Transcript

Paul, the apostle Paul, God’s called apostle, preacher, is writing a letter to the church at Corinth, a church that he’s told us very clearly in chapters 1 and 2, is certainly a church called of God, chosen of God, regenerate of God, but unfortunately they’re generally speaking, back slidden, very immature, very carnal, very fleshly. A church filled with troubles and problems and mixed up and out of balance on their doctrines and Paul is writing a letter straightening some things out, he’s spent the first two chapters, chiefly affirming who they were in Christ, and now he’s getting down to some of the specific things that need to be addressed within that church.

1 Corinthians 3, beginning in verse 1, let’s go through verse 7. Now I’ve entitled the message today, “Babes in Christ.” Babes in Christ.

The first thing let’s notice about babes in Christ, at least from this letter to the Corinthians, is their condition. Their condition. And we see that in 1 Corinthians 3:1 through the first part of verse 3. And let me just generally say their condition is one that they are spiritual men, yet they are walking according to the flesh. They are spiritual men in that they are regenerate men, I use men generically, for men, women, everybody. That means they are born again, they’ve had a birth of the spirit of God in their heart, but they’re back slidden and walking according to the dictates and the control and the influences of the old flesh nature. That’s where they are, that’s their condition. Look at it there in verse 1. And he says, and I brethren, cannot speak to you as to spiritual men.

You know so many Baptist churches are the battalions of the babes. Spiritual infants running God’s church like they’d run a business or a social club or some sort of self help society. They come in and they are busy but they are bankrupt, and they go from one dead program to another. Dragging the flesh and the sins of the flesh along with them, like a ball and chain wrapped around their neck. Always exhausted because they are running on the impotent, watered down fuel of the flesh. That’s the way the Corinthians were. You could say, good Baptists in verse 1 instead of and I brethren, and I good Baptists could not speak to you. Now I thank God that some Baptists are growing in the Lord and praise the Lord for that, but too often that’s the way we are. And sometimes there are old baby Baptists. I mean a guy hadn’t done anything spiritual since he got out of the baptistery waters. He’s an old guy, been in church, he’s learned all the system, he’s learned all the lingo, and the verbiage, and he knows all the programs, but he hasn’t grown in Christ at all, he’s an old baby Christian. It had to have been an old baby Christian that coined the phrase, we’ve never done it like that before. What did the fellow say, the seven last words of a dying church, we’ve never done it that way before. No change, don’t do anything different, its dead, we know it, we like it, don’t change it.

Look at verse 2. Verse 2 he says, “I gave you milk to drink and not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it, indeed even now, you are not yet able.” Now when says I gave you milk to drink and not solid food, he’s not talking about two different sets of teachings or doctrines, don’t get hung up on the word doctrine, it just means teachings. He’s not saying, well there are some teachings you give adult Christians and there are some that you give to primary Christians. No, what he means by milk and meat is the same thing we mean in the physical realm, when you take a new born infant, she gets her protein nourishment from the mother’s milk. Yet I as an adult man get the protein nourishment I want preferably from T-bone steaks. But we both need protein, just in a different mode or form. That’s what he means here.

Listen, we are to teach God’s doctrinal truths to children and to theologians. We just instruct in a different mode, and in a different way and use maybe different terminology. In elementary form, we take all the doctrines of truth to children, and then to the fully developed adults in a different form. The Roman Catholic church used to believe, used to teach that there were high truths or high doctrine and low doctrines. And they would tell the people you just obey the hierarchy of the church because you can’t understand the high doctrines, only we can understand them. That’s error. All doctrines should be taught to all people, but just at their level of understanding, as they can experience it and receive it. Now its okay for an infant to receive their protein through milk. Their systems cannot yet handle meat. That’s the way the Corinthians were. They were Pneumatikoi, spiritual, born again, had a spiritual new birth, but they were still functioning according to the flesh and they could not receive spiritual meat. I mean, they were not able to digest it. They would take spiritual food and try to put it through their fleshly digestive tract and they can’t handle it, it would come back up. And when you teach them the meat of truth, the meat of God’s word, they think you are doing something bad for them, they didn’t like it. They did not appreciate it.

