Fleshly | 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Have you ever noticed that some churches are

constantly operating in a state of drama and

conflict? This has become something of a regular

trend over the past 30 years or so, and it's

really not a mystery why that's happened. With

the advent of social media, everybody, healthy

or unhealthy, balanced or extreme, everybody

has an opinion, and now everybody feels... free

to go online and share their anger and frustration

with the entire world. Doesn't matter if they

have an informed opinion or not. Doesn't matter

if it's a biblical opinion or unbiblical. People

in churches today are out there mimicking the

world in the way that we divide the body of Christ.

And since our topic this morning revolves around

matters of division and worldliness, I did some

digging this week. I wanted to try to find the

top 10 reasons why Churches struggle with internal

conflict. I'm going to show you that list, and

they probably won't surprise you, but this is

basically what I found. Number one, pride and

self -centeredness. That's number one because

it's number one, right? Pride and self -centeredness,

that's the human condition. Spiritual immaturity

and poor emotional control. Number three, resistance

to change, right? We all love change. Number

four, abuse of power or authority by church leaders.

That's a problem. Factionalism in the body where

we group up, we click up and then oppose one

another. Miscommunication and then making false

assumptions about other people, about their motivations.

Members who are ambitious for power and control.

And working behind the scenes to grab that. Just

flat out communication breakdowns, number eight,

where we just don't communicate well. Number

nine, gossip, secrecy, and behind the scenes

campaigning. And then the icing on top of all

the cake is conflict that goes unresolved. All

these things taking place, but members and church

leaders failing to jump in and actually work

towards resolution. Now that is a pretty... depressing

list. But my guess is some of you are sitting

here this morning, you're like, ah, yep, I have

seen those things in churches that I've been

a part of in the past. And all those things are

on the radar of our elder team at Oak Hill. We

work hard to keep our fingers on the pulse of

the congregation so that we can guard against

those types of things seeping into body life

here. It's like a little leaven that gets into

the dough, right? It infects the whole batch.

And so our eyes are always peeled to make sure

these things are not happening. Here's the thing.

Each of those 10 issues has a very similar spiritual

root to it. And that's what Paul is going to

talk about in the text that we're going to look

at this morning. So grab your Bibles. We're going

to go to 1 Corinthians. We finished chapter 2

last week. Can you believe it? We are flying.

So we're actually in chapter 3 this week, but

we're going to start back in chapter 2 so that

we get the flow of the context. Paul is writing

about. So go to chapter 2. Last Sunday we were

deep into the concepts of two things. Ready?

Natural and spiritual men and women. Natural

and spiritual as it relates to general categories

of humankind. And we talked about the haves and

the have -nots as it's related to the Holy Spirit.

Okay, so look at chapter 2. Go back to verse

12. We'll read from there and you'll pick up

the flow as we go. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12.

1 Corinthians 2:12

Now we have received not the spirit of the world,

but the spirit who is from God. So that, purpose

statement, so that we may know the things freely

given to us by God. Which things we also speak,

meaning the apostles, not in words taught by

human wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit

combining spiritual thoughts. With spiritual

words. And we talked last week about how he's

basically referencing the writing of the New

Testament there. Spiritual thoughts and spiritual

words, right? Words carried along by the Holy

Spirit. Verse 14. But a natural man does not

accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they

are foolishness to him. And he cannot, I'm going

to underline or highlight that word, cannot understand

them. We talked about moral inability last Sunday.

He cannot understand them because they are spiritually

appraised or spiritually evaluated. But he who

is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself

is appraised by no one. For who has known the

mind of the Lord that he will instruct him? But

we, speaking of those who have received the Spirit

of God, we have the mind of Christ. And praise

God for that, right? Now, let's go over to chapter

3, today's text. Paul continues this thought.

Mere men? Natural men? For when one says, I'm

of Paul, and another, I'm of Apollos, are you

not mere men? Are you not being natural men?

Verse five, what then is Apollos? And what is

Paul? Servants, through whom you believed, even

as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted,

Paul says, Apollos watered, but God was causing

the growth. So then neither the one who plants

nor the one who waters is anything, but only

God who causes the growth. Now he who plants

and he who waters are one, but each will receive

his own reward according to his own labor, for

we are God's fellow workers, and you, you Corinthians,

are God's field, God's building. Okay, as we

did last week, let's start with some important

definitions. Let's go back to verse 1. where

it says, I, brethren, cannot speak to you as

to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh. Now,

from the beginning to the end, Scripture talks

about... in general, two categories of people.

