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Focus Scripture

1 Corinthians 3:1–9

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.

Open Story

Last night I went to the padres game with my little brother and we brought with us someone who had never been to a padres game before. that is my 2 month old nephew Jay. Hes this little bundle of adorable. There was a five year old padres fan about two rows in front of us having the time of his life. He was eating hot dogs, playing around with family and celebrating big plays with the excitement of a five year old. Spotting this young boy, my sister in law leans over and said “that’s Jay in about 5 years”.

At the present time, Jay doesn't really know whats going on. He is not even happy to be here. Then you insert the vision of a loving mother imagining her son becoming a little fan, enjoying the food and having favorite players, and being at a game the way ti was intended. It can be so inspiring to use your imagination and applying it to the maturity level in your life.

Maybe you have already done that. maybe you used to imagine

What it would be like when you got to high school

What your sport would be like if you matured in the weight room

There is this very specific overhang at my parents house on their outdoor patio.

I want to take this concept of imagining your physical maturity and apply it to our spiritual maturity. You see, God has good plans in your spiritual maturity. He has good things for you to grow into and jump up and touch when you are ready. This is what we will see this morning in 1 Corinthians chapter three.

1. Our Spiritual meals impact our spiritual maturity

As Paul moves into this third Chapter to the corinthians, he refers to His time he spent with them. He reminisces on his time there and includes some of those details in this letter we are reading today…

1 Corinthians 3:1 ESV

1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

Explanation

“Spiritual People and people of the flesh” - We opened this topic on Wednesday. This is what you need to know. God uses this language in His word to show the difference in our old selves and our new selves. Our old selves, also referred to as “our flesh” is how we begin life on earth.

Galatians 5:17–24 (ESV)

Galatians 5:17–24 ESV

17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

“Could not address you” - In all of his experience and skill, the great apostle Paul was prohibited from teaching the Corinthians in the way that is hard desired. we should remember as we study first Corinthians that this is not Paul’s first interaction with the people of Corinth. Paul was the one who established the church in Corinth. The apostle first visited Corinth in AD 50 on his second missionary journey. When Paul first arrived, he spent about 18 months planting establishing in building up the church in Corinth.

Illustration

I first became a youth pastor right at eight years agin addition to making disciples and preaching the word, I couldn’t wait to make Chruch a place that young people were excited to be. I’ve always viewed sports and recreation as an incredible tool to connect with other people. As a recently washed up college football player, I was looking forward to running a whole Lotta rounds and playing some football with my new youth group. I went online and order all kinds of games loaded up on football. The following Wednesday when Chruch rolled around, students begin getting out of their car and they saw me ready to throw that football. to my surprise, the average middle school kid was not prepared to get a full size NCAA football laser beamed at their head up exiting their parents vehicles. I had a very important take away that day. If I was going to create a discipleship environment for middle schoolers I was going to have to consider their current stage of development. I quickly learn to get used to taking some heat off the football when I threw it, I ordered junior size footballs instead of NCAA approved ones. Interestingly enough, over the years as those younger middle school students got more custom playing catch and running rounds, their hands in there, hand icon coordination developed they started showing up with their own Football design for more mature players. This day so often high schoolers come in to our youth room and they ask me why I have junior size footballs. My answer is always the same. I want to make it more approachable for people showing up, looking to have some fun with their friends.

The same is true, considering the stage of our spiritual development. Our spiritual disciplines determine our spiritual development. Just like in the physical world, Our spiritual meals over time shape and mold our spiritual maturity.

the question to ask ourselves before moving on is this: Where are my spiritual els leading my spiritual maturity?

2 .Physical Growth does not equate to Spiritual Growth

1 Corinthians 3:2

1 Corinthians 3:2 (ESV)

I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.

Is there something good that God has for me that maybe i’m not ready for?

Explanation:

In other words, time has passed, relationships have come and gone, but they have not grown spiritually at all.

We do not grow in our relationship with Jesus just because we get older, we grow in our relationship with Jesus because we invest in it.

This rings true over the years. I know many people who have been christians their whole lives but spiritually they are still like babies. on the other hand I knwo people who got saved a year ago and talking to them is like talking to someone who has read their bible 100 times. why? Because you get out of something what you put into it.

Illustration: (financial investments)

I want to use an example to you that may sound as unfamiliar to you as it did for me when I learned it. Retirement. I became a pastor at 22 years old and received all kinds of advice. One of those was this: start saving for retiremen.

someone told me they saved 60 grand

3. If you are not a baby, you shouldn't eat like one

1 Corinthians 3:2 (ESV)

2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,

Explanation:

After five years of being Christians, Paul shares a heartbreaking truth about the people of Corinth. That is, they have not matured past spiritual baby food. They are still learning and arguing about elementary topics of the faith like those mentioned in Hebrews 6:1-2

Hebrews 6:1–2 (ESV)

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

Illustration (Baby food and steak):

Right here I have some great food. in one hand I have some food that is great for an infant. When you are a place in your life where this is all your body can process, its the good stuff. In the other hand I have a kind of food that is great for a grown adult. If its cooked right id argue theres not much better you can have. The thing about these two foods is this: they are great foods for the people they are intended for, but if you switched sides it would be totally unusual. If you walked in the kitchen one day to find your parents throwing down on Gerber's finest you would be concerned for them. also, if you saw a baby in a high chair and their parents slapped a steak on their tray, you might be just as confused.

Argumentation:

Why cant we live our entire spiritual lives on spiritual baby food? After all, it will keep us alive. Why cant we leave the deeper things of God to the pastors and theologians and keep it elementary for the common Christian?

The answer is simple. There is no common Christian in the kingdom of God. One of the greatest lies of the enemy is that you are not extraordinary. One of the greatest lies of the enemy is that you were not hand picked by God to make a difference in this world.

Do you find your own heart sensitive to the Lord’s presence, or are you among those who are “samplers” and “nibblers”? God help you if you are, for the child of the King isn’t a sampler and a nibbler—he’s a sheep who loves his Shepherd, and he stays close to his Shepherd. That’s the only safe place for a sheep—at the Shepherd’s side, because the devil doesn’t fear sheep—he fears the Shepherd. Your spiritual safety and well-being lies in being near to the Shepherd. Stay close to Jesus and all the wolves in the world cannot get a tooth in you.

Psalm 23; John 10:11–15

The Counselor, 17.

A. W. Tozer

The life of the Christian is not intended to merely get by on bread crumbs, its intended to feast to the fullest on the presence of God

In the end the heart longs not for any of God’s good gifts, but for God Himself. To see Him and know Him and be in His presence is the soul’s final feast.

John Piper

Application:

If all our interaction with Jesus is one that merely keeps our head above water we will miss out on much of the goodness He has planned for us.

Ask yourself this question: “Am I growing or just grabbing bread crumbs on Sunday?”

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