1 Corinthians 3:1-9

                                                             1 Corinthians 3:1-9

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 yet 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 being merely human? What then is Apollos? 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.

The church at Corinth was problematic.  In general, working with people is problematic.  It is instructive to be able to see how Paul ministered during such a situation.  Many times, we want to please the people to whom we are ministering.  We are tempted to give them what they want instead of what they need.  Popularity can never be the goal of an effective minister.  Paul makes it clear that he is not trying to be popular but is working to build the church to become more like Christ.  We can learn much from his methods.

 

CONFRONTATION OF IMMATURITY: Too often when we recognize immaturity in a believer or even a body of believers, we keep quiet or just gossip about it to others.  Paul confronts the situation in no uncertain terms.  He tells them that he was unable to feed them with solid spiritual food because they were still in their spiritual infancy.  This must not have been easy to hear but it was needful.  Paul goes as far as to confirm that the state of immaturity persists even still.  When believers are being immature, they must be confronted with the truth and challenged to grow in their walk with the Lord.

 

CONDEMNATION OF JEALOUSY: It seems that one of the key demonstrations of immaturity was jealousy.  Instead of working together as the body of Christ, the members of the church were comparing themselves to one another.  Comparison will either lead to jealousy or pride and neither are from the Lord.  Different people in the church identified with different leaders in the church that were instrumental in bringing them to Christ.  They thought that this somehow made them better than the other.  This is typical childish behavior.  The focus of jealousy is on self and how that will make us look and feel.  Paul condemns this kind of behavior.  This kind of jealousy stems from the flesh.  In a day when there are so many “celebrity pastors,” it is easy for us to fall into these same traps as we identify with certain leaders.  Instead, our focus should be on Christ.

 

CHARCTERIZATION OF HUMILITY: Paul would have none of this comparison and wanted no part of any kind of popularity contest.  His humility is evidenced in his confirmation that he and all the other leaders that had served in Corinth were simply servants of God.  Each one had a different role in bringing the church along in their faith.  Paul uses the illustration of planting and watering from agriculture.  His point is that both he and Apollos were only instruments used by God to bring people into the kingdom.  The true work was always accomplished by the Lord.  Leaders must be marked by this kind of humility and realization of who we are in the scheme of what God is doing in our local churches or in the nations.

 

APPLICATION: Be courageous to confront immaturity in the lives of other believers or groups of believers.  Don’t gossip or complain, take the initiative to confront.  Don’t fall into the comparison trap that promotes jealousy or pride.  Serve and love one another.  Always lead from a posture of humility.  Don’t become too encouraged or discouraged by results.  Christ is the One giving the increase and we are simply instruments in His hands.