1 Cor 3

Chad Myhre

1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

1 Corinthians 3:1–23

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SLIDE 3

I Cor 3.1-

1 Corinthians 3:1–2 ESV

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,

SLIDE 4

1 Corinthians 3:3–4 ESV

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

I Cor 3:

SLIDE 5

I Cor 3:5-

1 Corinthians 3:5–7 ESV

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

SLIDE 6

1 Corinthians 3:8–9 ESV

He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

INTRO:

One of the core realities of becoming a Christian, is the transformation of our identity.

On the outward, we look the same. We still carry these broken bodies around with us. We still suffer in these bodies, the complications that sin has dispersed through our genes.

We still have to deal with the broken stuff that was passed on down to us through our relatives… through our life experiences… through our traumas… through our choices, injuries and experiences.

On the outward… we still look the same, and in this flesh we still deal with the complicated affects of sin.

But… the day we become a Christian… that brokenness of our flesh, is no longer our identity.

We still have to deal with the brokenness of our flesh. We still will struggle with illness… we still will struggle with our psychological issues… we still will be challenged by our addictions… we still will wrestle with the different ways that our wires are crossed.

But, those things are no longer our identity. They are part of the earthly tent. They are aspects of the fleeting shelter of our pilgrimage.

Our new identity, is a spiritual identity. Our new reality, is an eternal reality. The true me, is spiritual and eternal. Everything else, is broken and temporary.

Last week we looked at chapter 2, where Paul told his readers several things about the spiritual person.

-...

He explained to them… The Spiritual Person’s Foundation (1-5)

He defined for them… The Spiritual Person’s Wisdom (6-8)

And… he gave them an understanding of The Spiritual Person’s Revelation (9-16)

Why did Paul explain all of this? Because, in chapter one… he let them know… that they were not behaving like spiritual people. They were divided in the way that they aligned themselves to one another… and they were operating from the basis of worldly wisdom.

Paul comes back to these issues in chapter three.... he kind of lays this out like a sandwich.

Chapter 1 and 3 address the non spiritual condition of a people who are marked by division and a people who are enamored with worldly wisdom..

But in the middle… is the good stuff. This is where Paul sets a contrast.

Slice of bread #1 - Chapter 1 - YOU ARE NOT ACTING LIKE SPIRITUAL PEOPLE.

IN the middle… imagine a beautiful pimento cheese spread.. - Chapter 2- THIS IS WHAT SPIRITUAL PEOPLE ARE LIKE.

Slice of break #2 - Chapter 3- YOU ARE NOT SPIRITUAL PEOPLE.

These Christians in Corinth, are not walking in their true identity. They are identifying with something that is broken, temporary, and non-spiritual.

He started out the letter by telling them who they really are.... in Chapter 1… vss 4-9… - He made it abundantly clear…

-that they are people who experienced grace in Jesus..

-They are a people who are enriched in Jesus..

-They are a people with whom the testimony of X was confirmed.

-They are a people who are not lacking any gift.

-They are a people who are sustained till the end, when they will be found guiltless.

So, to sum it all up.

Paul told them: (chapter 1)THIS IS WHO YOU ARE. BUT YOU’RE ACTING LIKE SOMEONE ELSE. (chapter 2)THIS IS WHAT A SPIRITUAL PERSON DOES. (chapter 3)...BUT, YOU’RE NOT BEING SPIRITUAL.

They had a serious problem with identity.

Which is something that a great majority of people in the Christian community can relate to. We don’t always recognize when we abandon the process of thought and reason which is motivated in a spiritual reality… for a thought and reason, which is common and carnal.

We don’t always recognize when we have swirled the two together.

Sometimes, we don’t even recognize, when we ourselves created a charade by adding spiritual lingo and concepts to non spiritual thoughts and activities.

The believers in Corinth didn’t recognize it.

Which is why Paul has given them something to compare themselves to.

Now that they’ve seen the contrast… he can now address them directly.

We’ll consider chapter 3 in four points today:

SLIDE 7

Growing Into Our Spiritual Identity Is A Process (1-4)

Growing Out Of Our Carnal Identity Is A Matter Of Perspective (5-9)

A Spiritual Perspective Always Looks To Christ as a Foundation (10-15)

A Spiritual Perspective is Homogenous (16-23)

…Let’s look at point 1 and read again the corresponding passage.

1 COR 3.

SLIDE 8

1 Corinthians 3:1–2 ESV

SLIDE 9

1 Corinthians 3:3–4 ESV

SLIDE 10

Growing Into Our Spiritual Identity Is A Process (1-4)

Now let me clarify… becoming a Spiritual Person, is not a process. It is an instant blessing of God to those who come in faith, believing in the Gospel… repenting, Declaring Jesus as Lord, and accepting forgiveness…

God, through grace and grace alone… not by anything you do other than faith motivated repentance… saves you wholly and completely… and gives you a full identity as an eternal and spiritual person.

