Christian Unity This is a harsh exhortation.

Paul is telling the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3:1-4:16 “you are immature” “you are childish”. They have not
understood the “mysteries” of God, namely, that a church is
Prelude – thank you to embrace God’s wisdom, proclaim the cross of Christ, and
First of all, I want to thank again pastor Amos for the be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Some of the marks of an
opportunity to serve you for the last couple weeks. It has immature, childish, community are:
been delightful. A true blessing that I cherish. You are an  Gossiping. Talking about people who are not
awesome church and I’m really happy to be part of you. present, usually in negative terms. Why are you
telling me this?
1 Corinthians – the series  Judgment. Judging other by human standards.
As you know we are in a series based on 1 Corinthians. Last Thinking we are in a position to decide who is good
Sunday we talked about divisions in the church, and the and who is bad. Who do you think you are?
way in which Paul addressed the issue was by talking about  Jealousy. Envy. Being mad at the achievements of
the wisdom of God, the cross of Christ, and the power of the other. Getting angry because of other’s people
Holy Spirit. So, we concluded that a church is a community happiness and blessings.
that embraces the wisdom of God, proclaims the cross of  Quarrelling. Hated argument. Disagreement that
Christ, and is empowered by the Holy Spirit. The question gets personal. May even go to verbal and physical
of “what is a church?” will remain present so I encourage violence.
you to have it in mind as we continue the series. Now, we How can we deal with these problems, rather, these sins?
are going to look at chapters 3 and 4 in which Paul Again, it is a matter of knowing what is the church and who
continues the discussion about divisions and talks about we are. We are servants of Christ, we are the temple of the
Christian unity. Holy Spirit, and we belong to God alone. Again, in a
trinitarian way. Let us unpack this:
Introduction –
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who We are servants of Christ – the field metaphor
live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere 5 
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only
infants in Christ.  2  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord
were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.3  You has assigned to each his task.  6  I planted the seed, Apollos
are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and watered it, but God has been making it grow.  7  So neither the
quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only
acting like mere humans?  4  For when one says, “I follow God, who makes things grow. 1 Corinthians 3:5-7
Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere Paul starts by reminding them that Christian leaders are
human beings? 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 nothing but servants. And every Christian is only a servant
of God. A servant is a slave. Here Paul uses the word should build with care.  11  For no one can lay any foundation
“assistant”. other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 16  Don’t
 We have a same goal. We work for the same you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that
purpose. We have different tasks, but the purpose is God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 1 Corinthians 3:10-11,
the same. And, after all, the one who empowers the 16
work is him not us. So, there is no reason for First, Paul used the metaphor of a field to talk about the
quarreling, because we are in the same team. It is community. Now, he talks about the church as a building, as
embarrassing when two players of the same team the Temple of God. This is a striking comparison. Actually,
start fighting with each other, it is honestly childish. what Paul is saying is that the Temple in Jerusalem, the
That’s how Christians look when they quarrel actual building, is obsolete. Because now the sacred place of
between them. We are supposed to encourage one God is the Christian community. For ancient eastern people,
another. To lift up each other. as it is still today in many cultures, sacred places are really
 We are equal partners. Each of us has a special important. And for Paul to tell them that their Holy place
ministry; however, we are of equal value. Actually, was not a building but they themselves as a community is
we are nothing. Therefore, we are not in a position huge.
to judge the work of others because we are just in  We are inhabited by the Holy Spirit. The place in
the same boat. No one is on a higher level. So, which God decided to be present in a special way is
jealousy has no place among us. the Christian community. Of course, he is present
 We have a same master. We are all called by Jesus everywhere, but he chooses to be particularly
Christ. And we are to be like him. “Not so with you. present in the communion of the saints. That does
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you not mean that we cannot pray and worship God
must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first everywhere, of course we can. But there is
must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not something special in the community of the church
come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as that we must consider seriously. He is present here,
a ransom for many”. Matthew 20:26-28 not in this building but among, in us a people. In our
The one who called us knelt down to wash the feet of his relationships, in the way we treat each other.
disciples. Thus, we are to do the same. And this is the  We must build with care. “If anyone builds on this
ground for Christian unity. Let us serve the same master. foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay
or straw,  13  their work will be shown for what it
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit – the building is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be
metaphor revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise each person’s work.” 1 Corinthians 3:12-13. What
builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one
 does it mean to build using quality materials? I think if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
it has to do with three things: 1 Corinthians 3
o With authenticity. With a true heart. No This is part of Paul’s final exhortation to the Corinthians on
boasting about ourselves but with Christian unity. He has been addressing the issue of
humbleness, not to be seen by others but to divisions in the church and he has been encouraging them
honor God. to remain in unity and peace. The last verses could be
o With excellence. Giving our best in translated as “who do you think you are?” And this is the
everything we do, give everything we have heart of the matter. It is all about understanding who we
like the poor widow in Mark 12:41-44. are. There were quarreling, jealousy, gossiping, and
o With love. Out of love for God and out of love judgments in the church of Corinth because they did not
for others. It means that we cannot build understand who they were or at least they were not living
unless we have good relationships with each out their identity as children of God.
other.  We are saved by grace. We did nothing for our
 We are building on Christ’s foundation. The salvation, so have nothing to boast about. Everything
ground for unity is the fact that Jesus Christ is our we have we received it from God, even life and every
only foundation. There might be many differences breath comes from him. So, there is no reason to
among us, but something tide is together and that is believe we are better than others and we are not in a
Jesus Christ. If we are grounded in him we are position to judge others.
united to others that are too. How can we not love  We are under God’s lordship. We respond to no
those who are grounded in him too. one else but God. That means his standards are to be
our standards. Too often we judge preachers by
We belong to God alone – human standards. By the way they dress, by their
5 
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait speaking skills, or by they knowledge. But what
until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in about valuing what God values, faithfulness to the
darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that gospel.
time each will receive their praise from God. 6  Now, brothers  We are stewards of God. One of the words that
and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos Paul uses to describe himself and Apollos in these
for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning chapters is “stewards”. A steward is one that takes
of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you care of something that belongs to someone else. And
will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over what is required of them is to be found faithful. We
against the other.  7  For who makes you different from are stewards of God’s world, thus let us do it
anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And faithfully.
In sum, we are a FAMILY:
 Servants of Christ.
 Temple of the Holy Spirit.
 God’s.