Fellow Workers in the Lord’s Service

Transcript

GR 2344
04/24/2022
Fellow Workers in the Lord's Service
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Gil Rugh


We're going to the book of 1 Corinthians in your Bibles. My plan is to go through the first four chapters so you have an idea. We're condensing some of the other, we'll be doing probably two messages out of chapter 3. When we did the book we did four messages out of chapter 3 so if you would like a little more detail you can stop by Sound Words and they can give you some help if you want to pursue a little more of the detail. We're in 1 Corinthians 3. Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, that's where we get the letter 1 Corinthians. This is his first letter, we have 2 Corinthians, we have two letters at least that have been preserved for us written to the church at Corinth and they are both larger letters. So it becomes a church of some importance and significance down to today because of what is recorded in the New Testament scriptures.

Paul began in chapter 1 if you want to go back there in verse 2, he is writing “to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling.” So we want to keep that before us because we think of the first letter particularly to the Corinthians as filled with problems. There is trouble, there are difficulties in the church, but Paul wonders, did I labor in vain among you. One problem after another. But important that we keep in mind the opening nine verses or so of this letter, he is writing to the church, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. They are “saints by calling,” those that God has set apart for Himself by faith in His Son Jesus Christ. By the time we get to verse 10 and through chapter 4 he is going to talk about the divisions and the conflicts in the church. And then he'll get into other problems and conflicts. But we want to be clear that we are talking about people who are believers in Jesus Christ. Now within the church we'll recognize there may be unbelievers. May have to scratch his head and say I wonder sometimes whether I labored in vain among you. You don't know. But he is writing, they are basically the church of God, sanctified in Christ Jesus. So he is writing to correct behavior among believers primarily.

In verses 4-9 he gave thanks for all that God has done for them in Christ. They, verse 5, “in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and in all knowledge.” Verse 7, “So that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He'll confirm you, verse 8, “to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son.” This is a true church. There may be unbelievers in it but by and large Paul is writing to them as a group of professing believers who comprise the church at Corinth. Yet as it mentioned in verses 10ff he has to go into the problems and the conflicts. They have divided over their favorite person or their favorite teacher. Verse 12, I say this “that each one of you is saying, ‘I am of Paul,’ and ‘I am of Apollos,’ and ‘I am of Cephas,’ and ‘I am of Christ.’ ” This division over teaching and teachers and I like this person, I like Apollos. Apollos followed Paul at Corinth. In Acts 18 Paul established the church at Corinth, then upon his leaving Apollos shortly came and took up the ministry at Corinth, the latter part of Acts 18. That's fine, that's wonderful, but it shouldn't take attention off . . . Think about Paul, think about Apollos. No, think about Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. And as Paul is going to make clear as we look into chapter 3, we're just servants. You don't focus on the servant, you focus on the One that they serve, the Master.

The end of chapter 2, verse 14, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised.” It takes the work of the Spirit in the life of the believer to enable him to understand and properly apply the Word of God to his life. The natural man, the soulish man, the man without the Spirit doesn't understand. He may be very intelligent, humanly speaking. He may have great knowledge and write about the Scriptures, but he doesn't have true understanding of the Word of God. So the natural man doesn't accept the things of the Spirit of God. Paul wants to make clear because the danger of the church at Corinth, the danger facing the church today in the United States, to focus at where we are, is that we think, we will become more like the world, we adjust and fit and then we are successful. And we really realize we are in two different realms, two different worlds. We're in the natural world and we have the spirit world. We live in a natural world but we are a spiritually controlled people. And that makes all the difference in the world. “He who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him?” verse 16, “But we have the mind of Christ.” That does not cause us to exalt in ourselves and promote ourselves, it is a humbling thing to remind ourselves that it's the work of the Spirit of God in our life that gives us an appreciation and an understanding of the things of God.

