Big Babies

Transcript

Good morning, would you please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 3, verse 1-9. 1 Corinthians 3, 1-9, if you are here this morning and you don’t have a Bible, there are some Bibles in front of you under the seat. You’ll find our scripture reading text on page 896. If you don’t own a Bible, you’re welcome to take that Bible home with you as our gift to you so long as you promise that you will read it, okay? Family, would you stand with me for the reading of God’s Word? But I, brothers and sisters, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready for it, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one. And each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. Family, this is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your Word. And we pray that you would give us the help of the Holy Spirit so that we might feast on your Word this morning. We pray, O Lord in God, that you would give us the help to understand your Word.

The Problem: Spiritual Infancy

And that you would provide the growth from your Word. We confess that we desperately need your help this morning. So would you meet us, God, as we seek to understand what you have for us? We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen. You may be seated. There is something magical about celebrating a child’s first birthday. I couldn’t think of another word other than magical. And if you’ve ever had the chance to participate in a one-year-old birthday party, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. The scene is epic. And here’s the thing, I’m not talking about the kind of polished, picture-perfect moments that flood our Instagram feeds from momfluencers, you know, who care only to capture and showcase the very best images of their brand-new one-year-old. I’m not talking about filtered moments, but rather

the sheer joy that permeates the room as a little human encounters the wonderful, confusing tradition of a birthday experience for the first time. Here you have a baby who’s barely mastered the basics of life, seated in a high chair, rocking the iconic cone-shaped birthday hat held tightly to its face with a rubber band and a staple, as they face the incredible challenge of eating their birthday cake. And to add to the challenge, the cake has one lit candle stubbornly placed on top of it. You always have the mom kind of motioning to the baby to kind of blow out the candle. And with all eyes on the baby, we all wait to see the elusive first birthday wish. Imagine the scene in your mind, a one-year-old baby who is clueless to the concept of birthday wishes, who doesn’t even have the lung capacity to blow out a candle,

who with every attempt to grasp the cake leads to a disaster of frosting that smears across the face and deep into the nostrils as they kind of dive into this sensory overload after tasting the glorious gift of concentrated sugar for perhaps the very first time. The scene is comically absurd and wonderfully joyful at the same time. What makes it amazing is the unpredictability of their reaction. Might end in tears, might end in laughter, could end in pure confusion, but whatever the reaction, the moment is memorable, burned into the heart of every single parent, not just because of the messiness and the humor of it, but also because of the innocence and the genuine attempt to navigate this new experience. As onlookers, we see the scene with complete joy because we see it as a celebration of growth and discovery for our little ones. But imagine the exact same scenario of a birthday party

with a 35-year-old sitting in a high chair in a diaper with a cone-shaped birthday hat strapped to his head as he struggles to eat the cake and put it in his mouth. Suddenly the scene shifts from heartwarming and endearing to deeply concerning. The innocence is immediately eclipsed by discomfort and the laughter is replaced by an unsettling and uncomfortable awkwardness. Because instinctively we recognize that there is a vast ocean that separates the expected behaviors and milestones of a one-year-old child to that of a 35-year-old adult. The issue is not so much about age, though that’s part of it. The issue is about growth and maturity, or the complete lack thereof. It’s never a good look for an adult to act like an infant. It’s cringey at best and discouraging at worst. And family, this is precisely at the heart of what we’re going to dive into in our text this morning.

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Adults Acting Like Babies

Paul shares the same concern for adults acting like infants as he sees it play out in the church of Corinth. And his concern is not merely just a few missteps or a few immature acts, but a deeply rooted concern about the spiritual infancy among those who should be fully developed spiritual adults. Paul’s burden is to show how their issue of being big babies extends beyond their personal growth, their personal spiritual growth, but also how it affects the health and the unity of the church. And as is Paul’s style all throughout the book of 1 Corinthians, he begins by identifying the issue and he shows how the issue is playing out in the life of the church, and then he offers a helpful corrective to fix the problem. That’s the basic flow of our text this morning: the problem, the effect, and the solution. And to help us along, I’ve actually broken up our text into those three sections.

