Port City Faith Church
Sunday Morning - July 5th, 2026
  • Praise
  • Yes I Will
  • Gratitude
  • How Deep The Father's Love For Us

      • 1 Corinthians 11:23–26ESV

  • We are continuing our Series on 1 Corinthians:
    the church in Corinth was a church that had many problems, as attested to by Paul writing to them far more than any other church.
    Corinth was a diverse and important port city in Greece, home to a lot of diverse ideas and pagan worship.
    and the Church that Paul planted there was constantly bombarded by the culture of the city.
    Last week we looked at how there were growing divisions in the church
    the church was splitting between those who followed Paul, and those who followed Apollos - another apostle - not the Greek god of the Son, and those who followed Peter.
    The way to correct this is to Go back to the basics, to the point where everyone agrees.
    Jesus Christ, the son of God crucified for our sin.
    And to listen to the Holy Spirit and learn the wisdom of the Spirit, which is often contrary to the wisdom of the world.
    Today we are going to look at the next couple chapters, where Paul deals with these divisions within the church.
    1 Corinthians 3:1–3 ESV
    But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
    Paul had just discussed how the mature Christians, those who understand the gospel - Jesus Christ Crucified - can be taught deeper truths by the Apostles concerning the Holy Spirit - to bring them closer to Christ, as a way of overcoming divisions,
    and he looks at just how they are divided and says “You are not ready for those things yet.” You are still immature and are more concerned with worldly matters instead of spiritual ones.
    Church, I could preach the basics of the Gospel again and again and again, but that is only milk compared to the fullness of what God has in store for us,
    There is so much more to learning to follow Christ than just Jesus Christ Crucified,
    There are the great commandments:
    Mark 12:28–31 ESV
    And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
    Loving Our God, and loving our neighbor, such simple commands, but they are not part of the Gospel.
    There are the Stories of heroes of our Faith, as seen in the Old testament, and Hebrews 11, who show us what it means to trust in God in various circumstances,
    It’s not part of the Gospel,
    THere are the prophets, many of whom point to Jesus Christ Crucified, but also go beyond that.
    there are the works and gifts and fruit of the Spirit.
    These things church, they are MEAT
    Yes we need to share the Gospel,, by which we are saved but as we grow, we need to look deeper into Scripture to find more teachings about How to Follow Jesus.
    And Paul has told the corinthians that clearly, by their actions, they need to go back to milk.
    1 Corinthians 3:4–9 ESV
    For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
    Paul says “lets get one thing straight, Apollos and I are not leaders of the Church, we are servants of the Lord.”
    He is saying we are not your leaders that you seek to follow the best teacher, but we are servants working alongside you.
    This is an important distinction
    especially among jewish believers who, at the time, were divided by which Rabbi they followed.
    At this time there were 3 or 4 major Rabbis some of whom disagreed with each other on everything.
    Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai are the prime examples from the time of Jesus.
    And these rabbis sought to outdo each other by gaining more followers so that they could vote in Sanhedrin - the High Council to cement their teachings over the other Rabbis,
    and so the jews in Corinth are probably acting like Paul and apollos are Rabbis pitted against each other, and Paul says No!
    They are not Rabbis - literally “great ones”
    They are servants on the same team.
    I saw an article about some scan they did on the declaration of independance about 15 years ago,
    There was one point where one the final draft, the draft everyone signed, thomas jefferson made one final change, and this was nearly impossible to see until current x-ray tech was used.
    there was one passage where he said “our fellow subjects” - erased the word subject, and carefully wrote over it to hide the word as best as possible and changed it to “our fellow citizens”
    a small but important decision, subjects are lorded over, citizens are equals.
    Paul does something similar here, not claiming leadership over the church, but claiming servanthood to Christ with the church.
    We have different roles with different groups, Paul might plant a church, and Apollos might “water” or help the church grow, but Growth is ultimately up to God.
    And there were probably churches where Apollos planted the church and Paul was the one who “watered” it.
    In either case they are working together.
    if you plant a field but do not water it, it will die,
    if you water a field that hasn’t been planted you will only make mud.
    but if you water a field that has been planted, then God can bring growth.
    Paul reaffirms this with another analogy:
    1 Corinthians 3:10–17 ESV
    According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
    Paul describes his work as a builder, he laid the foundation, and other teachers, like Apollos are building on it.
    But then he warns about bad teacher and leaders, whose teaching and works are like straw.
    you could also see this as the teaching you yourself accept for yourself.
    Are you allowing people in your life to teach you things that are strong like stone or Gold?
    Deep teachings backed by scripture,
    or are you letting in teachings that are weak like straw, that will burn away
    teachings that pit people against each other,
    teachings that sound good by worldly standards rather than God’s standards
    Teachings that ignore scripture
    Church who and what are you allowing your life to be built by.
