It says, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.

For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, 'I am of Paul,' and another, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not mere men? What then is Apollos, and what is Paul, servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one?

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, God's building." Let's pray. God, we pray for wisdom insight. We pray, Lord, for attentive ears. That, God, we might hear what you have to say. Help us in our study to have just fruitful, Lord, both inspiration and conviction. God, that we might truly apply your teaching about unity within the church, about the existence of division and carnality within, amongst the body.

I pray, Father, God, that all of us would be able to apply into those aspects of our lives. We thank you for your word in Christ's name. Amen. Okay. So I want to begin by just simply focusing on this beginning portion, verse one of chapter three. And he says, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ." Okay.

So Paul is expressing a sense of frustration. He's expressing a sense of, "I want to speak to you as spiritual people, but I can't." Right? But it's really interesting that he uses several terms to describe how they are. He describes them as men of flesh, and he describes them as infants of Christ, or in Christ.

I want to ask you this beginning question, since it's the first verse is more so focused on Apostle Paul describing who they are, when you think of infants, what comes to mind? Or if you've kind of did the homework a little bit, what do you think is the description here of this infant?

This infant in Christ? I thought you were raising your hand. Just scratching your head. How about Lone Ranger Matt? You don't have your team today. I think he's talking about a young fever, so that's just, you know, not from the darkness of the light, but still has a lot of fleshly struggles that are still in his life.

Okay. So it could involve that. Yeah. I think that's what, you know, kind of clearly he's talking about. He's like, you're like an infant in Christ, so maybe you are like a recent convert. You kind of don't know any better. Maybe you have some old habits that you're accustomed to.

Maybe what you know to do and only know to do is certain things that pertain to the kind of, or you know, kind of contribute to the division that exists in the church. Anybody else have other thoughts of what it means to be an infancy? There are just some things maybe that come to mind when I say infant.

Okay, cool. That's what it says here. They can't eat solid food and stuff like that. Infants require a lot of what? Spoon feeding. Infants require a lot of hands-on attention. Infants need to basically care in detail to every single thing they do. Are there any other things that kind of come to mind?

Yes. I've heard that it's used differently for other religions. And so that it's important not to have one to mean anything, because that can be a big deal. I was studying the Bible, that passage that people translate into the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew 6-1? And it's about the Spirit.

It's different, yeah. It is different. So she was saying that you shouldn't, I guess, limit yourself to one idea of a term because it's used differently in the Bible. Absolutely. What I'm trying to do right now is kind of get your, what we would normally think to be infancy, and then contrast that with what in this context, this passage is saying.

Thank you though, because you're absolutely right. The principle is look at the context for what it is, how it is using that term here in this passage, right? But some of the things that we think of are pertaining to that stuff. We just, that kind of stuff we talked about.

Well, as we look at those details then, he's calling them infants, and we just mentioned that maybe, maybe perhaps, he's talking about the fact that they're acting like brand new Christians, like they just converted. Maybe he's talking about the fact that Apostle Paul has to spoon feed them everything.

So we're kind of honing in on what he's intending to say by calling them infants. Because you've got to realize, that's pretty significant, you know, when you write a letter to somebody and you're telling them, you're just like a baby, big baby, you know. It's, you know, let's try to figure out what he's trying to say.

Well, we want to ask, he does say in verse two, look, I gave you milk to drink and not solid food. This is part of what makes them infants, right? And so, what could he be referring to when he talks about milk, when he talks about solids? What is he referring to as he uses this metaphor?

What do you guys think? Okay. So spiritual truths. So would you say solid food, like they're both in the category of spiritual truth or is solid foods like spiritual truths and doctrines and milk is something else? Okay. Be confident, Karen. Yes. Okay. Cool. Okay. You guys hear what he was saying?

All right. Good. Those are all like, both of what you're saying, he's not obviously explicit here, right? He doesn't expound on it and say milk is this and solid food is this. And I agree with you, Karen, that I think milk and obviously solid food belong to the same category of spiritual truth.

And I like what you said about there's a difference between the depth, the difficulty to which you're able to understand, comprehend, right? Because and the reason why I'm having you guys think about this is because for us as an observation, typically when you think of stuff like this, say milk and solid food, sometimes we think purely on the level of intellectual knowledge.

