1 Corinthians 3

[Music] as it is recognizing in the front [Music] welcome to branch together today we are continuing in the book of first Corinthians and we will be in Chapter three we'll dive in in just a moment but before that we're gonna take a moment right father we thank you for your power thank you for your power that was at work in the cross of Jesus Christ and in his resurrection we thank you for your spirit which gives us a deep a powerful wisdom that's different from the wisdom we've learned in the world around us god help us understand this help us understand your spirit more help us rest in your power more I pray that you give us a strength to continue in coming to your Scriptures through BT or through other methods but that we would we would be a people that seek to learn and know more and then to live in in your power and your strength and your goodness I pray for those who are hurting who are struggling today I pray that there would be something for them that would connect and draw them closer to you I pray for those who were joyful today and excited about the day that this would be a moment a time that they would connect more with you as well Lord as always we pray that your spirits at work as we listen as we read as we discuss it's in your name we pray amen 1st Corinthians chapter 3 for my part brothers and sisters I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh as babies in Christ I gave you milk to drink not solid food since you were not yet ready for it in fact you are still not ready because you are still worldly for since there is envy and strife among you are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans for whenever someone says I belong to Paul and another I belong to a palace are you not acting like mere humans what then is a palace what is Paul they are servants through whom you believed and each has the role the Lord has given I planted Apollo's watered but God gave the growth so then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth now he who plants in he who waters are one and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor for we are God's co-workers you are God's field God's building according to the grace that was given to me I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder and another builds on it but each one is to be careful how he builds on it for no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down that foundation is Jesus Christ if anyone builds on the foundation with gold silver costly stones wood hay or straw each one's work will become obvious for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire the fire will test the quality of each one's work if anyone's work has been has built survives he will receive a reward if anyone's work is burned up he will experience loss but he himself will be saved but only as through fire don't you yourselves know that you are God's temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you if anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him for God's temple is holy and that is what you are let no one deceive himself if anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age let him become a fool so that he can become wise for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God since it is written he catches the wise in their craftiness and again the Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are futile so let no one boast in human leaders for everything is yours whether Paul or Apollo's or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come everything is yours and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God okay I might sound redundant today and that's because Paul is redundant in this chapter you might think oh yeah you said that yesterday I bet the people reading this letter the first time probably thought oh yeah Paul we get it we aren't of Apollo or of Paul we to know Christ and him crucified and the power of the Spirit yes Paul you've already said that in Chapter 1 you've already said that in chapter 2 Paul we think we got it but I think Paul knows something I think he knows that our natural default self is going to go back to divisions that we're gonna go back to attaching ourselves to people we like we're gonna go back to the way kind of the world works right when you're connected to someone powerful and cool you're excited that gives you energy I think a simple illustration in sports when you when you're a big sports fan I'm a big baseball fan you attach yourself to that team right so if someone asks how the Yankees did you said we won like you're a part of that thing that's what we do in life we attach ourselves to winners and and that makes us feel better it makes us feel like winners so Paul is going to stick with this theme and Paul is hitting it again today from a different angle so today in Chapter three he chastises and maybe shames them a bit he calls them infants who aren't ready to move on to deeper things he's saying when you say I follow Apollo you aren't moving towards the power of new life in the spirit you were living in an old merely human way of thinking it's like today we we are attaching ourselves to political parties or a club you think I'm part of this I'm part of that no that's not how it is in the power of Christ take some time today if you have some few moments go read Ephesians chapter two go read Galatians chapter three the dividing walls are being torn down in Christ in Christ the dividing walls between Jews and Gentiles between slave and free between male and female they're all being broken down and when we attach ourselves to this group or this organization or to a palace or to Cephas or DePaul we're building up divisions again we're building up dividing walls we're saying I'm part of this tribe I'm part of this and Paul saying no Christ blows through all of that he breaks down all of that and the body of Christ is one body in Christ and to do that in Chapter three to explain that Paul moves into kind of a mixed illustration to explain these leaders like a Pallas and Paul and how they're all part of God's work and how they should be seen it's a bit of a funny mixing of an illustration part of me likes to think he's very energized and fired up as writing this letter so he's probably writing fast and throwing some things together um but he's saying listen nopales Paul we are servants I planted some things right I came I shared the Gospel message a policy mandate some caring some watering but God is doing the growing I like this illustration I'm trying to garden for the the first time in my life I grew some potatoes and pulled them up a few weeks back and now I have this empty plot where potatoes used to be I decided to try to grow something else it's the end of July it's kind of a weird time to plant stuff but so I tried to find something that I could plant at the the end of July that would work I decided to plant some giant pumpkins it's kind of a crazy idea I don't actually have space if these pumpkins work they're gonna take over everything because they could be like 50 or to 100 pounds but I went online ordered 25 pumpkin seeds for a dollar got them and stuck them in the ground I planted a seed right I water it occasionally it's been raining so I barely water it and these pumpkin seeds grow enormous leaves and they're vining and they're getting bigger every day they might vine 450 feet now I say I'm growing pumpkins I'm not really growing pumpkins I put a seed one inch in the ground I bought some decent soil and I throw some water on it occasionally the plants are huge every day I look at it and I should be thinking God makes pumpkins right how is that huge plant coming out of a seed and soil and Sun that's insane and that's how we should all see what we do I'm Paul saying like I did some of this a Polish did some of this we did a little piece here but God's doing this God's in charge of this God's controlling this God's making this move yes we should say like Paul according to the grace given me I went out and I did some faithful things God called Paul and equipped Paul and Apollo's to go do some incredibly good important faithful things said go plant a church go explain the faith go care and develop some people but then step back and say look at this God is growing this garden God is building this building which is the other illustration Paul merges into this chapter okay then Paul moves to the temple illustration to finish this chapter and listen to these words I love these are so such good words I want you to hear them again do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you if anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him for God's temple is holy and you are that temple 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 for the wisdom of this world is folly with God for it is written he catches the wise and their craftiness and again the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile so let no one boast in men for all things are yours whether Paul or Apollo's or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future all are yours and you are Christ and Christ is God you are God's temple think about that think about all that means how you should live how thankful and excited you should be what an incredible insane calling that is if you are the temple if the local church isn't dwelt with God's holy spirit what are we doing boasting in people right what are you doing boasting in people we are in Christ and Christ is in God and the Spirit is in us and we are God's temple don't ever boast in men why should we say I'm a part of this great thing or this leader is so great and he inspires me and makes me feel good and it's all cool that's so lame compared to by the power of the Holy Spirit I and my church family are part of the temple of God that's so lame compared to I belong to Jesus I am in him and he is in God the Father and I'm connected and empowered by the Almighty God of the universe that's that's better right that's better than check out my cool Church that's better than check out this cool guy who talks good we're the temple of God believe that think about that own that that's all for today tomorrow we'll dive into chapter 4 take care [Music] [Music] [Applause] you [Music]

Channel: Branch Together

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Id: F2rH2L0d9FE

Length: 12min 25sec (745 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 21 2018