August 2026
Sermon Transcript
The Burden of the Ministry
We are here in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. We finished the first seven verses in last week's sermon where we talked about judge nothing before the time. Now we are going to look at the second section here in 1 Corinthians 4, which talks about the burden of the ministry.
Paul here is speaking about apostles. The Bible speaks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that Paul was the last apostle, so there are no apostles in today's world. It is not the exact same thing as a pastor, but obviously as a spiritual leader a lot of these things can be applied because there is a lot of similarity.
Verse 8 — Ye Have Reigned as Kings Without Us
"Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you." Paul is being a little tongue-in-cheek here. The church of Corinth is not literally kings or incredibly rich, but what he is saying is that things are going well for you. You are full, you are rich, you have reigned as kings without us, without the apostles. And he says I would to God you did reign — I want you to be successful, I want you to have success — that we also might reign with you. What he is basically saying is, as an apostle I am preaching the word of God, going through persecution, I have no certain dwelling place, I do not have all this money. You are doing well in your life. And in a way, you could kind of help me out a little bit. He is speaking with a bit of sarcasm — they did not literally reign as kings — but he is saying you have a pretty nice life compared to what I am going through. Maybe you ought to remember that.
And honestly, this is something we should keep in mind when we see people tearing down great men of God. The person who is doing great things for God is going through struggles and persecution and problems, and your life is pretty good. Maybe you ought to take it a little bit easy on that person. Even if you are a saved person who loves God and does not agree with everything they are saying, it is like — man, they are going through the ringer. Maybe you should not kick them when they are down. Because your life is going pretty good.
Verse 9 — Made a Spectacle
"For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." You think of the word spectator — someone who is just watching an event. Back in this time you could think of the coliseum, where people were fighting to the death and you had a bunch of spectators watching things take place. What Paul says is we are a spectacle, because people look at the lives of the apostles and rip them apart and criticise everything about them and mock them. Hey, guess who got arrested last week? People think it is funny. You are made a spectacle, a source of entertainment. He says we are a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men — even angels are seeing what is going on, and then men, even saved people, see what is going on.
The pastors that I consider friends and that really go through a lot of persecution — they are a spectacle to other people. People literally create groups just to attack them. Every single thing in their life is being recorded. Every single video, every little snippet of a sermon, every single picture, every single vacation — they are made a spectacle and people are just looking for anything to tear them apart.
Let me explain something to you. If you are a spectacle unto everybody, people will find certain things to attack you with. That is just reality. And usually the things they attack you with are pretty lame. Sometimes people make a collage of sermon clips, taking snippets here and there of you saying certain things, and they are like look at this guy, he is radical, he is crazy. And then you listen to it and it is like man, this sounds pretty good. Thank you for making this sermon clips compilation. I remember many years ago there was a guy who made a collage of all the pastors and church leaders preaching about soul-winning and he was trying to criticise saying this is all you guys talk about, it is all you care about. And it turned out to be a great collage because you just hear all these pastors saying soul-winning, soul-winning, soul-winning. Praise God. You made us look good.
The reality is if every single second of your life is on display, people are going to find things to criticise. When you have got years and years of preaching up online, people can find something you said five years ago. Well, you said this five years ago. And sometimes in sermons people misspeak. Sometimes they are not thinking properly. Sometimes you change your perspective a little bit. I have gone back and listened to sermons I preached before where I am preaching against repentance of sins for salvation, but in the sermon there is like a five-second clip where I get the words mixed up and say the opposite. The whole sermon I am teaching repentance of sins is works salvation, but then in one moment it comes out the wrong way. And obviously it goes against everything I said in the sermon, but you misspeak. And then people just take small snippets and try to say whatever, man. If I am a spectacle to everybody, people are going to find things to criticise. And the more you are doing for God, the more of a spectacle you are going to be. Why? Because the devil hates it. He is going to use his minions and bad people to attack you. And unfortunately, sometimes even saved people can be envious and try to find things to attack you with.
Now in a sense they are last. But in a sense you are kind of first, because obviously Paul probably got a lot of rewards in heaven. He did great things for God. I am sure he will get a lot of rewards at the judgment seat of Christ.
Go to Matthew 20.
Matthew 20:25–28: "But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." When it comes to the world, people that have authority will use that authority. But he says it is not going to be so among you. Whoever wants to be great, let him be your minister. Whoever wants to be chief among you, let him be your servant. Now that does not mean if you are the boss at a company and you have an employee, you should do the work that you are paying him for. That is not what the Bible is saying. What the Bible is saying is that when Jesus came here, he did not come as a conquering hero. He lived his life for other people. What it is trying to tell us is that if you are going to be great in this world, you need to be little in this world. You need to decide to live your life for other people.
