paul seems to be judging the Corinthians’ behavior and pointing out their “mess”, and through this letter we seem to walk the razor’s edge of seemingly dichotomous themes. However (and back to our first illustration), in some ways Paul is an architect, showing the Corinthians the drawings and plans the Lord has for the church (back to chapter 1:4-9), and in other ways he is a builder pointing out walls that need to be straightened or trusses of the roof that need to be reconfigured because they have not been done correctly. The entire or final building, however, cannot be fully evaluated (or judged) before the building process is finished. And honestly, that’s good news for us!!
Practice :: Think about this statement by NT Wright:
“There is a fine balance here both in Paul’s own writings - including this one - and in what is needed in our current church practices. Paul is quite clear that in some instances the church must bring forward God’s judgment into the present moment, and that not to do so risks the health of the church at large (see chapter 5!). When to judge and when not to judge; when to listen to whispers of criticism and when to dismiss them as irrelevant and time-wasting; these are decisions which themselves need wisdom and good judgment.”
Do you agree or disagree? Where do we find that wisdom and good judgment? (In my opinion? I’ll follow Paul’s lead and go back to the cross first!!) What is your relationship with the word “judgment”?
For a song that aligns well with themes of growth, building, and the anticipation of a final, completed work, "By Faith" by Keith & Kristyn Getty is an excellent choice. This song emphasizes walking by faith and trusting in God's promises, paralleling the process of seeing a construction project through to completion.
Day 2 - Three Questions; Three Exclamations
For those of us (me!!) who do not like sarcasm, verses 8-13 just plain sting. Remember that Paul is addressing the Corinthians' reliance on the way their world and culture evaluated people as opposed to the “foolishness” of a crucified messiah. He kind of eases them into his sarcasm with 3 questions from verse 7 - “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?” The implied answers are “no one, nothing, and no good reason” (Blomberg), but then he really goes after their over-inflated view of their maturity and also, “the church was infected with some who held an overrealized eschatology. They had fallen victim to living in the “already” (present) without the necessary counterbalancing tension of the “not yet” (future).” (Alan F. Johnson)
In the miracle and mess of spiritual growth, we, like the Corinthians, will often be challenged as to what we believe to be “the good life” or what we think it is to receive God’s “blessing”, which often comes in the form of riches or ease or status. For whatever we think “the good life” is, it will be the direction we live and move toward. In Corinth, the “good life” was:
Wealth: The city of Corinth was wealthy because of its commerce. “The highly competitive market-service economy bred unprincipled profiteering, not unlike the U.S. business culture of the early twenty-first century. Apuleius describes Corinth as “a city of unprincipled profit-takers who would stop at little or nothing to outdo their rivals” (Metamorphoses 10.19, 25). (Alan F. Johnson)
Competition: Corinth was one of the first cities with gladiator contests and Isthmian games, like the Olympic games, which highlighted competition, glory, and power.
Worship: Corinth was a city of many temples and idols - worshiping deities that fit their needs and desires.
Status: Power (to achieve goals), education, wealth, knowledge, religious and moral purity, family and ethnic group position, and local community status were prized goals in this highly status-conscious society. (Johnson)
The problem lies in placing our definition of “the good life” above God’s definition. Billy used the example last week of an eclipse - the moon gets in front of the sun, thus blocking it out (in our perspective). In the same way, he challenged us, we often engage in a “self-eclipse”, putting a mirror in front of God that all but blocks our view of him and we only see ourselves and our definitions of “the good life” reflected back to us instead.
This is what the Corinthians were doing. And yet Paul makes it clear (vs 9-13) that those who are apostles (him included) experienced humiliation, suffering, weakness, persecution, and slander, to name a few. In his sarcasm, Paul roots out the default settings of the Corinthians’ “good life” and arrogance and puts them on display next to the “foolishness” of suffering. “In short, whereas the Corinthians think that their relatively prosperous conditions reflect God’s blessing, Paul points to his sufferings for the sake of the gospel as a more accurate measure of Christian faithfulness.” (Blomberg)
Practice: Journal these questions:
What is your definition of “the good life”?
What is the culture’s definition of “the good life”?
What does Jesus view as “the good life”? How does the cross inform this?
What was Paul’s view of “the good life”?
Want more? Here is a video on The Good Life by James K.A. Smith (Just under 17 minutes and I think it’s worth our time!)
Day 3: Softening as a Father
There is a moment in every parents’ life when they are talking to another parent, who had the first parent’s child at their house (or birthday party or something), and the second parent begins to say how kind, or polite, or loving the child is; or how they washed their dishes after the dinner, or did some other behavior that isn’t always lived out by that child in their own home. It’s a proud moment for the child’s parents because we feel as though the 4 million times we’ve talked about or taught that behavior to our child is now worth it. The family values are beginning to be seen in the behavior of the son or daughter!
In the last part of this chapter, Paul engages in a fatherly tone - expressing his love for them and pleading to them to live out the character of the family. He calls them “dear children” and urges them to imitate him. He takes on the fatherly function of the ancient world as the one who imparts life and is committed to it. (Strong’s) And then in “verse 16 he calls them to imitate him, just as a father in the ancient world regularly taught his sons a trade by modeling it as they studied under him as apprentices.” (Blomberg) He demonstrates a father’s strength and discipline AND a father’s love and tenderness for his kids. Even more, in his absence, he is going to send Timothy, “my son whom I love”, to them; There is such affection in Paul’s words both for Timothy and for the Corinthians. It also sounds like another Father we know, who sent His Son!
Practice: Who taught you “the faith”? Who shared the gospel with you? Who have you tried to imitate, as they imitate Christ? What characteristics of their lives have become a part of yours? What do you do in your Christian life that you have someone else to thank for? Thank the Lord for them, and then perhaps send them a text, email, or a note via snail-mail to tell them how they have been an example to you.
To complement our study today, "The Blessing" by Kari Jobe & Cody Carnes would be a wonderful choice. This song is a prayerful declaration of God's promises and blessings over one's life, mirroring the hopeful, nurturing guidance that parents and spiritual mentors like Paul provide.
Family Practice
Read verses 14-17 together. Ask your kids what behaviors or activities define your family. How would they describe your family to someone else. Take some time to talk about where those behaviors, activities, or themes come from (ie. mom and dad, grandparents, etc). Then ask them, “If God is our Father, how do you think he wants his family to look like him?” Pick 2-3 of their responses and go do them this week together.
Life Group Resources
Questions for Pondering for Life Groups:
When you read verses 8-13 what emotions bubble up? Is it righteous anger, shame, sadness, joy? Why?
It’s easy to dissociate our lives from the Corinthians' lives, but are there ways in which you share in what Paul scolds the Corinthians for? How are we to respond if our answer is yes?
What would it be like if we all had people in our lives that could correct us in truth and love like Paul does? Do you have people like that? What does or would it look like?