Ye Are Full (1 Cor. 4
8)
1. Over the past few days most of us have heard the name John Allen Muhammad.
2. This man is considered to be the shooter in a number of a recent murders.
3. This man was caught, in part, because of his pride.
4. He claimed to be God. He left a note for police and made phone calls to the cops.
5. The way that that is man acted is somewhat similar to 1 Cor. 4:8.
PAUL
SAID THAT THE CORINTHIANS WERE FILLED.
A. The word that Paul used is only found twice in the New Testament.
B. It is used here as well as Acts 27:38.
C. In Acts 27 it describes people who ate until they were full.
2. In 1 Cor. 4:8 the word is used in a figurative way.
3. The word includes two different ideas that we want to study in some detail.
A. The first thing expressed by this word is arrogance.
B.
The Christians at
C. They had an inflated view of themselves.
D. As Mr. Muhammad apparently thought he could not be caught, so the Corinthians were proud.
E. These people saw themselves as cream of the crop church members.
4. From time to time it is important for God’s people to be reminded of who they really are.
5. The sniper apparently got a good dose of reality when he was taken before the judge.
6. This same type of realization must exist in the lives of Christians.
A. If we are a member of the church, who and what are we?
B. Let’s move back to the third chapter in this letter.
C. Here Paul spoke about himself as well as one of his coworkers.
D. We will start with verse 5 – READ.
7. Who was Paul?
8. Some would say that he was a great apostle.
9. After all, was this not the man who received special revelations from God?
10. Paul was a person who wrote a substantial portion of the New Testament.
11. He was among the greatest missionaries that has ever lived.
12. What is said about this man in verse 5? He was only a minister. He was a servant.
A. The thought is continued in verse 6 – READ.
B. Who was Paul? He was someone who planted.
C. At the right time of year we can drive down the road and see farmers planting crops.
D. Is there anything special about these men? No.
E. Paul said that this was true of him.
F. Let’s not overlook verse 7 – READ.
13. What Paul said reminds me of a little story.
A. There was a woman who attended services at a certain congregation
B. One night this lady came to the preacher and said, “I am struggling with a difficult sin.”
C. “I believe that I am the prettiest woman here.”
D. “I know that I should not think this way, but this is in my head. Can you help me?”
14. The preacher said, “Oh yes. I can help. You do not have a thing to worry about.”
15. What you are thinking is not a sin; it is just a huge mistake.
16. It may not be beauty, but some in our day and time still make this same kind of error.
A. Some Christians believe that they are really someone when such is not the case.
B. Some think about what they do and the contributions that they make.
C. To have the kind of attitude that the Corinthians had is a serious error.
D.
In Prov.
E. The first thing on this list is pride.
F. The Corinthians were “full” of themselves and Paul condemned them.
17. The Corinthians were not the only religious people to have feelings of superiority.
18. There have been others who looked at their lives and said to themselves, “I am a super spiritual person.”
19. “It is hard to impossible to find a harder or better worker for the Lord than me.”
20. In Lk. 18 Jesus spoke of two men who went up into the temple to pray.
21. One of these men was a regular churchgoer.
22. This man prayed (11a). While it is not stated, he probably read the Old Testament on a regular basis.
A. He boasted that he was “not like other men” (11).
B. He reminded God that he was not guilty of extortion or unjust behavior (verse 11).
C. He had not committed adultery or acted like the sinners of his day.
D. He fasted twice in the week and gave tithes of all that he got (verse 12).
E. This fellow may have helped work on the temple grounds.
F. This man was very religious and he was proud of it.
G. It was like this man had a scorecard and it was full of little stars or checks.
23. Like the Corinthians, this man was “full.”
24. Yet, this fellow failed to understand the type of servant attitude found in the life of Paul.
25. Because he failed to find the right attitude, Jesus said that he was not justified (verse 14).
26. God knew all about this man’s life but heaven was not pleased with it.
27. Today we still find that this problem exists in the church.
28. There are people who have an exalted view of themselves.
29. The opinion that some have is anything but that of a servant.
30. When people have this view of themselves, they expect people to do what they want and serve them.
31. Listen again to 1 Cor. 4:8 – READ.
A. The Corinthians saw themselves as people who “reigned.”
B. They believed that they were the high and mighty.
C. Paul said that they reigned without the apostles.
D. It was as if the Corinthians viewed themselves as superior to the apostles.
E. These people had the kind of attitude that says the church depended upon them.
F. They were the ones who kept things going, made things work, and got things done.
32. THIS IS ONE ASPECT OF THE WORD “FULL” IN 1 COR. 4:8. THE SECOND IDEA ASSOCAITED WITH THIS WORD HAS TO DO WITH KNOWLEDGE.
