1 Corinthians (Session 4) Chapter 4

well we are studying the first book of corinthians we're in session four which is chapter four we'll take about a chapter at a time here and i like to call this californians this is first californians as you know the term corinth corinth was a very very prosperous hub back then it was sort of like hollywood las vegas and new york all wrapped up in one so it was a very prosperous uh power center but it also was the center of all that was evil and and so forth in fact the term corinth became a synonym for for a fornication and so i can't help but call first californians the name of the epistle to give it relevance to most of us who have a little perhaps clear grasp of what california has come to mean in our vocabulary but in any case more seriously last session of course we were in chapter three which focused on divisions that were occurring due to their carnality and following particular leaders and so forth and i won't repeat all that but there is a passage from chapter three that is so important i at least want to touch on it before we go forward and that's the preparations for the bema seat how the bema seat really works and so i extracted a couple of those there the bema seat is a review of works not salvation everyone there is saved the issue is their fruit bearing and they are praised by the lord himself and how it's the handle is in first corinthians 3 starting at verse 10. according to the grace of god which is given to me as a wise master builder i have laid the foundation and another built it thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon this is his response to all the divisions that were occurring within the corinth he says for other foundation can no man lay them that is laid which is jesus christ of course now if any man build upon this foundation and they he lists two groups of things here gold silver precious stones or wood hay stubble those are two groups of permanent or combustible materials then he goes on it says every man's work will be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is and notice the emphasis is not on the man but his the word his product his work and so don't get confused on this if any man's work abide which he hath built thereon he shall receive a reward that's not talking about salvation everybody there's already saved it's a reward for obedience and and uh fruit bearing if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer lost but he himself shall be saved so it's by fire like like a refugee in other words many many people confuse this passage it has to do with uh rewards not salvation and so that's a very important passage last time but he himself shall be saved yet so is by fire in other words like a refugee and then he says for 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 and christ is god's so we have the father-son relationship there well that's just a quick snapshot where we left off last time we were together chapter 4 is where we are tonight starting at verse 1. let a man sow account of us as of the ministers of christ as stewards of the mysteries of god wow what are these mysteries and are there 12 of them this actually says in the greek so then it goes on in other words it roots the following uh argument in the previous chapter this is a natural follow-through from chapter three we are christ's servants therefore we are not in competition with one another that's what he hammered through we may recall in chapter three and so let a man so account of us notice the plural this is written let's not forget this is written to apostles to helpers to believers christ loves his church all of them as we read as seven letters we get critical and appropriately so because they're all diverse every one of the seven recipients of his seven letters in revelation two and three were surprised those who thought they were doing well weren't and those that didn't think were doing well were so that's very sobering to really take a look at his appraisal and as ministers of christ the word there is hypertenti which is a not diaconus it is only used here it refers to servants who were under their master originally it referred to slaves who rode below a ship's deck and later the meeting was broadened um it's used of the attendant who took the scroll of isaiah from jesus when he preached and as remember when he was in nazareth they handed him the scroll of isaiah to read from the guy that did that was a a parrot so and as stewards of the mysteries of god and the word here is okonomiya which is accountable and the next verse is going to nail our accountability as such a steward and so stewards of what the mysteries of god what are the mysteries of god that's an assignment i'll let you dig out and you'll discover there are 12 of them interestingly enough this phrase which is got used 21 times in paul's epistles four times alone just in the book of revelation and it's the reason of the parables remember in matthew 13 we discovered the parables were given so that only the insiders would really understand check matthew 13 for all of that there are 28 occurrences in the greek six mysteries of god and or mysteries of christ and you have the verses in your notes there so you can follow through if you like there are actually 12 kingdom mysteries the mystery of the kingdom of god itself in luke 8 and mark 4 and how it was kept secret it was paul's privilege to reveal that secret in romans 16 25 and of course ephesians 3 and other passages you have the mystery of the kingdom of heaven what on earth is that is that's different than the kingdom of god matthew 13 deals with that the mystery of the manifestation in the flesh is a mystery strangely enough first timothy 16 the mystery of salvation by faith and that's all through the epistles of course and the mystery of the ultimate unity in ephesians 1 deals with that mystery of the gentiles in the same body and the mystery of the bride of christ now that's one that still eludes many scholars here what is the bride of christ in in contrast to the body of christ are they the same thing or not and there's plenty of verses there in your notes you can track that down and come to your own conclusions the mystery of the harpazzo or rapture as it's commonly called and that of course is well documented not only in the new testament but in the old testament and uh there are several passages in the old testament on the apostle that may surprise you and the mystery of iniquity that's a strange mystery isn't it but it's specifically referenced by paul in 2 thessalonians the mystery of the seven churches and that's strangely enough is a mystery of sorts the mystery of israel's blindness of course and then we have the mystery babylon the counterfeit kingdom if you will but i'm quite and the mysteries of course are finished we discover in revelation 10 verse 7. so whatever they are they're wrapped up by revelation 10 strangely enough so let you sort through that and come to your own conclusions when you've studied matthew 13 we of course encountered the famous seven kingdom parables and i taught that for many times without realizing that's just seven of twelve in addition to the seven that are detailed in matthew 13 we have another group in matthew 18 20 22-25 to make 12 kingdom parables now why am i making a point am i making something out of nothing well let's take a look at the twelves everything in the kingdom of heaven everything in the kingdom of god is in sevenths everything that's in the kingdom of heaven is in twelves for strange reasons there are twelve tribes in israel obviously how many knew that okay then there are twelve apostles to rule over the twelve tribes and i've got a surprise for many of you one of those is not paul paul was not you know one of those he was called to the gentiles twelve apostles to rule over the twelve tribes we know there's twelve kingdom of heaven parables i've just showed you those there are 12 kingdom mysteries we've just listed there are 12 000 sealed from each of the 12 tribes in revelation 7. and in the new jerusalem the big climax it has 12 gates it has 12 foundation stones and its size is twelve thousand furlongs cubed twelve thousand by twelve thousand by twelve thousand whatever that means who knows and so anyway i'll leave you with that to sort out for those of you that are looking for supplemental assignments we'll move on here to the verse two now we're on the second verse of the lesson are you getting a little nervous no it'll be it won't be a long one today moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful that's the primary requirement of steward and and the singular emphasizes the individual every believer must demonstrate fidelity and dedication did you realize that we take that for granted but we shouldn't our problem today in our society is the erosion or the evaporation of what i call the sanctity of a commitment we see that in our marriages we see that in business being in the corporate boardrooms back in the 30 years that it was primarily in the border it was a different world today it's so soon the the whole sanctity of a commitment has evaporated that's not that's wall street businesses and so forth and so it be required that man be found faithful and one of the things it really puzzled me when i i spent 30 years in the corporate boardrooms and and experienced a a remarkable ethic i'm not saying they were saved but they were ethical people you could trust them that was the environment i grew up in i was spoiled by that environment when i shifted from the corporate world after 30 years in the boardrooms into full-time christian what we call professional christianity full-time ministry i was shocked at the lack of ethics and it puzzled me how could we with all the teaching we get indulgent transactions where the people there don't keep their word it's it's just notorious and i could never understand the that gap that i experienced for the first decade or two of being in the full-time industry it was amazing to see people just not honor their commitments and i found the answer in second peter chapter one verse five because there in verse 5 of his of the first chapter of the second letter he lists seven steps add to your faith these seven things and what fascinated me to notice the first thing you should add to your faith is not education not a whole bunch of other things the number one the in the list the first on the list is virtue now when you say it that way it's abstract it doesn't grab you moral behavior it's astonishing to me that in our culture in the christian culture there's no emphasis on moral behavior keeping your promises when you make an agreement you stick with it your word should be your bond that's an that was an ethic on wall street it was not an ethic among pastors oh i know at the last meeting i said we do this but i've been praying about it and they changed their mind meanwhile you've written checks you've been taking steps and you've been relying on that previous commitment and they have no grasp it's not that they're bad people they're just astonishingly untrained in what is commonly called ethics proper behavior so add to your faith virtue is the way it reads in the king james the more modern translation will use a term like moral conduct that comes ahead of education yes learn your bible do all those other things but realize in front of all those things should be the sanctity of commitment and it's astonishing to me to go go from the secular world into the professional christianity and i it was quoted in the uh san jose mercury for some reasons that was going it was like going from a convent to a brothel going from the corporate boardrooms into the secular uh business community the christian community so be that as it may but let's move on to verse three paul says but with me it is a very small thing that i should be judged of you or of man's judgment yay i judge not mine own self and uh so he's not he's a it's not a small thing the word smaller it's a superlative form judge examine