But chapter 3 opens up, “I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.” There is a problem, the problem in the church at Corinth is not with what God has done in the life of a Corinthian believer in Jesus Christ, but the believer's response and submissiveness to the Spirit of God and His directing in their life. I could not speak to you as to spiritual men. And we just saw, he is writing to them as the church of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:12 says, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the things freely given to us by God.” You can sit in this church, you can attend it from the time you were little until you are grown up and really not know and understand the truth of God. The natural man, the man apart from the work of the Spirit doesn't understand the things of the Spirit of God. There is a general agreement but really understanding from within, a recognition of the truth, the things of the Spirit of God basically are foolishness to the world. We see more and more of it displayed. Again, limiting it just to our country for now, more rejection of the things of God—the role of a man and a woman, the truth of the Word of God as the authority. As it becomes more general, it becomes more acceptable to be more open in our display of the rejection of the things of God. And if you want to bring up God, you are out of line because that's your own personal conviction. Keep it to yourself. And that's not new. Two thousand years ago Paul wrote the letter to the Corinthians, reminding them that the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness, he cannot understand them. Now a believer has the Spirit of God, “we have the mind of Christ,” verse 16, the Spirit of God dwells in us. But then in chapter 3 as we have it, it opens up and says I “could not speak to you as to spiritual men.” So he is drawing a distinction, he doesn't call them the unspiritual, those without the Spirit, but they are believers but they are stuck in their infancy. “I could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as infants in Christ.” That's where we are, ‘carnal,’ the Greek word, but we get the word ‘carnal’ from the Latin. It's the fleshly. “I could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.” That's what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about those who don't have the Spirit at all now, but I'm talking about those who have the Spirit but they are not functioning in a way that is consistent and develops the person. I speak to you as men of flesh. You are infants in Christ, you are self-focused. This is what a baby does. He is truly human but he is an infant. He cries when he doesn't get his way, he cries when he wants this. There is a developing process. It's another area where we don't take the Scripture as our authority for the training and developing of young people, but spiritually the analogy fits very clearly.

Five years earlier Paul had established this church so it's only five years old. Most of you have been believers, just looking out over the audience, over five years. But he is saying you ought to be a lot further along in five years than you are, you ought to be submissive to the Spirit and you are not. Something is wrong. I'm writing to you as fleshly men, infants in Christ. In other words, you have been born into the family but you haven't grown, you haven't developed as you should. That's what he is talking about when he talks about a carnal Christian. We're talking about people who are infants when they ought to have grown beyond that. It's one thing when I just trusted Christ a week and a half ago. We're excited for you, we're glad. You grow. But after a year there ought to be some indication of the growth. Two years, three years, four years, five years. This is preserved for us in the Word of God because it's a reminder to us as a church. Doesn't matter that we've been in existence for 50, 60 years. Are we functioning like men of flesh? As infants in Christ? I want my way, this is how I see it.

Many years ago, I couldn't help but think about it as I worked through this passage, I set aside a week because we were having a conflict as a church and it caused a division. Many years ago. And people came in, they made an appointment with my secretary and they came in through the week, morning, day, evening; all week long people came in. But they always started to say, this is not doctrinal, this is not about the teaching. We're in agreement with that. And I couldn't help but think of this letter of Paul to the Corinthians. It's not about doctrine, it's not about the teaching but somehow we want our way, my way. And it causes conflict, it causes division as it did in the church at Corinth.

So Paul says I responded to where you were spiritually, “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able to receive it.” Now the ultimate teacher is the Spirit of God. There is nothing wrong with the basics of the Gospel, the basics of the Gospel are foundational to everything. An analogy I have written down in my notes was the alphabet. It's fine, you learn the alphabet and you build on that. You don't just disregard it because the ABCs, so to speak, make up words and words make up sentences and sentences make up paragraphs and on it goes. But there is something wrong if you are just stuck with the ABCs kind of thing. We know that there may be something that is so worked physically in an infant that they don't develop and they just learn basics. We say that's not normal, that's not what is good. When spiritually it happens there is something wrong in a church. There is something wrong in the church at Corinth, that church that God had called, set apart for Himself, had given all the spiritual gifts necessary. And yet Paul has to say I couldn't write to you as spiritual men, as a church that is under the control of the Spirit of God and is maturing and growing as God intends it to grow.

