Esteban Bustos

It's been such a blessing for me just to be able to share with you this past two Sundays. So I know it's because of God's grace. It's not because somehow there's something in me that deserves to be here. It's only God. Lance, you know, Bruce, Tom, Roger, they have the just the gift from God just to be preaching to you guys that God's word. So for me, it's just such a blessing to be part of them and just be able to give you the word. And at the same time, it's been great for me to just being fed God's word in English.

I do it in English, but when I prepare a sermon in English, it's interesting to see how you are being mature in another language. And it's amazing to see God's grace, not just working in Spanish or English or Mandarin. You see how God's grace just in his word reaches every language, every nation. And that's something to be thankful for. And today, well, my prayer was that is that these past two weeks, the two sermons that you heard has been for your edification, you know, that brought your heart closer to God.

And today we're going to be in First Corinthians chapter three. OK, First Corinthians chapter three. And for my last message, I chose this topic that we don't like. We don't want to talk too much about this because it's a sensitive topic within the church. And this is a division within the church, division within the church. But I don't want to talk about division. I want to talk about unity in the gospel. OK, so everything that we're going to talk about division, I want us to be thoughtful about it and just being able to leave sin behind and work together as a church to be united in the gospel.

OK, so our text is going to be today in First Corinthians chapter three, and we're going to go through verses one through nine.

But before I start reading God's word, I want to talk to you about the city of Corinth, the Corinthians, who were the Corinthians? What was the thinking behind a Corinthian citizen even within the church? Some author tells us that for the Corinthians, there was an obsessive concern for reputation and status in the eyes of other people. Self-promotion to win applause and gain influence, ambition to succeed often by manipulating people and manipulating the government of manipulating networks of influence.

Rhetoric at that time, like a speaker's rhetoric, was more concerned with the audience approval than with the truth. There was as well with the Roman system, this system of patronage. This provided this easy path to fame and fortune. What do I mean by this? There were people who were who were called benefactors and they had people who they paid to speak well about them. So an author said that the less influential people that pay could climb like ivy climbs twining around a strong tree. On the other hand, you know, there were the sponsors, the benefactors.

In the other hand, there were the people that spoke well, that had good rhetoric. So being a good speaker at that time, it was being a person who was well paid because there was just this thought that the more people talk good about you, the better you are. So in ancient Corinth, worldly values like honor, prestige, self-promotion were the most desired thing in the whole world. Even there were some traveling bands named the sophists that made their way through Corinth. And they were people that used to persuade followers with their rhetoric.

So they were trying to convince them about their own selves. They were promoting themselves to others and they were telling people with money, if you pay me, I say nice things about you. If you pay me, I'm going to say that you did this, that, that, that, that you have this in your character. So people were always willing to do that. Even archaeological evidence reveals inscriptions. They dug up some inscriptions in Corinth that publicized the generosity of benefactors as means of promoting their reputation.

But this wasn't just across people with money. Some inscriptions showed us that self-promotion had become an art form for people because they lived with this society that was based on honor and shame orientation. You wanted people to think good about you. So Corinth was the magnet for socially ambitious people hungry for status. So in Corinth, honor, what people said about you was more important than truth. Even history tells us that even the lower class became so entangled with culture, in this case even slaves, that with the money that they had, the money that they got from their owners, they paid other people to make these images, these sculptures, that would magnify their name in front of people.

So this was the thinking of Corinth. People who were just self-centered, that used the world to promote themselves, so the world can see how good I am. Look at me, I even want to hire you to tell people.

And the problem is that this wasn't the truth. They were paying people to lie about them so they have a good status within society. And for me, I don't know, social media has been that platform for us, right? We put a picture up and then it's funny to see how sometimes you have these dating sites and when you meet the girl in person, you're like, oh, this is not you. There are some filters that help you out so much that this is not the person who I was talking to on the computer, right? The same with men, you know, they put pictures, they're going to the gym, just being beautiful, handsome, and when they show up to the date, it's nothing like the picture.

So we live in a similar society where we want people to recognize us, where we want people to lift us up, you know, we want to be known, we want to be the best, we're ambitious just so our name could be recognized. And that was a problem. That was a problem not just for society, but it was a problem for the church because this thinking was getting inside the church. And the problem was that as this thinking was getting inside the Corinthians church, it was causing division within the church. So this morning through 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 1 through 9, I want us to recognize the main threat to unity in the church, okay?

