1 Corinthians Part 3: One of the "Gang"....

In Part 2 of the 1 Corinthians study, the Lord (speaking through Paul's writing) revealed that it is through the
Holy Spirit that He reveals His wisdom to man; while God's [I]existence[/I] can be learned through creation,
the awesomely vast store of the wisdom of the Lord [I]cannot[/I]. Now in Part 3 of our study, Paul continues
writing to the church at Corinth. In doing so, the Lord is trying to convey to them that they are still "infants in
Christ":

[I]"And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, [B]but as to men of flesh, as to infants in
Christ[/B]. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; [B]for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even
now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly[/B]. For since there is [I]jealousy and strife among you, are
you not fleshly[/I], and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another,
“I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?[/I] (1 Corinthians 3:1-4, NASB, emphasis mine)

Paul had to address the fact that the church at Corinth had broken into "factions" (what we would call today
"cliques"), and in doing so, had demonstrated that they possessed no [I]spiritual maturity[/I]. That they
considered themselves of "Apollos" or "Paul" or someone else meant that they identified with mortal men
rather than the eternal Saviour, Jesus Christ, and this was dangerous for two reasons:

1) They were elevating servants who were not greater than the Lord who sent them to positions that held more
sway in their minds than the precious word that they brought to the Corinthians.

2) This was causing believers in the Corinthian church to look down on others who were "not of their group"
and not treat them as members of the Body of Christ.

Spiritual immaturity is a condition that focuses on the [I]flesh[/I] rather than the [I]spiritual[/I]; to recognize
ourselves and place importance on ourselves rather than to place the importance on the Lord and to seek the
spiritual well-being of our brethren:

[I]"What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? [B]Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave
opportunity to each one[/B]. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.[B] So then neither
the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything[/B], [B][U]but God who causes the growth[/U][/B].[B]
Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own
labor[/B]. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building."[/I] (1 Corinthians 3:5-9,
NASB, emphasis mine)

Paul rightly asserts the place of himself and Apollos; they are but servants of the Lord. An aspect of true
spiritual maturity is knowing that we are but servants of a Master who is far greater than us, and that in
comparison, we are [I]nothing[/I]. And it is this that Paul reinforces in his writings to the Corinthians; they
were bolstering themselves in the flesh and in doing so, puffing themselves up against one another.

Paul continues on:

[I]"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. [B]For no man can lay a
foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.[/B] Now if any man builds on the
foundation with[B] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,[/B] each man’s work will become evident;
for the day will show it [B]because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each
man’s work[/B]. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s
work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."[/I](1 Corinthians
3:10-15, NASB, emphasis mine)

The "materials" spoken of in these verses are not literal ones, but are a comparison to the quality and intent of
our service to the Lord. If we "build" with selfless, sacrificial service that seeks to obey the will of God and
further the kingdom, then that is comparable to fine gold, silver and precious jewels. But if we "serve"
selfishly and slackly, building with the spiritual equivalent of wood, hay and straw, then that is considered
worthless and we may as well have "built" with [I]nothing[/I]. In eternity, we will carry nothing with us but
who and what we are; and while we may indeed be saved, the spiritual qualities that are present in each
believer will be tested. It will be at that point that how we walked with the Lord will become evident; did we
strive to learn at His feet, or fight Him all the trip? Did we seek His will, or stubbornly cling to our own? Was
our service for others, or were we self-serving? All of this will be tested, and the truth will be know.

And sadly, some may have [I]nothing[/I] after this test; this is what Paul was trying to warn the Church at
Corinth of. They may have been saved, but they certainly weren't going to have much built upon the
foundation:

[I]"Do you not know [B]that you are a temple of God and that [U]the Spirit of God dwells in you[/U][/B]? If
any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, [B]and that is what
you are.[/B][/I]

This was a cautionary statement; there would always be those who sought to serve their own self-interests,
and in doing so mislead others and use them in the furtherance of their own agendas. Unlike the "unskilled
builders" who used "poor materials", these deliberately attempted to derail believers with false teaching, and
in doing so, actively tried to destroy them. Corinth was a place full of immorality as well as idolatry; it most
certainly would have had its' share of gnostic and heretics who taught half-truths and outright lies. all of which
are far worse than "hay or stubble"...

..and God would not be kind to those who attempted to prey upon His sheep.

Paul continues:

[I]Let no man deceive himself. [B]If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become
foolish, so that he may become wise.[/B] For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is
written, “[B]He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS[/B]”; and again,
[B]“THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.”[/B] So then let
no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or
death or things present or things to come;[B] all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ
belongs to God[/B].[/I]

Paul makes his point here that instead of remaining in our own wisdom, which is [I]spiritual immaturity[/I],
we need to leave that by humbling ourselves to the Lord. In their grouping under "Paul", "Apollos" or "Peter",
all the Corinthians were doing was to trust in their own understanding of things and in elevating Paul and
other servants of the Lord the way they did, they were causing division and strife in the body. They were
doing this in their own understanding, unlike the Lord's true wisdom that we are all but servants and will
account to the Lord for our service. Part of true spiritual maturity is recognizing that not only are we nothing
compared to the Lord, but not raising anyone on a "platform" of adoration. It is recognizing that we serve the
Lord, and by extension others, and that we serve the Lord because he is RIGHT and HOLY, [I]not[/I] because
we want something from Him.

We serve the Lord for WHO He is, not for WHAT He can give us.

In Part 4, Paul goes into more details about being a servant of Christ.

I bid you all peace.

YBIC,

-Robert