[Prayer]
Today’s message is from 1 Corinthians 3:1-23—the whole chapter. Chapter 3 is about the problem of divisions in the church. (So is a lot of 1 Corinthians, too, by the way.) Do you think this applies to us? (Actually, all of the Bible, in one way or another, applies to us.) But do you think there are divisions in the church today? There sure are! But regardless of what we may or may not think, today’s passage is the word of God and we must take it to heart and be warned by it. So, remember, as we read the passage, that we are reading the word of God.
Also, as always, I am reminding you to read your Bibles every day. I always tell you to study and meditate on the word of God, but you have to read it first, so start today. It you haven’t been reading what God has to say to you every day, start today. Start today.
So now let’s read today’s passage, 1 Corinthians 3:1-23 (and this doesn’t count toward reading your Bible every day, by the way, so read some more later today when you are at home). Let’s read the passage.
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?
5What, 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.6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10By 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. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his 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. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
16Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
18Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (1 Corinthians 3:1-23)
Last week’s passage talked about the fact that there is God’s wisdom that comes through God’s Holy Spirit and there is the wisdom of this age, worldly wisdom, that is coming to nothing. Worldly wisdom, as Tom pointed out last week, may vary somewhat from culture to culture, but it is generally self-centered rather than God-centered. God’s wisdom is his secret plan that he set in motion before the beginning of time and predestined for the glory of those who believe in him—those who trust him! The glory of the world is coming to nothing. It will be destroyed. For those without the Spirit, God’s wisdom is foolishness. You are a fool if you accept it. But for those who believe, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” (1 Cor. 2:9, 10)
Let’s look at verse 1 in today’s passage: “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ.” Paul is addressing the Corinthians as believers. He calls them brothers: “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual...” They are brothers but they are not spiritual.
What does it mean to be spiritual? Spiritual is a word that we (Christian, in general) like to toss around, but it always seemed to me that the meaning was kind of vague.
A long time ago I was listening to radio Bible teacher J. Vernon McGee. He was reading a letter from someone who had been convicted by his Bible teaching. This man was an announcer on a Christian radio station and said in his letter that he had been very good at sounding “spiritual” on the air, but his life had not been very spiritual. J. Vernon McGee’s teaching had led him to repent. But I wondered what it meant to “sound spiritual”.
Well, if you look back at chapter 2, Paul (actually, the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul) talks about truths that are taught by the Spirit. Those who listen to the teaching of the Holy Spirit (and listen, by the way, means listen and do!) are spiritual. Those who don’t aren’t!
Paul says, “I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ.” You see, they are believers—but mere infants in Christ. They are worldly. (Actually, it says that they are fleshly—carnal in the King James—not worldly. They don’t belong to the world but to Jesus.) They belong to Jesus. But they are babies so they are not yet listening to the teachings of the Holy Spirit that are for the mature.
Let me read from Galatians. (I do this regularly because we need to hear it regularly—and hear it, again, means hear it and do it.) Galatians 5:16-26:
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (that flesh, by the way). 17For the sinful nature (the flesh) desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature (flesh). They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature (the flesh) are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature (the flesh) with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:16-26)
Man alive! Look at all those “acts of the flesh”—hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. (And those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God! Not good!)
Now look at the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. How many of us are spiritual? Are we spiritual...or are we mere infants in Christ? Think about it. (And those who continue to live their live in the flesh, Paul says, are not even believers. They will not inherit the kingdom of God!)
Now let’s look at verses 2, 3 and 4 in today’s passage:
2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? (1 Corinthians 3:2-4)
This is the point. They were dividing up into factions. There was jealousy and quarreling among them. Paul talked about this before and he’s going to talk about it again—so we know it’s important. (Everything God says in his word is important. But when God repeats it, it’s really important!) Factions come from the flesh, not the Spirit. You see where they were headed? The were headed toward hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions and factions, not toward love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Are we spiritual or are we fleshly?
Let’s look at verses 5 through 9:
5What, 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.6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)
Paul and Apollos were only servants. They had to work. They each had their part. They had to do the work God had assigned to them. But it was not their work that brought the results. It was God’s power. God gives various tasks to various people—some to plant the gospel and others to water the seedlings. I think God actually gives all of us ways in which we can water. We can build people up in Christ by being examples—by our serving in various ways, for example. Or maybe by teaching and encouraging—maybe by rebuking in some cases. (But you had better be doing the work that God has assigned for you to do, not someone else’s work, if you expect to see any results—and, by the way, if you expect to receive a reward for your labor—each will be rewarded according to his own labor.)
Let’s look at verses 10 and 11:
10By 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. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:10, 11)
Paul laid the foundation of the gospel—the foundation of Jesus Christ. There is no other possible foundation. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Listen to what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount:
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)
Jesus is the Rock. Remember the hymn?
The Church’s one Foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation by water and the Word;
From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride;
With his own blood He bought her and for her life He died.
Are any of us building on any other foundation than the foundation that Paul laid—the foundation of Jesus? People build on the foundation of their own works. People build on the foundation of “success” in terms of maybe a large ministry—mega-churches (not that there is necessarily anything wrong with large churches, but “bigness” is not the right foundation). Jesus warned us:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23)
Jesus is the only real, solid foundation. There is no other. Only those who do the will of God the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven. The will of God the Father is for us to trust Jesus and follow him. Are you trusting in and following Jesus. Jesus says, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Anyone who tries to save his own life will lose it. But anyone who gives up his own life for Jesus will get to keep it for eternal life! Have you given up your own life for Jesus?
