Introduction:
A. How many of you know what this is a picture of? Right – the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
1. It is the freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa.
2. Construction began in 1173, and although the tower was intended to stand vertically straight, it began leaning southward once construction progressed to the third floor.
3. Why is it leaning? Could this be the cause? (show picture)
a. Actually it is leaning due to a poorly laid foundation (only 10 feet deep) and loose substrate.
b. I’m told that the word “Pisa” actually means “marshy land,” which would give some clue as to why the tower began to lean even before it was completed.
4. It took 177 years to complete the structure, because construction was halted several times due to war.
5. Scientists studying the building over they years had determined that the 179 foot tower moved about one twentieth of an inch a year, and was 17 feet out of plumb.
6. Something needed to be done to fix it, but what?
7. They tried this…(Show picture), but it didn’t work.
8. In 1999, scientists and construction experts painstakingly removed soil from beneath the north side of the tower to help ease it slightly back toward the vertical—and toward a stability it has not known for 300 years. They removed the soil with very large drills.
9. Not only has the tower moved northwards, but the south side of the foundation has come up a little, which is a very positive result.
B. The lesson we learn from the Tower of Pisa is the importance of a good foundation.
1. And just as these workers needed to fix the foundation in order to straighten the tower of Pisa, Paul needed to do the same thing with the church at Corinth.
2. The church at Corinth needed some repair. It needed to be brought back into plumb.
3. For several chapters, we have been watching Paul do this repair.
4. In the previous chapters, he has pointed their attention to the Cross, and to the Wisdom of the Spirit.
5. Now, here in chapter 3, Paul is going to emphasize that the church belongs to God – God brought it into being, and God will judge it.
6. The human instruments that God employs in the process of building His church are merely servants of God’s purposes.
7. Therefore, it is both foolish and destructive to choose sides and pit one leader against another.
C. Most of chapter 3 is structured around three metaphors for the church that Paul uses for his argument.
1. Paul discusses the church as God’s field (vs. 5-9), the church as God’s building (vs. 10-15), and the church as God’s temple (vs. 16-17).
2. The final part of the chapter (vs. 18-23) recapitulates Paul’s earlier teaching about wisdom, folly and boasting, and then concludes with a powerful affirmation that not only the church and its leaders but everything else in all creation belongs to God.
3. So let’s jump into the chapter with both feet, and apply these truths to ourselves.
I. Question One: What Divides A Church?
A. Answer: Spiritual immaturity divides churches.
1. One day some friends were discussing a neighboring church that was experiencing division.
2. One of the people said, “That doesn’t sound like a big enough problem over which to split a church.”
3. Then one of the group reminded the others of a truth that is easily forgotten, “Any problem that has to be dealt with by people who are spiritually immature can divide a church, no matter how small a matter it may appear to be.”
B. Last week as we discussed chapter 2, we noticed that Paul was contrasting Christians and non-Christians.
1. Paul made the important distinction that Christians have the Holy Spirit, and non-Christians do not.
2. Here in chapter 3, Paul won’t be contrasting Christians and non-Christians, but rather he will be contrasting two kinds of Christians – mature and immature, or spiritual and worldly.
3. Paul is trying to explain that it is one thing to have the Spirit, and it is another thing to have the Spirit in charge.
C. Paul wrote, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not mere men?” (1 Cor. 3:1-4)
1. Paul would like to address the Christians at Corinth as Spiritual, but he cannot, because they are not.
2. He says that they are worldly – mere infants in Christ.
3. Their immaturity resembles that of adults acting like infants by still eating only baby food. Picture an adult sucking on a bottle!
4. The fact that there is jealousy and quarreling among them shows that they are worldly and are acting like mere men – people without the Spirit.
D. William Barclay’s comment about this text is instructive. He says, “If a man is at variance with his fellow men, if he is a quarrelsome, competitive, argumentative, trouble-making creature, he may be a diligent church attender, he may even be a church office-bearer, but he is not a man of God.”
1. As I said, “having the Spirit and having the Spirit be in charge are two different things.”
2. It pains me to think that after so many years of following Christ, in some ways I’m still a spiritual infant, or worldly.
3. Praise God that there are many areas where I have spiritually grown and where the Spirit is in charge, but that’s not the case in every area.