And so let’s dive in verse 1 as we look at the problem. Paul writes, Paul opens this section of his letter and for the very first time gives them a rebuke, or to better say it, a reproof. Now before we dive too deep into the text, it’s probably helpful to clarify what actually is a rebuke and what is a reproof? Both words simply mean correction, but the difference has everything to do with tone. While a rebuke is a sharp and more stern correction, a reproof is a bit more of an underhanded and gentle correction. Now despite the perception of our extremely tolerant culture, neither form of correction is a bad thing. And each has its unique place depending on the circumstances. In fact, Paul will transition from reproof to rebuke quite quickly in this letter. But here’s the thing, in the beginning of chapter 3,

Paul opts for reproof to address what he sees as one of the biggest problems that is causing all the disunity in the church. One important thing that I think you should be aware of when offering correction is that no matter what the tone is, whether it’s a rebuke or a reproof, correction should always be done in love. And this is what we see with Paul all throughout his letters. He corrects the Corinthian Christians with love, sometimes sharply and sometimes, as in this case, with gentleness. Paul is essentially saying to these brothers and sisters, listen, I care so deeply for you. In fact, I love you, but you need to understand something. I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh. Now what exactly does Paul mean when he says, as people of the flesh? This phrase ‘of the flesh’ could be better translated as

human perspective or worldly perspective. It could also be translated as carnal, which seems rather odd that Paul would use, you know, carnal Christianity to identify them. It kind of sounds like an oxymoron. I mean, is Paul doing here what many in our culture often do by placing a sinful modifier before their Christian identity? Is Paul kind of endorsing a kind of B-side Christianity? Well, to be clear, this is not what Paul is doing. He’s not endorsing carnal Christianity as an acceptable way to live out the Christian life. No, Paul’s reference to them as people of the flesh means that Paul could not engage with them as spiritual people because they were living as natural people. Now, last week, Andre did a wonderful job highlighting this distinction between spiritual people and natural people. And if you didn’t hear that sermon, I would encourage you to spend some time this week to go and listen to it.

He did a wonderful job. It was great. But listen to what Paul said in chapter 2, verse 14 and 15 about these two types of people. He says, And he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person, however, judges all things or understands all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. So Paul, in these verses, references the natural person as a non-Christian. The kinds of people who cannot understand or discern certain spiritual realities. But the Christian, who he references as the spiritual person, is capable of understanding or judging spiritual things. So if Paul just said in chapter 2 that a natural person is not a Christian and a spiritual person is a Christian, well, what does Paul mean when he said he couldn’t speak to them as spiritual people, as people of the flesh or natural people?

Is he suggesting that these Corinthians are not Christians? Well, to be clear, that’s not what Paul is saying. Notice that Paul says, I could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh. What Paul means to say is that, though they are positionally spiritual people, they are not acting or thinking like spiritual people. He emphasizes that they’re not behaving in accordance with their true identity as Christians. They are indeed Christians, which is why he says that they are infants in Christ, in Jesus, but they are struggling to connect with the spiritual wisdom and spiritual realities that is connected to the identity of Christians. Because they are thinking and responding in ways that are more characteristic of natural people. So to be clear, this is not a salvation issue. This is a maturity issue. They are spiritual people positionally, but in their practice, they are thinking and acting in categories

that are defined by the natural order of things. And so, Paul’s gentle reproof is to help them live in proper alignment with who they actually are. And Paul has done this before. He’s, again, emphasizing who they are so that they can be who they are. Now, you have to remember that the Corinthian Christians were ultra-consumed with the wisdom of the world, which Paul has been talking about and trying to help them realign their thinking. But they were also the kinds of people that were consumed with a spiritual superiority, which we will see all throughout this letter. So, though it’s true that they are positionally spiritual people, they were using spiritual things to try to sit positionally above other people. And the irony in trying to leverage how people perceive them spiritually only revealed how unspiritual they were behaving. So, this diagnosis from Paul that they are not acting like spiritual people,

