I recently while caring for our youngest granddaughter, who is three years old, something very interesting happened that's not all that unusual. I was in the house. She was out playing with some other children, and suddenly I heard a blood curdling scream. Well, by the sound of that scream, I just knew it was either a snake bite or a bee sting. It couldn't be anything else than that. That's how loud it was. So I immediately ran outside, and she's running to me, weeping and wailing and gnashing her teeth, and I said to her, "Sweetheart, what happened?" "That little girl took my swing?" Okay. Well, I was relieved, but I confess I was a bit frazzled because I was expecting something far more severe. Now all of you parents can understand that scenario. You ladies can probably understand what happened next. I looked at my dear wife, and I said, "Why does she do that?" And in her calm and wise way, she looked at me and said, "Because she's three." Well, that was the perfect explanation, and this is what we expect from a three-year-old, right? In fact, because of their sin nature, they are totally selfish, totally self-centered, self-willed. They add new meaning to the expression "my way or the highway," right? And in fact, I believe that God deliberately made human babies very weak and very helpless to prevent them from killing their parents or anyone else that might do something to offend them. If you don't believe this, just take a look at your baby's face the next time you take away his bottle. Oh, if looks could kill, right? Or watch what I call the Walmart meltdown when little four-year-old Thurlow doesn't get the red squirt gun. You know how that works?

Well, you expect this kind of immaturity in babies, dear friends, but not in adults, and unfortunately, this was the problem in Corinth, and it's been the problem here at Calvary Bible Church and every other church that has ever existed. Believers there in Corinth had their growth stunted because of their love for the world, because they continued to embrace the thinking and the values and the morality and even the leaders the wisdom of their culture. And they just weren't growing up spiritually. Their growth had been stunted by their selfishness and pride, but they couldn't see it. And of course, they, I'm sure, were profoundly offended when they were first confronted with it, but by God's grace, they began to deal with it.

Now you will recall the context here. The church there was plagued with divisiveness. It was plagued with what you might call preacher/ teacher worship. They developed clicks along the lines of their favorite teacher and preacher and as well as their favorite philosophical or political bent. Each of them had kind of their own team that was better than the other team, and the result was jealousy and strife, personal status seeking and a host of other sins; sins like sexual immorality, that was even beyond some of the things that the Gentiles, the pagans would do. They would get drunk at their love feasts. They would treat the poor as if they were diseased. Didn't want anything to do with them. They tried to outdo each other with who had the most sensational, showy spiritual gift. They were suing each other over trivial things before unsaved, unbelieving judges. And as you will see, there was just a general lack of order and chaos in their church worship services. So you might say the babies were running the nursery. That's what was going on. Hardly becoming for those that Paul addressed as "sanctified in Christ," First Corinthians, one two.

And of course, all of this dishonored Christ, all of this was was profoundly inconsistent with the gospel and gospel living, it really betrayed a distorted perspective of the cross. And for this reason, what Paul has done thus far is expose the problem of their arrogant party spirit, and then he extols just the the primacy of the cross as the wisdom and the power of God through, all the way through verse five of chapter two. And then in verses six through 16 that we studied last week, he underscores the mystery and the revelation and the illumination of God's wisdom. And now in chapter three, in these first nine verses, he's going to point out how the the self-seeking divisiveness that they're manifesting is really a very sad mark of their immaturity.

So he loves them, and he addresses them as genuine believers, but he's grieved over all of this, and notice what he says, beginning in verse one of chapter three.

"And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants I​n Christ.

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not able,

for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and are you not walking like mere men?

For when one says, 'I am of Paul,' and another, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not mere men?

What, then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

Now, he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

Now, this passage is very instructive, as you will see, and that's also very encouraging, because Paul is using this, frankly, as a test to determine the extent in which the Spirit was formed within them, to give them "the mind of Christ," as he said in verse 16, there at the end of chapter two.

