Be Who You Are: Why True Spiritual Growth Belongs to God Alone

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
As Reformed Presbyterians, we know that our Catechism teaches that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
[00:00:41] And of course, this is true for every day of our lives that we are to do this, but we understand that God has set apart this day, the Lord's Day, in particular for His worship, that we might enjoy Him as our Redeemer and our Creator.
[00:00:53] And so it is this God who has called us to Himself today in worship.
[00:00:57] He is the one that extends the invitation.
[00:00:59] So let us stand together as we hear it read from Psalm 103.
[00:01:06] Our call to worship.
[00:01:07] Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
[00:01:14] Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion.
[00:01:19] Bless the Lord, O my soul.
[00:01:22] Let us respond to that invitation by singing together hymn number 76, Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Is my soul the King of heaven?
[00:02:07] To his feet your tribute brings Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven Who like me his praise should sing?

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him Praise the everlasting King

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Praise Him for His grace and favor to our fathers in distress.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Praise Him, still the same forever, slow to chide and swift to bless.
[00:02:40] Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, notice in His faithfulness.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Father, like he tends and spares us, well our feeble frame he knows.
[00:03:07] In his hands he gently bears us, rescues us from all our foes.
[00:03:08] Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him, widely as
[00:03:14] We have suffered love in our wish Most of it and it is gone But while mortals rise and perish God endures unchanging love Praise Him!
[00:03:40] Praise Him!
[00:03:40] Praise Him!
[00:03:40] Praise Him!
[00:03:41] Praise the Highly
[00:03:45] Angels help us to adore Him, new behold Him face to face.
[00:04:03] Sun and moon bow down before Him, dwellers all in time and space.
[00:04:05] Let's pray together.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Indeed, our Lord and God, you have called us this morning into this place, into your presence, to do what we have just sung, to praise you.
[00:04:29] To bless you with all that is within us, to bless your holy name.
[00:04:33] And you have ordained praise not only from us, but as Psalm 103 tells us, from all of your works, from all of your dominion.
[00:04:41] All of creation sings your song.
[00:04:44] All of creation is ordained to give you praise.
[00:04:47] and we in particular those whom you have created in your own image have been given a unique opportunity to praise you not only as creator but by your grace also as our redeemer indeed you are the one
[00:05:01] Lord who has redeemed us from the pit you have forgiven our iniquities you have healed our disease and you crown us with steadfast love and mercy and so we respond this morning to that grace and favor with praise and adoration
[00:05:19] and Lord we ask that you would help us to this extent by your spirit's presence that we might worship you according to your word according to truth and in spirit and that you would be well pleased and that we would be blessed as a result so thank you father for your grace for your favor and we pray all this in Jesus name amen
[00:05:40] You may be seated, but I would encourage you to keep your hymnals handy as our corporate voice of faith is taken from our Confession of Faith.
[00:05:48] You can find this on page 856.
[00:05:49] This is the 13th chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
[00:05:56] This chapter focuses in on sanctification.
[00:06:00] Last week we talked about the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to the gospel, who allows us to move from death to life, that we can respond to the gracious invitation with faith.
[00:06:13] But that is not the extent of the work of the Holy Spirit and this chapter that we are about to read together goes on to expound upon what the Spirit's role is in our lives after He has brought us to saving faith.
[00:06:25] This is the work, the ongoing work of sanctification.
[00:06:30] So we're going to read this chapter in its entirety.
[00:06:32] There's three paragraphs to it and we will read it together.
[00:06:36] Chapter 13 of Sanctification.
[00:06:40] They who are once effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them.
[00:07:04] The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
[00:07:30] This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man.
[00:07:35] Yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still, some remnants of corruption in every part.
[00:07:44] Whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.
[00:07:56] In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome, and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
[00:08:25] We turn now to our Old Testament reading this morning, which is the very first Psalm in the book of Psalms, Psalm 1.
[00:08:33] This is a Psalm that really sort of sets the stage for the rest of the book of Psalms, and it sort of compares and contrasts.
[00:08:41] It juxtaposes the righteous from the wicked.
[00:08:46] there are two paths that are set before us in this life the way of the righteous the way of the wicked and the psalmist here lays out before us the differences between the two so hear now the word of god blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers but his delight is in the law of the lord
[00:09:16] and on his law he meditates day and night.
[00:09:20] He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither and all that he does he prospers.
[00:09:32] The wicked are not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
[00:09:37] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
[00:09:43] For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
[00:09:50] Friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.
[00:09:56] Amen.
[00:09:58] Well, this time I'd like to invite our children forward for the children's message.
