WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.000 Please turn up in your Bibles, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, page 953 in the Black Church Bibles. 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:21.920 If you need one, you're at the door. Some of you will know the name Roy Keane. He was a well-known footballer, played for Man United, played for the Republic of Ireland. 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:31.420 He retired from football and went into punditry. And one of his great moments of punditry, and there are actually many great moments of Roy Keane punditry, 00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:37.640 he made a couple of seasons ago when a Liverpool player had gone to remonstrate with the linesman. 00:00:38.500 --> 00:00:45.320 And they cut to the studio where the pundits were all sitting, and they were talking about whether this was an appropriate thing to do. 00:00:45.980 --> 00:00:53.480 And Roy Keane said, why is he doing that? What a baby. I mean, what a big baby. 00:00:54.780 --> 00:01:01.180 And they were all kind of a bit shocked that he'd said, the thing about Roy Keane's punditry is he says what everybody else is thinking. 00:01:01.420 --> 00:01:09.859 He says it out loud. What a big baby, he said. And then he paused, and they all sort of looked at each other awkwardly, and he said, baby. 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:17.620 And they all fell apart laughing. And they laughed because it was awkward, and they were trying to release tension. 00:01:18.140 --> 00:01:21.820 Because it is, when you think about it, it is a pretty scathing put-down. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:29.359 To call someone a baby, or to tell someone to grow up, is a humiliating insult. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:36.480 And yet, it is exactly that language that the Apostle Paul uses with the Corinthian church this morning. 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:39.980 Chapter 3, verse 1 says, 00:01:40.620 --> 00:01:47.200 My brothers could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:49.840 You're behaving like babies. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:59.280 He's saying, because you're unspiritual, because you're people of the flesh, you're behaving like babies. 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:03.719 It's a humiliating insult, and yet these are the words that the Apostle uses. 00:02:03.859 --> 00:02:04.960 Why does he speak like this? 00:02:05.020 --> 00:02:07.020 Well, because, verse 3, he's saying, 00:02:07.019 --> 00:02:16.620 He's coming back to the factions and the rivalry that we saw in chapter 1. 00:02:16.699 --> 00:02:21.159 They've grown up in the church around these different ministers and their different approaches to ministry. 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:21.800 Verse 4, 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:25.519 There are some who say, I follow Paul. Others say, I follow Apollos. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:28.699 Factions have formed in the life of the church. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:34.939 Rivalries have begun between these groups, and it has led to jealousy and strife in the church. 00:02:34.939 --> 00:02:39.319 It's interesting that this is what causes Paul to be so direct. 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:50.400 This jealousy and strife in the life of the church and their relationships together is what he describes as unspiritual, as fleshly, kind of of the flesh. 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:53.199 When we think of that, we think of nights out and soho. 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:56.039 That's what somebody's talking about when they say, oh, it's very fleshly. 00:02:56.099 --> 00:03:00.620 That's why they talk about the flesh pots of the West End, that kind of thing. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:03.819 But Paul's actually talking about jealousy and strife. 00:03:04.939 --> 00:03:06.960 He's not speaking to unbelievers in the congregation. 00:03:07.219 --> 00:03:08.900 He's talking about immature Christians. 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:12.379 They're behaving in this fleshly, worldly way. 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:13.680 They're babies. 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:15.740 Babies. 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:19.280 But they are babies in Christ, you see, he says. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:27.860 It is possible, we need to see, for a church to be established and to grow, for that church to be blessed and gifted by God, 00:03:28.460 --> 00:03:31.420 and for those people in the church to care about their theology. 00:03:31.580 --> 00:03:36.520 We see that throughout the book of 1 Corinthians, and for them to think that things are going well, 00:03:36.979 --> 00:03:43.099 and for the apostle to call them worldly babies when it comes to reality. 00:03:43.099 --> 00:03:45.180 They see themselves one way. 00:03:45.379 --> 00:03:46.780 They think of themselves as mature. 00:03:46.939 --> 00:03:50.680 They think of themselves as really careful about the scriptures and about their theology. 00:03:51.299 --> 00:03:56.579 But actually, the apostle says, the reality is, you're just like the world, and you're babies. 