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It's time to Grow Up! I Corinthians 2:14 - 3:21

Wednesday, July 8 –

In the middle of the week, we continue our reading thru the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 2:14 – 3:22.  We are beginning the reading where we ended yesterday, but the context is important, so we’ll start at the end of chapter 2, which might help us understand chapter 3 better.  After you’ve read the passage, please come back, and we’ll walk through it together.


The back and forth of Paul’s writing serves to contrast what Spiritual growth looks like.  He began by asking them to rethink their ideas about Spiritual leadership.  The Corinthians had formed into several divisions that were nothing more than personality cliques creating division within the church.  The underlying problem isn’t the diversity of leaders, but the influence they were still under from the culture and its world-view.  The Roman world-view was a foolish “wisdom of the world,” natural wisdom that was devoid of God’s wisdom revealed in the Scriptures.  We began with the last few verses of chapter 2 as Paul contrasts the “Spiritual” person (a person who therefore has the Holy Spirit) and the natural person (an unregenerate person without the Spirit).  The problem Paul is exposing is that the Corinthians, at times, acted like both.  Some have referred to this as “Carnal” Christians and we need to look closely to see that now Paul puts it all together and reminds them that they created the problem, but now they need to fix it.  

The opening salvo is a pastoral rebuke – “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there are jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?  For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human?”  (3:1-4).

The two people Paul had contrasted previously were the natural and the Spiritual person.  Now, he adds a third person – the person of the “flesh.”  A genuine Christian has “the mind of Christ” (2:21), which does not mean they are perfect in their faith, but that they are seeking to follow God, despite the need to deal with personal Sin.  A Spiritual Christian is keenly aware of their own sin, and does something about it!  The mind of Christ means there is an awareness of the Spirit’s conviction (John 16:7-14), as well as the Spirit’s indwelling work that would never affirm division.  The person of the flesh is, at best, still a “baby,” not able to eat “solid food”... “Behaving only in a human way” (3:2,3).  The world-view of the unregenerate person sees no evil in “jealousy” and “Strife” – its natural behavior in the world.  The Spiritual person understands these, and other things are incompatible with “the mind of Christ.”  Paul is telling them to “grow up”!

The heart of the issue is that the leaders – Paul, Apollos - are not to be revered; the reason why?  They are mere “servants” doing their assigned job (3:5).  Paul’s readers knew that servants were ordinary but never revered.  The reason why Apollos and Paul were respected, but not to be revered, is that behind each of their work is God – who is working through them.  One plants the seed, the other waters, and both activities are necessary, but in both cases, it is God who is behind the growth.  Our tendency to exalt some and despise the other is built into the fabric of a culture that is materialistic and does not believe it is God who is at work.  The Spiritual Christian sees leaders at work as a God-given and Spirit-directed process that is much like farming (3:6-9).  It is an apt metaphor because the essential ingredients in agriculture are “workers” in a “field” (3:9).  The Corinthians were allowing their field to grow weeds.

Paul continues with a second metaphor that the Corinthian church is like a building (3:10-15).  Paul laid the foundation when he came to Corinth to preach the Gospel (Acts 18), and after he left, someone else built on that foundation (3:11).  He cautions that there is no other foundation to build upon than Jesus Christ.  Eugene Peterson makes the observation:  “Paul makes two points in this metaphor.  First, we are workers with God.  Second, we are worked on by God”.[1]  It’s true that we are both building with God, and we are being built by God – they coexist in balance.  We are the church, and we always becoming the church. 

The most important part of our participation has to do with what we bring to the building process.  Paul gives two contrasting ways in building:  with gold, silver, precious stones, or with wood, hay, and straw (3:12).  The Corinthians, in relying upon their wisdom – natural wisdom – had chosen to use wood, hay, and straw.  Paul looks into eternity future to point out that one day their work, and thus, our work also, will be tested by fire (3:13-15).  The fire is God’s judgment for rewards and will occur when Jesus comes back and takes his place as Judge of the whole earth (we saw that in Romans 14:10, and will soon see it again in 2 Corinthians 5:10).  The issue isn’t salvation (3:15), for there will be some who are saved without any rewards.  The rewards are for faithful service and the wood, hay, straw will be burnt up as a rebuke for unfaithful service.  We have to keep our focus on Christ in whatever we do, and be willing to answer the question:  “Am I building to enable growth, or am I tearing things down?”

A large part of how we answer that question will be revealed by what we believe about the church.  Paul switches metaphor to seriously ask:  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” (3:16-17).  Let me say what Paul is saying to us:  It is a serious thing to be a Christian and participate in the Church. The contrast is clear:  the wisdom of the world is folly with God...” (3:19).  The world system cannot effectively lead the Christian.  To reinforce this, Paul quotes from the book of Job (5:13) and the Psalms (94:11). 

The practical application is like a summary of all he has said:  So let no one boast in men, for all things are yours,” (3:21).  Comparing people is a natural thing to do, but exalting a leader foolishly forgets that humility is the only quality of authentic Spiritual leadership.  As a church member, remember this – leaders serve the church best when they keep their eyes on Christ as their leader.  They serve the believers in the church when they point them to Christ.   It might be difficult for us to see ourselves as “temple,” but that is what we are, and we would do well to heed the warning not to participate in anything that would “destroy” the temple God is at work in.

It has become fashionable to both avoid Church, as well as to denigrate it.  The attitude of those who embrace both separation and criticism without participation are “foolish”.  They are a person who is of the “flesh” and one who is missing the very thing God is building for the sake of His Kingdom.  It’s a good question to ask:  “Are we building up the body of Christ, or tearing it down?”  

 

Peace



[1] Eugene Peterson, The Message Devotional Bible, page 1335.


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