What do I mean by that? If you say, oh, this person's really kind of babyish in the way they think, they're not thinking deeply or, you know, when you talk about milk and when you talk about solid food, some of the people who like heavy theologies are like, oh, let's leave the milk and get into eschatology.

Let's get into, you know, debates about, you know, the, the character of Jesus. Let's get into debates about Arianism and all this kind of stuff. Is that what solid food is, you know? And when you think baby, is that simply a lack of knowledge? The fact of the matter is we know from context that Apostle Paul, he addresses the Corinthians church, not as people who are ignorant.

He addresses them not as people who intellectually are kind of slow and dumb. As a matter of fact, these people pride themselves on what knowledge. These people actually are very smart. They come from a culture where they love knowledge, right? So the issue here is he kind of introduces this idea or not an idea, a rebuke of them, their behavior and their attitude by addressing the fact that they are babies, not for a lack of knowledge, but because by, by their spiritual condition, they can't take spiritual truth.

Right? He says the problem here in verse two, in the second half of verse two, he says, I gave you milk and not solid food. Why? For you are not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not able to receive it. Right? Even now you're not able.

If you guys remember from week one in the Corinthians church and the church in Corinth, how long did apostle Paul stay at this church? If you don't know, if you don't remember, remember the like exact years or whatever, the months you can either say short time as in sometimes he stayed at certain churches only three months, six months longer would be like a year, year and a half, two years shorter long, long.

As a matter of fact, he has, he has served and he has ministered in the church of Corinth, the longest out of all the churches. So you can imagine why he's getting frustrated. It's like you're like babies, but I've been teaching you for so long, right? The thing that he's getting at again is not because they were ignorant.

It's not because a lack of knowledge, he's getting at something much deeper. And this is when for us, I kind of, I should have had you guys do it, but at the beginning of the section, I wanted you guys to note the conjunction words because what he's doing is he's building up a case.

So do you guys notice it? He says, um, in verse two he says, I gave you milk to drink, not solid food for you are not yet able to receive. And then verse three, four, since there is jealousy and strife among you. So those reasons, remember the four can mean various things as well.

Here he kind of uses the four as supporting evidences for what he just said, right? Supporting evidences for what he just said. And in verse three, what does he say? For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly? Okay. So if you go to letter C, I ask, he's been unpacking this rebuke, your babies, big babies.

And in this rebuke of them being in infancy, he describes, or he tries to not tries, he calls them mere men or a fleshly man. Let me ask you just in your reading of verses one through four, okay. Verses one through four, the first half of that section, what are some of these descriptions?

What kind of picture do we get of the infant person, the fleshly man? He's jealous. What else? Okay. Not spiritual. And he's in strife, right? So I left some blanks for you there and you guys can plug in the two, jealousy and strife. Okay. He says, jealousy is your carnality.

Your jealousy is your fleshliness. It's your like base humanness. Do you find that a bit interesting at all? You know, because when we think of, oh, that guy is really fleshly. We think of real carnal appetites and typically it's sexual morality. Typically it's money. Typically it's power, right? It's really interesting to me that he highlights this idea of jealousy.

And for us to think about that a little bit, I know this Bible study I'm doing a lot of like, well, what comes to your mind and what do you think? I'm going to do a bit more of that. When you think of a person who's jealous, how would you describe that person?

What kind of things would he say, do and think this jealous man? How about some guys on that end? I wish I had what he had. That's a great definition. This kind of begrudging desire to have what someone else possesses, right? And if you think about, um, think about this for a moment, the 10 commandments.

Within the 10 commandments, you realize God from the really early beginning addressed issues of jealousy. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not covet this and that, right? What else comes to mind when you think of a jealous person? Is that it? Jealous person just, you know, just wants what that guy has.

Probably anger, frustration. If he finds himself in a position where he thinks, I don't have. He can get extremely bitter, discontent, just not happy, not happy with his plot in life and can't be happy for other people either. How can you be happy when you're sitting there looking at the person with jealous eyes?

Anything else? Divisive. Yeah. There's a sense in which jealousy, that kind of, um, attitude in the heart that says, I can't bear to see that guy have more than me. So he always had to win. The kind of jealousy where you can't lose. So don't ever, you know, touch my possessions.

