Meat > Milk (1 Corinthians 3:1-9)

Introduction

Body

Tonight we find ourselves in the middle of a longer conversation. And in order for us to understand, we must first understand what came first.

Paul writing to a church that He started just a few years prior. In Chapter 7:1, we see that His letter was written in response to a letter that He had received from them asking questions and updating him on how things were going.

Corinth was a Large and busy place, with a lot to do. While this sounds awesome, it also made it a prime place for Sin to take root and destroy peoples lives.

This was a difficult place, Which made it the perfect place for a Church!

Well, this letter wasn’t exactly what one would hope to receive from a church with so much potential!

I’m sure that Paul was hoping to hear about all of the people getting saved, being baptized, and being sent out to tell other people about Jesus!

There was so much to look forward to! So many people who were lost! So much to do!

Yet Paul finds himself having to write a letter to this group of believers, that He should have never had to write.

Instead of being able to Cheer his people along! He is forced to become a Doctor of sorts.

Let’s look at the first 3 verses together: (Have Someone Read)

1 Corinthians 3:1–3 ESV

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?

Failing to Thrive

Y'all don’t know this yet, but being a parent is hard. You go from being able to come and go as you please, to a degree, to being responsible for another human being 24/7.

When both of my boys were born, there was an initial period where we had to go to the Dr. every few weeks to have them “weighed and measured”. Especially as a first time dad, these trips were terrifying! What is He isn’t growing enough? Are we feeding him right? Is he sleeping enough?

Well, we made it past those visits, and made it to the 6 month and 1 year visits. Now there were another group of measurements that had to take place. Not only did they weigh and measure them like they did before, but they would also ask us questions like, Is he crawling? Is he beginning to talk? Can he feed himself? What are his social skills like?

As i’m sure it sounds, this could be overwhelming at times. There were times that we were challenged because there were certain milestones that the boys weren’t “hitting”.

While this wasn’t the case for my boys, there are certain children who deal with something called, “Failure to Thrive”. Basically, this refers to children who have failed to develop and grow normally.

In vs. 1-3 Paul pulls the spiritual band aid off, and tells those in the Church at Corinth that they are “Failing to Thrive.”

He refers to them as “People of the Flesh” and “Infants in Christ”

You hear us use the word “Flesh” a lot in the church world, but what do we mean?

The literal translation of this word Flesh means to be “Self-centered rather then God-centered”

They were arguing with each other.

and trying to continue being the Lord of their own lives.

The Said that Jesus was their Savior, yet they still tried to drive the car of their lives.

This was a problem because they didn’t know where to go. So they kept driving in Circles, never really getting anywhere.

This brings us to the second accusation of Paul towards these people. “Infants in Christ”

You see, these people believed that they were very religious because of the things that they did. They knew the right words, and were likely at Church all the time.

But Paul tells them that they are still of the “Flesh and are behaving only in a human way”

You see, In the same way that we have expectations that our Children will learn and grow over time, Paul says that we are to do the same things in our Christian lives.

The problem is that this isn’t happening for these people. And to be honest, for many of you, you are still in the same place as you were when you were first saved.

Sam is currently in the “I can do it” phase, where he wants to do everything be himself. His big thing over the past few weeks has been helping me mow. He genuinely believes that he can operate our zero turn riding mower by himself. This is a good thing, because he’s trying to learn and grow, and become independent. Now I don’t just give him the keys and let him go at it, but i do let him sit in my lap and steer.

Sam is growing. He’s watching me. He’s taking in information. He’s figuring this out. To the point where sometime in the future, i will be able to trust him to mow the yard on his own.

This is the way it’s supposed to be.

But let’s go back to the baby for a second. For those baby’s who go through this “Failure to thrive”. Many of them will never learn to eat on their own. They will go as long as their bodies will allow without hard food. And eventually they die.

A lot of people may read Paul’s words and think he is being cruel, or even rude. But remember, that He feels like a spiritual father to them. So in the same way that I am responsible for my boys growing, learning, and moving on to solid food, so is Paul for those under his care.

If we are standing still, we’re actually moving backwards.

So Dr. Paul has diagnosed the issue, but what is the cause?

Let’s look at Vs. 4-5 together (Have someone Read?)

1 Corinthians 3:4–5 ESV

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.

Refusing to be humble

The overarching theme at the center of 1 Corinthians 1-3 is Division in the Church. Basically, Nobody could agree on anything and nobody wanted to fix it. We actually see this “I follow Paul” type statement in Chapter 1:12

1 Corinthians 1:12 ESV

12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”

So while conflict is what Paul is specifically writing to here, it’s important for us to dig a little bit and ask the question “Where does this conflict come from?”

One day a certain old, rich man of a miserable disposition visited a rabbi, who took the rich man by the hand and led him to a window. 'look out there,? he said. The rich man looked into the street. "What do you see"? asked the rabbi. "I see men, women, and children,? answered the rich man. Again the rabbi took him by the hand and this time led him to a mirror. "Now what do you see"? "Now I see myself,? the rich man replied. Then the rabbi said, "Behold, in the window there is glass, and in the mirror there is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with a little silver, and no sooner is the silver added than you cease to see others, but you see only yourself.'

Conflict is rooted in selfishness, While the Gospel is Rooted in Selflessness.

The people of this church believed themselves to be smart, Holy, and religious

But if we want to ever get past spiritual milk and move onto to meat, we must move past our own selfish desires. We have to Humble ourselves. Which basically means we have to get over ourselves, and realize that we aren’t smart, we don’t have our lives together, and we are broken.

So we know the Symptoms, We know the Cause. So how do we fix it?

The Treatment Plan

Well, the truth is that we don’t. We have to let the Dr. do his job!

Let’s look at Vs. 6-9

1 Corinthians 3:6–9 ESV

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.

People look to other people to guide them.

And while we definitely need each other to make it through this messed up life.

If we put our hope and trust into people, we will be let down.

That’s why Paul saw this as such an important issue, because the people were looking to him and to apollos for guidance instead of looking to God.

I am here. Bro. Jamey is here. Your Small Group Leaders are here. But we cannot be your Savior and Lord. Neither can any coach, parent, teacher, boyfriend, or girlfriend. They will all fail.

Why? Because we don’t have the power to save. Jesus does.

He’s the only one with the ability to give growth. We can plant the seeds, We can water the seeds. I can tell you about Jesus. I can teach you the Bible. But unless you Allow Jesus full access to your life, even the stuff that your selfishly holding onto, or afraid to tell him. You’ll end up like those Baby Christians at Corinth.

At an age where you should be having steak with the grown ups, but your still drinking milk. Failing to thrive.

Vs. 9 tells us that we are God’s.

We are his fellow workers, His field, and His Building. We don’t belong to ourselves.

So let’s start letting the one who knows where we’re going take the steering wheel and drive.