MPC, 5th May 2002.1 Corinthians 3:1-23 "Grow Up!"
Andrew Richardson MPC, 5th May 2002.
It's always interesting when babies start to eat solids. If you've had kids you'll know what I mean. The change from milk to solids can be hard work. There's the coughing and spluttering. The choking on every second mouthful. We're going through the process at the moment with Joel. And eating can be a bit stressful. We've got to watch him carefully. Every minute or so he gets a bit of food stuck in his throat and we have to pat him on the back. Sometimes we've even got to get our fingers in his mouth and pull it out. And the other week when Simone picked him up from some friends... three of them had their fingers down his throat. He was choking on a peice of biscuit. But it's all worth the effort. If Joel's going to grow up, he's got to learn how to eat solids. Which milk by itself he won't develop properly. He needs vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals. And milk doesn't deliver those things. He needs solid food.
And it's the same with the Corinthians. They need to get onto solid food as Christians. They need to grow up. To become mature Christians. To leave their unspiritual, worldly ways of thinking behind. And the problem is, they're not making the change. They're not like Joel. They're not chewing into their solids. They're stuck on the basics of Christianity. Still thinking in a worldly way. And with no sign of change. It's a serious situation. Milk won't help them grow. And Paul's got to convince them to move on. So he's blunt about their situation. Look at what he says in ch 3:1:
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly -- mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
The Corinthians should be growing up. Starting to eat solid food. But the solid food Paul's talking about isn't new knowledge. It's not that they've got to move on from the message of the cross to other teaching. As if the message of the cross is the milk and there's some other message that's solid. Like Paul said back in Ch 2:2, he's determined to talk about NOTHING EXCEPT JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED. The message of the cross is the only message there is, but it needs to be APPLYIED to their lives. That's the solid food Paul is talking about. The hard work of applying the message of the cross to every part of their lives. Thinking about what the the cross means for the way they treat each other. Thinking about what it has to say about leadership.
But the Corinthians haven't made progress into that kind of thinking. They can't handle that kind of solid food. And it's especially clear in the way they're idolising their leaders. They haven't applied the Gospel at all. They're still stuck in same worldly ways of thinking about leadership as anyone else in Corinth. Still Jealous, still fighting, still boasting.
As Paul says in vs 3:
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
The kind of behaviour the Corinthians should be leaving behind now they're Christians. The jealousy, the fighting, the boasting. It's all worldly, human, behaviour. Behaviour that shows they haven't thought through what the Gospel says about leadership. And so Paul has to spell it out for them. He's got to help them take their first mouthfuls of solid food. He has to explain what real Gospel leadership is like and why they shouldn't be fighting about it.
And he explains Gospel leadership in three points. He gives them three things they need to understand. Three reasons why they need to stop fighting.
And the first reason is, Gospel leaders are servants. They're not like a king or a boss. There to order people around. To make themselves powerful or popular. They're servants, doing what what God wants them to do. That's what Paul says in v 5:
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe-- as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
Paul and Apollos are just servants. And you don't boast about servants. You don't form fan clubs and get excited about them. It's like when someone gets a letter from the Queen. My Grandma was telling me one of her friends got two last year. One for turning 100 and one for her 70th wedding aniversary. But if you get a letter from the Queen you don't care about the postman who delivers it. He might be doing a great job. He's serving you and the Queen. But he's not the one who makes the letter exciting. You don't tell people about the postman who delivers it. You tell people about the Queen who sent it. She's the one who makes the letter important. And Gospel leaders are just like postman. They're doing an important job. They're serving God and the church. But you wouldn't boast about them. God's the one you boast about.
The way Paul puts it is Gospel leaders are like farm hands. They're working away planting and watering. But they don't make anything grow. God's the only one who makes Christians grow. And so he's the only one they should boast about. Look at v 6:
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
In the big picture, God is everything. He causes the growth. He's the one they should be following. In comparison to Him, leaders are nothing. They're just servants. It's God who causes the growth. And he's the one we should be boasting about.
That's something we need to remember in a growing church like this. Sure there are a whole range of people involved in watering and planting. The staff team, session, small group leaders. But they're not causing the growth. And so you wouldn't want to be proud or arrogant about them. God's causing the growth. And he's the one you can be proud of. He's the one you should thank.
But Paul's got another reason why the Corinthians should stop their boasting leaders. A second reason why they should stop fighting about who's the best. He says to them. Gospel leaders are all on the same team. They're working together. They're all contributing to the same cause. As we saw in v 6 they might have different jobs. One might plant and someone else might water. But they've all got one purpose. They're fellow workers.
8 The man who plants and the man who waters have ONE PURPOSE, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's FELLOW WORKERS; you are God's field, God's building.
Gospel leaders are team players. And they're all doing an important job. Without someone to plant the seed nothing will grow. And without someone to water it nothing will grow. It's like our church B soccer team. Stu Atkinson gets the ball back in defense. He passes it to Steve Begg in the midfield. Steve passes it on to Dave Ho in the forwards. And Dave scores. Well, that's the theory anyway. The point is, they've all got different roles. But they're working together towards the same aim. Scoring a goal.