4. And when I look around this church family, it pains me to see that there is still a lot of spiritual immaturity.
a. Certainly, there has been a lot of growth in members of this church, but there is still a lot of room for growth.
5. As Paul says, “For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?”
6. We could add, “For since there is gossip and a lack of love, are you not worldly?”
7. Or, “Where there is little interest in fellowship or other growth opportunities, are you not worldly?”
8. Or, “Where there is little investment of time and effort in ministry, are you not worldly?”
9. Or, “Where there is little effort in outreach or evangelism, are you not worldly?”
10. Or, “Where there is inconsistent financial giving to God, are you not worldly?”
11. Just like the Corinthians, we need to grow up in our faith.
E. To be honest with you, I’ve been a little discouraged for the past several weeks.
1. In spite of a number of very encouraging things happening around here, like the baptisms, and the new faces, and the faithful service of many individuals, I still get the sense that we are not being as successful as we can be – there is a lack of involvement and a lot of immaturity.
2. Our statistics have been falling. Attendance is down, and giving is down.
3. Some of that can be attributed to families who have moved away over the last year or so.
4. But it causes me to start to examining myself, my faith and my efforts in ministry.
F. Such self-examination can be healthy, and good, but it can end up going in a very worldly direction.
1. I can get caught up in worldliness and employ the wrong instruments for measuring success.
2. Ultimately, when I stand before God, He is not going to compare membership numbers, nor the size of the budget.
3. What kind of measurements will God use? God is going to measure faithfulness.
4. Have we been faithful to love God and love people in Jesus name?
5. Have we been faithful to hold the Bible as our authority and to follow it?
6. Were we faithful to call people to true repentance and faith in Jesus, or did we cave into the trap of entertaining and telling them what they want to hear?
G. If we are faithful, and grow in spiritual maturity, then we will have times of numerical and quantitative growth, but at the same time, there will be times when we won’t – for God makes things grow.
1. The Great Commission tells us that we must never stop trying to reach the lost, and therefore grow in number.
2. But the Great Commandment tells us that the most important measure of growth is our love for God and for our fellow human beings.
3. If we are growing in the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), then we know we are on the right track.
4. When we don’t grow in Christ, then we look more and more like persons who are not believers.
5. If we are not growing in the Spirit, then we should not be surprised by a church fraught with struggle and division.
6. That’s certainly what was happening at Corinth. So what was the solution?
II. Question Two: What Brings Unity?
A. Answer: Unity comes when believers with growing maturity have the right perspectives about God and God’s People.
1. In the three pictures that Paul gives, we discover a mature perspective that can help either avoid or heal divisions in the church.
B. Picture One – The Church is God’s Field
1. Paul wrote, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Cor. 3:5-9)
2. This is not a difficult metaphor for us to understand, is it?
a. The church is like a field owned by God.
b. God assigns field hands different responsibilities.
c. Some plow, some plant, some water, some weed, and some harvest.
d. None of the workers amount to anything on their own.
e. Each only does what they are told, and the only one who can make things grow is God.
3. So is there any reason for them to take pride in Paul or Apollos, or anyone else? Certainly not.
4. Yes, Paul arrived on the scene first, and he planted the church.
a. Apollos came later and watered the crop.
b. Their efforts are complementary parts of a single agricultural project.
c. Without the waterer, the crop will die; without the planter, there would be no crop to water.
d. But without God, there would be nothing at all, no field, no seed, no water, no workers, and certainly no growth.
5. Can you see how this applies to us here at Wetzel Road?
a. This church is God’s church.
b. All of us are God’s fellow workers – praise God that He let’s us work in His garden!
c. We all have different roles, but every role is important.
d. Praise God for Roy and Sharon, Jon and myself, who are supported by our congregation to use our gifts and talents to accomplish God’s work.
e. And praise God for our elders, and deacons, and all of the individual members who serve.
f. Who is the most important person in this church, certainly not any of the field hands – God is the important One.
6. If we keep that truth clearly in mind, then we will avoid some of the traps that lead to division.
C. Picture Two – The Church is God’s Building.
1. Paul wrote, “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” (1 Cor. 3:10-15)
2. With the last two words of verse 9, Paul shifts to a new metaphor.
3. With that, he directs our attention to a new concern – the importance of constructing the church with integrity.
a. In this new metaphor, Paul compares himself to a head building contractor who has carefully laid the foundation of a building and then has allowed the rest of the work to be done by subcontractors.
b. If their work is not “up to code,” so to speak, or if they fail to use suitable materials, there will be dire consequences.
c. We have seen the tragic results in the aftermath of California earthquakes, or Florida hurricanes, when the buildings have not been built up to code.
