United in and for Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Introduction

Good morning and thank you for joining us in worship this morning. If you would turn in your Bibles this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 as we prepare for our time in the word this morning. We were talking a bit this past Sunday in a disciple-making class about how we first got started in ministry. It puts some things back into your wheelhouse and the nostalgia comes rushing back, at least for me.

I had jumped into the church world with both feet. I was about 12 or 13 and was in our church’s drama team, singing on the second service worship team, helping on the chair set up team. I was happy to serve wherever I could because, frankly, I just wanted to get out of the house. I felt like the work I was doing was good and it made me feel like I mattered, even though anyone can set up chairs. As I grew up in the church, I was allowed to teach a couple times which, if I remember right, must have been pure heresy. I remember one time in 8th grade, Tim Hererra, our youth leader at the time, let me teach Weds night and I came up with what I thought was a good lesson. It was me reading a passage and asking a whole bunch of, what I thought were really good questions. What I had not hold of atm, was that all of my questions were “Yes or No” and I blew through my 20 minutes of material in roughly 4 minutes. It was crickets. I think everyone felt bad for me, including Tim who stepped in and rescued me. I had no idea what I was doing, whether or not I was doing good or not, nor that God would be using these things to change and mold me for the future. Most people at the time in our church would have said that I was exactly what they loved to see. I was a kid who was getting active, being serious about my faith. I was showing up and participating and from the outside I looked like the poster of what you want your teens to look like.

What nobody knew was how prideful these realizations where making me. How arrogant I had become. How I was that way on Wednesdays and Sundays but I flipped a switch when I went home, when I was at school, and when I showed up to work. It was all fine and permissible because I needed to do what I needed to do to survive in those environments. After all, God understood, he put me in these situations and he knew what I was up against. Surely he wouldn’t begrudge me a little non-perfection in my life.

In essence I had justified my double-life standards because I was a child and I wanted what I wanted. I had a hard time conforming my lifestyle, all of it, to what the word demanded. I justified it in so many ways. I didn’t have a Christian home. I didn’t work in a Christian environment. You don’t know my dad. You haven’t seen what I’ve been through so I’m really not that bad. God is grace so he gets it.

Tension

The hardest part of this was the hypocrisy of it all. I walked around when I was at church feeling like I was better than all of the rest of the people in my life. But I wasn’t. I wasn’t special or even good. I was just full of myself and I hadn’t fully owned the truth about giving all I was to Christ.

We can all get backwards on how good we really are. Many struggle with pride, becoming lulled into thinking they are some prize to God for all their attributes, putting themselves on a pedestal above all the others.

Today we are going to continue talking about the struggles going on in Corinth and how Paul was trying to coach them into seeing what they truely need to see about their “goodness.” Let’s read together in 1 Corinthians 3, starting in verse 18.

Truth

1 Corinthians 3:18–23 (ESV)

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.

Pray

Exposition

Remembering that last week in chapter 2, Paul told the people of the work that the Spirit was doing in them to bring them into harmony with God’s will, God’s plan, and God’s regeneration of their spirits. That they would be more like Christ. That the things of God would be open to their eyes. Such insight are spiritual in nature and the only real pathway to genuine wisdom. They, as God’s church in Corinth, needed to come back to putting knowledge in its correct place, the person, knowledge, and power of Christ.

Paul continues this in chapter 3. We are going to put vs 18-23 back in their context and get going.

1 Corinthians 3:1–23 (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?

Immaturity is normal for new Christians, but it’s not the long term goal. vs 1-3. Belief/Attitude

When Paul first came to Corinth he was concerned with a couple things. 1. The people had an appetite for debates and good orators. He didn’t want them to follow him because he was a good speaker. 2. He wanted to make sure they understood, not the eloquence of his fine tuned words but the simple Gospel message. That they would accept Jesus and his sacrifice, not adopt these beliefs because Paul made convincing arguments. As such, when he first came, he spoon fed them truth. He gave them the gospel without any bells, no whistles, no anything. He couldn’t give them all this spiritual insight and sound doctrine because they would have latched onto it before they were ready. They would have wanted to argue about the work and nature of the triune Godhead and the nature of sovereignty and free will and leave out the fact that their sin needed a redeemer. He wanted them to grow up in their appreciation of the Lord and, as predicted, their immaturity and desire for man-made wisdom and status has led them down a path of jealousy, strife, and flesh following. They did exactly what he warned them not too.