but more like natural people, most likely became a shock to their system because they considered themselves to be very spiritual people, even spiritually mature. After all, they were quite knowledgeable concerning the things of the Spirit. They were pretty big in showcasing their spiritual gifts. They were speaking in tongues, which was a spiritual language. They were big into having spiritual words of knowledge. So, for Paul to suggest that they are not as spiritual as they think they are would have been a bit confusing and perhaps they might have perceived Paul to be harsh. They might even have thought that Paul was completely wrong in his assessment. But Paul was extremely accurate in his diagnosis concerning the problem of their spiritual immaturity. And he even goes further with addressing this problem in verse 2. He says, I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.

Here, Paul pushes in on this spiritual infancy of these Christians by using this metaphor of milk and meat. Now, before you hear this as Paul being mean-spirited or condescending because he just basically referred to them as big babies, I want you to look underneath the surface of his reproof to see the gentleness in his correction. His correction has a very maternal tone to it. Paul gives them this wonderful image of a mother who needed to nurse her baby with the necessary and appropriate nourishment that was most suitable for an infant. Moms, amen? You understand that? And Paul’s statement here actually makes complete sense. I mean, no one ever gets upset with a baby for not being able to eat a steak dinner. No one would, no intelligent person anyway, would try to feed an infant a piece of steak. No, you give infants what they can handle for their particular stage of life.

So this isn’t Paul being condescending, but this is him making a reasonable observation. These people at the time were brand new, born-again Christians. So it’s not harsh, it’s true. Now, what is underneath the imagery here? What does Paul mean when he says, I fed you with milk and not solid food? Well, the milk that Paul refers to here is exactly what he’s already referenced in chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. If you remember, he said, And I, when I came to you, brothers and sisters, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That’s what Paul means when he said he fed them with milk and not solid food. Paul, very aware of the Christians in Corinth, their hyper fixation on human wisdom and philosophy,

didn’t choose to satisfy their cravings or their hunger for lofty speech or human teaching or this kind of special knowledge. Instead, he focused on the very basic message of Christ and Him crucified, which, praise be to God, was sufficient for their salvation. Here’s the thing, the milk was sufficient. It was appropriate. I mean, this is how they actually became Christians. Given their appetite for deeper human teaching and eloquent words from the world, it’s reasonable that Paul would have given them this gospel in a simple, micro-dosed fashion. Now, what Paul doesn’t mean by feeding them milk is this idea that brand new Christians are somehow incapable of understanding doctrine or the more significant truths of the gospel that would help them grow in godliness. No, family, that’s not what he’s saying at all. No, milk, despite being appropriate for infants, is full of substance. It actually helps babies grow.

There are nutrients in milk that help to develop babies into mature people. So Paul wasn’t saying that he needed to kind of dumb down the message or the meat so that, you know, it could be more appealing to these brand new Christians who couldn’t possibly understand anything spiritual because they haven’t been Christians long enough to learn the ropes. Family, being a Christian for a long time doesn’t automatically make you spiritually mature. I mean, you could be a Christian for less than a year and be way more spiritually mature than many other people in the church who’ve been Christians for decades. So milk doesn’t mean no substance. Family, this is how a lot of people interpret this text. They see this text and they begin to justify these kinds of two-tiered gospel strategies. They think that giving people milk is telling them, you know, Jesus loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life.