00:03:57.539 --> 00:04:01.780 Regardless of your gifts, regardless of how kind God has been to them in the past, 00:04:01.819 --> 00:04:03.159 which you saw at the beginning of the letter, 00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:06.959 their factions and their strife show them to be spiritual infants. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:13.719 Now, the image of babies that Paul uses here has been carefully chosen, and it is striking. 00:04:13.939 --> 00:04:17.740 On the one hand, Paul is saying that real Christians can make a mess. 00:04:18.840 --> 00:04:20.860 Real Christians can stink the place out. 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:25.740 Real Christians can do the stupidest things without realizing that's what babies are like. 00:04:25.939 --> 00:04:29.040 And Paul rebukes the Corinthian church because they are doing this. 00:04:29.460 --> 00:04:33.480 They're doing this while being in Christ, he's saying. 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:39.759 And the criticism is especially biting, as I've said, given how mature the Corinthian church think that they were. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:42.600 Now, there's nothing wrong with babies. 00:04:42.939 --> 00:04:46.240 Obviously, we love babies, but they should grow out of those things. 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:50.120 They should stop being babies at some point in their lives. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:51.560 And that is what Paul rebukes. 00:04:51.580 --> 00:04:52.220 Look at verse 2. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:56.439 He's saying, listen, when I was with you a number of years ago, I fed you with a bottle. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:57.259 That's okay. 00:04:57.879 --> 00:04:59.620 But you haven't moved on from that. 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:04.160 You should at least be on those squeeze pouches with the pureed vegetables or something like that. 00:05:04.280 --> 00:05:06.220 But as it is, you haven't grown an inch. 00:05:09.139 --> 00:05:10.340 It's quite a rebuke. 00:05:11.259 --> 00:05:12.340 It's scathing. 00:05:12.500 --> 00:05:13.259 It's humiliating. 00:05:13.399 --> 00:05:14.280 It's very critical. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:20.879 So what is it that people who have gone wrong on this point need to grasp? 00:05:21.060 --> 00:05:22.399 Well, that's what Paul lays out. 00:05:23.060 --> 00:05:23.879 Two points. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:25.100 The first big point is this. 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:27.019 He's saying, listen, you're fighting about the ministers. 00:05:27.019 --> 00:05:27.939 The big point is this. 00:05:28.039 --> 00:05:30.240 Ministers are really just servants. 00:05:31.299 --> 00:05:32.319 That's point number one. 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:35.019 Ministers are really just servants. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:36.259 Verse 5. 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:38.859 What then is Apollos? 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:40.319 What is Paul? 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:45.419 Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:49.699 By definition, a servant is always at the service of someone else. 00:05:49.799 --> 00:05:55.019 They're always working for or representing or acting for someone greater. 00:05:55.019 --> 00:05:58.979 And they know that they'll have to answer to that superior for what they've done. 00:05:59.799 --> 00:06:00.539 They're a servant. 00:06:00.719 --> 00:06:02.299 They're put at the service of others. 00:06:02.439 --> 00:06:05.240 And they are accountable to that other person. 00:06:05.539 --> 00:06:08.779 And that service and accountability both apply in the case of ministers. 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:09.819 That's what Paul is saying. 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:14.939 On the one hand, Paul says simply, they're gardeners. 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:16.279 That's verses 6 to 9. 00:06:16.799 --> 00:06:17.779 Ministers, they're servants. 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:18.680 They're gardeners. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:20.399 It is God who brings the growth. 00:06:21.339 --> 00:06:22.819 Gardeners, it is God who brings the growth. 00:06:22.819 --> 00:06:23.779 What then is Apollos? 00:06:23.860 --> 00:06:24.339 What is Paul? 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.139 Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each. 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:31.099 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 00:06:31.779 --> 00:06:36.779 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:41.319 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 00:06:41.659 --> 00:06:43.399 For we are God's fellow workers. 00:06:43.579 --> 00:06:46.240 You are God's field, God's building. 00:06:47.420 --> 00:06:50.120 Each leader had their job to do. 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:52.199 Paul planted the gospel seed. 00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:55.800 Apollos then came along after him and watered it. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.920 In that way, verse 8, they are doing different parts of the same job. 00:06:58.980 --> 00:06:59.560 They are one. 00:06:59.660 --> 00:07:00.600 It is one job. 00:07:01.620 --> 00:07:04.199 The plant image makes the whole point really well. 00:07:04.439 --> 00:07:05.199 And you think about it. 