Continuing on in 1Corinthians, we come to some basic truths we might have forgotten and one verse that is often mis-taught...

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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? -- 1Corinthians 3: 1-4 (ESV)

As we continue verse by verse in the first Letter to the Church at Corinth we see the Apostle Paul begin to expand on his earlier references to the divisions within the church. The more Paul expounds the deeper the truths that are revealed. Someone without the indwelt Holy Spirit may even look at a chapter like this and think that Paul as free-associating his thoughts but they all tie together in relation to each other and the overall message of this letter. The Church at Corinth was a divided church that saw many follow the cult of personality preachers that spoke there. Some liked Paul and thought they were following him. Others preferred Apollos and thought they were following him. Still others correctly surmised that they were following Christ. Anything not following Jesus is anathema beloved. No matter how revered the man might be -- he is but a man. Romans teaches us that true division comes into the church through contrary doctrine, or false teaching. When we choose to follow Joel Osteen or Joseph Prince instead of the risen Savior we are actively dividing the church with their false doctrine.

As Paul writes we see several standalone truths that are relevant to the overall message and important to us as believers. The key verses today are the first four verses of the chapter and we start to see these truths emerge. The first is that there are levels of maturity in our salvation. Often times we hear people claim a false equivalency between all who are saved. Yes the ground is even at the foot of the cross but that is in relation to the availability of salvation for all. Once saved however, we are to grow into maturity in Christ through His Word. Not the words of Paul or Apollos. Not the words of Joel or TD. Only the Word of God matures the believer. This further debunks purpose driven, seeker friendly theology that markets the church to non-believers. The Gospel not only brings the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon the sinner but serves as a maturing agent for the saved.

So Paul laments here that he could not even bring the Corinthians solid food yet as they were still babes in Christ. Oh how this problem has devolved over the centuries! Today we have churches that refuse to provide solid food for the fear that the truth will cause the visiting goats to never return! What is presented instead cannot even be properly defined as milk. Perhaps rotten spoiled milk or pablum. Many decades ago pablum was a bland cereal that was easy to digest. Unfortunately that properly defines what is preached in churches today. Seven steps to a better you. How to feel significant in your community. How this summer's blockbuster movies can teach us life lessons. Paul presented the Corinthians milk because they were still of the flesh. Preachers today preach pablum because their listeners are still of the world. They are still merely human beloved.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. -- 1Corinthians 3: 5-9 (ESV)

The second truth for us to grasp today is that preachers and pastors are supposed to be servants. There is not supposed to be this cult of personality following because that detracts from the Lordship and supremacy of Christ. This is the Apostle Paul. Personally visited by Jesus Christ Himself. Led three missionary journeys where he successfully evangelized the known world. He would end up the author of three quarters of the New Testament. Yet what is Paul? He is just a servant through whom you heard the Gospel and believed the Lord. Do not follow Paul beloved. Do not follow Joel or Jentzen. Believing in them cannot save you. It is high time we stop deifying men who are only supposed to be servants of Christ.

The next truth here is we need to stop trying to give God's glory away. We do not save anyone. As a pastor, your altar call did not save anyone. Churches every year brag about accomplishments that cannot be accurate since they do not present the true Gospel and even if they did they are usurping the glory that belongs to God alone. This again flips purpose driven theology on its ear. According to Rick Warren the pastor is responsible for the horizontal growth of his church. Nonsense! The entire model hinges upon a cult of personality dynamic speaker, who casts vision, and runs his church like a business. Read these verses carefully beloved. There are only two choices the speakers have for roles in this equation. They can plant or they can water. That's it! When you plant, you are giving that unbeliever their first exposure to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is like a seed now inside of them. A week, month or years later someone else presents the Gospel and they are watering that seed. Those are the only two biblical roles for preachers and pastors. Planting and watering. Only God gives the growth. Only God deserves the glory. We are merely His workers beloved; laboring for the kingdom.

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. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- 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. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. - 1Corinthians 3: 10 - 15 (ESV)

As if Paul has not driven home the supremacy of Jesus Christ enough he reminds us that even the small role we play is only provided through the grace of God. When reading the writings of Paul one always comes away with a profound sense of humility. He considered himself the least of the apostles because he once persecuted the church. We see far too many entitled Christians today. People devoid of this humility and who have forgotten where God found them. They have forgotten the bar, crack den, or the divorce God found them in. Over their years in churchianity they have begun to confuse the righteousness of Christ as something they earned and own. God is not our co-laborer beloved. He is our Lord and our King.

The next observation is critical. The preaching of the Gospel is foundational. It is what faith is built upon. The Apostle Paul was a skilled master builder, in that he preached the uncompromised and entire Gospel of Jesus Christ. He did not try to water it down, dress it up, sugar coat it, seeker friendly-ize it, or make it purpose driven. In order to be a skilled master builder it must always be about Jesus Christ and Him crucified, lest the power of the cross be emptied of its power. The work of those claiming to preach the Gospel will be made manifest on the Day of Judgment. The true and unvarnished Gospel is likened to gold, silver and precious stones. These materials will stand the test of fire that awaits them. People whose faith is built upon this foundation will enter into eternal glory and reward. There is however a contrasting reality for some people. When the testing fire of the Lord comes upon them in the last Day they will discover they built their faith upon the shifting sands of this world. It will be as if they were standing upon wood, hay or straw and the fire will reveal and consume it.