That is not a process. That is an instant work of grace by God.

SLIDE 11

2 Peter 1:3 ESV

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

2 Pet 1.3

SLIDE 11

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

We’ve been given the gift… it’s ours fully… we fully have our identity..

But… growing into our identity… NOW THAT… is quite a process.

Paul explains it in these terms more than once in the Bible. He compares the process of growing and maturing spiritually, to that of an infant who grows and matures physically.

In the beginning, a baby only drinks milk. So Paul tells the church in Corinth… in the beginning… He only gave them milk.

But, here he is, writing a follow up letter to his visit. He’s received report that they have not matured beyond the milk.

By now… they should be ready for solid food… but they’re not.

Why? Because they’re still acting like babies.. they are still “of the flesh”… They are still, behaving only in a human way.

Notice that in verse 3… the word ‘only’. To those in Corinth, who are aligning themselves to Paul, Apollos and Peter… in contrast to those who are aligning themselves to Jesus… Paul says… - this division… this jealousy… this strife… it is not partially spiritual..

It is ‘only in a human way’. There is nothing spiritual at all about the manner and the reasoning by which they divide.

So they are showing Paul… that they are not ready for solid food. They are still, only fit to receive the simple milk of spiritual nourishment..

Let’s continue on…

SLIDE 12

1 Corinthians 3:5–6 ESV

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

SLIDE 13

1 Corinthians 3:7–9 ESV

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

SLIDE 14

POINT 2

Growing Out Of Our Carnal Identity Is A Matter Of Perspective (5-9)

The Perspective that the divided people had, went like this: “My group has preferences and opinions. Our preferences and opinions make us better than other groups. We appoint leaders that represent our ideas and align ourselves under them. Those other groups and those other leaders are dumb.”

Paul now shows them, that their perspective is flat out wrong.

Apollos and Paul should not be agents of division amongst the church. Nor should any leader who is a true believer in good standing teaching sound doctrine.

Paul is a true believer in good standing who teaches sound doctrine.

Apollos is a true believer in good standing who teaches sound doctrine.

They are not to be agents of division.

Why? Because they are on the same team fulfilling the same mission. In verse 6 Paul explains it with a farming analogy. He says, “I planted”… which mean… Paul was the first to plant the seed… He put the truth out there.

Now, some folks were still thinking upon that truth. They were still wrestling with the conviction of the HS. Maybe they pushed it away. Whatever the case, they hadn’t come to terms with it yet..

So now, Apollos comes a long, and he waters that seed. He throws the truth out there again. He re-affirms it. He answers questions and defends it.

It’s an ongoing process. Some might initially share the Gospel. Some might be there to pray with people to become new believers. Some might come in and do the work of teaching and equipping those new believers. In addition to that , you then have the work of the prophets… and of the apostles..

It’s a unified work. The role of the evangelist does not divide the church apart from the role of the pastor.

The carnal perspective looks for a team to join..

But the spiritual perspective, recognizes… that all who are true believers in good standing who are teaching sound doctrine… are on the same team.

Now, you might wonder… where does this part about true believers in good standing teaching sound doctrine come from?

Well, Paul warns believers repeatedly concerning those who teach false doctrine… to avoid them. He lays out qualifications for church leaders… calling them to be in good standing… and w/o fail, Paul continually draws the focus of the church back to sound doctrine.

This is an important element to this perspective.

Otherwise… when I say… ‘we are all on the same team’… there is not confusion. For many churches have leaders that probably aren’t true believers. Many leaders are not held to a standard, and live lives that disqualify them. And… there are many people teaching stuff all the time… that is not true Biblical doctrine.

He ends this passage by telling them that they are God’s field, tying their identity to his farming analogy… and then, he calls them ‘God’s building’… thing their identity to the analogy that follows.

SLIDE 15

1 Corinthians 3:10–12 ESV

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. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—

I Cor 3.

SLIDE 16

1 Corinthians 3:13–15 ESV

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. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

This brings us to our third point:

SLIDE 17

A Spiritual Perspective Always Looks To Christ as a Foundation (10-15)

In the previous analogy, Paul planted a seed… in this analogy, Paul is laying a foundation. He has gone from farmer to builder.

He first came to Corinth and share the Gospel with them… Now that he has moved on… others are continuing the work of teaching and leading.

So Paul laid a foundation… now others are building upon that foundation.

And then, in vs. 11, Paul says something very important. There is only one kind of foundation that can be laid in the church. That foundation, is Jesus Christ. If a church is built upon anything other than Jesus… - it’s not going to work.

If a church is built upon social justice issues, the church might be present… but it’s not a church. It’s a community service organization.

If a church is built upon political issues… it’s not a church. The leader of that group is not a pastor, but a pundit.

If a church is built upon systems and programs… the church might be present… but it’s probably more of a machine than a church.

If a church is built upon history and tradition more than it is upon Jesus and the Scriptures… it’s more of an interactive religions museum, than a church.

