1. "Death is the reason for Christianity. Death is the hope of Christianity. And death is the way of Christianity. That chain of death—death as the reason, death as the hope, death as the way—very counterintuitively, that is the good news of the Christian gospel."

2. "In the Christian religion, the cross does not merely accomplish our redemption, it frames the pattern for our discipleship. It both saves and shapes. A Christianity that says the cross saves but need not shape is not Christianity."

3. "The cross-shaped life is a life of death to self. Yet too often we're not dead to self. We're merely mostly dead."

4. "Legalistic Christianity says, if I follow God's rules for parenting, my kids will turn out well. If I follow God's rules for marriage, my love life will turn out well. If I follow God's rules for holiness, my life will turn out well. Jesus never shook hands on that deal."

5. "Real faith doesn't negotiate the terms. We come to Christ at the end of ourselves, stripped of our virtue, hands open knowing that whatever he gives us is what we need. That is the faith of the cruciform life."

6. "The Corinthians had somewhat of a holiday mindset. Paul says a wartime mindset is what's needed because, like him, we are on a mission from our King."

7. "I love the deep fellowship that this church enjoys. It is a wonderful gift from God. And yet the danger is that fellowship becomes an end in itself. Play dates and coffee shop trips and beach vacations and board game nights become the center instead of the means."

8. "So much of the way of the cross needs to be caught, not simply taught. It's something we learn by seeing it in action."

9. "Christian values are no doubt better for our culture than the alternative, but in the analysis that really matters, they are no better at transforming the heart than the Old Testament law."

10. "The Christian's daily calling is a rhythm of dying and rising—dying to self, sin, and worldly ambition, rising to new life in service to Jesus our King."

Observation Questions

1. In 1 Corinthians 4:8, what three things does Paul sarcastically say the Corinthians have already become or attained, and what contrast does he draw with the apostles at the end of the verse?

2. According to verses 9-10, how does Paul describe the apostles' position and reputation in the world compared to how the Corinthians view themselves?

3. In verses 11-13, what specific hardships does Paul list that he and the apostles have experienced, and how does he say they respond when reviled, persecuted, and slandered?

4. What familial language does Paul use in verses 14-15 to describe his relationship with the Corinthians, and what distinction does he make between himself and their "countless guides"?

5. In verse 16, what specific command does Paul give to the Corinthians, and what does he say in verse 17 about why he sent Timothy to them?

6. According to verses 19-20, what does Paul say he will find out when he comes to Corinth, and what does he declare the kingdom of God consists in?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Paul use such biting sarcasm in verse 8, saying the Corinthians have become "kings" without the apostles? What does this reveal about the Corinthians' misunderstanding of the Christian life?

2. How does Paul's description of apostolic suffering in verses 9-13 serve as a correction to the Corinthians' pursuit of worldly wisdom, strength, and honor? What is the relationship between following Christ and becoming a "spectacle"?

3. What is the significance of Paul calling himself their "father" through the gospel (v. 15) rather than merely a guide, and how does this relationship support his authority to admonish them?

4. In verse 20, Paul contrasts "talk" with "power." Based on the sermon's teaching and the context of 1 Corinthians, what kind of power is Paul referring to, and why is this distinction so important for the Corinthian church?

5. How does Paul's call to "be imitators of me" (v. 16) connect to the broader theme of the cross-shaped life that runs through 1 Corinthians 1-4? What does this suggest about how the way of the cross is learned and lived out?

Application Questions

1. The sermon describes a "holiday mindset" versus a "wartime mindset" in the Christian life. If someone examined your conversations, priorities, and schedule this week, which mindset would they conclude you have? What is one specific change you could make to cultivate a wartime mentality?

2. Paul responded to reviling with blessing, to persecution with endurance, and to slander with kindness (v. 12-13). Think of a recent situation where you were criticized, mistreated, or spoken against—how did you respond, and how might you respond differently in light of this passage?

3. The sermon challenged listeners to ask a trusted friend: "To what extent is it difficult to help me because of my pride?" Who could you ask this question, and what might be holding you back from asking it?

4. Paul says the Corinthians have "countless guides" but only one spiritual father. Who in your life has been an example of the cross-shaped life that you have imitated, and who might be looking to you as an example? What specific aspect of your life needs to become more worthy of imitation?

