1 Corinthians 4:9-13 Hungry, Thirsty, and Homeless
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: February 5, 2020 1 Corinthians 4:9-13
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, 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.
(Understanding the Text) Paul is showing the Corinthians what it truly means to be a leader in the church. They were practicing worldly leadership that rises up by pushing down those who are above. They were bad mouthing Paul, Apollos, Peter, etc. to make their own chosen leader seem better. They were arguing with each other about who was better. They had decided that they themselves were the best rather than humbly lifting up their brethren. Paul shows them what Christian leadership is. It is self-sacrifice. It is being treated poorly by the world. It is not having a place to call home or financial security because you are traveling to where you can serve others.
The apostles were the first-in soldiers. They were not the maintainers; they were the special forces that went in and did the work of a hundred men. They were go-getters with a servant mentality. They were taking the battle directly against Satan where he had never had to meet it before, and they were being met by supernatural forces aligned against them. Only their special connection to Jesus and His training allowed them to not be overwhelmed with the thought of what they were being asked to achieve. However, they were accompanied by angels and living in the Spirit, so the achievement part happened even though on the surface it should never have succeeded.
Paul paints a picture here of what his life and the other apostles’ lives were like. He compares them to men who have been sentenced to death and were paraded around the city for everyone to see before their death sentence. In other words, it was not a parade where they were being cheered on by onlookers. It was a parade where the onlookers were sneering and spitting on them and pushing for their death. He says that the apostles were on display to three groups: the world, angels, and men. The world, I think, represents the opposite of the kingdom of heaven. There would be no sympathy from the world. Angels would be sympathetic to Paul and silently cheering him on. Men would be divided into various camps depending on their relationship with God. Paul says that he is aware that his actions are being watched and evaluated by both natural and supernatural powers. This would have been a deterrent to becoming too proud. Being aware that the whole universe is watching and knowing that they will see all of your slip-ups and faux paus would keep you humble.
“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.” In this verse, Paul contrasts the apostles’ position with what the Corinthians thought about themselves. The Corinthians believed that they knew it all and were wise. They were acting as if there were nothing more to learn. Paul contrasts this with apostles being treated as fools by the Corinthians and by the world. The Corinthians thought that they were strong, but Paul points out that the apostles worked from humility, not lording it over others. Also, I think that this might be a reference to the Corinthians acting like the apostles were weak compared to themselves. The Corinthians held themselves up in honor while tearing down the apostles’ reputations. Paul shows the results of using worldly power to tear down your opponents. In the process of becoming wise, strong and having honor, you tear down those who have helped you along the way. You trample on them in order to gain power. The Corinthians had made their teachers fools, causing them to appear weak and in disrepute, all for the cause of surpassing the other Corinthian Christians.
“To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands.” Here Paul shows the Corinthians what it really means to be a leader. He is also showing them that they have been treating their teachers with the same attitude and actions that those who were not followers of Jesus had done. The life of an apostle was one of doing without. They hungered, thirsted, and dressed poorly. They were buffeted, whatever that means. They had no home, but were always traveling to do Jesus’ work. They had to labor to make a living as they traveled.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) “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.” Now Paul shows how a leader should act. They had to bless their enemies. They had to endure through persecutions. When the going got tough, they had to keep going. They could not react to slander with criticism of the slanderers. Instead, they had to treat the slanderers with mercy and try to get them to change their views. They had to become the lowest of the low in order to do Jesus’ work. Being a leader meant being viewed by many as scum and treated as trash. In short, they felt privileged to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. God Himself humbly allows the world to treat Him vilely and only responds with compassion to being reviled and slandered. Jesus was persecuted, so the apostles expected to endure no less than their Master.
(Application / Prayer) My application to myself is that I have to stop viewing the people of the Bible, like Paul, as having charmed lives. They were constantly treated as dirt, yet their love of Jesus allowed them to overcome those problems to succeed beyond comprehension. Their job was to bless others, endure trials, and entreat people to change. This is also my job. Following You, my life will be filled with giving positive back for the negative, enduring the problems without giving up, and finding methods that will communicate the need for change in positive ways that will reach hearts. I do not have to do any of this on my own. I have to simply try to be Yours and let You work through me. This isn’t about my efforts to succeed. This is about my expectations of what success is.