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:10.540 In your garden, you can plant the seed and you can water the seed, 00:07:10.840 --> 00:07:15.959 but you can't bring anything out of the soil unless God does it. 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:18.680 You can add fertilizer. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:19.579 You can add water. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:21.199 You can put glass around it. 00:07:21.479 --> 00:07:22.060 Get a greenhouse. 00:07:22.299 --> 00:07:23.159 You can tend to it. 00:07:23.219 --> 00:07:24.500 You can stare at it. 00:07:25.039 --> 00:07:31.560 You can will it to grow, but nothing will happen unless God does what is required in the soil 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:33.539 and everything else to make it grow. 00:07:34.099 --> 00:07:35.639 It is the same spiritually. 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:40.479 Someone tells you the message of Christ and him crucified. 00:07:40.939 --> 00:07:42.500 They invite you to church. 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:44.680 They engage with your questions. 00:07:45.339 --> 00:07:48.959 All of those are good things to do, and we should be doing that with our unbelieving friends. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:52.279 But nothing will happen unless God gives the growth. 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:59.259 Paul and Apollos were the instruments through whom, verse 5, the Corinthians believed. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:02.139 But they didn't save the Corinthians. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:05.899 It was the Lord who granted the faith. 00:08:05.899 --> 00:08:11.359 Do you notice in the verses how God's name is repeated to make this point? 00:08:12.479 --> 00:08:14.439 In the end, it is all the work of God. 00:08:16.239 --> 00:08:17.039 God did it. 00:08:17.179 --> 00:08:17.819 God did it. 00:08:17.979 --> 00:08:19.039 We're God's fellow workers. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:19.739 God's field. 00:08:19.919 --> 00:08:20.519 God's building. 00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:21.479 All of that. 00:08:23.539 --> 00:08:26.719 Fixating, therefore, on certain leaders misses the point. 00:08:27.239 --> 00:08:27.459 Why? 00:08:27.579 --> 00:08:28.139 Verse 7. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:30.899 Neither he who plants nor he who waters is... 00:08:30.899 --> 00:08:32.480 Have a look. 00:08:32.959 --> 00:08:33.439 Anything. 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:37.919 Paul's talking about himself. 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:42.299 He's the mighty apostle Paul, commissioned by the risen Christ himself. 00:08:43.199 --> 00:08:43.919 Not anything. 00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:46.679 He's talking about the great pastor Apollos. 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:49.399 And he's saying they're just servants. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:53.299 Just servants tending the garden, nothing more. 00:08:53.299 --> 00:08:53.959 Verse 9. 00:08:53.960 --> 00:08:55.600 They are God's fellow workers. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:09:00.139 And the Corinthians are what God has grown through their labors. 00:09:02.620 --> 00:09:04.780 Spiritual growth is something of a mystery. 00:09:05.780 --> 00:09:06.740 Got to acknowledge that. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:10.580 And it is possible that two people can hear the same truth. 00:09:11.019 --> 00:09:13.600 One responds in faith and the other is left unmoved. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:19.920 Two children born to the same parents, raised in the same home, baptized by the same minister in the same church, 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:24.740 hearing the same preaching, week in and week out, having the same prayers, prayed for them. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.579 One never knows a time when they didn't know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:09:28.819 --> 00:09:30.899 The other is the president of the humanist society. 00:09:31.379 --> 00:09:31.659 Why? 00:09:33.419 --> 00:09:37.579 Well, because of the direct and gracious intervention of God, the Holy Spirit. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.599 It is God who does the work. 00:09:41.959 --> 00:09:44.339 It is God who gives the growth. 00:09:45.620 --> 00:09:47.659 Can you hear my voice this morning? 00:09:47.659 --> 00:09:49.860 God uses means. 00:09:50.059 --> 00:09:51.980 He uses parents and friends and preachers. 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:56.980 But salvation and spiritual growth don't happen because of that human person. 00:09:58.459 --> 00:10:05.740 If you can see the word of the cross, the proclamation of Christ and Him crucified as God's power for salvation, 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:10.240 and you want it, and you cling to it, and you're never going to move from there. 00:10:11.100 --> 00:10:14.539 If you can hear the Bible being preached this morning as God speaking to you. 00:10:15.699 --> 00:10:16.980 I'm just the gardener. 00:10:17.659 --> 00:10:19.059 God is doing the work. 00:10:19.059 --> 00:10:26.839 What is going on in Corinth is a kind of early form of a celebrity pastor culture. 00:10:28.419 --> 00:10:32.439 People gravitating around certain leaders and saying that they're the special ones. 