“I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you are not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.” We have this problem, I'm not growing, I'm not maturing, I'm all about me and how I understand it, what I . . . Wait a minute, we do have the Holy Spirit, each one of us, but then God has put us together in a body, in a fellowship of believers. The basics of the Gospel do not change, but our understanding of that. If you have been a believer for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years you understand, it's still the basics of placing your faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross and we rejoice in that. But then there is a development that continues to grow and mature. Again, using perhaps the alphabet as an example, as a baby as example. The milk is fine, but you have to grow beyond that and develop and mature. “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, you weren't yet able to receive it.” The problem is you are not now yet able to receive it. It's been five years, I have to go back to the ABCs. He did that in the first two chapters, he took them back to the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 1:17, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” So the message of the cross, we have to stay focused on this and develop here and mature. 1 Corinthians 2:2, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Paul, that's part of the problem, you just stuck with baby . . . No, but everything flows out of that. You are a mature believer now, you've been a believer for 30 years but it's not the death of Christ on the cross is any less significant. It has grown, you see it as permeating every area of life, every decision I make, every action I make. I'm not on my own, God has saved me and placed me part of a body. Well, I know and I really like Paul, as he is going to go on in 1 Corinthians 3:4,5—I am of Apollos, I'm . . . You missed the point. Apollos probably had his own little twist on the way he presented it compared to Paul but they weren't presenting different truth. And the Corinthians were stuck at infancy, It’s always a negative in Paul, he talks about the childhood. That's fine, we're growing, we're all growing. If you've been a believer for five years that's fine, you are not as mature probably, I hope not, as a believer who has been a believer for 25 years. But the infant stage denotes there is something wrong, you are not developing any longer, you are focused in on your own self.

“You are still fleshly,” carnal, we get it. “There is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men.” Galatians 5:20 mentions these two things—jealousy and strife. Those are marks of an unregenerate person. Now I have this mixture, I have the truth that Christ died on the cross but now I have my own selfish selfness and . . . Paul said there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not still fleshly, are you not fleshly? You are still fleshly, you are walking like mere men. Something is wrong, you are to be walking by the Spirit now. Something is drastically wrong. We want to take this to heart because this is written to the church at Corinth, to those who are saints by calling and yet they are not meshing together. You are still fleshly. There is jealousy and strife among you, there is conflict, there is disagreement. This is why I used the example early on of people years ago, and I spent a whole week and it started out, almost every conversation, this is not about doctrine, this is not about the teaching. Then it's jealousy and strife? What's the division among the church at Corinth over? It is not about doctrine, but it is about doctrine. And really it does come to be doctrine because we are back to Christ is not the focus of what we are dealing with here. Are you walking like men? You have the Spirit, you claim to have the Spirit, you claim the Spirit is working in your life but you have factions, divisions, conflicts not over doctrine, although when you get down to it, it is a doctrinal issue because if you have jealousy and strife that's a doctrinal issue. Because we shouldn't have it as believers.

So let's call it like it is, and that's what the Spirit of God directs Paul to do. You are still fleshly. These are the same people that we read about in 1 Corinthians 1:2, I'm writing “to the church of God, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling.” Verse 5, “In everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge.” Verse 9, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son.” And on it goes, and we're only a little bit into this letter and he says you are still fleshly. That's why Paul in some of his writings will say, where are you really spiritually? You are still fleshly. Since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly? Are you not walking like . . . You are living like you don't have the Spirit, but you claim to have the Spirit. And I believe that God has done a work in your life. What's the evidence? Let's have something concrete here, if you're going to tell me I'm fleshly and I'm walking like a man.

