Daily Bread 2010 - 1 Corinthians 3
Daily Bread 2010 – 1 Corinthians 3
On Divisions in the Church
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
One of the issues Paul is dealing with in the church at Corinth is people following personalities rather than Christ. One person was saying they were following Apollos and another Paul. Sometimes it is easy to confuse the “messenger” with the “message”. Paul says because of this type of “worldliness” that he could not give the Corinthians the solid food, since they were not ready for it.
This assumes that we learn more things as we mature in our faith and can handle deeper concepts. You might have heard the term “baby Christians”. Baby Christians are those who have not gone beyond the elementary teachings of the faith. They are still in the 101 class. Sadly many Christians fall into this category. And part of the problem is the church has set a system which keeps people at junior high level of spiritual maturity.
Of course the danger in this kind of thinking is we start ranking people and this can be very prideful. But the bottom line is that Paul needs to rebuke the believers in Corinth because their behaviors betrayed their spiritual immaturity, which we will see much more of in the chapters to come, with all sorts of other behaviors unbecoming of a mature Christian.
As we approach this issue, we need to realize that none of us have arrived. When we start thinking we are better than others there is a good chance pride has set in. And we know pride comes before a fall! This passage is also a good reality check for pastors and other Christian leaders. It reminds us that we are merely those who plant and water. We can’t make anything grow, and we are not responsible for growth, but we are responsible to our task of watering and planting.
Dear Jesus thank you for making things grow. Help us to rely on and not grow prideful and the things only you can take credit for. Help us to grow up in our faith to be able to search and understand the deep mysteries of our faith in You. Amen.
On Divisions in the Church
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
One of the issues Paul is dealing with in the church at Corinth is people following personalities rather than Christ. One person was saying they were following Apollos and another Paul. Sometimes it is easy to confuse the “messenger” with the “message”. Paul says because of this type of “worldliness” that he could not give the Corinthians the solid food, since they were not ready for it.
This assumes that we learn more things as we mature in our faith and can handle deeper concepts. You might have heard the term “baby Christians”. Baby Christians are those who have not gone beyond the elementary teachings of the faith. They are still in the 101 class. Sadly many Christians fall into this category. And part of the problem is the church has set a system which keeps people at junior high level of spiritual maturity.
Of course the danger in this kind of thinking is we start ranking people and this can be very prideful. But the bottom line is that Paul needs to rebuke the believers in Corinth because their behaviors betrayed their spiritual immaturity, which we will see much more of in the chapters to come, with all sorts of other behaviors unbecoming of a mature Christian.
As we approach this issue, we need to realize that none of us have arrived. When we start thinking we are better than others there is a good chance pride has set in. And we know pride comes before a fall! This passage is also a good reality check for pastors and other Christian leaders. It reminds us that we are merely those who plant and water. We can’t make anything grow, and we are not responsible for growth, but we are responsible to our task of watering and planting.
Dear Jesus thank you for making things grow. Help us to rely on and not grow prideful and the things only you can take credit for. Help us to grow up in our faith to be able to search and understand the deep mysteries of our faith in You. Amen.
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