Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 3 ERV, Ch. 4 NASB

Podcast Introduction

This is Epistles Sunday. We’ll read 1 Corinthians 3-4. I’m calling this episode “The Servant Leader.”

Comments on 1 Corinthians 4

In chapter 4 Paul is reinforcing his qualifications with the Corinthian church. They did not recognize his apostolic authority. So he is instructing them on his position, and how they ought to regard him.

He says that they should think of him and the other apostles as a servant of Christ. There are several different Greek words that we translate as “servant”. The word used here is “”, which is a subordinate servant working as a free man. The more common Greek word is “doulos”, which is a common slave. 

“Hyperetas” literally translated means under-rower. Think of a big galley ship. They had many, many men who rowed, and an under-rower acted without question, under the direction to the one in charge. In the apostles’ case, they answered only to Christ.

Paul also said that the Corinthians should think of them as a stewards. A steward was the manager of a household. And in relation to the master of the house, the steward was a slave, but in relation to the other slaves, he was a master. Commentator Adam Clarke put it this way, “The steward… was the master’s deputy in regulating the concerns of the family, providing food for the household, seeing it served out at proper times and seasons, and in proper quantities. He received all the cash, expended what was necessary for the support of the family, and kept exact accounts, for which he was obliged at certain times to lay before the master.”

So after laying this out to the church at Corinth, Paul told them that it didn’t matter much to him that they had a low regard for him, since he answered to Christ, not him. Not that even his own judgement of himself mattered, but only the judgement of the One he served. 

I’m clarifying this at this point because without the proper understanding of the first five verses, one might think that it was wrong to judge anyone, and the next chapter clearly teaches that judging others is sometimes appropriate.

James Cooper Links

1) Right here

2) And here

3) And here

4) And here

Support

This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising=censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and send it to me here: SUPPORT.

Transcript

Download .txt file.

1 Corinthians 3-4: The Servant Leader (LSFAB S13E064)

[TEASER – 0:00]
Judging others is sometimes appropriate.

[INTRO S13E064 – 0:10]
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we’ll read through the entire Bible in a year and the website is lifespringmedia.com. This is Epistle Sunday. And we’ll read 1 Corinthians 3 and 4. I’m calling this episode, “The Servant Leader.” As always, we’ll read the chapters and I’ll have some comments after the reading. After that, we’ll have question number four of our Christmas questions which will be answered, of course, by James Cooper of whychristmas.com.

All right, let’s pray before we read.

[OPENING PRAYER – 0:50]
Our gracious heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You for your Word. And we thank you, Lord, that you’ve given it to us so that we can know you. Teach us today, I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Okay, let’s begin.

[1 CORINTHIANS 3 (ERV) – 1:04]
1 Corinthians, chapter 3.

(1) Brothers and sisters, when I was there, I could not talk to you the way I talk to people who are led by the Spirit. I had to talk to you like ordinary people of the world. You were like babies in Christ. (2) And the teaching I gave you was like milk, not solid food. I did this because you were not ready for solid food. And even now you are not ready. (3) You are still not following the Spirit. You are jealous of each other, and you are always arguing with each other. This shows that you are still following your own selfish desires. You are acting like ordinary people of the world. (4) One of you says, “I follow Paul,” and someone else says, “I follow Apollos.” When you say things like that, you are acting like people of the world.

(5) Is Apollos so important? Is Paul so important? We are only servants of God who helped you believe. Each one of us did the work God gave us to do. (6) I planted the seed and Apollos watered it. But God is the one who made the seed grow. (7) So the one who plants is not important, and the one who waters is not important. Only God is important, because he is the one who makes things grow. (8) The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose. And each one will be rewarded for his own work. (9) We are workers together for God, and you are like a farm that belongs to God.