interrogate they were servants of the corinthians but the corinthians were not their masters god is their only master is his point paul frequently endured harsh judgment laboring in corinth imprisoned in caesarea and then in rome if you read his hearings he gets abused every place he goes he's used to that he takes it for granted he said i don't even judge myself and that's not conceit but he means objective objectivity he leaves this to god the only impartial judge and he's course here what he's speaking of here is his apostleship not his human deeds that's really the issue here he goes on and says for i know nothing by myself yet am i not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the lord. and see so if paul had been justified on the basis of his apostolic faithfulness he would be teaching a righteousness that could be earned no it's not earned he was appointed is the point see christ's media mediational uh work would have been insufficient or incomplete if he had to add something to that no christ's work is complete the word justified there by the way is in the perfect tense is completed already declared righteous and it's a legal word if he was acquitted i don't think that's an issue among us so i think we'll go ahead here verse 5. therefore judge nothing before the time until the lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the council of hearts and then shall every man have praise of god judge nothing before the time see god has not finished with any of us yet did you realize that every one of us in this room included our works in progress let's realize that the tares get pulled up at the very end right and until the lord come jesus's coming is certain that time of uh proper judgment is a certain the timing is unknown but it's coming and now the word darkness here is a little misleading that the word darkness can have a sinister meaning here it's simply a neutral term meaning that which isn't clear that isn't known it simply refers to things that aren't known yet don't be the word darkness can uh cause us to color that negatively that's not his intent here and until all secrets will be exposed obviously and and who receives the praise and uh the regenerate who listens to the word and so all these things brethren i have in a figure transfer to myself and to apollos for your sakes that ye might learn in us not to think of men above what that which is written that no one of you be puffed up for one against another and uh the word it is written here is uh gegraptai which is a it it frequently introduces scriptures 17 times it's in first corinthians and elsewhere and that she that no one of eb puffed up interesting phrase isn't it it's a allusion to levin levin corrupts by puffing up and there's all kinds of warnings against arrogance and we don't have to hammer that here i don't think all these things brethren notice that it includes brethren and that includes brothers and sisters and you can find that in several places both paul and apollos had served the church of course for extended periods of time and part of what paul is concerned with there were people who were identifying themselves excessively either one or the other and he's against that and that's going to emerge here more strongly as we go forward here for who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why doest thou glory as if thou hast not received it in other words if it's a gift it's a gift nothing you did if you have a gift it's not because you've earned it it's something god has given you and such true in a far deeper sense than it's normally understood see no one consulted you about your birth where you were going to be born what family you're going to be part of your geography your culture your parents your skills your aptitudes those are all givens if you will so why how can you boast in that got to be careful there's a tendency for us to do that it's the height of ingratitude not to acknowledge the source which is god not yourself the corinthians prided themselves in on the gifts of the spirit we're going to get into that later of course they they spent a lot of time back most of the teaching of paul's teaching about the gifts of the spirit are in the first corinthians but but they were puffed up they sat in judgment of other believers because they didn't possess the same manifestations really i'll tell you some colorful stories about that when we get into that passage there walter martin when he was early in his ministry happened to have a a well-documented event that occurred in new guinea where a girl was raised from the dead and was published in christianity today or whatever early as ministry when he came across one of these ultra pentecostals he would always say have you got the gift of the raising of the dead well why no and walter would in his unique way be crestfallen oh well i'll pray for you so you might enter into that gift as if it's a special gift it took a while for them to realize he was being facetious and what he was arguing is there's not one gift above another and to put one above another is one of the things that in first corinthians 14 we'll be dealing with but then we'll move on here now see paul's going to accuse them of being babes in christ but he means crybabies and if god grants grace then his people receive his blessings but he cannot take they can't take any credit for their acquisition fault finding gossip judging all that comes to an end everything that we have outside of hell itself is a gift of god of grace and grace is the death of pride the reasons by grace is so that we have no claim on it it's totally a gift it's the ultimate gift ephesians 2 8 9 is your primary reference on that now he says he actually three questions here who maketh thee to differ from another and one has thou that thou does not receive now if that is not received why just thou glory if thou has not received it and so these are rhetorical questions they're singular that means it's to you personally some of the modern translations make those