We touched on this last week. There are those

who know God and those who don't know God. There's

the regenerate and the unregenerate, the redeemed

and the unredeemed, those who are found in Christ,

and those because of their unbelief are enemies

of Christ, or as Paul has been talking about

here, natural and spiritual. So you see the words

up here, natural. Sukikos is a man or woman who

has still a corrupted nature as a descendant

of Adam, a person. who has not bowed to Christ,

cannot understand the things of the Spirit, and

is therefore driven by what? Self. The natural

man is always driven by self, his needs, his

wants, his desires, what pleases him. On the

other side, pneumatikos, we have the spiritual

man. That's a man or woman who's born again into

the righteousness of Christ, a new creation with

a new nature. We talked about that last Sunday,

a new nature. He's walking in the Spirit in full

communion with God. But now here in verse 1,

Paul provides... Provides us with what appears

to be a third category, a third word, right?

Men of flesh, sarkinos, in the Greek. And that's

an adjective that comes out of the basic Greek

word for flesh, which is sarx, fleshly, okay?

Now, over the years, there's been a number of

translations of that word. The old King James

used this real old -fashioned word. Some of you

know it. It's carnal, right? Carnal. The NIV

decided to get much more relevant and use the

word worldly. But because of that root word sarx,

I think the NAS has it right here. It's fleshly.

You are fleshly, meaning somebody who makes it

a habit to live for the desires of the flesh.

That is what marks their life. That is their

habit. They are driven by the flesh rather than

by the spirit. Now, here's the important thing

to understand. Although fleshly may sound like

Paul's giving us the third category of mankind,

it's really not. Fleshly is a subcategory of

believers and not in a good way. Men of flesh

is a subcategory of believers. and not in a good

way. Now, how do we know this is true? Well,

go back to who is it that Paul is writing to

in this letter? Do you remember what he called

them in chapter one? He said, to those who have

been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling.

Those are believers, right? He said, those whose

testimony concerning Christ is confirmed in them.

They're believers. And how does Paul address

them right here in this verse one? He calls them

brethren, brothers. So he's writing to them under

the assumption that they are truly redeemed in

Christ and that they have received the Holy Spirit.

However, he says, and you see it right there,

however, I cannot speak to you as spiritual men.

Now that might sound like a contradiction, right?

I cannot speak to you this way. Here's what he's

saying. Positionally, you belong to Christ. But

practically, You're controlled by your flesh

and not by the Spirit. And it's so important

for us to recognize those two different things.

We can be positionally found in Christ, yet practically

living for the world. And so he says, look, you're

not spiritual. And your worldliness is showing

up in your thinking. It's showing up in your

choices. It shows up in your actions and your

reactions to things. It shows up in the flawed

way that you... process through the things of

life. Think about that. Rather turning to Scripture

and the voice of God's Spirit within, what you're

doing is taking in all the ways that the world

sees things and letting that be your guide. And

we can all fall into this, right? We get so immersed

in the world and so not in the Scriptures that

we can sort of silence the voice of the Spirit,

see the way the world operates, and use that

as our guide. And you know why that's easy to

do? Because it's agreeable to our flesh to act

as the world does. So, because you're consistently

living in such a fleshly way, Paul says, I basically

have to address you as a group of unbelievers

to try to convict you of what you need to be

doing. Now, let's be clear on something. All

of us are guilty of, to some extent, of this

kind of fleshly living. In fact, in Galatians

5, we're told this explicitly. Paul says to believers,

I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify

the desires of the flesh. See the bifurcation

there? Walk by the Spirit and you'll avoid the

flesh. But he says then, for the desires of the

flesh... are against the Spirit. And the desires

of the Spirit against the flesh, these are opposed

to each other to keep you from doing the things

you want to do. What that tells us is there is

a battle raging within all of us. In every believer,

there's a battle raging within us. Now understand

this, this doesn't mean that the victory over

sin is somehow in question. Christ is seen to

that. We have the victory over sin and death.

And thank God that he's done that for us, right?

We've been granted his righteousness. We have

a new nature. We're not slaves to sin. We're

no longer under the control and domination of

sin. And now by the power of the spirit with

this new nature, we've been given the moral ability

to change and to resist temptation, to say no

to sin and to hear that voice of the spirit in

our conscience and respond to it. Again, the

natural man doesn't have that. He's unable to

do that, but we as believers can. But here's

the thing. There's a remnant of flesh in all

of us, right? Paul calls it the old man. It's

that old man or old woman from your past, right?

It's in all of us. We were once an atom, right?

