The Cross and Christian Ministry: An Exposition of Passages from 1 Corinthians

by D.A. Carson

Recognizing the need for the Spirit of God to illumine the minds of men and women who otherwise will not grasp the gospel, we will emphasize prayer.

We will live and serve in the light of the final judgment, for we must give an account of our ministry.

If Paul worked hard, it was because of God’s grace in his life: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

God cares about his church, and he holds its leaders accountable.

In the light of the immediately preceding verses, this warning is surely directed, in the first place, against builders who have resorted to combustible materials (wood, hay, stubble) that cannot withstand the fire on the last day. But it is quite possible that Paul’s generous language opens up the warning to apply to others than leaders alone. After all, he does not now say, “If any builder destroys God’s temple . . .” but, “If anyone destroys God’s temple . .

By diverting attention away from the gospel while focusing on the plaudits and approval of the world and its “wisdom,” the Corinthian believers are in danger of undermining the very message that called the church into existence.

Gossip, prayerlessness, bitterness, sustained biblical illiteracy, self-promotion, materialism—all of these things, and many more, can destroy a church.

Paul has already defended the simpler, more fundamental priority: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (1:31). Now the negative corollary is put forward: “So then, no more boasting about men!” (3:21a).

The five things that follow “Paul or Apollos or Cephas” represent the fundamental tyrannies of human life, the things that enslave us, the things that hold us in bondage.

The world squeezes us into its mold (compare Rom. 12:1–2).

It demands so much of our...

and allegiance that we seldom devote thought and passion to...

this present life clamors to be treated as if it were worthy of ultimate respect.

We cling to life as if the Bible had never told us that our lives are but vapor that quickly vanishes when the first puff of breeze passes by.

We forget that Jesus told us not to fear those who can take away this life, but to fear him, rather, “who can destroy both so...

How would our life goals change if we were planning not only for seventy years of existence here, but also for eternity?

constant urgency of the present

the vague promises and threats of the future combine to divert our attention away from the God who holds both the present and the future in his hands.

All five realities look very different if we examine them from the secure position of belonging to Jesus Christ. (1) This world becomes the gateway to the next.

If we suffer in this world, as he did, it is a relatively trifling matter, considering that God in his grace has joined us to the

“winning side.” We can no longer be tyrannized by this world, for its sway is not absolute; our allegiance belongs to another, and our vision is cast beyond this world to the world to come.

(2) This present life is no longer merely something to cling to. It is the sphere in which we may serve our God and Redeemer, ...

Death, that fearsome “last enemy” (1 Cor. 15:26), cannot have the last word, for our Ma...

At one level death can even be embraced, for, with Paul, we recognize that to be away from the body is to be at ...

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gai...

The present is where I live and serve God, but it ...

And if he is sovereign over the future, then the future, too, is not something to be feared but to be embraced—simply because I belong to Christ, Christ belongs to God, and God controls the future.

We are God’s, and that transforms everything.

If we truly understand this, there are no tyrannies left.

Must we have fights over church music? We should have the best, the most God-centered, the most truthful, the most edifying.

“So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God” (4:1).

The gospel itself is the content of this mystery, God’s wisdom summed up under the burden of Paul’s preaching: Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Leaders are not in a special, priestly class. Rather, what is required in some sense of all believers is peculiarly required of the leaders of believers.

Rather, Christian leadership demands a focus of the kinds of characteristics and virtues that ought to be present in Christians everywhere. That is precisely what makes it possible for Christian leaders to serve as models, as well as teachers, in the church of God.

The trust that is given them is given to them in their function as servants, as slaves; conversely, when they are called “servants of Christ,” the particular obligation laid on them as “servants of Christ” is the obligation to promote the gospel.

They have been entrusted with the gospel, and all their service turns on making that gospel known and on encouraging the people of God, by word, example, and discipline, to live it out.

At the end of the day, there is only one opinion on his service that carries ultimate significance: “It is the Lord who judges me” (4:4).

it is also important for the rest of the church to see them as ultimately accountable to the Lord Christ, and therefore to avoid judging them as if the church itself were the ultimate arbiter of ministerial success.

The brand of pluralism I am talking about teaches that all opinions are equally valid, so that the only opinion that is necessarily wrong is the one that says some other opinion is wrong.

We do not know the end of the story. Some who start well finish poorly; others who start slowly and hesitatingly finish with a flourish of triumph. “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes” (4:5a).

We do not know the motives of the people we are judging. That is a prerogative

preserved for God alone. “He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the mot...

We follow a crucified Messiah.

Until the end of the age, we will take up our cross—that is, we will die to self-interest daily—and follow Jesus.

Leaders in the church suffer the most. They are not like generals in the military who stay behind the lines. They are the assault troops, the front line people, who lead by example as much as by word.

In measure, all Christians are called to this vision of life and discipleship.

Many of us are well-to-do and comfortable, with little incentive to live in vibrant anticipation of Christ’s return.

First, Paul is not sending Timothy simply to lay out doctrine, but to remind the Corinthians of Paul’s “way of life in Christ Jesus.”

This suggests that the Christian leader today not only must teach the gospel, but also must teach how the gospel works out in daily life and conduct. And that union must be modeled as well as explained.

He could define holiness but found himself practicing firm self-discipline rather than pursuing holiness.