Here, verse 4, “When one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not mere men?” Mere man, Paul, Apollos. I am of Paul, I am of Apollos. Well, that's part of it. Paul was my man; I really like Apollos, he was the guy. Wait a minute, “when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not mere men?” I take it Paul and Apollos were different. Paul acknowledges, sometimes he is criticized for his ineptness in speech. Apollos was maybe more polished. That's not what it is about. So you have to deal here, we're dealing with what we call carnal Christians. Carnal Christians aren't people that profess to have been saved but for years I've looked and there is no fruit in their life or anything. That's not a carnal Christian. A carnal Christian is one who does have evidence of the Spirit's work in their life, like the Corinthians. You go back to chapter 1 and there is evidence in the Corinthians that God has done a work in them, but there is evidence that they have stalled, they are stuck in their spiritual infancy and they are taken up with I just love Apollos, I wish you could hear Apollos, because Paul was all right but there is nobody like Apollos. Or I really like Peter and it is going to go on. Wait a minute, again we've lost sight of who is the focus here—Jesus Christ is the focus.

So verse 4 he says “I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not mere men?” Now we come to the letter to the Corinthians, the first letter, just focusing on it, we have many doctrinal issues to deal with, as mentioned earlier. The role of men and women, the communion service, and on it goes. There is all kind of doctrine that he has to straighten out. But the real problem is they have lost their focus on what really matters. And so it is my opinion about this, my like or dislike about this person or that person, my view of this or that. The doctrines are grounded, they don't change. Paul has to correct that, but part of the problem is they have gotten twisted . . . Paul doesn't say Apollos is teaching anything different than he taught, or Peter, but it indicates a carnality, a fleshliness that that's what determines whether something is acceptable or not.

Verse 4, “One says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not mere men?” There is to be a unity in the church, there is to be a harmony in the church. That's why God has appointed elders. Acts 20:28 says, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,” addressing the elders of the church at Ephesus, “to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” There is to be a unity and a harmony. Well, it's not doctrinal. This is why I used the example. When people say it's not doctrinal, what are we talking about? How can I resolve this? You don't like this person, you like this person; you don't like this person, you like this person. What's the doctrine here? Well, I sometimes think people just don't want to get into a debate over doctrine, but is there a doctrinal issue at stake here? And usually when people I've talked to, it's not over doctrine, they don't want to get involved in that. Why? Because we'll just go to the Word and find out what the doctrine is. If it is not doctrinal, quit making an issue over it and get on with your life. Doesn't mean you agree with everything. I don't agree with what they wear there, I don't agree with how they do this. Who cares? But the doctrine does matter, truth does matter. Paul is going to get into this. I just used the example of the male and female roles, Paul is going to get into that. He's going to tell the women to be quiet, I don't allow a woman to talk. We just try to put that into perspective and function accordingly. We don't have women teaching the classes. It's not about doctrine, but they end up at a church where they do have . . . For example, if you left the church at Corinth and went to a church because… Well, it's not doctrinal. Then I meet people that have been here. (I'm winding down so I can just say what I want to say and Jesse has to try to put it all back together again. That's just his role.) But they want to say, we go to this church and then they want to tell me what is doctrinally wrong with the church they are going to. Well, what are you going there for? Why did you leave Indian Hills? I didn't agree with this. Was it doctrinal? Well, it wasn't doctrinal but it was . . . 1 Corinthians 3, don't function like you are just men. You have the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God will direct you according to the Word of God.