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:36.419 And people that are following the other leaders, well, they're idiots, that kind of thing. 00:10:36.479 --> 00:10:38.539 That's where the jealousy and the strife is coming in. 00:10:38.919 --> 00:10:40.139 We've got to be really careful. 00:10:40.259 --> 00:10:43.339 We remember that those men are simply gardeners. 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:44.820 It is God who gives the growth. 00:10:45.420 --> 00:10:48.899 We have our own versions of this kind of cult of the leader. 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:54.280 I spoke on Exchange Messages just this week with Harry Ovey. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:55.920 You know, minister in training here. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:03.200 He and Emma, Emma, his wife, have gone off to a Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.580 And they're part of Christ's Covenant Church. 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:09.860 And Kevin DeYoung is the minister at Christ's Covenant Church. 00:11:09.980 --> 00:11:10.920 Kevin DeYoung is great. 00:11:11.040 --> 00:11:12.400 He's a great minister of the gospel. 00:11:12.560 --> 00:11:13.540 Very faithful man. 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:16.560 And he has a great ministry there. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.199 But he is a celebrity preacher. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:24.279 And Harry was telling me this week that their little boy has just been born recently, Caleb, 00:11:24.539 --> 00:11:27.119 that somebody came up to Emma in the church and said, 00:11:27.500 --> 00:11:31.539 you must be delighted that Caleb gets to be baptized by Pastor Kevin. 00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:34.839 That's not on Pastor Kevin. 00:11:35.099 --> 00:11:36.319 That's not on Harry and Emma. 00:11:36.899 --> 00:11:41.339 But what has happened is that there is a culture that recognizes that he's special. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:42.939 What would Paul say to that? 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:47.020 He would say, come with me to the Ecclesiastical Cresce. 00:11:47.220 --> 00:11:48.160 We'll get you some milk. 00:11:48.460 --> 00:11:49.760 He's just a gardener. 00:11:53.180 --> 00:11:57.760 We hear from time to time people say, I used to work with pastors such and such. 00:11:58.280 --> 00:12:00.920 I was a trainee under pastors such and such. 00:12:01.660 --> 00:12:02.460 What would Paul say? 00:12:02.540 --> 00:12:07.520 He'd say, let me get you some theological milk formula you need to grow up, you big baby. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:10.860 Of course, we're to honor our leaders. 00:12:10.860 --> 00:12:22.560 But if even Paul and Apollos were just servants in God's garden, so was and so is everyone else who follows. 00:12:23.539 --> 00:12:25.039 God has given them the gifts. 00:12:25.740 --> 00:12:27.120 God has used them as he will. 00:12:27.620 --> 00:12:28.600 They're just servants. 00:12:28.940 --> 00:12:31.060 It is God who brings the fruit. 00:12:31.059 --> 00:12:43.079 Second thing I think we need to recognize is that if only God can build a genuine church, his people, and especially his ministers, must ask him to do this. 00:12:44.439 --> 00:12:48.779 I've tried to press this point because that's what I think Paul is doing here in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 00:12:49.079 --> 00:12:50.619 That it is God who does the work. 00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:53.519 If it is God who does the work, we need to ask him to do the work. 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:55.799 That is how he has organized things. 00:12:55.799 --> 00:12:59.979 We are to lean on him and plead with him that he will give the growth. 00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:03.359 Pray for the ministry here at the church. 00:13:03.939 --> 00:13:08.120 Especially if you're a member of the church, pray that God would be at work. 00:13:08.219 --> 00:13:12.120 We've got our mission coming up at the beginning of next month. 00:13:12.439 --> 00:13:17.159 We meet at 5.15 in there on a Sunday evening to pray that God would give the growth. 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:20.799 That he would be at work through all the evangelism that we're trying to do. 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:22.459 Pray for the weekly ministry. 00:13:22.599 --> 00:13:24.559 There's so much going on in the life of the church. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:31.079 We have hundreds of people coming through the doors of this church every week who don't know and love the Lord Jesus. 00:13:31.859 --> 00:13:36.299 Pray that even in those regular ministries in the life of the church, God would give the growth. 00:13:37.139 --> 00:13:43.839 He would use those of us who are here to serve as the servants that he will bless to bring the growth into those people's lives. 00:13:44.919 --> 00:13:51.000 Pray for the weekly ministry of this event, the Lord's Day, when we gather for worship morning and evening. 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:52.000 Pray for the ministry of the church. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.799 Your prayers for God to work will be the means that he uses to bring the growth. 