1 Corinthians 3 Review: Day 1
Be watchful- γρηγορέω (grégoreó) to be awake, to watch, to be vigilant
How spiritually mature are you?
What is the standard by which you accurately measure true wisdom?
According to what we’ve learned in 1 Corinthians 3, watchfulness here should perhaps begin with an examination of the marks of spiritual growth and maturity.
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Let’s consider spiritual growth in correlation with one’s spiritual “diet”. What are we consuming day in and day out? Better yet, what is consuming us?
According to Paul, you are what you eat. Those stuck in spiritual infancy are characterized by jealousy and bitter disputes (1 Corinthians 3:1-3) and are only capable of digesting spiritual milk.
The writer of Hebrews takes this a step further when he writes:
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:12-14
We must be on guard against placing mere men on a pedestal they don’t deserve, whether it is a pastor or speaker, spiritual leader, or politician. No matter how good or noble they may seem, they, like us, need a Savior and are only able to overcome sin and its consequences through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
As the Apostle Paul promises in 1 Corinthians 3:13, each believer’s work will one day be revealed and tested before the one to whom we will all one day give an account. (Also see Hebrews 4:13 and Romans 14:12).
Likewise, we must also be on guard against personal idolatry. Pay careful attention to Paul's words in Romans 12:3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
These words along with the Apostle’s counsel here in chapter three, implore us to remember we are, by the Lord’s divine order, meant to work shoulder to shoulder with other believers as farmers in God’s field and builders of God’s temple.
Are you building and investing your energy in precious stones or wood, hay, and stubble? Are you feasting on the food of God’s word and the prayer and fellowship of other saints? Does what you love and cherish the most consist of what will last for eternity, or will it pass away?
Questions for Consideration
Read Philippians 2:3-8 How is your diet? Has your consumption of spiritual truth led you towards humble repentance, and has it motivated you to think of and treat others as more important than yourself; or has the accumulation of superficial knowledge led you to a place of pride and self-importance? What are the root causes of spiritual malnourishment? Why is it so dangerous?
Read John 6:53-58, and 1 John 4:7-8 What did Jesus mean when he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”?
Is Jesus enough for you, and are you looking to him as your soul’s only hope and satisfaction? Do your attitudes, habits, and choices reflect a life that drinks and eats deeply from the God of the Bible, or are you dining at the table of self: eating but never filled; drinking but always thirsty?