神使它生长 God Gave the Growth
哥林多前书 1 Cor 3:5–7
Remember these points
I put these points at the top of my sermon-prep template to remind myself every week:
- Show that main point of passage relates to Jesus and his saving work
- (1 Cor 1:18) A truly gospel-centred message will not be acceptable in a synagogue or mosque
- Did I proclaim the gospel as the headline news of the sermon, rather than as a “by the way…”?
- Unbelievers are called to repent, believe, and be saved
- Believers are encouraged to abandon their old self, renew their minds, put on the new self in Christ
- Preach simple sermons, so that God’s people can see Christ more clearly and love him more dearly
News
Review
Hook
Would you drink water from a toilet bowl?
A nice, clean, glass of water. Refreshing…!
There’s still water inside the bowl, but you won’t want to drink from that!
- If you’re in the desert (or drought condition), dying of thirst, you haven’t had any water for 3 days now. You come upon the dirty toilet, would you drink from it? We’ll probably say yes!
- It’s the water that gives life. When our lives depend on it, how that water comes to us (in clean glass or in dirty toilet bowl) doesn’t matter much.
- Same for spiritual life: We receive life from God, not from Paul or Apollos or anyone else in church.
- The vessels (Paul, Apollos, or anyone else) doesn’t really matter. What matters is the life-giving water.
Passage
Birth and growth in the church is from God.
Paul and Apollos are merely the servants that work for God, the “containers” that bring them the message of life.
Section 1
This is 1 Cor 3:4, which we looked at last time (240929).
The Corinthians are forming cliques, based on whichever teacher they think is superior.
This is pretty much what the Corinthian society does, with sophists and their students,
pitting one group against another, etc.
It’s not that rhetoric or improvisation or worldly wisdom are not good. Afterall, our wisdom comes from God.
Even Paul in his letters uses some rhetorical techniques.
The problem is when we consider these learnings and worldly wisdom to be the goal for the church as well.
Many churches try to make it comfortable for unbelievers to attend:
- Hymns like at a rock concert
- Sermons are like “self help” sessions.
- Don’t ever say anything about sin!
- Believe in God and your life will be better, marriage will be better, children will be better, etc.
Many use the church as a platform to promote themselves, encouraging a following, pitting his own group against another, just like in the greater Corinthian society.
Paul and Apollos are nothing but servants of God.
One planted the church, another watered it, etc.
They both serve God using the talents and gifts that God provided.
They’re not there to promote themselves, or making a name for themselves.
We’re the same. We serve God in church and society, not to promote ourselves or form cliques, but working together to bring people to Christ.
The usual CUV translation has “deacons,” (διάκονος, diakonos, servants…) which has the unfortunate connotation of being leaders of the church.
Paul is saying we’re all servants (a vocation that the Corinthians would certainly look down upon).
Someone planting the seed, or watering the sprout, etc. These are the works of Paul and Apollos and whomever else working in God’s field.
It’s God who gives the growth, so don’t look at ourselves too highly!
Planting and watering crops are also work that Corinthian society looks down on.
Maybe Paul continues to use these metaphors (servants, planting, watering) to emphasise that we’re different from general society. We’re not here to promote ourselves, but to promote Jesus Christ.
When someone tells you, “Yes, I believe in Jesus!” Don’t think that you did all the work!
Like a child who receives a wonderful gift in a very nice-looking box.
The child loved and admired the box, but never bothered to look inside, where the truly valuable thing is.
与我有什么关系? So What?
- The Corinthian church imported worldly customs into the church.
They looked for power, wisdom, formed cliques, etc., just like the greater Corinthian society.
They missed out on the really precious thing: living water from God. - Every one of us believers is God’s servant,
we each have different jobs to do, and we all depend on the talents and wisdom that God provided for us. - Our faith is a gift of God, our spiritual growth, and the spiritual growth of the church,
are also gifts from God. Life in Christians and the church come from God! - Look to Jesus. Through Jesus Christ and his church, we can find the source of eternal hope.