Sermon Tone Analysis

I Corinthians 3:1-

As we come to chapter 3 in the study of 1 Corinthians this morning, I want to thank you all and Kyle for inviting me to join you all in this journey through 1 Corinthians.

As Kyle may have told you all I not only came to faith under his ministry, but he was the one whom introduced me and my family to verse by verse expositional preaching which God used to put the desire in my heart to be able to expound and explain His Word that others may come to know and grow in Him!

So this morning my goal is to walk through verse 1 - 15 then come back tonight and unpack verses 16-23.

I want to ask you to think back with me for a moment to the beginning of the Scriptures and consider some of the family issues that we see amongst God’s people.

Adam and Eve fell by disobeying God.

Cain killed Abel out of jealousy.

Jacob deceived Esau out of a selfish heart.

Joseph was sold into slavery because of his brothers dislike and disrespect of him.

King David’s own son tried to kill him and take his throne because of his sons wicked heart.

From the beginning of humanity God’s people have has jealousy, strife, and sin in the midst of their own family.

Here in it is no different.

God’s family, His church is being divided and denigrated because of the sinful fleshly living of the people of God.

So what Paul does is remind the Corinthians how they acting, who they actually are, and the foundation on which they must continue to build.

In light of that this morning I want us to see three primary points of application we can learn from chapter three of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

These points of application will by God’s grace reveal to us any sin we need to repent of, any division that may need to be repaired, and how we can avoid damaging the household of God.

The first point I want us to see this morning is as people of God we must,

This morning I want us to see three primary points of application we can learn from chapter three of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

I. Fight the Flesh (1-3)

We ought to especially remember,

A. Don’t Fight Your Family

1 Corinthians 1:3:

Paul begins chapter three reminding the Corinthians who they are in Christ.

They are brothers (and sisters).

They are the family of God.

They have the same Father, they have been adopted into the family of God and are united in Christ.

Understanding the doctrine of adoption ought to unite us more than anything else, understanding that God has chosen each one of us to be his spiritual sons and daughters should humble us, and comfort us at the same time.

As God’s sons and daughters we should recognize that we have been sought out, saved, born again and become sons of God.

In this new birth, in this spiritual adoption we have become spiritual people.

We have been made new creations, sanctified in Christ Jesus by the Spirit of God.

We then ought to begin walking in newness of life putting off the things of the flesh like, Ephesians 5:19

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.

Do some of these things sound a lot like what the church at Corinth had going one?

Was there sexual immorality?

Was there sensuality?

Was there rivalries?

Dissensions?

Divisions?

Drunkenness?

There were some of all these things happening in the Corinthian church.

Now consider the fruit of the Spirit Paul contrast to the fruit of the flesh in .

Do you see the difference.

The fruit of the flesh manifests in selfishness, division, and debauchery.

The fruit of the Spirit manifests in selflessness, sacrifice, and self control.

Paul is writing to the Corinthians that they would fight the flesh, you are living lives controlled by your flesh, they were walking in the flesh not by the Spirit and Paul is saying stop it!

Stop fighting, stop following after men, and stop acting the fool.

You are brother and sisters, therefore quit dividing, repair the division, and fight for one another.

Paul here also differentiates between the two natures.

He says, he could not address you as spiritual people.

What does it then mean to be a spiritual person?

MacArthur explains it this way, “A positionally spiritual person is one with a new heart, indwelt and controlled by the Spirit Holy Spirit.”

Paul then affirms their salvation in calling them brothers, but he also affirms their immaturity in that he could not talk to them as grown ups.

They did not want to learn the deep things of God.

They wanted to continue in the ABC’s but did not want to continue to grow in their knowledge of the will, ways, and works of God.

Therefore, Paul addresses them as people of the flesh.

Instead of being controlled by the Spirit and the Word they continued to walk in the flesh.

Like all of mankind when our flesh is still a reality, the desires of the flesh must be fought against, or as Scripture teaches us we must mortify the flesh, put to death fleshly desires, and put off the flesh.

The flesh is put to death when we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, not by the desires of the flesh and the systems of this world.

Galatians

Galatians 5:18

Ephesians

How then were the Corinthians and us for that matter then to do this?

How are brothers and sisters in Christ to fight the flesh, and be filled, controlled, and set apart by the Spirit.

Paul began Chapter three by calling the Corinthians to fight the flesh.

The second lesson we learn about fighting the flesh is,

B. Don’t Spit Out Solid Food

B. Don’t Spit Out Solid Food

Do you see the picture Paul is painting?

He ends verse 1 with telling the church at Corinth he could not address them as spiritual people but as infants in Christ.

And in verse 2 he writes,

Paul says I still have you on the bottle because you weren’t ready for big boy food.

I have put meaty doctrine on your plate and you refused to eat it.

You desired milk when you should be able to eat meat.

Therefore, here we are again talking about the same things over and over again.

In other words, the Corinthians wanted shallow preaching and teaching that allowed them to live how they wanted to satisfy their own carnal desires without confronting them with conviction.

You could think about it this way, they wanted to hear the gospel and the benefits of salvation, but:

They did not want to hear the gospel call to submission.

Submission to Christ, Submission to the Word of Christ, Submission to the under shepherds of Christ.

They did not want to hear the gospel call to separation.

(Sin, World, Flesh)

They did not want to hear the gospel call to sanctification.

(Set apart, consecrated, made holy)

They did not want to hear the gospel call to purification.

(Being cleansed from all unrighteousness, washed by the water of the Word)

Instead,

You are fussing about who you follow, when you ought to be calling out to God for wisdom.

You are dividing over foolishness when you are forgetting who you are in Christ Jesus.

You are stunted in your growth because you are spiritually discerned.

Listen to what the author of Hebrews says,

Here is the question, Do you think this goes on in our local churches today?

Let me give you some examples of things I have heard and seen.

“Expositional preaching is my least favorite kind of preaching.”

“I just can’t understand what they Pastors are talking about, I feel like they are trying to have a big word contest.”

The steeple removed because we don’t want to look like a church?

Charles Spurgeon wrote,

What a good thing it is to have spiritual hunger and thirst!

When people are not hungry, you may set a fine meal before them but they will turn up their noses at it.

But let a man come fresh from the field hungry, down he sits, no matter how rough the fare.

He only wants it to be sweet, wholesome, and nutritious, and he cuts huge slices for himself, and feeds to the full.

Give me a congregation of hungry hearers, with eyes that seldom turn from the preacher, and with ears that catch every word!