We Are The Church – Sermon 23 February, 2014
We Are the Church
I Corinthians 3:10-23
It is evident that today the church has lost sight of its goals, though it works hard to pursue a certain direction and accomplish certain agendas; be it individual or collective. The reality today proves that there are several views about the church.
This is sad news, but there is hope for the church if it opens its eyes, mind and heart to see, to understand and recommit to the mission it is called to.
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul describes five views of the church.
I. The Church as a democracy
In the opening section of Chapter 3 Paul presents the church as a democratic institution. Democracy is good but it creates arguments and disagreement.
Nowhere do the Scriptures suggest democracy as the means of governing a church. Nowhere do the Scriptures teach that fights, arguments and quarrels are good.
Paul says that quarrelling proves we are still worldly. Some say, “That’s just the way I am.” Paul says, “The way you are is sinful.” Paul says quarrelling proves that they were still infant Christians. They were immature because they were quarrelling and fighting. Paul expected them to grow up in their faith.
Notice the members of the church in Corinth were saved but they were still worldly. They were not matured in their faith and are still acted like people of the world. They were not developed the mind of Christ that he talked about in the previous chapter.
The church is not a democracy and the church is not a place for arguing.
II. The Church as a garden
In Verses 5-9 Paul says that no human is the source of Godly wisdom.
We should not follow the teachings of any one man. We should understand that everyone has his own views as well as responsibilities in the church. Some plant seeds and some water. But it is when we all do our part that God causes the increase. The purpose of gardening is multiplication.
When we plant a tomato seed, we intend to raise many tomatoes. When we plant corn, we intend to produce many ears of corn. When we plant the seeds of faith in peoples’ lives we intend to produce many converts. Some won’t grow or produce fruit, but many will.
Paul says we are all fellow workers in God’s field.
III. The Church as a building
In Verse 10-15 Paul uses a building as a metaphor for a church.
Notice that he does not say that the church is a building—he uses a building as a metaphor of the church.
Paul says that he laid a foundation for the church as an expert builder and someone else built upon that foundation. He emphasizes that Christ is the foundation that must be laid first.
Sometimes we lose sight of that. Sometimes we Christians forget Who the foundation really is.
Then he underlines the importance of the quality of the work of the builders.
Paul says the quality of the work and the building materials are very important. We need to take our work for Christ very seriously. He says that the quality of our work and materials will be revealed when He returns. If the quality is poor, we will still be saved—but it will be just barely. We don’t want to just barely escape the flames!
We must understand that even though Paul uses the metaphor of a building and builders, he is not saying that the church is a building. The church is a group of people and he makes that clear in the following verses.
IV. The Church as a temple
In Verse 16-17 Paul uses a building as a metaphor for a church.
We are the temple of God. We are the dwelling place of God. God does not live in temples built by human hands, God lives in people! And if the people are the church and the church is the dwelling place of God, those who destroy the church, God will destroy. This is in direct response to the situation given at the beginning of the chapter. Paul is saying that these divisions destroy the body of Christ and Christ will destroy those who destroy the church.
V. The Church as a community
In verses 18-23 Paul draws some conclusions.
Paul described what was going on in their church and told them that it was wrong. He gave them two illustrations of how it should be in the church. And now he ties a string around it to draw it to a close.
He says that they should not be thinking that they have God’s wisdom because they believe the teachings of a certain human. Paul is saying no human has a full understanding of God’s wisdom. Rather he is saying they should take the best of all Godly people’s teachings and celebrate Christ instead of arguing over who has the best teacher.
Paul says they need to forget worldly wisdom and become a fool for Christ. They simply need to be a community of believers who have diverse beliefs and teachings who love and get along with each other. They need to bear with one another in their disagreements, work together as a team to grow and build the church, remember that their enemy is Satan and not each other, work together to defeat Satan and save souls, grow up in their faith and stop quarrelling and be a community. Be the church. Be the body of Christ.
The Church has become so anxious and agitated in its business that it forgets its goals.
I pray that we at St. Andrew’s will never forget what our goals are.
I pray that we will be the church that God has called us to be.
We are the church!
Krikor Youmshajekian