I was talking to a good Christian brother on the phone the other day and a few years ago I had done one of our True Church Conferences in his church. And it just wasn’t well received, it just didn’t go over well. I tell you, I’ve preached in some meetings where nobody moves and nothing happens. You just be thrilled if some little girl would get up and go to the bathroom during the invitation, just somebody do something. And I was talking to him on the phone just the other day, and he mentioned, he said, hey, I may want you to come back and do a conference for me. And I said, well, listen, I said, the first time I was there, I must have missed God or something, nothing happened. He said, Jeff what you did was exactly what we needed, it just went right over their head. And it was just simply basic principles that you and I are putting into practice, and I’m not saying we’re the spiritual elite, that’s not the point, but I want to tell you, its the most frustrating thing in the world, to constantly have to water things down and put it in milk formula for those who are still on the crib roll but should be teachers by now. If you don’t get it down there in formula for them and rock them and cue them and pat them and give them the bottle, they’ll just bow up and say, I’ll go somewhere else. These baby Christians are usually looking for the best show in town, instead of a solid Bible church. Something to thrill and appease the flesh.

Well, he says, there’s the condition, and in the first phrase of verse 3, let me just point that out, “for you are still fleshly”, that phrase still fleshly means fitted to the flesh. Your condition is that you fit a fleshly man more than a spiritual man. Now you are spiritual, you are born again, but you are acting like you are not. You are acting like you are just a mere man whose never had the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

So we’ve seen the condition of the babe in Christ. Notice next he shows us the conduct. The conduct of the babe in Christ, beginning in verse 3. The last part, down through verse 4. Now what Paul is going to show here is that their conduct proved they were functioning according to the flesh and they were not spiritual adults. Verse 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.” Now first of all he says, the first thing I see in your conduct is jealousy. And that proves you are functioning according to the flesh. This word jealousy, the root word means a zeal. It means they had a zeal for this thing that they were about.

Now let me tell you what jealousy is not. Jealousy is not desiring what is rightfully yours. If you desire what’s rightfully yours and somebody else has it, that’s not jealousy. For example, the Old Testament says God was jealous for Israel. Israel was rightfully his. Paul in 2 Corinthians tells this church I’m jealous for you. And that’s not an ungodly jealousy. Jealousy in that sense can be good. A second thing jealous is not. It is not wanting something that someone else has. It can be proper admiration to see a person who has a good relationship with their child, or a good marriage, or whatever, and say, I admire that, I would love to have that, that in itself is not jealousy. Really the jealousy here means I want what somebody else has so that they will not have it. That’s jealousy. I want it, not just because I admire it and would like to have it also, but I don’t want them to have it. That selfish zeal to elevate oneself and put others down at the same time. That’s the jealousy that the Corinthians had, and notice how they were living out this jealousy in verse 4, “for when one says, I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos, are you not mere men.”

Paul’s point is, they had this old party spirit, we’ve seen it before, we’ve seen it already, one group say, man, we’re in the real spiritual group, we’re of Paul. The other group says, no, you are not, we’re the ones who really have it, we’re of Apollos. And they got this from their old Greek background, their Greek culture had all sorts of philosophers and you went around talking about which philosopher you followed. Its all it is a carnal zeal to exalt self and put others down.

In James 3:16, James said: “for where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there is disorder and every evil thing.” Now in verse 3, the last part he says, “are you not fleshly and are you not walking like mere men.” The word men there is anthropoi, it just means common ordinary unregenerate, non-born again mankind. Now Paul said in chapters 1 and 2, I affirm you, I give you loving and strong affirmations of who you are in Jesus, you are already his, you are set apart from him, that happened from the foundation of the world, but now in chapter 3 he gets down to the reproving and the rebuking that a pastor has to do when he leads a people.

These Corinthians had drifted off into preacher worship. They formed their little sects and their little groups around the preacher that they worshipped. And notice after you get in the flesh and you start following according to the flesh, you always become a cry baby. You always become a cry baby. Notice what they were crying. One would cry I’m of Paul. The other ones would cry, well, we’re of Apollos. Crybabies. And you know we still have crybabies in the church today. Still have folks crying out. Some will cry my little girl didn’t get the solo in the musical. A crybaby. Some of them cry, well, I didn’t get to be a deacon down at the church in the last election. Some of them cry, I don’t like the color of the new auditorium. Some of them cry, well, he’s not like our other preacher. Some of them cry, well, I didn’t get on that key committee. Some of them cry, well, I’m just going to take my stuff and I’m going to go to another church. Crybabies.

Now the Corinthians were crying out about which group they lined up with. Now Baptists don’t seem to have a particular problem with preacher worship. We maybe don’t have that, but we can have divisive groups in the church. And a lot of times these groups are fine and wonderful and good in and of themselves, but when the movement you get with is more important than the Master, then you can start forming divisions and jealousies and strife and hurting the body of Christ. I just thought of some of the groups that could be used to cause divisions and I’m scared to ever do this because I might miss your group. But I’m going to do it anyway. Some are of the women’s missionary union group, and if you’re not in that group, you’re just not spiritual. Some are of the brotherhood group, or the mission society group. Some are of the choir group. Choir’s those anointed of God, we know we are godly. Some are of the youth group. In other words, if you are not pushing the youth program, well, you are just not about what God’s about in our church.

