Stewardship - Your Real Job — Phil Beach Jr.

Well, thank you. Did you say Phil? Oh, thank you anyway. I heard you just reminded me to put this on. The sanctuary that the Lord is concerned about this morning is not this building that we're meeting in.

The Living Temple and Wholehearted Affection

Did you know that? That's not the sanctuary. The Lord doesn't dwell in buildings made with hands. The Scripture says He dwells in living stones. Living stones, a living temple. You and I are that temple if Christ dwells in us.

And the thing that the Lord is so desirous for this morning is our affection, our full affection. He wants us to be intoxicated with love for Him. Now, this call of the Lord this morning to be intoxicated with love for Him has many rivals, many rivals.

We're living in a society, we're living in a fast age. We're just in the middle of a season, a time of year, when it is very easy for our focus to become divided and clouded by activity and thereby miss really what this time of year should be all about.

But it's not just this time of year. It's all the time. We're living in a day when the heart of a bride is being deeply challenged. There are many who want our service. There are many lords and many gods in this world who are seeking your and my allegiance this morning.

There are many gods and many lords. But the Lord wants us to recognize that He is calling us to look to Him, to come to Him in such a manner so as to enable us to be free from all other distractions and all other endeavors other than the supreme goal, and that is to know Him and to love Him and that our lives would be governed by Him.

I'd like to, if I may, invite you to turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. I have, as you know, been very much overwhelmed by the love of God for many, many, many, many, many weeks now. The Lord has just, in a gracious way, opened up my spirit to His love in such a wonderful way.

And I can find it within me to preach all the time, every time I have the opportunity on the love of God. I feel it to be more now than ever in my whole life an inexhaustible subject. You can never get tired of hearing about God's love.

It is so marvelous. And frankly, I was planning on speaking on the love of God this morning, but a few days ago, the Lord changed that and placed something particularly for us this morning on our heart, on His heart.

And so I have to admit, reluctantly, I said, okay, Lord, because I am so in love with God's love, so in love with it. It is so wonderful. It is the answer to every dilemma and problem that we have in the church today.

Perfect love is inseparable to maturity. It's inseparable to full stature in Christ. But I'm not gonna go there. This is a word from the Lord's heart for us in particular this morning. So I believe that while we can gather together from week to week and the Lord can minister to us about His love, which I know He's ministered to me, and I've heard others testify to the deep work that God's doing in your life in relation to showing you His love.

And that's real good. But this morning, I want to turn our attention to a specific concern in the Lord's heart this morning. All right? 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 begins with a statement that really could only be understood if it's known in a context.

Corinth as a Picture of the Defiled Temple

The few chapters before 1 Corinthians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul was dealing with some of the problems that were in the church in Corinth. We have to understand when we go to the book of Corinthians, listen carefully, that the book of Corinthians is the message of the Holy Spirit to the church of today showing us in a very vivid, clear picture the things that do not belong in the temple of God.

You see, the Corinthians were the temple of God as you and I are, and the temple of God, beloved, is to be a place where Christ alone has preeminence. The Lord Jesus Christ and the loveliness of His expression and the things that come from Him, the things that are born of Him, the things that are nurtured by Him.

But in the Corinthian church, the temple of God was being defiled. It was being desecrated. And it was being desecrated because there was an inadequate apprehension of the meaning of the cross in the heart of the Corinthians.

An inadequate apprehension of the meaning of the cross. And as a result of this inadequate apprehension of the meaning of the cross, a lot of things had gained entrance into the church that were not supposed to be there.

To mention a few, human worldly wisdom was present in the Corinthian church, but there is no room for human worldly wisdom in the church. The only wisdom that God wants operating in the church is the wisdom that comes from above.

The wisdom that comes from the counsel of the Almighty God. Secondly, there was strife and envy and jealousy and contentions among one another. Within the Corinthian church, there were believers siding up with other believers.

There were believers siding up with certain preachers, claiming that, I am of Paul and I am of Apollos and I am of Cephas. And then there was a spiritual group, well, we're of Christ. And so there were divisions and strife and jealousy.

And in chapter 5, there was immorality. So there was promiscuity and inordinate affection going on. At chapter 7, there was a misunderstanding of divorce and remarriage and things like that. Chapter 10, Paul talked about the history of Israel and pointed out the various different sins that they fell into while in the wilderness.

So 1 Corinthians is a revelation of the temple of God. This has to become more than theology. This has to become more than a good teaching. We have to come to see that as believers, as those who are indwelled by the Spirit of Christ, individually and collectively, we become the temple of God.