I want us to recognize the main threat to unity within the church to exhort us to mature as believers, okay? So I want us this morning to identify the danger for unity in the church, and then I want to exhort us to mature as believers to labor for the unity of the church, to labor for the unity of the church, because I think there are about 200 people in here, and I'm pretty sure we could have 200 churches if we let ourselves just self-promote, just have our names on the top and not God's name. So I want us this morning to do that, okay?

So first I want to just give you a little bit of context within the book. The first four chapters of 1 Corinthians speak about a danger within the church that is causing division, and this division could hinder the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So the first thing that I want us to know is that division within the church is not a problem or the leadership.

It is a gospel problem. It could cause a problem with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It could hinder the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why if you go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18, Paul is going to set the record straight saying this, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. That means that the word of the cross is not attractive for this culture because the cross symbolizes humility, death. It's not self-promoting. It's giving your life for another person.

In this case, Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ dying on the cross in our behalf. And it says it's foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God unto salvation. And then in chapter 2, listen to what Paul tells him. Chapter 2, verse 1, and when I came to you brothers, you know he's talking about the first time that he was in Corinth, he said, I did not come with what?

With superiority of word or of wisdom. He said, when I came to you, I didn't come to, you know, to give you my credentials. I didn't come to promote myself. The reason why I went to you is for this, to proclaiming to you the witness of God. It says verse 2, for I determined to know, for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And then in verse 6, it says, verse 6 of the same chapter, it says, yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature. Okay? Listen to this, it says, we speak wisdom, not wisdom of the world, but wisdom of God among those who are mature.

A wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are being abolished, but we speak God's wisdom in the mystery. The wisdom which has been hidden, which God predestined before the ages to our glory, which none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had understood it, they would have not have crucified the Lord of glory. And then when we go down to verse 14, it says this, but a natural man, okay? What is a natural man right here in Corinthians? He is a man who is not a believer.

He is a man who doesn't have the spirit of God. And it says that the natural man does not accept the depths of the spirit of God, for they are what? Foolishness to him. That doesn't make any sense, the gospel for them. And that's why for the Corinthians, you are preaching Christ's gospel to them, and you are telling them to give their life to Christ, and they are saying, but what's in for me? You know? What's in for me? That doesn't make any sense to me because my culture has taught me that if I follow somebody, that somebody is going to say good things about me.

So what good thing is going to say Jesus about me? Because the gospel doesn't make any sense. I have to talk about Jesus, but what about Jesus? Is he going to say something about me? So it doesn't make any sense to them. So it says over here, because he cannot understand them because they are spiritually examined. And then in verse 16, it says, for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will direct him. And it says to their believers, to the Corinthians believers, but we have the mind of Christ.

Boom. He says, who can understand the mysteries of God? Who can understand what God is saying? Who can understand the gospel of Jesus Christ to his depths? Only the person who is in Christ Jesus, because they have Christ's mind, and they understand the spiritual things. Okay? So Paul is telling them, look, there are problems within you because you guys are bringing to the church whatever your culture said that is important. But now Paul in chapter 3 is going to help us identify the threat to the unity of the church.

Okay? The threat to the unity of the church. And you know, the threat to the unity of the church is this. Spiritually immature believers. That's the threat to the unity of the church. Immature believers. And somebody might say, no, it's the devil or the people outside the church, right? Because we are inside, we're safe. Inside, there's nothing that can touch us. But we need to understand that chapter 3 is introducing this topic of, if you are an immature Christian, you are a threat to Christ's church.

And he's going to talk to us using the metaphor of an infant. And he starts saying this in verse 1. And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to a spiritual man. Okay? But as to fleshly man, as to infants in Christ. And he starts this chapter 3 talking about the threat. But he starts with this tone that he's telling them, you know, you are my brothers and my sisters in Christ. He starts telling them, you know, we have the mind of Christ. And then he starts chapter 3 saying, and I, brethren, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

That means that he's telling them, you know, we are from God's church. We are from Christ's church. We have the Holy Spirit in us. And he, you know, introduces the threat by talking to them with love. He doesn't tell them, you know, you guys are the worst. He tells them, you guys are my brothers and sisters in Christ. Okay? There's loving here. There is a close relationship between Paul and the Corinthians. And then he is introducing this fact, this truth, that the Spirit of God is in them. Because if he's calling them brothers and sisters, he's, you know, expecting that they are truly converted and that they have the Holy Spirit in them.

