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Good morning Church!
Announcements:
First, I am really excited to announce that we are starting our revival tonight! That’s right, we are having our first revival in the last several years, and it starts tonight. Listen to our line-up:
Bro Ryan Crips: Tonight at 6pm
Bro Bobby Lee Hale: Monday night at 7pm
Bro Jeff Cripps: Tuesday night at 7pm
Praise Reports:
Ukraine
Revival
TV was installed in the back. We can now have a choir again and are ready for a song leader!
Prayer Requests:
Ukraine
Revival
Tithes
Children’s Church
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart that I might not sin against God! Amen!!!
Open Bibles To: 1 Corinthians 3.
We have been walking through a series titled “Building TEMPO”. The series is based off of Acts 2, where we have surveyed the five functions of the Church. “TEMPO” is an acronym that lays out each of those five functions, and we have decided to start digging into the last of the five functions, which is represented by the “O”. “O” stands for “Oneness”. When we speak of oneness, we are talking about unity. As we have begun to dig into the concept of unity, we have discovered that unity is at the heart of all that God has done.
In our last message, we were able to see that even the nature of God Himself, screams oneness. We spoke of the triune God we serve, and even looked at how His creation all works together, as one unit, to glorify its maker and master.
Today, we are going to continue digging into this concept of unity in hopes that two things will happen:
That our understanding of the concept of unity will deepen to the point of seeing that it is engraved into every single aspect of what God has created, specifically the Church. The Church exists to bring glory to God, and was designed to do so.
That our hearts might be prepared for this upcoming revival so that we might receive God’s Word with gladness and singleness of heart, just as the first century Church did!
Scripture:
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?
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.
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.
Context
Context
In chapter 2, Paul explains the need for the Spirit of God in our lives. Paul explains that without the Spirit, we cannot understand the things of God. He says it this way:
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
Knowing the topic at hand, we can now understand why Paul seems to be giving them such a hard time in the opening verses of Chapter 3. He begins to explain to them that their behavior is not that of a mature Christian. Therefore, Paul says, I was not able to feed you meat, but rather with milk, because you were not ready for it.
Spiritually speaking, the behavior and arguments that are present among you are childish. They are not of God. You need to do some growing up.
This may seem a little harsh, but remember two things:
The faithfulness we exercise as children of God bears eternal weight to those who are around us.
Paul explains in his letter that all of these words he spoke to the Church at Corinth were spoken out of a heart of love.
4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
See, Paul loved these people. He loved them so much, that he decided to tell them the truth, regardless how hard it was to swallow. He wanted to be united with these people, but furthermore, he wanted these people to be united with Christ.
That deep desire for their unity compelled him to speak honestly with them, and the truth was: they were not fulfilling their purpose in Christ. The underlying issue that caused them to fall short was found in the fact that they were not in unity with God, which in turn caused them to be separated from one another.
4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
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.
Paul uses the rest of the chapter to build his case. He does so by reminding them of three essential truths:
Who they were.
Why it was important.
The major pitfall that was keeping them from both.
Content
Content
Who They Were
Who They Were
Throughout scripture, various illustrations have been used to described to the Church. Out of those, i want to mention just a few.
The Bride of Christ
The Bride of Christ
From the very beginning of scripture, we see a picture of marriage as being pivotal in God’s design for mankind. When God created all things in Genesis 1-3, the last thing that God created was man and woman, and with them He took extra care and took extra time. Everything else was simply spoken into existence, but with them, He took the time to fashion them with His hands.
We have already seen that they were designed as He was, with a triune nature, but we were also designed to resemble Him to others. That is to say that not only are we made in the likeness of God, but we were also made to bear the image of God.
Listen to these verses:
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
The Holy communion of marriage was designed so that it represents the relationship between Christ and His Church. As Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it, the husband is to love the wife. As the Church follows Christ faithfully, the wife is to respect and follow the Godly leadership of her husband. In doing so, we become the bride of Christ.
Through this act of unity, each marriage is to represent the Church’s respect for God and obedience unto Him. It is a beautiful picture of unity between the Church and Christ. Notice that it takes both parties in order to make this representation whole.
The Body of Christ
The Body of Christ
Another picture used throughout scripture, and probably the most used, is the illustration of the Church being the body of Christ.
18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?
20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,
25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Once again, we see how that all Christians are to be united as one as we all work together to present Christ unto this lost and dying world.
As with the representation of the marriage, we must all work together in unity in order for this illustration to work. As stated in these verses, every member of the body is necessary and needed in order for the body to function.
As we work in communion with one another, we represent a triune God who works flawlessly within each of its members to function as one God.
The Father expressed His will, the Son became flesh to show it what it looks like, and the Holy Spirit dwells within our hearts to lead and guide us in the paths of righteousness for His name sake. Unity is necessary.
The Building of Christ
The Building of Christ
Here in our text today, we see a third representation. It is the illustration of the Church as the building of God.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
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.
Now we must take care as we unpack the meaning of this illustration. At first glance, it almost seems to teach that our individual work for God is all that matters.
1 Corinthians 3:12–13 (ESV)
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.
1 Corinthians 3:8 (ESV)
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
In one sense, the answer is yes. The deciding factor that either grants me access into heaven or denies me access into heaven will be based upon my decision as to who Christ is. If I choose Christ as my Savior and Lord, nothing that anyone else in the world might do or say can change that.
When we look at the idea of salvation from this perspective, it is completely individual. No questions asked.
But if we take a moment and back up, we can see that there is another perspective that must be viewed. Notice what it says at the beginning of v. 8:
1 Corinthians 3:8 (ESV)
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
Did you see it? He who plants will be judged based upon how he planted. He who waters will be judged based upon how he waters. But both are one. It both are one, how can they be judged individually?
This is where we really get into the purpose of the Church.
In order for there to be growth within the body of Christ, someone must plant the seed (Evangelism), someone must water that seed (Discipleship), and God must provide the increase.
The picture here is that Paul laid the foundation of Christ (The Gospel), Apollos came behind him and expounded the scriptures to take them deeper into their faith (discipleship), but God gave the increase where He desired to bring glory to His name.
We are temples of the Holy Spirit. God lives in us. God’s will is that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance. If that is the case, the God within us will lead us into the paths of God’s will
Why It Was Important
Why It Was Important
Eternity is at stake (v. 15)
The preservation of the Church is at stake (v. 6, 8)
The Pitfall of Pride
The Pitfall of Pride
Forget everything the world has taught you (v. 18)
The world’s rules and regulations are at odds with God (v. 19-20)
It is not about me (v. 21)
Commitment
Commitment