Diorthosis Convention Day 4
Evening
Message I
Minister: Pastor Oluwaseyi Osanyinbi
Text: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Over time, we have interpreted the milk mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3 to mean ‘simple’ and the meat to be ‘complex’ teachings but this is not true. The difference between meat and milk is that meat places more demand on us than milk as believers. Children will always need and desire milk. No wonder Peter admonished us that we should desire the sincere milk of God’s word so that we may grow. By implication, we are not supposed to continually dwell on milk. It is not wrong to be a child but it is wrong to remain a child. Growth is not measured by gift – you can have all the gifts of the Spirit and still be a child like the Corinthian church.
If the Church must make progress in this journey to fullness, she must learn the principle of teamwork like Paul. Until we understand that it is not about he that plants or he that waters but it is about God who gives the increase; we will not make progress. Every member of the Church is like a vineyard just as the Church as a whole is a vineyard and God expects to harvest us at the end of the age. This is why He wants us to come into perfection. If we do not produce fruit, we will be cut off.
Israel disappointed God many times. God tried to get them to the place of finishing but they were unyielding. This opportunity was passed to us and God desires that we, unlike Israel, will get to the finish line – the place of perfection. We must understand that, like artisans, we all have different skill sets. Hence, we cannot all build the same way. The growth of the Church may not be visible but work is surely going on. Our beauty would be revealed in our finishing the same way the beauty of a house is in its finishing. The people that will finish the race and come to perfection are going to come with different skill sets.
As God’s building, we must pay attention to two things: how we build and what kind of materials we build with. We must pay attention to the kind of men we ordain. When we bring the wrong men into position, it tells on the quality of our building.
Matthew 24:22
As members of each other, we are to come, contribute our quota, and leave the rest for others. Unfortunately, it is not so today. Everybody wants to start their own move and this has led to the distortion of the Church’s spiritual architecture. Instead of coming up with our own designs, let us work according to God’s design.
God does not call lazy people; if you are lazy, you cannot do God’s work. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your heart. Whatever you are given to do, do it wholeheartedly. Know one thing though – no work that is acceptable to God is done in the flesh