And I want to approach this under three very simple categories that I hope will prove beneficial to you. We're going to look first of all, at the reason for spiritual immaturity. Secondly, the proof of spiritual immaturity. And finally, the remedy for spiritual immaturity.

Now notice again, verse one. Let's look at this closely. Paul says, "And I," it could be translated, "and as for my part," "...brethren," he's affirming there that the fact that they're genuine believers, which, as we're going to see is going to make what they're doing all the more inexcusable. "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh..." It could be translated "carnal" as the King James, "as to infants in Christ."

Now this is to be expected. Let me explain what he's saying here. When he first came to them, when he first preached to them the gospel, it was utterly foreign to them. They weren't as yet, quote, "spiritual men." Now, when they came to Christ, they were spiritual positionally, but they were not spiritual practically, positionally. When a person comes to saving faith, they are immediately sanctified, positionally and justified. In other words, they have been set apart from sin, set aside unto God. The moment of their salvation, their judicial standing is before God has been dealt with. They've been declared righteous. There's no condemnation, because they're now in Christ. So they possess a new spirit, and they possess the indwelling Holy Spirit. Unlike the natural man, the unsaved man that does not have that new spirit and does not enjoy the indwelling Holy Spirit.

But practically, they were still immature. They weren't living consistently with their new creation. All of this was new to them. They possessed the spirit, but they weren't at a place where they could really yield to his influence in their life as a mature believer would do, they so they were still, as he says, "men of flesh," literally fleshy ones.

Now I need to make a very important digression, because I have had to deal with an error that comes up, even in this church, from time to time, and it's based upon this whole section of scripture. So let me deal with this for just a moment. This is contrary to the teaching of, for example, Louis Sperry Chafer, the founder and the first president of Dallas Theological Seminary. He taught that there were three kinds of people rather than two, and this, unfortunately, has gained a lot of popularity.

There, I believe, are only believers and non-believers. There's not a third category. There are those who have been given a new spirit, who possess the Holy Spirit, and those who have neither. Chafer believed that there are, quote, "Three classes of men, based on the teaching here in actually, First Corinthians two, nine through three, verse four. Here's what he states, quote, "The Apostle Paul, by the Spirit, has divided the whole human family into three groups. One, The natural man, who is unregenerate or unchanged spiritually. Two, and here's the error, the carnal man, who is a babe in Christ and walks as a man. And then, three, the spiritual man." He describes the carnal Christian this way, quote, though saved, "The carnal Christians are walking," quote, "according to the course of this world; they are carnal because the flesh is dominating them. The objectives and affections are centered in the same unspiritual sphere as that of the natural man, that is the unsaved man." Now, in some areas of a Christian's life, that can be true, but not in every area.

Unfortunately, this teaching confuses many people in the church today, and I think it's important to refute it. In fact, B.B. Warfield rightfully stated that, Chafer's teaching, comes from the quote, “Laboratory of Charles Wesley and is incurably Arminian." You see, folks, here's the problem. The practical implications of this, in Christian living, is very dangerous, because I have dealt with Christians who are living in open rebellion to God, or they know somebody that's living in open rebellion to God, and they like to claim, "well, I'm truly saved, but I'm simply a carnal Christian." In other words, I've got my ticket punched here, and this is really not that big of a deal, I'm just in that carnal Christian category.

But folks, I don't believe there's such a thing as a carnal Christian in the sense that everything in their life is consistent with an unregenerate man; a saved person that somehow remains under the dominion of sin. That's just contrary to so many passages in Scripture. In other words, when a person comes to Christ, if their life remains unchanged and their dispositions totally unaffected. There's no transformation if, as Chafer says, "they're walking according to the course of this world," and they're completely indifferent to the work of the Spirit, that's not a description of a believer. That's the description of a non-believer, of an unregenerate man. The great danger with this carnal Christian error is that it not only develops within believers, genuine believers, kind of a cavalier attitude towards their worldliness and their fruitlessness, but it also deceives people into thinking that they are truly converted, when, in fact, they might not be. So that's the danger. Positionally, folks, you're either saved or you're unsaved. You're either born again or you're still dead in your sins. There is no such thing as a partially spiritual Christian. You either possess the life of God in your soul, or you don't. Positionally. Speaking, Paul says, quote, "you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit," Romans 8:9, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And we read in SecondCorinthians five and verse 17, that, "If any man is in Christ, he's, " what? "he's a new creation."  He's a new creature. The old things passed away, behold new things have come.