5. The sermon mentioned that some Christians have "made peace" with a particular entangling sin, developing a "stable relationship" with it. Is there a sin in your life that you have stopped actively fighting? What concrete step could you take this week to bring it into the light and put it to death?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Mark 10:35-45 — This passage, referenced in the sermon, shows Jesus teaching that greatness in His kingdom comes through servanthood, providing the foundation for the cross-shaped life Paul models.

2. 2 Corinthians 11:23-30 — Paul expands on his apostolic sufferings in greater detail, reinforcing the pattern of weakness and hardship that characterizes faithful ministry and discipleship.

3. Philippians 2:1-11 — This passage presents Christ's humiliation and exaltation as the supreme example of self-denial and the pattern for Christian relationships, directly supporting the sermon's call to humility.

4. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 — Paul describes how the Thessalonians became imitators of him and of the Lord, then became examples to others, illustrating the "cascading waterfalls of imitation" the sermon emphasizes.

5. Hebrews 12:1-11 — This passage, partially quoted in the sermon, explains how Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him and calls believers to endure discipline as sons, connecting suffering with hope and transformation.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Christianity Is the Religion of Death: The Cross as Reason, Hope, and Way

II. Right Expectations for the Cross-Shaped Life (1 Corinthians 4:8-13)

III. Right Example for the Cross-Shaped Life (1 Corinthians 4:14-21)

IV. Embracing the Extreme Way of the Cross

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Capitol Hill is quite the Halloween destination, as you would have noticed if you were walking down East Capitol Street on Friday nights. Crowds of people and all those skeletons, little ones hanging from fences, one as tall as a house, skeletons everywhere, having tea together in front of one house, shrieking as you walk past. I hope the shrieking skeletons get turned off next year. I don't care much for the more gruesome motifs that Halloween brings. But as a Christian, I can't say I'm entirely opposed to an annual reminder of death, because Christianity is the religion of death.

After all, its symbol is a cross. What other religion has as its emblem and instrument of death.

Death is the reason for Christianity. The wages of sin is death, the Apostle Paul wrote. Death is the hope of Christianity, to quote Paul again. Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. To bring us to life.

The perfect Son of God died in the place of all those who would ever put their faith in him to take on himself the death that they deserved.

And death is the way of Christianity. As Jesus said in Luke 9, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

That chain of death, death as the reason, death as the hope, death as the way, very counterintuitively, that is the good news of the Christian gospel. Our sins lead to death. Christ died for us to be forgiven of our sins. We repent of them. We die to ourselves, and we put our faith in Christ's death on our behalf.

So that we may have life eternal. That's how you become a Christian. That's how you can be reconciled to your God. It's ironic that the way to eternal life is described in language of death, that the crown comes by way of the cross.

That means that in the Christian religion, the cross does not merely accomplish our redemption, it frames the pattern for our discipleship. It both both saves and shapes. A Christianity that says the cross saves but need not shape is not Christianity. That's simply because of what he means to become a Christian. We become Christians through faith, declaring our trust in him.

But what does it mean to say we trust Jesus with our salvation but we don't trust Jesus in how we live our lives?

So, the Christian life is cross-shaped, both in how we enter it and in how we live. That way of the cross is the way of humility, of service, of self-denial, as we saw in that reading from Mark 10 just a minute ago. The cross-shaped life is life of death to self. Yet too often we're not dead to self. We're merely mostly dead.

The cross-shaped life is a life of humility and yet pride lingers. We Christians intend to take up our cross daily, but Christ's cross falls off to one side and we start living for ourselves again. So how can we grow more fully into the way of the cross?

Less precisely, the situation Paul was addressing in 1st Century Corinth. The Corinthian church had started down that cross-shaped road, but they got distracted and soon they were off picking daisies on the shoulder. Because they were enamored with worldly wisdom rather than the way of the cross, their church was splintering. In pride they saw themselves as mature. But chapter three, verse one, Paul says they are mere infants in Christ.

In chapter four, our topic for today, which you'll find on page 970 of the Pew Bible, Paul, using himself as an example, tells them to stop judging one another. That's hardly how those ruled by the cross should behave. Everything he says that they have is a gift from Christ. What do you have that you did not receive? So stop it with this pride.

