The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 8: 1 Corinthians 3: 5 - 23; God's Grace: "Amazing" or "A Maze" Part 2

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 8; 1 Corinthians 3:5-23 “God’s Grace: Amazing? Or A Maze”, Part 2 Have you found your way out of the maze and into the sunlight of God’s amazing grace? Or are you stuck in the dead end of the maze of misunderstandings and misapplications of God’s truth? Remember how last week we talked about the carnal Christian heresy—that a person could say he or she is a Christian but live his or her life as though he or she was not a follower of Jesus. A simple acknowledgement of this guy Jesus who loved them and died for their sins is enough. Those who hold to the carnal Christian heresy say, “even if a person believed for a microsecond it does not matter—that person is on his or her way to heaven.” After all, Paul did say in Romans 11:32 that God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. “It’s the exaltation of God’s mercy that’s at the heart of all this” is what they say. But true Christians know there is a lot more to salvation than the mercy of God, though that is a fantastic thing! Though there is a lot we can say about this, before we go on, let me remind us of the only description of God that is proclaimed 3 times in rapid fire succession. In Isaiah’s vision of the Lord, high and lifted up he continually hears the entire heavenly host call out with deafening power: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” Holiness! Glory! Is what it is all about—even salvation. It is for the glory of God in all its facets, not just the mercy facet. So, today we are going to talk about 3 more dead ends in our spiritual maze. Three dead ends that prevent us from walking in the amazing grace of the Lord. The dead ends that so many have become stuck in because of misunderstandings and misapplications of God’s word. Today, we are going to look at the priority of individualism, the fear factor of how God’s word is used to keep people from harming themselves, for their own good you know. And the third dead end is the false assurance that natural people often have, just because they attend church. As I mentioned last week, these 4 things have come from just this chapter, 1 Corinthians 3 alone. Four major dead ends that have distracted and robbed God’s people and even those who would become God’s people of the power and truth of what God has communicated. My prayer is that we have taken God’s word to heart from last week’s message and have thrown away the carnal Christian heresy into the dustbin of false teaching forever. And today, that we would hear and apply God’s word correctly, so that we can walk in the freely given grace of God in Christ Jesus—the only source of freedom, the foundation upon which his amazing grace is placed. So, let’s get started with the second dead end in our maze: the priority of individualism. To say that we live in a self-absorbed culture is a vast understatement. And tragically, not only has individualism infected the church, it has become the standard by which churches operate. Let me give you just one example of how this is being played out. In May, the United Methodist denomination will formally split into factions over the issue of homosexuality. The split is declared to be one of “irreconcilable differences” over individuality v. Scriptural authority. And did I tell you that United Methodist is the second largest denomination, right behind the Southern Baptists—who have their own problems, by the way? So, as we can see, we are in desperate need of doing away with individualism in the church. Tragically, this blight has been with us since the beginning. As we will see in 1 Corinthians 3:5-15, this issue cuts two ways. First, by a misunderstanding and then a misapplication of this passage to our lives. 1 Corinthians 3:5-15: What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Let me walk us through vv.5-the first part of 9. Who is Paul primarily talking about? Church leadership: specifically here about Paul and Apollos, but the leaders in the church in general. It is those who plant and water, to use the analogy that Paul used. And Paul is going to explain more about that in the following verses. He is even going to use not 1, not 2, but 3 different word pictures, just so the Corinthians, and we by extension would not miss it. We have settled the who of the passage. Now let’s look at the how: How does Paul describe the leadership of the Corinthian church? Servants. Fellow workers. Laboring in the roles the Lord sovereignly placed them. Here Paul reminds the Corinthians of the true nature of the leaders. They are servants, not rock stars. They are farmers working in a field--back breaking labor, and as Paul will describe themselves a little farther on, they are the construction crew of a building—engaging in dangerous, heavy lifting kind of work. Not glamorous in the least. Paul either informed or reminded the Corinthian church that leadership was not full of star power. No, leadership in the church was, and is, one of washing feet, and serving dinner. One writer put it this way: The attention of the Corinthians should be on God who is behind all spiritual growth rather than on the instruments he uses. But it’s not as though the servant leaders toil for nothing. We see in v.8 that each leader will receive his wages according to how he worked the field. Again, church leaders are “God’s fellow workers.” Remember how the Corinthian church saw the leaders—exalted on a high pedestal. But Paul deliberately took them off the pedestal by calling them servants and farmers. Now Paul pivots and describes the Corinthian church. He uses 2 word pictures, 2 metaphors here. Look at the second part of v.9: “You are God’s field.” “You are