Now, practically speaking, believers, possessing the Holy Spirit, can think, and they can behave in some areas of their life, for some periods of time, in ways that are clearly unspiritual, carnal as men of flesh, and that's what Paul was so concerned about here. In this passage, he has addressed these people repeatedly, as believers, as saints, but yet they're carnal in some areas of their life. They need to mature. They need to grow up. Notice again verse one, "And I, brethre, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh." In other words, you're still heavily influenced by those bodily desires that prefer to live in rebellion to God and pursue the lust of your fallen nature rather than your new nature. And then the problem comes when a believer just continues to yield to the cravings of the flesh.

Beloved, let me speak about this for just a moment too. Never underestimate the power of your flesh. You know Satan knows how to entice you with temptations, and he uses his world system that is in opposition to God to do just that. While our old Adamic nature no longer reigns. It still remains, to use an old cliche, it is still there. We're still incarcerated in our unredeemed humanness. And as we study scripture, we see that in regeneration, when we were given new birth, and in justification - when we're declared righteous - our inner man is transformed, radically transformed, and then in our glorification, our outer man, that still bears the curse, will be eradicated. Well, I can't wait for that, right? Cannot wait for that that that's why we we long "for the redemption of our bodies," as Paul says. So these folks were no longer slaves to sin, they had been delivered from that bondage, but like so many believers today, they had not grown up enough spiritually to know what it means to walk by the Spirit. That moment-by-moment, conscious commitment to obey the Spirit of God, as he has revealed himself in his word.

Let me give you another example of this, because this helps us see what the Apostle Paul is saying. You remember the strife that was going on also in the church in Galatia? Remember they had the Jewish legalists, some of them that had come to Christ there, but they still adhered to a strict external code of of do's and don'ts. They had their never ending list and andthat gave them the illusion of spirituality, which we see even in our day to day among legalists. And they were at war with the antinomians. Antinomian by the way, the compound word in Greek "anti," which means "against" and "nomos," the law. They're against the law. In other words, they prided themselves in rejecting all of the standards of morality and the religious norms and just living completely according to personal lusts and desires, and so caring for them, Paul exhorted them in Galatians five and verse 13, he says, "Do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another." You see, both the legalists and the antinomians were wrong. Both perverted the gospel, making it man-centered, rather than God- centered. And then he goes on to say, in Galatians, five, "For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another." I mean, these folks were were fighting against each other like wild animals. And then he says this, "But I say," in other words, here's what I want you to do, instead of what you've been doing, I want you to "walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. " So there's this war going on between the Spirit of God that dwells within and the flesh that wants to go in a different direction. Verse 19, "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident," which are and he gives a list here, "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Now, folks, my point with all of this is to say, a lot of this stuff is what was going on in Corinth as well, and that was the problem in Galatians five. Paul went on to say, "But the fruit of the Spirit," in contrast to the flesh, "is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control." You see, this was what was missing in the spiritually immature.

So again, back to our text in First Corinthians, three, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ." So he says this, "I gave you milk to drink..." In other words, I gave you the fundamentals of the faith, the easily digestible, elementary truths of the gospel and some of the associated doctrines, I gave that to you, "not solid food." - solid food referring to doctrinal truths with greater detail and greater depth - "For you were not able to receive it." I think we can all identify with this. You remember when you first came to Christ, you didn't know very much Bible doctrine, right? I remember God drew me into himself when I was nine years old, and all I really understood was that God was holy, and I wasn't. I understood that I was a sinner, that Jesus was my Savior, that that he died for my sins, that He rose again the third day, and then he's coming back. And I knew that I was under divine judgment. I might not have said it that way, but I understood that I felt the weight of my sin and I wanted forgiveness, so I asked God to save me, and I trusted Jesus as my Savior.