[00:10:01] And kids, as you make your way forward, see if anybody's handing you a Christmas box and you can bring that down with you as well.
[00:10:13] We can put them up here or we can put them right down there on the floor and we'll just kind of stack them up.
[00:10:24] Great job.
[00:10:31] Look at all these boxes.
[00:10:37] We can start a new stack right here, in fact, right there in front.
[00:10:39] Why don't we start a new stack?
[00:10:45] Y'all are doing so good.
[00:10:46] All right, there we go.
[00:10:57] Yep, we'll start a new pile right here.
[00:10:59] Put some of those right down there if you want.
[00:11:04] It's like the building blocks, isn't it?
[00:11:19] All right, is that all of them?
[00:11:22] Great.
[00:11:24] All right, look at all these shoe boxes.
[00:11:25] I don't even know how many of those are, but there's a lot of shoe boxes, aren't they?
[00:11:29] Did any of you help to pack any of these?
[00:11:30] Maybe you went out shopping with your parents and you bought some things.
[00:11:34] What do you think are in some of these boxes?
[00:11:35] Anybody know?
[00:11:37] Shoes, maybe?
[00:11:37] They are shoe boxes.
[00:11:38] I mean, yeah, that would make sense.
[00:11:42] Yeah toys well let's take a peek at this one let's see oh we got like some some dish racks some towels you're right there are some toys look this one's got some cars in it and look what else let's see we got what's that
[00:11:55] Toothbrush, yep.
[00:11:57] We've got some playing cards, it looks like, some other supplies, some socks.
[00:12:02] Look at that, Sour Patch Kids socks.
[00:12:03] Those are fun.
[00:12:05] Yeah, that's great.
[00:12:06] And all of these boxes have those kinds of things in them.
[00:12:10] But why are we doing this?
[00:12:11] What is the point of collecting all of these boxes?
[00:12:14] Whoa, we got some hands going up.
[00:12:15] What do you think, Piper?
[00:12:22] That's right so one of the reasons we do this is these will go around the world to maybe children who don't have a lot of things and this is a way to to cheer them up to give them a little bit of Christmas to give them some some fun things to play with that's part of it why else are we doing this yes ma'am yeah that's right so some of these things can entertain them what else roland
[00:12:53] to tell them about God or something that's exactly right in fact I picked up one of these brochures for those of you who can read what does it say right here it's all about what it's all about Jesus that's exactly right so these boxes that are full of toys and everything else they are going to children to give them Christmas all around the world and so they can have fun things to play with yes ma'am
[00:13:20] That's exactly right.
[00:13:21] Give them things that they need and these will meet some of those needs.
[00:13:25] But there's a bigger need that everyone has than just toys and stuff.
[00:13:28] So toys and stuff are good and they can cheer people up.
[00:13:31] But the biggest need everybody has is what, Roland?
[00:13:34] It's Jesus.
[00:13:35] That's exactly right.
[00:13:36] When these shoeboxes go around the world, the kids aren't just given toys.
[00:13:40] Inside every box in their own language is information, parts of the Bible even, that will tell these individuals about Jesus.
[00:13:49] And when they're presented, people go with them, missionaries go with them to share the good news of the gospel.
[00:13:55] Because the best gift of all that we all know is the gift of Jesus that God has given to us.
[00:14:01] The gift of faith through Jesus and the forgiveness of sins.
[00:14:04] And so these boxes represent an opportunity for us
[00:14:08] Here in North Carolina to reach children all around the world with the good news of Jesus.
[00:14:13] So what I want us to do, and we're not gonna repeat today, I'm just gonna pray, but we're gonna pray for all the children that are gonna receive these boxes.
[00:14:20] There's probably 40 or 50 boxes here.
[00:14:22] That means there's 40 or 50 kids
[00:14:24] Maybe in South America, maybe in Africa, or in Asia, or someplace in Europe, there are kids that are going to get these boxes that you help pack, and they're going to hear about Jesus.
[00:14:35] So let's pray for the children that will be receiving these.
[00:14:38] Will you pray?
[00:14:39] Let's pray.
[00:14:40] Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for an opportunity through something as simple as a shoebox packed with toys and goods, an opportunity to spread the glorious news of Jesus Christ to children and to families and to villages, communities, and countries all around the world.
[00:14:58] We thank you for those even in this congregation who have contributed to this effort, and we would pray in particular for the children who will be receiving these and opening them up in the coming weeks and months.
[00:15:09] We pray that this will not only be a thrill to them to get some things they've never had before, toys and other things, but more than that, there will be something that thrills their souls as they hear, perhaps for the first time, that there is a God who made them and who loves them and who has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem them.
[00:15:27] And so we pray, Father, that You would accomplish much for Your kingdom through these simple shoeboxes.
[00:15:32] We pray this in Jesus' name.
[00:15:34] Amen.
[00:15:35] Okay, you may return to your seats.
[00:15:37] Thank you very much.

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
As the children make their way back to their seats, I'll invite you to join me in standing as we sing praise to our God with hymn 644, May the Mind of Christ My Savior.
[00:15:55] Let's stand and sing.

[00:16:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
May the mind of Christ my Savior live in me from day to day.
[00:16:32] Five years' love and power controlling all I do and say.
[00:16:33] May the word of God dwell richly in my heart
[00:16:37] All that all may see I triumph only through His power May the peace of God my Father rule my life in everything At heart may He come to comfort me
[00:17:05] May the love of Jesus fill me as the waters fill the sea, in exulting celebration.
[00:17:22] Let's pray together.

