Lucid Maturity (1 Corinthians 3.1-4.7)

I love my job, and I’m happy to introduce myself as a pastor. But it always makes me a little uncomfortable when someone introduces me as “the pastor” of Connexion. First of all, because there are four of us elders here—I’m not alone. But even when I was the only elder in this church, at the very beginning, I didn’t care for the label of THE PASTOR of the church…

…for reasons we’ll see in today’s text.

The main problem we’ve been seeing in these first two chapters of 1 Corinthians (it’s not the only problem, but the first) is that the Corinthian church has divided itself over tribal lines. These lines are drawn around the leaders they esteem.

Everything that Paul says in today’s long passage centers around this problem. He’s going to say several things that seem to stray from the topic of this misguided allegiance to specific church leaders, but in reality everything he says here goes in that direction.

So this is a peculiar text to preach, because it is as much a message for leaders as for members of the church. This is a message for me, not just for you.

I. A Lucid Vision of Leaders (3:1–11)

If you remember, last week Paul affirmed that those who have been saved by Christ “have the mind of Christ” (2.16). And this must have flattered the Corinthians, who loved the idea that they knew what they needed to know. Their intellect and philosophical acumen were points of pride for them.

But then Paul drops the hammer. 3.1:

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 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? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

So we need to see that Paul isn’t denying the Corinthians are in Christ; he’s saying they’re babies, infants in the faith. It’s really important that it’s okay to be a baby in the faith; new Christians often compare themselves to more mature Christians and feel bad for everything they don’t yet know. You don’t have to be mature in the faith for your faith to be genuine.

The problem comes when you think you’re mature, but you’re actually not. You say you’re spiritual, but you’re acting “merely human”, as Paul says in v. 4. And those problems will always be visible.

Paul gives the Corinthians proof of their spiritual immaturity. He says, There is jealousy and strife among you. Some of you say, “I follow Paul”, and others say, “I follow Apollos,” and you drawing those lines is proof of your immaturity. These aren’t theological disagreements—the division they’re creating is purely preferential, based on subjective opinion, and that’s how the rest of the world works. That’s how the world without Christ works.

So now Paul is going to lean really hard into this problem and show them why what they’re doing is so silly. He’s going to speak specifically about himself and Apollos (one of the teachers to whom some of the Corinthians are attached), and he’s going to use several different images to describe what exactly he and Apollos are doing.

V. 5:

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

This is the basis of everything he’s going to say now: What am I? What is Apollos? We’re servants. You believed through us, because we shared the gospel with you; but we shared the gospel with you because God told us to. We’re servants, not “heads.”

The first image he uses to show this is the image of a plant, in v. 6:

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

This image is simple enough for a child to understand. Plants do not grow themselves. And the gardeners who plant them and tend them don’t grow them either. Gardeners work, they help, but God grows plants.

Planting and watering matter, but growth does not belong to the worker. Leaders are important, yes—but they are not the source of life.

And that is where the Corinthians have gone wrong. They’ve attached themselves to certain leaders, and we can understand that: the leaders that have helped us are always going to be important to us. But no human leader—neither Paul, nor Apollos, nor any other human leader—is the source of life.

The next image Paul uses is that of a building. V. 10:

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

We see the same thing here. A building does not build itself. A foundation is laid, and then perhaps others build on it.

We are in a building right now. Is the person who built this building really important for us? Of course not.

What’s the most important thing about this building? The most important thing is whether or not the foundation is solid.

The foundation, Paul is very clear, is Jesus Christ. In regards to our faith, no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

The Corinthians are dividing over their perceived “quality” of one ministry compared to another, based on their own opinions and reasoning. And they’re ignoring the fact that all of their favorite ministries—whether Paul’s or Apollos’s or Peter’s—all have the same foundation.

Let me give you an easy example.

D.A. Carson is a theologian who grew up in Canada and who now works as a professor of New Testament; he has written many books, he was the co-founder of the Gospel Coalition (along with Tim Keller), and he’s a world-renowned teacher and speaker. His ministry has been helpful to millions, including myself. It would be easy to consider his ministry—his “building”—to be of incredibly high quality, and I believe it is.

Now, compare his ministry with that of another man: D.A. Carson’s father, Tom Carson. Tom Carson served as a perfectly ordinary pastor in a perfectly ordinary church near Montréal, for over sixty years. He never wrote a book. He never had an online presence. He never established a ministry outside of his own small pastoral ministry.

And yet, his ministry was faithful despite the challenges of his particular place and time. He faithfully preached the gospel, and he quietly cared for the people under his responsibility.

So whose ministry is of higher quality? D.A. Carson’s, or his father’s?

That’s the kind of question the Corinthians are asking, and both Carsons would agree that it’s the wrong question. The question isn’t what is the quality or reach or impact of the ministry, but what is the foundation?

If the foundation is Christ alone, every other judgment we could render about a leader or his impact belongs to God.