Now, as a little boy, I could understand and digest that milk, right? And over the years, as I matured in Christ, and you can identify with this, you begin to eat the solid food, the meat and potatoes of Bible doctrine, building upon those same fundamental truths, what Paul calls the "unsearchable riches of Christ." I began to understand the attributes and the character of God. I began to understand the origin of sin, human depravity, the imputation of sin. I began to understand grace and election and calling and the significance and the efficacy of the atonement. I began to understand faith and repentance and conversion and union with Christ - regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification, perseverance and the implications of all of those great doctrines in my life, but I would have choked on all of those things at nine years old - or at 60 years old, if you're just coming to Christ.

So Paul knew he couldn't give these newborn believers that kind of solid food over the first 18 months that he was with them, they'd choke on it. By the way, even as an infant must be given progressively more substantial nourishing food in order for that child to develop into physical maturity, so too, baby Christians must gradually be taught more Bible doctrine, more detail, deeper truths at a deeper level. Otherwise, they will never grow up. Their growth will be stunted. And this is why God has given the church pastor/teachers, for example, Ephesians 4:12, "for the equipping of the saints and the building up of the Body of Christ until we attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a,” here it is, "mature man." And as a result, he goes on to say, "We are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects and to Him who is the head, even Christ."

But folks, what was amazing in Corinth is that they had first been pastored, now catch this, by the apostle Paul himself. Can you imagine sitting at the feet of Paul for 18 months? Absolutely astounding, and then he leaves, and Apollos comes and pastors them, a man the scripture says was "mighty in the Scriptures." But here's the problem, even with all of that, they're still acting like babies. It's been at least four years since Paul left, and they're still acting like babies.

Verse two, again, "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not able to receive it." And then he says this, "Indeed, even now you are not able." In other words, this is unbelievable. Even now you're not able, for you are still fleshly. So folks, number one, here's the reason for spiritual immaturity, you are still fleshly. Despite all of that great teaching that they were hearing, they're still fleshy. That attitude that pursues self; self-sufficiency, self-aggrandizement, self-promotion, independence from God; a life characterized and dominated by the spirit of the flesh, not the Spirit of God. People who are unteachable and arrogant hot heads that stir up trouble in the church, rather than yielding to the Spirit, Paul is saying, you're choosing to live a life that that's yielded to your flesh. You're still self-willed and self-centered, craving the things of the world, adopting the values, the standards of the worl; you're functioning in a way that unregenerate people function, and those people are incurably self-centered. So that's the reason for spiritual immaturity. Let's call it for what it is.

Well, what's the proof of spiritual immaturity? Well, he goes on to say, "For since there is jealousy..." now, jealousy is just a severe form of selfishness, that's all that is. That's why my little granddaughter was apoplectic when she came running up to me, screaming her lungs out because another little girl had taken her swing, the one that Papa swings her on all the time, right?

"For, since there is jealousy and strife..." which is always the outcome of jealousy, "...are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?" In other words, like an unregenerate person would walk as they would live. John MacArthur put it this way, quote, "Division can only occur where there is selfishness. Fleshly immature people cooperate only with those leaders and fellow believers with whom they happen to agree or who personally appeal to them or will flatter them. Factions cannot help resulting where there is jealousy and strife or any other form of carnality. When a congregation develops loyalties around individuals, it is a sure symptom of spiritual immaturity and trouble." And boy over the years of my ministry, even here at Calvary Bible Church, I've seen many believers who you might say, are still wearing diapers. And many of them know the Scriptures, but when you look at their life, they're like spiritual toddlers in adult bodies. I mean, spiritually speaking, they're not potty trained. I don't know. I don't know how else to put it. It's like the child that you can't take to a restaurant, you know, for fear of them having a meltdown if they put mustard on the hamburger or whatever. So I grieve when I see this. And these people can be just characterized by things of the world, people that are dealing with with immorality in some profound ways. They're worldly. They throw tantrums when things don't go their way. They're in and out of trouble. Angry, critical, controlling, jealous, self-promoting, divisive, unteachable and frankly, they typically don't last very long here or at any church because of this; they're walking like mere men.

