“Spiritual Immaturity”
(1 Corinthians 3:1-9)
Series: Chaos & Correction (1 Corinthians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
- Take your Bibles and join me in 1 Corinthians, chapter 3 (page 768; YouVersion).
The choir, having sung to us about the Holy Spirt, prepares us to pick up where we left off at the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Last week we looked at what the Holy Spirit makes possible. He makes possible revelation of God’s truth, communication of God’s truth, and apprehension of God’s truth.
And once we have trusted Christ as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit lives within us and remains with us. So, as the choir sang, “The Spirit wakens us, reigns in us, breathes in us, lives in us.”
So Paul paints the backdrop, or gives the background, for his discussion now in chapter 3 where he’s like, “But here’s the thing, you guys: I can’t speak to you as spiritual people, but as unspiritual people.” And Paul’s concern is that the Corinthians have been acting like those who are not ruled by the Spirit, but are rather ruled by their sin natures. He says, “When you guys are divisive and split up into factions and cliques in the church, you’re acting like folks who are not dominated by the Spirit, but dominated by sin–and that’s just not right!” Let’s read about in here in the first nine verses.
- Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;
3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
- Pray.
Introduction:
Have you ever said to someone, “Don’t be such a baby!” Or has anyone ever said that to you? What do they mean by that? I mean, how does a baby act? Think about it, how does a baby act? In a word: selfishly, right?! “Feed me, burp me, rock me, change me. I’m the center of attention and it’s all about me!”–Babies, just a big mouth on one end and no responsibility on the other!
But we’re okay with that because they’re babies and babies are cute and everything and we know that they’ll grow up, right? They’ll mature and one day–we hope–they’ll start acting “like a grown up.”
So when we say to someone, “Don’t be such a baby!” what we mean is, “Quit acting as if the whole world revolves around you and your self-centered concerns and demand for attention. Grow up!”
Paul is upset with the Corinthians because they have not grown up. They have not matured from spiritual infancy. They are still acting like babies. Rather than being ruled by the Holy Spirit, they are being ruled by their sin natures.
Now, by the way, here is a good place for us to pause and to review the biblical doctrines of justification and sanctification. Justification is the act, a one-time act, whereby God declares the Christian righteous. That is, while the Christian still has a sin nature, God thinks of him as righteous. And the reason God thinks of him or her as righteous is because the Christian is clothed in the righteousness of another, not his or her own righteousness, but he righteousness of Jesus Christ. God regards or reckons us righteous in Christ. It’s on this basis that we know we are okay before God. We don’t fear the judgment because we are forever “in Christ Jesus.” That’s justification. God justifies us, declaring us righteous in Christ.
Now sanctification is that which flows from justification. And unlike justification–a a one-time event–sanctification is a process. So where justification is a one-time declaration by God, sanctification is a process, an ongoing work that continues throughout the Christian’s life. It is the process whereby the Christian grows, matures, in his or her faith. The Christian becomes more sanctified, more holy, more like Jesus, growing in Christlikeness.
So it is important that we understand these two doctrines. Because while we have on the one hand died to sin, sin has not died in us. How many of you know that to be true in your own life? I raise my hand with you. While we have died to sin, sin has not died in us. Sin doesn’t reign as it once did, but it still remains. We still have a sin nature, which means we still have a battle. And the battle is won when we die daily and regularly to our sin natures and submit to the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit within us. So rather than allowing ourselves to be ruled by our sin natures, we must allow ourselves to be ruled by the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-17: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another,
This is what was lacking in the Christian congregation at Corinth and what is true of them, may be true for us. Those of you who are Christians–the majority of this congregation–let me ask you: last week, did you allow yourself to be ruled by your sin nature, or were you ruled by the Holy Spirit within you? There are actions here in the passage that command our attention and our follow-through. Paul says to Christians, number one:
I. We Must Strive for Maturity (1-4)
1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.