4. Rather than using an earthquake or hurricane, Paul used the image of fire, which is a traditional biblical image for God’s judgment.
a. The point is the same, a cataclysm is coming that is going to test the structural integrity of our construction work, so we better build with great care.
b. Our construction should not be hasty, nor just for show. It must be built solidly from the ground up in a way that is designed to endure.
5. As we saw in our opening illustration of the Tower of Pisa, the foundation is critical.
a. Paul declares that “no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (vs. 11)
b. The old hymn of the church declares, “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.”
c. As you remember from earlier in this letter, Paul refused to build with or on any other foundation than “Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:2)
6. But then as we build on that foundation, we must be careful to use the right kind of materials.
a. The six different materials that Paul mentions, are perhaps arranged in descending order of value – gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay and straw – have no special significance beyond the fact that the last three are combustible and the first three are not.
b. Paul’s point is that some leaders are building with valuable fireproof material (the gospel of Christ) and others are building with transitory fluff (the fads of human wisdom) that will be consumed by flames in God’s coming building inspection.
c. Many people go to great lengths to figure out what Paul means in verses 14 and 15 about the person who’s work is burned up, but they are saved as one escaping through the flames.
d. Although that is interesting, it is not Paul’s main point.
7. What was critical for the Corinthians and for us, is to be sure we are building on the correct foundation with the correct kinds of materials.
8. For us that means that Christ and Him crucified must be our foundation, and our materials must not be made up of human personalities, human reasoning, or human fads and gimmicks.
9. Churches built on human personalities, human reasoning, or human fads and gimmicks will lead to division and destruction.
D. Picture Three – The Church is God’s Temple.
1. Paul wrote, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” (1 Cor. 3:16-17)
2. Paul’s third metaphor may be understood as a development of the previous one.
a. The church is not just any building, but is in fact the temple of God – the place where God’s Spirit dwells.
3. It is crucial for us to realize that the verb and the second person pronoun in verse 16 are plural.
a. Verse 16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves (plural) are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you (plural).”
b. The image here is of the Spirit dwelling not in the individual Christian, but in the church community as a whole. (In chapter 6, he will talk about the temple as the individual).
4. Keep in mind that when Paul made this statement, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was still standing and active.
a. For Jews, like Paul, the Jerusalem temple had been understood as the central focus of God’s presence in the world.
b. But the role of the Temple as the dwelling place of God is now in the church, and even in the predominantly Gentile church at Corinth. How amazing.
5. Paul’s present point is this – if the church is the dwelling place of God, then God will surely deal severely with those who corrupt or damage it.
a. Anyone who would split the community of God is offending God and is calling down God’s judgment on their own head.
b. This is no matter to be taken lightly. Those who would damage the unity of the community are interfering with God’s presence and work, and will certainly incur judgment.
6. Paul finishes out the chapter by repeating the themes that he has developed in the letter up to this point.
a. God’s wisdom is greater than the wisdom of the world. No more boasting about men. Everything belongs to God.
Conclusion: What Have We Learned Today? Hopefully, we have learned that…
A. It’s time to grow up and stop being immature and worldly.
B. It’s time to keep a humble perspective about our contribution to God’s work. It’s all about God, not about us.
C. It’s time to keep building with the right kind of materials on the right foundation.
D. It’s time to appreciate and protect the church – it is God’s Temple.
E. May God be with us and bless us with the right perspectives to avoid and heal division in the church..
Resources:
The (Im)Perfect Church (Studies in 1 Corinthians), Rubel Shelly, 21st Century Christian, 1983.
First Corinthians (Interpretation – A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching), Richard Hays, John Knox Press, 1997.
1 Corinthians (The NIV Application Commentary), Craig L. Blomberg, Zondervan, 1994.
1 Corinthians (Bible Study Guide), Charles R. Swindoll, Insight For Living, 1977.
“How to Heal Divisions in the Church,” by John Huffman, Jr. Sermon, October 30, 2005