And from that day forward, the Lord's chief interest is to preserve the temple that it might be a place exclusively for Himself. For the expression of the things that bring honor to Him. It is so important for us to remember that, in particular, in light of the day that we live in.

Because in the day that we live in, man, for the most part, considers himself to be a law unto himself. He does what he wants. He makes plans the way he wants. If it feels good, he does it. Situational ethics, the hellish born teaching that the law of the moment is based on what best suits your own interest.

If it feels good, do it. If you can gain by lying, then lie. If you can gain by hurting someone, then hurt them. As long as you're accomplishing the goal that you have in mind. Now, we would, at first glance, say, well, I would never be subject to such an erroneous idea.

But if we're honest with ourselves, we can see the leaven of this kind of thinking get into our lives and into our families. And therefore, we must be on guard. Now, remember, these things find their way into the church because somewhere along the way, we become blinded to, our eyes become dim to the full significance of the meaning of the cross.

The Cross, Sin, and the New Identity in Christ

Now, as you know, the Scripture teaches that the cross is the place where Christ was crucified. And as having been crucified, he became the atoning sacrifice for our sins. So the cross became a place where Christ bore our sins and we received forgiveness.

But not only is the place of the cross where we receive our forgiveness, but the place of the cross is also a place where Christ takes us and crucifies us. Not so much what we do, but what we are by sinful nature.

He nails to the cross the depths of what we are in our sinful selves, forever reminding us that as a Christian, and through the baptism and by the operation of faith, we have died to what we are, to what we were in our sinful self, and now Christ becomes our life.

So He's not only the substitution for our sin, but He becomes the representative man. He dies for us. It is impossible, listen, it is impossible for us to allow the temple of God to be desecrated if we are enabled by the grace of God and the Word of God to have before our eyes continuously the full meaning of our conversion.

And so chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians is an outcry. It is the result of Paul having dealt with these various different problems that were in the church. He was reacting against worldly wisdom, selfishness, strife, envy, jealousy, playing favorites one against another.

He was reacting against it. Verse 16 of chapter 3, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God? See, he had to remind them. Listen closely, saints. He had to remind them, don't you know that you are the temple of God?

Don't you remember that when you became a Christian and you believed on the gospel, that you actually became the temple of God where God came to take up His dwelling place, and therefore as God is holy, you are to be holy?

Being a Christian is not simply saying, I am a Christian. It is literally a transformation where God takes up His abode in us. We become consecrated. That is, we become set aside exclusively for the purpose of expressing the glory of God in our life.

The church is not an organization. The church is not a building. The church's life is not essentially outward religion. The church is a sanctuary through which the living God expresses Himself. What? Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?

Do you know this morning? Are we aware this morning that we are the temple of God? God Almighty dwells with us, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man defile, verse number 17 there, or destroy the temple of God, him shall God destroy.

For the temple of God is holy, which ye are. Now this is very strong language, isn't it? If any man destroy or defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. Now we need to understand that this destruction of the temple of God is in direct relation to not discerning the Lord's body, which Paul talks about in a later chapter in this book.

It's not discerning the Lord's body. That is, failing to understand our new identity. Failing to understand the fact that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. You become part of a new race, a redeemed race.

The destroying of the temple of God is living in the mindset of what we were before we were Christians. Because that kind of life gives way to the works of the flesh, the works of sin, the human wisdom.

But now the temple is not to be a place where those things are being revealed, but the temple is to be a place where Christ is revealed. So, verse number 18, Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are vain. And so, therefore, Paul is coming against this wisdom of the world, being puffed up.

And he's saying, If any man seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. So, he's working toward reducing everyone. Reducing everyone to where they're all in agreement.

And that is, Christ is everything. And that we are all branches, and that it is our sole responsibility, by grace and by faith and by the work of God, to draw from Him that He might find expression in all of us.

That's it. That's what Christianity is all about. Verse number 21,. Therefore, let no man glory in men, for all things are yours. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours.

And ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. Let a man so account of us. That's the beginning of verse number 1 of chapter 4. So, the transition here, listen, please listen. The transition here is this. Corinthians, get your eyes off of one another.

You are not each other's judge. Get your eyes off the leaders that are in your midst. You are not their judge. Let a man so account of us. If you want to take record of somebody, if you want to assess somebody, assess them in this way, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

The Stewardship of Christ and the Mysteries of God

Now, while Paul was referring to himself in this particular verse, this is applicable to every member of the body of Christ. And the message that the Lord put on my heart for us this morning is simply this.

