God's Garden

Alba 3-2-2024

GOD'S GARDEN

I Corinthians 3:1-8

When you hear the words “God's Garden” it is likely that you will think of The Garden of Eden. Genesis chapter one describes it as a beautiful place until people messed it up. So God had made a plan to grow a people who could be what He intended in the first place. A people who would continue to walk with Him as Adam and Eve first did in that garden.

Our lives, our hearts, are where God wants to plant the things that will grow into something beautiful where He will be honored. In order for that to happen, there are some things that have to take place. The first is...

1. Pull Up the Weeds

A garden does not grow well in a weed patch. Some cultivation is needed. John Owen, an English theologian in the 1600's is quoted as saying, “The hearts of believers are like gardens, wherein there are not only flowers, but weeds also; and as the former must be watered and cherished, so the latter must be curbed and nipped.” So, if we want our hearts to be a place where the things of God can grow and thrive, we need to get rid of some weeds.

The apostle Paul could see that there were people in the church at Corinth who had some weeds in their spiritual garden that needed to be pulled up and discarded. In I Corinthians 3:1-4 Paul writes to the church and says, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

In the Corinthian church there were envy, strife and divisions. Those are weeds that don't belong in God's garden. As a result, Paul says that they are acting like immature babies. Babies are the most dependent creations on the face of the earth. Left alone they will not survive for long. Babies have to have people caring for them. And they’ll let you know when they want something! Even if it’s 2 a.m.

Steve Farrar wrote a book called “Point Man.” It focuses on godly men leading their wives, families and friends. Farrar wrote: “We’re all selfish. Selfish to the core. God sometimes chooses to deal with our selfishness by giving us someone to care for who is infinitely more selfish than you. Babies are not only the cutest creatures on the face of the earth, they are by far the most selfish. The way God deals with my own selfishness is to give me someone to serve who has zero interest in serving me. You can’t tell me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor. Not too many people in the world could out-selfish me one-on-one.” He continues:

“But every time we’ve had a baby, I’ve met my match. Each of my kids resembled me. I don’t mean they looked like me, I mean they were as selfish as me. That meant that somebody in the family was going to have to grow up. Guess who was nominated?” We know who got nominated! He did!

Paul says that anyone acting in immature, infantile ways in the church must make some changes. Instead of growing as spirit led men and women walking in faith, the Corinthians were still on the bottle and barely able to crawl. Babies are cute...but not when they have to shave! New Christians start out as babies. But there are problems if there is no growth.

Now spiritual maturity does not occur immediately after the new birth, becoming a Christian. Nobody is born mature. It is not bad to begin immature. It is bad to remain immature. Spiritual immaturity divides churches. Jesus said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Matthew 12:25). Among the divisions in Corinth that showed their immaturity was the way they preferred, and apparently fought over, which apostle or minister was best.

But Paul asks in verse five, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?” The point is that Christian leaders should not be idolized, but simply regarded with a sense of gratitude and appreciation as the people who have contributed to our lives.

Satan causes division by his lies and deceit causing hatred, envying, and strife among people, with power struggles and pride working even among believers. The phrase “mere men” clarifies what it means to be “carnal” or “fleshly”. It is simply to behave and think according to our human nature, to be controlled, not by the Holy Spirit, but by our flesh.