plurals so it gets less pinching by the way you may be surprised to discover there are 3000 changes in the niv where they took a singular to make it plural so it wouldn't be quite so accusatory that's the point of the passage so these are three rhetorical questions because the answer of course is no one has any of these none of us did something to differ and so on and so forth and what you do have is that you what is it that you have that you did not receive as a gift god has supplied it all and there's plenty of references there for you to follow through on it let's talk for a moment about law versus grace because that comes up often sometimes very subtly the law is perfect right how many knew that that's why an imperfect man cannot keep it the law is holy that's why sinners are condemned by it the law is just therefore it cannot show mercy to the guilty that would be unjust think that one through even socrates recognized that paradox sacrifice has gone on record saying it may be that the deity can forgive sins but i don't see how he couldn't conceive of how that was possible it took the death of god himself to qualify that the law prohibits and grace invites and gives there's a contrast there the law condemns the sinner grace redeems the sinner the law reveals sin grace atones for sin i love the way hal lindsey likes to make an acronym of grace god's riches at christ's expense christ made it possible for the father to give us by paying the price for us by the laws the knowledge of sin graces the redemption through sin from sin the law was given by moses grace and truth came by jesus christ the law demands obedience grace bestows and gives power to obey get that it gives you the power to obey without it you can't with it you can you drop on that power the law says do and do not grace says it is done nothing for you to do it's already done it was paid for on a cross erected in judaism two thousand years ago one hundred percent done not 99 100 to try to add to what he did as a form of blasphemy the law says continue to be holy grace says it is finished let that sink in fabulous the law curses grace blesses the lost slays the sinner grace makes this sinner alive the law shuts every mouth before god grace opens the mouth to praise god the law condemns the best man grace saves the worst man my hand is up for that one very few mistakes i've missed the law says pay what you owe grace says i freely forgive you all the law says the wages of sin is death grace says the gift of god is eternal life the law says the soul that sinneth it shall die grace says believe and live the law was done away in christ grace abides forever the law puts us under bondage grace sets us in liberty of the sons of god wow okay enough let's move on verse eight we're down to we've made eight verses we're doing real well here now you're full now you're rich you have reigned as kings without us and i would to god ye did reign that we also might reign with you see the corinthians are influenced by the historic philosophers priding themselves on being self-sufficient they claim to be kings rather than the subjects of the king and uh uh dodging his famous catch cry i'm alone i alone am rich i alone reign as king self-sufficient people delude themselves and uh now paul is dealing in irony here in verse eight which highlights that they were getting ahead of themselves as well as paul and apollos and so on so we'll move on here year four that's plural it means the church there collectively become rich and again it's a satiation which is a dangerous statement for i think that god has set forth us the apostles last as it were appointed to death for we are made a spectacle into the world and to angels and to men and the word spectacle here is the word from which we get the word theater incidentally the same word occurs twice in loose account of the riot where guess and aristarchus were dragged into the theater in acts 19 but the apparently paul opposed this epistle at about the time the riot occurred in ephesus in acts 19. and uh so you know lennon is famous said give me dead men on furlough give me dead men on fire how serious are you about your lord is a question that's emerging here current trends around the world may give you the opportunity to stand up and be counted and are you ready for that we're going to talk a little more about that as we go here we're going to be a spectacle to angels did you realize that you always have an audience when you think you're alone or unseen the angels are watching we know from the scripture they learn about god's will by watching you strangely enough we are fools for christ's sake but ye are wise in christ we are weak but ye are strong ye are honorable but we are despised we're fools because of christ there's lots of verses on that all the way through and he's speaking ironically here obviously i like the way dan sometimes says to ronnie says what are you doing for christ's sake people get shocked at first but he means it what are you doing for his sake and so it's a double entendre if you will and so um they also reflect the truth of the gospel which is folly in the eyes of the worldly wide so it works both ways a double way but here we go verse 11 even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place okay so you know you you've read enough of paul to hear him go through his list of beatings and floggings imprisonments riots shipwrecks sleepless nights hunger thirst cold mortal perils light his life in danger again and again and again that's what he was called to paul endured an almost fatal illness in the province of asia probably in ephesus so he'd been through it all and and and uh and for second corinthians 1 details that for you he continues in verse 12 and labor working in your with our own hands being reviled we blessed being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat we are made as the filth of the world and are this outscoring of all things unto this day wow and uh working with our own hands you know one of the things that