Building Project

1st Corinthians 3:1-9

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? 4 For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. 9 For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Starting this week, Dan has 58 heifers that are supposed to start calving and as many of you know, calving heifers can be difficult.  This is the largest number of heifers that Dan has ever attempted to calve and I am sure the next few weeks will be full of challenges.  In preparation for all of these heifers getting ready to calve, Dan purchased two hoop buildings.  It took several weeks for them to arrive at the farm and there was a lot of dirt work that had to be done before we could build them.  During the course of most winters, there is a stretch of time where it is not that bad to be outside but that has not been the case this  winter so needless to say, the buildings have not gotten built and calving this many heifers without the extra room will be interesting.  These hoop buildings are still under construction.  We are going through the same sort of construction here at the church and I am sure many of you have had to wait for something to be built, whether it be a home, a remodel, or some sort of building that you have had to wait on.  We all have had some sort of project that has been under construction at some point.  These projects hardly ever go as planned.  There will be something that slows the projects, whether it be one little piece that has to be ordered that was forgotten about or it was the weather that has caused the project to go slower than planned.  Someone once told me that building projects very rarely go as planned and I am starting to see that as true more each day.  This morning, I would like all of us to look at our faith as a building project that is under construction.  

Paul opens our scripture this morning by telling the Corinthians that they were “still worldly -- mere infants in Christ.”  This brings to attention another metaphor: I have learned a lot about what it means to be a parent over the past two and a half years.  The parent I was two and a half years ago is not the same parent I am now and will not be the same parent I will be in 18 years.  So you could say that I am a parent that is “under construction.”  As Christians, we too are constantly under construction.  No matter our age, there is room to expand our understanding of God, to remodel our faith and there is time for us to become closer to God.  This is the essence of our scripture this morning: understanding that our faith is constantly changing, constantly evolving and it is my honest opinion that this is how God intended it.  During the course of my time in the Commissioned Ministries Program, my faith has been challenged, stretched and changed.  If it weren’t for these courses, I would not have had the pleasure of growing in my faith.  My challenge to all of you is to do the same.  I have had the classes to help me do this but there are things that happen during the course of our everyday lives that allow us to do the same.  I encourage all of you to seek out avenues that challenge your faith, that cause you to really think about what you believe.  My hope for you is that this does not discourage your faith but that it infinitely increases it.  In our scripture for this morning, Paul draws on the images of a baby to help us better understand maturity, or lack thereof at times.  Paul is being critical of the Corinthians and challenging their spiritual maturity.  Paul is telling them that they are like infants that are being fed milk because they are not yet ready for solid food because they are still worldly.

As we saw a couple weeks ago, there had been some arguing in the church of Corinth because they were following other church leaders instead of God.  Paul is wanting them to shift their focus from these leaders to God.  Paul uses an agricultural reference that we are all familiar with: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”  Often times, we often think it is the job of church leaders that help us grow in our faith and for the longest time, I would have agreed with this way of thinking.  The job of our church leaders is only to plant the seed and water it, but we are the ones who must invest into our faith so God can grow that seed.  For a very long period of time, it was common for us to believe that once we have gained our faith that it was not meant to change for change sometimes gives us the misconception of weakness.  But change is not at all a sign of weakness, to me, if we have the wherewithal to change, it is a sign of strength.  For example, if I was the same parent today as I was two and a half years ago, I would be doing my children a disservice.  If I were the same pastor I was two years ago, I would be doing all of you a disservice.  If I were the same hired man I was five years ago, I don’t think I would still have a job at the farm.  In all other aspects of our lives, change is often viewed as a good thing, but for some reason, our faith is not one of those.  Today, I want to encourage all of you to have the strength, not to necessarily change what you believe but at the very least, have the courage and strength to grow, to build, to expand, to remodel your faith.  Recently, I have talked about the Church’s relevance in today’s world and it is my firm belief that the only way for the Church to remain relevant is to be constantly challenging itself to be better. so it can better serve God’s people.  Jesus once said that he came to this earth to serve, not to be served.  As the hands and feet of Christ, we too must carry this same attitude.  We must remember that we have come here today, and every Sunday, to regain our strength so we can go out into the world to serve.  Our job here on Sunday is to lift each other up, to refresh ourselves, and to grow so we can go out into the world and serve others just as we are commissioned.  It is up to all of you to go out and plant seeds in the hearts of others.  If you can get those people to come here, I will help you water those seeds but God is the only one who can grow those seeds.  

In closing, it does not matter how long the seed of Christ has been planted in your heart, it still has room to grow.  It does not matter how long the building project of your faith has been going on, God is here to help you, I am here to help you and if you look around, there are many here who are willing to help, willing to water that seed but it is up to you if you will let God allow that seed to grow.  Take advantage of the opportunities given to you by God each and every day to grow your own faith and to help others do the same.  You may be the planter or the waterer of that seed of faith and God has given you the tools to do that.  If someone has planted that seed of faith in you and you are willing to walk hand in hand with God and watch that faith blossom into something beautiful, you may do so as we sing our next hymn.  Have the courage grow, have the strength to know you can be something more, have the wisdom to serve as Paul says in verse 9, “For we are God’s servants, working together; [we] are God’s field, God’s building.”  Amen.