In the Bible study on 1 Cor 3:1-9 we looked again at the topic of spiritual maturity or growing up in God. Paul’s discussions contrasting human wisdom with God’s wisdom were firmly rooted in the problems experienced in the Corinthian church, touched on in 1 Cor 1:10-17 and now expanded in more detail. The Corinthians were described as ‘worldly’, demonstrating the folly of immature thinking, because their attitudes were full of jealousy and quarrelling and they had a tendency to place leaders on pedestals, not understanding that the nature of growth lies with God (we may plant and water the seed, but it is God who makes it grow!) They had completely misunderstood the whole question of servanthood, so ably demonstrated by Jesus (see Mark 10:42-45, John 13:1-13, Phil 2:1-11). Paul was at pains to remind the Corinthians that we all have different functions in the church (see 1 Cor 12:12-31 and Romans 12:4-8), but growth comes about through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We have to leave behind our worldly way of thinking and reasoning if we are to grow to maturity, thus fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives (see Eph 4:14-16).
There are indeed rewards for our labours (see 1 Cor 3:8) and we should indeed respect those who work hard amongst us for the Lord, but the petty childishness of favouring Apollos over Paul or Peter over Apollos had no place in the church and we need to reflect on the fact that only Christ must have the pre-eminence in our churches (see Col 1:18). Service and servanthood have to be the heart attitudes of all who are maturing. ‘A mature Christian uses his gifts as tools to build with, while an immature believer uses gifts as toys to play with or trophies to boast about.’