Friends, squirrels act like squirrels. Babies act like babies. And spiritual infants will act like spiritual infants. They will still struggle with this new life. Just as infants need you for everything or they won’t make it. You will need to help spiritual infants get food. They need your help when they cry. They need your guidance to experience this new life and all the things that they have never noticed before. Don’t resent them for it but meet their needs through Christ remembering that you where there too. Someone showed you how to walk this walk and you had no idea. When you tell the kids that they can pick out dinner, whatever they want, the only real choice they consider is should we have jelly beans or gummy bears. Little do they know that filet minion is out there and better, and better for them, than anything they are thinking of. Infants don’t know anything, let alone the best things. You have to show them, guide them, correct them, show up for them, respond to so many things. But the joy is that this phase isn’t meant to be the end. Infants grow up into children with their own struggles, lessons, and benefits. They eventually grow up to being somewhat competent, being able to hold a job and accept some personal responsibility. One day they will grow up and get out of the house and invite you over for filet minion and you’ll remember the kid who only wanted gummy bears. The goal is growth. The goal is competence and learning to walk out the Christian life well without someone cutting up your hot dogs into little nuggets for you.

If you are a new Christian, be patient and listen to your teachers and guides. Learn lessons. Apply them. Acknowledge you don’t know it all and that's fine, for now. But keep learning. Keep growing. Don’t keep needing taught the same lessons. Learn from mistakes and explore God’s word. Get involved, actively participate in your own sanctification. Become a student and lover of God’s word. Before long, you’ll experience a depth and joy as a follower of Christ that you didn’t know was even out there when you craved Jelly bean faith.

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.

Pastors, teachers, leaders are only as good as much as they point us to the Lord. vs 4-6. Belief/Attitude

One of the major problems plaguing these people is that they latched onto the personalities preaching to them the word and didn’t pay any attention to who they were talking about. Pastors and teachers come and go. That is not to diminish them, their families, their ministry, or their hearts. I have so many great friendships with my brothers in the ministry. I love them and cannot count the ways they’ve blessed me in my walk as a Christian and developed me as a pastor. But, but, but… The message is meat on the bone. It is the filet minion. My goal for my ministry is and will remain to make much of Jesus. To show and tell all that his word says so that men and women can get a better picture of who he is. That I would fade away as the Holy Spirit takes hold of those words and causes a heart of stone to grow flesh. Its beyond addicting to see Christ change a heart and I want to devote my life, as many of you do as well, to seeing Christ’s message transform lives. But this is not FBC of Juston. This is not my church. This is not my mission. Its not my will or my kingdom. Its all about Jesus. I want to lead as best as I can but not for my glory, only his.

My suggestion to you friends, is to always, myself included, hold the words of all teachers to the words found in the Bible. Me personally, the bigger the name, the wider the audience, the more initials, the more titles, the more books, the more campuses, they oversee the more I put up my discernment glasses on what they say. As we’ve said before, be more of a follower of Jesus than you are of any of his spokesmen.

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.

The most important relationship for your sanctification is the one you have with Christ. vs 7-17. Belief

Paul employs a beautiful and timely metaphor for the people in the city of Corinth, a town that was just ruins 100 years ago and is now being built into a new metropolis. Just as field hands can work the rows and and hedges but cannot make the crops grow, just as the craftsmen can build a house, but without a solid foundation is crumbles, so too can men teach and preach and lead believers towards the things of God but unless they are founded on Christ, they will crumble. Work the rows all you want but you can’t make it rain and you can’t control the sun, only God can.

Paul’s point is that each of these personalities that the people have flocked too are only doing the work they’ve been called too. They are teaching and preaching but the Holy Spirit is causing you to grow. They are working with you daily but to show you Christ and help you open up to the life he wants for you. Each guy has a job to do, much akin to the house being contracted out. One guy comes in and pours a great foundation. Another frames and roofs the house. Others do drywall, electricity, plumbing, and so on. So it is with those who invest into our lives and help us work out our walk with Christ. In our church we have had the great blessing of having many over the years who answered the call to minister to Mount Vernon. To your families and invest in your lives. Praise God for them. Thank them fondly for the impact they’ve made in your life. Call em or send them a letter, perhaps this week telling them what they meant to you. But, always remember, they fall in comparison to the one who really changed your life. To what Christ has done in your heart. To how the Holy Spirit is always working to guide you and direct you. They showed you where to find the truth but Christ is truth. Build the best life, the best walk, pursue holiness, but make sure that life is always founded on Christ, the author and perfecter of your faith.

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.

Grow in humility, knowing all Holiness in your life is a gift given by Christ. vs 18-23. Attitude

Verse 18 might just be the perfect commentary for this attitude shift that must take place in us for a life in Godliness. “If anyone among you thinks that his is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.”

This is begging for humility. Brothers and sisters this is so impactful if you will lean into it for a moment. We must take our medicine here, not matter the bitter taste, if we are to get healthy. Do you believe yourself to have arrived?

Perhaps not in terms of holiness, very few of us would claim such victory in our lives but perhaps in rightness? Perhaps in knowledge? Perhaps in your worldview? Perhaps in your work ethic? Perhaps in matters of the heart? or in finance? or in charity, mercy, or faithfulness. Are you impressed with your character in all or some of these parts? Are you proud of you and the ripples of your goodness as it wells out around you?

