Why Christians Are Divided — 1 Corinthians 3 Explained Verse by Verse

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Let's get back into I Corinthians chapter 3, and for those of you in the studio this is program number 4, and we'll see you again next month. So those of you in television, I hope you understand that the reason you see all these folks sitting in the same place and wearing the same clothes is that we tape four programs in succession in one afternoon, and again I guess I have to explain because we get so many of these questions, and the only way I can answer them is just put it out on the air. Why there aren't more young people? Well you see this is a working day. This is a Wednesday, and it's in the afternoon, and some of these young guys can make it if they can get off. But for the most part we are dealing with people who can come in because they're retired or got the day off or whatever. So this is all just an explanation of how we operate. We come into the Tulsa studio once a month and tape these four programs, and we just appreciate the effort that everybody puts forth to come in and help us with this. Again we want to quickly announce that all the programs are available on videotape, and we put 12 programs on one 6 hour tape, and then every videotape has been transcribed into a little book, and we can send you either the book or the tape or both. You'd be surprised how many people order the whole set of tapes and books, and of course we appreciate the fact that they're using them and teaching others. I think that's all the announcements we have so far as the program is concerned. Again a lot of people ask if we have somebody that underwrites us because we never ask for money. No I never ask for money because I trust the God that I serve is able to supply all our needs, and so far He has. Even as we increase our outreach, why the funds have been coming accordingly. So no, no one underwrites us, we just totally rely on God's people. First Corinthians chapter 3, and again let's just look at a quick review as Paul has been constantly comparing the wisdom of men with the wisdom of God, and yet these Corinthians are still so carnal that they are not cashing in on this fountain of wisdom that is theirs for the taking. Well it's the same way for us today. Every believer can just simply get into the Book and feast on it, but most won't. And what's the excuse? Well I can't understand it. Yeah you can, it's not that difficult, and of course my first premise is that you separate that which is for the Jew, and that which is for the Gentile. Now that doesn't mean you throw aside that which is for the Jew, but you compare Scripture with Scripture, but in the light of the fact that God dealt with the Jew under the Law, He's dealing with us today under Grace. And that is two totally contrary principles. Law and Grace will not mix, but always be aware that the Apostle Paul is crying against legalism in any shape or form, because we're not under the Law, we're under Grace. Now to these Corinthian believers. For the most part, some Jews as we're going to see in a moment, but for the most part they're pagan Gentiles, recently converted out of their mythology and their idolatry, but they aren't growing, they're just sort of stagnated in their infancy spiritually. So that's what he says in chapter 3. Ephesians 3. I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but I have to talk to you as carnal, or fleshly, even as babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat." Now I think the Greek would imply strong meat. Now sometimes the King James Word, meat, means food of any sort. But I don't think that's what Paul is implying here. He's talking about flesh, he's talking about beef, or mutton, or something like that. And of course the Middle Easterners I guess even eat goat, but whatever. He's not talking about food in general, he's talking about meat. And he says you can't handle it. No more than an infant can handle a t-bone steak, or solid food. He says you are not able to bear it, and neither even now are you able. Now let's move on where we left off, where he says you are yet carnal. You have not grown sufficiently to take advantage of these spiritual truths that are above and beyond your carnality. And what was their major problem? It was division. Now let's look at it. Verse 4. 1. One of you saith, I am of Paul. Well that follows, after all Paul was the one who came into that idolatrous city and preached the Gospel, and had a nucleus of believers. Naturally they would stick to Paul, because he was the one that was instrumental. Now we're going to go back to Acts chapter 18. After Paul had gotten many of these congregations off the ground, naturally God used other men. He didn't leave it with Paul alone, and one of these other men that God had chosen was a man by the name of Apollos. Now we pick him up in Acts chapter 18, verse 24. Now Apollos doesn't come to the Corinthian church immediately, he comes first to Ephesus which is across the Aegean Sea on the western shore of Turkey. And as Apollos comes to Ephesus, verse 24 of Acts chapter 18. A certain Jew named Apollos was born in Alexandria in Egypt, where there was also a seminary of