we're gonna really take a look at here is to realize that paul presented himself to his to his people without asking anything of them he never took donations from the people he was ministering to not for himself for another church in his in jerusalem or whatever working with her own he is going to brag again and again and again that he worked with his own hands and he says we are the offscoring of all things into this day the word off scoring is a word really a term used for sacrificing criminals or deformed purses and so forth the scum or trash of society and it's interesting the church always grows spiritually and numerically under persecution and hardships and you and i are going to get that opportunity count on it jesus promised us that and of course material wealth should always be subservient to the cause of christ there's nothing wrong with wealth if you use it probably abraham is probably one of the most wealthiest that walked the earth job also and greed is idolatry but having wealth is depends what you how you use it what you do with it it's important paul earned his own living i want to come back to that in spades here first thessalonians second thessalonians and so on and something you need to understand that we take for granted with paul for example every jewish boy had to learn a trade the rabbi said if you raise a son without a trade you raise a thief because they knew sooner or later you're gonna have to fall back on that so he had to learn to trade usually from his father he had to have a readiness to work with his hands now paul came from a very wealthy background he went to the best gentile schools tarsus was a rival to alexandria in those days he also taught got his hebrew education from gamaliel himself his family was obviously very positioned very wealthy he was a roman citizen that shocked the romans later when they discovered that but in spite of all that he also had to learn to trade and we'll get into that here a little bit he he was what i like to call an entrepreneur and uh so he uses vocational support as a cover financial independence was his key asset in contrast to the phrase we sometimes use being a man of the cloth that's a term we borrow from paganism the concept of clergy and laity is a pagan concept and that's what are called nicolaitans and that's what jesus twice in his letters says he hates revelation 2 6 and 215 he hammers away at that he hates the deeds and the doctrines of the nicolaitans but paul continues here i write not these things to shame you but as my beloved sons to warn you now you can see a shift in mood here which you want to remember this is a real letter it isn't some kind of essay he's writing them a personal letter here to my beloved sons he calls them and dear children you're getting admonitions from a loving father in other words for though ye have ten thousand instructors in christ yet have ye not many fathers for in christ jesus i have begotten you through the gospel and since the jewish tradition too the teacher of the torah was considered a father and of them a thousand instructors that's where we get the from that greek term we get the word pedagog and that was like a household slave or friedman who accompanied child well to do parents from to and from school he tutored him and proper conduct guarded him from danger and evil influences encouraged correct speech grammar addiction and all that but he was replaceable the father always remained in charge that's the contrast he's drawing there in that term wherefore i beseech you be followers of me paul is saying that he is an example they need to follow in a further in a further way he's going to get into this be imitators of me he says and i want to i want to dwell on the time that we left on that very issue be followers of me there's plenty of verses that hammer that home paul was what i call a spiritual entrepreneur let's read on here for this cause have i sent you timotheus who is my beloved son and faithful in the lord who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in christ as i teach everywhere in every church okay and the word ways there is a term from the holocaust which is a rule based on scripture common german now timothy of course learned his faith from his grandmother lois and his mother eunice and apparently converted when paul and barnabas came to lister and derby in his first missionary journey he eventually accompanied paul was hardly recommended by the christians in lystra and he frequently completed tasks when paul himself was hindered lots of examples of that so timothy very much becomes his protege young timothy the letters to him are very very valuable guidance for all of us but paul here continues for now some of you are puffed up as though i had not i would not come to you because he sent timothy and again he speaks puffed up this idea of leaven is hinted at there they see they fail to appreciate paul's commitment to their spiritual well-being and he's going to hammer this but i will come to you shortly if the lord will and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up but the power right but the power if the lord will that's that's he always intends after traveling with mess in through macedonia to arrive in corinth and spend some time perhaps the entire winter we find that in acts 16 and he'll leave ephesus after chavo and he's not a free agent nor nor are we by the way but are subject to the lord's direction for the kingdom of god is not in word but in power and of course the word kingdom appears chiefly in the synoptic gospels but also in paul's epistles and you can track that down for those of you that want to get into that area itself and so the kingdom of god is not in word but in power and wicked people do not inherit it there's plenty of verses on that what will he he gives him two two choices here shall i come unto you with rod or in love in the spirit of meekness he's ready to scold he's scolding them how do you want me to come and he challenges him here two choices and this is a teacher