God’s building.” Let me give you 2 things that we must keep in mind as we go through the next few verses. First is “you”: it is not singular: it is “y’all.” Everyplace “you” is mentioned here--it is “y’all”--Paul was from the south, you know! And secondly, Paul is going to unpack what he just mentioned here: the wages of the leaders--God’s farmers. God’s construction crew. The human builders of God’s church. In vv.10-15, let’s see what Paul is communicating to the Corinthian believers about their leaders. First, God gave Paul the grace to lay the foundation of the church in Corinth--he came to town about 3.5 years before he wrote this letter and preached “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” People came to Christ and the foundation of the church was laid. Now these new believers needed training--they needed to be built up. This was accomplished by those who built on the foundation Paul laid. In other words, leaders needed to disciple the new Christians. No doubt, Paul had in mind the words of Jesus as Matthew recorded them in Matt 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Let’s be reminded of the purpose for the local assembly. Jesus gave the local church 1 command: to make disciples. But there are 2 assumptions. First, evangelism was, and is a priority. As Christians meet together at the appointed times to worship and fellowship, we get encouraged to be the witnesses in our world, praying that the Lord will give us opportunities to give the gospel to those who so desperately need him. As people hear “Jesus Christ and him crucified”, and of God’s eternal love for them and hatred for sin, the Lord will be pleased to save some. As non-Christians become born again by the Spirit of God, they are then not only brought into the body of Christ, they can be brought to Grace United. And the discipleship process can begin. The other assumption is that corporately, Christians are to show their discipleship of Jesus by living together in love and unity. By placing a priority on the brothers and sisters in the local assembly. After all, is that not what the Lord did? He spoke to the masses. He ministered to those in need. But he committed himself to a few. We are to do the same. Let’s be about scattering the gospel seed, and pouring our lives into the brothers and sisters God sovereignly puts in our path here at Grace United. This is something we all are to do. But in the church, the leadership is what leads the way in this. So, again, who were the builders of the Corinthian believers? The leaders. The disciplers of the church in Corinth. This is what Paul means when he says in v.10: Someone else is building on the foundation that Paul laid, which is Christ. Then notice how Paul addresses the leaders: “Let each, as in leaders, be careful how he builds.” They are to build Christians up, making sure each member stands firmly upon Christ. And with Paul, there were 2 ways the builders could do that. The leaders had a choice, as it were, of which kind of material they could use: material that will stand the heat of the Lord’s evaluation on the day when he judges their work, or the kind that won’t. Of course, the materials that stand the heat are more costly, more precious and require a lot more investment by these leaders. No shortcuts. Not compromise with the truth. No weakening of the foundation. Not popular with those looking for cheap thrills or merely a good feeling or to merely look good, like on a set during the making of a movie. What are the specifics of these costly materials? Gold, silver, precious stones. The things that belong to Jesus Christ and him crucified: who he is and what he did. So, who is Jesus? Lord. Savior. the Holy One. King of kings and Lord of lords. The one who possesses the right to direct his people. He is the one who received from the Father all the nations for his inheritance. The one exalted to the right hand of the Father after his death, resurrection and ascension. Jesus is the soon coming king. He will sit on David’s throne. He is called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Things that pertain to him and the truth are costly. These kinds of things alone will pass muster with the Evaluator in Chief when it’s examination time. On the other hand, the materials that won’t stand the heat are easy to use, malleable, pliable, quick to construct. Things that people of the world would recognize as valuable. Like cubic zirconium which passes for diamonds. Like those who pawn that off onto their intended as a real rock when they take a knee and ask for her hand. Then she finds out that the rock is fake! Don’t want to be there when that happens! In the case of the materials Paul called “wood, hay and stubble”, these things included human wisdom as the go-to method to “help” the people. Remember how that went: they were very good at performing. Using words and emotions to move the crowd. Sacrificing truth for emotion is what people wanted to hear--sort of sounds like today--truly nothing has changed. Then, as now, people would much rather be entertained than built up in eternal matters. A few years after Paul wrote the Corinthian correspondence, he warned the leaders in Ephesus about false leaders--the kind that have always sought to gain an entrance into the true church of Jesus. Here’s what he told them just a short time before he was arrested for his witness for the Lord in Jerusalem of all places: Acts 20:28-30: Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. In the last letter Paul wrote to his beloved brother Timothy right before he literally lost his head for the sake of the gospel, he warned him that people would not endure sound doctrine but gather to themselves teachers because they had itching ears. The point is that false teaching is quick, easy, cheap. And it destroys