Don't ever, you know, they're very overly protective. The stuff that we said earlier where they're, you know, like wanting the possessions of others and all that kind of stuff. These things naturally lead to what? Divisiveness. Divisiveness. In jealousy, they're willing to what? Hurt others. They're willing to step on others.

They're willing to do what it takes so that I might gain. In their discontentment. That's what they would do. So what I'm saying is this, is there is a trail of thought, right? He says, you guys are infants. He says, you're infants because you're not able to receive spiritually what the spirit of God has to say to you.

And he unpacks it and says, this infancy is marked by fleshliness, carnality. And what is this fleshless? It's not what we think typically, which is just this kind of abhorrent, base, sexual desire or whatnot. It's broadly speaking, your jealous heart. Right? And he says, this jealous heart in you has caused strife, has caused division within the church.

People then in their jealousy competing probably for leadership positions, probably for power, probably for clout and authority. If I say I've got the teachings of Paulus, that's one thing. If I say I've got the teaching of a Paulus and you don't, now who has a position of authority? Me.

You see what I'm saying? So the people, the men in the church were using their allegiance to leaders in the church to gain greater leadership, greater notoriety, greater titles. Okay? That we covered a bit earlier. So all I'm saying is there is this contrast he's building up and he's saying, Paulus and Paulus has been expecting them.

After what I believe is, you know, well over a year, probably like 18 months or so, spending time with this church, investing into them, dealing with their problems. He expects them to be more mature, but he says, but you're not spiritual right now. You know? And so we have to take a, you know, take a moment to kind of encapsulate this point from verses one through four.

And I asked this question, in verses one through four, what is he trying to prove to the men? What is he trying to argue to them? Right? Because in trying to do this, he's making a direct rebuke, but what is he convincing them of? Okay. So my hint is, takeaway point number one.

There is a sense in which before in the previous sections, Apostle Paul was talking about the worldly principles in the environment, in the world. So he was saying, you know, there is a worldly philosophy, there's worldly wisdom, right? However, now in this passage, we're talking about, let me phrase it this way.

Sometimes we like to blame stuff. Before we're talking about the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of this age, the wisdom of the rulers. That's all what? Out there, external. But here now, what is Apostle Paul really trying to convince them? That the problem is? Yeah. So he says, he's essentially saying, your attitude is jealous.

That's your heart issue. So now we're talking about the pressures and enticements of their own heart. So that's the blank there. Before Apostle Paul's rebuked them and said, you're just buying into all this worldly philosophy. Your Greek philosopher told you you were stupid, so you didn't want to be stupid anymore.

So now you're buying into his philosophy. And the world rulers have what they define as authority and power, and now you want it. So on that end, it's kind of like you have external enticements that keep saying, buy into our world system, buy into our world system. But there's something that Apostle Paul wants every person there to admit.

More so than anything, those external enticements work because there is an internal pressure. There is a heart issue of jealousy, and that's an attitude of the heart. Okay? You guys see that? Now there's a second takeaway point from verses one through four, and it's an obvious one. So I asked this question, okay, like, what is Paul really frustrated about?

What does it reveal about what he expects from the church? Now what I'm saying is, Apostle Paul knows the flesh, you know? In Romans chapter seven, he knows what it means to battle with his flesh, his humanness. And in many parts of scripture, he acknowledges, I'm a sinner. I'm the foremost of sinners.

I know what it means to sin. I know what it means to have sinful desires. So there's a sense for me as I think about this passage, he's not necessarily frustrated that there exists flesh, because he's the one who teaches us, right? That although we're saved, there exists sinful flesh in this day and age.

And until glorification, we're going to wrestle with it every day. What is his main frustration though, with them? I'll give you a hint. I think it's found in verse two. Yeah, absolutely. The lack of growth, the lack of growth. So takeaway point number two. Although sin and flesh continue to exist, and they are expected, maturity and tangible change are the norm for Christians.

Maturity and tangible change are the norm for Christians. I guess you can say not maturity, but maturation. The growth and tangible changing. That's the norm for Christians. You might have started off as like persecuted the church, pagan to the core, but no matter where you start, what does God expect of you?

To slowly change, right? It's totally honest. You know that song that goes, "He's changed, me." And then there's that little part that goes, "Although it's slow going, but there's the knowing." I was like, one day I was just like thinking about that. It's like, it's so true. You know, like change is a little slow and you know, all that stuff, but he's like, he's changing us and it might be different paces, but the expectation is there still has to be change.