II. A lucid Vision of Ministry (3.12-17)

This is the point Paul makes clear in v. 12-17:

12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

These verses have sidetracked a lot of people over the years, causing us to develop entire theologies of salvation and reward and judgment around them. And while some of these theologies may not be wrong, they’re not Paul’s point here.

His point is that the true quality of a ministry, or of a Christian life, can only be properly judged by God.

It would be easy to look at D.A. Carson’s ministry and consider it a building built with gold, silver or precious stones, because his ministry has been profoundly impactful on a lot of people all over the world. It would be easy to consider his father’s ministry as a building built with wood, hay or straw—because almost no one even knew who he was before his son wrote that book.

But it doesn’t work that way! People with hugely impactful ministries have built on other foundations than Christ—they’ve built their lives on the foundation of their own name or charisma. And other people have had very unimpressive ministries, very unimpressive lives—but they’ve remained faithful to the foundation that was already laid: everything in their lives and work was centered around Christ. So no matter how impressive or unimpressive they may seem, the eternal quality of their work will be revealed by God.

Some leaders are faithful to the gospel, and they will receive a reward for their work. Tom Schreiner says in his commentary:

Paul does not tell us what the reward will be. Possibly it is the satisfaction and joy of seeing the fruit of their ministry on the final day. Such a reading fits with what Paul says elsewhere: ‘For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy’ (1 Thess. 2:19–20; cf. Phil. 2:16; 4:1; 2 Cor. 1:14).

Other leaders have placed their faith in Christ—so their salvation isn’t in question—but they find themselves sidetracked by other concerns. They’ll be saved, but ultimately the substandard quality of their ministry will be revealed by God.

And yet other leaders are wolves disguised in sheep’s clothing; they build huge ministries, but ultimately serve to tear down the church, the temple of God. These people will be judged, not only for the value of their “ministries”, but for their lack of faith, and the way they misled others.

Do you see what Paul’s doing? He’s trying to get the Corinthians to look up to God, instead of across to the leaders they esteem.

God establishes his church on the foundation of the gospel—on the foundation of the finished work of his Son Jesus Christ. And every leader who faithfully builds on that foundation is a servant of God, not someone to whom we owe our loyalty.

III. A Lucid Vision of Pride (3.18-4.7)

After this Paul makes what seems to be an odd segue, but it’s not a change of subject. V. 18:

18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

The Corinthians are dividing over their own ideas of which leader is best: Paul or Apollos or Cephas or any others. They are dividing not because these leaders are bad leaders, but because they, the Corinthians, are prideful in their own estimation of them.

And if this seems silly, then we’re not really giving it much thought. It only takes a single conversation to see what this looks like.

Get two people together: one guy who is a fervent supporter of, say Emmanuel Macron, and another who is a fervent supporter of Jean-Luc Mélanchon. Get these two guys together and have them talk about the politician of their choice. Things will go awry really quickly.

The exact same thing can happen in regards to Christian leaders. Let’s say instead of a Macron supporter and a Mélanchon supporter, you have one person whose life was greatly influenced by the ministry of Tim Keller, and someone else whose life was influenced by Paul Washer. Both faithful leaders, lots of people met Christ through their ministries, and both are radically different in their styles and approach.

A mature Christian will recognize the value in both of these men’s ministries. But if the two people having this conversation are immature, then pride will show itself very quickly: they’ll start to show signs of clear disdain—not for Keller or Washer, but for the other person—because how could they possibly think Keller’s ministry is of more value than Washer’s, and vice versa?

That’s what Paul’s getting at. Human wisdom would find reasons to prefer one leader to another. Keller’s able to reason with people and get them to see the logic of the gospel. Washer just tells the gospel like it is, with no frills or fluff. Human wisdom would have us prefer one to the other. But the wisdom of this world is folly to God.

So what does it look like for the person “who thinks he is wise in this age” to “become a fool”? It looks like rejecting that kind of thinking altogether, and remembering that maybe Washer planted and Keller watered, but God is the one who gives the growth. It looks like setting aside boasting, because everything you have—the world and life and death and the present and the future and, yes, the leaders through whom God has brought you to him—they’re all gifts that God has given you. You are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s, and that’s what truly matters.

That’s Paul’s point, and that’s what he says in very simple and clear terms starting in 4.1:

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

The “mysteries of God” are simply the truths that were once hidden but have now been revealed in the gospel. Paul and Apollos and Peter all know the church does not exist for them—they are simply servants of Christ and stewards of the gospel, and that is how they should be considered.

Do you see what Paul’s doing? The Corinthians’ pride in their own so-called wisdom has resulted in two aberrant behaviors: the first is judgment against the leaders they think are inferior, and the second is arrogant division from one another because they follow the “inferior” leader.

