Do Not Beyond What Is Written

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Summary:

Paul explains that he and Apollos are examples to teach the Corinthians not to go beyond what is written and not to boast in favor of one leader over another. He challenges their sense of self-sufficiency and contrasts it with the apostles’ reality. While the Corinthians view themselves as full, rich, and reigning, the apostles live as if put on public display—fools for Christ, weak, dishonored, hungry, poorly clothed, mistreated, and homeless. They work with their own hands, bless when cursed, endure when persecuted, and try to reconcile when slandered. In the world’s eyes they are like the scum and refuse of all things, yet they embody Christlike humility and endurance

Teaching:

People who boast about those they love or about their own group — what are they boasting about? They are boasting in what God has given. Yet instead of boasting in what God has given, they become proud as if it came from themselves or their group, and they criticize others.

“For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to mankind.”

Paul says that he is ministering like a public spectacle, carrying out the ministry according to God’s script and because Christ desires it — the apostles do it for Christ and for His sake.

As ministers, “when we are verbally abused, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered…”

Excerpt from the sermon by Pastor Lee, Sep 29, 2025

1 Corinthian 4:6-13