1 Corinthians 3, With What Are You Building?

First Corinthians chapter 3 be reading the entire chapter hear the word of the Lord. 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 ready for you are still of the flesh. For while there is 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 merely human? What then is Apollos and 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's building upon it that each one take care how he builds upon it.

For no one could 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. 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? Let no one receive him. Don't 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 the world is folly with God for it is written He catches the wise and their craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile.

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours. For the Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future all are yours and you are Christ and Christ is God's.

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word. But when I was young running track, I developed some habits. I really laid out a foundation for the rest life for one. Exercise really a lot more than exercise.

I Worked out. I trained athletically a lot. I still exercise. Some still a habit I have just yesterday. I missed my the time the pool was available. But it come like three or afternoon. Uh, no, I got to have a workout.

So I drove to the Y and I did something. This is part of my Routine now, it's part of who I am. I also ate a lot. I could eat a large pizza all by myself and be hungry another an hour later. You know, what's next?

I'm gonna eat something more. I saw that I saw that Michael Phelps ate 12 ,000 calories a day when he was training 12 ,000 it's about what average person's die is about 2 ,000 a day. So imagine that's like six times more food than normally person eats.

I don't think I ate quite that much. But I was getting close and usually not the best of foods a lot of coke and pizza and ice cream and I could get away with it because I was burning so many calories, but when I stopped athletics, I Continued eating the same way and I had laid a foundation of eating habits that depended on an extremely active lifestyle.

Which I was no longer living eventually it caught up with me. And so I had to go through the process a painful process of changing my eating habits. With the ongoing struggle, you know not to go back to the old ways.

Which I've been losing a little bit lately. It's it's hard, you know, it's hard when you've laid a bad foundation to start all over and rebuild. If you want to do something you have to have a good foundation.

No matter what it is athletics almost all the big stars in any sport basketball football. They are probably that way because they almost not even just probably almost certainly that way because they had years and conditioning it.

Probably a childhood that was full of practices and workouts and you know I'll be a father taking them to training and going in the backyard throwing balls with them with that kind of thing. Which made them the true star they are now to beat in the Olympics or to play professionally or whatever they're doing.

We have to have a foundation intellectually. If you've not studied a language as a child, it's very difficult to learn it as an adult. Is this maybe some of you are different than that, but for most of us mortal people.

That's this the way it is haven't been exposed to it as a child. It's almost impossible at least for me to learn it later on often. We find that our education affects our career later on that the thousands of little decisions we made, you know, whether to study Or not play video games result in us being able to have the careers that we want to go for or not our education our Childhood our early adulthood decisions will affect the foundation will affect the career.

We can have later on we build a foundation financially. People who have no thought for of tomorrow with their money. Who splurge at all maybe on eating out at expensive places or whatever luxury catches their eye whatever thing they want to have.

Instead of saving it for their future often found find that the foundation that they failed to lay When they were young and they were making money things that they refused to deny themselves. Means that they are now.

When maybe when they're retired and they're old they're just squeaking by on the barest of Social Security. They have no choice now. They wouldn't deny themselves when they were young and they had money coming in and now they're old and they don't have much coming in.

They have no choice now but to deny themselves the things they wish they could have that the life of immediate gratification that they gave into. When they were younger means that when they're older they have so many other things now, they can't have.

You know our foundations.

Matter.

Well, what are you building your life on? What foundation are you laying here? Paul prescribes for us three things each beginning with the letter M. With which to build to lay that foundation first meat second the maker and third metal and masonry.

Well, our foundations matter with what are you building? Are you building yourself with meat? Or just milk? Paul begins this chapter with it with a stinging rebuke. You notice that just I couldn't even talk to you as spiritual people but as fleshly as carnal.

It's kind of strong. Isn't it? Come on like that. But he doesn't do it to hurt them but to heal not because he doesn't care. But because he does and we see that he does care and how he first addresses them.