And we built up a layer of sin in our hearts

and corruption in our souls. And a remnant of

that. and it's warring against the spirit within

us. And so there are gonna be times for the believer

where we feel the tug of the old ways. We feel

that old man rising up within us. And so we're

supposed to be in a process, Paul says, of putting

on the new man, who we are in Christ now, becoming

who God says we are, his child. And that's a

lifelong process, right? That is a lifelong,

we will all be doing this until we take our very

last breath on this earth. submitting to the

Holy Spirit, listening for his voice, obeying

his voice until God takes us home. Now, here's

the challenging thing. As somebody who does counseling,

this is a difficult thing. There are no two experiences

among believers that are the same when it comes

to this process of sanctification. I wish it

were so. I wish there were like this step -by

-step roadmap and guarantees that if you do all

these things, that your life is going to gradually

get cleaned up. But there is no one type fits

all Christian experience. It's a spectrum of

growth. It's a spectrum of maturity and obedience.

And it's going to be influenced by all kinds

of things in your life, things in your past and

things in your present. But the key question

to ask yourself, and if you've sat down for coffee

with me on this issue, you'll recognize this

phrase. The question we have to ask ourselves,

are we in the battle? Are you in the battle,

the battle being described in Galatians 5, where

the spirit and the flesh are warring? Are you

in that battle or have you surrendered? That's

what the spirit wants for us, that we're in the

battle. And if you are, praise God. If you are,

the victories are going to continue to grow as

you stay in that battle, even if it's not as

quickly as you'd like it to happen. You're going

to see victories over time. See, what Paul's

referring to here is not that thing. The Corinthians

are not battling. That's what he's concerned

about. They are not paying attention to the prompting

of the spirit within. They're doing the opposite.

They're turning back to their old ways. They're

turning back to the wisdom of the world. And

they're responding to things that are happening

in the church just like a fleshly, natural man

or woman would respond. And this is a concern

for him. And then Paul adds a second description

in verse one. He says, not only are you fleshly,

Your babies. Your infants in Christ, he says,

right? Look at the end of verse one. I can't

speak to you except as infants in Christ. He

says, I gave you milk to drink, not solid food,

because you weren't ready for it. You weren't

ready for it. Indeed, even now, you're still

not ready. Why? Because you're fleshly, he says.

Remember, how long had it been since Paul first

came to Corinth? It's been somewhere around four

years since he first came to Corinth and planted

that church. And then Apollos came in after him.

And they both taught, right? So he's like, there's

no excuse for you to still be an infant. Can

you imagine you sitting under the teaching and

discipleship of Paul and then Apollos and still

being an infant in Christ? How is that possible,

we ask, right? But it's happening. Now, Paul's

not being critical of that initial. stage of

gospel life because infants, they need time to

grow, don't they? We know that from the physical

world. So immaturity is expected when a person

first comes to saving faith. The issue is years

later, that hasn't changed. They're still immature.

They're still fleshly. They're still worldly

in the way they think about things. And this

is a red flag for Paul. See, steady spiritual

growth in life. should be natural and normal

for us as believers. If we have the spirit, we

should see that growth. If we're not seeing that

growth, that should be considered abnormal. And

in the case of Corinth, what was happening was

this lack of spiritual growth was now a little

bit of leaven that was getting into the whole

batch of dough and it was causing trouble in

the church. And can I just make an observation

about infants? They have a tendency to act out.

Parents, can I get an amen? Infants do as they

please. They act out in all kinds of challenging

ways, don't they? Infants in the home, spiritual

infants in the church are prone to getting into

all kinds of trouble because their thinking is

undeveloped. So they get in trouble. It shows

up in their attitudes, the way they respond to

people. It shows up in their choices. Infants

are, by nature, takers. You notice that? Your

infants don't give a lot back. I mean, they smile,

right? They're cute, but they're takers. Giving

back is not on their radar yet because they're

underdeveloped, and they often have trouble getting

along with other people, right? They have trouble.

Put a bunch of infants in a room, and what will

they do? Take things from each other, hit each

other, right? Why? Why do they do that? Because

in that stage of immaturity, they're completely

self -centered, like spiritual infants in the

church. They're self -centered. And anybody that

gets in the way of what an infant wants is probably

going to get an earful. The same is true of spiritual

infants. So the fleshly, immature character of

these Corinthian believers had first of all stunted

their spiritual growth, there was a disconnect

between what they were being taught and how they

were responding to it. Rather than hearing the

word being taught to them, rather than obeying

the conviction of the spirit within, they were

choosing to stay worldly in all of their thinking.

And I have to say, if you've done any counseling

in the church, you will recognize this pattern.

I've seen it so many times, I can't even count

it anymore. You sit down with somebody or you

sit down with a couple and you walk through basic,

just basic biblical principles that they should

know. They probably do know because they've either

read it themselves or they've heard it preached

and you teach them these things and then they

go home and they don't apply them. And you thought

you were really clear and the Bible was really

clear and they go home and they don't apply those

truths. And you realize they were listening but

they weren't really hearing. Why is that? Because

they're losing that battle within their heart.