00:13:57.580 --> 00:14:01.200 If he is the one who does it, we need to ask him to do it. 00:14:02.860 --> 00:14:07.279 Expect, I want to say as well, expect your elders and your ministers to be praying. 00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:11.820 This should be a significant part of the time that we spend serving you. 00:14:11.820 --> 00:14:18.620 Time that you can't get us, you can't see us because we're praying, pleading that the Lord would give the growth. 00:14:20.520 --> 00:14:23.040 And I can say to our elders, don't let this slip. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:28.700 Keep pleading with God to empower us for the labor in his garden that we've been called to. 00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:32.520 Ministers are gardeners. 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:33.700 It is God who brings the growth. 00:14:33.800 --> 00:14:36.780 Then verse 10, can you see Paul takes up another image? 00:14:37.319 --> 00:14:39.120 God's field becomes God's building. 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:41.860 And now he says ministers are builders. 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:45.559 It is God who will test their work. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:46.959 That's 10 to 15. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:47.679 Look at verse 10. 00:14:47.779 --> 00:14:52.500 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation. 00:14:53.379 --> 00:14:54.939 And someone else is building upon it. 00:14:55.439 --> 00:14:58.199 Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 00:14:58.199 --> 00:15:02.819 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 00:15:02.820 --> 00:15:09.540 Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest. 00:15:09.680 --> 00:15:13.180 For the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire. 00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:17.400 And the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 00:15:18.540 --> 00:15:20.580 Paul laid the foundation in Corinth. 00:15:20.700 --> 00:15:23.640 He preached Christ, the only true foundation there is. 00:15:23.720 --> 00:15:26.980 And now, after the passing of time, someone else is building on it. 00:15:27.180 --> 00:15:29.040 There is a new ministry in Corinth. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:30.540 But Paul is warning them. 00:15:30.539 --> 00:15:32.219 He's saying, listen, take care. 00:15:33.019 --> 00:15:36.000 Because a day is coming when their work will be scrutinized. 00:15:36.500 --> 00:15:38.559 The structure will be tested by fire. 00:15:38.959 --> 00:15:43.439 And only the right kind of building will come through the fire and endure. 00:15:43.579 --> 00:15:46.759 The Corinthians, they're assessing the merits of their chosen leader. 00:15:47.779 --> 00:15:50.000 Paul's saying, look, there's a bigger testing that's coming. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:51.719 There's a bigger assessment that's coming. 00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:53.199 And you can leave that to God. 00:15:53.699 --> 00:15:58.259 The quality of the work that you're trying to extol one against another, leave that to God. 00:15:58.819 --> 00:15:59.839 He will do the testing. 00:16:00.539 --> 00:16:05.339 And you see, to be clear, Paul is talking here about ministers and their ministries. 00:16:05.599 --> 00:16:07.759 He's not talking about Christians in general. 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:14.299 Nor does the mention of fire here refer to any idea of the purging of sins. 00:16:15.419 --> 00:16:21.039 The fire will test the minister's work and disclose the quality of that work. 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:25.079 And some ministries, he's saying, will withstand the fire and be glorified through it. 00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:26.620 And some will simply vanish. 00:16:27.800 --> 00:16:29.639 They'll be taken up in the fire. 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:30.940 The pastor will be saved. 00:16:31.259 --> 00:16:33.100 Brilliant work doesn't earn salvation. 00:16:33.460 --> 00:16:34.960 And lackluster work won't lose it. 00:16:35.020 --> 00:16:36.400 We're all saved the same way. 00:16:36.520 --> 00:16:37.139 By God. 00:16:37.300 --> 00:16:38.100 By grace. 00:16:38.220 --> 00:16:39.139 Through faith alone. 00:16:39.139 --> 00:16:48.620 But while Reverend Smith then will be in glory, Reverend Smith's online ministry, his books, his conference talks will not. 00:16:49.899 --> 00:16:52.159 Because they were motivated by the wrong things. 00:16:53.860 --> 00:16:59.439 He will suffer the loss, verse 15, of not being able to bring the fruit of his work with him into glory. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:01.600 Because he built with the wrong materials. 00:17:03.560 --> 00:17:07.180 A builder can only build in line with the existing foundation. 00:17:07.299 --> 00:17:09.600 The foundation sets the course for everything else. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:13.080 And for ministers, true ministers, that foundation is Christ. 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:19.519 So his materials, the materials that he builds on Christ must be consistent with that foundation. 00:17:19.860 --> 00:17:22.840 And you can only build on Christ with excellent materials. 00:17:23.580 --> 00:17:25.620 So what are those excellent materials? 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:27.720 Gold, silver, precious stones. 00:17:27.720 --> 00:17:28.200 Gold, silver, precious stones. 