challenging unruly pupils that's the flavor between paul and the recipients of this letter in corinth but i want to take it from there and talk a little bit about this term entrepreneurs having spent a good part of my career in management the role of the entrepreneur is very well documented the role and contributions of the independent entrepreneur in both two areas the financial area and the technological areas are legendary the factors that contribute to success have been well studied in the management literature being driven by a vision his persistence and commitment to his self-appointed goals have embroidered the tapestry of both technological and economic progress throughout the centuries there's plenty of literature on entrepreneurs in finance and technology but i haven't seen it in the spiritual realm at all i haven't seen that in the literature the degree to which these characteristics characterize the apostle paul in the spiritual has rarely been adequately recognized in our contemporary missionary perspectives you read a lot about missionaries you never get into this dimension at least i don't see it there so i want to pause here and give you some practical real world examples of what i'm talking about and i'm going to describe something that is not for everyone and for lack of another label we call it the koinonia missionary fellowship and so there are three ways of supporting a minister in the field one is to become a salaried professional to join a church or a parachurch as an employee that's one way and that requires positioning and has some restrictions to it of course a second way is to become a soliciting missionary that's the path if you're going to go to y wham or campus crusade you can go to work but you have to bring your own support so to do that you've got to be a soliciting missionary yourself to pay for the privilege of working in that environment fair enough but there's a third way that's overlooked and that's to become a self-supported servant that's what paul did was he independently wealthy not really but he had vocational skills to supplement whatever he did have that requires planning and perseverance and what i want to focus on is that third element is not normally a path available to the average person that's desiring to go into ministry and i want to explore that a little bit let's give you some examples in acts 18 paul found a certain jew named aquila born in pontus having recently come from italy with his wife priscilla because claudius had committed all jews depart from rome and he came to them and so and so because he was of the same trade see paul had a trade of tent making i'll explain that in a minute so did they so they naturally roomed together when they were traveling you stayed with them and worked and by occupation they were tent makers and uh the same occupation now he paul came from cilicia silo silicium is a kind of cloth that's made of goat's hair it's woven in peculiar way and it generates something almost like leather but very lightweight it's very practical for tents it was manufactured in this native country of cilicia which is a roman province in southeast asia minor it's a lightweight leather substitute suitable for for travel tents that's what he was skilled in making and so was akila and priscilla and so in thessalonians paul writes before you remember brethren our labor and travail for laboring night and day because we would not be chargeable to any of you we preached unto you the gospel of god so he didn't depend on the people he's talking to he brought his personal economic freedom with him as a as a credential if you will not to be charged with any of you neither did it meet any man's bread for naught but wrought with labor and travail night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you not because we have not power but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us so paul is setting an example we don't follow interestingly enough that we might not be chargeable yes you you say in in acts chapter 20 yes you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who were with me and i've shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak and remember the words of the lord jesus that he said it is more blessed to give than to receive now paul quotes that from christ but you can't find it in any of the writings it's obviously something jesus said but we know that because paul tells us that we'll move on here these hands and so in first corinthians four we for this present are we both hunger and thirst we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless we labor working with our own hands being reviled we blessed being persecuted we endure and so that's that's his pattern working with his own hands so we claim in ki to have a mission statement equipping the saints for the work of the ministry well how do you equip saints for the work of the ministry what does that include three things education of course that's why you're here and that's why most of the audience are resident students here in new zealand also by experience practicums and other ways of gaining actually hands-on experience that makes sense there's a third element though called enablement i like them because they're all if you're a seminar you've got to have them all start from the same letter to make them true see so it's alliteration so we've got education experience enabling i would call the third one financing but then it doesn't start with e see so all right but the principle it's the principal problem of course is the enablement the financing of it you can do that several ways you can be on the staff of the ministry by being hired or you can get third party support by panhandling getting people to support you and both of those though expose you to the error of being a nicolas the concept of being a man of the cloth the concept that we have clergy and laity as a stratified stratification of the body no no no and there's a third thing that's what i want to post individual self-support that