Then take out the bottle and drink deeply of this bitter and needed medicine: You friend, are deeply loved and cherished by Christ, but are no better than any other man or woman who desperately need his grace.

You are not a prize due to holiness. You are not a prize do to character. You are not a prize based on any belief, attitude, or behavior you bring to the table. All attributes in your life that merit praise are simply gifts of a God who loves you and allows you to reflect his nature inside of creation. If you want to be wise in this life, you but acknowledge your foolishness before God. In that humility you can have a right opinion about your own knowledge and wisdom.

No man should think more highly of himself than he should.

I had the opportunity to work with a particularly shaky deacon early on in my ministry. I call him shaky because that word perfectly fits how Nick’s mannerisms affected his physicality, his speech, and his relationships. He had been rescued from a life of addiction that almost claimed his family, definitely his marriage, and ultimately, nearly his life. As such, the scars of a life of addiction were evident in how he carried himself. It also colored the fervor by which his evangelistic nature worked. He was relentless, never holding back sharing the gospel no matter the situation or the person he was sharing with. The most hard-hearted Hell’s angel, strapped and tatted to the nines had no hope when Nick was involved. It was due to this boldness and lack of reservation he had a hard time fitting in with some of our more reserved deacons. “I want to start a Sunday, Bible study at the Jail. There are 30 addicts in there right now who need Jesus. Which of you guys is the Lord leading to join me because I’m going, even if no one goes with me.” He wouldn’t be stopped and begrudgingly, he did go alone for a couple months. I started going with him one week and you’d have thought that I bought Nick a new car with how thrilled he was to have “a partner in crime.” Nick, listen, I can today, but I’m not signing up for a lifetime appointment. “Sure man whatever you say but know that this is addictive, and you know that I know what I’m talking about.”

Whatever I thought I was walking into was quickly dispelled. I was hoping just to not get shived. I knew there were some men in there with addiction struggles, some for violence, some for abuse, and some who had done things I would say, I genuinely would hate them for if I knew. Yet, instead of walking into a group of men who were hostile we encountered 10 guys at a table, ready for us. They had been preparing all week with pads of paper and Bibles. Painstakingly preparing questions from their Bible readings they wanted to ask Nick about. In fact, this had become such the case that Nick stopped preparing a study each week because he wanted to deal with the guys and where they were. In that jailhouse pod, i found men who were broken and helpless. Many struggled and failed against addiction and were so glad to be sober and clean atm, even if it meant that it was here. Some said that they’d never been able to understand the scriptures more than they had with Nick’s help and were enjoying their time in lockup recently.

It was in those times with nick and the prison that I realized something. These guys were just like me. Just as broken. Just as desperate. Just as searching. Just as lonely. Just as in need of a savior. I had just found Jesus. I had found him to satisfy all the things they were still trying to fill up within them.

I was no better than any of them. I had just recieved God’s mercy and his grace. All the things I was and was sharing with them was out of the overflow of what Christ had shown me and done in my heart. Without him, I probably would have been right there with them.

If you want wisdom, real wisdom, you have to realize, that without Christ, you are a fool. The real wisdom is not one men can concoct or master. Real wisdom comes when we realize and own the truth that we are nothing without him. All the good in our lives is not of us, its of him. All the blessings-Him. All the righteousness-Him. All the hope-Him. All the Truth-Him. They are gifts given by a God who loves us.

Application

A couple of points of application as we consider these shifting beliefs and attitudes lived out in us.

Are you still on milk or have you moved onto meat? Are you using your small group or Sunday morning worship as you primary intake of Scripture? Do you have a personal time of Bible engagement? If not, start now. This week pick a time and get into your word. Once at first, then next week do a couple times. Start in John.

Reach out to a person who built on your life’s foundation in Christ. Pastor, youth leader, Bible study teacher, whatever. Email, FB, text, call, or write a letter. Thank them for the investment and tell them what Christ is doing in your life today.

You are no better than any other man. Take some time this week praying over any weeds of pride that have grown up in the cracks of your heart. Repent of them and ask God to give you eyes to see all the good that HE has brought into your life. Thank Him.

Landing. vbs meeting next week

Prayer for Israel:

Lord, we ask that you would be present in the Nation of Israel this morning as attacks fall upon the people there. We know that less than 2% of Israel’s population have accepted you as savior and Lord. We know from your Word that it is not your will that anyone would perish. That you love those people and want to redeem them from their sin and to give them life abundant. We know that you seek the salvation of all men, even those that mean them harm, stuck in darkness. We pray that even now you would guide and protect, that you would be working and that your spirit would convict of sin and of righteousness and that your will would be done. Lord, we are not wise but you are. We don’t know your will but we know your heart. We know you love sinners and ask forgiveness for those that persecuted you. We know you call us to do the same. So please Lord, we pray, bring peace and end war. You are mighty to save and just in your actions. We thank you for your grace and mercy and ask it over the nations this morning, until they all come to the saving knowledge of your glory. In the name of Jesus, Amen.