For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another, I belong to Apollos, are you not [proving yourselves] ordinary (unchanged) men? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Ministering servants [not heads of parties] through whom you believed, even as the Lord appointed to each his task:
1 Corinthians 3:4-5
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
1 Corinthians 3:11
This chapter is mostly correction from Paul for the Corinthians. They divided themselves into groups following either the ministry of Paul or Apollos. He instructs them that he and Apollos are different players on the same team- a team that shares the gospel of Christ. Using the example of gardners, he states that both the person who plants and the person who waters play an important role in the cultivating process. Without planting, there would be nothing to water; and without watering, there would be no harvest.
There are two points I'd like to draw from this illustration. The first is no person's work for the kingdom of God is less important than another's. Just like Paul and Apollos, we work in conjunction with each other for a common purpose- to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to those around us. You may share God's love with someone, and they come to church. If someone else leads them in the prayer of salvation, it's obvious that you both played a huge and neccessary role in the salvation of that one person. This is just one of many examples I could share.
The second point I'd like to touch on is that we should always ensure that the foundation of our faith is not in any human, but in Christ. Part of the Corinthians problem was that they were solely following one leader and rejecting the teaching of another. The correct approach would have been to learn from both, applying the godly principles and teaching of Paul and Apollos to their relationship with Jesus. When we go to church or bible studies, we should be careful not to put anyone in foundational spot of Christ. We do not glorify the person in the place of God because they're a great teacher or leader; we recognize the authority given to them by God and learn from them. The core desire of those in our ministry team is not for attention on ourselves, but to spur our family of believers on in their pursuit of God. Everyone's work is important and everyone's goal is the same- to bring glory to God. Questions? Comments? Post them in the chat below!
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