And then if they kind of take the bait, then they kind of, you know, give them the meat, which is you’re a sinner and you need a savior. That’s kind of like a bait and switch if you think about it. But that’s not what Paul did. And that’s not what Paul is alluding to here. Listen, the truth is there isn’t really any difference between milk and meat. It’s not so much about Christians having the ability to digest milk or digest meat of the message. It’s an issue that has more to do with their spiritual appetite. Okay? So in terms of truth and doctrine, there really isn’t a difference between meat and milk. But for example, the message of Christ and Him crucified is weighty doctrine. It’s powerful and it’s sufficient to save sinners. That message is both milk and meat depending on your appetite. When Christians who have a low appetite, the appetite of infants, hear that message of Christ crucified,

they completely understand how Christ’s death on the cross saved them from their sins. And they drink that message in its simplicity and feel fed, but not full. You understand that? And because they’re not full, they are susceptible to all kinds of other unhealthy foods. And parents, if you have children, you know how that works. But when a Christian has a more mature appetite, who has developed a more robust palate for spiritual truth, they hear the same message of Christ and Him crucified and they eat that message differently. They revel in it. They savor it. They taste the flavors and they feel all the textures. They desire to dig deep into the meat to understand the notes of it. They want to learn the ingredients and how it was made so that they can better understand the process. When they hear the message of Christ and Him crucified,

they have grown in their taste to see the complex beauty of it all. They interpret that message of Christ and Him crucified as the Trinitarian God of the universe who created all things from eternity past, orchestrated this cosmic plan, knowing full well that the very humans He created would fail to keep the commands of God perfectly and choose to live in rebellion against Him. So in love, the Father sent the Son of God to take on human flesh, while at the same time preserving His perfect deity, remaining fully God and fully man. The Son, in perfect submission to the Father’s will, condescended to live among the very people who rebelled against Him and eventually crucified Him. He came to live a sinless life, perfectly pleasing to the Father, to serve as a substitute and die in the place for sinful people who deserve the very wrath of God.

But Christ endured it on their behalf, through this death on the cross, so that we, through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and trust in the sufficient work of Jesus on the cross to save us and redeem us, and through that atoning work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, we receive the righteousness of God in His indwelling spirit until He comes again to renovate this world. This is the message of Christ and Him crucified. Same food, different appetite. A more sophisticated palate to interpret all the notes and flavors of the message. And when they hear that, they feel full. Morna Hooker, who is a British theologian, she says this concerning Paul’s words here. The fundamental contrast in Paul’s mind is not between two quite different diets which he has to offer, but between the true food of the gospel with which he has fed them, whether milk or meat,

Milk vs. Meat

and the synthetic substitutes which the Corinthians have preferred. Yeah, she’s a beast, man. Family, there is no difference between milk and the meat of the gospel. The way you feast on it has everything to do with your desire to eat of it as a spiritually mature person with the appetite of a spiritually mature person. And this was the problem with the Corinthians. And friends, this is the problem with so many people in our world today. Among Christians, they have not grown beyond the basic spiritual appetite. So they keep eating junk food to feed themselves because they’re not nourished by it. Many Christians are content with baby food when they could be feasting on the glories of God by simply adjusting their appetites. And notice what he says at the end of verse 2. Into verse 3, he says, And even now you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh.

And here, family, is the deep cut that Paul corrects them with. This is both the punch and the apex of his reproof. Even now, you still don’t have the appetite for spiritual things. You have so identified yourself with the world, you are so influenced with the natural order of things that you don’t care to grow an appetite for the things of God. You’re content with the bare minimum. Now think about this. How long have these people sat under Paul’s teaching at this point? A year and a half? 18 months? And when Paul dipped, Apollos stepped in to pastor the church. And I don’t know if you know anything about Apollos, but this guy was a beast. Very gifted at preaching and teaching. Powerful pastor. So you have the apostle Paul with these people for 18 months. You have the gifted Apollos pouring into these people day in and day out,

and they have not grown one bit in terms of their appetite. How does that happen? Family, I’ll tell you. A preoccupation with the world and the flesh. A desire to source wisdom from the culture. This creates apathy towards growing a spiritual appetite. Essentially what Paul is saying to them, and maybe to some of you this morning, I can’t believe you’re still believing this way. I can’t believe you’re content with your infant appetites. You’ve been a Christian for how long? When are you going to grow up, Christian? When are you going to practice what you are positionally in Christ Jesus? When are you going to stop appealing to the world’s wisdom and the world’s systems to navigate your life and your business and your friendships? When are you going to set aside the things that are holding you back from becoming a spiritually mature Christian? When will you begin to put your flesh to death?

