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Mike Measley

EFBC - Evangelical Free Bible Church

1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago • Presented 3 years ago • 37:00

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The theme of the passage this morning is growing. Growth is what God designed into life. As we look around us at this time of year, we see all kinds of growth around us. The plants and trees, the flowers, the grass, the weeds, everything is growing as it is intended. For those who plant gardens, now is the time we start to see crops beginning to grow. For those of us with children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, we see them growing, and oftentimes, overtaking us!

Growth is designed into life as God created it. It is something to which we can relate, we can understand. It is a metaphor we use in many ways. We grow our careers. We grow our investments. We grow into different roles in life. When someone is acting inappropriately, we tell them to grow up.

In today’s passage, we will see Paul using this imagery of growth. He will first use the imagery of a child growing. Then he will use the imagery of crops growing. In using both of these images, Paul is speaking of growth as Christians. Growth to maturity as Christians.

What is the Measure of Christian Maturity?

If you were to look at yourself, would you say you are mature? What is maturity as a Christian? What is the measure? How will you know if you are mature? Is is how long you have been a Christian? Is it determined by how many verses you have memorized? Is it how much doctrine you know? What is the measure of Christian maturity?

What are the Means of Christian Maturity?

And, what is the means? How will you be able to grow as a Christian? What will it take to grow?

These are the themes we will be looking at this morning. Let’s begin by reading the passage.

1 Corinthians 3:1–9 NIV

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Prayer

What is Christian Maturity?

The first topic we are going to consider is, “What is Christian Maturity?”

What does it mean to be a mature Christian?

To the Corinthians, and in our day as well, achievement is measured in knowledge; how much you know. The Corinthian society, and our society are both centered around getting more education so you can better yourself, so you can grow your career and your portfolio. Yet, when Paul addressed the Corinthians, he had this to say:

1 Corinthians 3:1 NIV

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.

Brothers

It is noteworthy that Paul is not just trying to put them down. He is not calling them babies to simply deride them. He begins by calling them brothers! He is appealing to them, not putting them down. He acknowledges them as fellow believers. He does not put himself above them, but with them. Brothers.

Yet, he has to be honest with them for them to grow. He has to be honest with them that though they think they are so grown up, they are infants.

Notice the contrast.

Spiritual vs. Worldly / Fleshly

As we see the contrast, it will help us to understand what the measure of maturity is. The terms Paul uses here are spiritual, and fleshly.

What does it mean to be spiritual? It means to be walking according to the Spirit. We are each given the Spirit the moment we are saved. He is within us to bear fruit, good fruit, which is another analogy for doing what is right in God’s eyes.

The other term is fleshly. What does that mean? It means to live according to the desires and passions of our flesh. It is our sinful way of living.

Paul talks about this in another of his letters, Galatians.

Galatians 5:19–24 NIV

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Spiritual vs Fleshly

As you consider this contrast between Spiritual and Fleshly, what do you see as the measure of Christian maturity? Is it what we know? It is knowing a certain level of doctrine? Is it having all of the knowledge and facts? Is it from having all understanding of scripture?

No, it has to do with our actions. Are we acting out of our flesh, or are we acting out of the Spirit’s leading?

Let’s turn back to 1 Corinthians 3, and see what else Paul said to challenge the Corinthians on to maturity.

1 Corinthians 3:2 NIV

I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

Milk vs Solid Food

Milk is for babies, solid food is for those who are mature. Paul uses this metaphor about what they could and could not handle to both point out their immaturity, and to challenge them to be mature.

What is milk vs. solid Food? Is it simple doctrine vs. harder doctrine? Again, to the Corinthians, they were about knowledge. So, the study of doctrine was something they could get into. However, was their academic knowledge a sign of maturity? No.

What was Paul getting at that they could only handle milk and not solid food?

The author of Hebrews used this analogy as well.

Look with me at Hebrews 5.

Hebrews 5:11–14 NIV

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Milk vs Solid Food

Milk is for the new believer. It is teaching about salvation by grace through faith. It is about repentance. It is about confession of sin. It is about the resurrection and judgment.

What does this author say solid food is? Teaching about Righteousness.

What does this author equate with maturity? Mature have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Mature are those who are practicing righteousness. They are living by the Spirit, and not by the flesh.

Look at what else Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3.

1 Corinthians 3:3–4 NIV

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

The Measure of Maturity - our actions

Paul makes is very clear here. The indicators of their immaturity were their actions. It was their jealousy and quarreling that showed that they were immature Christians. They may have known a lot of scripture. They may have known a lot of doctrine. However, their actions showed that they were immature. They had not applied their knowledge to life. They were living out of their flesh, not out of the Spirit. Their actions determined their level of maturity.

The Means of Christian Maturity

If the actions are the measure of maturity, what are the means of maturity?

1 Corinthians 3:5 NIV

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

Teacher vs. Teacher

To the Corinthians, the means of maturity were the teachers. This was true in their society. The means to being better or to be seen as more mature in society was to be associated with the right school, or the right teacher. The Corinthians carried this over into the church. They felt that their means of maturity and status was the teacher they followed.