Not with you know, you knuckleheads you you carnal. So-and-so scoundrels, but with a gentle brothers. Brothers by which he also means sisters. I'm related to you. I'm connected to you. We are part of the same family together.

That's why I'm distressed that. You're not spiritual. You're not walking in the spirit. You're all you were all not living like people who believe that there is a spiritual realm that spiritual things matter most of all in life.

The way you live the way you handle your money is as if as if you don't believe the spiritual things are more important than the material things you can buy how to handle your sexual needs and Desires as if you believe that self-control was was not worth the short-term.

Sacrifices how you how you use your time who to date or how you react to insults to slights? What what you love what you seek? It doesn't look very spiritual policies. It's carnal. It's like the world.

It's like fleshly people. That's what it what it means to be spiritual is as you seek the things that are from the Lord. There are eternal but instead Paul says to them brothers you are carnal you live as if your body was all there was to you as if.

The few decades you have on earth were all that matters. This life is all there is nothing beyond our five senses. No, no judgment beyond what's what's here and now and that's what it means to be fleshly.

Somebody say someone's fleshly it doesn't necessarily mean they're just obsessed with sex or there are glutton. There are some people probably like some of these Corinthians here. Who practice self-control when it comes to sex or there at all their other appetites, but are still very there's still fleshly.

They might they might just conclude. Very reasonably, they're smart people that their life would be better off not sleeping around and so they don't do that. Because their life here is better off, you know, we disrupt their marriage if they did so they think they're better off not doing that.

That their health would be better if they don't give they don't get a beast or they don't get drunk. And so they abstain from those things but all for fleshly reasons that going to church. They might think is a good thing to do, especially if they can be recognized as somebody.

They can get a title get a name that the long-term pleasures in this life. Are better than the short-term pleasures in this life. But it's still all about this life. It's all about themselves. Right here right now.

That's being fleshly.

Paul says that his dear brothers are like that. They had been apparently complaining. We saw in chapter 2 that they were not getting the really deep stuff. Where's the profound things this philosophy that we want.

They were complaining. They're kind of like a young teenager. Treat me like a you treat me like a child. Oh, yeah, because you are Showing by their complaints so loudly demanding be treated like an adult that they're Not ready to be treated like an adult.

They were complaining that Paul kept giving them the simple stuff about Christ's crucified. And they were kind of like that. Yeah, we know that already. He was crucified. Okay, get on to the profound theology that we want.

They wanted deeper things. They thought they probably wanted to be able to impress their pagan neighbors with all the profound philosophy. They were learning in the church meetings. You should have heard what they we told us in church today, but you know, homo.

Ocean and.

Super lapsarianism, you know. Throw around terms like that boy. It sounds sophisticated, doesn't it? I think some reform people like to be throw around these sophisticated theological terms so they can impress people with how educated they are.

That's fleshly you understand. That's fleshly.

Soaring oratory.

Sophisticated vocabulary. Erudite quotations of some of the greatest Philosophers or renowned poets they had heard that Paul had done that to the philosophers in Athens. He had quoted their philosophers their own poets to them, you know, they're probably thinking why what do you do that here?

Why don't we impress us with his learning? But here Paul here first with the sincere brothers. To sort of numb the pain. And then a quick jab of the needle says your infants you're too immature to handle the deeper things and besides.

You haven't you've heard it a lot, but you even haven't learned what it means to worship Christ crucified. You see in chapter 2 verse 6. He says that he did teach them. He did teach deep things to the mature.

But what are deep things? They being fleshly thought that deep things are impressive to the world like their philosophy. Maybe like perform theology. But the true deep things were still things that the world the pagan neighbors so so proud of being Greek the inheritors of the culture of Socrates and Plato and Aristotle so proud of their learning and culture that they were so proud of it that Alexander the Great Sought to impose it on the rest of the world to export it.

That missionary with an imperialistic impulse to bring it to other people those deep things Offended Paul's deep things offended the world that Culture of the Greeks it was still the deep things were still all about Christ crucified.

