1 Corinthians 3:4-9, “We are to be Followers of Christ”

[hmp_player playlist=’1Cor3:4-9′]

Sermon Notes Below:

January 12, 2014,

“We are to be Followers of Christ”

Leaders play an important role in any community and this is especially true in the community of the church, the Body of Christ, the Family of God.

In last week’s study Paul admonished the believers in Corinth for their “carnal Christianity,” for still being infants in the faith when by now they should have grown up and matured in Christ.

Paul says (v. 3), “you are living, acting, and walking like mere men,” i.e., like natural man apart from the Spirit of God. Paul then goes on to illustrate how their attitude toward leadership in the church reveals their spiritual condition, they are still infants in Christ.

Read 1Corinthians 3:4-9. This text reveals several major problem attitudes that were present in the early church at Corinth and they are present in our day as well.

The Corinthians were naturally attracted to a particular teacher’s personality, style, giftedness, etc., just as we are today. There is nothing abnormal or wrong in having preferences in ministry leaders, but the Corinthians were identifying themselves with one leader over and against other leaders in the church.

Look back at chapter 1:12, Paul scolded the believers here, “each one of you is saying, ‘I follow Paul,’ ‘I follow Apollos,‘ ‘I follow Cephas,’ and ‘I follow Christ.’” Paul, Apollos, and Cephas were teachers in the early church, and people had their favorites, perhaps they had come to Christ and/or were discipled by a certain man; but true disciples of Christ, seek to follow Christ, not men.

Christ is our example (1John 2:6), “Whoever claims to live in him [Christ] must walk as Jesus did.” He is our Lord & Savior, and we all should be saying, “I follow Christ!”

Paul had strengths that Apollos did not have, and visa versa. All God’s children are different and unique, and so are those who servant lead in God’s church. Paul didn’t want there to be any wrong understanding here, for he says (1Corinthians 3:5), “What is Apollos? And what is Paul?” He says they are both “servants,” through whom the Corinthians believed, (v. 6) “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” Neither the waterer or the planter is anything, (v. 7) God is everything. He alone brings about spiritual growth.

Have you ever put someone on a pedestal? An athlete, artist, actor, teacher, politician, or perhaps a leader in the church? When we do this, we not only reveal our humanness but also bring a dangerous element into our Christian community, for this may not only hinder the flock, it can do damage to the leaders.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that it is God Who causes the growth, through God’s Spirit working in hearts, according to the Word of God, this enables us to grow.

Teachers have a definite role in the church, and believers should make a priority out of sitting under the teaching of those who do not elevate or exaggerate their own significance, but accurately and comprehensively teach the Word of God. Those who preach, teach, and lead are held to a higher standard before God.

James 3:1, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who
teach will be judged more strictly.”

Look up 1Corinthians 12:4-31. Look at verses 29-31 again. “All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not {workers of} miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.”

Then we move into chapter 13, the Love chapter. You know what the greatest gifts are? 1Corinthians 13:13 says “But now faith, hope, and love remain; but the greatest of these is love.”

God made His love available to us through Christ, and through Him we have everything we need, individual believers yes, but connected together, in a body, a family, we are the field, flock, building, and Church of God.

When we shut ourselves off from the other parts of the body, other members of the church (Hebrews 10:24-26), we suffer stunted growth, disunity, division, caused by an inability to discern truth from error and good from bad, for it is God’s Spirit, (John 14:17, 26) the Spirit of Truth, who lives in us and reminds us of everything Christ said and did, so that we might follow and obey His teachings, living as witnesses of the Gospel of Christ; for God saved us, and set us apart as His Church, for His work, so that we will tell people about Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior and Lord: crucified, resurrected, and coming again.

Back vv. 8-9… Every leader will be judged by God based on that leader’s unique calling and giftedness in ministry, and how he works at accomplishing God’s will.

And when leaders or followers make carnal comparisons with other leaders, either favorably or unfavorably, they display their humanity; and that is sad, sinful, and damaging to the work of the church on earth, as we serve the God of heaven.

Let me ask a couple practical questions, in reference to the application of the warnings in this text.
Is it OK to prefer one ministry or leader over another? Of course it is. We may prefer different styles, methods, deliveries, presentations; but the priority is for Biblical reverence and accuracy to the letter and spirit of the law, that the character and nature of God is proclaimed.

Is criticism of a certain ministry or leader always forbidden? No! Neither leaders nor ministries are above carnality or criticism, for if they start believing and behaving like the godless world around us, they can do great harm to the church and those in the church.

God’s Word warns us against godless belief and behavior.

1Timothy 1:3-4, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work–which is by faith.”

1Timothy 4:2-4, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

Titus 1:10-11, For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach–and that for the sake of dishonest gain.”

Peter 2:1-3, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”

1John 2:18-19, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”

Jude 3-4, “Although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

Those given the responsibility and privilege to serve as leaders in God’s church, as did Paul and Apollos, are “fellow workers” and they are required to meet specific qualifications given in 1Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.

Those who lead are to do so by serving, and they are to teach by modeling, but they must be qualified by God.

Serving God by caring for God’s people is not for the thin-skinned, faint-hearted or the weak-kneed. As we read before in James 3:1, God will hold leaders and teachers, those who serve to care for the church, more accountable and He will judge them more severely.

God holds believers accountable to not make the job of their leaders more burdensome.

Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

All of God’s faithful servants will ultimately receive their reward at the white throne judgment (Revelation 11:18), “The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great– and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” Look at 1Corinthians 3:9 again. Paul and Apollos were God’s fellow workers, servants, and their ministry wasn’t their own that they should have a following, it was God’s and the believers were being taught to follow Christ.

It was God’s church in Corinth, just as it is God’s Church here in Waldport, and the believers there and here are God’s field, God’s building, God’s children, God’s church, and therefore the priority is and will always be to follow Christ, and Him crucified, resurrected and coming back to take all those who belong to Him to heaven, where we will live together forever with God.

Our greatest purpose on earth is to exemplify Jesus Christ, to know Him, follow Him, obey Him, honor Him, and proclaim Him, so that others will call upon Him and be saved.

Acts 2:21, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved,” only Jesus Christ the Lord!

God bless you , protect you, and provide for you… Pastor Mike

Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”

Joshua 1:8, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

Jeremiah 29:11-13, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’”