“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul?” Two examples because Apollos followed Paul. Again, you can read it in Acts 18. Paul left, had to leave, he had his own conflicts and opposition to him, but he established the church at Corinth and then Apollos came and ministered the Word after Paul had moved on. Somehow you had people, I really like Paul, I wish we had him back; I'm an Apollos man, he really is clear. Wait a minute, the doctrine doesn't change. What is the truth? I don't care whether Paul wore this kind of robe or Apollos wore that kind of robe or Apollos was more fluent speaker and Paul was a little bit choppy. That's not what matters. So “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul?” And here you ought to mark this, “Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.” Wait a minute, why are we gathered around the servants? The servants come to point us to the Master. What is Paul? What is Apollos? Servants. Apollos and Paul are simply servants. Somehow the church at Corinth had I am an of Paul man, I am an Apollos man and later Paul will say I have used that as an example, used Apollos and myself as examples. But the point is they divided among who they liked and who they didn't like, not on the doctrine. They are servants, “even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.” Down in verse 10 Paul will say, “According to the grace of God which was given me.” So it's back to it's not about me, it's God's grace that enabled me to do. “I laid a foundation, and another building on it.” It's the same grace God in His grace gifts has given men to function differently. That's fine, but He hasn't given any man to say, that's me. I know about this. What about the doctrine? It's not about doctrine. Then get over it. One thing we learn about is we learn to love each other and appreciate each other because of our differences.

That doesn't mean the Lord doesn't lead some to other churches, He does. I meet people and they say we are at so-and-so, we're growing and we're involved there. That's fine, you have to be where the Lord wants you. Some of you came from other churches to here, that's fine. But I have had some church leaders tell me sometimes people from Indian Hills are just a problem here. They are so critical. Well that's not it, if you are there because this is where the Lord wants you, then build that work. That's “servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.” They are just carrying out what the Lord has directed in taking the truth of God, explaining it, applying it. That's the goal. “Servants through whom you believed,” that's what Paul says, that's what Paul is. I was saved through Apollos. That's fine. Saved how? Through faith in the death and resurrection of Christ. So all Paul was, was a servant or slave; all Apollos was, was a servant to bring you the truth. But you really were identified with Jesus Christ, your faith in Him and His death and His burial and His resurrection. He died for you. Yes, of course. Then what are you all wrapped up with Apollos for? Or Paul? Or Peter? They are all telling you that. Yes, but I think Apollos really did it so much more eloquently and clearly and helpfully than Paul did it. That's nice. What you are really saying is the Spirit of God used Apollos in your life in a great way. Thank the Lord for Apollos. But that doesn't mean now we have the Apollos faction or the Paul faction or whatever. “As the Lord gave to each one.”

Note verse 6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” That's what the Lord gave to each one. God was causing the growth. The end of verse 7, “but God causes the growth.” Each of these are simply servants that God has provided. He took Paul out of the church at Corinth, sent him on his way. He brought Apollos in, not so you could decide now we can have a division, whether it's Paul or Apollos or … That's just an example but it's the faction dividing among men. Are we presenting a different Christ? Are we presenting a different . . . Who caused the growth? “I planted, Apollos watered.” Okay, I appreciate Apollos, he's my kind of guy, he watered. Wait, who caused the growth? Who saved you to begin with? Who has enabled you to grow? It's all the work of God. God was causing the growth.

“So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything.” Puts it here as clear as he can. It was God causing the growth. So the one who plants, that's fine; the one who waters, that's fine. Those are all important, there are distinct roles, there are distinct responsibilities, all the gifts that Paul is going to talk about, they all contribute in one way or another. But when all is said and done, without the work of God nothing happens. I can preach until I am blue in the face, until I am 140 and nothing happens unless God takes His Word and uses it to transform a heart by drawing that person to faith in Christ. And then a person is nurtured in the Word and they grow. But we have people who sat in this church under my ministry for years and I think they probably never really are truly born again. What did I accomplish in their life? They are confirmed in their lostness but only God can save a soul. And that's the point. God causes the growth, it's God doing the work. The end of verse 6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” The end of verse 7, “God who causes the growth.” “Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything.” It puts it in perspective, I am nothing. Well, this church depends on me. I've been here for many years and I've taught the Word. You'll either be my follower or you'll take whatever comes. Wait a minute, what am I? There are people who have labored more diligently than I have and been more faithful than I have and they've seen not a handful of people come to know Christ, grow to maturity.

