Title: A Mere Man?
Text: 1 Cor 3:1 – 9
MP: In God’s eyes, there is no such thing as a mere man
As summer begins to wind down, I don’t know about you, but I find it so hard to concentrate – to keep my focus.
I can tell you that in my other job right now, work that is usually overflowing and abundant is drying up just a little bit, and that gets me out of sorts. In my office, that is causing a lot of us to get just a little bit stir crazy. We’re fighting more. Petty jealousies and minor strifes are poking their heads above the surface, as we realize far too well how “everybody else” in the office is oh, so human.
There’s an old joke in some circles that says “the fighting is so fierce because the stakes are so low.” When summer hits like that, it is time to refocus on what things should be, and not what they are.
Indeed, it is easy to mentally check out. To be slumming. But it is precisely in these doldrums that we most face the question, “What are we really going to be?” We truly have a choice. As children of God, heirs of the King, we are God’s field, his Temple. We are Mr. Jesus’ Opus! We are glorious saved and redeemed beings whom God has made just a little lower than the angels.
And yet, it so easy to be ‘mere human beings.’ Simple anthropos – little men.
This morning, if we would choose to live as the children of God we desire to be, I want to briefly suggest that we need to focus. Paul is going to point out that where we focus is what we are going to be. Specifically, I want to get our focus straight by focusing on:
(1) What we are,
(2) What we are destined for, and
(3) Who made us that way.
Focus on what we are
I want you notice first of all that Paul finds it worthwhile to focus on our current condition. He’d like to talk to us as spiritual beings. Unfortunately, he can’t. He is all too mindful of the fact that his church is full of infants. Babes in Christ.
Babies, as any parent at 3 in the morning can tell you, have only one word: “Waaaaaa!” Look at me! Care for me! It’s all about me, he says.
When our focus is on ourselves, we naturally think about ourselves. But what we miss out on is our full self. It is too easy to lose sight of all that we really are.
You know, if you go to Athens, smack dab in the middle of town on the highest hill, you are going to see the Parthenon. It’s a beautiful Temple. The Ancient Greeks used every architectural trick in the book to make it the perfect building. Just to give you an idea of how perfect they made these things, just look at the columns. The tops of the columns are just a little bit smaller than the bottom, in order to trick the eye into thinking they are perfectly straight all the way up. The most beautiful artwork was front and center on the pediment, higher than the eye could see- unless if you strained to look up. The building was a masterpiece any way you cut.
While the Greeks are slowly restoring it, if you look at it today, you will see a lot of that Temple in pieces on the ground. Most visitors assuming that it’s just age that has taken its toll. But if you had visited the Parthenon in early September 1687, you would have found the Temple almost completely intact.
You see, in 1687, Venice was invading what was then Turkish controlled Greece. Tourists today look at the Parthenon and see the earliest vestiges of Western Civilization. The Turks looked at the Temple, and all they could see was a solid building well suited to holding – get this – gunpowder. The most glorious building of ancient antiquity, and they were focusing solely on its position and its volume.
On September 28th, 1687, the Venetian soldiers looked at this same building – the very symbol of good governance and Greek civilization that was their heritage too. And you know what they saw? A munitions depot. One volley ignited the gunpowder inside – and seconds destroyed what had stood for over 2000 years.
At the time, the soldiers cheered. They had won their limited objective. They came in and looted the temple, cutting up solid blocks as souvenirs. Anytime you limit your focus, you will lose sight of the whole. You can end up losing a lot.
Anytime we see other human beings as nothing more than objects, people to do our will, we’re doing the same thing. When the clerk in the store is rude or inept, I find it so easy to want to rip into them right then and there. But you know what? As a child of God, I suspect I have a pretty good chance of knowing this person for all eternity. Fifteen thousand million years down the road, I will probably still remember our first encounter. Puts a different spin on it, doesn’t it?
When we focus on only ourselves, we inevitably miss out on what we really are. It’s easy to say, “I’m only human,” but that’s only true in a very limited self. If we are to realize our potential, we must realize that were are not ‘merely human.’ We have eternal worth in the sight of God – if only we can remember to see that.
Focus on the potential
So, if we’re supposed to focus on the eternal worth, we should probably also take Paul’s advice and focus on moving in that direction. Look in v.2, and you’ll see that Paul has a simple dietary focus.
You’re still babies, he’s saying, and all you can eat is milk. Milk’s okay, but have you thought about meat? Have you thought about challenging yourself? All this potential – and if you aren’t using it, exercising it, it’s all going to go to waste.
When electricity was first being understood, it wasn’t very useful. You could make a frog’s leg twitch, but it didn’t do anything. Somebody even asked Benjamin Franklin once, ‘What good is electricity anyway?’ Franklin couldn’t really give a practical use, so he simply answered, ‘What good is a newborn baby?’
Again, in both cases, the focus on the potential should imply a simple growing up.
