1 CORINTHIANS - Chapter 3 - "GOD GIVES THE INCREASE"
“GOD GIVES THE INCREASE”
1 CORINTHIANS – Chapter 3
Sunday Evening Service
August 12, 2012, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
The meat of this chapter is hard chewing! However, as Bible teachers, we can’t be honest brokers unless we preach and teach the Full Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thank God that the saints in our church body are mature in the Spirit.
In view of the impending move of our church building, my enemies will judge me in the days to come by Verses 13-15: “Every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is…”
My daughter Kelly blessed me this week with a word of vindication:
Mom,
I know this has to be a hard time for you. The physical church itself has always been very special to you. Every challenge has a reason. Maybe this is the challenge for you and your congregation to realize your strength is not in the building itself, but the people within in it, (and the presence of the Lord).Love you.
Yes, as a church body we have yielded ourselves to the will of God. If the church is to be moved, then let it be. If we are to rent another property, then let it be. However, if the church is moved, we want to stay with the building because we know from our 13-years of experience of enjoying this property that unless the congregation maintains the property, it will not be maintained.
Like my daughter, Paul goes on and vindicates me that the true measure of ministry which is the love of God; people’s lives touched by His Holy Presence; loving one another; living; worshiping and serving the Lord in His Kingdom.
Those who know me know that I will not be fazed or hurt by those who will judge me. 1 Cor. 2:15: “He that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”
Alice Patterson commented today of the liberty and ease with which she was able to minister in this church. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.
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1 Corinthians – Chapter 3:
Paul’s exposition in chapter 2 of the comparison of the spiritual and unspiritual brings him to another fundamental cause of the dissensions which threaten to wreck the Corinthian church: gross carnality.
I believe this Word is applicable today to the apostasy of Christendom in the U.S.A. The division and strife in this nation would change if there was an awakening of that which is spiritual in the church. To affirm Alice Patterson’s message from this morning, this nation is polarized with the division of our two political parties. The division is religious and racial within that divide as well as political.
Our rights, liberties, pursuit of happiness, health and well-being come from God, not from our government.
Paul is preparing to castigate his readers. Yet his rebuke is softened by that recurring term of affection, brothers.
1 Cor. 3:1-2: “And I, brothers, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for until now, you were not able to bear it, nor or you able to bear it now.
The Corinthians at conversion had been babes in Christ, and for that there is no censure. However, the passage of time had seen no growth; but rather, a fleshly attitude dominated the believers, expressing itself in jealousy and strife. They continue to live on the purely human level of the lower nature.
“I could not speak unto you”; refers to Paul’s initial visit when the church was founded. Then they were not spiritual, i.e., the mature of 2:6: “we speak wisdom among them that are mature”. They were understandably infants (nipioi), worldly (sarkinoi), therefore received milk. “You are not able to bear it”; describes a wholly inexcusable condition. By now they should have grown up. They were still worldly. This is indicative not just of their state, but of their attitude, fleshly, and wholly inexcusable.
Hebrews 5: 11-14: “Of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing. By this time, you ought to be teachers, you have need that someone teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and are those who have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. Strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Here flesh for Paul has a moral and ethical significance. Romans 7:5: “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.”
The use of “flesh” in the New Testament is varied:
- Material flesh--1 Cor. 15:39: “All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fish and another of birds.”
- The body itself—1 Pet. 4:1: “Forasmuch as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.”
- Medium of relationship---Mark 10:7-8: “A man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; the two shall be one flesh; so they are no more two, but one flesh.”
- The divinity of Christ---Jn. 1:14: ‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
- Seat of sin--- Paul’s characteristic usage for man’s evil nature, as opposed to the higher one.
Sin is not inherent in flesh, as the Gnostics held, but its power is manifest in the flesh. Both jealousy and quarreling is works of the flesh.
1 Cor. 3:3: “For you are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as men?
Three sources of sin:
- Thoughts: envying, state of the soul.
- Words: strife, contention in words.
- Deeds: divisions, sin in conduct.
The envying led to strife and evil speaking, and that led to divisions and fixed parties.
Gal. 5: 19-20: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like; of this I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
There are many Christians who have not overcome one or more of these “works of the flesh”. However, because they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are saved and going to Heaven. The Lord covers them with His Blood until they grow-up in Christ. Yet, until these “works of the flesh” have been overcome, we will not live, move and have our being in the Spirit walking in the fullness of blessing of the Kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
1 Cor. 3: 4-9: “For while one says, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither he that plants is any thing, nor he that waters, but God that gives the increase. He that plants and he that waters are one; and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God; you are God’s husbandry, you are God’s building.”
Paul is teaching the true function of the apostles. None of them have varying schools of thought or conflicting loyalties. They are God’s ministers (servants-- diakonoi). As servants they are insignificant fellow workers for God, who are called to labor according to His direction. Together their activities in the “unity of the Spirit and bond of peace” will bring forth the increase for God’s Kingdom.