So when he's going to tell them what he's going to write, okay, what's going to happen? They're going to be able to get that word and be transformed. Why? Because the Holy Spirit resides within them. And then he starts telling them about his first visit to Corinth, okay?

It's like Paul is telling them, when I was with you and I gave you the gospel, he says this, when I was with you and I gave you the gospel, you were not able, I was not able to speak to you as to a spiritual man, but as to fleshly man, as to infant in Christ. Okay? When Paul was with them, the first time that he planted the church, they were immature, immature children in the faith.

Okay? They received the gospel, but they needed to grow up. So he's talking about the past now. He's saying, when I was with you, I was not able to talk to you as mature Christians. Why? Because you were infants in Christ. Because you were newborn spiritually. Because you needed the gospel first to be converted, and then now you need to grow.

So he tells them, I didn't treat you as a spiritual mature man. And then he uses the word fleshly man. Okay? He uses the word fleshly man. In other translations, he said cardinal man. Okay? And sometimes we use this word just to describe the people who are drunkards, you know, the people who are just in rebellion against God, whether it be fornication or adultery. But right here, he's using the word fleshly, just to talk about somebody that's made out of flesh. It doesn't have a connotation of, like, sin.

It has a connotation of immaturity. Okay? So at the beginning, you were immature. Because you just got the gospel, you need to grow up. So that's why Paul is saying, when I was with you, I was not able to speak to you as a spiritual, but as fleshly man, as newborns in Christ, as infants in Christ. You needed milk. And he says over here in verse two, I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not able to receive it. Okay? So now he uses this metaphor of the child, of the infant that needs milk to survive, that needs milk to, you know, to survive as a child.

So first they got the gospel, the basics of the gospel, from the Apostle Paul. And then milk and solid food represent the teaching of the gospel. Okay? But these two elements show us that there must be a progression of growth within the believer. That's what he's saying over here. He's not saying, I'm going to give you milk, and then I come back, and I give you the solid food. He's saying, no, the same gospel, okay, it's going to work as milk at the beginning, and then as you keep learning deeper truths about the gospel, it becomes solid food for your heart, because you are maturing.

But you need to mature. You need to grow as a Christian. You need to grow. So the problem wasn't with the food, right? Because they have milk, they have solid food. So they needed to grow. And then Paul was their spiritual father, because he planted this church. So when he was in Corinth, okay, he wanted them to just get the gospel, and then he goes to another city, and then the news that he hopes to hear from the church is that they are growing. They are maturing as Christians. Okay? That will be the best.

That you got the gospel, you are children, you know you need to grow. And how long was Paul in Corinth, okay? Acts 18 tells us that he stayed there for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. Okay? Paul did not hold back in his teaching. He taught him the gospel. He told him about the deep, the truths of the gospel. So the Corinthians had everything they needed to grow, to mature in the faith, and to preserve the unity of the church. That's why even the Apostle Peter exhorts us saying, desires newborn babies, the spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation.

So Paul is saying, when I was with you, I gave you the gospel, and you were children, you were, you know, just newborns, but you needed an intense longing to grow in the knowledge of the word of God, so that through it you may grow. Even Hebrews chapter 5, if you go with me to Hebrews chapter 5, because this concept is very similar. Hebrews chapter 5, verses, you have it, verses 11 through 13. Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk again and not solid food.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil. It's the same concept, okay? You need to mature, you need to grow. It's like when, you know, when my wife goes to the doctor with my children, right? And they measure them, and they say, okay, their height is between this and this. And the doctor asks the next question, how tall is the dad?

And she tells him, and the doctor is like, okay, that makes sense. They are short because the dad is short, okay? Genetically, we are genetically imposed to be short, but with your spiritual life it's not the case, okay? It's not the case. You are born in the spirit to grow, okay? And your standard is not another human being. It's not your physical growth. You know, you need to grow in the word. And sometimes we stop growing, and we stop growing because we don't think that growing spiritually is important.

And that was the problem with Corinth, because if you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 2, sorry, verse 2, yeah, at the end, it says that when Paul was the first time with them, they were not able to receive solid food because they were children.

They were infants. And it says over here in the last part of verse 2, indeed, even now you are still not able. That's a problem. That's a problem. I love to see my six-month-old boy. You know, I love him. But I know that he needs to grow up. And I enjoy seeing him grow up. And I enjoy seeing my nine-year-old just growing more and more and more. Because if they stop growing, there is something wrong with them. And we have to take them to the doctor and see what's going on with him. There is something wrong physically.