They're losing the battle to the flesh. The flesh

wants what it wants. So even though they're nodding

their head, they're not fully committed to change.

They're not fully committed to walking in the

Spirit. Not fully committed, their hearts are

divided. Not fully committed to change their

thinking, to make new choices and create new

habits. Yeah, they were listening, but they weren't

hearing. And again, positionally, they're in

Christ. But practically, they're still spiritual

infants, and they will continue to make poor

choices and bring all kinds of trouble upon themselves

if they stay in that condition. And still, to

my amazement, they will then wonder, I don't

understand why this Christianity thing isn't

working for me. Right? Now, in verse 2, Paul

says to them, when I first came to Corinth, I

gave you milk to drink. Right? And that makes

sense. That's what infants need, right? They

need to build a foundation. But then he says,

shockingly, years later, you're still drinking

from that same bottle. You haven't graduated.

And the reason is, he says, because you're still

living according to the flesh. You're not responding

to the Spirit's leading. The milk that he's talking

about here is just the basic teaching about the

gospel. that is uniquely designed to take a sinner

who's been newly converted and start to drive

them down the path of understanding who God is

and what Christ has done for them. It's beautiful,

right? Paul's already talked about it in chapter

one. He called it the word of the cross. And

then he talked about it as Christ crucified.

But then solid food is the expanding on those

same truths, right? That's the amazing thing.

The word of the cross in Christ crucified is

still solid food. It's just expanding and going

deeper in those things, right? In ways that now

drive the believer away from pride and towards

humility. Because the person who has the spirit,

who is listening to the voice of the spirit within,

is moving away from self -centeredness and to

a greater desire to love God and serve others.

He or she is moving towards laying aside worldly

thinking. and cultivating a hunger for the truth

of God's word. They're moving towards a stronger

commitment to obey that voice of the spirit in

our conscience who reminds us of what God's word

has said. You know that voice, right? You know

that voice because you're like, oh, he speaks

to my heart and I know what's true. He reminds

me of what God has said. But that's the crossroads

of decision making, isn't it? It's not rocket

science, friends. I can't tell you how many times

people have asked me, Jeff, I don't understand

how to grow spiritually. It's not rocket science.

It's simply a willingness to cooperate with the

work of the Spirit, what He wants to do in your

life. Continuing to die to self, right? That

is a lifelong process. Continuing to say no to

the flesh, while at the same time, leaning into

the things that you and I both know is exactly

what God's will is for your life. You say, Jeff,

what is God's will for your life? Well, study

of his word, worship, prayer, fellowship, service,

obedience. We all know these things. We all know

these things. And trust me, that brief list I

just rattled off, you will never plumb the depths

of all that. Your entire life, you will never

plumb the depths, right? And the deeper you dive

into those things, both in knowledge and application,

the more fulfilling your walk with Christ will

be. Do you believe that promise? That if you

continue to have one foot in the world, that

you'll be more miserable? But if you continue

to bow your knee to Christ and submit to the

things that are clearly his will, that your life

will be so much better. And yet we don't make

those choices. And we have to ask the question,

why not? And maybe it just comes back to this.

Is this what you want? Do you want spiritual

maturity? Do you want to grow? Because you have

everything that you need to grow. God has made

sure you have every spiritual blessing to grow.

Do you want to grow? Do you want solid food?

Or are you just cool with staying on milk? That's

a decision of the will that you have to make.

If you want solid food, it is going to require

some things. It's going to require a change in

your thinking. Paul calls it the renewing of

your mind. You know, your body's never done anything

that your mind first didn't give it approval

to do, right? Like, oh, I'm doing this thing,

but my mind didn't say yes. It doesn't work that

way. It starts up here, right? I'm going to change

my thinking and let my body follow. So it starts

with the thinking. Then there's the intentional

decision of the will, committing yourself to

change, to application of biblical truth. Guys,

that doesn't happen magically. Sometimes we think

it's just going to happen. By accident, we're

going to stumble into maturity. It's magical

thinking. It takes a decision of the will. This

is what I want, Lord. And guess what? The Spirit

responds to that. Great. Let's go. And then third,

it takes growing in your relationship with the

Holy Spirit. Yeah, that means actual prayer.

That means actually listening to His voice in

your conscience. It means confession and repentance.

