1 Cor.3:1-23
1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
3 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?
4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos,"are you not being merely human?
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw--
13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness,"
20 and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile."
21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,
22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours,
23 and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
The big deal with disunity over church leaders....
The reason: carnal Christianity.
Christian maturity is stunted by carnality.(1-3)
Christian carnality is rooted in vanity.(3-4)
Christian vanity always causes disunity.(3-4)
The reminder: God is the star of the gospel.
The church is God's field.(5-9)
Leaders are the servants but God gives the jobs.
Leaders work the ground but God gives the growth.
Leaders work together because God gives the wages.
The church is God's building.(9-15)
God gives the grace, so leaders build cooperatively.
God gives the gospel, so leaders build accordingly.
God gives the rewards, so the leaders build for eternity.
The church is God's temple.(16-17; cf. Eph. 2:21-22)
God gives His Spirit and each local church gets to host it.
God gives His holiness and each believer must preserve it.
Eph.2:21-22
21in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
The response: Boast only in God!
The wisdom of the world is so deceptive.(18)
The wisdom of God is so dominant.(19-20)
The glory of God is so desired.(21-23;cf. Eph. 1:20-23)
Eph.1:20-23
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Thanks pastor Jim!
Our salvation is eternal!
We are the embodiment of Christ!
There are two kinds of human beings, natural and spiritual.
Natural meaning non-believers in Christ who will stand before Him to be judged of their sin.
Spiritual meaning believers in Christ who have been pardoned of their sin by the blood of Christ.
There are two types of believers, ones who are progressing in their belief and others who stay a babe and do not grow.
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