835 1 Cor.3.1-9 The Path to Maturity
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- Aesop was famous for his allegories & he has one that fits the purpose of this today’s passage quite well
The Path to Maturity
The Path to Maturity
Date: 09-06-19 835 Echuca
- Aesop was famous for his allegories & he has one that fits the purpose of this today’s passage quite well
THE WOODCUTTER cut down a Mountain Oak and split it in pieces, making wooden wedges from its own branches so to divide the trunk of the tree. The Oak said with a sigh, "I do not care about the blows of the axe aimed at my roots, but I do grieve at being torn in pieces by these wedges that are made from my own branches." (Aesop)
- In this allegory, it’s one thing to be attacked by outsiders, it is quite another thing to be attacked by the one’s most dear to you – in this case, the trees own branches
- It’s usually unexpected & hurts far more, when it comes from the ones who you would call your own
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- The church is a family & even though we are not all blood relations, our family ties come from being together in Christ
- We know that not all families are harmonious – we wish they were, but people being people, we don’t always do & say the right thing
- The same is true in the church – we are people who are beset with weaknesses & hurts
- Some of those hurts are deep-seated & impact how we live & how we interact with others
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- We need to confess & acknowledge that we haven’t always behaved in the best way, in how we have dealt with disagreements or concerns that people have had
- We are human & we have this baggage of hurts, we carry
- However, we are also Christian
- We also have the Spirit of God living in us
- We have it all – the promises of God, the provisions of God & the possessions of God – as Paul makes so clear in the last verses of chp. 3, we have the best future anyone could ever wish for
21 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.
—21 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.
- So today, we are looking at a passage which will help us evaluate the reality of who we are in Christ & help us to start judging the mechanisms the church is using in it’s personal relationships
- The church at Corinth is a divided church – they are one church in name, but are behaving like they don’t really care for one another
Q. What are the reasons for these divisions & what can be done to put them away?
1. The Cause of Divisions
1. The Cause of Divisions
- This church has a major problem & we addressed that last week
- The church had immersed itself in the wisdom that comes from the world – Paul calls the “wisdom of this age”
- I don’t know how they didn’t put 2 & 2 together & come up with 4, but consider this for a moment
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- Fancy buying into the “wisdom of this age” that says the cross is foolishness & then expect that they would still live in a way that is consistent with the cross of Christ
- On the one hand, they choose to listen to teaching that denigrates the cross of Christ & on the other hand, they are wondering why there is the behaviour “of this age” in their church
- But the church still does it today & it stems, mostly, from wanting to look good to the world – to find acceptance in the world
- For example, Christians baptise secular psychology as if it’s absolute truth
- Yet, many of the tenants of psychology have their origins in a secular, God-rejecting foundation – that is the wisdom of this age
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- When Sigmund Freud started his practice, he started from the basis that the concepts of sin itself was the problem for people – for Freud, it’s believing & thinking that sin was real - that IS the problem
- The church & its teaching is the problem!
- So he gave a complete secular basis for why he thought people had “mental” or “emotional” issues
- You would be hard-pressed today to find any psychology that takes into account the committing of “sin” as a person’s issue
- Even Christians, who are psychologists, have been turned away from the truth because they have been working with a foundation that has, in fact, stemmed from the wisdom of this age
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- The humanities departments of the universities are huge sources of the wisdom of this age as defined by Paul
- They are places where the likes of gender theory emerge, where one day you’re a male & the next, you’re a female or even another invented identity, other than the two we have always known to be true
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- Now there is wisdom in the world that can be harmless & even beneficial, but these Christians in Corinth wanted so much to fit in with their world, that they were ready & willing to sacrifice their thinking of the cross & all it meant, in order to acquiesce (ak-wee-es) to the world
- The wisdom of this age became THE problem for this church
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Q. If you denigrate the cross of Christ & it’s salvation from sin, what impact will it have on believers?
- Firstly, let’s look at what the cross symbolised
1. The cross symbolised loving surrender to God’s will even if it costs you your life
2. The cross embraces suffering when it is for the good of others
3. The cross demolishes pride in man
4. The cross went in the opposite direction from the cherished goals of man – victory, success & the notion that “might is right”!
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- Putting the contrasting picture together, what do you have?