And it means trusting the Holy Spirit when things

get tough. Because, right, as we lean into the

things of God, what's going to happen? There's

going to be pushback. Because the Spirit and

the flesh war against each other. So when things

get tough, we trust the Holy Spirit that you're

doing things according to His will. It's interesting,

in Hebrews 5, I'll show you a verse here. This

process that I just talked about is actually

referred to practice and training. Look what

it says. For everyone who partakes only of milk,

is not accustomed to the word of righteousness,

for he is an infant. Same language in Hebrews.

But solitude is for the mature who, because of

practice, have their senses trained to discern

good and evil. Therefore, he says, leaving the

elementary teaching about the Christ, let us

press on to maturity. Can I drop a sports analogy

on you? I know some of you don't like that, but

I'm going to do it. Did you know that the most

successful athletes in the world, do you know

how they got there? It's not natural talent.

It's practice and it's training. They just worked

harder. And so this is one of the keys. Again,

if you've been hoping for magical thinking, like

maybe all this maturity will just magically appear

in my life. No. Hebrews says it takes training

and it takes practice. You've got to lean into

it. Again, it's a simple principle. Do you want

it? And listen, if you say, no thanks, I'm not

there yet, okay, I'm gonna stick with milk, I'm

gonna live according to the flesh instead of

the spirit, okay, I don't recommend it, but okay,

but please then don't wonder why you're not seeing

godliness happen in your life. Don't go back

and go, I don't get it, I don't see any fruit

of the spirit, I don't see peace or joy or contentment,

because I'm gonna point you back to this and

say, okay. Now, in verses three to four, Paul's

going to go on and talk about a couple of symptoms,

symptoms of fleshliness in the local church.

Here's what's happening in Corinth. He says,

for since there's jealousy and strife among you,

are you not fleshly? Are you not walking or behaving

like natural men? For one says, I'm of Paul.

The other says, I'm of Apollos. Are you not acting

just like unsaved, unbelieving natural men? Here's

what marked the infantile fleshly church in Corinth.

First Paul uses the Greek word zelos, which is

the standard Greek word for zeal, but in this

context, it refers to a contentious rivalry that's

marked by what the NAS says is jealousy, or the

CSB says envy. It's a description of what today

we call factionalism. We group up or we click

up into groups and then we oppose one another

in the same church family. if you can believe

it. And then the obvious result of factionalism

in the church is the second word, eris, that

he uses here, which means conflict, quarreling,

or strife. So this is the same proud boasting

that Paul talked about back in chapter one. I'm

on team Paul. Right? I'm on team Apollos. Right?

It's like a Hogwarts thing. It's just goofy.

It's just silly. Right? These are people acting

like bratty children. Bratty children. When what's

called for is pursuit of unity in the body for

the sake of Christ, for the sake of the kingdom

of God, and for the sake of the testimony of

the church in a city like Corinth. Right? Because

unity is one of those things that Christ has

promised us will be a testimony to the place

that we live in. And yet look what the Corinthians

are doing. Shameful. You're behaving like natural

men, Paul says. This is what unbelievers do,

without the Spirit. It's fleshly. So whenever

you see division in a church, it's because the

members of the body are acting out like spiritual

infants. They're having tantrums like an infant.

They want their way. I just want my way. I want

my church to be like I want it to be. Infants.

Tantrums, willing to lash out at others in order

to get their fleshly desires met. Selfishness

is the mother of all conflict and division in

the body of Christ. Fleshly people responding

in ways that mimic what happens in the world.

Have you seen the comment section on any post

on social media? It's abhorrent. But sometimes

we act like this in the church. May it never

be so. And dividing over the silliest things,

right? Have you noticed the types of things we

divide over? I mean, these guys are dividing

over who's better, Paul or Apollos. Really? Can't

we just be thankful for both of them? Again,

the implication is clear. If you're not growing

spiritually, if you're living a worldly life

with worldly thinking, don't be surprised. Don't

be surprised if you just want to stay on milk

that when something happens in the church that

you don't agree with, or you get hurt by, or

you don't think that should be happening, don't

be surprised that you end up acting out just

like the world does because that will be your

natural response because you're not listening

to the voice of the Spirit. Does that make sense?

I've seen it too many times in my ministry career.

So let's keep going. Let's dive deeper into two

things. Let's talk about church leaders. Yeah.

Church leaders. What is their relationship to

growth? Look at verse 5. What then is Apollos

and what is Paul? Just servants. Servants who

did a good thing, by the way. He says, servants

through whom you believed, right? We brought

the gospel. You believed through the word that

we gave you, right? As the Lord gave opportunity

to each one. As the Lord opened those doors.

I planted, Paul says, Apollos watered, but God.

But God. God caused the growth. So then, whether

we plant or whether we water, we're really not

anything. It's all about God who causes the growth.