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Almighty God, all things in all creation belong to you.
[00:17:54] And so we pray that as your sheep and the people of your pasture, as we receive your tithes and our offerings this morning, that you would receive them from us and that you would use them for the building up of your church and the going forth of your gospel out into the world around us.
[00:18:13] We pray these things in Jesus' name.
[00:18:14] Amen.
[00:18:16] Please be seated.

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[00:19:56] In Jesus' name, amen.

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Praise God from whom on earth
[00:20:54] Praise Him all creatures here we know Praise Him above the heavenly host Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Amen Please be seated

[00:21:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
A few items for prayer to keep in mind this week as we come to our pastoral prayer.
[00:21:30] First of all, we want to continue to pray for Ms. Haley Borman.
[00:21:34] She was hospitalized Friday, late Thursday night, early Friday morning with an appendectomy.
[00:21:41] She had to have an emergency appendectomy.
[00:21:44] And so she is still in the hospital receiving care, and so we want to continue to pray for her and her recovery and for the Bormans and the Meyers as they care for her.
[00:21:53] Secondly, it's barbecue week, as we've already heard in our announcements, so be praying for health and energy and for a good turnout from our community to be welcomed through our doors on Thursday.
[00:22:06] And then finally, tomorrow is Veterans Day, and it is appropriate and right to give thanks to the Lord as a church for the men and women who have served and protected this country to ensure that we enjoy the freedoms that we do.
[00:22:20] It's appropriate to be grateful and give glory to God for those who have served our nation.
[00:22:25] And so we do want to ask those in our midst, if you have served the United States of America in its armed forces, we'd like to ask for you to stand for a moment so that we might acknowledge you.
[00:22:47] Thank you.
[00:22:47] Please be seated.
[00:22:49] Let's go to the Lord now in a time of prayer.
[00:23:03] Almighty God, there is none like you.
[00:23:06] There's no one like you in all of creation, nor are there any works like yours, O Lord.
[00:23:16] All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
[00:23:23] For you are great and do wondrous things.
[00:23:28] You alone are God.
[00:23:31] And so we pray that you would teach us your way, O Lord, that we may walk in your truth, that we would unite our hearts to fear your name.
[00:23:41] Help us to give thanks to you in every season, O Lord our God, with our whole hearts, and help us to glorify your name forever.
[00:23:52] For we can say with the psalmist, indeed, great is your steadfast love towards me.
[00:23:58] You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
[00:24:03] Indeed, God, we come before you on a day that you have set aside for rest and worship, and we praise your name.
[00:24:10] For the way that you have won salvation for your people and for us as individuals, that you have called us out of darkness into light, from death to life, from the depths of Sheol.
[00:24:23] We praise you that you are the God of salvation who has done this and that you are receiving praise in all the nations.
[00:24:32] We pray that you would continue to bless our work here at Cobble Creek and allow us to be a part of your word going out into all the nations so that all may glorify your name.
[00:24:44] And Lord God, we praise you for the freedoms and liberties that we do enjoy here in our country, for the freedom to worship you as you have called us to do.
[00:24:53] We thank you for the men and women who have served this country since its birth some 249 years ago.
[00:25:02] We also give you thanks for those who stood in our midst here just a few moments ago.
[00:25:06] We thank you for their selfless service of this country.
[00:25:11] And we continue to pray your richest blessings on it.
[00:25:16] And Lord God, we also pray for the needs of this church.
[00:25:20] We pray for those who are receiving medical care and have appointments that are coming up that they may be anxious about.
[00:25:28] Lord, that you would be with them and calm their hearts and minds.
[00:25:32] We pray for those who are unable to be with us week after week, who are homebound for a variety of reasons.
[00:25:38] Lord, we pray that you would minister to them by the power of your Holy Spirit and comfort them in being a part of this local church.
[00:25:48] We pray especially this morning for Haley Borman after her appendectomy on Friday.
[00:25:53] We pray for the continued care that she is receiving.
[00:25:56] We pray that she would continue to improve and be able to go home soon.
[00:26:01] We pray for her recovery and we thank you for the Myers and Borman families as they care for her.
[00:26:09] And Lord God, we look forward to this week where we are able to serve our community well at our barbecue.
[00:26:14] We pray that it would not be an exercise in doing something that we've always done.
[00:26:18] We pray that you would give us a fresh zeal this year as we prepare and serve.
[00:26:26] Help us all to take opportunities to invite others this year and also to have conversations around the table about ways we can serve our neighbors.
[00:26:37] I pray for safety and energy, for good camaraderie and unity and purpose.
[00:26:43] We pray that you would be glorified in our midst, that you would continue building your kingdom.
[00:26:49] We also continue to pray for the work of your local church.
[00:26:54] We think of Presbytery this coming Tuesday.
[00:26:56] We pray for the business that the delegates will undertake there.
[00:27:00] And we also continue to pray for our daughter church plant.
[00:27:04] Lord, we pray that you would continue to align our plans with yours and that your will would be done.
[00:27:11] For we know that you alone provide the growth.
[00:27:14] We pray these things in Jesus' name.
[00:27:17] Amen.