- If the cross symbolised loving surrender to God’s will even if it costs you – in the case for Jesus, His life, the opposite is that you you ignore God’s will if it becomes too costly
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- If the cross embraces suffering for the good of others – in that Jesus in His death was dying for your sin & my sin (certainly not His own), then the opposite of that is in not suffering for the good of others
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- If the cross demolishes pride in that one must surrender to Christ to receive His salvation, the opposite of that is trust in human achievement, human endeavors & human abilities
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- If the cross speaks of shame, weakness, humiliation, failure, suffering
- The opposite of that is the desire for victory, success & that “might is right”
- In other words, the wisdom of this age says that if you want it, you will have to take it, even by force
- If you want it, might is right, may the best man win (dog eat dog)
- This is what happens when the model of the cross is set aside for the wisdom of this age
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- The second obstacle Christians face is the flesh
- The Corinthian Church are infants, babes in Christ
- The apostle could not address them as “spiritual”, but only as men of the flesh – what does that mean?
- “Spiritual” means those who have the Spirit; those who are walking in the Spirit & led by the Spirit
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- Men of “flesh” has some interesting connotations
- Those of the flesh are those without the Holy Spirit of God
- They are unspiritual in the way they are living
- Obviously, the Corinthians are Christians & do have the Holy Spirit, but Paul is saying that, in their current condition, he cannot address them as people of the Spirit
- They don’t live like people who have the Spirit, in fact, they live like the people of this age – “the natural man” - the people who are perishing
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- Christians who are being led by the Spirit live in a way different from the people of this age
- Now there are wonderful people out there in the world & not all live badly, but most do
- They do not exhibit the cross life, nor give any “fruit” to God
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
—17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- Christian maturity is not related to class [lower, middle, or upper], it's not related to intelligence or age - it relates to behaviour!
- It's not social, mental, or physical – it's about living in the Spirit
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- The evidence of maturity in the Christian church is the fruit of the Spirit
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.
—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.
- These fruits, you will note, are consistent with the cross life – with the cross of Christ
- In abandoning the offence of the cross, the Corinthians have abandoned what the cross stood for
- There is no doubt, then, why they are living in the flesh, rather than in the Spirit
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- Another trait of infancy, is the inability to eat “solid food”
—2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,
2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,
- That’s not a neutral observation, that’s an indictment
- They should be on to solid food, but the fact that they cannot handle it is a travesty
- Could it be that some people like to stay INFANTS
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- Staying an infant means that a person’s lifestyle choices are never threatened or challenged
- Staying an infant means never having to deal with a passage like this
- If the preacher stays shallow or ignores hard sayings, the congregation will never grow up & fleshly principles – the wisdom of this age – will continue to dominate the church
- And if challenges & stretching doesn’t occur, we all remain babes
2. Do Not Trust in the “Flesh”
2. Do Not Trust in the “Flesh”
Q. How do we counter this problem?
- It is easy to say, “do not trust in the flesh”, but often we still do
- We elevate some preachers above others & sure, we are going to have our favourites
- But this church at Corinth were arguing for one against another
- They were – should I say it – becoming “denominational”
- Haven’t we done that over the two thousand years of church history?
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- I think it is fair to say that their has been some terrible heresy in the church & so I can understand why some churches have splintered
- However, we need to admit to the fragmenting of the church as a bad thing, regrettable & sad
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- What is happening here is that the Corinthians have baptised the wisdom of this age & crowned it with “papal” power
- The wisdom of this age relies or trusts in the “flesh”
- You don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but you can judge the level of Christian maturity, by the way they behave
- Someone has called it “fruit inspection”
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- The proof is in their jealousy of one another & the strife that exists
- The apostle says that the evidence of their fleshliness is that they are “walking like mere men”
- They are becoming disciples of men & their “schools” of worldly thinking – the wisdom of this age
- It was a brag fest – how is this fella over against the other
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- It was not over how good they were at expounding the Scriptures, but how good they were in applying the wisdom of this age to Christian thinking & doing
- You could easily parallel this to that sporting code of soccer
- We have seen some of the ferocity of ethnic rivalry in soccer
- The competition & pride over their sport of soccer mirrors well what is happening in the church at Corinth
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- The ridiculous nature of this ethnic rivalry over the sport of soccer is that it is just a game
- No more & no less – all that is gained from the win is pride & nothing more
Q. How sad, but this is the wisdom of the age & it opposes in so many ways, the cross of Christ
—21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
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- The flesh can be a trap to people who have lived in it all their lives
- We tend to want to rely on “flesh” or “fleshly ways” to achieve that which is good for God
- That can be a trap
- Manipulation, telling untruths or white lies & gossiping are ways in which the “wisdom of this age” plays out
- A good guide in avoiding things such as these is to ask yourself the question: would I like this said or done to me, behind my back?