sorts. That's where the Septuagint originated, when the Jewish scholars came together back in 300 years before Christ, and they translated the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek. I think it was a valid translation, because over and over Jesus quoted from the Septuagint, and I don't think He would have if it would have been a forgery. Now this man Apollos came out of that same area of intellectual Hebrews, Jews, and he was an eloquent man. Now what does that tell you? Here was a guy who came with all the outward appearances of somebody who was magnetic, someone who could hold a crowd. I have to envision he was probably a handsome gentleman, he probably was well dressed, but on top of everything else he had the gift of oratory. He could literally spellbound people with his speech. He was an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures. Now stop and think, how much Scripture does the early church have? Old Testament. There's nothing of the New Testament written yet, not even the Gospels. Paul's letters even as they're being written have not yet been circulated as the Bible, and so the only Scriptures these people could preach from was the Old Testament. Now here comes Apollos, and again since he came from Alexandria, I have to think in my own mind that he was probably quite well educated from that same group that translated the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek. Now this eloquent, well mannered, gifted man comes to the church at Ephesus, just across the G&C from Corinth. Verse 25. Ephesians 2. This man, Apollos, was instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent in the Spirit, and he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. In other words now let's bring our thinking into focus. How much of Christianity did Apollos know? Well I'd say none, because the Gospel of the Kingdom that was preached by Jesus in the twelve was still basically Jewish. It was connected with Temple worship, it was connected to the Old Testament covenants, it was the promise of the coming Messiah, and as I mentioned in one of my previous programs, a gentleman who contributes every month wrote in one of his last little notes, and he says, My what a thrill to see that the blood of animals was the only approach to God in the Old Testament, so consequently the four Gospels belong to the Old Testament. The blood of Christ is the way to God once we get to the Pauline revelations. And so you've got to keep those two concepts separated. So here comes Apollos. He knows nothing of Paul's Gospel. He only knows the Gospel of the Kingdom that had been preached by Jesus in the twelve and John the Baptist, and that was repentance and baptism, and believing that Jesus was the Christ. That's all Apollos knew. God always has the right person at the right place at the right time, doesn't He? So who takes Apollos aside and says, Now wait a minute Apollos, you're a great speaker, you are magnetic, we love to sit and listen to you as you open the Old Testament, but Apollos you're missing something. I suppose Apollos thought to these lowly tent makers, what are you trying to tell me? But I always say I admire Apollos, because he listened, great man that he was, he sat down evidently and listened to these two lowly tent makers, Priscilla and Aquila. Now let's see what they tell him. Ephesians 1.26a "...and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly in the kings' names, in other words, Priscilla and Aquila are in a position to tell Apollos something that he did not know." Now let's back up in chapter 18 and see where they got their knowledge. After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth, and found a certain Jew named Aquila, the same Aquila that we got here in Ephesians 1.26a "...born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because of the demand to depart from Rome, and Paul came unto Priscilla and Aquila now in Corinth." Ephesians 1.26a "...and because he was of the same craft, he abode with Priscilla and Aquila, and worked, for by their occupation they were tent makers." Ephesians 1.26a "...he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks." Now as time goes by, and as Paul and Priscilla and Aquila are spending at least a certain amount of their daily time with their trade, what do you suppose Paul constantly talked about? Well his Gospel. That's all Paul could talk about. You know I'm always thrilled when we can stop and visit people that have just been acquaintances only through the program, and they've invited us to stop as we did in the last week or two. And for 48 hours, do you think we talked about the weather? Do you think we talked about politics? No. I mean it was just constant talking about the things of the Word. Well that's as it should be, and it's the same way with these three people. That's all they talked about was Paul's revelation concerning the Christ who had died and been buried, and rose from the dead, ascended back to glory, and commissioned this man now to take the Gospel of the grace of God, not just to Israel, but to the whole world. So now Paul has just unloaded on these two people, and he has gone his way. Now do you think Priscilla and Aquila forgot everything they