The same with us, you know. If they are not growing spiritually, there's something wrong with us. And with the Corinthians, this was the case. It says, even now, the problem is that not when you were children in the faith, you didn't grow. The problem is that now, after three to five years from the first time that Paul was with the but you are still fleshly.

And this is a different word than the word used in verse 1. Because this one right here has a connotation of somebody that is characterized by the deeds of the flesh. And we have to understand that. Because he uses this figure of the inability to understand because they are immature spiritually. So the problem is not that they have a lack of information, but there is a lack of deepening in the gospel. When the letter is written, they are not yet able to receive solid food. Because they had time to grow up spiritually, okay?

They had time to walk in the Spirit. They had time just to leave behind sin. But the text tells us that they are still fleshly. That means that they are doing things pertaining to the flesh. They are doing the works of the flesh. They are doing the things that are opposed to the works of the Spirit. They are living by one's natural inclination. They are living by what Paul told him not to live. In chapter 1 verse 26. You have it? 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26. This is what it says. For consider your calling brothers that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. And it says in chapter 29, sorry, verse 29. So that not flesh may boast before God. What does it mean? It means that they were supposed to be living by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, being mature spiritually. But the problem is that they are worse than before. They haven't grown. They haven't grown. They had the word, but they haven't grown.

And it says you're still fleshly. This connotation is somebody that consistently is practicing sin. That this person hasn't left sin behind. And then we see what is the sign of their immaturity? What are the signs? It says in verse 2, for since there is, in verse 3, sorry, for since there is jealousy and a strife among you, are you not fleshly? And are you not walking like mere men? What is the sign of their carnality? Jealousy and strife. They are fighting among each other. They are jealous. And sometimes we're used to think about somebody carnal, or somebody fleshly or carnal, or somebody who's outside the church, right?

Those people are just sinners. But right now it's saying, hey, you are fleshly if you are jealous on causing division within the church. Wow. Personal preferences over God's Word. And then he's telling them, you are jealous, okay? And jealousy is a term that has to do with dedication. It's doing something with dedication. Jealousy is the ultimate expression of selfishness. In Romans 13, 13 is identified as a work of the flesh. In Galatians chapter 5, verse 20, it characterizes the works of the flesh.

So that was something that the immature Christians started just doing, is being jealous and then causing trouble within the church. And then he says that they were, over here he says that they were jealous, and there's jealousy and strife among you. And then he has this rhetorical question, right? If you are jealous and you're causing trouble within the church, are you not fleshly? And then he goes even to say, and are you not walking like mere men? He's taking us back to chapter 2, verse 14, because the natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God.

He's saying, the way you're acting, you're acting like a natural man, like a person who doesn't have the Spirit of God. That's how you're acting. So it doesn't make any sense that you are within the church, but you're jealous and you're causing division within the church, you are acting as a person who doesn't have the Holy Spirit. He's acting like it. But Paul's hope is that they have the Holy Spirit, so they are convicted of their sin and change. And he says that they were according, they are walking according to the standard of the world, seeking recognition, honor, value according to the world.

And how is their jealousy and fighting demonstrated? Verse 4, for when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men? So the Corinthians just form groups. Some of them identify with Paul, some of them identify with Peter, others with Apollos, others even with Christ. And then in chapter 1, verse 11, look in chapter 1, verse 11, it says, For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers, by close people, that they are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, and I of Christ.

I am of Christ. And he's telling them, aren't you acting like mere men when you are focusing on men? And they were trying to bring culture within the church. You see that? Apollos was a great speaker. His rhetoric was great. So who doesn't want to be with Apollos, right? Because he's going to speak very well, and I want to identify with somebody that follows Apollos, who doesn't want to be with Apostle Paul. Wow, this man, wonderful testimony of God. This man preaches everywhere. I want to be identified with Paul.

And he's telling them, look, you are forming groups within the church based not in the interest of God's gospel, but based on your own interest, based on what you like and you don't like. You pick and choose the people that you relate to. You pick and choose the leader that you follow. And this wasn't Paul, of Apollos' fault. It was the Corinthians' fault, the Corinthians' church fault, because they were giving a space to their own flesh. They were acting as people who don't have the Holy Spirit.

They were acting as people who were focusing on men and not focusing on God. They were immature believers. They were immature believers. But what is the antidote for divisions? We're going to go fast because time is going. What is the antidote for divisions? And we're going to find that in verse 5, okay? The solution, the cure, if we have immature believers as the cause of division, the antidote or the solution, the cure is spiritually mature believers. That makes a lot of sense, right? Spiritually mature believers.

