1 Corinthians
3 – 4
Verses 3:1 & 2 talk about growing:
1 My
brothers and sisters, I cannot address you as people who walk by the Spirit; I
have to speak to you as people who tend to think in merely human terms, as
spiritual infants in the Anointed One. 2 I nursed you with
milk, as a mother would feed her baby, because you were not, and still
are not, developed enough to digest complex spiritual food.
This is critical in churches today when you think about it.
Think about the pews today, there are a huge range of people with knowledge.
The preacher has multiple audiences from never hearing the Gospel, to ones who
have read the Bible multiple times. Who does the preacher teach to? If I taught
about healings and tongues, it may help the seasoned believer but the new one
will hit the doors running. So preachers teach to the “lowest common
denominator” in churches today.
The problem is the preacher gets a glazed over crowd who has
heard the salvation message hundreds of times. The church never grows and
stagnates like Paul is seeing in Corinth. How do we as parishioners fix this?
We either sit and glaze over or take an active role in the church, building
every deepening small groups and study on your own. The church is restless
today, it’s your job to personally change this and grow the old as well as the
new. Small groups and community is where this has to happen!!
Verse 3:21 is a warning on pride:
So there is no
reason for anyone to boast in human leaders. You already have it all.
We have to watch ourselves and ensure we
don’t allow our leaders to become higher than God. I see this at 12 Stone with
PK, who is a great teacher. But often the growth may not be changing him, but
in talking many times the conversation is PK and not Jesus. I often get
concerned that the larger a church gets and the better the teacher is, the
message gets watered down. Now I will say PK has fired some sermons that
surprised me the pews weren’t empty the week later, so he remains hard hitting
and in your face.
Verse 4:15 sums up where our focus should
be:
You may have
10,000 instructors in the faith of the Anointed One, but you have only
one father. In Jesus the Anointed I have become your father through my
efforts in spreading the good news.
Who cares if there are thousands of
teachers, we should focus on the word of God and not the personalities. I believe that is a trap we all fall into.
Heck I confess some “idol” worship with PK myself. I think I could come up and
talk with him like he is a friend, but he would not know me from Adam. Well he
may know about Adam much better than he would ever know me. The key is focus on
God and not the talking head; they will not always be there for you, where God
will!!
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