And I want to use this as a point here is like, you know, the other day, like I was spoon feeding Emmett and Bia just looked at me and said, "Let him feed himself." And I was like, "Whoa." And then she's like, "Yeah, he's already over two." And I was like, "You're right.

Feed yourself, man." The thing about it is he knows how. He's actually, Emmett is more, I guess, coordinated than Yoshi is, but he totally knows how to manipulate you. He's like, "But I'm tired, Appa. Feed me." And I was like, "Your mother's right. You're over two. Feed yourself." Well, here's the thing though.

Right now, kids do stuff that's cute. You know, so there's other kids, you know, when they do stuff like hit the baseball off the tee, it's great. When they do stuff like say string together sentences, it's great. Even if they have that, like they can't pronounce the R's and it sounds like W's and all that stuff, it's all cute.

But if a 20 year old guy pronounces R's like W's, they're not going to say, "Oh, that's so cute. I want to date him. Hello." It's not cute. It's sad. It's like, "Uh, no one talked to you about that?" And if they're still hitting off the tee, it's not cute.

If they're still running to second base rather than first base, it's not cute. If they still don't know how to feed themselves, it's not cute. It's sad. The expectation is you need to grow. And he expected these people to grow. He expected them to grow. And what was he frustrated about?

It wasn't so much just a simple existence of flesh. That's my point. Because we all struggle with our flesh. We all struggle with sin. We all struggle with the stains of our previous life. And God is changing us, but that's the key. Apostle Paul says in verse two, "Even now." That's where I think, okay, Apostle Paul's a bit frustrated.

Even now you still can't take it. You can't be babies anymore. And we have to hear that sometimes, you know? I hear guys when I ask them questions, I just don't like this statement. It's like when I ask them, "How are you doing?" They're like, "Things are good." I say, "What do you mean things are good?" And they're like, "It's just the same old.

Just keeps plateauing a little bit." And I'm just like, "That's not reality." You know? You don't ever just plateau. You don't ever just stay the same. If I don't talk to my wife, Bia, for three months, I don't say, "Oh yeah, our relationship's just staying the same." No, our relationship's about to crash and go to the pits and she's gonna leave me, you know?

As time goes by, things just don't stay the same. And that's a misconception. It's a lie. Your relationship with God does not stay the same. God expects growth. God expects continual interaction. God expects continual maturity. And I think that's what Apostle Paul is frustrated with these men. And I want you guys to just think about that a little bit, you know?

The expectation for us, I feel like in recent days, there has been this kind of like wide-scale acceptance of failure. And there was this commentator on the blogs who said, "You know, there exists in this day and age of failureism where they almost like just kind of acknowledge and then accept the fact there's just gonna be a whole lot of failure.

And so the only thing we can say about it is it's okay because you're in Christ." For me, Apostle Paul is not convincing them of their position in Christ to say, "Oh, you're in Christ and so therefore everything's okay." Apostle Paul's not talking about position, he's talking about practice.

In practice, you're a baby. Are these people Christians that he's talking to? I think so because he says, "Brethren," and he says, "in Christ." So the point being here again is what Apostle Paul expects is maturity from the Christian. Expression of growth needs to exist. Any questions about verses one through four, the first paragraph?

Okay, then verses five through nine. Let's read it first and it says, "What then is Apollos?" So you can see from here that he connects this section with the verses in chapter one, right? Because he mentions the same thing. "What then is Apollos and what is Paul?" He asks this question and then he answers, "Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now, he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, God's building." All right, we're going to ask a question, a broad question, and we're going to leave it to B. And the question is, what's the main point he's making? And then secondly, how is this point connecting with the first paragraph, verses one through four?

Okay? In order to answer that question, let's look at just the details. All right? So verse five says, "What is Apollos and what is Paul?" I know this again is kind of a more obvious question, but I want you guys to think about it for a second. How does Paul view himself and his fellow teachers like Apollos?

Good. If I didn't leave three blanks in there, Kevin just added another one. Equally. Okay? How does Apostle Paul view himself and the fellow teachers? He does. He views himself and Apollos, who is Apostle Paul's understudy. Okay? He views it all equally. What else? Just as servants. Okay? Whereas perhaps the church people were looking at them like, "Oh, he's my leader.

