Verse 1 “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.” Is there such a thing as fleshly and spiritual Christians? No. Paul uses the word sarkanoi not the other word for fleshy psyschikoi which refers to those who are not Christian. . What Paul is saying is that there are those who are younger and older in the faith. And we know children especially infants think the world revolves around them. that is acting like those in the flesh. And although the church had been born again and been sanctified, they were still acting like infants. This does not mean they have less life or are less assured of eternal life. A child is just an adult that has not reached maturity. A child’s brain is all there, it just need to develop.
Even though the Corinthian church had the mind of Christ, they are not using it. they are still infants in faith. On the one hand this is disheartening. They are still infants. But the good news is infants grow. As Paul says they are not “yet ready for solid food.”
And how are they acting like children, and why can’t he move on to the meat of the gospel? Because there is division. Verse 3, “For why there is jealously and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” If there is division in a church, the pastor has to deal with the division before he can ever start offering real solid food.
And what makes it so clear that they are following the flesh is that they are following mere humans. They are literally following the flesh – Paul, Apollos, and Cephas – who are mere humans (v. 4). Flesh and blood.
Fed not with solid food – for you are following the flesh.
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Farmers and fields 5-9
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Fire and foundations 10-16
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Folly and futility 18-23
Farmers and fields
“Who then is Apollos? What is Paul?” Let’s talk about this says Paul. Let’s look at these people that you are holding up so high. Who are they? Who are the respected pastors, professors, or elders? “Servants through whom you believed.” Servants. That’s all. The church should never be about the servants. It is about the master. Worldly leaders seek positions of power so they may be served, Christian leaders are the servants of all. As God’s servants, church leaders carry out their responsibilities as the Lord has assigned. They were dividing over mere servants! There eyes were not lifted high enough. . The good they received through Paul and Apollos should have made them loyal to God, not to his appointed servants.
They are servants, “through whom you believed.” Paul is saying exactly what he says in romans 10, that faith comes through the word preached. But it is not the person preaching but the word that is preached that makes all the difference. God gives each his task – but he is the one doing the work.
Paul shows this by giving a farming analogy. Now I love gardening but am by no means a farmer. Many plants have come to our house to die. And it is often because they don’t have the right environment to grow. But sometimes no matter what a farmer does crops can fail. There is a flood, or not enough sun, or a disease.
All a farmer can do is create the best possible environment for the seed to grow, but he cannot make even a single seed germinate and grow. Only God can do that. In verse 6 he says, “I planted, and Apollos watered but God gives the growth.” Then in verse 7 the word order is switched in the Greek, so it reads, “So neither the one who plants, nor he who waters is anything, but only the one giving growth – God.” He is trying to emphasize his point as if to say, “your jealously, and fighting shows you guys just don’t get it! It is God that made you grow! The planter and the waterer is not anything! If the preacher is not anything, then God is everything!
At the end of the day the perfect environment does not mean the seed will germinate and grow. God is the one that does that. God is the one that gives faith and allows it to flourish. God is the one who gathers, defends, and preserves his church. By lifting and following a certain elder or pastor you are completely missing the point.
He goes on to say, “He who plants and he who waters are one.” We are just involved in the same work – creating the best environment for growth. It is silly to follow Apollos and not the Paul – If one planted and the other watered, the plant needs both! It is silly to think that you need planting and no one watering, or imagine someone diligently watering a field that never got planted? We often compare preachers. Its what we do. But maybe God gives us the preacher we need exactly at the time of life we need it. he gives us not what we want but what we need. You see each worker has been given his own tasks in Gods field. The field belongs to God – not to us. And he gives to each his own task. This is not Johan’s church, or the consistories church. it is Gods. We are just laborers for this time and place in the midst of his vast historic field.
VGK Bellville is Gods field. There have been many elder and pastors that have come before the ones you see here. And many will come after. Each one has his own gift, his own specific task in the history of this church. Planting, watering, cultivating. And they are all one. Do not exalt the one minister above the other, for all doing the exact same work at the end of the day and that is to make the best environment for maximum growth.
They are all involved in the same task – and each one will receive his wages according to his labor.
