Sermon Tone Analysis

- Aesop was famous for his allegories & he has one that fits the purpose of this today’s passage quite well

The Path to Maturity

Date: 09-06-19 835 Echuca

- Aesop was famous for his allegories & he has one that fits the purpose of this today’s passage quite well

THE WOODCUTTER cut down a Mountain Oak and split it in pieces, making wooden wedges from its own branches so to divide the trunk of the tree.

The Oak said with a sigh, "I do not care about the blows of the axe aimed at my roots, but I do grieve at being torn in pieces by these wedges that are made from my own branches."

(Aesop)

- In this allegory, it’s one thing to be attacked by outsiders, it is quite another thing to be attacked by the one’s most dear to you – in this case, the trees own branches

- It’s usually unexpected & hurts far more, when it comes from the ones who you would call your own

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- The church is a family & even though we are not all blood relations, our family ties come from being together in Christ

- We know that not all families are harmonious – we wish they were, but people being people, we don’t always do & say the right thing

- The same is true in the church – we are people who are beset with weaknesses & hurts

- Some of those hurts are deep-seated & impact how we live & how we interact with others

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- We need to confess & acknowledge that we haven’t always behaved in the best way, in how we have dealt with disagreements or concerns that people have had

- We are human & we have this baggage of hurts, we carry

- However, we are also Christian

- We also have the Spirit of God living in us

- We have it all – the promises of God, the provisions of God & the possessions of God – as Paul makes so clear in the last verses of chp.

3, we have the best future anyone could ever wish for

—21 So then let no one boast in men.

For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.

- So today, we are looking at a passage which will help us evaluate the reality of who we are in Christ & help us to start judging the mechanisms the church is using in it’s personal relationships

- The church at Corinth is a divided church – they are one church in name, but are behaving like they don’t really care for one another

Q.

What are the reasons for these divisions & what can be done to put them away?

1.

The Cause of Divisions

- This church has a major problem & we addressed that last week

- The church had immersed itself in the wisdom that comes from the world – Paul calls the “wisdom of this age”

- I don’t know how they didn’t put 2 & 2 together & come up with 4, but consider this for a moment

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- Fancy buying into the “wisdom of this age” that says the cross is foolishness & then expect that they would still live in a way that is consistent with the cross of Christ

- On the one hand, they choose to listen to teaching that denigrates the cross of Christ & on the other hand, they are wondering why there is the behaviour “of this age” in their church

- But the church still does it today & it stems, mostly, from wanting to look good to the world – to find acceptance in the world

- For example, Christians baptise secular psychology as if it’s absolute truth

- Yet, many of the tenants of psychology have their origins in a secular, God-rejecting foundation – that is the wisdom of this age

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- When Sigmund Freud started his practice, he started from the basis that the concepts of sin itself was the problem for people – for Freud, it’s believing & thinking that sin was real - that IS the problem

- The church & its teaching is the problem!

- So he gave a complete secular basis for why he thought people had “mental” or “emotional” issues

- You would be hard-pressed today to find any psychology that takes into account the committing of “sin” as a person’s issue

- Even Christians, who are psychologists, have been turned away from the truth because they have been working with a foundation that has, in fact, stemmed from the wisdom of this age

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- The humanities departments of the universities are huge sources of the wisdom of this age as defined by Paul

- They are places where the likes of gender theory emerge, where one day you’re a male & the next, you’re a female or even another invented identity, other than the two we have always known to be true

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- Now there is wisdom in the world that can be harmless & even beneficial, but these Christians in Corinth wanted so much to fit in with their world, that they were ready & willing to sacrifice their thinking of the cross & all it meant, in order to acquiesce (ak-wee-es) to the world

- The wisdom of this age became THE problem for this church

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Q.

If you denigrate the cross of Christ & it’s salvation from sin, what impact will it have on believers?

- Firstly, let’s look at what the cross symbolised

1.

The cross symbolised loving surrender to God’s will even if it costs you your life

2.

The cross embraces suffering when it is for the good of others

3. The cross demolishes pride in man

4. The cross went in the opposite direction from the cherished goals of man – victory, success & the notion that “might is right”!

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- Putting the contrasting picture together, what do you have?

- If the cross symbolised loving surrender to God’s will even if it costs you – in the case for Jesus, His life, the opposite is that you you ignore God’s will if it becomes too costly

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- If the cross embraces suffering for the good of others – in that Jesus in His death was dying for your sin & my sin (certainly not His own), then the opposite of that is in not suffering for the good of others

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- If the cross demolishes pride in that one must surrender to Christ to receive His salvation, the opposite of that is trust in human achievement, human endeavors & human abilities

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- If the cross speaks of shame, weakness, humiliation, failure, suffering

- The opposite of that is the desire for victory, success & that “might is right”

- In other words, the wisdom of this age says that if you want it, you will have to take it, even by force

- If you want it, might is right, may the best man win (dog eat dog)

- This is what happens when the model of the cross is set aside for the wisdom of this age

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- The second obstacle Christians face is the flesh

- The Corinthian Church are infants, babes in Christ

- The apostle could not address them as “spiritual”, but only as men of the flesh – what does that mean?

- “Spiritual” means those who have the Spirit; those who are walking in the Spirit & led by the Spirit

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- Men of “flesh” has some interesting connotations

- Those of the flesh are those without the Holy Spirit of God

- They are unspiritual in the way they are living

- Obviously, the Corinthians are Christians & do have the Holy Spirit, but Paul is saying that, in their current condition, he cannot address them as people of the Spirit

- They don’t live like people who have the Spirit, in fact, they live like the people of this age – “the natural man” - the people who are perishing

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- Christians who are being led by the Spirit live in a way different from the people of this age

- Now there are wonderful people out there in the world & not all live badly, but most do

- They do not exhibit the cross life, nor give any “fruit” to God

—17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

- Christian maturity is not related to class [lower, middle, or upper], it's not related to intelligence or age - it relates to behaviour!

- It's not social, mental, or physical – it's about living in the Spirit

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- The evidence of maturity in the Christian church is the fruit of the Spirit

—22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

- These fruits, you will note, are consistent with the cross life – with the cross of Christ

- In abandoning the offence of the cross, the Corinthians have abandoned what the cross stood for

- There is no doubt, then, why they are living in the flesh, rather than in the Spirit

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- Another trait of infancy, is the inability to eat “solid food”

—2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it.

Indeed, even now you are not yet able,

- That’s not a neutral observation, that’s an indictment

- They should be on to solid food, but the fact that they cannot handle it is a travesty

- Could it be that some people like to stay INFANTS

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- Staying an infant means that a person’s lifestyle choices are never threatened or challenged

- Staying an infant means never having to deal with a passage like this

- If the preacher stays shallow or ignores hard sayings, the congregation will never grow up & fleshly principles – the wisdom of this age – will continue to dominate the church

- And if challenges & stretching doesn’t occur, we all remain babes

2. Do Not Trust in the “Flesh”

Q.

How do we counter this problem?

- It is easy to say, “do not trust in the flesh”, but often we still do

- We elevate some preachers above others & sure, we are going to have our favourites

- But this church at Corinth were arguing for one against another

- They were – should I say it – becoming “denominational”

- Haven’t we done that over the two thousand years of church history?

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- I think it is fair to say that their has been some terrible heresy in the church & so I can understand why some churches have splintered