It gets deeper. Sure, it does. A simple person may only only need to know the great truth. You know that nothing can take away my sin. Nothing, but the blood of Jesus that were saved by grace only through faith only and Christ only that Christ plus nothing equals salvation.

That's a simple thing. That's what you need. The simplest person can understand that the simplest person who understands that great truth is better off Than the greatest theologian who can lecture with this.

This is vocabulary. You know super lapsarian this or that with high-flown terms, but does not cherish the old rugged cross. Yet for those who learn those great simple but not simplistic. Simple but not simplistic truths those who learn them.

There are still greater depth. Sure. They can learn about the substitutionary atonement that Christ died in our place about the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us about.

Propitiation.

That the sinless Christ needed to bear the just anger of God at our sin. So that God could no longer be angry at at us who had so abundantly earned his anger. They can learn the mature truths of total depravity of unconditional election a particular atonement of Irresistible saving grace and the preservation of the Saints that though we are saved by saved through faith alone faith that saves is never alone.

The saving faith produces works. But not legalism. There's a never-ending depth. To the gospel to satisfy the greatest minds, but that never gets away from the foundational simple truth. Christ crucified.

He gave him like a patient parent and with a baby that truth Keep spoon-feeding it to them. They were asking for meat crying out for meat. Without not really knowing what meat was. I like immature people who don't know themselves very well.

They don't they don't really know they want. They should say they don't know that they don't want what they're asking for. They didn't know they really wouldn't like meat. Even if it was served to them at least not yet.

They didn't know they weren't ready for it. We have the same today with those. I've heard people you say loudly is preach the word brother and. Then when they hear it preached they don't like it so much.

It's it's true that some preachers try to show off their learning by using terms that they should know. That other people don't know. How many of you know what super lapsarianism means? I wonder how many of you care.

Fewer fluffy but sometimes the problem is it with the preacher preaching over people's heads. It's with the listeners still being infants just fat little babies. They want their bottles, but they don't mean maybe.

They they don't want to learn they don't want to grow. They demand their milk.

Not meat.

Although they say they want meat, but they don't really know what they want. If we're talking about real babies in Christ. That is people who have been have been converted maybe into this past couple years.

That's understandable. No one criticizes a baby for acting like a baby. Well, we expect babies act like babies like, you know, I don't I don't mind. We have babies in the service here if they cry we just ignore it and we expect babies to cry.

You know, but if you're 40 years old, you start to cry. That's a different thing. Okay, you know babies acting like babies is okay but if they get to be 10 like Raymond or 16 or 21 or 40 or 65 and They're still wearing diapers and crying out for the similac and sucking their thumbs and grabbing the little fake butterflies over their car seats.

Well, you know, you got a problem with him either something has stunted their growth as We see here with these people. That they've never been able to move out of their comfort zone of their play pens and infant formula or as Paul Suggest near the end of his other letter to the same group of people 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5 is some of them may not be really in the faith at all.

Otherwise, they may not be saved at all. Maybe that's why they're not growing. Maybe they're still dead. But for here he's dealing with with the first kind those who have been saved but whose growth is stunted.

For whatever reason who have stopped growing and even with the loving address brothers. He still scolds them. You are still fleshly. They've been building with just milk. And so we're still.

Immature.

Are you still immature? You know the height of immaturity, I think the definition of immaturity is Just only seeing yourself. The immature person is a self-absorbed person. He only thinks about his own desires his own Wishes about himself the person who's been going to church all his life and then in his mid -30s Says he thought church was all about what's in it for him.

What what's entertaining him? He's immature. Now do you still think it's all about you. Like a crying baby when a baby's cry because they're only thinking about themselves you kind of expect that of a baby.

It's okay. I have a baby. But are you if you go older and you're still like that you got a problem when you like a crying, baby. You do you feel only feel your own needs? Or have you grown past it the past the assumption that just life is just all about you.