heard? Oh no. When Apollos comes and knows only the baptism of John, what do these two people do? You know what I've said before, I think they took him home for dinner. And as they sat across that dinner table, those two people unloaded on that eloquent man, and now they come back to Acts 18 toward the end of the chapter, verse 28. Now after verse 26, Priscilla and Aquila expounded the way of God more completely or more accurately. Now you come to verse 28 for the sake of time, for he mightily, not just using the Old Testament Scriptures now, but with what he's gained from Priscilla and Aquila, he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. And then you come on and you find that Apollos accomplished great things. Now then you come back over to chapter 3, and this is the same man who now has followed in Paul's footsteps, and he is now at the congregation in Corinth, and again he's holding forth with eloquence and a capability of opening the Scriptures. But now of course he had to be in agreement with Paul's Gospel, and so there wasn't any doctrinal differences, but it was personalities. Now we've shown before that Paul was not the kind of a man that just simply drew people to him from his appearance, and from his speech, and so forth. It was quite the opposite. Paul gained his converts strictly through the working of the Holy Spirit. Paul physically I don't think had that much to offer, like Apollos did. So now what do these believers in Corinth do? Well some by virtue of the fact that Paul was the one who brought them out of their idolatry and their immorality, naturally they had an adherence to that man. But along comes Apollos, and with his magnetism and his charisma, he took a group of people and said, Hey we don't want that much to do with Paul, we're going to follow Apollos. Well that's understandable because people are still doing the same thing today. I've seen churches just totally fall apart when a pastor leaves. Well that's not right. In other words that church has been loyal to the man instead of to the Word of God and the Christ whom they worship. And so always remember this, that you don't put your eyes or hang your heart on a man, but instead let it be centered on the Word of God and on the Christ who brought us. Now then we have another group in the church here at Corinth, and they are those who are going to adhere to the Apostle Peter. Now I've said over the years as I've been teaching, I did not believe that the twelve per se had a ministry amongst the Gentiles. Now that doesn't mean that they never had an opportunity to greet some of these believers, and I'm sure Paul would have been the first to give Peter an opportunity to speak to the believers at Corinth, but I do not believe that Peter was instrumental in bringing these people out of paganism and bringing them to salvation. But nevertheless you have this group at Corinth now that are going to cling to Peter rather than Paul or Apollos. So as I've mentioned in one of my other classes, what group of people do you suppose they were? I think it was the Jewish element. I think there were believing Jews in all these early congregations, and it naturally follows that since Peter had been steeped in Judaism, and located at Jerusalem, that he was the one that they more or less had an affinity for. After all he was connected to their background. And so with all of that going for Peter, we have this group of people as Jews, that since Peter was more connected to the Judaism of Jerusalem, and temple worship and all that, they more or less stuck with Peter. And it caused a division, and I imagine it was a rather stark division, or Paul wouldn't have considered it a problem. Now just like today, and I run into it constantly when I teach that our doctrines come from the pen of the Apostle Paul, and I can show from Scripture where Paul says, Ephesians 2.1 "...be ye followers of me, as I follow Christ." People rebelled at that, and they said, there's no way I'm going to follow Paul, I follow Jesus, I follow Christ. And they had the same thing here. Look at it. Ephesians 2.1 Anyway there were those who followed Paul, there were those who followed Apollos, and then there were those who said, we follow Christ. I guess it's a little later in the book of Corinthians, but anyhow it was another faction. Now why do you suppose they were doing that? For much the same reason that they were going to stay with Peter. Jesus was the one who had more or less brought all this to pass, they felt. It was Jesus who had instituted the work of the cross, and so forth. But whatever, Paul says you cannot have these divisions. Now then verse 5. Ephesians 2.1 And I think what's referred to here is the measure of faith. Even as God gave the measure of faith to every man, now Paul says, here's how it really works. I planted, Apollos came along and watered. But who brought about the increase? Well God did. That's the same way today. You don't have to always see the fruits of your witnessing and testimony. You don't have to be the one that sees a person saved. All you have to do is sow the seed. Someone else may come along and add to their understanding, and maybe even a third person will come along and bring them along a