I Corinthians 3:5-4:21 (Part 15b) Achieving Unity by Considering the Nature of Christian Service

Achieving unity by considering the nature of Christian service—3:5-4:21

• The worker is only a servant in the hands of God—3:5-9

o The issue is function not person—v. 5—“servant”

 One who is an instrument

 One who is assigned a position—“Lord gave”—what?

v Results—vv. 6-8

v You do not judge servants based on results

 Service will be rewarded in harmony with quality—vv. 10-17

o The foundation of the church

 The person who laid it

 The one who completes it

 The one who comprises it

o The superstructure of the church

 The process of building

 The quality of materials

 The results of the building

o A warning to the church

 When one does damage to the body, God takes it very seriously and is not passive.

• The worker must be assessed by God’s standards (not man’s)—vv. 18-21

o “Temple”—(v. 16)—not the believer’s individual body in this context (the individual indwelling is taught elsewhere)

o All three pronouns are plural (you all) and “temple” is singular

God is the one who gives results

• Principle—results are solely the work of God

• Conclusions . . .

o The worker is nothing

o God is everything

*They are one:--v. 8

• In nothingness

• In message

• In office (servants)

• In aim

Deception—it is the creation of a belief in one’s mind or in the mind another that is contrary to fact

• How can you deceive yourself?—mental dishonesty and fantasy (spiritual)—v. 18 (we are to be in control of our thought life)

• Deceived about what?—they aren’t seeing the absolute contrast between the church and the world—v. 18

Not individual believers judgment—vv. 10-17—why not?

• “Work” (v. 13)—singular with the article

• Literally—(vv. 13-14)—“the work of a man”

• “Each man” (v. 13)—taken in the context of v. 10—“wise master builder”—God given ability to teach

• “Another”—in the context it is another teacher (he is talking about teachers as builders)

• Who is the building?—the Corinthians church (v. 9)

• The issue is the quality of the work a teacher does in the body of Christ