may not have occurred to you because you may need help there so what we have put contrived here in in ki is a professional uh parsonage investment program which has professional enhancement how does that work under the institute which has a mission statement equipping the saints for the work of the ministry we have three things education experience and enablement education of course is is uh the courses that you're taking both on the internet and here in person experience likewise it's the enablement that i want to deal with the education we've dealt with by creating the three legs of our stool the berean issachar and koinonosh you're all familiar with that recognizing the third the climactic step there is the is the third commandment to to to take the name of the king and to take if you're going to take the name of the king you need to be prepared to represent them competently and faithfully the experience we have in ministry opportunities that those things are covered pretty well it's this third area called enablement that's the dilemma now the objective of this is to establish a threshold of economic independence to networked and trusted members who are really truly committed that's not for everybody but how does this work well we have a participant and this invitation only is a life member his covenant to pursue a gold medallion there's no time limit but he's committed himself to go all the way to gold so his life membership which at the moment's 2500 doesn't get spent it goes into a pool called the koinia parsonage reserve that gets invested on his behalf it's a charitable organization operating offshore in a tax-free environment now before he make while he's making gold that's what happens he he he purchases his unit that he his life membership buys some unit shares uh in the kpr the coin the parsons reserve and it's presume it's managed to grow at least not less than seven percent a year that's a very reasonable goal if you're offshore outside of a taxes and so that continues while he's studying okay and now once he makes gold everything changes once he makes gold opposed to the post gold face he can draw on his investment in the pool seven percent per annum whatever he has in his account he can take seven percent per year if that was all to the story that sounded pretty boring but hear me out okay now in the pre-gold phrase there's something else i haven't told you there is also a source of supplemental support people who are attracted to what we're doing and so they also contribute to the growth and their contributions eclipse any investment return of the funds themselves so that could uh what do they how much do you do we don't know i'll come to those numbers in a minute but it turns out that can be very consequential so the how does the coina parsonage reserve grow by three ways members themselves add to it as i they their entry fee goes to it but many of them decide they're able to add to that and there's ways to do that i'll explain but also there are non-members we call them patrons people who like what we're doing that are willing to contribute to that pool so that pool now is going to grow two ways by members adding to it by non-members adding to it and then of course it's being invested for whatever it returns but if it's growing more than seven percent here that's more than seven percent that's compounding and so that gets to grow pretty quickly so okay now once the card the gold holder has made gold in this case the parsons unit shares are he's still just getting seven percent of his account but his accounts worth much much more because of the addition of these other funds now there's another thing that the participant the participant can do he can enter into what we call a pledge and that's a remarkable entity the per share prices are increasing every month a little bit so what he can do he can take advantage of that by announcing a pledge he's going to give two numbers to the custodian how much per month and how many months 100 a month 60 months the 60 months is the maximum and whatever month he thinks he can sustain now the good news is it's not permanent and anytime he can quit he's not locked in if you will but his idea is that the pledge the the all the units that he pledges are reserved for him at the early price that's an advantage advantageous price and the difference can be very substantial as the p share prices increase and so what he takes advantage of is the difference because he's buying it the early price but it's worth whatever it is as the years go by you're with me so far the difference is his advantage now at any time it was if he finds it burdensome or his surprise change he can't continue no problem he can determine any time without prejudice and when he terminates it simply stops the process what he's purchased are his of course but what he forfeits is you could call lost opportunity and that gets very that gets to be very very expensive for him to quit because he's throwing away the advantage of buying at that low price you follow me so far and so it turns out that the price of the units themselves can be growing quite substantially in the 18 months past we've doubled in the 18 months so it's growing at about 60 or 70 percent per year that's not because of earnings it's because other people adding to it but that also means that if you quit along the way your forfeiture can get very very large in fact if you quit here at say you sign up for 60 months if you quit at 50 months um you lose the your your your pledge terminates and the problem is that you can be throwing away more than you've earned you've already know what you've earned you've earned but the bunch you're throwing away is even larger is the point so it's a self-policing uh thing that uh is worth studying and understanding as you go through this but there's some copy the per the parsonage account is not part of the participants personal estate it's for their donations to support his to reimburse him for cost of ministry and that'll be certified by his own personal uh advisory board and uh and and upon termination for whatever reason the underlying equity is returned to the endowment fund and so if the redemptions are at seven percent never to exceed seven percent then the core equity never diminishes and so that means the money that is donated never leaves the ministry into perpetuity and uh so when the so when those shares ultimately return they return un diminished in fact they actually grow substantially now why would people be donating to it well for for turns out that professional donors don't like operating budgets their sinkholes they don't like building projects they tend to be glass cathedrals they don't like money going to denominational fiefdoms so this gives them a place to invest in people who have the following four characteristics they are clearly qualified because they're gold medallion holders and all we have to do is hold up the the the handbook for ki and that clearly tells you what a gold gold medallion is like a phd out of seminary they have their own skin in the game they participate only in proportion to what they have put in themselves there's no free ride here and they're supervised by their own knowledgeable peers not by corporate headquarters so this is not a fiefdom and what's interesting since they're spending earnings only the residual equity remains in the ministry in perpetuity they can once they make gold they can transfer their units to other members if they choose to but the money never leaves the ministry and so that's now the endowment support the endowment comes from donations from unit trusts of different kinds hopefully and uh they've they feed the parsons reserve preserve so what's the procedure all the member has to do is notify the custodian to get a pledge approved if he if he desires to doesn't have to he donates to normal deductible channels designated kmf they add their membership number for confirmations a monthly status report is generated by the computer they tell each member exactly where he stands on all these things and we also allow now patrons people who not members but they want to pledge because they can what they if they pledge they and and hold it for a while the amount that they can deduct can be a multiple of what they cost because they cost inexpensively under a pledge but as a as a year or two goes by it doubles and they get credit for deduction when it's donated they hold it until they donate it when they don't when they instruct the custodian to donate it and they get an acknowledgement and that gives them leverage on their deductibility i usually point out that taxes are a penalty for poor planning but so so the what they what the member has to do is so he gets agreement from three kmf members to serve as his personal advisory board and they should be proximate to testify to the personal walk and practices and they're not under your provision they approve your mission plans and certify that your goals and activities and they certify those to the custodian annually and so so this is a practical program to field independent spiritual entrepreneurs who are well trained and grounded in the word that are truly committed and participating in proportion of their own personal commitment people who donate to that are simply matching funds with what they're spending already and they're supervised by their own peers not by a remote headquarters with its own agenda so what we're asking you to do is take a course at your own pace on your own schedule participate in an international study group of serious believers and then learn how you can arrange your own enablement as a spiritual entrepreneur to prepare for the coming darkness ahead and there are four reasons that donors are find this appealing because they're dealing with competent committed and supervised by peers and donations remain in acting they're competent because they're gold medallion holders they're committed in proportion to their own personal participation and they're supervised by a personal advisory board not a corporate headquarters and their donations remain in the ministry in perpetuity only the earnings are at risk not the corpus text itself and so it's a phenomenal thing and so i leave you then with malachi 310 which is a challenge a dare by god himself it astonishes me that we have a god that has put this in his word as a dare and it says bring ye all the dives into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith that's quite a phrase he's a dare prove me now here with saith the lord of hosts if i will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out of blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it now that's quite a thing prove me now here with god dares you to put him to the test the god of allah of islam can do anything and abu bakr the number two under muhammad said he could have one foot in paradise and still not be sure of salvation because allah can do anything anytime he's capricious that read that untrustworthy no no no the god that we worship the living god of the bible takes pride in making and keeping his promises and it's in that spirit that this dare he puts in malachi 310 is staggering when you think it through he dares you to take him up on this if i will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough that's the answer to all financial difficulties right there in one verse malachi 3 10. so are these things relevant to you is it pre-prioritizing your life shouldn't they be the primary focus of every hour not every day every hour make him known have you that's my challenge i asked you to pray about it and i suggest you take this season of whatever it is a time of fresh commitment as you walk the grounds by yourself in a quiet time or sitting in front of the fireplace reflecting make this time a time of fresh commitment and let us help you let's bow our hearts in our word of prayer

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Length: 56min 0sec (3360 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020