Then in verse 8, Paul aims one last rhetorical punch to knock them back onto the way of the cross. And here's what he writes: Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us you have become kings. And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as if we were born yesterday.

Like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake. But you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.

To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. When slandered, we entreat. We have become and are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

I do not write these things to you to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.

For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach them everywhere in every church.

Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of those arrogant people, but their power.

For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

How can we not merely claim the cross but live the cross to grow ever more fully into this cruciform life? Our passage gives us an answer in two parts, which is the outline for the rest of our time together. In first, verses 8 to 13, Paul establishes right expectations. In second, verses 14 to 21, he gives the Corinthians the right example, right expectations, right example. That is what we need to live more fully in the cross-shaped life.

So we'll start with verse 8 then, right expectations.

Paul's tone here is biting, ironic. Some might say sarcastic. That's most obvious, I think, in that phrase without us in verse eight. All things are theirs in Christ, chapter three, yet they're living as if they have all things without Paul, without his teaching, without Christ. Two weeks ago, Chad Pritchard preached what might be the most sarcastic passage in the Old Testament, Isaiah 47, where God mocks his enemies as a warning to them.

Here we have what might be the most sarcastic passage in the New Testament where God mocks not his enemies but his own people for their good. So these are sarcastic Sundays here at CHBC. And just an explanatory note lest we all take to social media with renewed vigor and confidence in the virtue of sarcasm, just note that Paul knows that the Corinthians know that he loves them beyond professing to love them. The argument he uses at the end of chapter 4 would make no sense if they did not know that he loves them. So what Paul does with his tone will honestly apply very rarely in your own life.

In other words, kids, don't try this at home. Paul hits hard because the Corinthians are hard-headed. He loved to be gentle, but truth will only permeate their proud hearts through brute force. Which leads to a hard question for you: Are you hard-headed like the Corinthians? Oh my friends, long for correction.

Don't force your brothers and sisters in Christ to strategize together on how to get through to you. Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us you have become kings. They will one day rule with Christ, but through the way of the cross, not outside of it.

So end of verse 8, Paul doesn't think they reign at all. In fact, verse 9, wouldn't it be great if they did rule? Because then he'd rule. But as it is, he's suffering. The image there in verse 9 is that of a triumphant general returning to Rome, entourage behind him, enemies last of all enter to be executed.

And like crowds would gawk at those prisoners, the world, angels and men, gawk at the apostles. They are living theater. They are a spectacle because they've gone the way of the cross. That's what it means to follow Jesus, which is cautionary. It's also extraordinary because it says that Paul and these other apostles had discovered in their Lord one worth joyfully dying for.

So neither you nor I are called to walk the way of the cross exactly like the apostles. But the road of rank and file Christians like us should not diverge too terribly from theirs. And that was the problem. In 1 Corinthians, Paul is like a man sentenced to death. They are living as kings.

Surely something's amiss. So what about us? Are our expectations for the Christian life more in line with verse 8, Kings, or verse 9, spectacle? In the workplace, is your Christianity different enough to be gawked at as a spectacle? At school, in your neighborhood, have you found something worth dying for?

And Paul's continuing the sarcasm, verse 10, We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. Back in chapter one, many Corinthians were, or not many Corinthians were wise, strong, or of honorable birth when they came to Christ. Language Paul is lifting from Jeremiah 9, we read together earlier.

And yet now they are styling themselves that way nonetheless, those same three things. They've pursued a Christianity that gives them what the world loves, and Paul throws cold water on that notion. Wisdom, the cross makes you look like a fool. Strength, it makes you look weak. Honor, Oh, the way of the cross is embarrassing.

I wonder if our expectations for the Christian life like theirs are too close to the values of this world just wrapped up in Christian garb. That's what legalistic Christianity does. It says, if I follow God's rules for parenting, my kids will turn out well. If I follow God's rules for marriage, my love life will turn out well. If I follow God's rules for holiness, my life will turn out well.

Jesus never shook hands on that deal. I remember a friend who was mad at God for allowing suffering to happen in her life because she had always obeyed him. She'd dotted the i's and crossed the t's and he'd broken the deal. That's how legalistic Christianity warps your expectations. And that's remarkably similar to another deformed set of expectations, prosperity Christianity.