You know what you need to do to stay spiritually immature? Nothing. Do nothing, and you will stay an infant in Christ. Fix your mind only on the things of this world, and you will lose sight or appetite for the world to come. Don’t read your Bible, don’t pray, isolate yourself from brothers and sisters in the church, and you will feed your spiritual immaturity. Do nothing to feed the spirit, and you will most certainly feed the flesh. And family, you need to listen to this like I need to listen to this. Living and feeding the flesh by looking to the natural order of our world is a very dangerous thing to do as Christians. Compare the church to corporate America, and you will quickly become disenchanted with the church because they’re not the same. Live in alignment with critical theory or inclusivity, then Christ and him crucified,

and your spiritual life will decompose. Keep looking to the culture to determine how you should think, feel, and live, and you will die a spiritual death through deconstruction because the spiritual life will look out of touch with the reality of our culture. Paul says in Romans 8, verses 5 and 6, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is what? It’s what, family? It’s death. Spiritual death. But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8, verse 8, For those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Can I ask you this morning, are there areas in your life that are more characteristic to the flesh or the natural person than the Spirit?

Do you take more of your cues from the culture than you do from Christ? If so, friend, please heed this gentle reproof from Paul. Ask God to help you put to death the flesh. Ask him to help you set your mind on the things of the Spirit so that you can live and have peace. Now, why does Paul even choose to address the Corinthians like this anyway? You know, a lot of people in the church today would consider this kind of correction from Paul to be intrusive or harsh or unloving. But listen, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Paul corrects them this way because it’s the best way to love them. In fact, it would be unloving to leave them in spiritual immaturity. Certainly, Paul understands the cost of this correction. The potential backlash and the misunderstanding it could provoke. Paul likely knows that some of the people in the church,

upon hearing his correction, will become angry with him. Maybe even blame him for their church hurt. How dare Paul say such a thing to us? How dare he call us immature, big babies? That doesn’t sound very loving. That doesn’t sound very encouraging. It’s probably the case that by saying something, even in the most gentle of ways, it provokes some of the Corinthians in the church to hate Paul for what he said. So why does Paul do it? Why does he subject himself to this kind of drama? Because he loves them more than he cares about their response. And because Paul understood the wisdom of Proverbs 9, 7-9. Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse. And he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer or he will hate you. But listen. Reprove a wise man or woman and he or she will love you.

Give instruction to a wise man or woman and they will still be wiser. Teach a righteous man or woman and they will increase in learning. I wonder how many of you would respond to this kind of reproof, Trinity Church member. Would you see it as a loving instrument of God to mature you spiritually? Or would you have a visceral reaction and fire back with hate and venom and slander and all those things. Family, I pray that all of us. I pray this for myself constantly. That we would be the kind of people who would love reproof. Who would love instruction. Who would love teaching because we see it as God’s instrument of sanctification. Reproof is the means of making us spiritually mature. You have to file that away for those difficult days when someone loves you enough to tell you the truth. So that you can pull it to the forefront of your heart and say they’re saying this because they love me.

The Effect: Jealousy and Strife

Something I want you to notice in this text. Is that Paul doesn’t offer reproof without giving them proof. Paul’s rebuke isn’t in the form of speculation. This is not ambiguous. He didn’t just kind of address them because he got the spirit bumps and was like something’s not right. He appealed to proof. He offers his gentle correction by pointing to the very issue that reveals their spiritual immaturity. And their worldly thinking. And we see the proof or the effect in verses 3 and 4. For while there is jealousy and strife among you. Are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says I follow Paul and another I follow Apollos. Are you not being merely human? Paul here points directly to the fruit of their spiritual immaturity and worldly influence. And he shows them how this immaturity most profoundly plays out in the life of the church.

