Still on Milk or Ready for Solid Food?
Pastor Tan Thai · Sep 25, 2016
This sermon from 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 explores the difference between spiritually mature believers and those who remain 'infants' in Christ. The pastor identifies jealousy, strife, and factionalism as signs of spiritual immaturity, and calls the congregation to unity in Christ.
This sermon was preached on Sunday, September 25, 2016, as part of a sermon series through 1 Corinthians. The pastor first reviews the historical background: the apostle Paul founded the church at Corinth during his second missionary journey around AD 49–50, and 1 Corinthians was written around AD 55 to address serious problems in the congregation as well as to answer theological questions sent to Paul by the believers.
The core of the sermon focuses on 1 Corinthians 3:1–9, where Paul describes the Corinthian believers as 'infants in Christ' — people still needing milk rather than solid food, even five years after coming to faith. The pastor explains that 'spiritual milk' represents the basic understanding and reception of salvation by grace through faith, while 'solid food' represents mature knowledge of Scripture, the ability to discern true from false teaching, presenting oneself as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1–2), and genuinely bearing the fruit of the Spirit in daily life.
The pastor identifies the concrete signs of spiritual infancy: jealousy, strife, and factionalism — dividing into camps behind different leaders, just as the Corinthians divided themselves behind Paul, Apollos, Peter, or Christ. He emphasizes that these same patterns appear in today's churches through rivalry within church boards, ministry teams, and between denominations.
The pastor calls the congregation to stop criticizing, envying, and competing with believers from other denominations, reminding them that no denomination is without blemish in its history. Rather than emphasizing differences, he urges emphasizing shared doctrines and the shared mission of proclaiming the Gospel. When asked about their religion, believers should simply answer 'I am a Christian' — the very identity first recorded in Scripture in Acts 11:26.
In conclusion, the pastor returns to the truth of 1 Corinthians 3:5–9: Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God alone causes the growth. Every person serving in the church is merely a co-laborer with God and will receive a fair reward from Him. Jealousy and strife arise when people seek human recognition for their work rather than leaving it to God alone to see and reward.