Kingdom Values v. Worldly Values

The value system of Jesus' kingdom is not the same as the world's value system.
The Church gets in to trouble when we try to understand Christian realities, authority, and power in terms of worldly values.

In the world, the most powerful are the most honored and their positions seem desireable. In the value system of heaven, the most powerful are the least honored by the world, even to a cross, and their position seems foolish to everyone except the other "fools."

The modern Church is mostly worldly. No one disputes this. She is called to "come out of Babylon." So, when I see the Church centering around power, gifting, or fame, I have to realize that this is likely a distraction to the values Jesus has for leadership.

This is what Paul talks about in 1 Cor 1-4. I don't want to impose the world's values of false power and strength on the Church. I want to see rightly. Celebrity church is denounced in 1 Cor 1:

1 Cor 1:12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”
13 Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!

Paul explains the real value of his position isn't in who follows him, but rather who he follows:

1 Corinthians 4:6 Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another.
7 For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
8 You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you.
9 Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.
10 Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed.
11 Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home.
12 We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us.
13 We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.
14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children.
15 For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you.
16 So I urge you to imitate me.

A true apostle, one that sees heaven's value system, doesn't want to be followed and get praise...they pay with their own lives, time, and money for others to literally stand in the same place as them...to take their place... Like Jesus did. He paid that we could be Sons of God, and He already was. Same kind, lesser measure, of what Jesus did.

We need to see rightly. Jesus doesn't appoint apostles, pastors, prophets, teachers, and evangelists for fame and honor. Those who embrace these lesser values simply aren't His true representatives!

Luke 6:22 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man.
23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.
24 “What sorrow awaits you who are rich,
for you have your only happiness now.
25 What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now,
for a time of awful hunger awaits you.
What sorrow awaits you who laugh now,
for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
26 What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds,
for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

Jesus doesn't cause His representatives to falsely represent who He is and what He does...He calls them to be just like Him: hated by the world and loved by the Father:

John 15:17 This is my command: Love each other.
18“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.
19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.
20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.
21 They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.

So, we have to ask this very practical question: 

1. Are the choices I am making intended to display an entirely different value system that the world hates, but some will listen to? 

Or,

2. Am I trying to honor Jesus but in the world's value system? 

Only one is true. Only one is Jesus.