But instead of expecting what the world values through obedience, prosperity Christianity expects it through faith. Most of us are familiar with the heretical health and wealth Christianity, but it has a more subtle cousin, the desire to come to Christ in order to get something. Something other than God. I lack community, meaning, peace, so I come to Christ to get what I want.

I remember conversations with a man who had been caught in adultery, and over the course of our discussions, he came to realize that the decision he had once made to follow Christ was not so he could be reconciled to God, it's because he despised his father and he thought without God's help he could never avoid becoming like his father. That's why he became a Christian or so thought.

Now, a fear like that, that you will become the man you despise without God's help, may be a good starting point toward saving faith. But if your expectation is that becoming a Christian is going to get you something, be it a Mercedes-Benz or a more virtuous life, Then you, like the Corinthians, like this man, need your expectations rearranged. In his case, he did come to real saving faith. But real faith doesn't negotiate the terms. We come to Christ at the end of ourselves, stripped of our virtue, hands open knowing that whatever he gives us is what we need.

That is the faith of the cruciform life.

The Corinthians had somewhat of a holiday mindset. Paul says a wartime mindset is what's needed because, like him, we are on a mission from our King. At Capitol Hill Baptist Church, do we as a congregation normalize the holiday mindset or the wartime mindset? If I did a core sample of this afternoon's conversations, would I conclude that our greatest desire as a church is to serve Jesus Christ?

Or career success, great food, good times, and maybe some Jesus thrown in?

I love the deep fellowship that this church enjoys. It is a wonderful gift from God. And yet the danger is that fellowship becomes an end in itself. Play dates and coffee shop trips and beach vacations and board game nights become the center instead of the means. May our fellowship always drive toward affection for Christ and service to Christ.

The Christian life should be one of friendship and joy. And it is fundamentally one with a wartime mentality.

More than once I've seen someone in this church make peace with a particular entangling sin.

They tried fighting, didn't work, so they've settled in. And that's compromised their joy, it's compromised their fruitfulness. But I've also seen when that person wakes up from their slumber and throws their chains off, like Paul wants the Corinthians to do, things to do here when they realize they really are free in Christ and they embrace that wartime mindset. They drag their sin kicking and screaming into the light and they truly put it to death. And over the course of time it becomes clear that they have been transformed.

Somewhere in this room is the next example of that.

Right, you have developed a tense but stable relationship with your occasional drunkenness or your sexual sin or your envy or your gluttony, and you think you've got all the Christian life has for you. Already you have all you want, Paul says. And I'll tell you, Satan is delighted.

But 2 Timothy 2 tells us that if we cleanse ourselves from what is dishonorable, we will be useful to the Master, ready for every good work. What will Satan do when you move from that holiday mindset to a wartime mindset?

Yet what that looked like for Paul is it's sobering. Verse 11, To the present hour we hunger and thirst. We are poorly dressed and buffeted. Buffeted by angry crowds and prison guards, he's homeless.

And given such deprivation, do you think at least he can relax? But no, and we labor, working with our own hands, something disgraceful in that culture for a learned man like Paul. And yet that did not leave Paul embittered. It led him to love. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.

That is, we respond kindly.

Paul's simply following Jesus and all that. And so verse 13, We have become and are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things, like the stuff that goes down the drain after you wash your hands. That is the honor this world gave to Paul because of his suffering. That is how Paul paints the cross-shaped life.

And my guess is that we react to that in one of two ways.

Some of us just lap this up, right? We love extreme missionary biographies. We love calls to action. And did I fear a lot more of that enthusiasm is rooted in pride than we may think? I'm not going to be just a normal Christian.

If that's you, you are in danger of zeal without knowledge, and as you mature, you need to mature your zeal with sobriety.

And then others read these words with dread, right? This is the Christian life we must ardently hope to avoid. Can't I make my way to heaven with as little drama as possible? But we need to hear these words. In Acts chapter 14, Paul goes back into the city of Lysra after being left for dead, being stoned, which is astounding in itself.

He goes back in, the text says, strengthening the souls of the disciples. How? He strengthened their souls, it says, by saying, that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Some of us in this room need that kind of strengthening.

I suspect Satan has a customized plan for each of us on how to neutralize the effect of our faith. For some it's entangling sin, for others comfort, for others respect, What's his plan for you? How's it working? That would be a really good conversation to have over lunch. It's the expectations for the cross-shaped life laid out here by Paul that free you from that plan.