A. The Corinthian Christians thought that they had all the spiritual food that they needed.
B. These Christians had met famous brethren like Paul and they had numerous spiritual gifts.
C. They had all the religion and all the Christianity that they wanted.
D. They could be compared to a person who eats so much that he doesn’t want any more food.
33. When we look at what the word “full” describes, it sounds like the Corinthians were childlike.
34. This information makes it sound like these people were very immature.
35. When people want to be served instead of serve, they have some growing up to do.
36. When people say, “I know everything and I don’t need to hear anything else” they are not adults.
37. Guess what we find in 1 Cor. 3:1-3? Let’s take a look at these three verses – READ.
A. The ideas expressed by the word “full” are closely related to immaturity.
B. This is not the only place where these ideas are combined.
C. Let’s tie in some additional verses from Mt. 20.
D. In this chapter Matthew describes a mother and two grown sons.
E. We would think that by the time a mother has 2 grown children she would have some maturity.
38. Such was not the case on this occasion.
39. We will start with verse 20 – READ.
40. What did this mother want for her grown children? Verse 21 tells us – READ.
A. This mother wanted her children to have prominent places in the kingdom.
B. This request was not received very well by the other disciples – verse 24 – READ.
41. This
type of attitude existed at
42. There were some who wanted to be important. They had the “look at me and what I do” attitude.
43. Notice what the Lord said about this type of mindset (verses 25-28 – READ).
44. In this example we find both of the ideas conveyed by the word “full” in 1 Cor. 4:8.
A. On the one hand this word described people who were after prominence.
B. The word was also associated with people who thought they had all the knowledge they needed.
45. This second point is found in Mt. 20.
46. Jesus asked if these men could drink the cup that He would drink (verse 22).
47. They said “Oh yes.”
48. These men did not ask what this cup was.
49. There was no apparent interest in learning more.
50. From all indications they were satisfied with the level of knowledge that they had.
A. This kind of attitude still persists in the world and in the church.
B. Christians become satisfied with what they know.
C. People sometimes reach a point where they feel that their knowl. is sufficient for their needs.
D. Perhaps some of this comes from our society.
E. We finish with school and for many that is it. The learning in some areas nearly stops.
F. This is not God’s will regarding our knowledge of the Bible and Christianity.
51. The Lord believed that His apostles were not “full” of knowledge.
52. Thus, He said this in verse 23a – READ.
53. These people still had more to learn and they would learn.
54. This point is still true. We should be growing and learning until we die.
55. WHENVER A CHRISTIAN FEELS “FULL” THERE IS A PROBLEM. THERE IS A BIG PROBLEM.
A. The “full” feeling that is described in 1 Cor. 4:8 comes from pride.
B. When pride is in one’s life there will be some consequences.
C. When people are filled with pride, they are interested in and will concentrate on themselves.
D. This means that instead of loving others first, people will be most in love with themselves.
E. When people are “full” they lose the kind of joy that is described in the New Testament.
F. Since pride is easily offended, people are easily injured and this breeds unhappiness.
G. When people are “full” in the sense of 1 Cor. 4:8, they lose their peace.
H. People who concentrate on themselves cannot have the peace described in the New Testament.
I. People who are “full” are not longsuffering because they say, “I am not going to put up with this.”
J. Being full steers people away from goodness and even faithfulness.
K. Do we not remember how Jesus said we must “deny ourself.”
L. How can we deny ourself if we are “full” of ourselves?
56. For the Christian, God’s will means continued growth and continuing service to others.
57. Is this how we are living?
58. We know where pride led the man in Lk. 18; he was not justified.
59. We have seen it bring down a man who shot more than a dozen people.
60. We know that it created problems at Corinth.
61. Will we therefore learn from these lessons and be the kind of people that God wants?
62. We begin the process by becoming a Christian.