Jealousy and strife. Jealousy and strife. Where there is a great deal of those two things in the church. You can be sure that the dominant characteristic or culture in the church is worldly. Fleshly. The world imbibes the culture of self. Friends, jealousy and strife and self-centeredness is what natural people produce. Not spiritual people. Natural people seek power. They seek status. They learn the art and skill of pitting people against other people. By elevating certain people over and against other people. Because they think it will advance their particular agenda or preference or status. You see the motivation for that way of living is the self. Mature Christians put aside jealousy and strife. And strive for the unity of the church and the service of others. You want to know why? Paul uses this imagery of big babies in the text. It didn’t come out of nowhere.

It’s because babies, friends, are self-centered. They’re selfish. They only think about themselves. They can’t help but think that way because they are babies. They’re not mature enough to the point where they begin to think about other people. Their world is small. And they feel it’s all about them because in many ways it is. They presume the world revolves around them. They cry when they don’t get what they want. They even cry when they get what they want. They will literally snatch toys out of another baby’s hands if they want it. And not think twice about it.

They don’t care about how their actions affect other people or even other babies. They can’t care. They don’t know how to care because they’re babies. Babies aren’t thinking about unity. It’s true. Babies aren’t naturally thinking about unity the way mature people do. Mature people think about unity. And that’s exactly what was happening in the church. Because they were behaving like natural people, like non-Christians. They were thinking only about how to serve themselves. Mine.

They were only thinking about their own interests. Rather than serving others in the church. Listen, the reason why the Corinthian Christians divided the leadership of the church into these prospective camps and created rivalries is because that’s what the world does. You understand that? That’s what they do. That’s their M.O. That’s what the corporate world does. If you’ve been a part of that corporate world for long enough, you know that’s exactly what they do. That’s what everyone in the world does. They pick their particular people or their tribe according to how it will advance their personal agendas. And they don’t care what happens along the way so long as they get to where they want to go. Family, this is not how the church operates. At all. And so Paul effectively diagnoses the problem. And he shows them the effect it’s having on the church. And because he loves them, he offers them the solution.

The Solution: Servants, Not Stars

We see that in verses 5-9, where Paul begins by saying in verse 5: What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants, through whom you have believed as the Lord assigned to each. Here Paul offers a very healthy solution to that of our culture. Or worldly thinking. And that is, have a proper orientation of who we are. We are not significant. We’re not the most gifted people. We’re not the most important. We are not influencers. We are not hustlers. We are not professionals. We are servants.

Notice Paul doesn’t say ‘Who is Paul? Who is Apollos?’ He says ‘What is Apollos? What is Paul?’ And listen, that might not sound like anything significant to point out, but it’s massive. Paul literally appeals to himself and Apollos, not as people, but objects. Instruments. He says that by design. So as to say we’re nothing. Nothing but instruments of service used by the hand of God for his divine purposes. We’re servants. That word servant in the original language is diakoni. Sound familiar? Diakon. It’s where we get the word deacon. That word deacon is literally translated, the waiter of a meal. Like a busboy. Or girl. Which in Portland could be a career, you know. It’s literally translated, the servant of a master. And here’s the thing. As gifted as Paul and Apollos were, they were servants. And in their service, they gave their life to the master,

so that the Corinthians might believe and be saved. So essentially, Paul is saying that all of us are deacons. All of us are deacons for the Lord. Spiritual waiters waiting on the Lord and serving him by serving other people. And this is so counterintuitive in our culture. Our culture says we are the center of the universe. Paul says we are not. God is. And we are his servants. So in God’s economy, it would make no sense to elevate and build up certain individuals in a kind of corporate ladder to seek, you know, to rise to the top. The world says we need to position ourselves among gifted and talented people who can champion our cause. Paul says no. We need to position ourselves as servants. God gifts people with gifts and he gives them talents. And those are good gifts for the church. But they won’t grow anything.