00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:29.640 That's obviously not literal. 00:17:30.299 --> 00:17:32.000 But we are told that they endure. 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:37.019 And verse 14, you see verse 14, they are related to a reward. 00:17:38.059 --> 00:17:39.039 So what are the materials? 00:17:39.220 --> 00:17:41.019 Well I think Paul is talking about Christians. 00:17:42.100 --> 00:17:43.279 He's talking about people. 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:44.839 He's talking about Christians. 00:17:44.940 --> 00:17:46.839 Remember when he wrote to the Thessalonian church? 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:50.120 He told them that they are his glory and his crown. 00:17:51.700 --> 00:17:57.279 What he's saying there is that their being present in glory on the last day will be his reward. 00:17:57.779 --> 00:18:04.619 Paul will be able on the last day to look around and see his heavenly reward in the people that the Lord has saved through his ministry. 00:18:06.099 --> 00:18:07.500 And it's the same here, I think. 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:15.819 He's saying the excellent materials built on Christ are the people who have heard the word of the cross and responded in faith. 00:18:15.819 --> 00:18:20.599 They are the gold and the silver and the precious stones. 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:24.980 And they are being built into a building in which God will dwell. 00:18:25.379 --> 00:18:26.399 Look at verse 16. 00:18:27.399 --> 00:18:28.139 Verse 16, 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:43.640 So what he's saying here is that the last day judgment will reveal whether a minister built his ministry on Christ and him crucified, 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:48.700 a ministry that brings men and women into the glory of eternity, 00:18:48.700 --> 00:18:56.680 or whether he built on his rhetoric, his humor, his human wisdom, 00:18:56.680 --> 00:19:02.360 that built something that looked outwardly impressive but that actually was burnt up in the end. 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:05.519 One commentator says this, 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:10.599 The gold and silver and precious stones that are built on this foundation of Jesus Christ are eternal souls. 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:21.159 Wood, hay, and stubble are popularity, trendy relevance, blurbs from important scribes, and lost eternal souls. 00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:32.720 So can you see here's another reason why ministers should resist the lofty speech and words of plausible wisdom that he talked about in chapter 2. 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:37.540 Not only do those words not accomplish anything substantial in the present, 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:42.300 a day is coming when they will be exposed and reduced to ash. 00:19:42.299 --> 00:19:52.000 In talking to the Corinthians this way, Paul is helping us grasp the sort of ministry that we should want in our church. 00:19:53.579 --> 00:19:58.139 Not one that is built on leaders or human wisdom that will vanish, 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:05.799 but a ministry that is marked by humble labor in God's garden building as God would have us to build. 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:13.919 You want ministers who see their work as get people to glory ministry. 00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:21.200 So Paul wants the Corinthians to grasp that ministers are really servants. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:22.919 Don't have your factions about ministers. 00:20:23.059 --> 00:20:24.220 They're really just servants. 00:20:25.539 --> 00:20:28.779 But then he shifts to talk about the Corinthians themselves. 00:20:28.940 --> 00:20:30.059 And here he wants them to see. 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:33.440 So if the first point is that ministers are just really just servants, 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.920 point number two, the church is really precious. 00:20:39.120 --> 00:20:41.940 The church is really precious. 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:45.460 Who has God made the church to be? 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:47.600 And how does he relate to her? 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:49.000 16. 00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:55.980 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.400 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. 00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:03.279 For God's temple is holy. 00:21:04.259 --> 00:21:05.640 And you are that temple. 00:21:07.960 --> 00:21:10.740 The image of the temple, of course, is common in the New Testament. 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:14.720 The Apostle Peter uses it most clearly in his first letter. 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:17.019 He's not talking about physical bricks and mortar. 00:21:17.120 --> 00:21:18.720 He's talking about people again. 00:21:20.180 --> 00:21:23.799 And Paul here says that Christians make up this building corporately. 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:26.080 He uses the plural, 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:27.220 Do you not know? 00:21:27.399 --> 00:21:31.720 Do you, church, corporate people, do you not know? 