souls. But there were then and there are now, many who would rather take shortcuts and pretend the job is done--and collect the accolades. But this is not God’s way. And on evaluation day, all who were leaders in God’s church will stand before the Lord and give an account. And this is what Paul is speaking of in vv.11-15. The Lord will put the heat to the contributions of the leaders of the church and the quality of their work will be evident. I think of churches that are built today, all 27 million of them world-wide. Many churches are using godly materials: The word of God. Prayer. Emphasize true fellowship. Evangelism. Discipleship. Church discipline. As the people in the church are being built up, what happens? The people are then equipped to give a good witness to the world. They can survive and even thrive in life’s challenges. When persecution comes, they can withstand it. Because they love the Lord, they grow in their being like Jesus, which is the idea. And when it is all said and done, church leaders who took on the privilege and responsibility will see their work evaluated on that Day. But what will these rewards be like? Paul explains what will survive the heat in a fascinating way—and I would say, a way that we normally don’t think about. Paul wrote this to his beloved Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20: For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy. The Thessalonian Christians were built with gold, silver and precious stones. And Paul had every confidence that it was the Thessalonians who were the Lord’s reward to be given to Paul on Eval Day! On the other hand, how many churches are built with wood, hay and stubble? How many church leaders are building something that will produce nothing in the lives of those in their churches? The most notorious thing that has been plaguing the church for the past 60 years or more has been the so-called seeker sensitive church. Built on marketing techniques, it is numbers driven, achieving a “standard of excellence,” whatever that means--and many employ the model--”if you build it they will come.” And build it, they did. Prosperity gospel is another kind of church built with wood, hay and stubble. Other leaders are building a church for their own benefit. One church leader declared that his desire from the get-go was to have the largest church in the country. Definitely wood, hay and stubble. And what kind of people are these leaders building? Weak Christians--if they are Christians at all. Following the culture. Afraid of sharing their faith, because, after all, we don’t want to turn people off. “We need to be known more for what we are for than what we are against.” “Since Jesus’ love is a radical love, that means we radically accept everybody, too.” The bottom line here is that the Lord Jesus will hold the leaders of the local churches accountable. And for Grace United, I can’t tell you how profound of a thing this is for me. I know my shortcomings. And I know that Jesus knows them as well. So please pray for me. And those of us who have been around awhile know the acronym CAT. Not be confused with so-called cat and dog theology. Of course it is the Church Advisory Team. We can liken this to the deacon or elder board in a typical church. But of course, we are not a typical church so we have a CAT! But the CAT is where decisions are made for Grace United. They hold me accountable. And I will tell you, I could not lead without these brothers and sisters. The majority of them have been with me, encouraging and advising and even at times admonishing me from even before Grace United was Grace United. I love these guys! I could not do what I do without them. It is also no secret that brother Greg is my right hand man. The Lord has endowed him with great wisdom in the things of the Lord and skill in delivering the word--and in many ways I want to be like him when I grow up! So, I know I embarrassed the CAT, but that’s OK. CAT, now is the part when you say, “Thank you! Praise the Lord.” But I say this by way of a very strong appeal to you: please pray for us! That the Lord would glorify himself every time we meet. And let me say this as well. There is room on the CAT for anybody who is willing to become a ministry area team leader. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, talk to me and I will let you know how things are. And let me make a shameless plug for church membership--and attending the membership class. Attending a membership class does not obligate you to be a member. But it does let you know how Grace United ticks. So, if you are interested, let me know, either by the tear out tab in your bulletin or talking to me personally. So for this second dead end in our maze: 1 Corinthians 3:5-15, interpreted correctly does away with individualism. What I mean is that we cannot interpret this in an individualistic way. These verses are to be understood and applied to church leadership--even vv.11-15 about building on the foundation with the building materials Paul mentioned. Again, this is for church leaders. But lest you think that persons not in a leadership position are off the hook, think again! The writer, who I believe is Apollos gives the reader 2 commands in Hebrews 13:17:Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. And in 2 Corinthians 5:10 Paul tells us that not only leaders but all of us will stand before the Lord to give an account on Eval Day: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. In light of 2 Corinthians 5:10, let me make a brief point. Paul’s vision was eternity. He had the Day of the Lord stamped on the eyes of his heart. It’s been said that we can be so heavenly minded we are no earthly good. Well, I don’t know about you but it seemed that Paul was that way. He was spoiled for the things of this