And you are a house that belongs to God. (10) Like an expert builder I built the foundation of that house. I used the gift that God gave me to do this. Other people are building on that foundation. But everyone should be careful how they build. (11) The foundation that has already been built is Jesus Christ, and no one can build any other foundation. (12) People can build on that foundation using gold, silver, jewels, wood, grass, or straw. (13) But the work that each person does will be clearly seen, because the Day will make it plain. That Day will appear with fire, and the fire will test everyone’s work. (14) If the building they put on the foundation still stands, they will get their reward. (15) But if their building is burned up, they will suffer loss. They will be saved, but it will be like someone escaping from a fire.

(16) You should know that you yourselves are God’s temple. God’s Spirit lives in you. (17) If you destroy God’s temple, God will destroy you, because God’s temple is holy. You yourselves are God’s temple.

(18) Don’t fool yourselves. Whoever thinks they are wise in this world should become a fool. That’s the only way they can be wise. (19) I say this because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He catches those who think they are wise in their own clever traps.” (20) The Scriptures also say, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise. He knows that their thoughts are worth nothing.” (21) So there is not a person on earth that any of you should be boasting about. Everything is yours: (22) Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, and the future—all these are yours. (23) And you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

[1 CORINTHIANS 4 (NASB) – 4:15]
1 Corinthians, chapter 4.

(1) Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (2) In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. (3) But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. (4) For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. (5) Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.

(6) Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. (7) For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

(8) You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. (9) For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. (10) We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. (11) To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; (12) and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; (13) when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

(14) I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. (15) For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. (16) Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. (17) For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. (18) Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. (19) But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. (20) For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. (21) What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

[COMMENTARY – 7:13]
Well, in chapter 4 today, at the beginning of the chapter, Paul is reinforcing his qualifications with the Corinthian church. They didn’t recognize his apostolic authority, so he’s instructing them on his position and how they ought to think of him.

He says that they should think of him and the other apostles as servants of Christ. Now there are several different Greek words that we translate as “servant.” The Greek word used here is “hyperetas,” which is the subordinate servant working as a free man. The more common Greek word is “doulos,” which is a common slave.

“Hyperetas”, literally translated means “under-rower.” Think of a big galley ship. They had many, many men who rowed and an “under-rower” acted without question under the direction of the one in charge. In the apostles’ case they answered only to Christ.

And then Paul said that the Corinthians should also think of the apostles as stewards. And a steward was the manager of a household. And in relation to the master of the house, the steward was a slave, but in relation to the other slaves, he was a master. Commentator Adam Clarke put it this way. “The steward… was the master’s deputy in regulating the concerns of the family, providing food for the household, seeing it served out at proper times and seasons, and in proper quantities. He received all the cash, expended what was necessary for the support of the family, and kept exact accounts, for which he was obliged at certain times to lay before the master.”

So after laying this out to the church at Corinth, Paul told them that it didn’t really matter much to him that they had such a low regard for him, since he answered only to Christ. And he said that not even his own judgement of himself mattered, but only the judgment of the one he served.

So I’m bringing this out because without the proper understanding of the first five verses, one might think that it was wrong to judge anyone. And as you heard chapter 5 clearly teaches that judging others is sometimes appropriate.

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE – 9:19]
I would love to hear your comments. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511, or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com.

Tomorrow is The Law Monday and we’ll read Genesis 36 through 39.

[CHRISTMAS QUESTIONS – 9:37]
Our fourth Christmas question is coming up. But first today December 4 at 4 pm Pacific, I’ll be doing the drawing for the free tickets to the movie “Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon.” If you’re hearing this before that time for heaven’s sakes send in your Christmas question, because for each question you send in you’ll get one entry for the drawing and remember, too, that for each question I use on the show, you’ll get an entry for the drawing I’m having for a signed copy of my book “Webb’s Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide.” And by the way, if you’d like to know more about that you can go to easybiblenamesguide.com. Send your questions to me at st***@*************ia.com and put “Christmas question” in the subject line.

Okay, today’s question comes again from Howie and Ann. They ask, “How did the birth of Jesus end up being celebrated on December 25, when it is really not known exactly when he was born.” This one has also been sent in by more than one person, but Howie and Ann were the first. So let’s turn again to James Cooper for the answer.

