Single lesson
1 Corinthians 4: Servants of Christ
1 Corinthians 4:1–13; 1 Corinthians 4:14–21
This lesson helps children follow Paul’s teaching about Christ’s servants, faithful stewardship, humility and his loving warning to believers who were becoming puffed up. They will find key ideas in the passage and respond with a simple reminder card.
Before you teach
In 1 Corinthians 4:1–13, Paul explains how he and Apollos should be regarded, what is required of stewards, and why people should not judge before the time. He says he used himself and Apollos as examples so they would not be puffed up. In 1 Corinthians 4:14–21, Paul warns them as beloved children, urges imitation, and contrasts proud words with power.
Students will be able to identify Paul’s call for faithfulness, explain his warning against boasting and being puffed up, and describe how he contrasts words with power.
Welcome: Christ’s servants and faithful stewards
5 minIntroduce Paul’s opening description. He says people should think of him and others as Christ’s servants and stewards of God’s mysteries. He then says what is required of stewards: they must be found faithful. Ask children what kind of person is trustworthy with an important job, then connect that to faithful stewardship.
1 Corinthians 4:1, 1 Corinthians 4:2
Read and explain: The Lord is the judge
8 minRead 1 Corinthians 4:1–7. Paul says human judgement is a small thing to him because the Lord judges him. He warns them not to judge before the time. He also says they should not be puffed up, because what they have was received, so boasting does not fit.
1 Corinthians 4:3, 1 Corinthians 4:4, 1 Corinthians 4:5, 1 Corinthians 4:6, 1 Corinthians 4:7
Discuss: Pride and the apostles’ example
6 minRead 1 Corinthians 4:8–13. Some were acting as if they were already full, rich and reigning. Paul describes the apostles very differently, with weakness, dishonour and hardship. Yet when cursed, they bless, and when persecuted, they endure. Discuss how this passage contrasts pride with humble endurance.
1 Corinthians 4:8, 1 Corinthians 4:9, 1 Corinthians 4:10, 1 Corinthians 4:11, 1 Corinthians 4:12, 1 Corinthians 4:13
Make and respond: A reminder from Paul’s warning
7 minRead 1 Corinthians 4:14–17. Paul says he is not writing to shame them, but to admonish them as beloved children. He urges them to imitate him, and Timothy will remind them of his ways in Christ. Children choose a phrase from the passage and make a reminder card about Paul’s teaching.
1 Corinthians 4:14, 1 Corinthians 4:15, 1 Corinthians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 4:17
Closing: Not in word, but in power
4 minFinish with 1 Corinthians 4:18–21. Some were puffed up, but Paul says God’s Kingdom is not in word, but in power. Review the main teaching: be faithful stewards, do not boast about what was received, and do not settle for proud words without the kind of life Paul describes.
1 Corinthians 4:18, 1 Corinthians 4:19, 1 Corinthians 4:20, 1 Corinthians 4:21, 1 Corinthians 4:2, 1 Corinthians 4:7
Questions to explore
According to Paul, how should people think about him and others, and what is required of stewards?
Look at Paul’s two descriptions in the first verse and the one requirement named in the next verse.
1 Corinthians 4:1, 1 Corinthians 4:2
Why does Paul tell them not to judge before the time?
Notice who judges Paul and what the Lord will bring to light and reveal.
1 Corinthians 4:4, 1 Corinthians 4:5
How does Paul connect being puffed up with his words about God’s Kingdom?
Compare the people who are puffed up with Paul’s contrast between word and power.
1 Corinthians 4:18, 1 Corinthians 4:19, 1 Corinthians 4:20
Make, think or respond
Passage Phrase Reminder Card
What you’ll need
- plain card or paper
- pencils or pens
- crayons or markers
- the Bible passage read aloud or copied where children can see it
Try it together
- Invite each child to choose one short phrase from the passage, such as “found faithful”, “what do you have that you didn’t receive?”, “be imitators of me”, or “not in word, but in power”.
- Have them write the phrase on a small card and add a simple drawing that matches it.
- Ask each child to say one sentence explaining how their phrase reflects Paul’s teaching in these verses about faithfulness, humility, or not being puffed up.
- Let children take the card home as a reminder of the passage.
The card keeps one exact phrase from 1 Corinthians 4 in front of the children and helps them explain how Paul’s teaching points to faithfulness, humility and more than proud words.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, offer three short phrase choices from the passage and read them aloud before they pick one.
- For older or confident readers, ask them to pair two phrases from different parts of the passage and explain how Paul moves from faithful stewardship to warning against being puffed up.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: “Lord, please help us be found faithful, thankful for what we have received, and careful not to be puffed up. Help our lives match our words. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
1 Corinthians 4
1 So let a man think of us as Christ’s servants and stewards of God’s mysteries.
2 Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a human court. Yes, I don’t even judge my own self.
4 For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
6 Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another.
7 For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
8 You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you!
9 For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men.
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor.
11 Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.
12 We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure.
13 Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.
14 I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
15 For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News.
16 I beg you therefore, be imitators of me.
17 Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every assembly.
18 Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.
19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power.
20 For God’s Kingdom is not in word, but in power.
21 What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.