Sometimes I think to myself — man, I could have just worked a secular job and been perfectly happy with that, just made money and done a little bit for God. But if you really want to do something great for God, you are going to make yourself a servant. You are going to make some sacrifices. And unfortunately, along with that comes persecution and people mocking you and making fun of you. And I think a lot of people are willing to make sacrifices, but it goes to another level because you become a spectacle to other people that are trying to tear you apart.
Go to John 13.
John 13:13–17: "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."
There are some churches that actually practise foot-washing because they look at this passage and say we are going to have a foot-washing ministry. I think that is kind of strange, but during the time it actually made sense. Back in those days, people were walking distances to get to church, wearing sandals, and their feet would get very dirty, torn up, blistered. Foot-washing was done to help clean and take care of someone's feet. In our context today with public transportation, shoes that protect the feet, and so on, it feels a bit different. But back in the day it was more common.
The context is not telling us to take up a foot-washing ministry. What he is saying is that I, as the master, made myself as a servant. I did something considered lowly and remedial to teach you. And as a pastor of the church, I should be willing to help with things around the church — help set up chairs, set up tables, change a light bulb, whatever I can do to help. I am not above tasks just because I am the pastor. And the thing is, in our lives, if we are going to do great things for God, we are going to be a servant unto other people. When we go soul-winning we are not doing it for ourselves — we are doing it for other people.
You might hear that and think, that sounds terrible. I am going to make myself low. I am going to live my life for other people. But wait — if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. You are actually happier if you are putting other people before yourself. It totally does not make sense inside your head — why would putting other people before myself make me happy? And yet it does. Want to be happy in your marriage? Put your spouse before yourself. Do things that make them happy. Does it not give you joy to see your kids joyous and happy? Going soul-winning makes you happy. You do these things and you are happy. The world does not understand that. We actually live very happy lives.
The concept of happiness is something that lots of philosophies and religions are trying to figure out. You have hedonism, which is just giving in to every sensual pleasure — drugs, alcohol, sexual sin — I only live once, just give in to everything. But that leaves people empty and depressed and miserable. It does not make you happy, because what you are doing is living your life for yourself instead of other people. And then you have Buddhism, which is really all about searching after happiness, but packaged differently. First you have to remove suffering. If you removed all suffering it would supposedly make you happy. One of the big things they teach is that it is impossible to know you are going to heaven. Therefore you should not desire to know you are going to heaven, because it is something you can never attain and will therefore only lead to suffering. That is why Buddhists in general, from my experience, do not want to hear the gospel. You can not really know for sure, they say, so it is going to lead to suffering, and you have got to remove suffering to have happiness.
But my goal in life is not to remove all suffering. And here is the thing — suffering is not necessarily bad. We do not enjoy suffering in the moment, but eventually it does yield some happiness. When you allow yourself to get hungry, the food ends up tasting better. Or when you go soul-winning and you are exhausted, out in the hot sun, sweating, wanting to rest — does it not make it so much sweeter when you get people saved and you get to rest afterwards and rejoice together? Even if you got nobody saved — you put in five hours and nothing — you get back to church and other people got somebody saved and you rejoice together. The suffering actually leads to more happiness. And the problem with removing all suffering from your life is you are still 100% focused on yourself. When you focus on yourself, you are not going to be happy. That is just the way it is.
If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. You might not understand philosophically or logically why, but it is what the Bible teaches. Living for other people makes you happy. It makes sense when you really think about it. And look, sometimes we get in the flesh and think I am making all these sacrifices, what is in it for me? Rewards in heaven is one thing. But you will also live a happier life if you live for other people.
Verses 10–12 — Fools, Weak, Despised
Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
"We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ." Paul says as the apostles that are teaching the word of God and standing up against false philosophies and idolatry, we are fools. People look at what we believe and say we are stupid, ignorant, dumb. Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. But the wisdom of God is foolishness with unbelievers. When you are standing up and preaching and teaching the word of God, you sound like a fool to the world.
But here is what takes place in church. If you are hearing the word of God preached, you are not necessarily front and centre or online, but you are just in church hearing wisdom from God's word — you will inherently become wise. You will start to have a lot of knowledge and wisdom. And people will be able to see it. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ because you are just learning the wisdom of God's word without looking like a fool to the world. When you put all your sermons online, people clip things and say look at how stupid you are. But the people that go to good churches and just hear the word of God preached and learn — they become wise.
I remember working a professional job on my lunch break. People were talking about winning the lottery and how people who win the lottery end up becoming poor, their life is destroyed. They are like, it does not make any sense. Why is it that when people get rich winning the lottery it always destroys their life? And I was sitting there reading my Bible, just listening. And then I just kind of spoke up and said, well, you know, the Bible says that wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. They got wealth by a vain means and as a result they end up losing it. When you work hard for something you realise its value and take it seriously. But if you get it by some vain means it does not really feel like much to just spend it and lose it. And so they end up living above their means, their life is destroyed, their marriage. Because wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. And I remember people just kind of stunned, thinking about it. Someone said man, that is like the wisest thing I have ever heard in my life. It is really just basic stuff to us that are Bible-believing Christians. But to people living in the world who are used to foolishness, that statement stopped them.
