SCRIPTURE - 1 Corinthians 3
FAITHFUL & FRUITFUL
Typically we use extremes and caricatures to describe other ministry models
- Fruitful - Bring in the elephants to attract crowds and fill auditoriums
- Faithful - Teach TULIP every week
1 Corinthians 3
1 Corinthians 3
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, foryou were not ready for it.
When you were converted you drank what babies drink And yet you're still on the bottle. No one worries about kids in the kiddie pool. We call the cops when we see the 50 year old man alone in there
People who drink milk aren't abnormal they're new. We all start there but we don't stay there.
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?
They're stuck on milk because they're filled with strife.
4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed,as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
When it comes to discussions of faithfulness and fruitfulness…the personality of the pastors is almost involved….that's exactly where Paul starts off responding.
PAUL - Is a good writer but a bit disappointing in person
APOLLOS - Great speaker but not a writer
…their personalities are different. This is such a human debate.
From this text we learn three things about the man of god...
We are all SERVANTS who carry out God given assignments
You are not the next anyone. You are just you.
You should be grateful to God that you are you.
We have been fearfully and wonderfully made.
We are all servants of God.
You must grow comfortable with your task.
We are all SERVANTS who are tools in the hand of God
What God does with us is up to him.
We are called to faithfulness.
We all SERVE the same God for the same purpose. We're on the same team
This doesn't tend to be true of the more FAITHFUL crowd.
We have four types of differences:
- Theological
- Philosophical
- Practical
- Preference
We must respond to theological and preference differences very differently.Even with theological differences, we need to deal with our differences in a uniquely Christian manner.
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. 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.
If it isn't faithful it can't REALLY be fruitful.
Without faithfulness, you are fruitful in vain
"Fruitfulness without faithfulness is like stappling apples to a tree"
- Paul Tripp paraphrased
The work of men will be exposed…that doesn't mean we need to look for a fight.
We don't need to judge from afar
We need to watch ourselves
We can't judge caricatures of other positions.
CRITIQUE THE CARICATURES
We all think we're being faithful
FAITHFUL CARICATURE
Assume the Gospel By
Lack of Gospel Ambition
- …smallness = faithfulness ..no drive to reach the lost
- We need to pray for massive God movement in our community
Overly Harsh
- There is a way to be right…the wrong way
- There is way to be right…which looks Christian
Evangelistically Lazy
FRUITFUL EXTREME - The Caricature
Assume the Gospel By…
Put Growth in Front of Truth to See Converts
- Numeric growth = / = Faithfulness
Lacks a Plan and a Process for Discipleship
- They read the Great Commission as "Go make converts"
No comments:
Post a Comment