And they won’t grow anyone. This is why Paul says in verses 9 through 6, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything. Or nothing. But only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one. And each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field. God’s building. So the solution is not just having a proper orientation of who we are, which is servants, but also a proper understanding of our limitations concerning what we can produce on our own that will foster unity and spiritual maturity. Family, we are not a little limited in what we could produce. We are infinitely limited. In fact, we can’t produce anything spiritual on our own. But listen, just because we can’t produce anything doesn’t mean that we don’t do anything.

We work. We serve. Paul planted and then he dipped and Apollos watered the seeds that Paul planted. But it wasn’t their giftedness. It wasn’t Paul’s power. It wasn’t the wisdom and speech of Apollos that caused spiritual fruit. It was God who provided the spiritual fruit and he used these men to do it. And listen, it’s the same for us, family. We work. Each and every one of us doing our part completely dependent on God to produce the growth. This is the garden work that we’ve talked about before. Family, this is such a good word for us. I need to hear this as a husband and a dad and a pastor. We are not responsible for the spiritual growth. We can plant seeds. We can water the fields. We can pull weeds. We can toil in the soil. We can pray for fruit. But God alone will produce the fruit according to his providential purposes.

And family, we can rest in that. You can rest in that. All the stress and anxiety of trying to change people, trying to persuade people, trying to control people, you can let it go because God is in control of it all. So that again, he alone gets the glory. Now listen, though we are all servants, we all have different roles and God gives us different gifts but in the end, our roles and our gifts are in every way dependent upon God for spiritual growth. So, the focus in our church should never be on the servants. Who are we? We shouldn’t be looking around thinking, oh, what do they do? Look at how they do. Look at how much influence they have. Look how much gifts they have. Focus on all those things. No, our focus should be on the master who tells us what to do.

This is the Christian life. So to create strife and have jealousy over which servant is the greatest servant, it’s an exercise in futility. And it’s to miss the whole point. We’re servants, serving the master. Jesus said in John 13, 16, truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master. We are equal in terms of our identity as servants. This is why Paul says, he who plants and he who waters are one. And did you notice that the reward is not connected to the giftedness or the role but according to the labor? That’s huge. Listen, there are people in this church who are not leaders. They’re not pastors. They’re not even formal deacons in the church. They don’t run a particular ministry. And they will have rewards that far exceed those of the pastors in this church. Did you know that?

Because they labor for the people of God constantly. They serve quietly, faithfully, humbly and sacrificially. They give generously, week in and week out, never complaining, always loving. And no one knows what they do publicly. But God sees the significance of how they serve Him and serve others. He sees the secret giving to the church and how they secretly give to the members of the church according to their needs. And God will reward them for that. The natural person says, be great. Make yourself known. Don’t let anyone hold you down. Leave an imprint on the pages of history by being a great leader. Use your gifts and talents to leave a legacy. Do whatever you gotta do to be successful even if it means you gotta step on some toes to get to the top. And you see, all of that, friends, is worldly. It’s fleshly, self-centered,

completely upside down and out of step with a spiritual person. God calls us to be servants. Seeking not our own status in this world or our own success. Thinking of ourselves and our personal achievements and advancements but aiming to serve Him and please Him. Aiming to grow in spiritual maturity. Aiming to preserve the unity of the church. Listen to what the Apostle Peter says according to, you know, concerning disunity and spiritual maturity and milk. He says in 1 Peter 2 verses 1 through 3, So put away all malice and all deceit and all hypocrisy and envy and all slander. All those things that are self-centered that cause disunity in the church, put them all away. And like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Family, have you tasted that the Lord is good?