[00:27:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
We will glorify the King of Kings.
[00:27:42] We will glorify the Lamb.
[00:27:46] We will glorify the Lord of Lords, who is the Great I Am.
[00:27:54] Lord Jehovah reigns in majesty.
[00:27:58] We will bow before His throne.
[00:28:01] We will worship Him in righteousness, we will worship Him alone.
[00:28:10] He is Lord of heaven, Lord of earth, He is Lord of all who live.
[00:28:17] He is Lord above the universe, all praise to Him we give.
[00:28:27] Alleluia to the King of Kings!
[00:28:34] Alleluia to the Lamb!
[00:28:36] Alleluia to the Lord of Lords, Who is the Great I Am!
[00:28:44] Alleluia to the King of Kings!
[00:28:47] Alleluia to the Lamb!
[00:28:51] Alleluia to the Lord of Lords, who is the Great I Am.

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Amen.
[00:29:05] Praise the Lord.
[00:29:07] Well, I invite you now to turn with me in your Bibles for our sermon passage.
[00:29:12] That is 1 Corinthians 3, verses 1 through 9.
[00:29:16] 1 Corinthians 3, verses 1 through 9.
[00:29:20] And as we continue in our series in 1 Corinthians, previously we've seen that the Holy Spirit is the agent of salvation in the hearts of man.
[00:29:31] We've also noted that the Apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians that all that they have received is a gift of God's grace.
[00:29:41] And so as we come to chapter 3, the Apostle Paul is continuing his larger mission in addressing these divisions that they have, but now he uses some different areas and emphasis to do so.
[00:29:54] So let me pray for us and then I will read our sermon passage, 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
[00:30:00] Verses 1 through 9.
[00:30:02] Let's pray together.
[00:30:06] Gracious God, we come before you asking you to lend your light to our hearts and minds.
[00:30:13] That we would have the mind of Christ as we sit under your word read and preached.
[00:30:19] And that you would give great illumination to us and show us how we can apply this word to our hearts and minds this day and this week.
[00:30:27] We pray these things in Jesus' name.
[00:30:30] Amen.
[00:30:30] 1 Corinthians 3, verses 1-9 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
[00:30:49] I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.
[00:30:54] And even now you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh.
[00:31:00] For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
[00:31:09] For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human?
[00:31:18] What then is Apollos?
[00:31:20] What is Paul?
[00:31:22] Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
[00:31:28] I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
[00:31:32] So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
[00:31:40] He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
[00:31:47] For we are God's fellow workers.
[00:31:50] You are God's field, God's building.
[00:31:55] Amen.
[00:31:59] Well, there's a famous story told about Michelangelo.
[00:32:03] That is not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
[00:32:05] That's the Italian Renaissance artist.
[00:32:09] And he's asked a question about his art and primarily his sculptures.
[00:32:13] I think it reveals a lot about Michelangelo to us.
[00:32:17] Someone once asked him how he can take this block of marble, something so rough around the edges, and make it something so lifelike, make it something so real.
[00:32:31] If you've ever seen pictures or video or maybe you've seen some of Michelangelo's sculptures up close, you'll absolutely be blown away at the level of detail about how a man before modern machinery could create something so lifelike out of stone.
[00:32:49] Well, Michelangelo replied to this question.
[00:32:51] How does he do this?
[00:32:52] How is this possible?
[00:32:54] By saying this.
[00:32:56] He said that the sculpture is already complete within the marble.
[00:33:02] It's already there before I start my work.
[00:33:05] I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.
[00:33:10] That's how Michelangelo saw his work as the artist.
[00:33:13] The form was already present.
[00:33:14] He wasn't creating it.
[00:33:17] He was simply revealing it.
[00:33:19] So every blow of the hammer, every strike of the chisel simply removed what did not belong until the true form became visible.
[00:33:29] In a way, that is what the Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians in this passage.
[00:33:34] He looks at them with their immaturity, their strife, their division, their jealousy, but he doesn't see a hopeless people.
[00:33:45] He sees what God is doing in their midst, what God has already placed within them.
[00:33:50] Paul sees what the Spirit is shaping and molding them into in that process of sanctification that we read about in the Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 13.
[00:34:00] The Corinthians just need to live up to who God is calling them to be, to live up to who they already are.
[00:34:08] They need to mature in the things of the Lord.
[00:34:12] And so that is what this passage is calling the Corinthians to do.
[00:34:16] It's calling them to be who they are.
[00:34:20] You are already God's people.
[00:34:22] You have the Holy Spirit.
[00:34:24] Now let the Master shape your life to match the identity that Christ has already won for you.
[00:34:32] Be who you are.
[00:34:35] We see that in two sections this morning.
[00:34:37] Be who you are, verses 1 through 4.
[00:34:39] Be who you are, a spiritual people.
[00:34:42] People who have been brought from death to life.
[00:34:44] And then secondly, we see in verses 5 through 9, be who you are, God's field.
[00:34:51] And along the way, the Apostle Paul shows us how that field experiences growth.
[00:34:58] Be who you are.
[00:34:58] Let's begin then with spiritual people in verses 1 through 4.
[00:35:03] Paul begins a new idea with verse 1, but I brothers, and he's going to address these central issues he has been addressing, but he starts, you know, he's going to drop the hammer on them, but he starts with a term of endearment.
[00:35:16] Brothers, brethren, brothers and sisters in Christ.
[00:35:23] He's going to begin this new section of different metaphors, and in verses 1 through 4, he uses one we all can understand.
[00:35:31] Spiritual infants versus spiritual adults.
[00:35:36] And once again, the big idea for the Christian here is be who you are because Paul was not rebuking the Corinthians in order to beat them down and make them feel like second-class citizens within the kingdom of God.
[00:35:51] Paul was encouraging them.
[00:35:53] You are Christians.
[00:35:55] You are a part of the beloved.