Then there can be that group that’s the home school group. Another group could be the Christian school group, then the ones that really have the smarts, the public school group. They really have the understanding of what’s important. Then you can have a group that’s the spirit filled group, they like the signs and the wonders of the spirit. Nobody else is spiritual, like they are. Then you have the praise chorus group. They done found out to really be spiritual and be contemporary, you don’t sing the old hymns, you’ve got to sing praise choruses. And then you have the group that says women should not wear pants group. If anybody that doesn’t line up with us, then they are just not spiritual, they are just not right. Then you have the religious political group. If you are not out passing out flyers and working for the Christian coalition, and the candidates that stand for biblical values, why you can’t hardly even be saved. Then you have the community Bible study group. If you are not in our Bible study group on Thursday, well you can’t really be honoring God like we are.

Then you have the promise keepers group, you don’t go to Atlanta and get that chill running up and down your spine, and all those men sing, you can’t be spiritual at all. Then you’ve got the soul winners group, if you are not winning people to Jesus like we’re winning people to Jesus, why, you’re not spiritual. Then you got the anti abortion group, if you are not out there getting locked up in jail with us every week, then you must not love Jesus like we love Jesus. Then you got the anti pornography group, if you hadn’t called Don Wildman and found out the 64 stores you can’t buy stuff from because they are associated with pornography, you can’t be spiritual, like our group is spiritual. Then you got the no birth control group, if you are not convicted like we are, about birth control, then you can’t be spiritual. Then you’ve got the well “that’s not Southern Baptist” group. Well, Southern Baptists doesn’t do it that way and that’s not spiritual if you don’t do it that way. Then you’ve got the home cell group group, if you are not having home cell groups and meeting and ministering, then you are not spiritual. Then you’ve got groups like the Amway group, if you are not in Amway, then you can’t be spiritual, you can’t be with God.

Now did I miss your group? Now the point being, any of all of these are wonderful and we need these fellowships, and we need these encouragements, but we’re talking about nonessentials here. You be cautious that the little thing that you get on, as good as it may be, doesn’t become a divisive, jealous, strife building element within God’s church. We have to be careful, don’t get hung up on the movement and miss the Master like they did at Corinth. Look at verse 5 of our text. Paul says: “What then is Apollos, and what is Paul? Servants through whom you believe, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.” In other words, he’s saying, Paul and Apollos, we are on the same team, we’re not the leaders of these parties or these set groups, we are servants of one Master, we’re vessels that God used to flow his gospel truth through, so that you could believe and be saved.

I like the way its worded there, the last part, in the New American Standard, it says, “even as the Lord gave to each one.” Now the point Paul is making is, I didn’t save you. Apollos didn’t save you, I didn’t forgive your sins and Apollos didn’t forgive your sins, get us out of this thing. Apollos and I didn’t discover the doctrines that we teach to you, don’t give us any credit, God revealed them to us. They are not ours, we didn’t bring the message of salvation. God brought it through us. The power that made us successful didn’t come from us, it came from the Lord. Stop all this party spirit stuff, get back to the Lord of the church.

You know I’m so grateful for the privilege I’ve had of being in this church for 16 or so years, and its so true that our first pastor, Bob Pitman, as Paul said, I planted and Apollos watered, I can really see that. Because Dr. Bob Pitman planted here. Planted some great seeds and foundational things that were so important. Much like when we started building that new auditorium, so many of you would come up to me week after week, even month after month, and say, they are not doing anything yet, what’s going on. Well, they were, you just couldn’t see it. There was enormous amount of work going on in that dirt, building the foundation. Without which none of the structure could go up. And that’s what Dr. Pitman did, he built a grand and glorious foundation, and then I have been able to come along and many of you of course with me, and build on that foundation. But Bob Pitman’s not anything and I’m not anything, but God who caused the growth. Just servants, just tools that God uses. Don’t look at the laborer, look at the Lord. That’s what God would have us to understand.

Look at verse 7, he makes this real clear: “So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” We are not anything. Paul’s not anything, Apollos is not anything, God is the only one that matters. We were sitting in our pastor’s council meeting the other day and just talking about different things, and I don’t know how the subject came up, somehow the subject came up about me leaving, or maybe a pulpit committee had contacted me, very few are that crazy, but every now and then it happens. And we were just talking about that. And I said, something about well, I don’t know if God would ever lead me away and I don’t know what ya’ll would do, and one of the guys on the council looked at me and said, if God leads you away, he’ll give us somebody better. Well, at first I thought well. Then I thought, well, glory. That’s what I’ve been ministering and praying bout that they would love Jesus. Love Jesus.