life. Heavenly mindedness was exactly what drove him to be the kind of man he was and to do the things this man of God did, with the passion that he did those things with. Would to God that we would all be so heavenly minded that we become no earthly good. The apostle John reminds us in 1 John 2:17 that the things of this world are passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. So why would I want to be “good” for that?! Here then is the end of our discussion of the second dead end in our maze: Individualism has no part in the life of the church, either the leaders trying to build the church of Jesus their own way, or those who are part of the church but not in the limelight, which includes just about all of us. We don’t boast in men, putting people on pedestals. We don’t adopt the attitude that we don’t need one another. Our focus is to be on the our relationship with one another in the church, for this is what Jesus is building. We are to place a priority on love and unity here. God has placed each of us here by his sovereignty. And personally, I think we are doing fairly well! Can we improve in living together in love and unity? Absolutely! But let’s be about the business of the Kingdom of God here at Grace United. We’ve seen 2 dead ends in our maze that we have substituted for God’s amazing grace: so-called carnal Christian teaching and individualism are not what we need to be about. Indeed, the song with the lyrics recorded in the 1950’s: “every promise in the book is mine, every chapter, every verse and every line” is simply not true. Let’s do away with this individualism stuff! Let’s now look at a 3rd dead end: A misunderstanding and misapplication of 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. So what is Paul saying here? In brief, the apostle was giving a very serious warning--God will destroy the individual who destroys God’s temple. Let’s crack the code by looking at what Paul means by temple and what it means when he says that God will destroy the one who destroys it. It seems pretty obvious of what Paul means by Temple. Just like the other descriptions he used for the church: field and building, now he is describing God’s people, together, as a temple. A holy place where the Lord lives. Whether Jew or gentile, everybody understood the idea of a temple. And by way of a reminder: “you” in these verses is “y’all”--it plural, not singular. And this understanding will prove to be very helpful when we talk about the misuse of this passage, even those with good intentions, who try to protect others by its misapplication. So, what does Paul mean when he says, “whoever destroys God’s temple?” In context it is the deliberate activity of people driving wedges in the unity of the church. Remember, the problem Paul dealt with from the get-go has been disunity. I am fully convinced that Paul was thinking of a certain passage when he wrote 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, and that is Proverbs 6:16-19: There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. The way in which Solomon put this proverb together, he is emphasizing the last thing on the list as the one which is most important. In this case it is the worst abomination on the list. The thing the Lord hates most of all in this passage: one who sows discord among brothers. These are not my words, but God’s words. Did you catch it? God hates the one who creates disunity. And to let you in on a little secret, we really don’t want to put ourselves in a position where God hates us because we have been pushing disunity. Notice again what God hates: “the one who sows discord among brothers.” Though it is true God hates the action, it is also true of the one through the action is done. I don’t think we can miss the warning--how dangerous it is when people try to mess up what Jesus is building. And here is the heart of the matter. There were those who were using human wisdom to promote church leaders. These were persuasive people. The leaders of the Apollos band, or the Paul band or the Cephas band or mystical Christite bands were pitting one against another. The most persuasive, most passionate presentations using human wisdom actually served to create divisions and sow discord among the family of God. And in no uncertain terms Paul said, “stop it immediately if not sooner”. “God has you in is crosshairs.” “He is about ready to destroy you, but you have time to turn around. Repent.” Now that is a warning that must be heeded. And a few years after Paul wrote this letter, he penned the letter to the Ephesians. In Ephesians 4:3 we read these great words: we need to be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Now it would be wonderful if we would all be on the same sheet and we moved on to the next part of this chapter. Tragically, like the false teaching called the carnal Christian, these verses have a misunderstanding and therefore a horrendous misapplication. And it is based on a misunderstanding of one word: “you”. Remember how I said the “you’s” here have a southern emphasis--as in “y’all”? But some misunderstand these verses by reading you as singular--that “temple” is understood as one’s individual self. And when some do that, they misread these verses like this: “do you not know that each of you is God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives in each of you? Now, if any person destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” Though it is true that the Holy Spirit lives in each of us, that is not what Paul is talking about here. He has an “all together” point of view in these verses. So, where am I going with this? In a word, the misapplication is that if I destroy this temple--me--in this life, God will destroy me in the next one. In other words, there are people who believe those who commit