[JAMES COOPER ANSWERS – 10:40]
The reason why the birth of Christ – Christmas – is celebrated on December the 25th has a long and rather complicated history. The shorter answer is no one really knows why it’s on December the 25th. But we’ll take a slightly longer look at that. Jesus’s birthday certainly isn’t in the Bible. And it’s very probable that he wasn’t born on December the 25th, as we’ll find out in a minute. The first record of Christmas being on December the 25th comes in 336 AD during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine, but it wasn’t an official Roman state festival at this time.

So let’s look at some of the theories as to how December the 25th was chosen. The one that I prefer, is that a very early Christian tradition said that the day when Mary was told that she was going to have a very special baby called the Annunciation was on March the 25th. And it’s still celebrated today on that day, and nine months after March the 25th is December the 25th. So that leads us to question, well, how did March the 25th get chosen? Well, March the 25th was also the day that some early Christians thought the world had been made, and was also the day that Jesus died when he was an adult, and they thought he had also been conceived on that day. The date was chosen, it was near the March or vernal equinox, when day and night are of equal length in March. Now this was chosen because Jesus had died on Nisan 14 in the Jewish calendar, the date of the Jewish festival of Passover. Now the Jewish calendar is lunar which is based on the moon rather than fixed dates like our Gregorian calendar. St Ephrem the Syrian who lived from 306 to 373 taught that Jesus was conceived on Nisan 10, so March the 25th, became a fixed date on the Gregorian calendar to mark these moveable dates on the Jewish calendar.

December the 25th also coincides with the winter solstice, which happens around December the 21st to December the 22nd in the northern hemisphere, and in the southern hemisphere, it’s the time of the summer solstice. The solstices are the days where you have the shortest day and the longest day of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, there were pre-Christian solstice festivals which celebrated that spring and new life and light was turning and that winter would end. The Roman festival of Saturnalia took place between the 17th of December and the 23rd and honored the Roman god Saturn. The Romans also thought it was a solstice took place on December the 25th. In 274, the Roman Aurelian created “Dies Natalis Solis Invicti” meaning the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun, also called Sol Invictus, and it was held on December the 25th. And because of that, some people have said that Christians took over the date of December the 25th from these pre-Christian winter festivals. However, there are records going back to around 200 of early Christians connecting Nisan 14 to the March the 25th. And so December the 25th was a Christian festival day years before Sol Invictus. And recent studies have also found that Sol Invictus connection didn’t appear until the 12th century. And it’s from one scribbled note in the margins of a manuscript by somebody who probably didn’t understand what they were scribbling. And it might have happened in October and not December anyway.

You might also hear that December the 25th was the birthday of Mithras, Tammuz or Horus. That’s a load of rubbish. Those theories all come from supposed historians during the Victorian period who either didn’t know what they were talking about, or just made stuff up because they didn’t like the Catholic Church, and so tried to connect them back to pre-Christian religions to make the Catholic Church look bad. Christmas had also been celebrated by the early church on January the 6th, when they also celebrated Epiphany, which means the revelation that Jesus was God’s Son and the baptism of Jesus. Like the December the 25th date, this was calculated on Jesus’s death and conception, but from the 6th of April, not the 26th of March. Now, Epiphany mainly celebrates the visit of the Magi, the wise men, to the baby Jesus. But originally it celebrated both that and the baptism of Jesus, as Jesus’s baptism was originally seen as more important than his birth as it was when he started his adult ministry. There’s also the confusing factor of the Gregorian and Julian calendars. The Gregorian calendar, one we use now, was introduced by Pope Gregory VIII in 1582. Before that the Roman or Julian calendar named after Julius Caesar was used. The Gregorian calendar is more accurate because the Julian calendar had too many days in the year. When it was implemented ten days were lost and some people were very upset about losing their ten days. But many Orthodox and Coptic churches still use the Julian calendar for their church dates. And so they celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January, which is when December the 25th would have been on the Julian calendar. And the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Christmas on the 6th of January. And in some parts of the UK where I live, the 6th of January is still called Old Christmas.