Beautiful – there is a reward for those who faithfully carry out their task. A reward that befits the labor. The first reward is present here already to see people converted and grow. Paul says of the church in Thessalonica, “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.” Dear church you are the joy and glory of the elders it is for you that we labor. And the reward of our labor is to see you come to know Christ and the power of his resurrection better, as you unfold your leaves, and the petals of your flowers to the sun of Righteousness, as he ascends over us with healing in his wings.
We are God’s fellow workers, you are Gods field Gods building. Fellow workers. First of all the most important word here is God’s. in the same way as its Gods build, and his field, it is also his fellow workers. So, they belong to him in the sense that they are his servants. But they also are fellow workers (sounergoi). It is like a servant that lives in obedience to the king’s task. In a sense it is the king's work, but he allows his servants to be involved working with him in the kingdom building task!
That is who these elders and deacons are. That is who I am I. Servants of God – co labourers of Christ. That is who Apollos was. It was not some popularity contest. It was all in service to growing the harvest, building the building. That is who you are. You are Gods field, Gods building. In other words, you belong to him. He owns the field; he is the architect.
Fire and Foundations
Paul moves from the image of a farmer and the field to a builder building a building. And he tells the Corinthians that that “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid the foundation, and someone else is building upon it.” I love how he combines the grace of God – and his own responsibility to use the skills that he was given. The grace of God given to us empowers us to build. We have seen again and again grace empowers, it changes us, it motivates us, it makes us alive to live for him. And according to this grace, with the care, precision, confidence of a master builder he laid the foundation.
And what is this foundation? Paul came and preached Christ and him crucified. As he says in verse 11, “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. The foundation is laid already. Don’t try to relay it. If you build on anything else the church will sink and crumble into the sands of time. It must be built on the rock – the cornerstone. Building takes care, precision. You don’t just quickly set up a beautiful temple. He says, “let each one take care how he builds upon it.”
You see it is so easy to cut corners in ministry. To not think deeply about how to build the church. To not prepare and pray about the house visit, and simply go and tell a few stories and share a few platitudes, rather than really listening, educating, and leading them in the grace and knowledge of Christ. The church leadership must think carefully about the materials they are using to build the church. the pastor and those preaching cannot simply tell a few stories, use the hour every Sunday as a filler because it’s simply one of the things we do here.. This is about eternity. And the type of material and the strength of the material and the depth of the material will be proved by how long it last. Is this strong enough to carry the church through the darkest night, and the heaviest storm.
This is why, we as a consistory are dedicated to preaching and teaching the word. This is why we have started an education ministry to apply the gospel to every area of life. This is why we have catechism. That is why we preach through the confessions as well as the word of God. As consistory we care far less about whether you are entertained and more about whether you are growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. Because that is what all this education is built upon. Upon the person and work of Christ. all of life must come into conformity with that. Church leaders should exalt the gospel in the eyes of their people, so Jesus Christ is always the primary focus of the church’s loyalty.
The final day of judgement will reveal what kind of church this is. The day of judgement will reveal the teaching. This side of eternity it may not be so clear, because we judge the leader by human standards of success. On the other side of eternity, it will all be made clear. Just because it attracts the worlds crowd does not mean always that it is holy in Gods eyes. And for those who labor in the Lord in service of the church will receive their reward. But “if anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” This is not about every Christian. In the context of these chapter this is clearly about church leadership.
If a leader’s work is burned up by divine judgment, the true believer himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames of a burning house. Judgment on church leaders is more severe than on ordinary believers (Jas. 3:1). For this reason, leaders must lead the people of God very carefully. Must be students of the word, and love the lord Jesus Christ. Why is this so important because of the value of the church and because of who the church belongs to.
Folly and futility
Strife and divisive loyalty to human leaders is not just contrary to Christian ministry it is contrary to the very nature of the church.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells within you? The word here is not the normal word for temple, but rather “Naos”. The naos was that part of an ancient temple where the god was thought to dwell. The most holy place. The inner room. Remarkably, Paul believes that even these badly mixed-up Christians are still God’s temple where God still dwells.
Just as the name of God dwelt in Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs. 8:29; 2 Chr. 6:2), the Holy Spirit lives in the New Testament temple which is the body of believers gathering in the name of Jesus (Matt. 18:20). Dear church, did you know that you are Gods temple, the place where he has chosen to dwell! And the Spirit of Gods is living within you! This is especially a warning to those church leaders that are not building on the foundation of all. But bring in heresy and schism.
Christians sometimes think that realizing their worth and value as the temple of God and the heirs of Christ’s kingdom always leads to sin and pride. Not so – it can lead to holiness and humility. Paul told us that the church is far too valuable to be abused by self-serving human leaders. We need to look closely at the honor that belongs to the church. When we do, we will see that human leaders are servants of the one Leader who alone is worthy of our total loyalty: Christ. and he is good.
“I just don’t deserve any better.” That is what many women who suffer from physical abuse by their spouses believe about themselves. They think they are unworthy of good treatment. One of the first things counselors must do is convince these women that they are far too valuable to submit to physical abuse. That is also true of the church. The church must be treated as holy. In fact, “if anyone destroys God’s temple. God will destroy him,” If a leader destroys the church spiritually, emotionally, mentally, or physically—God will destroy him (on judgment day). God will take this action because God’s people are God’s sacred dwelling place. Those who mistreat God’s people are mistreating the body of Christ. The Corinthian leaders needed to preserve the unity of the temple, not destroy it with divisions. If they divided the fellowship, they attacked God’s holy temple, his body and his bride.
And finally, he gives us one more strong encouragement! “Let no one deceive! If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he ma become wise.” Don’t let people lie to you. Don’t buy into this human wisdom of placing you hope and trust in a person! Don’t buy into popularity contest. Don’t let your hearts become jealous. Become a fool! A fool means here one who sees a crucified Christ as the gospel message!
The church can so often buy into this consumer culture. Chasing the latest and greatest. Competing with the next church down the road. That’s the wisdom of this world, and it is folly to God. “God knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
Again we are reminded in this book that the kingdom’s coming has turned things upside-down: Human wisdom is foolishness, what seems foolish to common sense is God’s wisdom, leaders are servants, the poor are exalted.
Dear church, let us not boast in mean. Let us not become prideful in our wisdom. Pride will lead to strife. Always. Pride will lead to jealously. Always! Kids fight when they want something. There is jealously when you want something that someone else has. But Paul says! You have all things! There is nothing left to fight about. There is nothing left to be jealous about! It is absolute folly and futility! You’re wasting your time arguing about these things.
He says in verse 21, “For all things are yours.” If only they became people of spiritual wisdom, they would see that everything had been given to them in Christ. They need nothing more! And if you don’t understand the gospel then there will be divisions. But the gospel says to you there is nothing left to fight about.
All things are Christ’s inheritance, and Christ shares that inheritance with all believers (Eph. 1:10–14). The gifts that the Corinthians received in Christ were boundless, they included their pastors Paul, Apollos, and Cephas. These men were gifts from God to the church and should not have become sources for division. On top of that, the world, life, death, present, and future also belonged to them. Christ controls all these things, and he will place them all under the feet of his faithful ones.
We have no basis for division, free reformed church of Bellville. These men are yours. Paul is yours because he belongs to Christ! And today we are still building on his foundation! Christ and him crucified. The church was saying, “I belong to Cephas, or Paul.” But Paul turns the wording upside-down, and says, “no you got it all wrong, they belong to you! The leaders all belong to the Corinthians! “We are yours,” says Paul, even Peter. But this is so only in Christ, and Paul hastily adds that the Corinthians are Christ’s. Only in him do they have all that is listed in v. 22.
Only in losing oneself and belonging to Christ that one gains all things. It is only by not being the center of the world and placing Christ at the center that you gain all things.
Dear church do you realize you are of Christ? Nothing left to fight for No debt remains outstanding except that you love one another with a self-sacrificial love. That is what this book is driving toward in 1 Corinthians 13. He has given you all you need! Finally, Christ is of God; the Son belongs to the Father who rules over all. The blessings of believers in Christ are secure because Christ’s place with the Father is secure. Every Christian: mature and immature is in Christ. The difference is how far they have applied that knowledge. Follow Christ beloved, don’t follow the flesh
Amen