How to Guard Against Arrogance

1 Corinthians 4:6-21 - Riley Boggs

We all know people who are arrogant, people who struggle to not be arrogant, and we ourselves have likely struggled with it. Arrogance takes place when we over-exaggerate our own importance or skills. We think that there is something about us that makes us superior to someone else, and then we act like it. When we think about arrogance we often think about situations where a boss, coworker, teammate, or something like that acts as if they are better than everyone else. And as Christians we seek to not be arrogant, but instead be humble, so we try to not act in that way or be seen in that way. And I know you all, and I know you all are not an arrogant people.

However, I would argue that arrogance is more pervasive in our lives than we think, and I think it is more dangerous than we often think. Let me give an example of what I mean. Let’s say you and your spouse, or you and your parent, or you and someone, are arguing. And in the situation, you are actually right. And you are so bent on making sure that you’re right that you assert yourself, make harsh comments, and tear down the other person to prove it. That’s arrogance. In that situation you are saying that my importance, my emotions, my whatever, is more important than this other persons. And so it is worth it for me to tear them down to show that I am right.

Or on the other end. Let’s say you’re the other person in the argument. This person is harsh to you, but you realize that they are right. And you are hurt by it. And then time passes, and they come to you and apologize. They say they were totally off base. They didn’t consider anyone but themselves, they were arrogant. And they say, would you please forgive me. And in that moment, you refuse to forgive them. That’s arrogance. In that situation you are saying that being hurt means I do not have to forgive, and the person who hurt me is not due forgiveness because of what they have done. My feelings are more important than my need to forgive.

I know situations aren’t as simple as that, and sometimes there is more to unpack on both ends, but you understand the point. We have all struggled with this at some point, and just when we think we have it figured out, it rises up again. God knows this about us. He knows as fallen and sinful humans we continually think too much of ourselves, too little of others. And so in God’s Word, throughout all the Bible, are continual warnings against arrogance, or pride. We see the results of arrogance and it’s bad effects, we see the beauty of humility. We see Christ who was God in the flesh, yet came to serve and not be served, demonstrating humility, and not arrogance. 

And today, in our text, Paul rebukes the church of Corinth for arrogance. He rebukes them and, I think, shows them how to guard against arrogance. So this morning I am going to draw 3 points from the text and look at how to guard against arrogance.

1.) Remember that everything we have is from God (vv.6-7)

Paul starts off by saying, “I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers.” In other words, he is saying that all the things I have been teaching you and telling you, we ourselves are seeking to apply in our own lives. He’s been talking about how to properly treat leaders and the standard by which one can judge, and he says that we apply these things to our lives as well. And we do it with a specific purpose. The purpose is, “for your benefit, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written.”

Now there’s 2 options to what Paul means here by not going beyond what is written. I think both make sense and whichever it is does not change the meaning of the text. I’ll tell you the 2 options and let you decide which fits best. The first option is that he is telling the Corinthians to not go beyond what Paul has said in the first 3 chapters of this letter. The second option is that he is telling the Corinthians to not go beyond the Scriptures that they have, the Old Testament. Like I said, I can see arguments for both options, and the point of what he is saying doesn’t change.

The point he is making is that, “none of you may be puffed up.” In other words, if you look stay within the bounds of what God has said through me to you, or within the word of God in general, then you will realize that you cannot be puffed up. Why? Why is what God has said a guard against being puffed up against someone, being arrogant?

Look at verse 7. Paul says, “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” He is saying that if you’ll look at what God has said, you will begin to see more clearly. You will realize that everything you have is from God and you are deserving of none of it. You’ll remember things that God has given you and you have simply forgotten.

This is a guard for arrogance. First, if we don’t go beyond what God has said. Keeping with what he has said about wisdom, we don’t look outside what God has said to live our lives. We let His Word guide us, and seek wisdom in His words. Second, we remember that everything we have is from God. And when I say everything, I really mean everything. There is not one single thing you have that has not been given to you. And when you remember that, when you dwell on that, it’s much harder to be arrogant.

If you don’t think of your intellect, your job, or your skills as something that you have earned on your own, independent of God, then you’ll be much more humble with them. You’ll be less likely to be arrogant and more likely to try and steward all of these things to the glory of God, pointing all praise and adoration to Him.

Now this doesn’t mean that hard work shouldn’t be rewarded or that you shouldn’t be proud, in the proper way, of things you’ve achieved. The point is that you do all of this in the right context. You recognize that your ability, opportunity, and success is due to God ultimately. And you recognize that, if despite your hard work, you do not succeed, that it isn’t out of God’s hands. And so we work hard, try to achieve great things, but we remember that everything we have is from God. When we do this, we try are taking a step, a necessary and important step, to guard ourselves against arrogance.

2.) Keep a right perspective on your life (vv.8-13)

You may have noticed that when I read verse 8 earlier that I tried to read it with a very sarcastic tone. The reason I did that is because is because Paul is writing in a very sarcastic way. I actually think that the meaning of this text can be easily missed because reading the Bible in a sarcastic tone can feel a bit weird, but it’s the way this text is meant to be read. Because it is how Paul intended it to be read.

How do we know this? Well look at what he says in verse 8 “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!” None of these things are true. They do not have all that they way, they are not rich, they are not kings, and they are not reigning. None of that is true. But, they Corinthian church is acting as if this is the case. They are talking, acting, and have the arrogance of a people who have rule the world. All things bow to them, they determine what is wrong and right, they make the rules. They are as arrogant as kings. And so Paul sarcastically says, you have everything you want. You’re kings! Please let us poor apostles share in your rule.

Then, Paul shares the truth of being an apostle. Being one who is actually on mission for Christ. He says, starting in verse 9, “9 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. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”

Andrew Wilson describes what he is doing here well. He says, “Paul is not calling for pity here. He is not playing the victim card. What he is doing, without ever mentioning the word ‘cross’, is reminding them that at the heart of the gospel is the shamed, brutalized, and humiliated Son of Man, who had nowhere to lay his head – and that Christians take their cue from him rather than from those whom the world elevates and admires. The Corinthians, in seeking and promoting wisdom, honor, wealth and status of the world, have Christianity completely upside down.”

I think that’s well said, because it is rightly describing what Paul is getting at here. He is saying that you are as arrogant as kings, you think you have ascended. And now they are complaining and arguing about such silly things. They are fighting and quarreling over things they shouldn’t. Why? Because they have totally lost perspective of what a life following Christ looks like.

Some texts we can’t relate to exactly because the people being addressed lived in such a different context. I don’t think this is the case with this text. This text feels like a gut punch in our context. In our context, being a follower of Christ in the United States of America, even more specifically in the rural south, we can lose perspective. We have a lot, and we are rarely persecuted or reviled. I know it happens and I know it will happen more, but we have brothers and sisters around the world follow Christ amidst so much harder things. Their family abandons them, they are shunned from the community, they even put their lives in serious danger. When Paul says that we will be seen as fools to the world, they understand that because everyone around them tells the constantly how foolish they are for doing what they are doing.

All of these things Paul describes we may not relate to exactly. Maybe some of us more than others. Maybe you couldn’t take a job, a promotion, or had to leave your job because of your faith. I don’t want to deny it happens here. But, look at what all he says about the apostles. They are held in disrepute, they hunger and thirst, are poorly dressed, beaten, homeless, reviled, and slandered. And yet, they continue and follow Christ as faithfully as they can. Though they are considered the scum of the world, they refuse to give in to the world.

So the application for this is rather straightforward. Keep a right perspective on your life to guard yourself against arrogance. As followers of Christ, we should expect hardships in a world that hates Christ. We should expect to be called foolish, to be mistreated, to be slandered, and so on. Think of it like this. We seek to live like Christ, whom they killed.

In John 15:18-20 Jesus says, “18 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.”

We shouldn’t expect the world to love us and for things to always be easy. Believers all around the world know this, as they seek to be obedient despite harsh persecution. And so for us, let’s keep perspective. Let’s not be like the Corinthians and become obsessed with the image of ourselves. Let’s not quarrel about things that are trivial or divide in ways we shouldn’t. Let’s not complain about things we shouldn’t complain about. 

Instead, to guard against arrogance, consider how much we have been given. Remember what the Christian life is often marked by and what should be expected. And I don’t know, and I’m always hesitant to say this, but it could be coming to us. Who knows. Persecution may be around the bend, maybe not, but regardless the fact that it is a reality for so many brothers and sisters should keep us humble. The Corinthians lost perspective, and it pushed them into arrogance, let us not do the same.

3.) Disciple and be discipled (vv.14-21)

Discipleship, put very simply, is helping someone follow Christ. It is encouraging, rebuking, teaching, showing, and so on, to the end of helping someone follow Christ. And as followers of Christ, we have been called to lives that should have discipleship. There are many reasons why, but I think one of them is to guard us against arrogance. I think that’s what Paul is getting at here.

In verse 14 he says, “I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as beloved children.” In this Paul is explaining himself, especially where he just used the sarcastic tone and described the difficulty of following Christ. He says, in a very pastoral and loving way, that he doesn’t mean for his words to make them ashamed or to hurt them. He means for his words to admonish, or to chastise, them for what they are doing, so that they may walk in a better way. And you can tell this means a lot to Paul. He hates to see where they have gotten to. And so he tells them, starting in verse 15. He says you have all sort of teachers, but you don’t have many fathers. But I became your father when I came to you for the first time, shared the Gospel with you, you all believed, and then you formed the church. Paul says I was there, that was me, and because of that you all mean the world to me.

And then he says, now stop following the world. Stop imitating the world. But instead look at me and how I am walking with Christ, and imitate that. But, it’s hard to imitate someone who isn’t with you every day. And Paul isn’t with them every day, so he tells them that is why he sent Timothy to them. So that you can look to Timothy, who looked to me, and you can imitate him as he walks with Christ. 

This is the way of discipleship. We need people to imitate. We need people to look to. We need to be people who can be imitated, who can be looked to. I want to elaborate more on this, but let me explain what Paul is saying in these final few verses first to bring it all together.

Lastly, starting in verse 18 he says, “18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?”

Some people read this text, particularly the last verse, and see it like Paul is making a big threat or something. I don’t think that’s it. I think this is hard for him. See, he is responding to direct claims about him being bold behind his letters and words, but then very meek and humble when he is around them. And so the Corinthians have been taunting him about this. They have been arrogant about the fact that he hasn’t come back, but yet he continues to write to them all of these things.

So Paul says, I want to come. And I will come if the Lord wants me to come. But please don’t let it be like this. He doesn’t want to come and fight and all of that. He wants to avoid conflict. This final verse isn’t a call to battle, it is a call to lay down all the arrogance they have, so that if Paul comes, he can come in a spirit of gentleness. Paul wants this church to change direction, to turn from arrogance and talk. And he speaks of discipleship as the way for this to take place.

For us, the application here is direct. And it applies to every Christ follower in this room. It does not matter your age, your maturity, your knowledge, your anything. If you know Christ, hear me say this. Discipleship is the means by which you grow in your walk with Christ. You cannot do it alone, so don’t try.

And in discipleship, you can either disciple or be discipled. You can either be the one being imitated, or be the one imitating. Now in these relationships both take place, but there should be someone who is a bit further along in their walk helping someone who isn’t. The easiest example to see this in is parents and children. You all know this, but, parents, your children are the primary people you should be discipling. Children, your parents are ones who should primarily be discipling you. Outside of this, it is up to you all to take initiative. And I hope and pray that this text would convict and encourage all of us to take steps in this.

If you need someone to disciple you, to walk with you, find someone in the church who is more mature and simply ask them. It won’t be weird, because they are hearing me say that you should do this. If you are more mature in your faith, find someone who may benefit from you coming alongside them and go to them. Tell them you walk to walk with them. Or maybe you are somewhere in between, and you don’t know if you should be doing the discipling or be disciplined. To that I say, maybe do both. Find someone who is about the same maturity as you and begin walking together, sharpening one another. And then of course, if you are skeptical about approaching someone or knowing where you are in this, come talk to me. I would love nothing more, and I mean this, than to help you find someone who will help you follow Christ. That’s the goal of the church, that’s why God placed me here in this church. It’s not just to preach, but to, by God’s grace, help you follow Christ. To link arms with you and to walk together.

Discipleship is a guard against arrogance. When you form a relationship with someone with the specific intention of sharpening one another and growing Christ, arrogance isn’t fostered as easily. Arrogance is fostered best when you stay outside the circle and look in, keeping all your thoughts, worries, and everything else to yourself. But when you commit to someone else, and give them the space to honestly speak into your life, arrogance can be prevented.

Paul knew this, and so he sent Timothy. The church of Corinth needed someone there to disciple them, to help them to follow Christ. Someone to imitate. And the same is true of us, church.

In closing, I simply want to say this. I know most of you all very well at this point, and I don’t think you are an arrogant people at all. I am learning to be a pastor more and more each day, and I could not be more thankful for you all making this so easy for me. And the Lord, in His great Sovereignty, has brought us to this text to convict us all, especially myself, of all the arrogance we might feel at times. To convict us, to rebuke us, to warn us, and to show us how we can prevent arrogance in the future.

And so let’s do these things, together. First, let us remember that everything we have is from God. We haven’t brought any of this about ourselves, and so we have no reason to be arrogant about it. Second, let us keep a right perspective on our life. Let’s not complain or grumble or fight about the trivial things. Instead think of all that we have in Christ, how much grace He has shown us, and to look around at all we have. This isn’t normal. To follow Christ is a walk in hardship, sometimes extreme hardships. And so we have to keep the right perspective on our life. Lastly, let’s disciple and be discipled. Don’t think this doesn’t apply to you, it does. So let’s do it, let’s apply it. God has equipped you all to apply it.

If we do all of these things, it doesn’t mean that arrogance will never come about, it will. But when it does, it will be seen in the right light. It won’t feel normal or right, but will be seen as a bad thing, as it should. The church of Corinth didn’t do these things and arrogance made deep roots, and so Paul is calling them to these things as the way out. For us, they are the God’s great grace as the way to protect ourselves.