And folks, I would challenge you be suspect of your own spirituality. Be suspect of it. Our spirituality is not measured by how much Bible doctrine we know, and it's not measured by how long we've been a Christian. Some people will kind of stick their chest out and say, Well, you know, I've been walking with the Lord for for 30 years. Oh, really, when, in reality, you'vewalked with the Lord one year 30 times, you haven't grown up over 30 years. That's the problem. And don't think just because you teach Sunday school or you're part of discipleship or biblical counseling or aWi Fi group, or you take notes during the sermon, whatever it is - if you're living inconsistently with what Scripture teaches, you're struggling with spiritual immaturity. You want to ask yourself, "Where is there strife and bitterness in my life," and wherever that is, I will promise you that you're part of the problem. Part of it is your own pride, your own jealousy that's producing that.

Now, some will say, and rightfully so, "Pastor, what do I need to do to grow up spiritually?" Well, frankly, the answer, first of all is to ask that question. You know, if you really ask that question, the Spirit of God is going to help you with that. You know, to be able to say, "Spirit of God help me, I can see areas in my life where I'm still, frankly, a baby Christian." But then secondly, if you're serious about this, let me put it to you this way, what you need to do is weed your garden. You need to weed your garden. You need to get rid of all the stuff in your life that prevents spiritual growth. You need to get rid of some of your friends, some of your habits, some of your music, some of your websites, some of your television channels, some of your false teachers; idols in your heart, whatever it is - those worldly weeds that are preventing the seeds of truth from ever having a chance to germinate and to grow. I mean, we all understand this, don't we? If you have a garden, what's the first thing you have to do? You have to go out and get rid of the weeds and till up the soil before you put the seeds down. Otherwise nothing will grow. So you kill the weeds, and I might add, you keep killing the weeds, right? I mean, it's a never-ending process.

James addressed this in a very unique way. Notice in James chapter one, if you think of this in terms of spiritual maturity, you'll see the things that he's describing here are absolutely inconsistent with how an immature person will function, he says in James one, beginning in verse 20, "But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." Now, by the way, this is the opposite of a spiritual toddler, right? I mean, just think of a literal toddler. I mean, they're not quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. I mean, they're slow to hear, quick to speak and quick to anger. You know, it's kind of just the opposite. And then here's what he tells us to do. "Therefore," in light of this, here's what you need to do, "putting aside..." Let's stop there. In other words, you need to put off these things, put off sin in your life, these obstacles that prevent you from receiving the word of God. You might say you need to weed your garden. Therefore, weed your garden of "...all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness." And then, "...in humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude," or that is deceive, "themselves."

Young people, let me speak to you for just a moment. If you think that you can live on your smartphone, if you think that you can immerse yourself in Facebook and YouTube and Hollywood entertainment and the music of the world, if you think that you can interact on a daily basis with materialistic, ungodly m down in the Gulch; if you think that you can spend much of your life surfing the internet and then fill your mind with all of the stuff of the world, and then come to church for a couple of hours on Sunday and think that you're going to grow spiritually, you are fooling yourself. You're just a hearer of the word, not a doer. So you deceive yourself; you haven't "put aside all the filthiness," as James says, and "all that remains of wickedness." You haven't weeded your garden.