And there’s another date, the Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah starts on the eve of Kislev 25. Hanukkah celebrates that when Jewish people were able to rededicate their worship in the temple in Jerusalem, following many years of not being allowed to practice their religion. As Jesus was a Jew, this is another reason that it could have helped the early church choose December the 25th for the date of Christmas, because it sort of mirrors Kislev 25. Although, of course, the Jewish calendar moves around. This year, 2022, Hanukkah starts on the 18th of December and runs to the 26th of December. So it’s actually a Christmasy-Hanukkah crossover, but that’s quite rare. Phew! See, I said it was complicated. So I like the early church connecting March the 25th to December the 25th. That just makes sense to me.

But if Jesus wasn’t born on December the 25th, well, when was he born? Some people try and say that it was December the 25th. But that just doesn’t really fit. Some people say it was at Passover. That kind of fits because it would have been a time when Mary and Joseph could have been traveling to Jerusalem to have a big festival, as well as to do the census. But my preferred dates is at Tabernacles or Sukkot. This happens in the autumn, in September or October. Tabernacles is the Jewish festival when people remember that they depended on God for all that they had after they’d escaped from Egypt and spent forty years in the desert. The word “tabernacle” comes from the Latin word, meaning “booth” or “hut”. There are lots of reasons why Tabernacles fits. And there are links in the show notes to some really good articles on that. But there’s also a hint of it in the Bible. In John 1:14, it says “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” In Greek, the word for dwelling means to pitch and live in a tent or encampment which is what Jews do during Tabernacles. So John is literally saying that Jesus tabernacled among us. That’s quite a good hint, isn’t it?

So I hope that helps to explain the rather complicated question of why we have Christmas on December the 25th. And when Jesus might well have been born. Again, links to my site, and some other good articles on this topic are in the show notes.

[STEVE WEBB – 17:37]
My goodness, that was quite a lot to consider, huh? Well, I do like James’ conclusion, though, don’t you? Thank you, James, for the detailed answer. And thank you, Howie and Ann and others for asking the same question. As James said, there is a link on the show notes page for more information. The show notes page is at lifespringmedia.com/s13e064. And also be sure to check out the Lifespring WhyChristmas show at lifespringwhychristmas.show.

[PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS – 18:09]
Being Sunday, we do have a couple of prayer requests. First, Seth sent in a prayer request. We need to pray that God’s will will be accomplished in his life, which is really something each of us should pray for, right? And Kathi will be going to the City of Hope tomorrow. So we’ll pray for her and Del as well.

All right, let’s pray.

Our heavenly Father, we praise you and we worship you. There is none like you. Your name is higher. Your power is unsurpassed. You are righteous. You are merciful. You hold everything in your mighty right hand and we worship you. Father, we pray that your will would be done not only in Seth’s life, but in each of our lives. Make us into the people you want us to be and help us to accomplish all that you have called us to do. Forgive us, Lord, when we fail you and help us to follow you closely each day.

I pray for Kathi and Del, now. Give them safety on the road as they travel tomorrow to the City of Hope and we pray that the visit with the various doctors and support staff will bring good news. Give them wisdom as they try to come up with effective treatments for her.

And, now, Lord, I thank you for the Lifespring family and I ask you to bless each one. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Our next time of prayer will be next Wednesday and to send your prayer requests and praises to me, go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

[OUTRO S13E064 – 19:40]
Send your Christmas questions into st***@*************ia.com with “Christmas question” in the subject line. If you haven’t sent a question in yet, get it to me by four o’clock Pacific today. Thanks to the team: Sister Kirsty, Sean of San Pedro and Sister Denise for all of their help. God bless you guys. Comment on this show by calling the Lifespring family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511 or by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com. I can’t do this show on a daily basis without your support. To find out more go to

[JINGLE SINGERS – 20:18]
lifespringmedia.com/support

[STEVE WEBB – 20:18]
Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. I’m thankful that you made me a part of your day today. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

[ANNOUNCER – 20:27]
The Lifespring Media family of programs are made possible by the generous support of listeners like you. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript corrected by Denise