Responsibilities of Congregations and Ministers
Summer 2023
1 Corinthians 3
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 3
Envying, strife, and divisions were the three big indictments the apostle Paul brought against the congregation in Corinth. He called them carnal, having resorted to human thinking and fleshly practices. This forced the apostle to treat them as baby Christians. They needed to be nurtured with milk, not meat. It didn’t sound promising, but with the same resolve that ever marked this apostle, he launched into setting matters straight. He weighed in on the responsibilities of congregations and their ministers. Congregations are to receive the gospel as from the Lord, not men, while ministers are to preach the gospel with fidelity, not mixing truth with error.
Congregations must appreciate their ministers for their work without elevating them above their office, and preachers must realize the seriousness of their task to build their ministries on Christ alone. Builders know that wood, hay, and stubble are not suitable materials to build a strong, stable building. Even more so, ministers must know that the only foundation that will withstand the fires of God’s eternal judgment is the plan of salvation wrought by the person and work of Christ.
OBSERVATIONS FOR CONGREGATIONS AND MINISTERS
1. In all generations, Christian congregations have been plagued with the problem of party spirits. Favoritism in church leadership is as carnal as it gets. Paul hit the nail on the head in his diagnosis, “For while one saith, I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” (1 Corinthians 3:4) The conclusion was undeniable. These Christians were not acting as godly men and women endued with the Spirit of God.
2. Congregations need to realize that ministers of the gospel are only doing their duty. A farmer cannot make seed to grow to guarantee a harvest no matter what he plants, nor how he waters. In the natural realm, the harvest is the result of the powers of germination, the heat of the sun, and a sufficient water supply. The labor expended in sowing and watering is nothing compared to the powers of the elements, which are in God’s control. The lesson is obvious and directed to fix attitudes among the Corinthians about gospel ministers. It was exceedingly poor judgment to ascribe powers to men for any increase in the spiritual harvest. It is the Lord who gives the increase in spiritual things.
While there are different functions of ministry, there should be no competition between the men God uses as instruments to build His church. If your minister is a faithful laborer in the gospel, put away carnal attitudes and pray for God to give the increase in your congregation and in your own soul.
[The above paragraph may be deleted if space is required.]
3. For good reason ministers are to follow the example of the apostle Paul, the wise master builder.
The apostle insisted that “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). This conviction is founded on the exclusivity of Christ.
No one else left heaven’s glory to take human nature into union with His divine person in order to save His people from their sins.
No one else is God and man in one person and so equipped to be the perfect mediator between God and men.
No one else lived a perfectly obedient life to fulfill the covenant of works which Adam broke.
No one else voluntarily offered himself a substitutionary sacrifice on the cross at Calvary for rebellious sinners.
No one else having accomplished our redemption by shedding His own blood cried, “It is finished,”
No one else rose again from the dead a victor over sin, death, and hell.
No one else promised to come again in bodily form to gather His redeemed people home to heaven.
Knowing these great gospel truths, it is unthinkable to call upon sinners to trust in any other foundation for salvation, and it is anathema to maliciously mix gospel doctrines with human notions on how sinners may be reconciled to God. When Paul referred to building a foundation of gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, he may have alluded to adding Greek philosophies to the solid foundation of the gospel. This could not be done, for the foundation of the gospel was already laid. It still cannot be done today, no matter what human notion is devised.
Paul drove this fact home to his readers stating, “Every man’s work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work” (1 Corinthians 3:12).
This is a fearful warning to all gospel ministers. All who sit under our ministries, who yet build on their own religious notions, are in danger of hell fire, because all additions to the doctrine of Christ will burn up on that great day. They will not abide the fire of God’s judgment. Sinners need to be called to trust in the one sure foundation which is Jesus Christ. It is a fearful thing for gospel ministers to hold the souls of men in their care.
How shall modernists and liberals, who preach another gospel stand on that great day? They shall give account for their denial of Christ’s deity and their attacks upon the atoning blood of Christ. Their opposition to the one true gospel of Christ will bring them and their hearers into danger of hell fire. It is fearful to think that each Sunday from countless pulpits millions of souls around the world are being told to trust on religious vanities which are as “wood, hay, and stubble”—things that will not abide.
Woe to the preacher also, who is guilty of mixing the gospel with spurious doctrines. I think of prosperity gospel preachers, who are motivated by money and offer false promises of untold wealth and unfailing health for those who give liberally to their respective ministries. So many souls are going down a slippery slope toward untold misery and spiritual death, because their ministers fail to call them to build upon the solid foundation of faith in Christ alone.
4. Happy bonds of pastoral relationship are rightly formed between a minister and his congregation when the person and work of Christ are preached with fidelity. Where ministers labor faithfully to build their people up in the faith by opening up to them the infinite supply of grace that is in Christ, congregations should rejoice and find rest in that ministry. As Rev. Geoff Banister, our minister in Indianapolis, has often stated, “It is the preacher’s job to convince his people how blessed they are through faith in Christ.” Let the preacher be counted worthy of his office as a minister of the gospel who leads his hearers little by little into the blessings of a full and free saving knowledge of Christ. Congregations should pray for discernment to recognize this emphasis of faithful gospel ministers, no matter their personalities or gifts. Favoritism may be natural, but it can be carnal. It is faithfulness to the gospel of Christ that determines a congregation’s happy feeding in the Lord’s church, and this becomes the true minister’s delight.
To Do:
Ask your minister how you can hear the gospel of Christ with greater profit to your soul.
Be an example to other believers by faithfully attending a ministry that expounds the gospel of Christ plainly and personally. Encourage others to join you by speaking of the minister’s messages that exalt the Savior’s compassion for sinners. Don’t just talk about the minister. Talk about the Lord. Your enthusiasm for a Christ- exalting ministry will stir others to hear of the Savior’s love and power to save.
In your enthusiasm for the ministry of the gospel, look beyond the preacher’s strengths and weaknesses to the great truths about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is your Savior and Sanctifier. Pray to love the Lord above all. This will keep you from the Corinthian error of holding a party spirit, and and following the messenger instead of the message."
Rev. I. Goligher