Folks, for all of us, especially some of you young people. There are friends that you need to stop hanging around. There are places you need to make off limits. There are certain teachers you need to quit following, certain churches that perhaps you do not need to attend. There's music you need to eliminate, habits you need to stop, language that you need to jettison. For some of you, ladies, there's some clothing that you need to burn. You need to jettison anything and everything that tempts you to sin. You need to weed your garden.

James went on to say in verse 26, "If anyone thinks himself to be religious," in other words spiritually mature, "and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless." Then he says this, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." He gives an example here. Folks, if you want to grow spiritually, weed your garden and then get serious about sacrificial Christian love, serving people that cannot reciprocate and also separate yourself from an evil, satanic world system in opposition to God that is bent on destroying your life without you even knowing it's happening.

Jesus used even more graphic hyperbole to demonstrate the seriousness of sins and lust and of evil desire. Remember, in Matthew five and verse 29 he says this, "'If your right eye makes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it far from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.'" He went on to say, "'If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.'"

Frankly, the reason so many believers never grow up spiritually is because they simply refuse to see the deadly effects of sin in their life, and so they don't weed their garden. They don't deal with sin drastically enough, it's kind of no big deal, because, after all, everybody else is doing it. Everybody else dresses this way, talks this way, thinks this way, does these things. Men, for example, you need to guard your heart against the immoral filth that's out there on your movie channels and on your internet sites. And ladies, you need to reevaluate who you're patterning your life after. Who do you emulate? Ladies, celebrities on television? Really, the Kardashians? Fashion models? Why not some of the godly women in this church? You can't be serious pastor. I mean, people would laugh at them. Yeah, that's right, but God doesn't. God blesses them.

Maybe you don't struggle with immoral lust, but you do with anger. Maybe you struggle with a critical spirit. Maybe you struggle with being controlling and you're a bit of a gossip and a slanderer. You need to weed your garden. You need to confess those things, repent of those things, and then don't associate with people that do those kinds of things. I learned long ago to avoid those kind of people like the plague. In fact, they are toxic. Titus 3:10 says that you are to "reject" literally, don't have anything to do with "a factious man, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned."

By the way, as a footnote, there are very few godly people worth imitating. I would say there's a number of them here in this church, but let me tell you folks, when you find one, your flesh is going to struggle to follow them, because they're not cool enough. They're not, frankly, worldly enough. And folks, let's admit it, it's far easier to let the strong current of the world take us downstream than it is to exercise discernment and have a godly commitment to swim upstream. So be ready for the battle. "There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death." Right? You could flip that around. There's a way that seems wrong to a man, but the end thereof is life. There is pleasure in sin for a season. I might add, there is displeasure in godliness, but only for a season because of the battle of the flesh.

Another example of weeding your garden is in First Peter two, beginning in verse one, "Therefore," and here it is again, "...putting aside," there's the weeding, "putting aside..." What?  "...all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander..." a nice little list there. In other words, get rid of all this kind of garbage in your life. Do this first. You've got to do this first. And then when you do, he says, then, "...like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. Folks, let me put it to you a little bit differently. And Paul told Timothy this, you need to discipline yourself for the sake of godliness. I don't know what that's going to take for you. I know what it takes for me. I cherish my time with the Lord early in the morning, before the sun comes up, I wouldn't take anything for that time to be with the Lord, to immerse myself in his word, to pray. You need to discipline yourself; whatever it's going to take. Get a Bible app and put on your phone, or get apps that will take you to good, solid websites or podcasts or whatever, so that you can fill your mind with great truths. Many people never do this, so they never grow up spiritually. It's like a guy or a gal who wants to be an athlete but all they want to eat is pizza and sodas and Krispy Kreme donuts, and they don't ever want to exercise. Now, I think you know what type of athlete that person is going to be.