They are nothing. God is all!!!! For those who think they were uniquely carved out of their own beauty, brains and charisma for Kingdom work, this meat is hard to chew. Especially if one thinks they have overcome by their own righteousness.
What after all who is Apollos? Who is Paul? The Lord assigned, empowered, and equipped His Servants by the Holy Spirit to do the work of the Kingdom. We are not doing anything other than the ministry granted to each of us. God becomes our paymaster! When we hire on for a secular job, we are not doing anything extraordinary as long as we do the job we were hired to do. That is what we are supposed to do. It is the same way for ministers of the gospel. We are simply doing what we are supposed to do.
One plants. One waters, but it is God who gives the increase.
All ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are to work as a team---literally are one on the same level. Yet each of us individually is answerable to God. We are God’s fellow-workers with one another in God’s service. Our unity is for the work of God’s field or God’s building.
3: 10-15:”According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. Let every man take heed how the builds thereupon. No other foundation can any man lay than this which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abides which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
Paul has laid a good foundation---Jesus Christ and him crucified. The local believers in Corinth have the responsibility for raising the structure. For good or bad they will incorporate the equivalents of gold, silver, etc., according to the lives they individually live.
The final Day of reckoning will come, involving not the salvation of those who built, but the gain or loss in the Kingdom. Rewards are given not according to success in labor, but according to motive and faithfulness in service (Mt. 6: 2, 5, 16).
“According to the grace of God” is an enduement of divine power. “A wise builder” is used of skilled craftsmen who built the tabernacle in Exodus 35. “I laid a foundation” refers to Paul’s 18-month stay. Someone else is doing the building. That which is valuable, true and enduring is contrasted with the worthless, shallow and inferior qualities of Christian conduct and service.
Paul and Apollos will receive wages according to their work, so will the one who builds, according to what survives the testing fire, as one escaping through the flames.
“But each one should be careful” stresses the personal responsibility of each one taking part. It is not merely the doctrinal structure of the church that is here in view, but all aspects of its corporate life.
Works of natural man:
1. False doctrines.
2. Conduct related to others.
3. Envying.
4. Strife.
5. Divisions.
6. Bigotry.
7. Personal ambition.
8. Love of Praise
9. Pride of denomination.
10. Pride of talents.
11. Love of authority.
1 Cor. 3: 16-17: “Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
The word for temple here is (naos) which means the holy place and holy of holies, rather than (hieron) which is the whole temple area. In the Book of Revelation, chapter 11: an angel is told to measure the temple of God…but the outer court is not to be measured.
In Ezekiel, the man with the measuring rod is instructed to measure the whole temple. I believe the reason the outer court is left out in the Book of Revelation is because it is only in the Holy Place that we received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (the sanctuary of His Presence). In Ezekiel, the Holy Spirit had not yet descended in fire to indwell the believer and we become the Temple. The Presence of the Lord was in the Temple. Now the Presence of the Lord is in each individual. Again here in 1 Cor., the outer court is not in view. Paul is telling them that dissension and strife will mar the holy shrine of the temple within us.
Rev. 21:14: “Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
1 Cor. 16:19: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God; and you are not your own?
That blows the ideology of, “if it feels good, do it”.
Anyone who divides and causes division in a church is marked. God will deal with those responsible. The enormity of the sin of dissension in God’s sight is clear.
Let no Christian join any human party or take up the cause of any man who divides the Body of Christ (Rom 16:17).
1 Cor. 3;18-23: “Let no man deceive himself, if any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”
The situation is urgent. Paul is preaching to the Corinthians in the face of impending judgment.
From the vain boasting of men he turns them to the immeasurable greatness of their possession in Christ. They are not to be gripped within the narrow confines of a party/denomination. All teachers, apostles, pastors, prophets and evangelists are theirs. All culminates in that unity of being “of God” in which they are all partakers. To understand this is true wisdom
“It is written” is a quotation from Job. 5:13. God has a strong grip on the slippery cleverness of the wicked. Ps. 94:11: “The Lord knows the thoughts of man that are vanity.”
“For all things are yours,” All that Christ has—all are yours---all the promises---all the blessings---all the favor---all the Grace; gifts, love, provision, peace, righteousness and Glory of the Christ ---all are yours---involving all circumstances whether in the present or the future---you are Christ’s—possessing all things.
No one can say that his possession of, or in, Christ is greater than another. All individually and equally are members of Christ’s Body. Christ is One with the Father, and Holy Spirit. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit---so we have all and are in all with the trinity.
Phil 2:5-6: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God…”
John 14: 20: “In that day, you shall know that I am in my Father, you in me, and I in you.”
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V. I entered into the labors of The International Bible commentary, F. F. Bruce. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.