suicide cannot be forgiven; they have committed the unpardonable sin because they have destroyed God’s temple. And they warn others with this passage who are thinking about hurting themselves. I can’t tell you how many times I have had people ask the question, especially after a loved one committed suicide: “Where is he? Where is she? “She destroyed her temple and God said that he would destroy those who destroy the temple. Pastor, did she go to hell because she hurt herself?” The simple answer is no. A person who commits suicide has not committed the unpardonable sin. It is a grievous sin. Suicide is never the right way to go. God is author of life. We don’t have the right to end it. But committing suicide will not send someone to hell, because suicide is not the unpardonable sin. The unpardonable sin is not accepting the pardon that Christ offers through the gospel. One cannot be forgiven if is one is unwilling to receive forgiveness. So what is Paul saying here? Read correctly, suicide cannot be a correct application, and therefore, those who misread and misunderstand these verses are stuck in our 3rd dead end in the maze. There is a 4th dead end in the maze we have substituted for amazing grace and that is one of false security. In other words, just because a person is in church, he is ok. Well, Paul begs to differ. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” The problem of false assurance was real in the first century. It is a problem in the 21st century. Let’s break this down: First Paul gives a warning-let no one deceive himself. How tragic that self-deception is not only possible but a reality with so many people, with a subject as serious and important as salvation. But what exactly were “those among you” to not be deceived about? Those who think they are wise in this age. And what was Paul’s admonition to them? Become a fool in the eyes of the world. In other words, repent and believe the gospel. “You may look foolish in the eyes of the world, but you will have access to divine wisdom. You will become a spiritual man and then gain understanding to the things of the Spirit of God.” And Paul’s warning is clear. In essence he says, God’s ways and human wisdom are radically different. And the “human bound wisdom guy” will be found out. So why the warning? Besides the obvious--”God desires all to be saved and come to repentance”, it is a safeguard for the church. Paul’s concern throughout has been the promotion and boasting of men in the church of God, which robbed God of his glory. But using human wisdom to promote and boast in men is dangerous. How many unsaved church leaders have there been down through the centuries? By using human criteria rather than God’s criteria they were placed in positions of leadership to the detriment of God’s people. For example, there is one well-known leader who shall remain nameless who actually said that when he first began in ministry he did not consider himself as a pastor but a motivational speaker. He never even went to Bible college but he has sold many books and multiplied thousands attend his church. I don’t know if this leader is saved. But there is something about it when this leader emphasizes that you can have your best life now. I thought a Christian’s best life was when Jesus comes back. So, there we have it: our 4 dead ends—substitutes for the grace of God in Christ alone. As followers of Jesus, we don’t place our faith in what people say about God’s word. We don’t try to find novel ideas and applications in holy Scripture. We are not lazy disciples. We are to heed Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15: Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. We have never needed to read and heed this truth more than we do right now. With so much access to teachers of all kinds, how we need to carefully look at Scripture, correctly understand it, diligently apply it to our lives and then humbly teach it to others. We are to stand on the foundation of Christ, always seeking to know him—which is the heart of a disciple. As we conclude the message today, I need to ask you: where are you? Are you walking in the grace of God? Or are you holding to misunderstandings and misapplications of Scripture? Let me give you a warning in this regard. Jim was a charismatic individual. Dynamic. Energetic. He could move an audience. And he had a cause: he desperately wanted to make the world a better place. And people followed him from all walks of life. But what drove Jim was racial reconciliation. At 22 years old, he started his own church in the mid 1950’s and threw it open to people of all races, which gained him great notoriety from some and distain from others. Not to keep things to himself and inside the walls of the church, he took his movement to all areas of his city. Jim and his socially minded congregants moved to 3 different cities over a period of several years, winding up in San Francisco, where his church grew exponentially. He drew many people from traditional Baptist churches and were swayed by his power. But there was a dark side to Jim Jones. From the get-go he was an avowed Marxist and claimed that he wanted to get his teachings out by infiltrating the church. He was an avid reader of all the popular Communist literature. We know the end of the story. 909 people died in Jonestown, Guyana. Many of these 909, as I mentioned, had a Baptist church background. But they were swayed by a charismatic individual. Because they evaluated Jones by human wisdom, it cost them their lives. Paul said, “Let no one boast in men”. May our faith rest on the power of God and nothing else. Jesus Christ and him crucified is our message. May we seek to correctly handle the word of God and stand on truth, and stand with those who live by the truth. Our very lives may depend on it.