And now you are looking out and thinking about others and about the kingdom of God now you still immature. With what are you building? With just whatever sweet and easy to digest.

You know meat.

Takes work. It takes work for your body to digest it. It takes chewing first of all. Milk, you don't have to chew meat you do. The body doesn't absorb it immediately. Does it go right into your bloodstream with with sugar it's complex.

And so it is not immediately converted into energy and nutrition, you know, if you need a quick jolt don't eat a steak. That's not what it's for. Won't do that. But it can eventually build you up. With what are you?

With what are you building yourself? With the word. Well, sometimes it's it's not as tasty. It's not as immediately satisfying as maybe it's a sweet you can get elsewhere. Maybe like on TV. This is why we have on Wednesday night evenings been trying to break down Passages like this to chew on it.

Now that may not be as entertaining as a carefully prepared Message where you passively sit back like you are now and I'm trying to spoon-feed it to you. But it trains you to feed yourself to build yourself up to move to solid food.

You can lay you can't lay a foundation of maturity on. Just milk. You can't if you're if you're a fat little baby. He's just because you've been only having milk you need meat. Well, what are you building?

On men.

Or on their maker. The Corinthian church we see beginning in verse 4. We've seen this already earlier in the earlier chapters had had two big factions. It's few that say they like Peter Beth and a few that were said or above it all we want Christ.

But but they have mainly there's two big factions one that followed Paul and the other that followed Apollos a powerful preacher from Alexandria Egypt and all they could see.

Were these men.

The great apostle Paul who brought the gospel here or the fiery preacher Apollo so eloquent He is they could not see beyond the men. To the God who used Paul in that church to plant it in Apollos to build it up that they felt the blessing they got from Paul when he spoke to them.

Or they loved how Apollos inspired them out stirring he was and That's all they could see.

Men.

Not their maker. So often mega churches today are built around men. I guess small churches can be built around men, too. Maybe I guess. But particularly a lot of the mega churches are when the man but what happens when the man dies or retires or Leaves for somewhere else what.

Well in almost inevitably the church dwindles as many of those people who came for that man Go looking for another man to follow. But Paul asked.

What are these men?

What is Paul. What is Apollos. He even says what. Instead of who. That's in the Greek. It's like he's just demeaning both himself and Apollos. We're Watts we're tools we're not even People. Well, we are.

But he's demeaning himself.

What are we?

Nothing, he says just servants like servers. Like waitresses at the restaurant, you know, hi, my name is John. I'll be taking care of you today. Now, what would you like to drink?

Milk.

Hopefully more than that. The waiter or waitress doesn't even make the food here. She just serves it. God gives the increase. You know, it's that famous famous saying increase of what though. What's being increased?

Well faith, I think clearly. Faith, is it what we muster up from ourself by choosing to make the right decision. God gives the increase of faith and He usually does that through men. Do people who share the word with us.

Faith comes by through.

Hearing.

The Word of Christ. And they need a preacher a teacher or somebody to share it. It comes but it comes from. It comes through the word, but it comes from God. The men are those whom God uses to bring you the faith, but he's Corinthians.

Instead of seeing the true giver. Like someone who thinks that you know their check in the mail. Oh, I don't know if Wayne ever gets this. They think it comes from the mailman. Thanks for sending my money in the mail.

No, it comes from whoever sent it, but the mailman is important got to deliver it. But that he's the server that they thought that these Corinthians thought that their life their blessings Came from the men.

From the mailman from Paul from Apollos. They can't see the supreme importance of God the maker. The one who makes the seed he makes the seed. He even makes the water. He makes the seed grow. He makes life.

He makes Paul. He makes Apollos. Who makes faith and he brings it to them brings it to us.

Through.

Men.

But they only see the men first at the end of verse 5 it is God who gave to Paul and Apollos the task of Planting and watering. Notice that according to their task in verse 5 God gave us our own. Paul says God gave me my task to plant the church.