I once visited a BMW dealership in Germany. I asked to drive the most expensive model they had at the dealership. On the Autobahn. They said yes.

And then I discovered, as I was passed by a Ferrari, the car came with a speed regulator. What a shame. Well, just like that amazing automobile, the Christian life is not to be led and lived with a speed regulator. Right, my friends, tear out that regulator. Embrace the way of the cross.

And since Paul's day, literally millions have flooded in to take hold of these cross-shaped expectations.

If you're hearing you're not a Christian, you must wonder why. Why would anybody ever want a life like this?

I sincerely hope you don't leave that as a rhetorical question. Because that is maybe the most important question you will ever ask in your life. Why would anyone ever want a life like this? Well, Paul is just imitating Jesus. In Jesus, Hebrews 12:2, endured the cross for the joy set before him.

The millions who have walked this way have done so not merely because they ought to, but because they want to, because they understand that there is no better way to live than this cross-shaped life. So if that confuses you, I would strongly encourage you to talk to someone about that. Who would ever want to live like this? I'll be at that door afterwards. Talk to me or at the other doors.

There'll be other pastors. It may be a Christian friend sitting next to you. We would love to talk to you about that.

Teenagers, what do you want from your life? Is what you want worthy enough to justify suffering?

Christian teenagers, what do you expect your Christian life to be like? Is it compatible with suffering like Paul's? If, say, you become a spectacle to your friends, if it's not look deeper into what Jesus has for you. Leaders of this church, just as the apostles suffered more than the Corinthians leaders should expect to suffer more than those they lead. We are battlefield generals, not armchair generals.

If Paul could suffer and respond out of love as he does in verse 12. Should we not be able to love amidst much lighter difficulties?

So with these verses, Paul's resetting our expectations. But I've got to say, his words sound exhausting. They are stirring on paper that lasts only so long in the trenches. So I read these verses, I just like, How much more must I deny myself in order to follow Christ?

The Bible's got happy passages and it's got sobering passages, which means at this church we've got happy sermons and sobering sermons. You've already figured out this is one of the latter. Yet two words come to mind for how to gladly step into these expectations Paul gives us: humility and hope. I realize that seems strange. With the wartime feeling of this passage.

But that's the way of the cross: humility and hope. We'll start with humility because pride says, you, are too good to be the scum of the world. Pride's opposed to the way of the cross, which is why John Calvin said that humility is first, second, and third in the Christian life. Mark 10:44 that Mark read to us earlier, Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. That's humility.

And then there's hope. As Christians, we hope in God's providential care that in his hands there is no hardship that befalls us without purpose. And we hope in God's rewards, like we saw last week. Paul summed it up well for the Galatians. And let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

So we can take hold of these expectations for the cross-shaped life through humility and through hope. But Paul does one more. He also intends to show us how it's done, which brings us to verses 14 to 21 and our second point, where he gives us the right example.

The most striking thing as we pass from verses 13 to 14 is Paul's change of tone. Suddenly, Paul's words are full of familial language. Beloved children, verse 14. I became your father, verse 15. And then fatherly warning, verse 18.

A little while ago, I was working on my back gutter at my house, trying to drill through an old rivet. And I was having to push that drill as hard as I could, but suddenly the rivet popped out and just as suddenly I had to pull back for fear I drilled through the other side.

Very similar to what's happening here in 1 Corinthians, except instead of hardened metal, Paul is dealing with hard-hearted Corinthians. In verse 14, he's finally broken through and so he has to shift suddenly to avoid crushing them. I do not write these things to make you feel ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

My friends, beware pride like the Corinthians had. An ego is unusually hard to break, and because it's built on nothing, it's easily crushed. So I would want you to ask a friend of yours today a question. That might be hard for you to ask.

To what extent is it difficult and delicate to help me because of my pride? To what extent do you feel like you have to tiptoe around my sin because of my ego?

Most of you won't actually do that. Maybe more will now because I pointed it out. Ask that question. It will be for your good.

So Paul's desire here is not to crush, it's to bring about change for their good. So he shifts to this fatherly tone. They should listen to him because he loves them, verse 14, and because he has a unique relationship with them. They may have countless guides in Christ, verse 15, but only one father, which he became through the gospel. That word guide refers to a Roman guardian or tutor, someone who was useful, not beloved.