Make makes it abundantly clear… the only possible foundation that a church can have, is Jesus.

Then he talks about the things that are built, by people, upon that foundation..

Some things are good and right… that is, they are things which can be tested as being true and refined by fire.

So, some build with things which have value.... like gold, silver or precious stone..

But others build with things that have no eternal substance… they build with things that are not produced through spiritual motives. They are build by people who are being ‘only human’ in their efforts.

Paul tells us in vss 14 and 15, that there is eternal value in the things which are built up in a spiritual manner. The things we do to glorify God. The things we do in obedience. The things we do in response to the prompting of the H.S.

Jesus gives us perspective on this in .

SLIDE 18

Matthew 6:19–21 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Paul is telling the church in Corinth, that their works… their efforts… their attempts to divide… - these thing will not produce something that is eternal. These efforts might produce different expressions of religiosity. These efforts might produce displays which look spiritual…

But, unless they are building, with Spirit Led Truth, upon the foundation that is Jesus… then it will burn up… and there will be no eternal value.

SLIDE 19

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 ESV

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

.16-1

SLIDE 20

1 Corinthians 3:18–20 ESV

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. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

.18

SLIDE 21

1 Corinthians 3:21–23 ESV

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

1 Cor 3.2

SLIDE 22

A Spiritual Perspective is Homogenous (16-23)

The word ‘homogenous’ means: ‘All of the same or similar kind or nature’

In this last section, Paul is addressing their division, by showing them… that we the church, are all one homogenous temple… - Worldly wisdom seeks to divide people away from that homogenous temple… - But the spiritual perspective gives us a bigger picture.

All things that are God’s… belong to Christ..

All things that are Christ’s… belong to us…

And what belongs to Christ?

First off… these leaders that we try to divide ourselves under… and secondly… - EVERYTHING ELSE.

THE WORLD… LifE… DEATH… PRESENT… AND FUTURE… - They all have a purpose that God can use in the midst of the church.

Now, that’s an overview of this last section… - let’s take a closer look at a couple of things..

Look at vss 16 and 17. In both verses you will find the word ‘you’. That is not singular. That is speaking to a group… If were in Pennsylvania, this would be translated, ‘yous-guys’… Here in the south, this would be translated ‘y’all’.

We often say that our bodies, singular, are the temple of the HS… and that’s true… we are. In chapter 6 Paul will tell them that their body is a temple of the HS… in in that passage, it will be singular. In that passage, he addresses sexual immorality...

He tells them, that sex outside of the marriage covenant is immoral and is a sin against their own body… and that body is a temple of the HS.

But here in chapter 3, he’s not talking about A temple of the HS. He’s talking about THE temple of the HS.

We, the church… the whole sum of all believers… we are the temple of the HS. And while we can’t do much about how the temple manages itself in other places… we can take heed to how we care for the temple as a congregation here and now.

Sure, this temple is being built of wood hay and stubble in other places… but we need to take to heed to the call to be spiritual people… to be a spiritual household… and as spiritual people… we need to build upon the foundation of Jesus… things that are true, eternal, and right.

And, division, does not produce these kinds of things..

The wisdom of man, does not produce these kinds of things..

Paul devotes vss 18-20 to the topic of man’s wisdom. And by this, we need to understand… Paul is addressing the human thoughts that run in contradiction to the scriptures.

You don’t have to go far to hear this human wisdom stuff… Listen to your politicians… listen to your celebrities… listen to your pop stars… listen to the masses who are easily influenced…

You will hear human wisdom… and if you are a believer indwelt by the HS, you will also hear things that clash with the truth of the scriptures…

When you begin to embrace human wisdom… you introduce ideas that are not homogenous to the temple of the HS.

Now… these last three verses are down right mind boggling. - Those who divide… those who boast in men… - they are missing out. They are taking a sliver of all that belongs to Jesus, and claiming it to be their all in all.

In , we are reminded that God appointed Jesus to be the heir of all things. Anything that is true. Anything that is proven true by fire… it’s all His.

And He can use all these things that are His… Be they people… leaders… teachers… - Or maybe they are bigger things than that..

He can use the world itself. He can use life. He can change you when you experience someone’s death. He can work in your life through the present… and He can do amazing things in you through the future..

Why? because all things are His… from the smallest human, to the planet itself. From this moment in time… to the entire timeline of past, present and future…

SLIDE 23

Romans 8:28–29 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Rom

Did God foreknow you and predestine you to salvation? If you are saved.. then He did.

Do you love God?

Are you called according to His purpose?

Are you walking in that calling?

Here’s His promise for you… Everything that is God’s… is Christ’s. And everything that is Christ’s, is yours… and if you are abiding in Christ… then everything has the potential, to work together for good.

That, is an incredible reality… And that is something that God doesn’t want us to miss out on… because we divide ourselves… or, because we embrace a contrary wisdom of man.

1 Cor 3

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