[00:35:57] You have, as he would say to the Ephesians, every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus.
[00:36:02] You already have.
[00:36:05] You have the blessing of a local church.
[00:36:08] You can and should be growing.
[00:36:12] And so Paul, with great concern in his heart, is telling them, a Christian who is not maturing spiritually is a problem.
[00:36:23] Paul will continue to put his finger on symptoms of their spiritual immaturity but he begins with this term of endearment and essentially what he says is that, fellow Christians, I was with you for 18 months and I was not able to preach to you the depths of the Christian faith but rather, verse 1, I had to treat you as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
[00:36:50] Let's not forget these are Christians.
[00:36:52] Paul has affirmed that in the opening of his letter.
[00:36:54] He just called them brothers.
[00:36:57] He wants to make it very clear that they are weighed down by their former selves.
[00:37:03] That they are not growing in the grace of the Lord as they should.
[00:37:10] Think of another illustration from Michelangelo actually.
[00:37:14] You can throw this in your Google machine if you'd like to, but Michelangelo has a few statues in Florence that are not finished.
[00:37:22] They're called the Prisoners or the Slaves.
[00:37:25] And in these sculptures, they are these massive huge blocks of marble with half-finished figures sort of straining to emerge.
[00:37:35] They're really odd and striking at the same time.
[00:37:39] You'll see an arm reaching out.
[00:37:42] You'll see a face upturned, a body trying to twist free out of the marble.
[00:37:49] They're not finished yet, but you can see the shape of what they could become.
[00:37:56] Christians come out of death to life, from darkness to light, from what the Apostle Paul calls over and over again here in this passage, from the flesh to the spiritual life.
[00:38:10] But these Corinthians are bogged down.
[00:38:14] They're like those prisoners, those slaves, those sculptures that they just can't get free.
[00:38:22] Paul tells them you need to grow up.
[00:38:25] It was okay, he says in verse 2, when I was with you when the gospel was first proclaimed in your midst.
[00:38:32] He says that, verse 2, he fed them with milk and not solid food for you were not ready for it.
[00:38:37] And of course that's to be expected because we all begin at the beginning.
[00:38:43] But even now, he continues, you were not ready for it.
[00:38:47] Even now.
[00:38:49] Even after Paul was there for 18 months and others came after him to minister the word of God to them,
[00:38:56] They're still stuck on that diet of infant's milk.
[00:39:01] Paul is greatly concerned about their spiritual growth.
[00:39:06] And I think some of you have experienced this with small children.
[00:39:11] This growth that we're hoping to see, I remember, I believe with our oldest daughter, we were, you know, you leave the hospital, you don't check out of the hospital, you're discharged from the hospital, and you put them in the baby seat and you drive away and it feels like,
[00:39:26] Wow they're gonna let us leave with this child you know it's like I can't believe they're doing this but we're here we're gonna do it and then 48 hours later you go for that checkup with a pediatrician and your child has either not gained weight or lost a little bit of weight and you're just like so alarmed right it's like the most serious thing in the world and and you're everything in your life is about getting some pounds on that baby right it's important
[00:39:54] That growth early on is important.
[00:39:56] We see that growth in our children's lives as they age.
[00:40:01] What Paul says here is that it's been years.
[00:40:05] There's been very little spiritual growth.
[00:40:12] Paul, nor Apollos, nor Peter, they've all visited the Corinthians.
[00:40:16] They haven't been able to move beyond the initial teachings into something of more substance.
[00:40:22] And so we can think about another book, another letter that Paul wrote.
[00:40:26] We can think about the letter of Romans.
[00:40:28] That was a letter to another group of Christians, and Paul is able to greatly plumb the depths of the deep things of God and teaching them these greater spiritual truths.
[00:40:39] They're able to apply it to their lives and grow in the grace of God.
[00:40:44] And so we know that that happened in Rome, but it's not happening in Corinth.
[00:40:50] They're stuck.
[00:40:52] And one of the things that Paul is revealing to us is that our diet is a sign of growth and maturity.
[00:40:59] I'm sure most of you can remember what your children's first food was, what their first solid food was, right?
[00:41:05] I know that our girls really devoured grits, and I love that.
[00:41:08] It made us feel like they were doing something.
[00:41:10] It wasn't their first food, but that's what they really enjoyed after oatmeal and a mushy banana.
[00:41:18] Diet is a sign of growth and maturity in children.
[00:41:23] And so what is our takeaway here as Christians today in 2025?
[00:41:27] Our takeaway is that our diet of God's Word will reflect a maturity in our faith.
[00:41:32] As we come to faith in Christ, no matter our age, we are spiritually infants.
[00:41:38] At that point, we do need a steady supply of milk, reminders of the Gospel and of our salvation.
[00:41:45] And we never fully, completely leave that behind.
[00:41:47] However, we do move on to more substantial diets.
[00:41:52] Perhaps that means moving on to studying an epistle in God's Word or studying the promises of God from the Old Testament.
[00:42:01] And one of the beautiful things about being in a local church is that we have the opportunity to do that with other believers.
[00:42:06] We can do that in Sunday school, in youth group, in covenant kids.
[00:42:10] We can do it in our circles, in our men's groups.
[00:42:14] Those are great ways that the Lord provides for us to grow in our faith alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ.
[00:42:22] But we must move forward and mature in our faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:42:29] Now back to the Corinthians.
[00:42:32] What is the hold up?
[00:42:34] What's the problem here?
[00:42:35] What's stopping them from growing?
[00:42:38] Well, Paul says it's because they are still of the flesh.
[00:42:44] This does not mean that they belong to the flesh.
[00:42:46] They have been redeemed by Christ.
[00:42:48] He has made that clear.
[00:42:49] What it does mean is that their affections and their behaviors are of this world.
[00:42:53] We see that in the end of verse 3.
[00:42:56] At the end of verse 3, he says the clearest sign of their worldly behavior is this, For while there is jealousy and strife among you, you are of the flesh and behaving in only a human way.