Well, it's the same thing as a Christian. If you want to grow up spiritually, you're going to have to get disciplined. And it begins by weeding your garden, preparing the soil, so that when you hear the word, and even when you know the word, it has an opportunity to do what it alone can do. And too many Christians live powerless, miserable lives. They're always upset. They're always critical, depressed, mad, succumbing to life dominating sins and they can't taint maintain solid, long-term relationships with godly people. They hop from church to church, relationship to relationship. They never grow up. They wonder why. Well, it's because they have never acknowledged the fact that they are spiritually immature, and they need to weed their garden, and then, sadly, with those kind of people, and I've been there at times in my life, and you have too, maybe you're there now, one of the certain marks of that immaturity is when you're confronted with it, you're going to have the Walmart meltdown, right? You're not going to be quick to hear. You're going to be quick to speak and quick to anger, sure sign you need to grow up. So easy for us to love our sin and the things of the world, and we end up doing those things, and not only is our garden filled with weeds, but with all the worldliness, you might as well just throw salt all out in the ground. Nothing is going to grow in that kind of soil. Folks don't deactivate the effects of the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God in your life.

By the way, there's a progression to this. I've seen this 1000 times. Let me tell you how it works. That kind of person begins to lose their appetite for solid food. In fact, they become hostile to it. They don't like Bible doctrine anymore. That's kind of boring and kind of legalistic, you know, that's the attitude that develops. And any kind of call to holy living, oh no, that's legalistic. Grace covers all of that. We don't want to get into that fundamentalist stuff. So they resent anyone who calls them to holiness, and they attack that person, that church, that pastor, whatever, as being a legalistic fundamentalist, and then they find a group that is as worldly as they are, where they can feel comfortable in their superficial, immature Christianity, so that they can walk around and smugly say to themselves, we're the mature ones. And all of that's fine and dandy until they end up reaping what they've sown. And that's typically when I end up talking with them. Many times the marriage is falling apart. On several occasions over the past few years, I've had to deal with young people who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy or some life dominating sin: they're slave by some addiction, some incurable sexually transmitted disease. So many things. Folks, you reap the wind you'll...or you sow the wind, you'll reap the whirlwind. I've counseled so many people whose lives are scrambled eggs, literally scrambled eggs, total disasters. Believers. And you know what, they will always say there was never just one big decision that I made that was just totally stupid. And, you know, there may be some, but there was never a time when I just really committed myself to doing this. I really didn't see it coming. But there were 1000s of little choices that I made, where I succumbed to the flesh rather than walk by the Spirit. Well, folks, this was what was happening in Corinth. They were still acting like babies. They weren't progressing.

So what's the remedy number three for spiritual maturity? Well, he addresses this, the remaining verses. He says, "For when one says, 'I am of Paul,' and another, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not mere men?" In other words, when you do that, aren't you just walking like the unregenerate world that that likes to elevate certain people and be divisive? Well, "What then is Apollos?" Verse five, "What is Paul?" He says they are, "Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one." The term "servants" here in the original language, could be translated "ministers." Now don't think of that as a as a minister, but think of it as as a menial worker, someone who ministers or serves other people. Think of it as the valet parking guy or the waiter in the restaurant or something like that. In other words, he's saying there's nothing special about any of us. We're just God's servants. We're just doing what he is assigned for us to do. So why are you forming loyalties with us?

He says, in verse six, "I planted..." And certainly that's what Paul did. He came, He planted the gospel seeds and people were saved. And then he says, "Apollos watered..." he taught them, he discipled them, helped them to grow some, help those seeds take root. But then he says, "...but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth." And we know what that's like. After we sow our seeds in a literal garden, all we can do is water them, and then we wait for God to do what only he can do with those seeds, to cause those seeds to germinate and grow. And so too with the gospel, we sow the seeds, we water those seeds with loving discipleship and teaching and so forth. But ultimately, God causes them to grow.