Growing in Faith

Have you tasted the goodness of God? Then let us be the kinds of people who long for the food that will grow us in godliness. And if you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, then you can rest in this confidence that He who has begun a good work in you is faithful to complete it. That means mature it, to sanctify it. You are sanctified in Jesus positionally. And you are being sanctified in Jesus. You are His and you know you are His if you have tasted that He is good. Amen? So I want to close this morning by asking one question that I think the text obviously provokes in us. And that question is this. Are you growing in your faith at Trinity Church? Are you growing in spiritual maturity in this church?

Has your appetite for spiritual things increased over the years? Are you longing for the kind of spiritual food that is appropriate for your spiritual age? Or do you find yourself this morning resonating with those in Corinth who even now are not ready to receive solid food? Dear brother or sister, if that’s you, you need to know that you can begin to change your appetite starting this morning. Your appetite can change this morning. And it begins by going before your God and asking Him to change your appetite. Ask Him to help you grow in spiritual maturity. Ask Him to help you see areas in your life that looks characteristically more like the natural man or woman. And beg Him to make you a spiritual person.

Because your God is merciful and loving and kind, He will bend His ear to your prayer and help you grow. He will. Remember, He is the one responsible for producing the growth in your life. So why go anywhere else but to the source of all growth? Ask Him to help you grow and He will give it to you. Matthew 7, 9-11 says, Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? God will hear your prayer and answer your request for spiritual maturity. And listen, while it is true that God alone produces the growth,

it’s also true that you have to labor. You gotta work. You need to be doing the work of watering and planting your own field. Friend, maybe you need to reach out to another brother or sister in the church and ask them to help you. Ask them to help you cut off some of the weeds. Do some pruning.

I’m confident that the people in this church love you enough to do whatever they can to help you grow as a Christian. Friend, you need to read and study the Scriptures and as you read it, ask God to increase your appetite for it. That is so fundamental to you understanding the deeps of God’s Word. If we don’t have the Holy Spirit helping us, increasing our appetite, growing our affections, we’ll remain infants. Ask Him to help you dive into the deep meat of His transforming Word. Listen, God delights in His people asking Him for help to grow in His knowledge. And listen, you will only grow if you make space in your life for growth. You won’t grow if you have no bandwidth for these daily rhythms that are required to grow in maturity. So make a commitment to attend in a simple way every event the church offers you

to grow spiritually. Whether that’s a prayer meeting, a small group, evening services, everything. Show up early on Sunday mornings not just to serve other people, but to experience other people pouring into you. And just a side note, that should be happening here early Sunday mornings. You should be using that time to encourage one another in the Word.

That doesn’t happen if you’re not being intentional and if you don’t have the bandwidth. Listen, Sunday mornings are not sufficient for you to grow in spiritual maturity. It’s good for you, it’s probably the most beneficial for you, but it’s not enough. You need more time and you need more people pouring into you to help you grow as a Christian. And if you feel on your own, you don’t quite know how to get that thing kick-started in your life, come and speak to one of the pastors. We will help you. We will point you in the right direction to get you the help you need to walk a spiritual life, to live and practice what you are positionally. In fact, that’s our job as elders, to equip you, to help you grow into spiritual maturity. But it’s also the job of the members to help one another grow spiritually.

So ask brothers and sisters in the church to help you, and they will do it. Amen? This is a good word for us this morning. It’s a good word for my own soul. Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, we do thank you that you’ve been so kind to this church. That you’ve never failed to give us what we need to grow in godliness. That you meet us where we are. We have seen over the years the transforming power of your word grow us in spiritual maturity to which we can only give you thanks for because you alone grow us. Thank you God for sustaining us and making us more like your son Jesus. But God we know that we are far from where you want us to be. So we pray God that you would increase our appetite. We pray that you would increase our affection.

We pray that you would make us more mature. Sanctify us by your word so that we might grow in godliness and be the kinds of people that you have called us to be. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen.