We all want to be winners. We all want people to think well of us. Common sense dictates that it is desirable to be rich (I Corinthians 4:8), prudent, strong, and distinguished (4:10). Much like the people of ancient Corinth, we modern Americans tend to admire the knowledgeable, the competent, and the capable.

But Paul has other ideas. He says that a true apostle of God, one whom God sends to speak and to model the message of Christ, will come across completely differently in the eyes of the world. After all, to worldly people, it just doesn’t make sense that a Man could be God, or that a Man could rise from the dead. To worldly people, it doesn’t make sense to live a life of humble service to others – that’s for losers. It’s no wonder they refuse to respect Christians. To those who live only according to what makes sense to them, Christians are no better than fools, or as Paul says in 4:13, the scum of the earth, the dregs of all things.

And so we shouldn’t be surprised that Christians, in Paul’s time and ours, suffer the sorts of things Paul describes in 4:11-13. Even today, those who live in countries dominated by Islam are often disowned or even killed by their families if they profess faith in Christ. And for many Chinese Christians, wondering when the government is going to invade their houses of worship, these verses are way too close for comfort.

But no matter how harshly the world chooses to treat Christians, it is our response to such abuse that truly demonstrates the character of Christ. In 4:12 and 13, Paul explains that one who is filled with the Spirit of Christ will respond in the same way He did when He was unjustly accused and crucified. For He responded to insults with blessings. He endured every sort of persecution.

And so that’s why, instead of insisting on his riches or his prudence or his strength, Paul admits that he is a fool for Christ. He is only too willing put his weakness on display, to boast of how badly he has been mistreated. For it is only when we are treated the way Christ was treated that the strength, the endurance, and the forgiveness of Christ can shine through most clearly.

I Corinthians 4:8-13 (NASB)

8 You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and I would indeed that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you.
9 For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.
11 To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless;
12 and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
13 when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.