We often see pictures of them holding rods of correction, which helps explain verse 21.

Nobody could relate to the Corinthians like Paul did because he was their spiritual father. What a privilege to know yourself as someone's spiritual father or mother because Christ used you to bring them to faith. All this familial language reminds us that the church is the family of God. The Bible began with the nuclear family. It ends with the heavenly congregation and no biological family.

Right now it's the overlap of those two institutions, but one is slowly giving way to the other. So while families may be wonderful gifts, the church will in some meaningful ways supplant the family in each of our lives. And these verses are a picture of that. For some of us, this church has essentially become our family. For others, they lavish attention on those in the church who need them, attention that the world would think really belongs only to the family.

I think of Steve and Donna Boyers, care for Jim Cox, the many of you who showed such care to Maxime, how the trailers and the Nelsons and the Kitchens have functioned almost as adoptive parents to some in this church. So Paul says our relationships at church should be like family and so they should be affectionate. And in his affection for the Corinthians, Paul sets them in the right direction, which is where, honestly, I think this passage gets very interesting. He doesn't merely tell them how to live the way of the cross, he shows them. Verse 16, Be imitators of me.

Just like later in this letter, in chapters 8 to 10, when teaching them how to give up their rights for each other, he concludes by saying, Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. So much of the way of the cross needs to be caught, not simply taught. It's something we learn by seeing it in action. And Paul humbly yet honestly can tell them, Just do what you saw me doing.

In addition, verse 17, he sent Timothy to remind them of his ways in Christ. We know from chapter 16 that Timothy hasn't yet arrived. It seems that he's going to arrive shortly after this letter arrives.

So Paul is teaching the way in the form of this letter and sending them Timothy to remind them of the way they saw in Paul, knowing that both of those things are needed. In these ways in Christ that he just refers to are not unique to the Corinthians. They are, as Paul says, as I teach everywhere in every church. No surprise that when we fit all the epistles together, they match. They give us a cohesive picture of what the Christian life should be.

That's not to say that we should reduce the Christian life to imitation. We shouldn't disconnect chapter 4 from chapters 1, 2, or 3. Remember, the Corinthian church was rooted in the gospel message. Chapter 2, verse 2, For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul's teaching of the way of the cross was rooted in the work of the cross.

So yes, Jesus rode to the cross exemplified much for us, but he went to the cross not mainly as an example, but to save us from our sins. First Peter 2 tells us that Jesus' suffering was an example to us and that he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Jesus is fundamentally a Savior, not a life coach, and it is spiritually perilous to disconnect his way from his work. So what do we do with this focus on imitation?

Well, we simply recognize that just as Paul imitated Christ and the Corinthians imitated Paul, we also need models to imitate. Friday was an important day. It was Reformation Day. And one great achievement of the Protestant Reformation was recovering the idea that Scripture is sufficient, that it stands above the church. Yet the doctrine of Scripture alone should never be practiced by you or me alone.

Scripture is something we understand and apply together as a church as we imitate one another.

So Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he says something similar. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well. He affirms them for becoming imitators of us and of the Lord. And they in turn, he says, became models, examples for believers all over Greece, including this congregation in Corinth. The Christian life should be like cascading waterfalls of imitation with one believer showing the next, who shows the next, and so forth, which I think has been the experience of this congregation.

I first came here in the late 90s. This was a very friendly congregation at the time. I wouldn't say it was particularly common for church members to be deeply invested in the spiritual well-being of other members. That concern was certainly something taught from this pulpit, but key to getting that culture to take shape was imitation. One person invested in another, who invested spiritually in others, and gradually that kind of spiritual concern for others became normal in this church.

Never underestimate the patient power of a good example.

Which means that being a Christian evolves much more than just showing up on Sundays. Part of following Jesus is helping others follow Jesus, just like we see here with Paul and Timothy and the Thessalonians and even others who exemplified the Christian life for the Corinthians. Imitation is relational, not arm's length. It should be affectionate, not prideful, and it requires an intimate knowledge of someone's life. All of that should be part of the fabric of a church.

If you are a Christian, are you imitating other Christians? Is your life worthy of imitation?