The word “carnal” is a word we don’t often use. Other translations, such as the ESV, take the word more literally, “flesh” is what it says. But we usually don’t speak in those terms either. I means, what if a person is bigger than another person, has more flesh, is that bad?! It’s probably best to think of the term as “unspiritual,” or “worldly,” as in, to live “of the world” rather than “of the Lord.”
Now Paul is writing to Christians here, note the address at the beginning of verse 1, “Brethren,” he’s talking about Christian brothers and sisters. So to be “carnal” is to be controlled, Christian, by your fallen nature rather than being controlled by the Holy Spirit. It’s to be dominated by our sin nature rather than being dominated by the Spirit.
Remember: when we trusted Christ as Lord and Savior, who came to live within us? The Holy Spirit came. So Paul will say later in 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God…?”
Now listen. Someone asks, “But why do I struggle so much? Why do I continue to fall into sin? If I have the Holy Spirit, why is life such a battle?!” Listen: It’s one thing for you to have the Spirit, it’s another thing when the Spirit has you. Let me say that again. It’s one thing for you to have the Spirit, it’s another thing when the Spirit has you.
So Paul says in Ephesians 5:18, “Keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit.” One of the reasons we fall into sin is because we fail to continually yield to the Holy Spirit within us. It requires our stopping for a moment and getting still and closing our eyes, and saying, “Holy Spirit, take control, I yield myself right now to Your complete control.” That requires discipline and we must do it several times throughout the day if we’re to avoid sin and live lives of victory. There’s no shortcut, you all. If you want to have the joy of the Lord, and I know you do!, then this is how to do so. Keep on being filled with the Holy Spirt. If you don’t, you will likely fall quickly back under the influence of the old sin nature. Look at verse 2:
2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;
Paul says, “Guys, when I was with you in Corinth, I fed you with milk and not with solid food.” Now, it’s not like milk is one teaching of the Bible and solid food is another teaching of the Bible as though one could categorize all the teachings in these two categories of “milk” and “solid food.” Paul is speaking more in terms of depth and detail. Every doctrine can be understood at a fundamental level and then at a much deeper and detailed level.
What has Paul has been talking about since the mid-point of chapter one? He’s been talking primarily about the cross. He’s talking about the fundamental understanding of the Gospel, the Good News of salvation. You can understand what it means to be saved with a simple childlike faith. The milk of the Gospel is given to you and you can drink it. And as you grow to appreciate the depth and detail of the Gospel, namely the doctrine of salvation, then you begin to grapple with the solid food that it becomes. The biblical teachings of election and the greater workings of God’s sovereignty are meatier portions of the Gospel that, when properly digested by a growing Christian, lead the Christian to greater humility.
Humility comes with maturity. As you and I grapple with the finer details of the cross and the Gospel message we cannot help but become more humble in our faith and more willing to be led of the Spirit.
But what if we are not growing in humility, what if we are not led of the Holy Spirit? Verse 3:
3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
Now here is the problem! In verses 1 and 2 Paul is simply addressing the facts of the past. We would expect new believers to be babies. But here is the problem, verse 3, “You are still carnal!” Present tense. You are, says Paul, “behaving like mere men,” that is, you’e behaving like a lost person. Carnality or worldliness leads to envy and jealousy, and this self-centered focus leads to strife.
Falling back upon the old ways affects your personal life and your public life. It affects your home life, it affects your church life.
When a church member allows himself to be ruled by his sin nature rather than by the Holy Spirit, someone said a Christian like this will one of three things: “He will drop out, move out, or lash out.”
These Corinthians were lashing out at one another. There was envy and strife and division among them. Verse 4:
4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
So Paul is saying, “The way you all are living, it is as if you have not changed. I don’t see humility, I see pride, selfishness, and self-centeredness,” and Paul is calling them to mature living, namely submitting themselves to the control of the Holy Spirit rather than defaulting to the domination of the old, fallen sin nature.