[00:43:13] And so we see these factions, these divisions in the church are a sign of worldly, what Paul calls, flesh-driven people.
[00:43:24] You're not growing because you are tethered to those things.
[00:43:31] The Christians in Corinth tethered their hearts to the things of this world, namely the jealousy, selfishness, strife, and division that we've seen in previous weeks in 1 Corinthians.
[00:43:40] They are no different from the world around them.
[00:43:42] They are behaving in what Paul says in a merely human way.
[00:43:50] And Paul has just told them at the end of chapter 2 that we are to have the mind of Christ amongst us.
[00:43:56] And so we see a battle then here between the mind of Christ and the mind of this world.
[00:44:04] And the Corinthians are stuck in the mind of this world.
[00:44:10] They are being merely human.
[00:44:12] And within a church body, that can present itself in different ways.
[00:44:16] Sometimes it can be in factions about particular teachers or preachers.
[00:44:22] Sometimes it can be a preference on facility decisions within a church.
[00:44:28] And sometimes it can be within our decisions we make as families about what's best for our family with extracurriculars or with our school choices.
[00:44:39] It's easy to kind of fall back into those groups or those cliques.
[00:44:46] What the Apostle Paul tells us is that the pitfall the church must avoid is falling into the worldly trap of jealousy and division.
[00:44:56] A church must keep the main thing the main thing and not be focused on personal agendas.
[00:45:00] That is a common refrain in the book of 1 Corinthians.
[00:45:07] Be who you are, be spiritual people, not merely human.
[00:45:12] And now in our second section we see verses 5 through 9, we are called to be who we are, God's field.
[00:45:19] In the second section, we turn our attention to verses 5 through 9.
[00:45:23] We begin with this oddly phrased question, verse 5.
[00:45:29] What then is Apollos?
[00:45:31] What is Paul?
[00:45:33] It's an oddly phrased question because usually we would expect for him to say, who is Apollos or who is Paul?
[00:45:40] But the apostle here is concerned with what they have been called by God to do.
[00:45:47] He's focused on the office of a minister to God's people.
[00:45:52] It refers not to the personality, the preferences, the style of the man.
[00:45:57] It refers to the calling God has placed on their lives in ministry.
[00:46:02] Which Paul makes clear at the end of verse 5.
[00:46:05] He says that they are servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each.
[00:46:13] That's what ministers, pastors of the gospel are.
[00:46:17] We are servants through whom the Lord assigns to each.
[00:46:24] You Corinthians, Paul tells them, are all about dividing up the body into factions, following after one particular man, but what you fail to realize is that no matter which man you choose to follow, they are merely servants through whom God ministered to you.
[00:46:41] I think we can all relate to that.
[00:46:44] I think we've all had people in our lives who God has used in a particular way to either bring us to faith in Christ or also to disciple us.
[00:46:54] In my own life, that was a youth director who's now a pastor, who the Lord used in a mighty and a particular way in my life to bring me to faith in Christ, also to disciple me.
[00:47:04] and the knowledge and admonition of the Lord.
[00:47:06] For you, maybe it was a pastor or a Sunday school teacher or a volunteer who poured into your life week after week and the Lord greatly blessed that.
[00:47:18] It's a great joy to know that the Lord uses ministers in that way.
[00:47:23] It's a great encouragement to us.
[00:47:26] And yet what is made clear here is that our allegiance should never be to one man.
[00:47:30] or one pastor or one minister.
[00:47:32] Our allegiance is to the Lord and the Lord alone.
[00:47:37] God is the one who assigns the laborers and we will see that God is the one who gives the growth.
[00:47:45] Paul makes that clear as he continues in this contrast in verse 6 where he says that I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
[00:47:57] Ministers sow and till and water and care for the field, but it is God alone who gives the growth.
[00:48:06] In other words, in this particular context, the Apostle Paul was the man who was chosen to begin that work in Corinth.
[00:48:14] Apollos followed after him at some point and continued that work there, discipling those Christians.
[00:48:22] Paul was the church planner, the mission developer.
[00:48:26] He planted that seed.
[00:48:27] That is a vital ministry.
[00:48:30] And then Apollos came behind and watered, cared for the Lord's vineyard through teaching and instruction, through discipleship.
[00:48:40] Those were the tasks that were set before Apollos and Paul.
[00:48:44] But it is God who gives the growth.
[00:48:46] It is God's will whom they were following and serving.
[00:48:51] And just in case we don't get the picture,
[00:48:55] Verse 7, Paul uses even more stark language.
[00:48:58] Does he not?
[00:49:00] Paul says this.
[00:49:02] It's a tough thing for some ministers to hear.
[00:49:04] So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
[00:49:13] That might feel a little harsh at first, but it points out to us that God alone is the one who gives the growth.
[00:49:21] God is at work in a mighty way.
[00:49:24] Another way of saying this is that God can use who He pleases to plant, to water, to sow.
[00:49:29] It's not to dismiss individuals and their individual gifting or their personalities.
[00:49:36] The Lord uses that.
[00:49:38] But rather it is to mind us of who the real agent of salvation is.
[00:49:44] Of who the real agent of sanctification is.
[00:49:48] It is the Lord.
[00:49:50] And so we see really two biblical principles about ministry here that emerge.
[00:49:55] One is that there's a diversity of ministry.
[00:49:57] One plows, one seeds, one waters, and over time God provides fruit.
[00:50:05] And then the second is the unity of purpose in verse eight.
[00:50:10] Verse eight talks about he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
[00:50:22] Ministers are united in purpose and united by the Spirit.
[00:50:28] Ministers are not to be in competition with one another.
[00:50:32] You'll notice something that Paul has done as he's walked through verses 5 through 9.
[00:50:37] Even before that, he stops mentioning people by name.
[00:50:42] The focus is on God.
[00:50:44] The focus is on God's work.
[00:50:46] Ministers are never to be in competition with one another, and that's harder today maybe with social media and YouTube, right?
