Sermon - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 - Growing Faith

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 - Growing Faith
Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Presbyterian Churches
February 13, 2011

Today I will be preaching my fourth in a series of sermons drawn from the book of First Corinthians. In this important book Paul is helping churches that he dearly loves as their founding pastor. He has heard about divisions in these churches and is dealing with these conflicts by telling them to focus on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in preaching and teaching and also to focus on God in worship. Today we will see that the leaders of the church must work together to eliminate the conflicts and help the churches to grow both spiritually and in the number of members. This is as important today as it was in the first century. We will get to it, but first lets pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

1 Corinthians 3:1-9 NRS 1 Corinthians 3:1 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? 4 For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. 9 For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.

In today's scripture Paul is giving us an agricultural metaphor. Paul planted seeds, Apollos watered and fertilized them, and the church was the cultivated field growing in faith by God's will. Paul and Apollos, rather than dividing the church, were actually working together but doing different things. Paul was speaking to people who were new to the faith, and who had just joined the church. Apollos was speaking to maturing people who had been hearing God's word in worship for several years. With both Paul and Apollos the church was planted and watered and fertilized and growing.

In a few weeks the farmers in this area will begin planting sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn and other crops. These crops must be watered and fertilized throughout the warmer months so that they will yield a bountiful harvest. But suppose you decided not to plant anything this year, and no crops go into the ground. What would happen if you continued to water and fertilize all summer without first planting. Would anything grow? Of course not! Well, maybe a few seeds from last year might sprout, but not many. You must plant the field before anything will grow in it.

This is the problem facing the church. We do a real good job of watering and fertilizing believers. We have worship, Bible studies, and fellowship and prayer groups. Our faith is nurtured and our spiritually is growing. But we have forgotten how to plant. We don't go out and share our faith with others. If you don't put new biddies in the chicken house how will you ever grow new chickens. In the same way if we don't talk to people about faith and invite them to church how will the church ever grow? To answer this question let's turn to a respected Christian theologian who knew something about planting faith and growing churches, Lesslie Newbigin.

In 1936 Dr. Newbigin graduated from college, married his sweetheart, was ordained as a pastor in the Church of Scotland, and was sent to India as a missionary. In India he started new churches. As World War II developed the protestant churches in India banded together and in 1941 Newbigin became their bishop. He wrote extensively on the subject of mission, giving us theological reasons and practical advise for doing mission work, for planting churches and helping churches to grow.

In 1974 Newbigin returned to Great Britain and became the pastor of a small church with a strong ministry to a local prison. Newbigin was surprised by all the changes that had occurred in the British churches while he was in India. And he recognized what was happening. The Scottish churches of his youth had held a privileged position in Scottish society. This was the legacy of Christendom. Since the fourth century when Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and established the church as the official religion of the Roman empire the church has held a special place in the societies of Europe and North America, this was called Christendom. But since the 17th century the church has gradually lost its privileged position in society as the doctrine of the separation of church and state took hold. Christendom effectively ended in the twentieth century. Blue laws, which once prevented businesses from opening on Sundays, have been repealed. Prayer has been removed from schools. Christian Christmas displays have been removed from public property. The church has become a voluntary association of believers competing with other organizations for people and resources and no longer holds a special place in western society.

Newbigin realized that the churches in Great Britain and North America had lost their privileged status and therefore were more like the churches in India. Christendom had never come to India. In India the church had to compete with traditional religions for members. The Indian church never held a privileged position in society. It never came close to being a national religion. So the Indian churches had to be missional. The had to be church planters. They had to go out and invite people to come to church. That was the only way their churches could be sustained and grow. And with the demise of Christendom, the church in the west, like the church in India, must also become missional.

Traditionally we think of mission and evangelism as a program of the church. Maybe it is a line item on a budget. Maybe a committee is established. Maybe evangelism is written into the terms of call for the pastor. Maybe we have a mission program. But rarely is mission and evangelism the primary focus of the church. We are usually concern most with nurturing our own faith and maintaining our buildings.

But Newbigin argued that mission and evangelism are not things that the church does, rather it is what the church is. Consider for a moment the Nicene Creed. We often say it in church on communion Sundays. In the Nicene creed “church” is defined as one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The church, as God sees it, is united, it spans the world, and is set aside for God's use. But what does the the term, “apostolic” mean? Newbigin pointed out that “apostolic” in Greek means “to be sent”. So he concluded that the church is defined as people who are sent. We are sent into the world as ambassadors of Jesus Christ to spread the good news. So the purpose of church is to gather people together to water and fertilize their faith, and then send the people of God back into the world planting their faith in others and inviting people to gather as church to nurture that faith. According to Newbigin the church is a community of the gathered and the sent.

This has important implication for us. A generation or two ago there was no need to evangelize the communities on the eastern shore. This was a Christian area and everyone knew the basics of faith. Not everyone went to church, but nearly everyone prayed, believed in God and knew that church was the place where you should be on Sunday mornings. But all of this has changed. Today people sleep in on Sundays. They enjoy leisurely mornings drinking coffee and reading the paper. Area business are open and encourage to eat out and shop. Television and radio stations know that Sunday morning is a profitable time and encourage people to watch and listen. People can go fishing, hunting, boating, swimming, crabbing, and a myriad of other things every Sunday morning. In this environment we have to be competitive with all the other options people have on Sunday morning. We do have something compelling to offer: a relationship with the Creator of the Universe through his son Jesus Christ. We do water and fertilize our faith very well. We know how to worship, pray and study scripture. All we have do now is to plant seeds of faith and God will ensure an abundant yield: a growing church.

Lesslie Newbigin once told a story. He was traveling through southern India in a area of the ruins of ancient shrines and houses. He realized that at first all the buildings had fit together properly. But one day a bird flew over and dropped a seed in a gap between two stones. That seed grew into a massive tree and finally split the stones apart and destroyed the building. Our work as a sent people is to plant seeds wherever we go: a conversation with a friend at Hardees or at the Lion's Club, a telephone call with a grandchild, time spent with someone experiencing loss. We plant seeds by telling others what God has done for us. The seeds you plant may not spout immediately. It will take time. But if you plant the Spirit of God in someone's heart it will take hold and begin to grow.

So we need to plant if we want faith to grow and our churches to prosper because the era of Christendom has ended, and now it is time for us to take on the responsibility of planting faith in the hearts of others. We do this because we are followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus showed us how to plant faith. And Jesus commanded us to plant faith in the hearts of new disciples wherever we go. So I declare to you that Spring is almost here and it is time for planting.

Lord Jesus we are ready to be sent. Equip us for the mission ahead. Help us to share our faith with others. Please use us as you plant the seed of faith in the people we know. And bless us this week with growing faith as we pray, worship and study scripture. Amen.