So in the case of Corinth, Paul, remember, he's

the builder of that original church. He's the

planter. And then it was time for him to move

on. And Paul, like a good pastor, says, I'm not

going to leave you and just disappear. I'm going

to bring in this amazing teacher named Apollos.

He's going to shepherd you for a while. Both

cases, both of those men were intent on seeing

the church planted and watered and growing in

a healthy way. But, Paul says, it wasn't us causing

the growth. Can you see the difference? We just

work, but we don't cause the growth. As much

as we admire the apostles, growth is above their

pay grade. And we look at Paul and Apollos and

we're like, wow, these are amazing men. But only

God can cause growth. That's what he says here,

right? This is one of the reasons why back in

the day, if you were around in the church in

the 80s and the 90s, and there was, you could

go into a Christian bookstore lined with books

that were all on one thing, church growth. Every

Christian guru was writing a church book about

how you can grow your church. And I remember

thinking to myself, had they not read 1 Corinthians

3? How could they be so blind? But books sell,

don't they? But they all wrote these books, How

to Grow Your Church. And I'm thinking to myself,

if Paul and Apollo said they couldn't grow the

church, why would I think I could do it today?

And so I just sort of rejected the whole concept

wholesale. Now, that's not to dismiss that we

should lead churches in a way they're warm and

welcoming, right? That we should set the environment

in a church for growth to take place. But the

guys writing those books really did think that

if I just build a formula, I can guarantee your

church will grow. Imagine the chutzpah in that.

Right? The ego in that. Here's the formula. It

worked for me. It'll work for you. I guarantee

it. But at what cost? At how much compromise?

Will that work? And by the way, is putting people

in seats on Sunday morning, is that really spiritual

growth? By whose standard? Is it God's standard

or man's standard? Right? You see the problems

here? The key to a healthy philosophy of church

growth is right there in verse 6. Church leaders

plant in water. Faithfulness. To plant and to

water. That's it. That's your calling. Plant

and water. You're not called to spin a bunch

of plates and create all kinds of church programs

and activities to keep everybody excited. Plant

and water. Shepherd the flock that God has put

under your care, whether it's 50 people or 5

,000. Shepherd the flock. The numbers are for

God to determine, right? That's why at Oak Hill

we talk about we have open hands. Whatever God

desires for us, we want. 50 or 5 ,000. It's up

to God. And so we say over and over again, and

I hope you'll remember this mantra. It's not

about big church. It's about healthy church.

Whatever that number is, it's about healthy church.

That's what Paul's trying to get through here.

Now take note of two things that Paul says about

himself and Apollos. And I want every elder and

deacon here at Oak Hill to listen carefully to

this. He says, first, the core of your role is

to serve the body. We are servants, he says.

Because we serve the Lord as we serve the flock.

Now that doesn't negate other passages that speak

of, yeah, elders have real spiritual authority

in the local church. Deacons are called to high

service. And there is a need among the congregation

to esteem their leaders. All those things remain

true. But Paul says, ultimately, we are table

servants as elders and deacons. We are called

by God to particular roles according to his.

That's what Paul says here. You may notice the

assignment of God that is given to me is different

from Grant's assignment. And it's different from

Dave's assignment. Different from Glenn's assignment

or Connor's assignment. And thank God for that,

right? We all have different gifts and skills.

And it's the diversity of those gifts and skills

that God empowers and then brings together for

his glory and the good of his church. Right?

As each one is given opportunity. Paul says,

all we have to do is be faithful. Plant and water,

shepherd, right? And as he says there in verse

seven, if you compare us, me and the guys I just

mentioned, all of our elders and deacons, if

you compare us to God, we're not anything. We're

not anything, he says. We're really not anything

at all. Now that may sound a little bit offensive

because you're like, church leaders aren't nothing.

But what Paul's doing here, he's using hyperbolic

language. He's trying to bring the Corinthians

back to their senses, right? About how foolish

you are to put men on pedestals. How foolish

that is when it's God who's doing all the work,

but you keep lifting up us, people in the flesh.

Why are you doing that? Stop it. It's as if he's

saying, look, we're not heroes to be adored.

We're not infallible. We're not mistake -free.

We're not beyond stumbling ourselves. We are

servants of Christ with a particular calling

and gifting, and that is it. So don't break into

factions over us. We're really not that great.

And that should be the posture of every church

leader, what we see here in Scripture. And then

he says, important truth in verse 8, he who plants

and he who waters are one. They have the same

goals and purposes. We're one. And by the way,

this... extends to churches, like -minded churches

in a valley like Santa Clarita. We're not in

competition. We're one. We have the same goal,

the same purpose, to see people come to know

Christ and to grow and mature. He goes on, but

each will receive his own reward according to

his own labor, for we are God's fellow workers

and you are God's field and God's building. So

me and Apollos, every other church leader, Church

leader, our task is to build and plant and water.

