Big Babies
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
A.
Grow up!
I. Foundations Are Essential, But Foundations Are Meant to Be Built On (vv. 1-3a)
I. Foundations Are Essential, But Foundations Are Meant to Be Built On (vv. 1-3a)
A. Three Types of People
Natural People
Unbelievers — Those who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, have not received the Holy Spirit, and cannot live changed and transformed lives because not only do they lack the Spirit, they don’t understand the Spirit.
These are people who cannot build because they lack the foundation.
Spiritual People
Believers — Those who have confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord, believe in Him as their Savior, have received the Holy Spirit, and live changed and transformed lives because they are dependent on the One who lives in them.
These are people who have a firm foundation and build upon it.
Fleshly/Carnal People
Believers — Those who have confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord, believe in Him as their Savior, have received the Spirit, but are not living changed and transformed lives because they live independent of the One who lives in them.
These are people who have a firm foundation and neglect to build on it.
Notice that Paul addresses them as brethen, indicating he is speaking to the entire church, not just one particular group of people.
B. There’s Nothing Wrong with Milk
When Paul came to Corinth and established the church in Corinth, he spoke to them as infants in Christ.
In other words, they were young and immature in their faith. They needed the basics. They needed a foundation that would set them up for future growth.
The basics Paul gave them was “milk.”
The problem was, the Corinthian Christians weren’t building upon the foundation that Paul had helped to establish.
At the writing of this letter, it has been about 5 years since Paul left Corinth, so between his work and Apollos’ work, they Corinthian Christians have been nourished in the Word for around 7 years.
My daughter, Elliana, is seven months old. Since the day she was born, Charity has nursed her. That’s a good thing.
When she was born there was no other food source that could nourish her. In fact, I get in trouble because my desire is to feed her other things, but she’s not ready. It was only a couple weeks ago that we started feeding her purees.
But you know what wouldn’t be good?
What wouldn’t be good is if in 7 years she comes home hungry and goes looking for mom.
You know why that wouldn’t be good? Because it would be weird!
If at seven years old, she hasn’t moved beyond only milk, it’s a problem.
C. Flesh
Unholy Trinity
Flesh
My desires and my wants and my agendas need to be filled right now/
The World
Appeals and allures you to fulfill your sinful desires.
satan
Tempts your flesh to follow the world.
None of that is ever going away. In fact, you will find that the closer you grow to Jesus, the louder the voice of the enemy gets. We all know his voice very well.
Even as Christians, our fleshly, sinful desires never leave us.
Even as Christians, we find ourselves giving into those fleshly desires, and in those moments, there’s a part of you that’s saying, “Why am I doing this?” Paul said the same thing.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
In those moments, we often think, “I have to try harder.”
I need to work on my anger
I need to work on my gossiping
I need to work on my pride
I need to work on my adulterous thoughts
I need, I need, I need
Yesterday I had the privilege of performing a wedding, and if there was only one thing that couple took away from it, I pray it is this:
The standard God has called you to meet in your marriage is impossible without the help of Jesus Christ.
They can try to work on and fix their marriage all they want, but without His help, it’s going nowhere.
It’s not about you trying harder. It’s not about you trying to fix yourself. It’s not about you working on yourself.
It’s about letting Christ work in you.
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Paul says he started with the basics, and that was necessary, but they haven’t moved beyond the basics.
The basics, the milk, that Paul gave the Corinthians was nothing other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Paul is not calling the Corinthians to move beyond the cross to something higher or hidden. He is calling the Corinthians deeper. He is calling the Corinthians to not merely believe Jesus died for them, but to understand that as Christians they have been crucified with Christ.
Stop living on the surface! Stop depending on yourself!
D. A Launch Point, Not an End Point
The cross is the fulfillment of the Gospel, the Good News. But the cross is not an end point, the cross is the launch point.
Rebuilding the Temple Foundation
10 Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord according to the directions of King David of Israel. 11 They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.
Out of exile and captivity, Israel was able to rebuild the foundation of the temple.
And when it was rebuilt, there was weeping and shouting! Great joy!
Out of our exile and captivity to sin, God the Father sent His Son, Jesus, to die in our place, for our sins, so that a spiritual foundation could be laid.
And when any of us comes to Jesus and receives the Holy Spirit, we do so with shouting, and weeping, and joy!
But is that where it ends?
Israel wasn’t weeping because the foundation was laid. Israel was weeping because the foundation meant the Temple could now be built. Israel was weeping because they could go further.
But Israel didn’t and couldn’t accomplish this building by their own strength, and neither can we.
Grow up!
II. Living Independently Will Cause Divisions, But Dependence Brings About Completion (vv. 3b-4)
II. Living Independently Will Cause Divisions, But Dependence Brings About Completion (vv. 3b-4)
A. Mere Men
Paul tells the Corinthians that by the way they are living, he can’t tell the difference between them and non-believers.
They aren’t mere men, or natural men. They have the Spirit. But they aren’t living as one should live with the Spirit.
B. Building More
After Israel built the Temple foundation, they desired to build the Temple, then they desired to build the wall. We read about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
All along the way, Israel experienced intense opposition.
After the foundation of Jesus Christ in your life has been laid, you will experience the most intense opposition from the enemy.
And in every time there was opposition, the people didn’t depend on their own strength. Instead, they turned to God.
If Israel had been living independent of God, none of the work would have been completed.
If Israel had been living independently of God, it would have caused divisions, and jealousy, and strife.
In Nehemiah 2, it tells us that Nehemiah, cupbearer to the king, longed to see the walls around Jerusalem rebuilt.
1 And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Nehemiah’s own strength couldn’t rebuild the wall, but Nehemiah’s dependence upon God led to the wall being built. The king grants his request.
Then Nehemiah 3 is one of those chapters we like to skip over because it’s a list of a bunch of weird names of people who worked on building the wall.
Why is that in there?
Because it was everyone just doing their part. It was everyone playing their role.
When Christians are living fleshly though, the work gets disrupted.
There are Christians in churches who live fleshly, who live selfishly.
The builders of the temple wall could’ve grumbled and complained about the tasks they were assigned.
Why do they get to build the Sheep Gate and I’m stuck building the Dung Gate?
Why do they get to build a gate? I’m just building a piece of the wall!
They get to build a piece of the wall? I’m just left to bring the materials to the builders.
When Christians are focused on how the church is meant to benefit them, it brings about jealousy when we don’t get our way. When we become jealous of others, it brings about strife. When strife is evident in a body of believers it causes division.
Grow up!
III. It’s Not About You, So Serve God and Give Him Glory (vv. 5-7)
III. It’s Not About You, So Serve God and Give Him Glory (vv. 5-7)
A. Servant Mentality, Kingdom Mindset
When Christians grow up and realize that we’re all just tools in the hands of the Master, and He’s the one who ultimately accomplishes anything and everything through us and in us, we cease to live fleshly.