Paul addresses the question of judgment first. V. 2:

2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

I’ve been a Christian for a long time and a pastor for a good while now; I like to think that if I have the pertinent facts, I can look at the situation and at what the Bible says and make a good judgment call about that situation. And there are moments when a church, and the leaders and members of a church, will need to make decisions—to make judgments—based on those sorts of observations.

But there is a difference between “judgment” and “judgment”, so to speak. I can judge facts that are presented to me, and how I should respond to those facts. But I can’t presume to judge what’s going on in any one of your hearts, or what God will do in your lives, because that information doesn’t belong to me. There’s no way I could know that. And Paul will make similar arguments later on in this letter.

So how ridiculous is it for the Corinthians—baby Christians that they clearly are—to presume to judge the eternal worth of one of their leaders! How arrogant! The Lord is the one who judges Paul; that is not the Corinthians’ job. You think Paul’s ministry, or Apollos’s ministry, is lacking, and is worth less? Fine—wait and see. When the Lord returns, he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness; he will disclose the purposes of their heart and render a verdict.

For now, look at the facts: both men, both leaders, are building differently, but they’re both building on the same solid foundation: the life and work of Jesus Christ. Impressiveness does not designate worth. The only valid metric of a servant’s worth is faithfulness. An ordinary pastor like Tom Carson, if he is faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, may well be worth more to the kingdom of God than the most influential Christian leader we can think of. God makes that call.

Next he turns to the question of division. V. 6:

6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Paul has used a lot of images in our passage today: teachers as gardeners, teachers as builders, teachers as servants and stewards. And he has applied these images to Apollos and himself so that the Corinthians “may learn by us not to go beyond what is written.” That is, he wants the Corinthians to learn to value what is truly valuable—faithfulness to the Word of God that was revealed in Jesus Christ. Scripture, not personalities, is the framework for truth.

But these personalities have become for the Corinthians, according to what each individual happens to value more, a badge for pride, and they’re using their own preferred leader as a cudgel with which to beat one another. So Paul gives them three diagnostic questions to help them see how unwise their wisdom is, and how immature they really are.

First question: What is your basis for comparison? “Who sees anything different in you?” Or, as the NIV says more faithfully: “For who makes you different from anyone else?” It’s not Paul or Apollos; it’s God! Isn’t God the one who saved you? Isn’t God the source of the good news that brought you life?

Second: “What do you have that you did not receive?” You think you’re wise? Okay, who gave you that wisdom? Was it not God? Whatever you have is a gift. What do you have that you did not receive?

Second: “If you received it, why boast?” They’re acting like children boasting about their Christmas presents: the kids are showing off, debating over whose new tennis shoes are the best, when they should be debating over whose parents are the best, because the parents bought the shoes!

Everything they have came from God! So any kind of boasting that is used to put Christian above another is nonsensical. The gospel leaves no room for superiority, and gives no reason for insecurity.

Conclusion: What Maturity Recognizes

It’s not lost on me that it may be uncomfortable to be talking about these things when we’re all together like this, because we can look around and see people with whom to compare ourselves. But this text calls us to self-examination, not examination of others—and having people around us with whom we would be tempted to compare ourselves is like having a good mirror for ourselves to look into. If we find ourselves wanting to compare ourselves with anyone in here (including one of the pastors or deacons or leaders), then we are struggling the same root problem as the Corinthians.

Of course it’s unlikely that in Connexion we will fall into this sort of clivage over our leaders. The elders of this church are pretty unified, and even if our styles are different, we are very much marching to the beat of the same drum. Most people here know that; in Connexion, I’ve never heard the sort of discussion that we see happening in Corinth.

However, the pride Paul is warning against here can show up in other ways.

For example: we can try to judge the church based on the form our services take. Should we allow women to lead worship? Are we too formal, not charismatic enough? Are our services too free, too open, not liturgical enough? These are all valid questions, and we want to be as faithful as we can in all of these areas.

But if we’re mature, we’ll recognize that even if we happen to find a church whose services take the form we think is right, that is not a guarantor of faithfulness to the gospel. If we’re mature, our primary basis for decisions will not be whether we think the building is being built with gold and silver and precious stones, or with wood and straw and hay. If we’re mature, we’ll base our decisions on whether or not the building is being built on the foundation of Christ and his work.

This can also happen on a personal, one-on-one level. We can compare ourselves to other Christians in terms of knowledge or right theology, what we have learned. It can be positive or negative: “How great am I, that I know so much more than this fool who doesn’t know what I know?” “How worthless am I, that I know so much less than these geniuses who know Bible by heart?”

But none of those things are valid marks of maturity.

Maturity shows itself, in part, by our recognizing that Christ was judged so that we don’t have to compare. Christ was given so we don’t have to boast. Christ is the foundation so that the church can finally begin to build. Christ is the sun so the church can be fed and grow.

We look to him, and him alone, for our identity and worth and validation. As the old song goes, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”