I said at work, we’re really into some stupid fights right about now. It doesn’t help that we all know budget cuts are coming. Somebody asked my boss, “What can we do to make sure we keep our jobs?” Her response was great: “Be valuable.”
We are valuable to Christ when we have the mind of Christ. When we study His word, carefully chewing and digesting things that can be pretty tough to understand – we’re focusing on Christ – desiring the meat of his Word. When we are practicing what he said of service and love, we are valuable to him.
Each and every one of us has a role – a special capacity that God has put before us. As vs. 7 says, some plant, some water, and others harvest. God did not make us all robots, we are not interchangeable parts. Each and every one us has a special potential – a gift that God has given us in order to be valuable to Him. Some of us are great encouragers. Others are better at encouraging by kicking us in the butt when we need it! For some of us it is natural to pray; others of us need more encouragement. But we all have skills and gifts that God delights in seeing us use.
As an aside, next Saturday, we’re going to be cleaning up this Temple, making it nice for homecoming. If everybody in this church comes, we’ll have business owners, accountants, jewelers, farm managers – people who do very valuable things in the marketplace – acting as simple janitors. It is so beneath us. Truly! Frankly we could go out and probably hire a cleaning crew to do it for us and be done with it. But you know why we become janitors? Because our God modeled that behavior for us. If you think it is beneath you to pick up some trash or dust, imagine how much beneath it was God himself to literally wear dust. To have skin that would rot and decay. But he did it. And so can we.
Focus on the God who Gives Growth
And that brings me to my last point. If you would rise above being mere man, then I would direct your attention – your focus – to the God who gives Growth.
In verse 5, Paul is going to go back to how he started this book. In 1:12, he is concerned with how person-focused the Corinthian Church has become. They’ve started breaking into factions over who their “pastor” is. And, let me tell you, if you’re worshiping a pastor, you are so missing the point. I think my gift is keeping that from ever happening!
Well, in 1:12, some people are saying “I follow Paul,” others are saying “I follow Apollos,” and still others, “I follow Christ!” Well, look at verses 4 & 5 pretty carefully again. If you are focusing on mere men, Paul says, ‘aren’t you just acting like mere men?’ What then is Paul? What is Apollos? We’re servants. Just like Christ was a servant. But did you notice that Paul didn’t include Christ in the list?
That’s because Jesus isn’t mere man. He’s God. He is a good place to focus.
And, just in case you didn’t get it, Paul’s going to make it explicitly clear. Look again at v7 & 8: Paul plants; Apollos waters; but GOD GIVES THE GROWTH. The one who plants? The one who waters? Compared to God, we’re nothing. I forget who said that pastors are nothing more than ushers in God’s theater. The main show is God.
It’s really easy to lose your focus. It’s really easy to look at anything other than God. But when we do, we miss the picture. We forget what we really are – spiritual beings!
This week, if tempers are just a little hotter than normal? Check your focus. Who are really talking to and who is talking to them? Who are you talking to? A civilized animal or a person created in the image of God? Are you a child of God, or a mere man, a mere anthropos?
And when you’re slumming – when you aren’t really challenged. When you know that you are really capable of doing so much more – and you are right – you are – let me ask you – do you have that mind of Christ?
Let’s pray.
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This morning, I want to read just a few verses from 1 Corinthians. Some of you may have noticed that I was trying to hold to one sermon, one chapter, and I got through two that way, so you can cut me some slack but this morning, I want to slow down in this chapter, just a bit.
I want you to focus on just two words this morning: “Mere Man.” I will probably slip and say “Mere man,” but ladies please understand this morning I mean to use that in the generic ‘mankind’ sense. I’m old-fashioned enough to still hear both genders in that. I want to focus on ‘Mere anthropos’ – just a mortal human being.
Jesus was slumming too. He was picking up the trash on Saturday. He was using every one of his gifts for his fellow brothers.
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Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, September 2nd, 2007
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Meditation Psalm 8
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #121
“How Majestic is Your Name”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer
*Open Hymn Sing (2 songs)
*Responsive Lesson [See Right]
*Open Hymn Sing (2 songs)
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow / Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise him above, ye heavenly host / Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
*Scripture 1 Corinthians 3:1 – 9
Sermon Michael Hollinger
“A Mere Human?”
Invitation Hymn #562
“Be Thou My Vision”
*Benediction
*Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ our Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE LESSON
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
So take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.
Make them known to your children and your children’s children—
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which he prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Pv 15:3; Dt 4:9; Eph 2.10; Pv 7:2; Ps 17:8; Php 3:12-17;Heb 12:1-2
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Please join us on Saturday at 10am for a few hours of church cleanup – in anticipation of Homecoming, 9/16.
1 CORINTHIANS 3: 1 – 9 (ESV)
3 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 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? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
PRAYER LIST
Cindy & Lee Thompson, Martha Puryear, Susan Schulz, Warren Lee, Irene Griffith, Cory Keely, Debbie Grigsby, Chris McLaughlin’s family,
Jeff Coleman, Long Branch Church