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:39.619 All of you make up the singular temple which is filled by the Holy Spirit who dwells among you when you gather. 00:21:39.619 --> 00:21:47.379 The Spirit dwells among you as he does with us here this morning as we are gathered as an expression of this temple. 00:21:47.380 --> 00:21:52.120 So Christians, each of us are individual bricks and stones and beams and pillars. 00:21:52.119 --> 00:22:07.259 And if you are in Christ, if you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus, you are gold, silver, precious stones that he is bringing together to make God's temple, God's house, the place where God dwells. 00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:12.759 Why does Paul tell them this about themselves? 00:22:12.879 --> 00:22:17.579 Why does he press how precious they are and how precious God's church is? 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:20.960 Well then, think again about the issue. 00:22:21.059 --> 00:22:21.519 What is it? 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:22.640 Their divisions. 00:22:23.980 --> 00:22:29.119 How out of step is it that they would be dividing something this precious? 00:22:30.220 --> 00:22:33.539 Why are they working to pull apart what God is building? 00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:36.740 Jealousy, strife, bitterness, rivalry. 00:22:36.740 --> 00:22:42.480 If you understand who you really are as the church of the living God, you will not do that. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:44.079 You just won't go there. 00:22:44.859 --> 00:22:46.519 Paul underscores this, verse 17. 00:22:46.620 --> 00:22:47.000 Have a look. 00:22:47.220 --> 00:22:51.680 Destroying the church's unity is to put yourself in the most perilous position. 00:22:52.940 --> 00:22:57.539 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:04.299 Can you see how important church unity is? 00:23:04.299 --> 00:23:07.940 Not just because it's nicer for us all. 00:23:07.940 --> 00:23:13.740 Not just because it's easier to belong to a harmonious group than it is to deal with strife all the time. 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:16.940 But because of how precious the church is to God. 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:23.099 Because of how God feels about division. 00:23:24.159 --> 00:23:26.559 Australian commentator Paul Barnett says this. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:27.299 It's very stark. 00:23:27.299 --> 00:23:32.039 The teacher who has built badly may barely escape the flames of God's judgment. 00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:37.079 Not so the divider of the Lord's people in his holy assembly. 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:41.559 Paul's words are the severest warning to us. 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:49.299 That divisive comment doesn't seem like such a good idea, does it, when you hear that? 00:23:50.339 --> 00:23:55.259 That growing bitterness towards a brother or sister in the church, it doesn't taste quite so good, does it? 00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:02.960 I said a couple of weeks ago, I am grateful for our real unity that we enjoy here in Ealing. 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:08.480 Despite a wide range of views on all kinds of things. 00:24:10.380 --> 00:24:14.299 I am grateful that there's nobody trying to play the ministers off against each other. 00:24:14.460 --> 00:24:15.940 Long may it be the case. 00:24:17.019 --> 00:24:18.500 Because of who you are. 00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:21.539 We're not a club. 00:24:21.940 --> 00:24:22.960 We're not a committee. 00:24:23.420 --> 00:24:24.440 We're not a team. 00:24:24.700 --> 00:24:25.579 We're not a business. 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:26.420 We're a church. 00:24:26.420 --> 00:24:26.460 We're not a church. 00:24:27.100 --> 00:24:28.759 The holy temple of God. 00:24:30.840 --> 00:24:32.860 Of course, conflict exists. 00:24:33.460 --> 00:24:35.060 Relationships can get twisted up. 00:24:35.600 --> 00:24:40.100 Not pushing a particular issue that annoys you is a difficult thing. 00:24:40.320 --> 00:24:41.380 Because we're sinful. 00:24:42.820 --> 00:24:46.779 But the New Testament gives us ways that we can legitimately resolve these issues. 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:48.820 And where they arise, we must do that. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.140 But we must do that because of who we are. 00:24:51.900 --> 00:24:53.900 The holy temple of God. 00:24:56.420 --> 00:24:58.759 So, verse 18. 00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:03.120 Don't deceive yourself about the nature of true wisdom. 00:25:04.100 --> 00:25:08.360 The world around us has a different metric from what makes good leaders. 00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:09.759 Impressive. 00:25:10.380 --> 00:25:11.060 Decisive. 00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:12.320 Hard-hitting. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:17.200 Have a different vision of what constitutes a good and a beautiful way to live. 00:25:17.300 --> 00:25:19.840 More, bigger, better, faster, stronger, and so on. 00:25:20.779 --> 00:25:24.560 And the Corinthians and their culture have had their heads turned by that kind of vision. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:27.059 And he's saying, you need to grow up. 