[00:50:55] Comparisons that ministers may make, but one of the richest blessings of my time here at Cottle Creek is that not one day, never once in five years here, have I ever felt like I was in competition with Pastor Andrew.
[00:51:08] And I think that that speaks to his humility in being a servant of God,
[00:51:13] and also speaks to the graciousness of this congregation.
[00:51:18] It's a beautiful, beautiful testimony of God's work here that that in particular is not a problem for us.
[00:51:26] So praise the Lord for that.
[00:51:31] He who plants the ewe waters are one.
[00:51:35] And then in verse 9, Paul concludes this section.
[00:51:39] By stating that ministers are God's fellow workers.
[00:51:44] And the idea there is not that there is some sort of equality between us and God, but rather we are serving under Him, laboring with Him, and belonging to Him as servants.
[00:51:57] Servants are different than slaves.
[00:51:59] Servants are serving out of joy to their masters.
[00:52:05] And then he goes on to describe who we are collectively, who we are supposed to be, and that is God's field, God's building.
[00:52:16] We're going to focus more on that building theme next week.
[00:52:19] It's fleshed out more by the Apostle Paul.
[00:52:21] But let's consider, by way of application, this idea of us as God's field.
[00:52:27] We've seen how God gives the growth through the ministers to plant and water.
[00:52:32] What are we supposed to be producing as a church body together?
[00:52:38] What fruit should we expect from this field, this vineyard?
[00:52:43] What fruit should we expect from the church?
[00:52:47] Well, in the immediate context of this passage, we can say spiritual maturity over time.
[00:52:53] That individual members of a church are growing in their knowledge of the Lord and how to live out God's Word in their lives.
[00:53:02] We can also say that we are to be not characterized by jealousy and strife and division.
[00:53:09] Rather, we're to be characterized by love and by serving one another.
[00:53:15] Maturity is a fruit that a church should see, both individually and collectively.
[00:53:24] But we can also see in Scripture that the church is expected to have the fruit of good works.
[00:53:29] Colossians chapter 1 verse 10 tells us this truth we are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work so the church should produce good work loving others well both inside and outside of the walls of the church I think it's important for us to think about the good works of Cottle Creek both in the world around us and in our community
[00:53:58] We have a great opportunity this week to put a lot of time in, shoulder to shoulder, serving through our annual barbecue.
[00:54:06] That's the time when the community comes to us in a way that it does not do oftentimes throughout the year.
[00:54:13] We can serve them and get to know them.
[00:54:16] Our fall festival just last month was a great opportunity for that as well.
[00:54:19] We have other activities like that throughout the year, Vacation Bible School.
[00:54:25] These are just a few things that popped into my head as I was thinking about it this week.
[00:54:30] We also are prayerfully and steadily moving forward in our church planning work efforts.
[00:54:36] But what I'd like to stress to us is that there are ways that the field of God produces fruit in the everyday work of Christians.
[00:54:47] In getting together, having a family over to your house for a meal, and being there to listen for them, and serving neighbors, and loving people well.
[00:54:58] All those little things are a way that God's field produces fruit in the world around us.
[00:55:05] The church of Jesus Christ is not a stagnant field which produces nothing.
[00:55:10] Rather, it is a vibrant, life-giving vineyard where God's kingdom moves out into the world around it.
[00:55:19] We are God's field.
[00:55:21] May we be fruitful for His glory.
[00:55:27] On Thursday morning this week I was trying to write a sermon and someone came by the church and needed a Operation Christmas Child box.
[00:55:37] And so I went to hunt for them.
[00:55:39] I found them eventually in a Sunday school room downstairs.
[00:55:43] And that whole morning, if you want to know what a pastor's mind is like when you're writing a sermon, it's just everything's kind of bouncing around in your head.
[00:55:50] And I was trying to think of a closing illustration to use this week.
[00:55:55] And I walked into the first grade and kindergarten classroom downstairs.
[00:56:00] And on the wall, their wall art, I took a picture of it.
[00:56:03] I know you can't see it, but I took a picture of it.
[00:56:05] And on the wall,
[00:56:07] was the illustration I needed.
[00:56:09] It says, you are who God says you are.
[00:56:15] And around the room, there are little circles, and they have descriptions, redeemed, protected, cherished, and so on and so forth.
[00:56:22] You are who God says you are.
[00:56:25] And that is a great truth that we need to remind ourselves of each and every day.
[00:56:31] And it's what the Apostle Paul is telling the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 3.
[00:56:37] Christian, God has done a mighty work in you.
[00:56:40] He has brought you from death to life, from darkness to light.
[00:56:43] The Holy Spirit is within you, working out sanctification.
[00:56:48] The image of Christ is placed within you, and we know that the old self still clings to us.
[00:56:56] But Paul tells us, be who you are.
[00:57:00] You are God's field.
[00:57:01] You are God's workmanship.
[00:57:03] You are God's new creation.
[00:57:05] You are no longer merely human.
[00:57:08] You are His spiritual people.
[00:57:10] Let's pray together.
[00:57:14] Gracious God, we're thankful for the encouragement that Your Word brings us, even in the midst of some difficult teaching from the Apostle Paul.
[00:57:26] We do praise You and thank You for the work that You have done here at Cottle Creek, for the unity that we do have, that You have worked out here.
[00:57:35] And yet we also pray that you would continue to shape and mold us into the maturity of the image of Jesus Christ.
[00:57:46] Pray that you would do that work in each of us, making us more and more new creations in Christ, that the old man would continue to pass away within us and the new man would live unto new righteousness, and that you would also help us as we seek to be indeed your field where you have planted us.
[00:58:04] We pray that you would do that for your glory and honor in Jesus' name.
[00:58:08] Amen.
[00:58:12] Well, please turn with me in your hymnals.
[00:58:14] I invite you to join me in standing and singing as well as we sing together hymn 355, We Are God's People.

