1 Corinthians 3
1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.
2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able {to receive it.} Indeed, even now you are not yet able,
3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
4 For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not {mere} men?
When you see people weighed down by jealousy and fighting with each other then you know that you are dealing with infants in Christ, and not with spiritual men.
When you speak to infants in Christ you must give them milk, not solid meat. Otherwise, you are throwing pearls before swine, and you will only reap heartache.
Milk refers to what God has done for you. Everyone is easily able to digest what God has done for him or her.
Solid food refers to what you can do for God. It refers to sacrificing your time, your money, and most of all, your own will (by saying ‘no’ to your desires and your goals and ambitions when they cross God’s will for you).
When we feed believers with God’s truth we must try to ascertain what kind of food and how much of it they are able to receive. We should not generally give solid food to believers who can only consume milk.
Jesus did that too (Jn 16:12).
Jn 16:12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
Jealousy and strife are things that distinguish between carnal and spiritual people. When we evaluate ourselves, then if we find that we are jealous or argumentative about trivial things then we must humbly admit that we too are infants in Christ.
It is possible to be a believer and yet be quite carnal, falling into all kinds of sin.
The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is that an unbeliever enjoys the sin but the believer does not enjoy the sin.
The difference between a carnal believer and a spiritual believer is that a carnal believer has victory over very few sin but the spiritual believer has victory over more sin.
Which category do you belong to?
Would God have to say to you that He cannot not give you solid food even though you’ve been a believer for many years now?
5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave {opportunity} to each one.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
Paul properly understood that he was nothing.
We must recognize how little man is compared to God. Only God can cause growth. As we minister, let us remember that we can only plant and water. If we see someone whom we have mentored (including our own children) grow in Christ, it is good to remember that God caused the growth and not us. That will help us be humble.
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
There is a reward for our labor though, but it will come from God at the end of the age.
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
Isn’t it wonderful to be able to be called God’s fellow worker? Imagine being partners with God!
Are you a fellow worker or are you just the building?
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
Those who minister to others must be careful how they build. This is really important because it is a total waste to build in vain.
11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
The first rule of building is to build above the foundation of Christ. If you are building your own building with your own foundation it is useless! That is, if you are using your own methods then your foundation is not Christ (i.e. not the word of God) but your own word.
If you build using your own method, and not the method laid down in Scripture then your foundation is not Christ. If the owner wants a two story house, and you build a one story house, is the owner going to be happy? If the owner wants a brick house, and you build a house made of cow dung, is the owner going to be happy? Similarly, if God’s word says to build His church in one way and you do it your own way then God is not going to be pleased.
12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is {to be} revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.
14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
The second rule is to do a quality job.
A quality job is one where your motives and your method are in keeping with God’s expectation. If you are building with a selfish motive, or for your own financial gain, or for your own honor, instead of gratitude to God, then your motive is not pure.
The fire is the judgment seat of God.
The difference between gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw is how easily it gets burnt – that is, how far away from purity are your motives and methods.
15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
We have to be careful because our work can be burned up! We will lose our reward but we’ll still be saved.
16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and {that} the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
There’s building things and there’s tearing down things. Builders get rewarded if they build on the proper foundation and also do a quality job. Other builders miss their reward. But those who tear down a well-built house get destroyed.
People who backbite and gossip and cause confusion and spread false rumors and lie are among those who destroy the temple of God. People who lead others into sin or distract them from the things of God are also among those who destroy. Paul says that God will destroy such people.
If we destroy the reputation of a child of God or do evil to him or her then we are destroying their temple of God emotionally, but this verse is not talking of emotional destruction.
If we kill ourselves then we have destroyed the temple of God physically, but this verse is not talking of physical destruction.
This verse is talking of spiritual destruction. If we corrupt a person and lead him or her into sin, or away from faith in the truth, then we destroy them spiritually and God will destroy us spiritually.
18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, "{He is} THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS";
20 and again, "THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS."
There are people who build the church (with gold and silver and people who build with wood, hay and straw) and there are people who destroy the church. If you think that you can build the church using the wisdom of the world then you will end up destroying the church.
Also, we should not be deceived into thinking that we are wise enough to come up with ideas on how to build the church. Just because a person is rich or influential in this world it doesn’t mean that that person is qualified to build the church.
21 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you,
22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you,
23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.
No boasting in men is permitted. God will use men to bring you to Him through Christ, and to encourage you to become more and more spiritual and become more intimate with God. From the time you became alive to the time you die, while you are in the world, you can expect to be ministered to by the servants of God. But don’t get too attached to them, and don’t boast in them. If you want to boast, boast in God, just as Paul said at the end of Chapter One.
In summary, Paul begins by telling the Corinthians that they shouldn’t be evaluating him and comparing him with others (because they are not fit to do so). He then tells them how a fellow-worker of God will be evaluated. He continues on this in the next chapter.
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