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:29.179 Grow up out of that. 00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:38.039 And he says, if your culture esteems you or esteems your church in some way as wise by their standards, we should be concerned. 00:25:39.259 --> 00:25:42.980 They either don't yet know what you believe or you have compromised in some way. 00:25:42.980 --> 00:25:47.660 And Paul says in that case, verse 18, we must return to the folly of the cross. 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:56.079 We must return, repent, and go back to the foolishness of a cross-shaped life so that we become wise in the eyes of God. 00:25:56.079 --> 00:26:00.980 And he closes out this chapter with two motivations to do that. 00:26:01.199 --> 00:26:06.679 If you see that your ministers are just really servants and you see how precious the church is to God, 00:26:06.740 --> 00:26:12.679 you will put aside the wisdom of the world that pursues jealousy and strife and rivalry and that kind of thing. 00:26:13.259 --> 00:26:13.480 Why? 00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:17.819 Well, because first in the end, God will bring down all worldly pretense. 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:19.680 God will bring it down. 00:26:19.799 --> 00:26:22.620 Paul quotes Job 5, Psalm 94 to make this point. 00:26:23.180 --> 00:26:28.079 The world's wisdom with its accolades and its honors and its impressiveness, putting your trust in men. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:31.700 Don't live for those things because God thinks they're futile. 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:35.360 And in the end, he'll be, he'll reduce it all to nothing. 00:26:35.940 --> 00:26:36.940 He'll bring it all down. 00:26:37.259 --> 00:26:38.019 It's going nowhere. 00:26:38.180 --> 00:26:42.279 Your jealousy, your strife, your rivalry, all of the things that motivate that, it's going nowhere. 00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:44.879 God will take it down in the end. 00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:47.420 But secondly, look at this. 00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:48.099 Verse 21. 00:26:48.339 --> 00:26:52.180 Look at what God has for you if you pursue his way. 00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:57.240 If you put aside jealousy and strife, if you pursue Christ and him crucified, 00:26:57.899 --> 00:27:00.000 and you submit yourself under his word. 00:27:00.399 --> 00:27:02.240 Chapter 2, the stuff we heard last week. 00:27:02.639 --> 00:27:03.160 If we put, 00:27:04.579 --> 00:27:09.879 No one boasts in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:14.200 or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or the future, all are yours. 00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:18.500 And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. 00:27:19.860 --> 00:27:23.760 Paul is saying all things are yours, whether it's Bible teachers in Corinth, 00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:27.480 or the things of this world, or life, or death. 00:27:27.520 --> 00:27:29.620 And we can throw in the present and the future, he says. 00:27:29.619 --> 00:27:31.599 They all belong to the saints. 00:27:32.899 --> 00:27:36.299 And those saints in turn belong to Christ, who in turn belongs to God. 00:27:36.619 --> 00:27:39.939 This is who you are, and this is what you have in Christ. 00:27:40.500 --> 00:27:45.159 You have everything that is essential and good and beautiful. 00:27:45.859 --> 00:27:50.279 Everything that will in the end endure through the judgment into glory. 00:27:50.619 --> 00:27:51.239 You have it. 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:54.539 So, do you feel the security? 00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:57.460 You belong to God. 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:00.620 You're his field. 00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:02.259 You're his building. 00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:05.160 And he will get you to glory. 00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:08.200 Feel the security in that. 00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:11.620 But also, do you see the blessing? 00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:13.059 Everything is yours. 00:28:13.059 --> 00:28:22.720 Why would someone who stands to inherit that level of riches get caught up with jealousy and strife around mere men? 00:28:24.759 --> 00:28:31.700 Why would someone who stands to inherit that level of riches envy the wisdom of the world and the world's way of doing things? 00:28:31.700 --> 00:28:36.120 One writer says this, 00:28:36.120 --> 00:28:43.620 A king on the balcony of his palace doesn't look down on the street in order to envy the crow that struts in the gutter. 00:28:44.600 --> 00:28:45.600 Paul is saying, 00:28:46.279 --> 00:28:49.059 Take your eyes off the world's way of doing things. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:51.600 It's unspiritual and it's fleshly and it's immature. 00:28:52.580 --> 00:28:52.960 Instead, 00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:56.460 remember that your ministers are servants. 00:28:57.660 --> 00:29:01.480 Remember that in the life of the church, we are precious to the living God. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:05.160 And we're going to inherit all things. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:08.200 So don't settle for anything less. 00:29:09.860 --> 00:29:10.480 Let's pray.