We have a stewardship from the Lord. We have been entrusted with a great trust from the Lord. We are ministers of Christ and stewards, managers of the mysteries of God. The mysteries of God are all summed up in Christ.

Christ is the mystery of God. So listen carefully. Your chief calling is to recognize that you have been given a trust from the Lord. And that trust is not so much, sometimes Christians get off on this, it's not so much your particular gifts.

We hear so much today about, oh, I have this gift and I have that gift, and I have this talent and I have that talent, and I have to be faithful to use it for the Lord. That's not true at all. You don't have to use it for the Lord.

Everything you have belongs to God, and it's the Lord who chooses to use a person in His own way and His own timing. The whole idea of it's mine and I've got to use it causes a red flag to already begin to shake.

Because there's that possessiveness, there's that idea of it's mine and I'm going to use it. And when that mindset is present, we don't understand what the Lord is doing. We don't understand it. So the stewardship, the thing that we have been given trust of is Christ Himself.

It is Christ. He is the mystery. In Him are all the mysteries of God. And now my question to you this morning is this, how well are you doing with that trust? We have been given the trust of Christ. Verse number 2, Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

Faithful with the stewardship of Christ. Let's think about that for a few moments. What are we doing with the stewardship of Christ? Nothing will preserve us from the Spirit that's working in this world.

Nothing will preserve us except God enable us to continuously be reminded and remind one another that our chief stewardship is Christ Himself. And the demonstration and expression of Him in all that we say and all that we do.

Serving People as the Real Job

A few days ago, a particular person, listen closely, I want to tell you a little story, just to dovetail this illustration with the point of being stewards of Christ. When we forget we're stewards of Christ and that our chief goal that God has called us to lay hold of is Christ, all that He is being expressed through this earthen vessel.

When we lose sight of that, we become easy prey to being seduced in our mind into walking the way the world walks, thinking the way the world thinks, and we think nothing of it. Listen, a few days ago, a particular person asked how my daughter Christina was doing.

And after chatting a little while, the person said to me, well, when is she going to get a real job? A real job. Now, this person didn't mean any guile by what they said. They were just making conversation.

And the conversation changed and the day went on. But those words, when is she going to get a real job, were branded into my heart and I kept thinking of them. And I knew the Lord was taking those words and wanted to birth something into my spirit through it.

So I pondered and pondered and prayed and prayed and rehearsed those words and rehearsed those words. And then yesterday, I brought Christina to work. And actually, it was when I was picking her up for work.

And I was sitting in the restaurant, she works at Taco Bell, and I was watching one of the young men that she has befriended. And I saw the young man for a moment, the way the Lord saw him. And I saw him as a young boy.

And I saw that he had been dreadfully abused, dreadfully neglected, that he was very hurt, a very wounded young man. And I perceived the impact that my daughter has had on his life, the Lord in her life, the things that He has said to her.

And then all of a sudden in the restaurant, the presence of the Lord came down to me. And the Lord said to me, Phil, do you think that it is below me to dedicate my whole life to serve people like Brian, down and outers, hurting people?

And I said, no, not at all, Lord. And He said, neither is it below the dignity of anyone who loves me to do the same. And then the words of that young man, when is she going to get a real job, came to me and the whole thing came together.

She has a real job right now. It has nothing to do with the ability to boast of the prestigious place that she works at, or the great degree that she may or may not have. It has nothing to do with the ability to glory in being associated with some great place.

That's not work, God's eyes, beloved. And I saw the Lord as He showed me His heart on this whole matter, and why He took the words of this young man and kept ringing them in my spirit for the whole day, and He brought it all together.

And He showed me a subtle, subtle deception that has crept into the house of God. And it has to directly relate to our failure to recognize that we've been entrusted with a stewardship. It is our job to serve people.

It is our job to let, listen, to let the selfless, humanity-loving life of Jesus Christ that has come to live inside of us, it is our job to let God break us so that life can usher out to all men everywhere.

Failure to understand that truth will inevitably result in our hearts being hardened and slowly being seduced into the posture where we begin to live a life just like other people do. We start thinking just like other people.

The most important thing to us is no longer touching people, but how much money we make. The most important thing to us is no longer how many people can Jesus touch through me, but how many possessions can I collect.

