A
Time to Plant
1 Corinthians 3:1-17
February 23, 2014
It
is the hope and dream of all parents that their children shall grow and mature
and reach their fullest potential. We do
our best, and plant our seeds, and water with love, and try to pull out the
weeds where we see them; but then how we can do is wait and see if their lives
will bear a little fruit.
It
is the same with God. God’s hopes and
dreams for you as a disciple of Jesus Christ is that you grow and mature and
reach your fullest potential. The seeds
of the gospel are plants, God showers us with his love and then waits for us to
bear the fruit he desires.
Lord,
our heavenly Parent; your love for us is eternal. Through those who came before
us the seeds of the gospel have been planted.
Too often our growth has been stunted.
We have avoided the growing pains that come with the study of your
Word. We have avoided the growing pains
that come with the exercise of faith in a faithless world.
So,
we remain as children, as “Babes in Christ”.
Stir us Lord for better things.
Make us ready for heavier loads; so that we not buckle under the
responsibility, but stand tall in faith, hope, and love. Through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
There
is a difference between growing old and growing up. A while back I saws an interview of an author
by the name of Robert Bly who wrote a book called “Sibling Society”. In it he said that American culture has as
many problems as it does because there are vast numbers of Americans who have refused
to grow up and accept the responsibilities of adult leadership within the
family and within society at large. He
maintained they live in perpetual adolescence, not quite children, not quite
grown up. He said, “They have abdicated
from the obligations incumbent upon this generation, and that they are only
concerned about themselves and their own pleasure.[1]
The
Apostle Paul made the same observation almost two thousand years ago when
writing his first letter to the church in Corinth:
“I
could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly – mere infants in Christ.”[2]
Paul
had founded this congregation and through his ministry many had come to know
the Lord Jesus Christ. He believed they
were well on their way to spiritual maturity so he believed he could move onto
other mission fields. But, then he
received word that their growth had not gone as he hoped. In fact it had stopped dead in its
tracks. They had not learned any more or
grown any more. They were the same people now as they were then.
He
likens them to people in their thirties still eating Gerber’s strained peas and
drinking Similac, when they should have moved on to Asparagus au gratin and
Beef Wellington. Paul believed the
reason for this was their attachment to what he calls the “flesh”.
The
Greek word here is “sarx”, but it means more than just “flesh and blood”. It means to be dominated by the ways and
desires of this world. It means “human
nature apart from God, that part of the human condition both mental and physical
which provides a beachhead for sin.”[3]
The
beachhead for this sin invasion takes the most subtle forms in that it can
often appear to have a certain spirituality about it. The reason the people in Corinth had grown
old but not up is that they began to focus on the “teachers of the Word” rather
that the “God of the Word.” The difference between these two was not apparent
to some.
Keep
your ears open here because Americans have this same tendency to venerate
personality and celebrity; to be moved more by style than substance.
In
Corinth the Church began to divide along the cult of personality. The messenger had become more important than
the message and each group had their favorite messenger. “AI am for Paul.” “I
am for Apollos”. They subdivided into
their own little groups of like-minded people.
They felt comfortable in that clique and they felt safe.
But,
the trouble with birds of a feather flocking together is that there is no one
around to challenge your beliefs or even to ask a question. If your faith is not tested, not exercised it
will not grow. It will remain the same and spiritual growth will be stunted.
Besides
that, Paul says that he and Apollos were partners not competitors: that they
were messengers who carried the same message. He rhetorically asked,
“What
is Apollos? What is Paul? Who are we?
We’re only servants through whom you came to believe.”[4]
He
continued, “I planted the seeds, Apollo watered, but it is God who causes all
things to grow.”[5]
Many
of you are gardeners and I know you are looking forward to a warm spring day to
put in your garden. You will cultivate
the soil, plant the seeds, water and fertilize; but you don’t grow the
plant. God does. God placed those genetic instructions within
the seed long before you came along. It
is God who transforms the acorn into a mighty oak. You did not create the miracle of life, but
you can help it along.
That’s
the way the best leaders operate. It is
the way most successful churches function.
If a church just rallies around the personality of a charismatic leader
it may have the appearance of success.
There will be people in the pews and money in the offering plate. But, if that leader leaves and falls or dies,
the spiritual maturity of the congregation will be tested and quickly revealed.
I
believe Eastminster is very fortunate to have a number of strong leaders and
teachers and volunteers functioning in a very powerful way. And some of the best things that happen
around here are completely independent of my involvement. They happen because a Sunday school teacher
or a Stephen Minister or a Deacon or a Youth leader or a member of the choir
plants a seed of care and compassion, of hope and faith. They may never know or
see the results of their impact or influence.
They may never know how much a card of encouragement meant; they may
never know the difference a home cooked meal made in a time of crisis. Still they plant and water because that’s the
way things grow. Now why do they do that?
I
had an administrative assistant once who liked to see things grow. She planted a huge garden every year and when
flowers came up or vegetables ripened she would bring them into share. One day she brought in a little flower pot
with something she called “Johnny Jump-Ups”.