What about today? In some ways, I think this is still the way many in the church think. We have this idea that if we read the right author, if we listen to the right preacher, if we listen to the right teachings and memorize the right creeds and verses we will be mature. If we read through the Bible over and over, and have hours of bible reading a day, we will be mature.

Actually, those are all good things. Apollos and Paul were good teachers. In fact, in this letter, Paul is still trying to teach and instruct the Corinthians. We need good teachers.

Good authors are like good teachers. Reading can help us understand the truths of scripture. Memorizing verses is a great way to learn more of the truth of God’s word. Reading through the whole Bible is good. Spending time reading God’s word is great! However, the time reading, listening, memorizing and acquiring knowledge is not what makes us mature. They are helpful, but they are not the means.

Paul indicates that in the next verses.

1 Corinthians 3:6 NIV

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.

The planter vs waterer

The teachers are important. Paul uses the analogy of planting and caring for crops to illustrate this. One plants, and one waters. Both are important parts of crops growing. If you plant, but do not water, will it grow?

I planted a bunch of fruit trees a few weeks ago. Madi and Matthew helped me with some of the digging, Michael and Mikayla helped with a bit of the others. Then, when I was away with Michael last weekend, I had Madi water the trees. Before that, Mikayla helped to water them.

Planting them, was important. If not planted, the trees would have died. But what if they were planted and not watered? Well, they would have died then as well. Planting and watering are important.

But ultimately, Can I make plants grow? Can my kids? No. Even when planting and watering, we cannot guarantee that plants will grow. I have one apple tree that just isn’t growing. The seven other fruit trees are growing, but this one is not. Why? They were all planted the same. They were all watered the same. What is the difference?

God is the author of life. He is the One who gives the increase. He is the One who makes it grow.

Paul goes on to say,

1 Corinthians 3:7 NIV

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

The Means of Growth - God

The same carries over into the church. Different ones are involved in planting seeds and watering. However, no one can make someone else grow. God is the only One who can truly speak to the heart and cause growth.

Jeremiah 17:9–10 NIV

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”

Our hearts are deceitful. They make us think we are right when our actions are wrong. God is the only One who truly knows the heart, and he is the true judge of our conduct. We need to learn to listen o his judgments of our actions.

Paul recognized this in his own life.

Romans 7:21–25 NIV

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

God delivers; God judges the heart

We can read all of the right books and authors. We can memorize verses. We can spend hours reading the bible, and we should do these things. These are like the planter and the waterer. They are essential, but they are not the means of maturity. Because even though we grow in knowledge, it is our actions which measure our maturity.

Unfortunately, our hearts are prone to justifying our actions. Our hearts are prone to seeking what we want and not what the Lord wants, and then justifying it so that in our own hearts and minds we think we are so right. And, we can likely find someone else, a teacher, who will make us think we are right. They will support our views. They will justify our actions.

However, it is not another teacher that is the means to maturity. It is the Lord.

He is the true judge. He is the One who can deliver us from this cycle of slavery to our flesh. But this will only happen when we listen to the Lord, and not our hearts. It will only happen when we listen to the Lord instead of finding teachers that tickle our ears.

Unfortunately, not all teachers are going to lead us to the Lord, and his judgments. They aren’t following their true purpose.

Paul speaks of the true purpose, in verse 8.

1 Corinthians 3:8–9 NIV

The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Each rewarded according to… their labor

The planter and the waterer have one purpose, to glorify the Lord and point people to Him, the One means of salvation and maturity. We need to point people to the Lord’s judgment of things, and not our own. and in the end, each will be judged by the Lord and rewarded according to their labor. Once again, it comes back to what we do, our actions.

The whole topic of maturity is summed up in the fact that we are in God’s service, and we are God’s field, God’s building.

As I thought of this passage, I had to think back to what it must have been like for Paul. To some, he was the teacher. He was the one that they wanted to follow. That had to feel good. It had to stroke the ego. Then, there were others that looked to Apollos. That had to hurt. It had to make him think, “What do I need to do differently to be more like Apollos and have people look to me?”

I don’t doubt that as a man, these things had to tug at his heart. So, Paul, while he wrote to the Corinthians about maturity had to be seeing this at play in his own heart.

The measure of Paul’s maturity was that he listened to the Lord, and saw that he and Apollos were just servants, coworkers. They each had a role to play. They each had to follow the Lord and do what He wanted to the best of their ability. Then, they would be rewarded by the Lord, according to their labor, their actions.

For Paul, his actions, his response to this was the measure of his maturity. Would he be jealous? Would he fight for his reputation? Would he try to make himself look better than Apollos? Or, would he humbly accept his role as the Lord’s servant? Would he allow the Lord to judge him?

I believe Paul taught the Corinthians that the measure of maturity is our actions, and that the means of maturity is the Lord judging and working in our hearts. Paul also demonstrated it by his actions, and by sharing what the Lord did in his heart to recognize that he and Apollos were co-workers in God’s service, in God’s field.

What about me?

Am I mature?

Galatians 5:19–21 NIV

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

How will I grow in maturity?

Jeremiah 17:9–10 NIV

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