There is an interesting third point here. Those that are in the second group are those people who follow false teachers their whole life. But note that they themselves remain saved! He will suffer loss. His reward will be scant. His salvation is assured however! It is important that we differentiate who these people are. These are not the people standing before Christ in the last day saying Lord Lord in Matthew 7. Those people He never knew. These people were saved. Do not be confused beloved. There are two groups of people in this category. The first are those that heard the true Gospel, believed, and then fell for the pablum of false teaching. Never maturing in Christ. They are virtually useless for the King here on earth and forfeit their reward in heaven. None however may be plucked from His hand. The cost is dear but they remain saved. The second group however never was saved to begin with. The gospel they originally heard was not true and thus had no power to save them. To make matters worse they stayed in their purpose driven poisoned church, thinking they were serving the Lord only to discover when they stand before Him -- He never knew them. Do not ever underestimate the damage of false teaching within the body of Christ. That is why Jesus called those who preach falsely thieves. They steal the rewards of people. They kill the hope of those who might otherwise been saved. They destroy the plans of God.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. -- 1Corinthians 3: 16-17 (ESV)

To any churchgoer these two verses must sound familiar. What is so awesome about staying in the Word and reading it faithfully as a Berean is you are often confronted with the uncomfortable notion that how you have been taught regarding a specific verse may not have been accurate. Such is the case here. I have usually heard this preached in relation to how we maintain our physical body. Hey! Put down that Twinkie! Don't you know your body is the temple of the spirit of God! It is true that Paul uses this same phraseology in the sixth chapter of this book and we will deal with sexual immorality when we get there. Here however, Paul is not making a case against sexual immorality or Twinkies. Nor is he making a case against alcohol, which these verses are often leveraged to speak against. Beloved, we must approach the Bible to hear from God. I love my pastor but I do not want to hear thus sayeth my pastor. This is why the first and only imperative rule for biblical interpretation is -- context. If you read these two verses without the surrounding context of the chapter you could easily infer that it is speaking against bad food, drinking, smoking, or anything else the corrupts the physical body. The fact that it is not speaking against those things by the way does not mean that they are acceptable. Remember, everything may be permissible but it may not be beneficial. So what does the context reveal for us regarding what God actually is saying here?

This chapter starts with Paul admonishing the Corinthians for not yet advancing to spiritual meat but being stuck as babes in Christ. Paul points out the carnality of their arguments in saying some follow Paul and others Apollos. He reminds them that the speaker is just the vessel for God. That some plant and others water but only God can give the increase. Thus only God matters. We are merely God's workers and we all are God's building. As a skilled and master builder, one lays a foundation of the uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ. This leads to spiritual growth and maturity that has value measured in terms of gold, silver and precious stones. If you have built your faith upon something false however, it will be as hay and stubble -- burned up easily upon testing. So what is Paul talking about beloved? He is talking about growing mature in Christ through the consumption of His Word without compromising it with the false doctrines that only serve to divide the body of Christ against itself. So we come back now to verses 16 and 17 and let us see how one commentary explains it:

If any man defile the temple of God,.... By the wisdom of the world, through philosophy, and vain deceit; by bringing in false doctrines, errors, and heresies, and hereby corrupt their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ; and make rents, factions, and divisions among them:

him shall God destroy; body and soul in hell; for as their wicked principles and heretical notions are pernicious to others, they are damnable to themselves, and will bring upon them that judgment which lingereth not, and that damnation which slumbereth not. The false prophet, as well as the beast, and the devil, shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. God is not only an avenger of all immoralities committed against his righteous law, but of all false doctrine and false worship, and of everything that is contrary to the Gospel, and to the order and ordinances of it. -- Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

These verses are not about food! They are about allowing the corrupt poison of false doctrine into our lives as believers! Not only in our own walk but in spreading such false beliefs either through willful participation or in endorsing such heresies. False teaching and false worship are contrary to God and His Gospel. There is real damage done by following Joel Osteen or Joseph Prince. Damage in your walk and those who see you following such wolves. Don't you know that you are the temple of God almighty! That His temple is holy? Dear Lord, forgive us for being so cavalier with the sanctity of what YOU have and have not said. The chapter concludes:

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. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. -- 1Corinthians 3: 18-23 (ESV)

Do not deceive yourself beloved. These are serious matters the Lord is dealing with. The wisdom of this world, employed through false teaching, is folly to God. They are foolishness to Him. As the temple of God we are to keep our temple clean and pure through only allowing the actual Gospel to be preached to us. By not following false teachers, idols, and gods. By insisting on purity of doctrine. Then we can move from milk to meat. We will know that it is not Paul, Peter, or Apollos that we follow but the Almighty God. These truths are there for all to see. All who want to see. Hidden in plain sight if we insist on reading within context.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- December 18, 2017

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.