I noticed whenever I came in every morning that the Johnny Jump-Ups were
always leaning toward the wind from which the sun shone through. So, I would turn them around so that I could
see the flowers, and I could almost hear them call out, “Where did the light
go?” By the afternoon they had somehow
twisted themselves around again so that they could face the light.
Are
you someone who leans toward Jesus who saw himself as “the light of the world”
or do you turn away? If you are feeling
spiritually shallow or empty that may be the reason. We grow spiritual as we lean into the
light. The Psalms echo this sentiment, “Thy
Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” [6]
In
the ninth verse Paul abruptly switches metaphors. He moves from planting to building, I believe
so that people don’t fall into the mistaken notion that since growth is up to
God I don’t have to do anything.
That’s
why he said:
“According
to the commission God gave to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a
foundation.”[7]
Have
any of you ever built a house from scratch or even watched a house being built
from the ground up. It takes a lot of
different skills and talents. You have
to know how to build or pour a foundation.
You have to know how to build a straight wall, how to shingle a roof,
how to put in the electrical, the plumbing, the hvac, the windows. There are very few people who have all the
skills to do all these things themselves so the master builder, the general
contractors with hire sub-contractors to do all these things.
So
it is with the church. Some people build
the doorways into the church through their witness and evangelism. Some build windows so that the light of God’s
love might shine through. Some build
prayer closets so that people can learn to pray. Some build the fireplace where the warmth of
God’s Holy Spirit would burn. Some build
living rooms where people can enjoy each other’s company. Some build family rooms so that children
might have place to be. In other words,
everyone working together can build something that matters.
To
those pastors and teachers and elders and deacons Paul cautions, “Let each one
take care how he builds upon the foundation.”[8]
The emphasis here is on quality. Paul
issues no quota. He sets no mark for
numbers. Church membership or budgets
are not the key criteria for success – spiritual growth is.
When
you build you need to consider what your goal is.
I
remember watching an interview with Robert Young who was the actor who played
the father in the old T.V. show “Father Knows Best”. He had just celebrated his 50 wedding
anniversary which was something quite unusual among Hollywood actors. The interviewer asked what his secret was,
what was the key to the success of their marriage. Robert young told this story:
Three
bricklayers were at work and someone asked “what are you doing” and he said,
“Laying brick.” He asked the second,
“what are you doing” and he said, “Putting up a wall.” He asked the third, “what are you doing” and
he said, “Building a cathedral”. The
actor said they were all doing the same thing but who you think put in the most
care and greater effort.”
That’s
where Paul was going when he said some have “built with gold, silver, and
precious stones and some have built with wood and straw and stubble.”[9] The difference between these two groupings is
that gold and silver and precious stones last while wood and straw and stubble
decay. The first group has substance. It lasts.
It speaks of matters eternal. The
second group may have a light an airy appeal but it is cotton candy theology.
Some
of you are aware that my younger son serves as a fulltime Youth Director in a
church in eastern Pennsylvania. One of
the things we have spoken of in the past is ministry strategy. That is, what are the most effective ways to
reach people with the gospel? In youth
ministry the maxim is very simple – feed them and they will come. Give kids free pizza and something
entertaining and they will be happy.
But, he wants them to be more than happy. We wants them to experience the joy of the
Lord which can be their strength, so he always makes time for Bible Study and
discussion of things that matter. Some
of the kids are really not interested.
They just want the free pizza and to be entertained. They are not the only ones.
The
Apostle Paul made the same observation, “For the time is coming when people
will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears the will accumulate for
themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and they will turn away from
listening to the truth and wander into myths.”[10] That’s what he means when he talks about
building with wood and straw and stubble.
He says that will not last. It
will be consumed by fire.
So,
there is a great responsibility laid upon the preacher and the teacher, but
there is also a responsibility laid upon the listener. In the seventeenth chapter of the book of
Acts there is an interesting description of the people Paul encountered in a
place called Berea. This is what he
said, “they examined the scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true.”[11]
In
other words, they checked up on the preacher.
They asked, “Is this preacher faithful to the Word of God?” This may be dangerous for me to say, but I
think that is a good idea. Each one of
you is responsible for the state and condition of your own soul. You abdicate that to another at great risk.
A
friend of mine told me a story about one of his college professors who told his
class that in every lecture he gave there would be one blatant and outright
lie. And if a question showed up on a test concerning that one blatant and
outright lie and the student answered with what the professor had said it would
be marked wrong. So, after every lecture the students hurried back to their
textbooks to find that on lie.
I don’t
do that, at least on purpose anyway, but I do encourage you to read the
passages of scripture I mention to check up on me. And if you think I’ve misread it or
misinterpreted it don’t be shy in telling me. That’s how we all grow after all.
There
is a difference between growing old and growing up. There is a difference between the
accumulation of years and the gathering of wisdom, so set your sights
high. God has greater plans for you than
you may know; but God can only take you as far as you are willing to go.
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