God Gives the Growth

1 Corinthians: God's People Must Be United and Growing in Holiness

1 Corinthians 3^[1] 

As preached at Rolling Hills Church on Sunday, January 29^th, 2012

 

Here is the message for today: God will grow His Church: we can either work against him, or work with Him; but we would be wise to look to Him and His gospel.

1-4 Spiritual Immaturity Hinders Growth.

1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,

3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human?

Spiritual immaturity was the problem in this church in Corinth. How was that showing up?

There was jealousy and strife among them. Already this early in the church there were power struggles. Often in Scriptures bad men will lead God's sheep astray (Diotrephes in 3 John, ungodly men in Jude). Here, bad sheep were attempting to use a good man to lead themselves astray! Determined to be superior over someone, immature people were bringing trouble to the church.

There was a hunger for the ways and wisdom of the world. The world liked to assign themselves either to a Socrates or a Plato and begin building a defense from which to fling arrows at the other camp. Even the church got into this in the middle ages in Europe, building entire philosophies of ministry on Platonic or Socratic methods of study, ethics, etc.

There is a distinct lack of desiring more God. No calls for wanting to learn more, for desiring to exalt Christ among themselves, for – well, all that was centered on God was swallowed up by all that was centered on man, power, and divisions.

Division in the church is a sign of carnality – being intentionally immature due to seeking man's wisdom, man's way, and man's glory rather than God's glory in the church.

Sadly this didn't end when Corinth got this letter and repented. Even in seminaries today professors will become so Pauline that they come close to rejecting Petrine theology – as if they weren't on the same page preaching the same gospel! Spiritual immaturity hinders growth in the church.

 

5-15 Spiritual Maturity Accelerates Growth. 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw--

13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

On the other hand, faithful stewards are looking to God, His Word, and His power to build the church. Gospel growth, healthy growth that starts with the cross and continues with the grace God gave through His Son Jesus Christ.

Faithful stewards use the right material. The gospel will last; others things will not.

Faithful stewards discharge their duties in a way that pleases the master whom they serve. In this case Paul, Apollos, and Peter were focused on preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and making disciples, not of building camps.

Faithful stewards build dependence on God, not on themselves. They point people the same way that elder pointed Spurgeon decades ago: "Young man, look to Jesus!"

 

16-23 God is all, owns all, gives all, and judges all.

16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness,"

20 and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile."

21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,

22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours,

23 and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

Here we are strongly reminded; this is God's field, God's building, God's temple.

Ignorance of God's ownership. Has it occurred to you that this is God's church and God loves His church and God will destroy those who destroy God's church?

Self-deception; thinking they are wise before God. When you are wise in your own eyes, Solomon says well – that person is a fool.

Folly and futility come from rejecting God's Wisdom and seeking man's!

The freedom and responsibility God gives us is staggering! We can actually hinder the work of God in and among His people. We can never stop it, but we are free agents to falsify truth, to exalt ourselves over Christ, our ideas over the gospel, and even people over Jesus. This is how these false teachers can gain such a hearing – sheep so hungry for the wisdom and power of the world that they ignore the wisdom of God!Be reminded: 21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours…

What is your position in the local church – are you maturing? Are you spiritually immature? It's natural to start there, it's not natural to stay there. A 6-month-old boy who needs a diaper changed is normal; a nine-year-old boy who needs his diaper changed is not not normal. Are you a proponent of growing the local church through your faithful service to it?

We should grow up and get focused on God, because…

God will grow His Church: we can either work against him, or work with Him; but we would be wise to look to Him and His gospel.

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[1] All Scriptures, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (via E-Sword Software) © 2001 Crossway Publishing. All Rights Reserved. I paste them in red for distinction.