And I tell you, beloved, when that occurs, we are flirting with hell. That is not what is important to God. That is not what is to be important to a spirit-filled company of people. That is not what is to be important to the child of God.

Now, like usual, I apologize. I don't want to come across as being scathing or being angry, because I'm not. But I know that the Lord wants us to prayerfully consider this truth this morning. Now, listen closely.

Faithfulness in Luke 16 and Matthew 25

I want you to turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 16. There is a parable here in Luke chapter 16. It is a parable that has been interpreted a hundred different ways. But I don't want to deal with an interpretation this morning.

I want to deal with an application. You see, when you don't try to interpret Scripture from the traditional way of fitting it into what we've been taught, but you let the Holy Spirit speak to you, you'll find the Word of God is no longer a book of bondage, it's a book of life.

The application that we want to make from the words of Jesus this morning directly relates, Luke 16 directly relates to the application of 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Luke 16, Jesus is teaching one thing in Luke 16.

He uses different characters and a different story, but it's one lesson He's trying to get through, and that's this. You have been given a trust. Are you being faithful with it or not? That's what it's all about, Luke chapter 16.

Now, let's read it. In light of 1 Corinthians chapter 4, in light of Christ has become the thing that we've been entrusted with. There was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

Now, stop right there. Matthew 25, 24. I just want you to see one sentence and then we're going to go back there. 25, 14, excuse me. Matthew 25, 14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods.

This unfaithful steward had wasted his goods. This man traveling to a far country called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. God has given us His goods in the person of Christ. The church has been committed with the goods of heaven.

And we are going to be held accountable for our stewardship. He was accused of wasting his goods. That is, his boss's goods. And he called him and said unto him, what is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward.

Then the steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my Lord taketh away me from the stewardship. I cannot dig to beg. I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

And he called every one of his Lord's debtors and said unto the first one, how much owest thou, my Lord? And he said, a hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, take thy bill and sit down quickly and write fifty.

See what he's doing? And he said to another, how much do you owe? And he said, a hundred measures of wheat. And he said, take thy bill and write fourscore. And the Lord commended the unjust steward. Now, so many people stumble and say, well, why would the Lord commend the unjust steward?

He was unjust. He had commended him simply because he had done wisely. He had done wisely. He had thought about the dilemma that he had gotten himself into and thought ahead on what he was going to be able to do when he was cast out of his employment.

He figured he'd make friends with his master's debtors by canceling part of their debt so that when his master or his employer finally kicked him out, he'd go knock on their door and say, hey, I cut your debt in half.

Can you help me? And they'll feel indebted to him. Pretty shrewd, huh? Now, here's what Jesus is getting at. Listen carefully. This perfectly supports 1 Corinthians 4. Because he had done wisely. Listen, for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

They're wiser than the children of light because they don't walk around with their head in their sand. They recognize that they have been given a responsibility and when they realize that in being unfaithful to their responsibility, it's going to incur consequences upon them, they take measures in order to try and survive.

And so in this way, the children of this world are wiser than the children of light. What did Jesus mean by this? This is what he meant. Jesus foresaw that the church would lose sight of the great trust that she has been given and will do nothing about it.

She would lose sight of being entrusted with Christ. And in losing sight of it, she wouldn't take the measures necessary and then be found at that day of his appearing lacking, ashamed. John said that his desire was that the Lord's people would have boldness and not be ashamed at his appearing.

Now remember, this captures the stewardship of the church. It captures the trust that we've been given. But it also captures an ever-present danger. Based on the words of Jesus, it's safe to say that apart from a real dealing of God in our life and a real continuous encouraging one of another, we will be found to be more foolish than the children of this world.

In that we will fail to assess the urgency of our need to be faithful. And when we become unfaithful, we simply will walk around with the head in the sand and somehow be numbed and be carried about with the things of this world in order to numb us from sensing our need to reaffirm Christ.

And we will be caught naked at that day. We will be caught ashamed at that day. We'll be unprepared. Paul said that we all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account. There's that stewardship again.

Living by Christ Rather Than Self

And let me tell you, that account on that day, it's not going to be a matter of what I did for the Lord and what I didn't do. No, because the church isn't called to do something for God. The church is called to offer themselves to God so God can do something through them.

It's not us doing something for God. God doesn't need a man. He's already got one. His name is Jesus. Jesus is all that God ever had need of, and there He is in the heavens. Now the Lord's need is that we would so offer ourselves before the Lord, so offer all that we are, so that Christ, who is the mystery of God, the trust that we've been given can find expression in our life so that it is no longer I that liveth, Galatians 2 .20, but Christ that liveth in me.

