Planting 2.0. I Corinthians 3:5-22: Who Grows the Church

: Who Grows the Church?

Corinthians church is struggling with factionalism.

They piece together the foundation

Remedy: “You belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”

Glamorizing (or demeaning) ministers.

“Corinthians are acting like ‘mere human beings’ and ‘conforming to the pattern of this world.’ (). Pillar Commentary

Main points:

Christian leaders are servants, so don’t worship them over God.

God holds leaders accountable for how they build the church.

Paul planted

Apollos watered

Both of them are mere servants- deacons!

Who would brag about following the butler?

Imagery of visiting a mansion with maids, cooks, and bulters.

Lebron James’ bulter follows me on twitter!

I know the maid.

I know the maid.

God has to make it grow.

How? Prayer?

Not through coercion.

Not by technique.

Not scaring the hell out of people.

God grows it!

As mere servants of Christ, Christians leaders must not be accorded an allegiant appropriate to God alone.

Exclusive loyalty to leaders is dangerous.

Verse 8: All leaders share the same (low) status.

Verse 9: We are God’s field, God’s building.

We are the a garden and a building… See instructions for how to construct the Temple.

God holds Christian leaders accountable for how they build.

Build carefully!

Gold, silver, costly stones: Temple imagery

See for garden imagery

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians b. The Corinthians Are God’s Building (3:10–15)

Furthermore, the description of Solomon’s temple combined precious metals with botanical features like wood-carved “gourds and open flowers” (1 Kgs. 6:18), “palm trees” (1 Kgs. 6:29, 32), “pomegranates” (1 Kgs. 7:18–20), “a lily design” (1 Kgs. 7:22), rows of “gourds” (1 Kgs. 7:24–26, 42), and lampstands resembling a grove of trees with blossoms (1 Kgs. 7:49–50). Significantly, later Judaism spoke of Solomon’s temple as a “field” (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan 7:27; Pesiqta Rabbati Piska 39).

Temple Description in I Kings:

English Standard Version Chapter 6

18 The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

29 Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. 30 The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

32 He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

18 Likewise he made pomegranates in two rows around the one latticework

English Standard Version Chapter 7

22 And on the tops of the pillars was lily-work.

The New International Version Chapter 7

24 Below the rim, gourds encircled it

Summary: Verses 5-8:

“God is depicted as the owner of the field and as the life-force who makes things grow.” Pillar: Roy E.Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner

Question: Whose are you?

God own the field and makes it productive.

Summary: 10-15:

God is less prominent.

Building with care.

Fire is a purification process. Solid foundation or weak foundation.

God own the building and inspects the quality of the work of each builder.

Herod’s Temple: 10s of thousands of workers over 70 years.

Carson: “It is the project as a whole that is important, and implicitly, it is foolish to focus all praise on just one of the builders who has contributed.”

Paul is the planter and the one who lays the foundation.

How? Preaching Christ and him crucified!

Lit. vs. 10: “each one should watch out how they build.”

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians b. The Corinthians Are God’s Building (3:10–15)

Paul’s point is simply that some endure in fire (gold, silver, costly stones), while others are consumed (wood, hay, straw). If the former are worthy of the foundation, the latter are not.

Gold, silver, precious stones: :

English Standard Version Chapter 29

2 So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble.

Build with the right material:

Did not preach with elequence

Preaching Christ and him crucified (2:2). Read the first 3 chapters about the cross.

Preaching Christ and him crucified (2:2). Read the first 3 chapters about the cross.

“The work of Christian leaders will be shown for what it is.” Pillar

“The work of Christian leaders will be shown for what it is.” Pillar

What will be burned up are the parts of the church that were built up with human wisdom.

You can build with shoddy material- human wisdom material…

What is human wisdom material?

BUT, to destroy the temple is an entirely different matter.

Leaders are Just Servants

God gave the blue print for how to build the Temple.

Re-Places Eden.

Purpose of the Temple was for God to dwell with His people

God Builds His Church

Foundation is Jesus

Leaders

The Truth of a Mixed Metaphor

We could stand here and talk until the cows turn blue.