And we're lucky here at Mitchelton Presbyterian Church. We don't have to look far to see a real life example of what Paul's talking about. We've got leaders who work together in a team doing different tasks. We've got Phil who basically looks after the teaching side of things. And we've got Maurie who looks after the pastoral care side of things. Two leaders with different gifts and abilities doing different jobs. But they're both working for the same purpose. To grow followers of Jesus. And our church needs them both. It'd be crazy to start fighting about whether teaching is better than pastoral care. It's not a competition. They're working together. And both are vital in growing followers of Jesus.
Paul's told the Corinthians two things about Gospel leaders so far. He's said they're servants. And he's said they're team players. His third point is Gospel leaders focus on Jesus and his death. If they focus on anything else their work is useless. It might look alright in this age. But gospel work that doesn't focus on Jesus won't make it to eternity. And Paul gives the Corinthians another way to think about leaders. He says they're also like builders. And for builders who are building the church, there's only one foundation they can build on. It's the foundation Paul himself laid. The foundation of Jesus.
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Gospel leaders need to focus on Jesus. He's the foundation of all their work. It's his life and death which should underlie everything christian leaders do. And if they're basing their work on anything else, well, they're not building a church at all.
But it's not just the foundation that's important. It's the whole building. Gospel leaders have to do all their work in a way that will please God. They need to use the right materials. They need teach people about Jesus and his death. They need to help people trust Jesus. Because if they don't, if they use the wrong building materials, their work won't survive. It's like when you hear about a big eathquake. There are always stories about buildings that fell down because they weren't built properly. Someone's skimped on the design and used cheap materials to make a quick buck. And when the earthquake hits the buildings don't stand a chance. It's tragic. Innocent lives lost because someone did a shoddy job. And it's like that with Gospel leaders. If they haven't been building the church with the right material. If their people aren't trusting Jesus. It'll be tragic on judgement day. Their work won't survive judgement.
12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.
Paul doesn't actually explain what the different materials are. But you can work it out from what he's already said. You might remember from the last couple of weeks. He's told the Corinthians the kind of things you can't use to build the church. Worldly wisdom that doesn't acknowledge God and can't humbly trust Jesus. Manipulative speaking techniques that try and con people into believing the Gospel. They're the wood, the hay, the straw. If leaders try and build the church with those things it's dangerous. They won't help people face God's judgement. Gospel leaders need to focus on Jesus and his death. That's what Paul's ministry focussed on. That's the gold, the silver and the costly stones. Because when people trust Jesus, they can face God's judgement with confidence.
And Paul says, leaders need to take this seriously. For leaders who've used the right material, who've taught people about Jesus, they'll get a great reward. They'll see their life's work survive judgement and go into eternity with them. But for leaders who haven't built with the right things, it'll be tragic. They'll only escape by the skin of their teeth. And they'll see their life's work go up in flames. V 14:
If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
If Gospel leaders aren't focussing people on Jesus and his death their work is useless. And if you're involved in some kind of leadership then this should make you think. What kind of kidzbiz class am I building? What kind of growthgroup? What kind of music team? Is it focussed on Jesus? Or is the focus somewhere else? Maybe on your gifts and abilities. Or on looking better than everyone else. If your ministry's like that it's in big danger. And if you want it to survive, if you want it to have real eternal significance, you need to get your focus back where it should be. On Jesus and his death.
But for the Corinthians Paul's saying they shouldn't boast about things like their leaders worldly wisdom or their leader's fancy speeches. Those things have got nothing to do with the Gospel. And they'll only build a church that'll get burned up. Boasting about them is like the first little pig boasting about his house of straw when the wolf is about to come and blow it down. It doesn't make sense.
That's Paul's point about idolising leaders in general. It doesn't make sense. It's immature. It shows the Gospel hasn't changed the Corinthians' attitude to leadership. It shows they haven't understood: Gospel leaders are servants. They haven't understood Gospel leaders work together to build the church. And they haven't understood Gospel leaders focus on Jesus and his death. If they'd understood those things, they wouldn't be fighting over their leaders. They wouldn't be forming factions. Boasting. Putting each other down.
And Paul's saying they've got to stop. Those things are immature. And they're dangerous.
The fighting, the factions, the boasting. Those things could destroy the Corinthian church. And that's like destroying God's temple because that's what they are. God's temple. Not a physical temple, but a spiritual temple. A gathering of Christians where God's spirit lives. That's what Paul says to them in v 16:
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
And he says to the Corinthians, the church is God's temple. And that means God cares about it. He's not going to stand back and let you destroy it. He'll protect it. And if your boasting, your fighting, your factions. If they're destroying the church. Look out. It's dangerous. You'll face judgement.
17 If anyone destroys God's temple, Paul says God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
Don't boast about leaders. That's what Paul's been telling the Corinthians in this passage. He's been working hard at persauding them. Getting them to see why it's such a bad idea. And so he finishes by urging them in v 21:
So then, no more boasting about men!
It's immature and it's dangerous. It shows you haven't understood real Gospel leadership at all. And even worse, it'll lead to fights and splits that could destroy the church.
So next time you want to boast about a leader, next time you want to tell someone they're missing out, because their minister isn't as good as yours or their growthgroup leader isn't as good as yours; next time you want to put down a leader, because they're not your favourite, stop and think. Maybe that's a childish way of thinking. And maybe you need to take notice of what Paul's saying here. You need get into some solid food and start thinking about Gospel leadership in a mature way.