Now we know the word teaches you love your pastor, you hold him in high esteem, you respect, and you do that abundantly, I’m very blessed by that. But the Lord is the important one. He can raise up any, he can take a rock out here and replace me if he wants to. God is the one that’s important. Not the person. Look to the Lord, not the laborer.

Now let me in closing, give you three concluding thoughts, alright. Three concluding thoughts as we are closing down here. Three concluding thoughts, just building on this principle.

Let’s stay more connected to the Lord than to his laborer. John MacArthur, probably the best expositor in shoe leather, on planet earth. Love him, believe in him. Bill Gothard, boy, a man that’s taught me many great truths. I remember what a friend of mine did, I had only been a Christian a couple of years, and I was still immature, in so many ways, still am in some ways, but I was really immature in a lot of ways, in those days, and I came home from the Bill Gothard seminar, and every time I’d turn around, I’d look at my Christian buddy and say, “well, Bill Gothard said this.” The next time he’d say, I’d say, “now Bill Gothard said that.” He finally looked at me and said, “quit quoting Bill Gothard to me, what’s the word say.” Now Bill Gothard is a man of God, but I needed that. Some of you have me on a pedestal. And you need to honor me as your pastor, but you only honor in ultimate sense the word of God and the Lord of the word. Let’s honor the word more than his laborer.

Some of you if I say something a little bit negative about your hero that you watch on TV oh, you just get all out of shape. And it may be just the Holy Spirit giving you a check up, or you are a little bit too connected to the laborer than you are the Lord. I’m going to tell you, I need correction. John MacArthur needs correction. I believe there are some on TV that need correction a whole lot. God’s laborers can be imperfect, we’re not so offended about that, as a matter of fact, that takes me to my next thing. Be more connected to the Lord than to your loved ones. Be more connected to the Lord than to your loved ones. Jesus said: “if you don’t love me more than your fathers and mothers and brother and sisters, you can’t be my disciple.” They tell us the Greek scholars tells us that word love there means to prize less dearly, it means you certainly love your loved ones, but in comparison you don’t love them at all compared to the way you love Jesus.

You’ve got to love the Lord more than the laborer, you’ve got to love the Lord more than your loved one, and then lastly, and thirdly, you’ve got to be more connected to the Lord than connected to this life. More connected to the Lord than to this life. And I believe this is where the Corinthians had their problems. Really, they were living too much for this world. They wanted the glory down here. That’s really what was behind their “I’m of Paul” and “I’m of Apollos” stuff. They weren’t so enamored with Paul and Apollos as they were self. Because what’s a guy saying when he says, “I’m of Paul, and we’re the spiritual ones,” he’s saying, “I’m smart. Boy, I really got insight, because I picked Paul.” You see, its exalting self, is all it was. They were really just connected in and living for this world, they wanted the glory down here, and they just had this prideful party spirit of exalting self, and nobody else is spiritual like me and my group is spiritual. Simply put, they were loving this life and the pride of this life more than they were loving the Lord.

The simple solution to all of it, he says, you are baby Christians. Your condition is that you’re Pneumatikoi people, spiritually reborn, but you haven’t grown, you are still functioning like the lost man would function. You are just function according to the dictates of the flesh. You have been spiritually reborn, but the old flesh nature is there, and when the flesh nature pulls or dictates, you are yielding to that instead of the spiritual principles and truths and the pull of the Holy Spirit in your life. He said, your conduct, what we see out of that kind of a fleshly walk is, and you watch it, any time a church has a significant number of people who are walking according to the flesh, there will be divisions, jealousy and strife. Mark it down. Go to your nearest Baptist church and watch for a couple of weeks, and you’ll see it.

Now folks, I don’t know why, and I’m going to give God all the credit and you should too, but we don’t have that stuff. If we’ve got it, I don’t know about it and I don’t want to know about it. I honestly don’t know of little groups gathering because they think they are ahead of everybody else. But if you have a church with enough people who are Pneumatikoi people, spiritually reborn, but walking according to the flesh, you will have division, strife and jealousy. That’s the way their conduct was.

And then lastly, he gives them that correction. Stop looking at Paul, stop look at Apollos, you need to be connected to the Lord, and not the laborer, not any loved ones, and not this life, and be one in the Lord.