1 Corinthians 4:1-7

This Sunday I begin a series of sermons that might not end for some time. The reason is I am not walking us through a particular book of the Bible as we usually do nor am I pontificating about a particular narrow subject. The subject I will preach about is broad. In the weeks and months to come we will hear sermons that attempt to break down some of the more dominant idols of our age. We tend to think of idols in terms of the physical ones that are described in the biblical text. Because we do not worship physical images of false gods today we might believe such sin is of another era. Physical images, however, are a result of ideas; false ideas. The dominant, or popular idols of today are also ideas. Although these ideas were not made into images they are bowed down to in the same way pagans bowed to Molech.

The story I am about to share is not to simply tell you what happened on our vacation, it is relative to challenging an idol of our day. Last Monday, our last day in Orlando, we went to the Magic Kingdom. It is one of several theme parks within Walt Disney World. The day started off hot and muggy. We needed to park a fair distance away from the entrance requiring us to walk to a tram that took us to a gate from which we could choose to take a monorail or a ferry to the main gate of the park. We hurried through the gate to the ferry. From the ferry we hurried to the main gate where we joined a sea of people of all sizes, colors and dress. Once we agreed to a place and time for meeting we separated to enjoy the attractions. The boys and I went immediately to Space Mountain where we were confronted with an 80-minute wait that began when you reached the main entrance and the line to that main entrance went back at least 100 feet. With the sun beating down and the prospect of a long wait I decided to sit down. Our two oldest gutted the line out and it took them about an hour and a half to get to the ride that lasted no more than a minute. Every line to an attraction the boys were interested in was over an hour. When we went back for lunch only a few had ridden one ride. After lunch I decided to take a nap in the car. When I came back to the park a son, (third son), was missing. Instead of going on rides or enjoying attractions we had to set out to look for this one son. After forty minutes of searching the rains came down. Soaked and huddled together we waited over an hour and the rain never slowed. I set out to find the son and tracked him down on his way to the car. He will have to tell you all he was doing while lost. We then went back to the park where we were wet and miserable. When we tried to pay for dinner I realized I had lost a hundred dollar bill. After dinner it was still raining. It rained for four and a half hours. We finally gave up exhausted and wet. So if you ask me how I liked Disney World you can fill in the blanks as to what my answer is going to be. I did not like it. I do not have plans to go back. Yet, my experience, as bad as it was, does not define all experiences at Disney World. If I had a good experience it would not define all experiences at Disney World. When it does it is then that I have or you have bowed to the idol of subjectivism.

Subjectivism is the idol that grants authority to personal perspective. Subjectivism comes out of individualism, which was given life by its father, Humanism. It should be said that because subjectivism’s family tree can be traced back to humanism that does not make it an idol automatically. Subjectivity can be a helpful term used to identify the reality that everyone bases opinions and decisions on personal perspective. As long as we acknowledge that our perspectives are limited and therefore have a probability of being wrong, subjectivity is harmless. It is when our perspective is believed to be infallible and judgments made in accordance with those perspectives that subjectivity becomes subjectivism, the idol.

Subjectivism is a sneaky idol. It is one that calls us to bow down to it in the most common of places and times. Take for instance a greeting. You meet a man for the first time. You initially observe his attire, his cleanliness and his stature. You shake his hand and receive an impression. You hear his voice and name and almost as quickly categorize his origin and education. It would not be uncommon after such a brief encounter that much has been determined about the man, in your mind, without ever really knowing him. To make such judgments is obeying the idol of subjectivism.

