1 Corinthians 3

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: 1 Corinthians (Acts)

Rusty's Notes

Review:

• 3 weeks ago we talked about the division in the church based upon who was better and how the Spirit keeps us all on the same level through humbleness.
• And last week we talked about the divisiveness between the world and those who had the Spirit of God in them.
• Both of them having to do with Spirit being the difference maker in the division.

 
THE PROBLEM OF IMMATURITY
1 CORINTHIANS 3
1 For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, 3 because you are still worldly (sarks). For since there is envy and strife, among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans? 4 For whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not acting like mere humans?

• Paul calls them out for their behavior.
• Carnal Christian vs Spiritual Christian (the church likes to focus on behavior)
• Paul is talking to the Church and they are choosing to split over “spiritual things”
• Two different diets (more like a scale)
• “Milk” those who are interested in participating based upon their own desires and what they will receive.
• “Meat” those who choose to participate in how the can help the community.
• Believers can still walk “according to their flesh”
• I (Rusty) am not the “magical” link to a person eating “meat”. Nor was Paul.
• But… I can see one’s participation in ministry (not just Sundays) as it directly correlates with their spiritual walk.
• You stop showing up here on Sundays is an indicator something is changing in your life.
• It is not about coming here and being fed the Word on Sundays.
• It is directly related to how the Spirit is working in you and you choosing to listen or not.
• When you start letting worldly agendas influence your choices, you will get derailed on this walk.
• Your walk is what is evident to others.
• You can walk “according to the flesh” for a season and it is going to cause a series of consequences for you.
• Then you will “call a friend” for help
• This is all Paul is trying to clarify with the Church at Corinth.

 
THE ROLE OF GOD’S SERVANTS
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s coworkers.

• Paul & Apollos have roles (calling) but they are not what matters.
• It is God that grows the believer
• The pressure is off of me.
• Neither am I competing with any other teacher in Leavener.
• Leavener is the local church and is a field that ought to bear fruit. (not should)
• The task of the ministry is the sowing of the seed, the cultivating of the soil, the watering of the plants, and the harvesting of the fruit.[1]
• Wash, rinse and repeat.
• The unifying factor in this ministry is that we each play a part.
• Paul planted, Apollos watered, others harvested.
• For the last 10 days, this community has ministered to my friend Derek… (Ryan, Luke, Troy, Ed, Danny, Mike, Trish, Keith, Big John, Tim, Wednesday Night Students… and Michelle)
• See the diversity in ministry… yet unified in purpose?
• At the same time, there is humbleness because even though these people were used by God, they would take no credit for work done in Derek’s life this past week. That was God alone.

You are God’s field, (total transition here) God’s building. 10 According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.

• The foundation has to be Jesus.

12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.

• Judgment Seat of Christ

16 Don’t you yourselves (The Church as a whole) know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are.

• The world depends on promotion, prestige, and the influence of money and important people.
• The church depends on prayer, the power of the Spirit, humility, sacrifice, and service.
• The church that imitates the world may seem to succeed in time, but it will turn to ashes in eternity.
• The church in the Book of Acts had none of the “secrets of success” that seem to be important today.
• They owned no property; they had no influence in government; they had no treasury (“Silver and gold have I none,” said Peter); their leaders were ordinary men without special education in the accepted schools; they held no attendance promos; they brought in no celebrities; and yet they turned the world upside down![2]
• We have to move from the mindset that the institutional church is the foundation of Christianity.
• The quarantine was a magnifying glass for this litmus test.
• It’s not about Sundays at Pinheads or any other place.
• It’s about being a light in a dark, dark, dark world.
• It’s the difference between being selfish and selfless.
• The foundation is Jesus Christ who came to set an example… we build on that… not our own abilities and desires.

 
THE FOLLY OF HUMAN WISDOM
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so that he can become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written, He catches the wise in their craftiness; (Job 5:13 – One of Jobs friends who was not speaking truth to Job all the time.)

• Worldly wisdom is different than spiritual wisdom.
• How are you going to know the difference if you don’t know the Father?

20 and again, The Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are futile. (Psalm 94:11) 21 So let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is yours--22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come—everything is yours, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.[3]

• The members of the Corinthian church were glorying in men, and this was wrong.
• They were comparing men (1 Cor. 4:6) and dividing the church by such carnal deeds.
• Had they been seeking to glorify God alone, there would have been harmony in the assembly.[4]
• You have to come to the realization that you already have everything in Christ.
• You belong to Christ… not any other man.
• Everything is already yours.

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 578–579). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 581). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Co 3:1–23). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 581). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.