God gave Apollo the task of watering it of building it up and they didn't do that even their own tasks. They didn't Manufacture themselves. They didn't do that on their own then notice in verse 6 It is God who makes the seed.

That it is from God the seed itself it's from God that Paul planted and Apollo's watered as a sign by God and To grow and the growth itself came from God. Everything is coming from God. Getting that point.

God may use a few key people in our lives. To teach us to build us up. You may all may think some key people in your life. Maybe someone you know personally maybe someone you've heard on whatever in TV or the Internet or whatever.

God use them. That's great. But I hope you can see the God behind it at the bottom of it. All he was God working. It is God who was supremely important. It is God who is the ultimate source without whom anything else matters?

That's why Paul says in verse 7 that the one planting himself and the one watering Apollo's are nothing. They're replaceable. God could have used someone else to do that. He's means, you know, they say the graveyards are full of indispensable men.

That is men who thought they were indispensable. Now life has gone on without them. Paul here asserts that he is not indispensable that he is nothing only a servant a tool that God made a channel that God used.

To give them faith. A channel not a spring a source. No, not a source, but especially people all they could see was the tool. The channel thinking that he was the source. Paul was the source of politics was the source.

Like they were Springs. No, they could only see the man not the maker. It's easy as we seek to build a church to get distracted all the things we think are indispensable. Maybe a building a right preacher the right programs and personalities how to greet visitors at the door the parking.

I Saw one church today's gonna have a seminar on how to do the visitor greeting and parking and okay. Yeah, I guess that I guess that's helpful maybe but that's not the indispensable part. Without God without making the seed to grow we will have nothing.

This is why prayer is one of the most vital things that we can do. We depend on God. Giving us the increase and how do we make him increase? We can't make him increase. We can ask him to do it and we need to do that in prayer.

In verse 8 Paul says that he and Apollos that that all servants that God uses they are we are he says one. That is they have the same purpose they're used by the same one God and God will reward each servant.

Not by how many followers each one has. You know what way a lot of some churches set their pastors pay about how big the church is the more money he gets. But how faithful they are to the purpose that God gave them to plant water to build up the church.

God gave them that purpose. Are they faithful to do it and God will reward them if they're faithful. Those who can only see men now only care about numbers now about how big the church is about how many converts they can report.

As having and so how many much more money coming in the offering. So if people get discouraged. That's if they look at that at that numbers only they'll get discouraged. They'll quit if success as defined by numbers more people more money pouring in if it doesn't come quickly.

But the one who looks beyond this age beyond people that he can see and count.

Now.

Who sees a reward from God? Knowing that. Growing a new life in Christ, you know, it's not something. We can do that. I can do that. You can do or that we can manage we can. We can do it like a assembly line if we put all the pieces together and out will come a believer like a factory.

No, it doesn't work like that. It's God who gives the increase. Such a person can continue if you if you see that that God is Calling and God is will give the increase. Or maybe there will be lean times in which he seems to get very little increase.

You can remain faithful if your eye is on the maker and not on men looking always to God when he knows reward. Whom he knows and God who rewards he keeps building. He keeps building his own soul with meat he was giving and working.

Working here. He's Paul says Paul he himself and Apollos or were fellow workers. I think he means or God's fellow workers. He means we're working for God and we're working with each other. Working for God with other people like Apollos.

Freely admitting he needs fellow workers. Working for a church where God is supreme. The church here in verse 9 is God's. He calls you he says you're God's field. Talk about the supremacy of God and all things.

You notice how everything is God's here. Everything is from God. Supremacy of God and all things. People say he supplies the seed. He makes the men to work. He gives them the task to work. He gives the growth gives the seed.

He gives the water. Even the field is his. And he's saying the church huge it's a church. You're like God's field. You have a field you plant the crop in it and you hope there will be growth. The church is where God has chosen to work where he expects a crop a field into which he sends people perhaps you.