As an apostle one would assume Paul received a good judgment by other men who greeted him. After hearing him expound, pray and make an account for his life any reasonable man would refer to him as an exceptional Christian leader. The parishioners at Corinth, however, saw things differently. We learn at the beginning of the epistle that Paul was in competition in the minds of the Corinthians, with Apollos and Peter. While resisting a comparison battle, Paul takes the high road, which in this case is the low road, by referring to himself as a servant who merely planted the seed of God. He explains that men like him are simple servants entrusted with a great responsibility. That responsibility is to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The requirement of those who have been entrusted with such a task is to be faithful. Paul tells the church that he does not care, it does not matter to him, how the Corinthians evaluate his faithfulness in proclaiming the gospel. In fact, he says, he does not even judge himself. The reason why he is not concerned how people evaluate him should be obvious. No man can tell whether another man has been faithful to his calling unless blatant sin is revealed. I cannot know all of your mental and physical capabilities and you cannot know mine. I cannot know what has been revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. I cannot know your level of self-control, your maturation or your patience under duress.

Because we cannot know these things of one another we cannot and should not make judgments about faithfulness.

In every parish there are Miriams and Aarons, people who believe it is their duty to second-guess the leadership as Miriam and Aaron did of Moses. In case you were unaware I have had people second-guess my leadership. I have had people tell me that I don’t smile enough in the pulpit. My manner is too serious. Too many sermons are dower. They would choose different music. They would choose different prayers. They would choose a different time for the service. And the classic, my all time favorite is when people say, "I don’t agree with everything you say." To which I have replied, "Neither do I." And I don’t. Who of us hasn’t changed in our thinking process? Who of us hasn’t regretted something we said or the way we said it? To tell someone you don’t agree with everything they say is akin to stating that God exists. It is stating the obvious.

The reason why the apostle does not judge himself is less obvious and more intriguing than why he is not concerned how others judge him. And you must note that he does not say that he doesn’t examine himself, for we all must examine ourselves. He said he does not judge himself and the reason is fallible subjectivity. His subjectivity is such that regardless of how well he knows himself he does not know as God knows. Paul then can have a clear conscience before the Lord because the Lord is objective. Where subjectivity is defined in terms of personal perspective, objectivity is defined in terms of what is, regardless of perspective. There are things that are objective. The gospel is objective. It is what it is regardless of perspective. Jesus Christ’s work upon the cross is objective. He died for whom he died for. The ransom was paid for whom it was paid. Our faith is objective. Although we cannot see it, it is as real as our physical being and effectual because it is focused on the objective atoning work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we do not have to judge ourselves because of the objectivity of our faith and to whom our faith is applied.

Yet, while subjectivity and objectivity are certainly separated it is apparent the idolatry of subjectivism has clouded our ability to see that difference. C.S. Lewis in his book "Canto, An Experiment in Criticism" does well explaining the difference between objectivity and subjectivity in the context of experiencing literature, music and art. He argues that subjectivity plays too much of a role in the way we evaluate the books, songs and paintings we encounter. He concludes that the subjectivity of the unliterate (his word) leads us to get something out of a work of art. Once that something is consumed the subjective observer moves on. The unliterate (which could refer to one who uses literature, music and pictures) sees the work only from the view of self. Real appreciation, Lewis argues, demands that we let loose our own subjectivity or subjectivism toward the art, letting the art be a vehicle to communicate all that was intended by the artist.

That sounds like good advice and by good I mean right and by right I mean biblical. I am not my own. The life I now live I live unto God. It is no longer I that live but Christ that lives within me. I must die to myself. A man who tries to save his life will lose it. A man who loses his life (his subjectivism) for the sake of Christ will find eternal life.

A Christian’s pursuit then should be for objectivity. Subjectivism has detoured such pursuit by convincing us that objectivity does not exist. You have heard, no doubt, the saying, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" but is that what the Scriptures say? Sarah, Rachel and Abigail were beautiful women. This is stated in Scripture as an objective reality. A man might believe his own wife to be beautiful but he believes it not from an objective standpoint but because of what she means to him. She may or may not have objective beauty. Simply because a woman is beautiful according to her spouse does not make her objectively beautiful. Personally I enjoy the music of REO Speedwagon. I enjoy it because of what the music meant to me in my teenage years. I have to admit, however, that REO Speedwagon did not make objectively good music. In like manner much of the so called "worship wars" today related to music have more to do with how we subjectively react to a song than the true inherent beauty within the song itself. All of this is caused by our serving the idol of subjectivism. To be free from subjectivism we must first recognize it for the idol that it is.