    And Paul concludes this thought with a warning
    You are the temple of God, if you destroy that temple, God will destroy you.
    and it is easier to destroy a temple built of straw, than one made of stone.
    So where does that leave the Apostles? Paul and Apollos and Peter?
    1 Corinthians 4:1 ESV
    This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
    Servants and stewards of the Mysteries of God.
    Church Jesus never asked his followers to be leaders,
    He asked them to be servants
    And when two of Jesus’s disciples once asked for positions of power, he put them in their place.
    Mark 10:35–45 ESV
    And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
    So church the leaders of the our churches ought not to be focusing so much on leadership, but on servant hood.
    But Paul is not just a servant;
    1 Corinthians 4:1–4 ESV
    This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
    He is also a steward of the mysteries of God,
    The one who cares for the teaching of Scripture,
    And he says that the Apostles as stewards ought to be found faithful,
    That is held to a higher standard
    Church as your pastor, I am called not just to be a servant to the church, but also to faithfully teach the scriptures,
    and that means that i am held to a higher standard.
    But Paul says something interesting here,
    He does not care if people judge him, and he does not judge himself,
    He trusts in God to hold him to that standard, and to the Holy Spirit to guide him in following it.
    and then he continues:
    1 Corinthians 4:5–6 ESV
    Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
    Church he has been addressing the divisions in the church, based on their favorite teachers, he is asking those who follow paul to not judge those who follow Peter or Apollos, and vice versa.
    And he told them to be careful what teachings they were accepting and building into their temple.
    And he tells them clearly to not go beyond what is written, that is stick to the Bible!
    So he is not asking them not to judge anything,
    But rather He is asking people not to judge each other based on their favorite teachers.
    Becuase when Jesus Come again he will reveal the hearts of those who follow him.
    in other words judge teachings, not people.
    Examine the teachings of your pastor, and the books that you read, and the people you listen to on the radio or on podcasts or on TV,
    Judge their teachings against what the Bible says,
    Does it go beyond scripture?
    then do not give it nearly the same weight at scripture.
    but do not pronounce judgement on people just because of the teachings they listen to, because you do not know their heart.
    Church I used to listen to the teachings of Ravi Zacharias,
    he was a great teacher, and he reasoned with scripture and with logic to prove that Jesus was God,
    But in his private life he was a sexual predator.
    and when that was discovered it ruined not just his life,
    but the lives of all the people associated with him.
    Good teachers can be horrible people, and someone who teaches bad theology might be the best person there is, we do not know until it comes to light.
    and so we ought not to judge each other based on who they listen to, or to think we are better because we have better teachings.
    Paul Continues
    1 Corinthians 4:9–13 ESV
    For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
    the Work of an Apostle, a leader in the church is hard work.
    Its not glorious, its not fun, its not likely to make much money
    But it is rewarding.
    It highlights the upside down nature of Jesus’s teachings,
    the last will be first and the first last
    1 Corinthians 4:14–17 ESV
    I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
    Paul closes this discussion with this:
    After discussing just how difficult it is to be an apostle, a servant of the church, compared to everyone else,
    After waning the people not to pick sides and choose only to follow the teachings of their favorite apostle
    He says Imitate me - the apostle, and remember my teachings,
    He could have just as easily said imitate Apollos, or Imitate peter,
    the result would have been the same.
    Church when you find good teachers, teachers that teach the Scriptures above all else, imitate them - that is listen to their teachings.
    Now, yesterday was independence day, and tonight Oswego celebrates,
    the United states of America is 250 years old.
    and its good to celebrate our nation, because we live in one of the greatest nations on earth,
    but its hard to celebrate because our nation is so divided.
    And a lot of it comes down to similar things that the Corinthians were dealing with,
    We choose our favorite Politicians, Commentators, public figures, and we follow them instead of following Jesus.
    and many of the people we elect want to rule, they don’t want to serve.
    They are following the wisdom of the world, not the wisdom of God.
    So how do we bring about unity?
    It’s not easy, but we can start simple, just within our congregation, try not to judge people by who they listen to, but try to look to jesus, and point others towards him.
    then extend that to the other churches and Christians in our area.
    Becuase in the end we do not follow a wordly leader, we follow Christ.

      • 1 Corinthians 3:1–3ESV

      • Mark 12:28–31ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 3:4–9ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 3:10–17ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 4:1ESV

      • Mark 10:35–45ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 4:1–4ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 4:5–6ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 4:9–13ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 4:14–17ESV

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Port City Faith Church
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