Sermon Tone Analysis

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We’re going to dive straight into the text today.

It’s a large section, and it’s going to take us two weeks to get through it all.

So, we’ll deal with the bulk of the text today.

Then next week is VBS, and we will be doing a special VBS Sunday.

Then the following week, we’ll come back to this passages to discuss some inferences of the text that we will skip today.

This text is about spiritual maturity.

Paul contrasts the person who lives according to the world, the unspiritual or natural man, with those who live according to the Spirit, the spiritual person or the spiritually mature.

So, today we are going to look at three truths about the Spiritually mature so that we can gauge our own spiritual maturity as individuals, but more so, that we can understand the purpose of spiritual maturity for the functioning of the church and the mission of God.

It’s pretty clear, however, that Paul does not mean to say that all Christians are spiritual and all non-Christians are unspiritual.

For the most part, Paul is actually contrasting spiritual people in the church with unspiritual people, here in the church.

So, today we are going to look at three truths about the Spiritually mature so that we can gauge our own spiritual maturity as individuals, but more so, that we can understand the purpose of spiritual maturity for the functioning of the church and the mission of God.

The first is that…

The Spiritually Mature Rule the Church

By that, I mean that leaders in the church must be spiritually mature, regardless of how unspiritual their position may seem.

But, the negative inference is not true.

I’m not saying that if you’re not in leadership you can’t be spiritually mature.

So, I want to remind you of the context of this passage.

The Corinthians didn’t have any official rulers or leaders, and so there were factions among them; they were following a couple different teachers, and it was causing infighting.

We know from the text that they lacked spiritual maturity; Paul says,

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?

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

(, ESV)

We get this sense of shock from Paul because even after what probably amounts to years or even decades, there are people who are still just babies in their faith; they have no spiritual maturity.

That should serve as a warning to those of you who are like me, raised in the church, or you professed Christ decades ago.

Age and time spent in the church aren’t in any way a gauge of our spiritual maturity.

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Maybe it’s Paul’s fault, then, that the Corinthians aren’t spiritually mature.

Remember he didn’t appoint elders or pastors to rule in the church to preach and teach and lead.

Maybe the reason Paul didn’t give them leaders when he planted the church was that there was no one with the spiritual maturity to actually lead.

And that makes sense.

It’s clear that the Corinthians were not spiritually mature people.

They did not know how to live rightly, and they did not make good decisions.

Paul says they acted in a merely human way.

I don’t know how you take ‘in a human way.’

But, it seems clear by the context that they wanted their needs met and their preferences catered to.

Paul says that to behave in a human way is to have jealousy and strife—dissension, conflict, rivalry.

It’s to divide—certainly, not over truth and untruth, that’s a natural division—it’s to divide over preferences and perspectives.

“I follow Paul and he does things this way.”

“Well I follow Apollos and he said to do this.”

That’s very human.

We understand that, but spiritual people do not act this way.

On the contrary, spiritual people look for unity and understanding of other’s perspectives.

Let’s look more at the unspiritual people in the passage.

Paul says that the unspiritual person,

…does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them.

(, ESV)

Paul has some very specific things in mind when he says, ‘the things of the Spirit of God,’ that we will address in detail in a couple weeks, [SLOW] but it’s clear here that the unspiritual person does not understand why spiritual people do the things that they do according to the Spirit.

In other words, when a spiritual person makes a decision in the church, the unspiritual people perceive it as foolish.

“I don’t understand why we would spend money in this way.”

“I don’t understand why we don’t have these programs.”

“I don’t understand why we say things in such and such a way.”

“I don’t understand why we sing those songs, use that Bible translation, use the website, etc.”

Further, the wisdom of God that the Spirit imparts to the spiritually mature, is hidden from the spiritually immature.

Paul says,

But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (, ESV)

This wisdom of God that comes by the Spirit is what Paul refused to teach to the Corinthians because they were unspiritual.

They just couldn’t handle it yet.

He says,

I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.

And even now you are not yet ready.

(, ESV)