So who gets the glory? God does. Don't put any of us on a pedestal. Verse eight, "Now, he who plants and he who waters are one." In other words, there's unity of purpose here. So why try to divide us? "But each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." In other words, our ministries belong to him. We are his possession. We are under his leadership. So he's saying here, there's no place for preacher worship, there's no place for ministry cliques within a church. That's ridiculous. There's no room for childish jealousy and strife among God's worker; workers who are one in him and one in purpose. I mean, all I am, and all any minister, and any pastor, any elder, anyone serving in the church, all we are just tools, right? You don't honor the tool. I mean, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and we don't honor his brushes, right? That's all we are. We're just brushes, if you want to use that analogy.

And I love what he says here at the end of verse eight, "...each will receive his own reward according to his own labor." You see, folks, God does not call and gift us all to do the same ministries, nor does he compare us with other saints. We tend to do that; he doesn't do that. And what's interesting is each of us are going to be rewarded according to our own labor. I love that "according to our own labor." For example, I have the responsibility of a pastor/teacher, and some of you are Sunday school teachers, AWANA workers, musicians. I mean, there's so many things that so many of you do. And some of you pray in the heating plant, you know over there on Sunday mornings. And some are shut ins, unable to come to church, and so they pray. And what he's saying here is, do you realize that if that shut in is faithful to her ministry, she will be rewarded every bit as much as the pastor who's faithful to his ministry.

When I was in Uganda, I remember meeting a young man with cerebral palsy. He was about 25 years old, Daniel - you will remember him. I forget his name - Ezra. Thank you. His name was Ezra. He was terribly deformed, and his friends wheeled him around in his wheelchair. Very hard to understand, but he was always smiling. He loved the Lord, always smiling. And after one of the sessions that I preached, I noticed him all crippled up, and he was looking up, and he was doing his hand in a certain way. And his friend said, you know that he wants to talk to me. So I came over, and I got down to try to hear what he said, and I couldn't quite make it out, but his friend told me, here's what he said, "I can't preach, but God has called me to pray, and I am praying for you." Isn't that precious? I just about melted. I mean, it was so humbling. And what God is saying is that he's going to reward us all according to our faithfulness and our own labor. So there's no place here to put people on a pedestal and to fight amongst each other. I mean, that's what children do.

Folks bloom where you're planted. Rejoice wherever God has placed you. Be willing to work in obscurity. God is the one who judges. God is the one who rewards. Never compare yourself to anyone else, because you know what's going to happen, you will either find yourself puffed up with pride or find yourself horribly depressed, right? That's how that works. Instead, promote Christ in all things, live for your reward that's in heaven. And I challenge you, in closing this morning, to ask yourself, "Can I honestly say that I have matured in Christ over the last year or two or three?" "What would others say if I asked them that question?" "Am I still a baby Christian?" "Am I still demanding and self-centered and hot-tempered, unteachable, subject to meltdowns and all of that type of thing?" Folks, if that is you, may I encourage you to get serious about the deceitfulness of your own flesh. Go to battle against it. Go to battle against the world, knowing that the enemy studies the well-worn paths of your habitual sinfulness, and he places his snares of temptation in those paths to catch you and defeat you and destroy your life. Wise up. Grow up. Know your weaknesses and weed your garden, right? And keep on weeding it. Then, as James says, in humility, "then in humility, receive the word implanted which is able to save your soul. Be a doer of the word, not a mere hearer that deceives himself." Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the truths that you give us in your word. I pray that somehow, by the power of your Spirit, you will help us to not only understand them, but oh Lord, to apply them. And for many of this may require a whole lot of weeding, and I pray that that will begin even today. Bless us Lord, grow us in Christ, so that we might bear more fruit for your glory and enjoy more fully every expression of your grace. And finally, Lord, for that person, maybe those persons that do not know you as Christ, oh Lord, please convict them of their sin, of perhaps their perceived religiosity, and help them to see the need for a personal relationship with Christ built upon faith in his saving work on the cross on their behalf. May today be the day that they experience the miracle of the new birth. I pray all of this in the precious name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen.