06/14/2026
Here is the message for Sunday, June 14. God bless!
1 Corinthians 4:1-7
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our sermon reading for today is from 1 Corinthians 4:1-17. Since we read this earlier, I am just going to read verse 2 for us to focus our attention on in our sermon. We read. This is God’s Word.
Several weeks ago, we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday when we learned Jesus is our Good Shepherd and all who believe in Him, like you and me, are His sheep. We learned, as our Good Shepherd, Jesus brings us back when we wander from the faith. He protects us from the attacks of the devil, and He leads us to our heavenly home. But Jesus doesn’t do all of this by Himself. Out of love for His sheep, Jesus established the public ministry and gave us pastors, teachers, and others to be His under shepherds to preach God’s Word to us lead us and others to put our faith in Jesus as our Savior and to our heavenly home.
Unfortunately, there are church members and non-church members whom we know who have no desire to go to church or send their children to a Lutheran school because of something a called worker said or did. Now to help us understand what we should say to them when they tell us this, we turn to our sermon series entitled, “Say It Loud”. In this sermon series we are learning when people open up to us about their fears, concerns, and troubles, we are to say loudly, or a better way to put it boldly what the Bible teaches so they receive the comfort and peace they truly need. Today we will learn how we can encourage others to attend church and send their children to Christian schools by answering this question, “How does Jesus use called workers to lead us?
We’ll answer this question by first turning to our sermon reading from the book of 1 Corinthians. The author of this book is the Apostle Paul who is considered to be the world’s greatest Christian missionary. Paul founded the Christian church in the city of Corinth in Greece (map) on his second missionary journey. However, after Paul originally left them, many issues arose in this congregation. One of the issues was there were factions in the congregation. Some in the congregation followed Paul, others Apollos, others Peter, and still others followed Jesus. The reason these factions arose was because as Greeks, the Corinthians highly respected people who were very wise and who spoke well. Naturally this led different members of the congregation to follow different leaders and to criticize those they didn’t follow.
Like these Corinthian Christians, sometimes our fellow church members and non-church members tells us they have no desire to go to church or send their children to a Lutheran school ever again because of something a called worker did. When they tell us what happened, it is important we recognize whether their reasons are God-pleasing or not. If they tell us the pastor does not teach the true Word of God or their child’s teacher is very lazy and never gets her work done, these are God-pleasing reasons to be upset. However, if they tell us the pastor’s sermons are really boring and they never learn anything new, or they didn’t like that the pastor told them it was sinful for them to get a divorce, or their child’s teacher is so strict their child doesn’t want to go to school anymore, or the teacher assigns way to much homework, these are not God-pleasing reasons. Either way, when people open up to us, we should show them love and sympathy. However, what we must never do is agree with their sinful reasons or go and tell others about it ourselves. When we do this, we hurt our called workers’ reputations. It leads these people further away from Jesus. It could lead more people to leave the church or school, and it could lead more people into hell.
So that doesn’t happen to them or anyone else, Jesus wants us to remind these church members and non-church members how Jesus uses called workers to lead them to Jesus. Look at what Paul says in verse 1, “This is the way a person should think of us: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.” Here God teaches us when we talk to a church member or non-church who have no interest in attending church or sending their children to school because of something a called worker said or did to them we are to say loudly or boldly to them that even though called workers are sinners who make mistakes, Key Point #1: Jesus gives us his called servants to preach the gospel to us. As members of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod or WELS, we can assure these people all our teachers went to Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN and all our pastors went to Martin Luther College, and then to Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, WI where they learned what they Bible teaches and how to preach and teach God’s Word to us. Then they were specially called by Jesus through our church or school to serve Him by serving us by preaching God’s Word to us. However, we must especially remind them the most important message our called workers are called by Jesus to preach to us is the gospel. This is the good news that Jesus is our Savior Who is the one and only way to heaven. Day after day, our called workers teach us that Jesus our Savior because He lived a sinless life in our place and suffered and died on the cross to take all our sins away. His resurrection assures us one day Jesus will come again to lead all who believe in Him our heavenly home.
Now in our reading, Paul reminds us why this is the gospel is the most important message our called workers preach to us. He says in verse 7, “And what do you have that you did not receive?” Here Paul reminds the Corithian Christians how they have received the gospel from him, and Apollos, and others. It was through this gospel message that they were brought to faith in Jesus as their Savior. In a similar way, when we talk with our church members or non-church members who have no interest in attending church or sending their children to school because of something a called worker said or did to them we are to say loudly or boldly to them Key Point #2: Jesus gives us called workers to lead us to faith in him. We can remind these people the only reason they believe in Jesus is because God the Holy Spirit used the water and the gospel message their pastor preached to them when they were baptized to lead them to believe in Jesus as their Savior and follow Him today.
Unfortunately, many church members and non-church members feel that since they currently believe in Jesus as their Savior, it isn’t necessary for them to go to church or send their children to a Lutheran school. But look at what Paul says in verse 6. He says, “I did this for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written.” Here Paul reminds us that when we talk with our church members or non-church members who have no interest in attending church or sending their children to school because of something a called worker said or did to them we are to say loudly or boldly to them Key Point #3: Jesus gives us called workers to preach the true Word of God to us. We can remind them that in addition to preaching the gospel, God calls our called workers to preach the law to us when what we are doing is sinful, they teach us how we are to lead godly lives, and everything else the Bible teaches so we are not led astray by false teachings, but instead so we grow stronger in our faith, lead godly lives, and follow Jesus all throughout our lives to our heavenly home.
Sometimes when we tell this to our church members and non-church members, they will listen to us. Sometimes they won’t because they won’t because as sinful human beings they get hung up on the wrong priorities. They are more concerned about how a pastor preaches, or his personality, or if their child likes going to school than anything else. When this happens, Paul reminds us what we are to say to them in verse 2 where he says, “In this connection, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” Here Paul reminds us when we talk to our church members and non-church members and they get hung up over the wrong priorities, we are to say loudly or boldly to them what is most important in our called workers is not things like these but that Key Point #4: Jesus gives us called workers to faithfully use the gifts he has given them. As long as they are using whatever gifts God has given them faithfully to serve Jesus by serving us by sharing the true Word of God with us, especially the gospel, that is all that truly matters, because that is what the Holy Spirit uses to lead us to Jesus in heaven.
One of the more popular hymns in our hymnal is hymn 842: Jesus Still Lead On. In this hymn we are comforted by the fact that our Savior Jesus leads us through this sinful world to our home with Him in heaven. Like this hymn, when our fellow church members and non-church members tell us they have no interest in attending church or sending their children to school because of something a called worker said or did to them we can say “Say Loudly” or proudly Jesus is our Savior Who leads us to heaven, and so out of love for us He gives us pastors, teachers, and other called workers to faithfully preach His Word to us to lead us to faith in Jesus so He can lead us to heaven. Amen.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