And he says, we're fellow workers. That means

we're teammates. We're not in competition. Stop

doing that. Our ministries are one. We are actually

dependent on each other. Did you know that? I

can get up here and preach all day long, but

if the deacons aren't doing their jobs, we have

problems. It's true, right? And if the deacons

are doing the job, but I don't show up to preach,

we have problems. Our ministries come together

like this, right? We're dependent on each other.

We are one. We're combining our unique gifts

and striving for the same goals. So he says,

stop dividing over us. Stop it. Refocus your

eyes back on the Lord. We are simply workers

through whom you came to believe and through

whom you are now growing in maturity. So as the

analogy goes, I don't know if you've heard this

before, you can be thankful for the copper pipes

in your home, but it's the water that is life

-giving and refreshing, so don't focus on the

pipes. You'll figure that out if you listen to

it again, right? Because I'm just a pipe through

which things flow, but it's not about me. Okay,

there's so much more we could say about this.

Let me close by coming back to where we started.

Let me give you this list again. These are the

marks of the fleshly immature believer. These

are the things that cause conflict and drama

and division in the local church. Pride, self

-centeredness, poor emotional control, resistance

to change, factionalism, making false assumptions,

ambition for power, gossip and secrecy, unresolved

conflict. May the Lord protect each one of us

in this church from ever ever bringing harm to

the bride of Christ. Think about that for a second.

There are people in this church world that their

legacy is, I brought harm to the bride of Christ

out of pride because I wanted it my way. And

I brought harm to the church. Can you imagine?

Protect us from that, from acting out like spiritual

infants and then allowing any of these things

to seep into this local church family. May the

Lord protect us. And now to the other side of

that coin, let me take us back to, this is our

call to worship passage from earlier, Ephesians

4. And this is so instructive for us in the local

church. Here's what it says. God gave some to

the church. To be apostles, and some as prophets,

some as evangelists, and some as pastors and

teachers, and with this purpose in mind. See

it? He gave these offices and these workers,

right, for these reasons. To equip the saints,

that's you guys, for the works of ministry, for

building up the body of Christ, until we all

attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge

of the Son of God to mature manhood, To the measure

of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Guys,

this is God's will for every believer in this

room today. Right here. Being equipped to serve

everybody else in this room. Not to be served,

but to serve. To build up and strengthen this

local body in Christ. To reach a place of unity

with every other believer in this room. To find

a way to reach unity. Then to possess a deep

and abiding knowledge of Christ and what he's

done for us. Right? And to mature in the faith

to the point where you're experiencing the fullness

of what it means to be conformed to the image

of Christ. To be marching towards that until

your last breath. Towards maturity. That is God's

agenda for your life. Did you know that? Jeff,

what's God's will? What's God's agenda? Is that

your agenda? Ah, the question. Is that your agenda?

Or are you on a different path, a roundabout

path, right? Well, I'm partly committed to these

things, but not entirely. Still trusting in your

own wisdom, still with a divided heart, still

seeing things through the lens of the world,

still wanting to dabble in some fleshly pursuits

with one foot in the world and one foot in the

kingdom because you still think that those things

out there in the world are gonna satisfy you

and make you happy rather than seeing what God.

says will make you joyful. Paul goes on in Ephesians

4, he says, we're no longer to be children tossed

here and there, but rather, speaking the truth

in love, we're to grow up in every way. into

him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the

whole body, joined and held together by every

joint with which it is equipped, that's us, we

are joints in this building, when each part is

working properly, makes the body grow so that

it builds itself up in love. God's instruction

to every one of us, stop acting like spiritual

children. Stop it. Get off the bottle, lay aside

the flesh, grow up in Christ. so that you can

play a part, get this now, in the greatest mission

that you've ever been invited into. Did you know

this? You've been invited into the greatest mission

the world has ever seen, the building and strengthening

of Christ's church. And I know we don't often

see it that way because we've grown up in this

weird evangelical world where the professionals

do the work. We just come and we listen. That's

not the mission, to sit. You know, I won't make

fun of back row people. To sit in the back row

and just go, hey, get me a good cup of coffee,

make sure the music is good, right? And give

me a word for the day. You've been invited into

the greatest mission the world has ever seen,

the building and strengthening of the church

of Jesus Christ. I hope that's your agenda. And

if you're like, ah, that's a little harsh, Jeff.

This is not Jeff's word, this is God's word.