When you are in church and at great churches and learning the word of God, you do get wisdom. But now that I am a pastor with sermons online, I have gone from being considered wise to being a fool because of the stupid things I say — when in reality you have got a lot of wisdom, but a lot of the wisdom you have the world stands against because it is foolishness to them.
Go to Acts 26.
Acts 26:24: "And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad." Meaning crazy. He is saying you are an idiot, you are a fool, you are crazy, you are insane now. You used to be wise. It is funny how when you are actually standing up and doing something for God, people start saying you are a fool and an idiot. When actually what we believe makes perfect sense. Is the resurrection of Jesus a miracle? Absolutely. Can we explain it? No. It is not possible logically or scientifically — it is a miracle. But is there a lot of evidence and proof of the resurrection? Absolutely. The secret to destroying Christianity was very simple — just show the body of Jesus. That is all they had to do. They made sure to put him to death and they knew he said he was going to rise from the dead. They made sure to watch and ensure nobody took his body and lied about it. But his body was not there. Why? Because he rose from the dead. All they had to do was show the body. They never could explain that away. Are you telling me all the apostles were willing to die for something that was a lie? People lie, that is true. But would all the apostles be willing to die and be tortured to death for promoting the resurrection if it was a lie? No. Christianity would have been gone if they had just disproved the resurrection. But they could not, because it actually happened. What we believe is miraculous, but there is a lot of evidence to back it up.
Go back to 1 Corinthians 4.
"We are weak, but ye are strong." Being in the ministry, you can get stressed, tired, exhausted, and start to feel weak. Whereas when you are in church hearing the word of God preached, you are learning, growing, feeling really spiritually strong. The ministry oftentimes kind of beats you down. You go through a lot of things behind the scenes that people do not know about. The stress of running everything can be frustrating. Being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith — when you are in church you get rooted, you get grounded, you are around people, you feel strong and confident. But Paul says in the ministry as an apostle, we are weak.
1 Corinthians 4:10 also: "ye are honourable, but we are despised." You as church members that are not pastors — at your work you are probably known as a hard worker, a respectable person, someone who does not gossip, a person of good character. You are honourable and thought of highly. But we are despised. And look, you know, I have been through persecution and problems, but I have not been through what a lot of people have been through, and I certainly have not been through what Paul the Apostle has been through. But there is some truth to this even in my life — you get despised and hated. You put your sermons online, people hate you, they mock you, they make fun of you. Whatever. You are despised and hated, but as a church member you are honourable. Paul is saying you reap the benefits. And I do think he is being a bit sharp with the church of Corinth because they are not very appreciative of what they have. I do not feel that way about our churches in Melbourne or Pampanga — I think in both areas people are very thankful for the church they have. But the church of Corinth had a lot of problems and they were not thankful or respectful, and Paul is trying to drive home a point.
1 Corinthians 4:11: "Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place." He is speaking about not having much money, just serving God, going through persecution, having no certain dwelling place. Now I will say this — one thing you can say about Paul the Apostle and we are also going to look at Barnabas — this is a little bit different than being a pastor because one of the clear requirements to being a pastor is to be married and have children, to be a family man. As a single person it is more okay not to have a certain dwelling place. I am not saying that is great, obviously it is rough. But when you are married with kids it is like you need to have a place to stay, a place to sleep. So it is a little bit different situation.
The Right of the Ministry to Be Supported
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9.
1 Corinthians 9:6–14: "Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working? Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?... Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel."
Paul is saying hey, we started this church, we built this church up, and it does not make sense to go to warfare and not actually be taken care of. Planting a vineyard and not eating of the fruit thereof. Now, obviously if a church is small it might not be able to support the pastor fully — maybe partially, or maybe not at all if it is a smaller or newer church. But if a church grows, there is nothing wrong with the pastor being supported by the church.
Now, sometimes people look at 1 Corinthians 9 and apply this to anybody doing something spiritual for the church. But the context is that Paul and Barnabas actually built up the church. They are preaching the sermons, planting the vineyard, building it up. That is different from someone who is just going soul-winning without having built up a church and without any following or organisation. There is a mentality especially on the mission field of being like a renegade soul winner and trying to get people to support you financially. I am all for churches hiring people and things being done decently and in order. But they which preach the gospel should live off the gospel — in context this is because they actually worked for it. It is different if you are just going soul-winning without having built anything up. I am not saying there is anything wrong with a church wanting to sponsor a full-time soul winner, but I think there should be some structure and organisation to avoid people taking advantage of the situation.