And he's going to use the metaphor of the field. And he's going to start with a question, you know, what is Paul? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Okay, this is a rhetorical question. That means that you know the answer, right? They are nothing. And he's going to say, we are servants through whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to each one. So Paul and Apollos were, yeah, they were important people for the church because Paul planted the church, Paul planted the church, and then Apollos was the person who discipled the church.

But then at the end, they understood that they did that, not for their own, not for their reputation, not so people can say, I am Apollos. They did it because they understood that they were servants of God. So the first thing that we need to understand if we don't want to be people who divide the church is that we are a servant.

We are servants of God. Paul and Apollos are only servants. And it's interesting that he uses the word for a deacon, a servant. He doesn't use the word for a slave. He uses the word for a deacon, like a servant, somebody who's always willing to serve, somebody who's always available to serve. And it's connected a lot with ministry. Because you might say, well, he's the apostle, you know, he's not a servant. He's the boss. He's the guy. Paul is the guy. But he says, no, I'm nobody because I'm not comparing myself with nobody.

Because who is the boss over here? God. Christ is the head of the church. So he's saying he's the boss. So he dictates what should we do. So recognize that you're a servant. And it's interesting to say that, to see that, it says over here, what then is Apollos? There's no article. There's nothing defining the name. It's just very impersonal. That means that it's just a name. Okay. It's just a name. There's nothing to admire about them. They are just servants. They are one more of Christ's body. They do not have a higher level in the church because in Christ there are equal.

He's saying, who am I? Who is Apollos? We are nobody. And servant is used 31 times in the New Testament. And 27 of the 31 times is translated as a servant connected with the ministry. That's very interesting. Ministry, servants, servants, ministry. That's the heart behind a spiritually mature believer. We understand that we are servants. We must recognize that we are just instruments in the hand of God. Because it says, even as the Lord gave to each one. That means that besides being servant, their work is directed by who?

By someone else. It's not the church who is directing their ministry. It's God himself who is giving them this task. Okay. They are not the church's employees. It's God who put them there. Do you understand that? He's saying, hey, our work is directed by God the same way that your work is directed by God and it should be done for God's glory, not for your own glory. And they needed to understand that. But if they didn't think that they were servants, they were not going to be able to do that. And then he says in verse six, I planted Apollo's water, but God was causing the growth.

That means that Paul was preaching the first time. Then Apollo did the training, but neither the one who watered or planted are someone, but only God who causes the growth. And that's what he says in verse seven. Right? So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Amazing. Because we don't, we don't work because of the results of our ministry. We're working because we've been directed by God to do our ministry. That's the labor. That's the work.

We don't care about people's recognition of what we do. There are some things that people are never going to know that we did in the church, but that's okay because the one who gave me that task knows. And that's the only important thing that matters. And look what he's going to say over here, because it's not just recognizing that we're servants, but secondly, what he says in here in verse eight, now he who plants and he who waters are one.

That means that we have to recognize that we are fellow workers for the gospel. We are working together for Christ's glory. Very important. You're not, you know, working by yourself as a servant. We are working together for Christ's glory. And that's what he says over here, because it says now who he plants and who he waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to what? To his results? No, it says in verse eight, to his own labor. Rewards for your own labor. That's amazing to me because the affirmation shows that true unity in the church happens when God's people realize that we are servants of God, and then we are fellow workers of God.

That means that we belong to God. It's not saying that we are working for God, but we're working with God. This over here is giving the idea that we belong to God as fellow workers within the ministry. And brothers and sisters, we need to understand this because verse nine, it says, for we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, God's building. We as fellow workers, we need to understand as well that the church belong to God. The church belong to Christ. So I want us to mature spiritually, understanding that we are servants, that we are fellow workers, and that we are working in Christ's church.

Not our church, not the other's church, it's Christ's church. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we give you thanks today for your word. We pray, Father, that as we partake of communion this morning, that we'll be mindful of our own sin, that we won't partake communion, Lord, with sin in our heart, that we will know in our hearts that we cannot deceive you, that you know even the deeper parts of our hearts. And we pray, Father, this morning that you'll forgive us from our sins, Lord, as we partake communion, that we will be able to remember Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

And Father, we pray this morning that you'll help us to apply your word. In Jesus' name, amen.