little further. But regardless of how many of us may be involved in the salvation of an individual, who is the final cause? God is. God gives the increase. Never lose sight of that. Verse 7. So now then, whether we're the planter, or whether we're the waterer, or whatever other part of the work we may do, that isn't what counts. Neither he that watereth, but God giveth the increase. And that's what we have to understand. Read it again. I have a planet, Apollos is watered, but God gave the increase. In other words, Paul doesn't even take credit for it himself. Now then verse 7. Neither is he that planeth anything, neither he that watereth. For God gave the increase. Verse 8. Now he that planeth, and he that watereth are one. See? I can't take credit for someone's salvation when someone else has had a part in it, even if I was the only one. I can't take credit for it, because I didn't save them. God did. And so this is the role of every believer. We sow the seed, and sometimes it only takes just a couple or three words. Maybe it's just a little statement that will make someone sit up and take notice about eternity. Hey, you've sowed the seed. And maybe something else will happen, and that person will all of a sudden be generated and get a hunger, and then God moves in and He finishes that work of salvation. Well I really do not have time to do the next part justice, but I guess we might as well try. Now in the light of everything we've seen this far in Corinthians, God is going to bring us now by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the pen of the Apostle Paul, this whole idea of works in the life of a believer. Now verse 9. Now remember what he just said. I planted, Apollos watered, maybe somebody else had a part in it, but God gave the increase. Now with that thought resting on your mind, come into verse 9. For we, all of us together, are laborers together with God. Now right about now I wish I could bring in one of these little portable beehives. You can set that beehive inside your house, and run a little inch pipe outside, and those bees will just start coming in that pipe, and they'll build their honey and all the works. Then you can just sit there at the table and watch them. Most interesting thing you could ever see. And then wherever the people that put these together, they mark the queen bee. So you can just watch that queen bee every place she goes. If you've never seen one, everybody is looking at me blank. I mean they are amazing, and how those little workers will kick out those that are lazy. You can just watch it all in front of your eye. Well here's exactly what we see here. Just like a hive of bees, busy with all of their workers, and they all have their unique little role to fulfill. Some do nothing but clean house for the queen, but they're all part of the hive. They're all working for the same purpose. Now Paul says that's what we are. We're laborers, not as individuals, not just for your local church, but that's not the end result. The end result is that we are God's husbandry, we are God's building. Now as I teach this, and I won't have time to go on into verses 12 -13 and so forth, but as you read this hopefully before the next program rolls around, I want you to envision yourself as being a worker building a wall of brick, and then we're going to see that God is going to give you 6 different materials to work with, as you build in that segment of the wall which is part of God's building, and every one of us are involved in it. Some of us may just never get out of our rocking chair, others may accomplish great things, but we're still just like those bees in the hive, we're all working together for a common purpose. Of course the analogy breaks down because God doesn't kick out the lazy worker, whereas the bees will. But nevertheless we are working every day toward the same end, and that is to bring glory to God, to fulfill or fill up the Body of Christ, which I taught here several weeks ago, that when the Body is complete, and the last person is brought in, what's going to happen? The Lord is going to take us, He's going to deliver us out of this old evil world, because the Body is now complete. So here is the whole concept here, that we are laboring with God, we are God's husbandry, we are part of God's building, and I don't want to go into verse 10 until we get into the full 30 minutes, but I'm going to have to stop here. That as workers, every believer, whether we're carnal like Corinth, or whether we're spiritual giants like some other great men of God, doesn't make any difference. We are all working for the same purpose, and that is to bring everything to God's end, and that's why He's left it in the hands of mortal men. Why didn't He put the Word of God in the hands of angels? Have you ever thought of that? He didn't leave it with angels. He has left it in the hands of mortal men, just exactly people like you and I, and we are not to sit on our chair and do nothing, but we are to labor just like that honey bee. 1,2,3,4,5 ,6,7 ,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15 ,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 ,24,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25 ,25,25,25,25,25,25,25,25