The Church Grown Up - 6/22
Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church Grown Up
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 3:1-4
“But I, brothers, 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 yet ready, 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?”
Theme: This message will deal with the need to mature ourselves into the people God desires to use for His kingdom building efforts. Immaturity, the failure to grow up, can keep us from enjoying the blessings God has for us.
Introduction: I just spent the week with 60 4th – 6th graders. As usual it was an incredible experience. I found out this week, as I normally do, that I tend to be one of the most immature people around - (Getting into trouble at Camp).
Transition: Today we are going to continue our study of Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. In the passage we read today Paul is continuing his lecture on the need for the Corinthians to be spiritually centered people.
I. Grown up in Regard to Fleshliness
a. In these 4 verses Paul tells the people at Corinth three times that they are people of the flesh, or more literally fleshly. The word which is used for flesh here is the third most used noun in the entire NT. The discussion here about the fleshly life compared to the spiritual life is a favorite topic of Paul’s.
i. There are basically two different definitions for flesh.
1. One way that the word is used is simply to say something which is physical. A physiological apparatus. As kind of a sub meaning is in referring to all of humanity usually accompanied by the word all – all flesh.
2. The second and much more popular way to use the word is the meaning intended by Paul here. It refers to that part of our human nature which is psychological.
a. Romans 8
b. Galatians 5:16-23
ii. Scripture has several passages where we see this
II. Grown up in Regard to Food
a. Milk compared to Solid food
i. First of all we should be clear on what Paul is communicating to us when he uses the phrase “fed you milk and not solid food”. Infant food is that simple gospel message which you received when you first understood that Christ died to be your Savior. When you understood the personal nature of God’s offer to you.
ii. Let’s be clear there is absolutely nothing wrong with that infant message. (Illustration of the baby food that the girls used to eat) The problem is that many of the Corinthians had never out grown that food, they didn’t long for more of the revelation which God had for them they got the saving message and that was enough. They were convinced that they had their passage to heaven firmly secured now don’t you dare interfere with the rest of their lives they just wanted to live them out.
iii. You see that is the problem with so much of what God has to say to us. He refuses to stay put He actually wants to have an effect on every part of our lives. You see the first message, the infant food, which we received mainly concerned what God has done for us, the rest of His teaching concerns what we need to be doing for Him. That is a much more invasive message. It’s easy to be a Christian when we can live any way we please and no action is required of us, but God is not happy with that kind of a life He wants all of us.
b. One of the problems we deal with is the amount of brain food which we pump into our heads today we live in a time and culture where we are saturated with electronic media.
i. McArthur report
1. Young people today spend an average of 6.5 hours looking at media screens each day.
2. According to a 2005 study the average 8-18 year old lives in a home with 3.6 CD or tape players, 3.5 TVs, 3.3 radios, 2.9 DVD players, 2.1 video game consoles, and 1.5 computers.
ii. A Canadian study recently reported that…
Electronic media saturation is leaving Canadian families time-crunched, over-stimulated and virtual strangers in their own homes, according to a new report from the Vanier Institute of the Family. The average family has so many devices on the go that each person tunes into their own, eliminating even the communal experience of watching TV, or fighting over time on the phone or computer, the study says. “Whether it is parents surreptitiously checking BlackBerrys during their children’s concerts, or students barely able to be separated from their cellphones during school hours, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that people are often more interested in staring at screens than into someone’s else’s eyes,” the report says.It revisits the topic of electronic media and the family that the institute first examined in 1998. Since then, Canadian families’ media exposure has increased dramatically, along with other demands on their time.
c. Now I am not that we should “unplug” ourselves from electronic media. Those of you who know me know that I am very much into using technology to further the Kingdom efforts. I am simply saying that we need to manage our exposure to any media and pay careful attention to the messages which we allow space for in our lives.
i. If there is something which has taken the place of the God’s priorities in your lives then you have to disconnect them and reevaluate your lifestyle.
III. Grown Up in Regard to Disunity
a. One of the things which we can’t lose sight of is that context out of which these thoughts are coming from as Paul is instructing the Church of Corinth. He is really teaching them concerning the divisions in the community which are a large part of the problem occurring in Corinth.
b. Galatians 5:
i. Notice how many of the fleshly behaviors that Paul outlines in Galatians have to do with the disrupting of fellowship.
ii. (Outline on the board the fruit and flesh)