Now the motivation for this is the cross. The motivation for submitting to the Holy Spirit within is to gaze upon the cross. Look back to chapter 1, verses 12 and 13. What does Paul say in these verses? 1 Corinthians 1:12-13: Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Only now does Paul pick back up on this discussion, right? What is in-between from chapter 1, verses 12-13 to where Paul comes back to this in chapter 3? Think about it. What does Paul talk about in-between? He talks about the cross. He talks about Christ crucified, the power and wisdom of God.
The answer to problems in the church, the motivation for living a Spirit-filled life, is to gaze at the cross.
So when we read in these verses about milk and solid food, it’s not so much about these Corinthians changing what they eat, but changing where they look. It’s about looking to the cross, crucifying one’s pride on the cross, picking up the cross daily, and living the cross, dying on the cross. It’s incarnational cruciform living.
We must strive for maturity. Number two:
II. We Must Serve in Humility (5-7)
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
Paul is like, “Look, Apollos and I are just farmhands. That’s all. A plowboy and a water boy! When the field grows, it’s because God did it. He deserves the credit. He receives the glory.”
So every minister is just a farmhand. Every Christian servant is just a farmhand. When good things happen it’s because God did it. He deserves the credit. He receives the glory.
Here is a clarion call to humility in the church. We are all farmhands, equally expendable, equally replaceable, and equally interchangeable.
There is no one person who is more important than another. Again, we all gaze at the cross and we see Jesus there who died for every one of us. To draw upon what Paul has said previously, Jesus died for each of us, a “fool” God uses as a “tool” for His glory.
So humility is the cure for this silly and ungodly favoritism expressed back in chapter 1: “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas” (1 Corinthians 1:12). Paul says, “No, you and I are nothing.” Verse 7:
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
Now that will make you humble. Someone explained it this way: There is “an equality of nothingness” among ourselves. What are you? Nothing. What am I? Nothing.
This doesn’t mean we are insignificant. You are an image-bearer of God. You have worth and significance and God loves you. But in the church setting, and in the work of advancing the Gospel, there are no superstars. We are all equally expendable, replaceable, and interchangeable.
See the application? Someone says, “Well, if I don’t get my way I’m going to take my things and go!” How does a baby act? “I’m going to pick up my toys and go home!”
We must strive for maturity, we must serve in humility, and number three:
III. We Must Stand in Unity (8-9)
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
We are “one.” We work together not as two over here, three over there, some standing with one person, some with another person. We are one. Say that with me, “We are one.”
Imagine two farmhands. One is sowing seed in one location and the other just watering in some other location. The one sowing seed never gets the water and the one watering has no seed on the ground. Sounds silly, right? It’s obvious: if the workers on a farm don’t work together they’ll have nothing to show for their labor.
So imagine a church where one member says, “I don’t care about that person. I don’t care what she does, he does, I’m staying away from her, I’m staying away from him.” And the other person is like, “You just stay over there and I’ll do my thing and you do yours.” Now, what will they have to show for their labor? Nothing.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
Paul, Apollos, and Peter are all equal workers. There’s a fundamental equality of Christians in the church, an “equality of nothingness” to keep us humble. We are fellow workers who belong to God. We’ll come back to verse 9 Lord willing, another time. Paul mixes his metaphors and goes from talking about the church being a field to being a building.
For now, let’s take these actions:
Strive for maturity,
Serve in humility, and,
Stand in unity.
Let’s not just say it. Let’s do it.
Conclusion:
Let’s live by the Holy Spirit, being led of the Spirit. Remember Christians, we have died to sin, but sin has not died in us. While sin no longer reigns, it still remains. We can be dominated by our sin nature or we can be dominated by the Holy Spirit.
It’s one thing for you to have the Spirit, it’s another thing when the Spirit has you.
So our daily prayer is, “Spirit, have me, all of me.” As the choir sang, “Spirit breathe in us, Spirit live in us.”
- Stand for prayer.
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