Instead of my experience with Disney World let us imagine any of a number of experiences we have had and the conclusions we come to about them that are clouded by subjectivism. It might be a book you can’t put down while another can’t seem to get into the story. It might be a movie you recommend that a friend would sleep through. (Dennis Howard slept through "The Lord of the Rings.") It could be a car you drove, a trip you took, a church you attended, etc., etc., and all of these are clouded by subjectivism.

Examine the way you converse and ask yourself how many times you use the word "I" in your evaluations? What does my boredom have to do with the true beauty or quality of a song or movie? I have to face the reality that my evaluations usually reveal more about my shallowness and short attention span than anything about a book, movie or song I critique. In so many ways I hang on to my opinions, my likes, my dislikes, as if they were life rafts helping keep alive a man that is supposed to be dead.

This subjectivism clouds my mind in the two areas of importance in life. It clouds my worship for I have yet to read a prayer, sing a hymn or hear a sermon for what it is really worth rather than what it is worth to me. Subjectivism clouds my relationships for I have yet to meet a person and evaluate his character based on who he is rather than who he is to me. Oh what a wretched man I am. Who shall save me from this subjectivism? Before the answer to the question is proclaimed allow me one more example of how deep seated subjectivism has become within our thinking.

A couple is seeking counsel because of their struggle to communicate. While one of them tends towards silence when a disagreement arises the other prefers to talk it through. Let us say it is the man who clams up during a disagreement and the woman desires to talk. What the talker usually insists upon is being heard. She wants him to know how she is feeling. She is following what she thinks is sound advice. It is the advice that Bobbi and I received when newly married from a popular Christian psychologist on the radio. He explained that in a spat it is most important to communicate how the other party is making you feel. Thus the topic of disagreement must take a back seat to how one party is feeling about what another party has said or done. The premise is that when ones feelings are understood and regarded then the arguing couple is more likely to find common ground. The problem with such counsel is what is never questioned and that is the feelings themselves. We are never challenged to question whether what we are feeling is right to feel. Do you see what subjectivism has done to us? It has gotten us to the point where we do not even question our emotions. Our perspective, our feelings, rules the day. If we feel it is must be right and everyone around us must adjust to how we are feeling. If I feel that you did not speak to me in a nice tone than I am right because that is how I feel. Challenged we must acknowledge that how I am feeling might be an inappropriate response. Such responses point to another idol of our day, emotionalism, but that will have to be saved for another time. How have we failed to see that a negative emotional response might be uncalled for? Can emotions be wrong? The Scripture says "yes." You remember David who says to his own soul in Psalm 42, "Why be cast down owe my soul?" The question is rhetorical for the soul does not have good reason to be downcast for it has been redeemed by Almighty God. Thus David requires of himself not to allow his emotions to evaluate his circumstances, but to refer to that which is objective. His hope is in God. It is God’s loving kindness that will come to him in the daytime. God is his rock. God is the health of his countenance.

The answer, of course, to the question, "Who shall save us from this idol of subjectivism?" is Jesus Christ. When he comes to take us into glory the old shall pass away including our subjectivity, and we shall see him face to face. We shall see him as he is not how we perceive him to be. Until then we must do as the apostle Paul directs in verse 5, "Judge nothing before the time." That time, of course, is the coming of our Lord. It is that simple and it is not that simple. It is not that simple because we have served subjectivism for a long time.

I have given a few examples in this sermon to help us recognize the idol of subjectivism. I trust you have seen that we should not stop at these and that there are other places to find subjectivism. Be aware of it and you shall find it. Pursue what is objective and the idol of subjectivism will be laid at the foot of the cross. Amen