- That is always a good help when we are talking about someone else
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- Now please do not get confused over this subject
- Sometimes we may say something like - “we need to do such & such in God’s strength, not our own”
Q. Ok, what does that look like?
Q. How do you distinguish the two?
Q. How do you determine whether it’s God’s strength or your own?
- Can I suggest that we should be looking at this differently
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- We should be looking at this as doing things God’s way rather than man’s way – that is the point
- The point is not to try & distinguish between your energy & God’s
- That is not only impossible, but it is wrong
- Take, for example, the apostle Paul’s life before he was a Christian & after he was a Christian
- He was using his energy in both
- However, one was going against God’s will & the other was for God’s will
—29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
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- His motivation & energy is now set in another direction – he was going God’s way & that is the great difference
- You can labour in the yard, pulling out weeds; you can work in any job to earn a living; you can come & clean the church, you can preach God’s word
- This labour is all God powered labour when we are in His will
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- However, if we chose to pursue the wisdom of this age in it’s tenants & practises, then Paul would say that such labour is in the flesh
- A clear example is to the Galatians - the apostle Paul asked
—2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Q. To be holy in practise, are they going to rely on Law, or the Spirit of God?
- You see, if comes down to the choices you make
- You still have to labour & God works through us in our labours, but the labours of the flesh & the labours of the Spirit have to do with where we put our labours
Q. Does it reflect the cross of Christ & the Spirit’s leading, or does it reflect the wisdom of this age?
3. Seeing the Church Leadership/Ministers as a Team
3. Seeing the Church Leadership/Ministers as a Team
- I’m fascinated by the rivalry in the footy codes
- This week, Qld got over NSW in the State of Origin &, coming from Qld, I am glad of that
- I like watching Richmond in the AFL & I know many of you have your own favourite team
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Q. What makes a winning team?
- New clubs have had beneficial draft picks so they can quickly gain momentum & membership
Q. But have those plethora of high draft picks made them automatic winners?
- I remember when Carlton had a row of high draft picks & they never managed to take home a premiership from it
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- It obviously means that something more is in play when it comes to winning the flag
- There must be a good team mentality; organisation; financial viability; not only a skilled coach, but good selection staff & assistant coaches
- You cannot single out one area that you can say will guarantee you the flag
- It is a team effort where each person plays their part & together, they become an effective team
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- This principle also holds true with the church
- One person cannot achieve the work of God in the church
- One person cannot minister to everyone
- God has created the church & it is a plurality of servants
- We are all part of team “church” & we all have a role to play in the work of God in the church
- That role may be limited & certainly different from one another, but you will find someway to be involved if you want to be a team player
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- The problem for the church at Corinth is that instead of being on the same team, they were joining opposition sides & competing against each other rather than supporting each other
- Imagine Richmond playing Collingwood & half the Richmond team are sleepers for Collingwood
- So they actually help Collingwood in their game against the Richmond Tigers – that is what you have here in this church
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- The apostle clarifies the attitudes we should have to the various people the Lord uses in the church
5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
—5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
- These men are on the same side – doing different things & having different roles – but on the same side
- Furthermore, it was not them per se that was causing the growth in the church, it was God
- People have different roles & different contributions, but none of them or us have the ability to cause growth in the church – only God!
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- If an artist is to be honoured, you don't make a statue of his brush or the palette which holds the paint
- They are merely the instruments he uses to do his work – you make a statue of the artist
- It makes no sense, then, to idolise the instruments of Jesus – His servants & workers – rather, we note them & appreciate them as the instruments of God’s work
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- Let us also remember that the pathway to maturity is in the trust we place in Christian truth – in the cross & resurrection of Christ & in the work of the Holy Spirit of God
- We do not trust in the pathways of the world – “the wisdom of this age” - that wisdom will only lead us to division & strife