1st Corinthians 3 - Worldly = Spiritually Immature

This one's long, but it sets the stage for what's to come in this chapter.

1st Corinthians 3:1-3 - "¹Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. ²I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. ³You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?"

"¹Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ." - As we pick up this chapter in 1st Corinthians, it is important to note the culture Paul was writing to. As of the time Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth, there had been many divisive issues that had been brought up in the church and the church was in danger of splitting.

Paul picks it up in verse 1 of Chapter 3 by addressing the entire church at Corinth. Notice he uses the term "Brothers" which implies that we are all part of the same church. Paul was identifying himself with this group of believers under the common umbrella of Christ, but he was getting ready to rock their world.

He says that he could not address them as spiritual but as worldly, meaning that they chose to fight among themselves over non-essential issues - rather than see God's work completed in their town. Churches all over this country fight this battle week in and week out and I pray and weep for them because they are letting Satan have a foothold in their church and their vision of fulfilling the Great Commission is waning because of their petty differences.

It was the same for the church in Corinth.

Paul also calls them "mere infants in Christ." A baby cannot think for itself, change itself, or feed itself. It constantly requires someone else to watch over it and help it with everything it does. Here we see the same thing, just in the format of the church. Paul is telling this congregation that every squabble they have makes them look weak, and the church is not weak. However, since they have chosen to act like babies, Paul is going to treat them and write to them as such.

^"2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready." - Paul desperately desires for this church to be what it was when it started - a vibrant alive, passionate move of God. To use Randy Jackson's term, The church in Corinth was "blazing hot" for Christ when it started and then the arguments and the divisive nature set in and the church absolutely derailed from its vision.

Paul wants to teach this church new things, but he cannot until they move on from their "milk" diet and crave the "solid food" teachings of scripture that they should have been learning by that point.

Sometimes our churches get wrapped around petty issues that we should be ignoring and stifling. We need to move on to the more "solid" teachings of scripture and grow in Christ.

You can't stay a child forever - you have to grow up sometime.

^"3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?" - There is a key to this verse and Paul was looking for it in the church at Corinth but he did not see it.

The key is change.

A changed life is the only way we will ever grow in Christ. When we lived in our former lives, we lived for worldly things. We had worldly discussions, we played worldly games, we thought worldly thoughts. However, according to Colossians 3, we died to ourselves. We have a "new self" a new identity in Christ and we no longer belong to the world. We have to change.

Paul told the church at Corinth that they were acting like "mere men" when they should have risen up and been the church. When will people stop caring about their particular tastes in church and just be concerned about the church? When will people stop their petty squabbles and controversy over decor or dress or style of music and be concerned about reaching the lost for Christ and edifying the body of Christ?

We HAVE to change.

Not the truth of scripture. That is ever-constant. But we have to change the method for how we do things. Here are a couple of examples of things that would not have changed if we never changed:





Now, while funny, they illustrate a great point. We have to embrace change. If we don't change, we will always be worldly and Jesus has called us to a much higher standard.

Change has come - and his name is Jesus and the vessel is the church.

What do you need to change in your life in order to stop living a worldly lifestyle?