We have got to be delivered from the I-me centered mentality. It is not about I and you and me. It's about Him. And as we focus on Him, it is His life, His righteousness, His enabling, His love, His Spirit that does the work.

Through us, yes, but He is doing the work. Now, Jesus has already said a fundamental error within the church today is we are foolish and the children of this world are wiser in relation to being able to assess our situation regarding faithfulness and unfaithfulness and take the necessary steps in order to cover ourselves if we're not faithful.

The world is doing it. The church isn't. And the reason is because the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for things has got us so preoccupied that we don't take time to assess what's happening.

We don't take time to ask the Lord, Lord, how well am I doing with this stewardship that You've given me? Not what am I doing in Your name. There's a big difference. We can do a whole lot of things in the name of the Lord, but it's not what I'm doing in Your name.

Lord, what are You doing through me? How much of Your Son, how much of Your life are people touching when they touch me? Or are they touching me? Are they touching me? Or are they touching You? Are these plans birthed from You?

Or are they my plans with Your name attached to it? There's a difference, a big difference. Verse 9,. And I say to you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, the riches of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

Verse 10,. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust. Make to your trust the true riches. And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. The call of the Spirit of God for 1999 is choose you this day whom ye will serve.

Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also which were covetous heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, Listen, ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.

Now here is the verse, For that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Listen, that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. Brothers and sisters, the thing that is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God.

And the thing that is highly esteemed by God is an abomination to men. And do you know what that thing is that is highly esteemed among men that is an abomination to God? It is making themselves the center and not Christ.

That is an abomination to God. When we are the center, we are the focus. That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. What side are we on? What side do we want to be on? What side are we seeking to be on?

Are we going to stand with God against those things that are an abomination to Him? Or are we standing on the side of man, esteeming that which is an abomination to God? Now you know what's going to make the difference between where we stand in our stewardship and faithfulness to it?

Coming to see. And keeping that sight clear, clear, clear. The truth in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. We have been given a stewardship. We are the temple of God. We are called to participate with the Son of God.

We are called to demonstrate Him to one another and to a lost and dying world. No matter what we do, it is secondary. And it becomes displeasing and abominable to the Lord if in fact it becomes a thing that we highly esteem, more highly than that work which Christ Himself is committed to.

And that is washing and serving the feet of people. 1 John chapter 2 verse 15. The implications of a revival. The implications of a mighty move of the Spirit. How many want the Lord to move in a mighty way in our midst and send a revival and bring a great revelation of His glory?

Beloved, let us not deceive ourselves. It is God's desire to do it. But surely, surely, surely, when God comes on the scene, it is not divorced from truth. It is not divorced from Christ. And when God comes on the scene, the Holy Spirit makes way for the things that please Christ and exposes the things that don't please Him.

Listen, verse 15 chapter 2. We only have a few more minutes. Bear long. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, for that which is highly esteemed among men, for all that is in the world, for that which is highly esteemed among men, for all that is in the world, all that is in the world is highly esteemed among men.

Now, what's in the world that is so highly esteemed among men that we must be guarded against lest we esteem it, lest we place value upon it and thereby become an enemy of the very heart of God? The lust of the flesh.

The desire of the flesh. The desire of the eyes. And the pride of life. That is, the glorying and boasting and sense of, look what I've got, look what I've become, look who I am kind of attitude. Those three things, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and that arrogant sense of glorying, and something that the world glories in are detestable in the eyes of God.

These things are not of the Father, the Scripture says, but of the world. And the world passes away in the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abideth forever. Are we willing to walk the pathway of the Savior and esteem those things that God esteems, follow hard after the things that God highly esteems, and thereby pour contempt upon and resist steadfastly the things that the world esteems?

The Offense and Power of the Cross

Let me just read 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. Something else the Lord had been speaking during this whole time was the offense of the cross is no longer the glory of God's people. The offense of the cross.

The offense of the cross is when I see the cross, I see no good thing in me. I see nothing that I can glory in in myself. I see a man who is worthy of damnation and hell, to whom contempt alone must be poured.

My pride, my ego, all that I think I am and all that I think I can do, all that I think that I ever can be, I pour contempt upon because the cross alone is the place where Christ is my glory. That testimony is losing its power among the ranks of Christianity.

Listen, verse 18, chapter 1, 1 Corinthians. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to we which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.