And who should we imitate? Verse 19, Not those who talk a big game, but those whose lives demonstrate the power of God's Spirit. Not the best talkers, but the most transformed.

So your elders should be men worthy of imitation. 1 Peter 53 tells elders to be examples to the flock. So elders, I pray that you, by God's help, are insistent, prayerfully insistent, on lives that are exemplary. But by God's grace, there are a whole lot of lives in this church way beyond the elders that are worthy of imitation.

They may not be the most articulate or successful, so don't confuse what the world values with what Christ values. They may not be older than you or more experienced, so don't confuse imitation with mentorship.

When I am tempted to take a worldly shortcut to get something, I think of the many unmarried sisters in this church who would love to be married and are saying no to dates with non-Christian men. Not knowing if the Lord has a Christian husband waiting for them. They trust in God, they risk something they value in order to live for him, and that is so worthy of imitation, as is the service-focused life that I see lived out by those sisters. As I've said before, I feel the same about those in the church who struggle with same-sex attraction and are faithful. Right, if you would just ignore a few things the Bible says, you would be hailed as heroes in this world.

Instead, you are despised, and so you are my heroes.

So many other categories I could give you. We should look for those whose lives are transformed by God's Spirit and imitate them.

Paul's concerned, however, that the Corinthians will not do all this, even after they receive this letter, even after they receive Timothy. And so he concludes this chapter with a warning. He is coming soon. And when he does, verse 19, he will find out not the talk of those arrogant people but their power. Interesting, he calls them arrogant, not foolish.

It's because they've been confronted with the way of the cross and they have persisted in going their own way. Paul's saying, Don't make me pull this car over, kids. The time to fix that mess is right now. Because I'm your father in the faith, am I not? So let me come with the gentle affection that suits this relationship.

Just like our own situation. Of course, we're not looking ahead to Paul's visit, but Jesus's. Just like we saw last week in verse 5, Jesus is coming back. And when he does, Paul says he will bring to light the things that are hidden in darkness. It will disclose the purposes of the heart.

Well, Paul wants to see when he arrives. Verses 19 and 20, it's not talk. He wants to see power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. The kingdom of God, the recognition of God's dominion, is not seen in fine sounding talk, but in spirit-filled power.

Power has been key all through these chapters. We've been studying in 1 Corinthians. In chapter 1 verse 17, Paul said, He did not come with eloquent words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. Not eloquent wisdom, chapter 2, verse 4, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that verse 5, their faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Acts 18 tells the story of the gospel coming to Corinth, and it is a story of power. What kind of power? The power of change. Crispus, ruler of the synagogue that rejected Paul at the beginning of Acts 18, becomes one of Paul's first converts, who's mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1. Sosthenes seems to have become the next ruler of the synagogue there in Corinth, and he apparently comes to faith himself.

How do we know that? Because he co-authored this letter with Paul, not talk, Power. That's what the Corinthian church was built on. But they're not acting that way now, right? They are infants in Christ, so it's not talk Paul wants to see when he comes.

He wants to see power.

We know that what matters is not talk but power. We know talk is cheap. But what kind of power does this congregation get excited about?

Some people spend their lives as if the power that really matters is the coercive power of the state. Others as if the power that matters is the inventive power of industry.

That's child's play, Paul says. You want real power? Look for the transforming power of the Spirit. May that be the power we long to wield in our lives through evangelism, through life in the church, the power of a transformed life.

And that's what I see as I look around this congregation, right? Some of you were addicted to worldly power, to work, to pornography. Some of you were given over to gay or lesbian lifestyles. Some of you were selfish parents. Some of you were on the edge of divorce.

Some of you self-consciously hated Jesus and God saved you. And you are transformed. As Paul says later in 1 Corinthians, such were some of you, let alone what you would have become if the Lord had not saved you. Transformation doesn't always happen at once. Sometimes someone comes to Christ and the Lord changes them instantly in some way and leaves other challenges behind.

When he changes it instantly, it glorifies his power. When by faith we need to struggle to be sanctified by trusting his goodness, it glorifies his goodness.

In both, though, we see the power of a transformed life.

You know, in some corners of our culture, Christian principles somewhat surprisingly seem to be ascendant today.

With many extolling Christian values. But my friends, we must recognize that Christian values do not possess transforming power.