He's our representative." Apostle Paul looked at himself like, "I am your servant. I am God's servant." Okay? Anything else that you can kind of glean? I don't want you to necessarily milk it, but there's some other stuff you can draw from how he views himself and his fellow teachers.

Great. Insignificant. Okay? That's an important one. Anything else? Who said that? He said gardeners. Maybe just like role players or something. Or like just, you know, just a worker. Just a task guy. You know? Now good. So I think for me, the point here, the reason why I asked that question is because the point in verse five through nine, he's giving them how he is viewing the scenario.

Okay? The problem was these church guys had a really worldly way of viewing their involvement in the church and the involvement of leaders. Now he's giving his perspective. And in so doing, we gain that his perspective on himself and the fellow coworkers is very different from what's normal. You know what I'm saying?

Like I'm going to confess, it's hard. Sometimes my nature wants to run things like a business at the church. So I want structure, levels of authority. This guy's like this and this guy has this and this guy has that. And then when this guy gives an order, just execute, you know?

And not only that, but a lot of people in ministry, they do want a title because title makes a huge difference. Right? You know, you get treated when you have a title pastor or have a title deacon or have a title of this and that, servant team leader, whatever.

It does make a practical difference on how people treat and view you. That's reality, right? So by way of confession, all of those intricate kind of balances exist, right? Now what's challenging is apostle Paul has a very counterintuitive, has a very clear vision of how he views himself. But more importantly, he has a clear view of God.

My question to you is, how does apostle Paul view God in this scenario? How would you sum it up? If you had to choose one word, how is God seen in this scenario? Looking at the passage, you can even use the gardening example metaphor. Master? Okay, good. Master. For me, I just put big boss.

He's the boss. Because he's the one who gives the people the task. He gives the people the opportunity. It's kind of like, when we say, "Oh, someone so and so gave me an opportunity," we're saying they hired us. This person gave us this networking thing and he gave us a way in.

That person probably is in a hiring position. He's the boss, right? What's more than that too though, is letter C, God caused the growth. To do that, basically this is, perhaps this doesn't feel or doesn't sound like, "Oh wow," to you. But how many people do you know who can guarantee success?

Business people can promise it. They'll promise you, "Oh, if you make this investment, I think it's going to be double the investment. You'll double your money." Or they'll say, "I promise you this is going to be a win-win. I promise you this and this and that." That's the best they can do.

Who do you know who can promise results? Success? Growth? God. He's in absolute control. Absolute control. And I love that about Apostle Paul's perspective. For us, although we know in reality we're not in control of the results, we always think it is. We have a one-to-one linear thinking. If I put in the time, the results will happen.

If I exert this kind of energy, if I invest that, then the results will come. And then, when the results aren't there, you know what we're prone to do? And therefore I'm doing something wrong. Now I need to change it. That's typically how we think. It's hard not to think like that.

Because we're so short-sighted. Apostle Paul has this perspective. He says basically, look, verse 7. Somebody said over here, "They're nothing." That's so important. He says, "So then neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth." God then is everything. We're nothing.

God is what? Everything. I think that's so key in this passage. So the takeaway point really, again, is verse 7. And in defining it, he says that they're truly nothing. Only people who've been given an opportunity. I want to highlight something for you, which is really interesting. Is when he defines him and his fellow teachers as servants, it is a different term that you see perhaps for deacons and for slaves.

And you know how college has a doulos team, which is basically the literal translation is servant team. It's a different term here. You know what the term is? The term is diakonai. And the term means literally server boy. If you were in a house and you had a boy who served you food, that would be his title.

If you had a restaurant and there was a guy bossing the dishes and cleaning the tables and washing it in the back, his title would be diakonai. Diakoni. And literally it's just a person who's serving the thing. And I think this is getting at now, for me, the question of how does all this teaching about Apostle Paul and Paulus and being servants, how does it connect with before?

Here are these people struggling with pride and jealousy. Struggling to make more of themselves, to have more for themselves. Right? And he says, "All we are are servant boys. Do you go to a restaurant and be like, 'Hey, we want to name this restaurant after you.' Like if Mark Lim was the servant and then John Kim was the master chef, you don't name the restaurant Mark Cafe.