I'm just the copper pipe that's bringing you

the water. Amen? So we should remember, in conclusion,

salvation in Christ is a radical change. It's

a radical change in your identity, in your nature,

in your calling, and your purpose. It is not,

I repeat, it is not adding a little Jesus into

your life, which many of us were taught. It's

a radical change. It is a change from death to

life, you guys, from darkness to light. It's

turning from worldly things that you once thought

were so great and so precious to new affections

that when you figure those things out, they far

surpass the old ones. It's a radical change.

Salvation in Christ turns everything on its head.

Now, this takes time, okay? I want to give grace

to this. It takes time, but your worldview is

going to change over time. Your values, your

motivations, your priorities, everything. And

that means that if the Spirit is within you,

you're going to see over time a trajectory of

growth. Now, there'll be dips, ups and downs,

lefts and rights, but you'll see over time a

trajectory of spiritual growth. It's true that

we are saved by God's grace alone. But wherever

genuine faith is, there is also genuine godly

works. It should show up in your life. It has

to show up in your life. It has to. Otherwise,

we're going to question your faith. So while

a Christian can at times act out in fleshly ways,

it's not going to be something that marks his

or her life on a long -term basis. And we should

remember this as well. If you're found in Christ,

if the spirit's within you and you are rejecting

his voice, there's gonna be consequences. Can

I just share this because I love you guys and

I don't want life to be harder than it has to

be, but there will be consequences. God promises

to discipline those he loves. He disciplines

his children. He says, look, I've saved you.

I've given you every promise. I've given you

the spirit to help you. You've said no thank

you. So like a good father, he is gonna discipline

you. And that can be a painful process. There

can be temporal discipline, loss of blessings,

blocked prayer, the loss of the fullness of communion

with God. There can be despair and confusion

because I've said this before, the most miserable

people I know are Christians who are still living

with a foot in the world. It creates confusion.

It creates misery. Get your foot out of that

world, man. Listen to what God says. There could

be lost rewards in the life to come. That's coming

up in the rest of chapter three, the judgment

seat, the behemoth seat of Christ. There can

be loss of rewards. And finally, there can be

a loss of mission in the here and now where you

are so entangled by sin that you become useless

in service to the kingdom. So there are consequences

to failing to listen to this passage. Now, this

is no small issue, but let me encourage you.

Okay, because you don't want to end on that note,

right? That was rough. Let me encourage you with

two things. Because if you feel beat down today,

I hope not. I hope you feel convicted. I was.

I was convicted this week in this passage. Two

things. If you belong to Christ, even if you're

struggling with the flesh, even if you're struggling

with that, nothing can separate you from his

love. Did you know that? Not even your own waywardness.

can separate, nothing can snatch you out of his

hand. Man, claim that promise. Even as you start

to say, I need to confess and repent and move

towards the spirit, remember, he can't love you

anymore. He sent his own son to die for you.

He cannot love you more. If you belong to him,

he's always gonna faithfully call you back to

himself. It could be painful, but he will call

you back. And then let's remember the truth of

Romans 5 .20. Where sin abounded, grace abounded

all the more. It's our gracious God. In Romans

8 .1, if you're clothed with the garments of

righteousness in Christ, there is now no condemnation.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that God's

not always mad at you? I used to believe that.

That God was just always mad at me because I

always disappointed him. He's your father. He

loves you. So let's saturate our minds with the

word of God so that our thinking is renewed.

Let's practice and let's train our bodies for

this battle that lays ahead. And out of love

for God, out of gratitude towards Christ for

what he's done, let's walk by the spirit so that

we don't carry out the desires of the flesh.

Amen? Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, thank

you for loving us. As we live down here in these

bodies, it's rough. It's hard, Lord. We wrestle

with the flesh. We wrestle with the world and

the devil and yet, Lord, we know that you've

called us to something higher and you challenge

us with your word that this is real and that

there are consequences, but there's also great

blessings, Lord, for... Spiritual growth. And

so I pray, Lord, that you will seal these truths

in our hearts and minds, that we will pursue

spiritual maturities, pursue spiritual growth,

that we would lay aside the flesh. God, thank

you for your spirit. Thank you that you loved

us enough to send the spirit to be within our

inner man and to impact our hearts and minds

directly from within. That you've made us temples

where you reside. God, help us. Help us to lay

aside the flesh. Help us to die to self. Help

us to lean into the work you want to do in us.

Most of all for your glory, Lord, but also for

our good and for the good of this local church.

Thank you, God, for this passage. I pray for

my brothers and sisters this week that we'll

go back over it and we'll pray it through, Lord,

and be convicted all over again. And then strive

to know you deeper. Thank you for this church.

Thank you for your word, Lord. We love you. In

Christ's name we pray.