Christian values are no doubt better for our culture than the alternative, but in the analysis that really matters, they are no better at transforming the heart than the Old Testament law. Romans 7, For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. That is what the law alone gets you, bearing fruit for death. But, Paul continues, now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. Not talk, but power, the power of a transformed life.

So the burning question this whole passage centers on is in verse 16: Will your life imitate what you see in these verses? Who are you gonna imitate?

For whom will you rearrange your schedule this week so you can tell them the gospel of Jesus Christ?

What sin that you've made peace with this week are you going to put to death with the help of others you've been embarrassed to tell them about? Will you finally stop pushing away the idea that you should be the one to take the gospel to a difficult part of the world? Will you imitate Paul?

With that we should conclude.

I wonder if what Paul describes here feels extreme: becoming a spectacle, fools for Christ's sake, the refuse of all things, Does the call to imitate that feel extreme?

Paul is using some hyperbole. We should note that the apostles' call is not the same as our own. But all appropriate caveats in place, what Paul calls us to here is extreme. The way of the cross is extreme because my brothers and sisters in Christ, you and I need extreme. Jesus did not come to add a Christian veneer to an otherwise good life.

He came because you were dead in your sins. Dead in rebellion against God. Dead from the moment you first breathed. Dead beyond any Halloween skeleton. And mere talk will not save you.

Simply adopting a few Christian principles will not save you. Jesus came not to give mere talk. He came to transform. I so appreciate how the former professor of queer theory at Syracuse University, Rosaria Butterfield, describes her conversion. How do I tell you about my conversion to Christianity without making it sound like an alien abduction or a train wreck?

Truth be told, it felt like a little of both. My friends, that's what Jesus does when he comes. The train wreck begins a conversion and it continues until you are safe with Christ. The spirits Power, my friends, is transformative, but it does not transform along the axis of your choosing. He does what he wants because what he wants is best, and he gives not talk, my friends, but power.

So is the way of the cross extreme? You bet it is. Is it safe? Not by any human definition. Yet it is through the way of the cross that we behold our God like we sang earlier.

It's the difference between taking the Mount Everest ride at Disney and summoning the real thing. You might choose to opt for a domesticated Christianity that's not gonna call you to the things Paul calls you to in these verses that merely wraps our world's values in a veneer of Christianity. That would be the legalistic Christianity I talked about earlier. Domesticates God to a set of rules. Prosperity Christianity that domesticates God to the thing we want.

Your lust for a claim that domesticates God to fading applause. Your desire for community that domesticates God to whether or not you feel included. My friends, those are safe gods. Those gods will give you no trouble. They will not mess with your dreams.

Those are our gods who inspire no fear because those are the gods who are made in your image and so those are the gods of talk, not of power.

But if you're a Christian, you don't want that. No, we want to see the Almighty. We want to press through to see the God of Abraham, the fear of Isaac, like that bleeding woman in Mark 5, pressing through the crowd, trembling with fear, heart beating madly in her chest. I'm sure only half believing, but wanting desperately to touch the Creator Himself. We would see Him, the undomesticated one, the fearsome one, the God who does dash dreams to pieces, the God who offers no guarantees but His own promise of good.

And He says to us, Ask, and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. The Christian's daily calling is a rhythm of dying and rising, dying to self-sin and worldly ambition, rising to new life in service to Jesus our King. So will you join us in embracing the way of the cross? This life-transforming work of God's Spirit?

Like Paul employed the Corinthians, let us set aside expectations that merely apply Christian labels to worldly ambitions. Let us yield ourselves and our expectations to the Spirit of God, trusting that His expectations are better than our own.

And let's do this together. As we model for one another the humility and self-denial and dependence and weakness on our Savior that is the way of the cross, so that our lives together may not consist merely in talk, but in power.

So the Capitol Baptist Church may not be a place of talk, but of power. The power of a transformed life. Let's pray.

Oh, Lord God, we know that each of us there is a battle, but you are the kind of life Paul lays out here in 1 Corinthians 4 and what honestly we would prefer.

But, Father, what we prefer ultimately leads to death.

Not the good death of self-denial, but rather the death of life apart from you. And so we pray that we would gladly embrace this way you have given to us, the ways Paul describes, so that we might enjoy you in this life and enjoy you forever. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.