You don't. Who do you name it after? The master chef, who typically is the what? The owner of the restaurant. You don't make a big hoopla. You don't put him on the menu. You don't highlight him. The restaurant, the foodies and stuff, they don't go over and shake the hand of the servant boy.

It was so nice to be served by you. No, they say to the master chef, it was so nice to come into your restaurant and eat your food." And so Apostle Paul is giving them a perspective that's truly humble. As opposed to the way that they were thinking, Apostle Paul is giving them what was truly a humble perspective.

And so a couple of the things that are humble perspective. Apostle Paul's humble perspective about his work. I think men struggle with it. Everybody struggles with it. You know guys who do something and they're so like mega, mega, mega insecure whether it'll be received well. Typically that's just, again, the way the view their work is they weight it very heavily as it defines them and men struggle with it a lot.

Their work is a measure of their accomplishment, success and therefore everything about them. Well Apostle Paul has a very humble perspective about his work. When he talks about his planting and his watering, I mean humanistically speaking, is that all Paul did? He makes it seem so minimal. I just went over there, planted a seed and just packed the soil.

Is that what Apostle Paul did? No, he sacrificed everything. He sacrificed all his possessions, his health. He stuck with people. He was imprisoned. He was chastised and persecuted and cast out from his society. He was treated like all this kind of stuff. To say like all I did was plant the thing.

Doesn't that seem like a really, really understatement of what he has done? But Apostle Paul's perspective is very humble, is it not? What's more, I want to ask you this question. That doesn't fit necessarily really well. What's more though, really is the way that he thinks about his work.

We typically think about our work as our work is our contribution. It's our value. So if I give you 10 hours, I better get paid for 10 hours. Aren't we like that a little bit? I don't know how many people are willing to go into their office and be like, "You can pay me for 10.

I'll give you 20 hours." You know what I mean? Nobody does that. Nobody does that. As a matter of fact, if they don't pay you for that extra hour you stay in the day, you're going to be like, "Time to look for another job." That's the way we would think.

But Apostle Paul, when he thinks about his work, he's not demanding to get paid then and there. He's not demanding to get paid on earth. He's looking for God's simple approval. He's looking not for men's approval. He's not looking for compensation, kickback. And as a matter of fact, Apostle Paul says to many, many churches, "I could have asked you to contribute to me.

I could have asked you for a wage. But I did none of that." To me, it's not just a simple like, "Oh, of course, planting pasture has to be like that." I don't think so. I think it indicated his humility and perspective towards his own work. Next, when you think about this next phrase in verse 9, "For we are God's fellow workers.

You are God's field, God's building." Okay? Or, let me give you this one. The next blank I have is Apostle Paul's humble perspective about his success. About his success. Earlier someone mentioned that Apostle Paul views himself in the same light as his fellow teachers, right? Well, for me, when I read verse 8, it says, "Now he who plants and he who waters are one." Okay?

Commentators have so many different views about this. And I was like, "Really? About that one statement?" And I do realize it's kind of nebulous. How are they one? Are they one in equal value? Are they one in purpose? Are they one simply because by nature of being part of one team, Jesus' team, being all a part of Jesus' master, boss, and then his workers' team?

Is that how it's going to be? But for me, what's really interesting is I thought about this passage as thinking about his humble perspective about his success. Right? Because for him, he completely recognizes that each individual is only contributing to the greater goal under Christ. And so in so doing, the results, how it plays out, what they're contributing to, the success that they have, they all share in the exact same way.

Okay? But now, I want to get to the main point. I'm going to get to the main point here. When I just read a moment ago verse 9, "For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, you are God's building," you realize now all of a sudden, there's like metaphors galore.

So he started describing the whole gardening scene, he started describing the field scene, he started describing that, and then he says also building, like construction scene. I want to ask you this question. What do these metaphors really highlight? What are these metaphors meant to place in view for us?

How about this table to my right? With Michelle, Jenny, and Jenny. Just take a stab. Be confident. What truth are these metaphors all trying to highlight? Nice. So she said God is the one who grows a church, God is the one who basically gives a church its success, right?

God is the one who gives a church its growth. Absolutely. God is the focal point. And not only just generally about God, but the fact that God, in verse 9, what do you see as the three repetition? We're God's fellow workers, we're God's field, God's building. What do you notice?