I wouldn’t eat that with a ten-foot pole.

I can read him like the back of my book.

The Church: God’s Fieldly Building

You are God’s Fieldly Building

Paul combines two Metaphors:

Field:

Paul planted

Apollos watered

One who plants or waters have one purpose: What is that purpose?

Are “ONE”, not “have one purpose”. One team.

Building of People

:

Building of People

Building of People

Building vs. 10

“I laid a foundation”

Apollos: “Someone else is building it.”

Foundation

Foundation

Christ and him Crucified:

This is our gold foundation

Grassy Walls

The Temple as a Mixed Metaphor

Old Testament

Paul combines two Metaphors:

Field:

Paul planted

Apollos watered

One who plants or waters have one purpose: What is that purpose?

Are “ONE”, not “have one purpose”. One team.

Building

New Testament:

Foundation

Christ and him Crucified:

This is our gold foundation

Grassy Walls

Old Testament

Temple was one huge mixed metaphor.

Temple=Eden, Re-Places Eden.

Foundation and Fruit

Purpose: God with Us

God gave the blue print for how to build the Temple.

God Builds the Church

Purpose of the Temple was for God to dwell with His people

God gave the blue print for how to build the Temple.

Re-Places Eden.

Why is this so important?

Foundation

Purpose of the Temple was for God to dwell with His people

We need to understand what it means to be a Temple!

Living, breathing, active thing

: Living Sacrifice

: Holy and Royal Priesthood

: Building grows with people!

Not only what we put in, but also what we put out.

Christ and him Crucified:

Also, impact how we understand the church! It’s not a ‘you’ are a Temple, it’s also “Y’all are a temple”

This is our gold foundation

How God built the first Temple is the blueprint to how he builds the church!

He directs it. HE BUILDS IT!

Grassy Walls

Field

So How Does God Build His Church?

As builders, we are co-workers in God’s service as a people!

Co-Workers

: It’s all grace, but we still need to work out our salvation!

: It’s all grace, but we still need to work out our salvation!

: We are that mouthpiece.

Verse 10: “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder.” Apollos is building on it.

We are all Deacons

Paul the Planter

Apollos the Speaker

Who would brag about following the butler?

Who would brag about following the butler?

Imagery of visiting a mansion with maids, cooks, and bulters.

Imagery of visiting a mansion with maids, cooks, and bulters.

Who would brag about following the butler?

Lebron James’ bulter follows me on twitter!

I know the maid.

Imagery of visiting a mansion with maids, cooks, and bulters.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians a. The Corinthians Are God’s Cultivated Field, 3:5–9

There can hardly be any space for “rivalry, competition or ranking” between and among ministers, for they share the same (low) status.

Lebron James’ bulter follows me on twitter!

I know the maid.

Caution: Built with Care

Caution: Built with Care

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians a. The Corinthians Are God’s Cultivated Field, 3:5–9

There can hardly be any space for “rivalry, competition or ranking” between and among ministers, for they share the same (low) status.

Caution: Built with Care

Demon Deacons

Who would brag about following the butler?

Imagery of visiting a mansion with maids, cooks, and bulters.

Don’t depend on the planter/speaker/leader.

Lebron James’ bulter follows me on twitter!

I know the maid.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The First Letter to the Corinthians a. The Corinthians Are God’s Cultivated Field, 3:5–9

There can hardly be any space for “rivalry, competition or ranking” between and among ministers, for they share the same (low) status.

Don’t depend on the planter/speaker/leader.

Testing will come and we want to make sure we built on the right foundation, not a burnable one.

Some leaders are fooling people. They’ll be exposed. Some are being exposed right now… #metoo.

God builds, but that doesn’t take us off the hook

Servants and co-workers

Building with Human Wisdom

Build on gold, not grass!

Technique: Evangelism techniques

Jesus is the Temple of God

When he died, Temple curtain ripped in two.

The New International Version Chapter 3

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.