Let’s look at verses 12 through 15 in today’s passage:
12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his 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. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
The Day in verse 13—because the Day will bring it to light—is the day Jesus will return. (Notice that the NIV translators capitalized it.) In chapter 4, verse 14 Paul says, “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.” Each man’s (and woman’s) work will be tested by fire. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it’s clear that some “works” will survive the test and others will be burned up. It’s also clear that it’s possible for some believers to escape with “just their skin” so to speak. It may be a painful experience, too. You will get there “as one escaping through the flames”.
There will be a judgment for believers. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” And Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:19-21) Let’s store up treasure in heaven.
Let’s look at verses 16 and 17 in today’s passage:
16Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17)
Now, I need to point out that “God’s temple” that Paul is talking about, the temple that God’s Spirit lives in, is not our bodies or each of individually, but the church. It is not that each of us as believers is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But in this passage Paul is talking about the church. Paul uses the same analogy in Ephesians, too. The church is a building, a dwelling, in which God lives by his Spirit. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. (Eph. 2:19-22)
And before I go on I want to say a little more about this issue—the issue of whether Paul is talking about the church or individuals in verse 16. People confuse it all the time: “Quit smoking. Don’t you know you body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You’re destroying God’s temple.” Then they cite 1 Corinthians 3:16. (There’s actually a place where I believe Paul did make the analogy between our individual bodies and a temple of the Holy Spirit, but it’s in chapter 6 and everyone seems to cite chapter 3.)
Here’s the point. I believe this mistake is made because we are so individualistic and self-centered in our thinking. We think, “This must be about me, not the church.” It’s not about “me”. It’s about the church. (I’ve talked before about how many “me” hymns and worship song we have compared with “we” hymns and worship songs. We meet together as a church, as the body of Christ, and then we sing as though it’s just each of us individually before God. I’m not really saying that we should cut out all the “me” songs, but that we should continually be aware that God looks at the church at least as much and probably more than he looks at us as individuals. So let’s remember that we are the Body of Christ (how beautiful is the body of Christ) and not just a bunch of individuals.)
Now, having said that, to go on, what Paul is talking about in verses 16 and 17 is about destroying the church, God’s sacred (holy, literally) temple. (And the word temple refers to the place in the physical earthly temple that was in Jerusalem where, if you didn’t enter that place properly and with proper authorization, you died. The HCSB translates the word sanctuary. The church is God’s sanctuary! We need to treat it so.)
In verses 16 and 17 in today’s passage, Paul is warning the Corinthians that they are destroying God’s temple by their divisions. Are any of us doing anything to bring about divisions—to destroy God’s temple? This is something we need to be very careful about because if anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him.
Let’s look at verses 18 through 23:
18Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (1 Corinthians 3:18-23)
Paul (the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul) is telling us again about the distinction between the world’s wisdom and God’s wisdom. (Again! Do you think the distinction is important? It’s important!) We can be fooled. We can be deceived. We can deceive ourselves by applying the world’s wisdom, the wisdom of this age. Verse 18 says, “If anyone thinks he is wise by the standards of this age...” The wisdom of this age is to hold onto what you think is right—what you suppose is right. (Think means suppose.)
We suppose a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean we are right. People suppose different things. All can’t be right. The church Mooma and I belonged to 30 years ago had a division. (Actually, it was an affiliation of churches and the affiliation had a division.) It happened before we were members, but we were told about it many times. The churches divided into the instrumental and non-instrumental congregations. Instrumental meant that they believed it was acceptable to use musical instruments during a worship service. Non-instrumental meant that they believed that it was unacceptable to use musical instruments during a worship service. (Musical instruments were OK any other time, but not during a worship service.) There was some scripture that the non-instrumentalists based there argument on, but nobody among the instrumentalist (our congregation was instrumentalist) could seem to remember the scripture. I just mention this to show how, what to us may normally seem unimportant or ridiculous, our enemy the devil can convince us is all important.
If we walk by the Spirit (live by the Spirit—live our lives by the Spirit) and have the fruit of the Spirit, we will agree in the Spirit. It may take lots of praying and we definitely have to humble ourselves, but we should not have to compromise if we allow ourselves to be taught by the Spirit. It’s a spiritual battle, but our enemy is not flesh and blood. (A big part of the issue is knowing when something is essential and when it’s fine before God to compromise. What do you think about instrumentalists and non-instrumentalists? We do both here. We must be holier than they!)
In verse 21 Paul is back to the original problem. They are boasting about men. “Our leader is better than your leader.” But Paul says all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours.
When we think of what belongs to us, we usually think in terms of what we can control. We like to own our own homes rather than to rent because we have more control that way. We don’t like to have to share anything, tools, equipment, cars, or whatever, with others because we want to be able to have use of them whenever we want. But that’s not what Paul is talking about when he says all things are ours. What he is saying is that we belong to each other.
This is about the church. In chapter 12 Paul makes an analogy between the church and a human body. All parts of the body, hands, feet, eyes, ears, etcetera, belong to the body. They all belong to each other. “All things are yours” doesn’t mean all things belong to each of us individually, but that all of us belong to the body of Christ. You see, when Paul says “yours,” he’s referring to the church. In English we don’t know whether the word you is singular or plural, but in Greek there’s a distinction. Yours in this case is plural. (It’s plural in the King James, too, by the way. Singular would have been thine—all things are thine.)
And to continue with what every other translation says besides the NIV (do you think I don’t like the NIV), “You (the church) belong to Christ (some say you are Christ’s) and Christ belongs to God.” We belong to the church. (You know, we say we are members of this church or that church. But the truth is that we belong to each other. This is a much more powerful, a much more profound truth, way beyond anything that normally would come to our minds when we say we are members of some organization.) And we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s—and the present and the future and everything else is ours because everything belongs to Jesus Christ and everything belongs to God. And as he laid down his life we offer this sacrifice—that we will live just as he died—willing to pay the price. How beautiful is the body of Christ!
Praise the Lord.
Amen.
[Prayer]