[00:58:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
We are God's people, the chosen of the Lord, born of His Spirit, established by His Word.
[00:59:04] Our cornerstone is Christ alone, and we strong in Him we stand.

[00:59:06] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
O let us live transparently,

[00:59:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
We are God's loved ones, the bride of Christ our Lord.

[00:59:29] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
For we have known it, the blood of the Lord.

[00:59:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Let us learn how to return the gift the Lord wants to give.

[00:59:48] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Oh, let us share each joy and care and live with a sin that pleases Him.

[00:59:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
We are the valley, out which the Lord is led.
[01:00:17] All to obey Him, now risen from the dead.
[01:00:18] He wills us be a family, diverse and truly one.
[01:00:19] Oh, let us hear Thy gifts today.
[01:00:21] So shall His work on earth be done.
[01:00:47] We are a temple, a spirit-swelling place, Born in great weakness, but come to hold God's grace.
[01:00:48] We die alone for all its abuse,
[01:00:53] As you go, go with God's blessing.

[01:01:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
The Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:01:11] The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[01:01:14] The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace both this day and forevermore.
[01:01:20] Amen.

[01:01:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Alleluia to the King of Kings!
[01:01:35] Alleluia to the Lamb!
[01:01:40] Alleluia to the Lord of Lords, Who is the Great I Am!