IMMATURITY
Text: 1 Corinthians 3: 1 – 9
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. (2) I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, (3) for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? (4) For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human? (5) What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. (6) I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. (7) So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (8) The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. (9) For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building (NRSV).
Tell me if you have ever heard this before. You’re immature! You need to grow up! Did anybody ever say any of things to you? How did it make you feel? Did it sting because it was true when they said it? How well do you think it went over when Paul said this to church at Corinth?
Let’s look at that. In the very first verse Paul has stepped on toes! There are two words that illustrate well how Paul stepped on their toes. These two words carnal and babies lose some of their emphasis as they are transliterated from Greek to English. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance breaks down the original meaning of those two Carnal and babies. Carnal ?????????? means flesh, bodily, temporal, animal and unregenerate; babies ???????? means simple minded, babies, childish.
The Passion Translation helps us to understand 1 Corinthians 3:1 even more: “Brothers and sisters, when I was with you I found it impossible to speak to you as those who are spiritually mature people, for you are still dominated by the mind-set of the flesh. And because you are immature infants in Christ,
As someone anonymously said, “You are young only once, but you can stay immature indefinitely”. Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press. Paul’s message was simple “Grow up”! Essentially, Paul is getting at two things, spiritual growth and kingdom growth.
SPIRTUAL GROWTH
How can we grow in the Spirit if we are limited by the flesh?
1) Flesh for a compass:: Their spiritual lives were incomplete because they were immature. They were relying on human wisdom instead of God’s wisdom. In the beginning, there were not any barriers between the bond that God shared with Adam and Eve. Satan aka Lucifer appeared in the garden in the form of serpent and conned them because of his jealousy of Adam since God wanted “Lucifer to bow down to humanity”. http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-lucifer-and-satan Lucifer’s pride got the best of him as he rebelled and subtly and cleverly attacked the bond between God and humanity. Before the attack, Adam and Eve had their (f.r.o.G.) full reliance on God. Satan designed the attack to break that f.r.o.G. bond and get them to rely on their human wisdom which relies on the flesh for a compass and not God!
2) Incomplete: “They were saved but not living in the light of the spiritual realm into which they had been adopted”. (Tony Evans. The Tony Evans Bible Commentary. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2019, p. 1152). They were still living by the flesh instead of being guided by the Spirit. Jesus is the only One who can restore that f.r.o.G. bond.
3) Christ crucified: This is exactly why Paul preached “Christ crucified” earlier (I Corinthians 2: 2). “… The flesh can never be reformed or improved. The only hope for escape from the law of the flesh is its total execution and replacement by a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ”. Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press. [Original source: The Adversary, Mark Bubeck, Moody Press, p. 28] Consider what the book says, “Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD” (Jeremiah 17:5 NRSV).
Through Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, God conquered our flesh problem! The Book says, “ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24 NIV)!
How does our growth compare with the book---- God’s Word and what it says?
1) Growth required: If you had a child that was three and was no taller than the day she was born, would you think something is wrong? Of course you would! When Lilly was an infant, they would measure her growth in height and weight with a national chart that measured the rate of growth for children in her age bracket.
2) Chronologically older: Paul was telling some of the people of Corinth that they were chronologically older, but spiritually immature. Paul is telling some of the people in Corinth that they are not measuring up to where they need to be spiritually by the book---God’s Word.
ILLUSTRATION: In a renewal conference the leader gave each participant several pipe cleaners and instructed them to spend several minutes thinking about where they were spiritually in their lives and then to shape the pipe cleaners into something which symbolized their condition. When the time for the activity was over, each person was given a chance to tell a small group what he or she had made and how it symbolized his or her own spiritual condition. I was especially moved by a middle-aged man who had made a cradle. He explained it with a tone of shame and regret: “I’m a Christian who has never grown, so I thought this cradle best told the story.” (Chafin, K. L., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1985). 1, 2 Corinthians (Vol. 30, p. 49). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc). How many in our world compare with that man who said he never grew up?
3) Diet: Paul’s point about Corinthians being baby Christians was analogous to babies who move from milk to meat as they mature. Paul was saying that there were immature Christians who should have grown from the milk stage to the meat stage in their spiritual maturity. There is a huge difference between being childlike, meaning humble and childish, meaning immature,
4) Incomplete: H A Ironside once made a very valid point in his commentary on the book of Corinthians. He said, it was a mistake for people to pin their salvation on a verse of scripture expecting it to be the basis on which we saved rather than having a relationship with the savior the Lord Jesus Christ!
5) Surrender: We simply cannot be complete without God because what is born of the flesh is flesh and will die but those who are born of God’s Holy Spirit will have the gift of an abundant life in the here and now and the gift of eternal life in eternity! As Jesus said to Nicodemus, Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above" (John 3:3 NRSV).
6) Fleshly wisdom: Can the flesh unite us? No! Can the flesh save us? No! Can the flesh make God’s kingdom grow? No! The Book says that relying on the flesh is both divisive and deadly! How much divisiveness and death do we see in our world today because people rely on the flesh?
KINGDOM GROWTH
What makes kingdom growth possible?
Paul tells the answer. Paul tells us it is God’s Spirit! How can God's Kingdom grow if spiritual immaturity is a barrier?
1) Teamwork: Paul tells us that both he and Apollos are teammates united by God’s Holy Spirit! Teamwork involves unity. Paul makes the point that he planted, Apollos watered but it is God who brings forth the increase (I Corinthians 3:5- 6).
2) Division and destruction:: As we know, today is Super Bowl Sunday. Its the Philadelphia Eagles against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 57. I looked up who the first string players are for the Eagles.
> Can you imagine hearing a huddle of the Philadelphia Eagles where the quarterback Hurts has a disagreement over who is going to get the ball.
> The coach Siraianni has signaled that he wants the wider receiver Brown to get the ball on the next play.
> Hurts thinks that the running back Sanders needs to run the ball instead.
> The other teammates decide that the tight end Goedert should be the receiver.
> They come out of the huddle each with a different idea of who is getting the ball and who to block on defense as they line up.
> Do you think their noncooperation is going to cost them? (https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/teams?PHI/philadelphia-eagles/depth-chart).
3) Maturity effects teamwork: Paul points out that childish ways hinder growth and unity. As we said earlier, “You are young only once, but you can stay immature indefinitely”. Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press. Paul seems to fear that this factionalism will continue to be a problem because he mentions it again in 2 Corinthians 12:20 as he mentions, divisiveness and Infighting, quarreling, gossiping, jealousy, slander, conceit and disorder. If Paul were here today, then he would add wokeness to that list! It looks like indefinite immaturity continues even today in modern day emphases on human wisdom and attainment!
4) Maturity: We are grown up when we realize that it is not about us but it is about God and His Church! The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord; she is His new creation by water and the Word. From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought her and for her life He died. (first verse of The Church’s One Foundation).
What will be the proof our growth and our growing?
If you could sum it up in one word, then what would that world be? What is the reason that Jesus went to the cross? Can you put it in one word?
Love!
The Book says “Greater love has no man that He lay down His life for His friends and even sinners” (John 15:13 & Romans 5:8).
What did Paul say about that kind of love? Paul mentioned that love is patient and kind, not jealous, and it doesn’t keep score but rejoices in the truth and it never fails (I Corinthians 13: 4 – 8 paraphrased).
Paul said, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (I Corinthians 13:9 NRSV).
Jesus said, that “others will know that we are His disciples by the way that we love (John 13:34 – 35)! The world will know that we are Christians by our love. The world will also know that we are worldly when we live contrary to preaching “Christ crucified” when we are immature, divisive score keepers!