Going back to 1 Corinthians 4 — "But I have used none of these things." Paul is making it clear he has not leveraged his rights as an apostle to demand support from them.
Go to Philippians chapter 4.
When I started the church here in the Philippines, I took a particular mentality. My support from our sending church was a whole lot lower than any missionary I ever knew being sent out of America. I looked at my life and said hey, we are doing better than a lot of people here in the Philippines, so I did not complain. Going from a country like America to the Philippines, you make changes and adjustments, it is a different culture, and a lot of people quit the mission field because of that. But I took the mentality that I had no problem working a secular job and not taking any salary at all from the churches here. As our church grew and finances got better, eventually the church did help with some expenses, and there is nothing wrong with that. But I did take the mentality at the beginning — I am going to work for what I have. Our church is smaller, we want to build up, we want to be able to save up to have a church building. And God took care of us. I never complained about it. I just lived my life, did what was right, and God has blessed more than I could have ever expected in the latter end.
Philippians 4:11–13: "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." We ought to be able to be content with whatever we have in life. There is always going to be someone who has it worse than you. Paul was a content man. He was not complaining. He is speaking toward what he was going through because there are bozos and idiots at the church of Corinth trying to tear him down and say he is nothing special, and he is kind of promoting his authority here in 1 Corinthians 4 and explaining what he went through.
1 Corinthians 4:12: "And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it." What you see with pastors that go through persecution is that they often say nothing. People throw out false accusations, they lie, all this stuff. And if those pastors finally do defend themselves, it is like oh, why cannot you just turn the other cheek? What in the world? If people are ripping you apart, you have a right to defend yourself.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
2 Timothy 3:10–12: "But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Everybody that serves God will be persecuted. It starts on a light level where friends and relatives make fun of you because you have changed. But you will be persecuted. The more you do for God, the more persecution comes. And one thing to keep in mind is that it is not just that everyone who serves God will be persecuted — it is everywhere. No matter where you are, if you are serving God you are going to be persecuted. At Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra — and at Pampanga, at Melbourne, anywhere in Australia or the Philippines or anywhere, when you are doing big things for God you will be persecuted. You have got to endure it. If you want to do big things for God, fight through it. Be tough. Show thyself a man, as the Bible says. You will have persecution, you will have problems. But it is a small price to pay considering what Christ did for us.
Verse 13 — The Filth of the World
1 Corinthians 4:13: "Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day." People speak about Paul the Apostle, and people speak about pastors that are doing something for God, as if they are the filth of the world, as if these are horrible and wicked and disgusting people. And it is crazy because the world will give defence for pedophiles and serial killers and perverts and horrible people who have done terrible crimes. It is like, well, do not judge them, give them another chance. They make every excuse for wicked and disgusting evil people. And then people like Paul the Apostle who are living their lives to serve God are treated as if they are as bad as pedophiles and predators and rapists.
One example of this is the word abuse. The way people use the word abuse in today's world is very different from how the Bible uses it. If you look up the word abuse every time it appears in our King James Bible, it is related to sexual nature. When I say a child abuser, I am referring to a pedophile. The one possible exception in the Bible that might not be of a sexual nature is when King Saul is worried about falling into the hands of the Philistines and says, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. It is possible he is merely referring to physical torture, and I am sure that is part of it. But the Philistines were obsessed with idolatry and were sexually perverse, and so I think what King Saul is worried about is that the Philistines will really just defile him. That is why he would rather kill himself.
The point is this — when it comes to the word abuse, you will see people calling pastors child abusers simply for disciplining their kids. If somebody spanked or disciplined their kids, oh, they are a child abuser. That is offensive to people that have actually been sexually abused by perverts. That is a million times different. I know plenty of people who grew up being disciplined very harshly and are now adults who do not hate their parents and are not bitter or ungrateful as a result. That is very different from someone who was sexually defiled by a bunch of perverts. And so when it comes to pastors, people will take the word abuse and make it as though this person is the filth of the world, just because you disagree with how they are parenting their kids. You can disagree with something without trying to lump them in with child rapists. That is ridiculous. That is absurd. But yet when you are serving God, people will put you as the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things.
Why does Paul bring this up? "I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you." What Paul is concerned about is — there are these bozos that you are going to follow. They speak horrible slanderous things against me and you are going to follow them. He is saying I speak this to warn you because if you follow these people, it is going to destroy your life. Follow me as I follow Christ — that is the idea he is building toward.
But here is the thing. If you are serving God, you will be persecuted. People will tear you apart. They will slander you. All of these things. But it is a small price to pay for serving God because Christ did so much for us.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us here today. I ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives. God, help us to be ready for the persecution when it comes, and help us to be wise about other people that are persecuted or being lied about — not to just fall for those lies and the slander being thrown around. God, I ask you to continue to bless our churches. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.