Now it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 sermons cite this verse
… standing, but I want you to be seated because I want to talk you into the Scripture today. So take your seat wherever you are and turn in your Bible, please, to 1 Corinthians 4, verses 1 through 5. 1 Corinthians 4, 1 through 5. Thank you for your word, Lord. Somebody say what Samuel said. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. We talked about Samuel last week and how he attuned his ear to the voice of God so that before he spoke for God, he had to learn to hear from God. Very important. The apostle Paul was another preacher who had to hear from God before he could speak for God. because there was a time in his life when he persecuted followers of Christ, and he thought he was serving God. He had to come to that all-important place that really measures your maturity in the Lord where he said, I was wrong. Try to say that one time. See how hard it is to say. I was wrong by a vowel. Wrong. He spent the rest of his ministry not trying to make it up to God, but trying to spread the message of the God who had saved him by grace after spending his whole life trying to earn God's favor through keeping the law. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul is well into his established ministry, and he's doing something we would never think that someone of his caliber would have to do. He's defending himself to the Corinthian church. …
This is a remarkable passage where Paul frames up the foundational virtue, the necessary characteristic of a faithful pastor, and in a word it is humility. This is a text about being humble. Humility is the necessary dominating virtue in anyone in ministry, if that person is to fulfill the calling that God has placed on his or her life. So this is a passage about humility, the benchmark. Humility is the benchmark of any faithful servant of God. Now, this is not what the culture would tell us. We live in a world system that neither desires nor requires humility. No matter where I look, I don't see humility on display. I don't see it in politics. I don't see it in business. I don't see it in professions. I don't see it in sports. I don't see it in the arts. People who have any public persona, any opportunity to step into the limelight, tend to lift themselves up seeking prominence and more prominence, publicity, fame, prosperity, adulation. …
TO THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE PASTORS' COLLEGE ASSOCIATION, 1887. "Let a maun so consider us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." 1 Corinthians 4:1,2. MY beloved Brothers—I might even say with Paul, "My dearly beloved and longed for"—it gives me intense delight to look into your faces once again, and yet I feel weighted with a solemn responsibility in having to direct your thoughts at this time so as to give the keynote to our solemn conference. I ask your continued prayers that I may speak aright, saying the right thing in the right way. There is considerable advantage in the freedom of the usual inaugural address. It may take the methodical form of a sermon, or it may wear looser garments and come forth in the undress of a speech. Certain freedoms which are not usually accorded to a set sermon are allowed me in this rambling discourse. You shall call my talk by what name you choose, when I have done, but it will be a sermon—for I have a very definite and distinct text in my mind—and I shall keep to it with at least an average closeness. …