To plant or to water. Hoping that God will make it grow. The church is that is that field like his farm? Right you working in it. Church. He also says it's God's building. He put it together. It belongs to him.

And if we are to work with him to build it. We better use good materials. With what are you building? With meat yourself or just milk with the maker. Or just men. With what are you building yourself?

The sturdy things.

Of metal and masonry. All correct. All Christians are to some degree building the church. You may think well, that's building the church. You're talking about you're talking about two pastors not to me.

I'm not in the column for that. No, really all Christians are called to build the church because you are at least building yourself and you are part of the church and You are all by your choice of which church to support and how to support it building it a church.

You're all taking some part of this. So those who build churches on Whatever whatever the customer wants, you know like a business or entertaining the kids teaching them morals and how to keep how to keep out of trouble or on.

On being a social meeting and get together with friends again every Sunday morning. Maybe maybe a group for for our kind of people. I like to be with those kind of people. So that's why I go there on Sunday morning committed.

Maybe it's about committed to preserving the good old days. You know when everyone was moral whenever that was. I don't know when that was. Or just making themselves feel good. I Like to go in the music.

I'll do that for you today wanted or to politics. I want to go where we mobilize to change the government or For whatever social change they can see and measure here and now because They cannot see anything beyond here and now because they're fleshly people who build churches like that.

Are choosing to build on other foundations? They may use Christian talk while they're doing it, but their their foundation is something else. Let each one each of us. He says be careful. How you build?

At the end of verse 10. Notice that command. There's a command there each of us must be careful. How we build? We might think we can build a church on anything else. Maybe on social change on political action.

We got it, we got to save the country so we'll use the church for that our own. Teaching the kids on family-friendly entertainment on morality on a man. I'll just love that Preacher so we'll support him on preserving an old-time religion or in preserving our culture.

Get together the people of our kind our kind of people will stay with him. I think we can build churches on that but we can't there is only one Foundation he says Jesus Christ and we had better be careful how we build on that foundation.

If you're a Christian.

You are.

Building the church. With what are you building it? With precious things. You know things that can stand the test of fire. Of judgment. Things that come out through. Do the test shining. On that. Or are you building?

With temporary things. Flammable things. Things that will burn up and leave you with nothing. If we look at life like mere men. Reflection. Like people who think that. What we can see and touch now. Is really all that matters.

We might build. We might be building our lives on what we think is sturdy enough. We might have a long-term view of life, but it's still just this life. A good solid wood frame house, you know. It can look.

Good looking look solid. It couldn't. We can stand for a long time probably for longer than we live. But it can but it but if when it's tested by fire, it'll burn. Perhaps some are building their lives and want to build their churches with the stuff of what looks dirty.

But it won't stand the test of time of fire. Or maybe a morality. Conservatism old-fashioned values. Things that people have cherished for generations at least at least a name. Others build their lives.

So shabbily. You know on with stubble like a straw kind of things left over in the field after it's been harvested. So they make a little hut with it. Wouldn't be a bunch of a house, but what it's not gonna catch on fire easily.

Everyone can see how Dilapidated it is how flammable it is that it won't stand the test even in this life. It won't last for very long. They keep you out of the rain for a little while. But you know, it's not gonna last for long.

The moralistic conservative life might I look down on such people. You know their lives their churches. These conservative ones supposedly they may look sturdy like a wood frame house made with the best lumber.

It might look good to us all the way to the judgment. But then the fire will come. God's judgment will come and it will burn. Now for years we first moved in our house, I thought our house was sturdy.

It was a brick house with plaster walls. I thought we don't need when we need insurance. It can't catch on fire. I mean, right. It's a brick house with plaster walls. There's you know, I'm sure it has wood floors.

But what's what else is gonna what could else could burn? Then on a Sunday morning in February of 2013 a lot of smoke and the house caught fire and to my surprise between the brick and the plaster. Is a wood frame.