I heard a mumble so I'm looking over there, but I don't know who mumbled it. Absolutely. We belong to God. Okay? We belong to God. And so for that little Apostle Paul's humble perspective about God, there is a humble perspective you have, and in my mind, the most humble perspective is the perspective that's true to reality.

The reality is we own nothing. What do you have that you do not receive from the Lord? What did you work for? What did you do with your hands that you create? Nothing. But I am God's, the field is God's, the building is God's, all of this is God's.

If you're sitting here and trying to give credit, and by giving credit to a man, you also get to enjoy that credit, you just have reality all wrong. I think that's the point. If by elevating this man, if by joining that clan, you hope to somehow share in that glory of what they've built, what they've done, who they've taught, you've got reality all wrong.

According to the Apostle Paul, all glory belongs to God because everything is his. So I think this is a good tie into what he's been teaching ever since chapter one. Right? By way of review, by way of review, in verse one through four, he was again battling and reiterating the idea that the men are struggling with the sin of division, both because of the external pressures of worldly wisdom and their internal flesh.

Right? And so how does he combat that? The basic point in verses five through nine is, we are nothing, God is boss. Yeah? If you find jealousy in your heart, the sense in which you have to remind yourself, who am I that I think I deserve what that guy has?

That's a good question, you know? Who do I think I am that I can demand of God and be unhappy that he didn't give me? When you find a jealous heart, we have to remember this truth. We are nothing, God is boss. I want to conclude by a little encouragement here.

I do like the fact, and I'm encouraged by the fact, that in verse one of chapter three, he does say, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of the flesh, as to infants in Christ." The reason why I'm encouraged by that verse is because, although Apostle Paul could not speak to the men like mature adults, it seems that Apostle Paul spoke as a mature adult.

Because he didn't speak as Lord over them, he spoke as a brother. He calls them brethren. And he recognizes that they are in Christ, but nonetheless, they're acting and behaving fleshly. Okay? In my mind, I'm encouraged by that because I'm reminded we are a work in progress. I'm reminded that God is changing us, but that change is going to take time.

It's going to take constant reflection, village and prayer, and all of that, sobriety, and going to the Word. But Apostle Paul, again, in the way that he rebukes them, he has this interesting balance. Can he legitimately be frustrated with the people? Yeah. You know, he invested so much into them, but nonetheless, he doesn't come off like, "And therefore, be gone with you.

I don't want to deal with you people anymore." He calls them brethren, he appeals to them, and he encourages them. You need to grow. Okay? So, I hope we're encouraged to do the same. You guys can jump into your small groups for discussion. You know, typical questions, were there anything that stood out to you?

I have an interesting question here, letter D. How can you strive to have a legitimately strong and consistently mature practice of faith without being all arrogant about it? And I find that some people have a hard time with that. It's kind of like, they have a hard time, let's say, rebuking or correcting somebody the way Apostle Paul would, because they're always kind of on the lines of saying, "I know too, and we all struggle," and they almost always have to preface with like, "I'm the same boat you are.

You know, we're just brothers, both like at the bottom of the wall, and we're climbing together." You know? But I don't necessarily think that has to be true either. There are people who are legitimately stronger in the faith than others, and there are people who legitimately have practiced righteousness, and so they have a practical, just, you know, greater application of living out of the faith.

But how do you do that without getting all prideful? The other question that's not on here that you guys can talk about is, you know, in line with this, there's this concept of, if someone were to ask you, "So these people are described as carnal, like fleshly, but you're saying that they're still Christian.

How can that be?" We know that, okay, that kind of anomaly and paradox exists in the Christian life. You're still in the flesh, but your spirit is new, and the Holy Spirit is in you, but you're still flesh, so it's like, you know, joining of the holy and the flesh and whatnot.

How would you explain that to somebody? How would you explain the existence? And I know at our church, Pastor Peter, I've said so many times, like, "Yes, some people say there's nominal Christians, and there's plateauing Christians, and there's carnal Christians." You know, he's preached many times before, like, "That doesn't exist!

You can't be carnal for all your life and then still call yourself Christian. How do you reconcile those thoughts is basically what I'm saying." You know what I mean? So, okay? Any questions about today's passage? About the summary is, "You are nothing, God is boss." Alright, let's pray, and then you guys can jump into your small group discussions.