Verse 6, “I planted, Apollos watered, God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one.” I thought I was a Paul man, I was an Apollos man. Well, they are just one, they are both servants of the same God. So how are you dividing among them? “Each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” We measure success, and we don't like to say, but the world's standards influence us. I am successful because the church has grown; someone else, they have labored and they have poured their life into ministry, but they just had a handful of people. Because I am important and they are less. Wait, who caused the growth? God. Well,
of course God, but He used me. He used that person, He used the person who . . . We look at the prophets and the prophets who are killed, there are prophets who have a long ministry. If you are faithful, doing what God calls you to do . . . We have one task, we serve one God if we are in this together. “He who plants and he who waters are one,” one, “but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” Now that word ‘labor,’ toil, it is not measurable. When the rewards are given out we may find that person who labored and toiled and gave everything he could as he taught the Word, but God wasn't using it to change lives and hearts. But they will be rewarded for their labor, not for their success. I can take credit but ultimately God bestows the credit. All I do is teach the Word.

I remember being asked years ago, the church was growing, all the seats were full, we were putting in metal chairs in the aisles. I don't know, I just get up and tell people to turn in their Bible to this passage and we teach and they keep pouring in. Why? Because God was doing something. But someone else was as faithful or more faithful with the Word and God wasn't doing the same thing in lives. What does that mean? That means he was faithful, labor, his labor, his labor. “Each will receive,” verse 8, “his own reward according to his own labor,” not according to his own success. His own labor. So I am faithful with the gifts God has given me, I'm using it to the ultimate end. This is where the church, and we're seeing it in the United States, we're seeing it in the world, but we're here in the United States, we constantly are under pressure and the subtle change is there will be less emphasis on the Word because we have more success because we get more people. Wait a minute, what are we called to do? What if God is done with His work? Well, I hope the new pastor is going to fill these empty seats. I hope so, too. If that is what God is doing. If not, I hope he doesn't. But one thing we do is we pray that the man will be faithful with the Word and it may continue to shrink, or it may grow. I don't know. Each labor, “each will receive his own reward according to his own labor,” verse 8. ‘Kopos’ is the word, it means toil, labor. But there have been people have gone to the mission field or gone to difficult places and they have labored and they have taught the Word and nothing happens. Well, if I had been there they probably would have had something happen. Probably not. If I were faithful with the Word and God wasn't doing what He is doing now, I don't know. We're going to move toward the tribulation and that seven-year period before the coming of Christ and people are going to die for teaching the Word. All they are going to do is be faithful with their labor.

“We are God's fellow-workers,” we are God's fellow-workers. Don't want to lose sight of who we are. “We are God's fellow-workers; you are God's field, God's building.” Put this in perspective, I am just a worker, you are God's field, you are God's building. All the credit goes to Him. All I am is a fellow-worker, one that He is using but you are God's building, you are God's field. That puts it in perspective. I am a worker serving the living God. You are God's field, God's building. I just have to be careful to be faithful with what He has called me to do in ministering to you. That's the key. Everything is God's, it's not mine. What's going to happen to my church? Well, it’s my church since I belong here, like you belong here, but ultimately it's God's building, it's God's field. He determines what is going to happen here, we don't. We pray for one another, we pray for the ministry but ultimately God decides.

Let me wrap this up by bringing several points to you from 1 Corinthians 3, just the last part of what we talked about, verses 5-9. First point, the Lord gives certain servants to be instruments through whom some come to faith in Christ. That was in verse 5. “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed.” God chooses. Why, I don't know. It's because God has chosen to do that work. I was blessed to be here, I was blessed to preach the Word. I remember thinking, oh, Lord - we came having 60 people, 33 adults - Lord, if we could get to 250, that would be great because then if we had a family or two that move away we'd still have a stable group. The Lord did much more. That's just because . . . He said, that kind of preaching, I have to do more. No, had nothing to do with it because all I did was open the Word and say, here is the Word. There are people in places in this country and around the world that did that for their whole life and didn't see a fraction of what we saw. So what am I? The Lord gives certain servants to be instruments to whom some come to faith. Paul preached in Athens, as far as we know there was no church established. There is no church recorded in Athens, but he went on to Corinth and there was. I don't know. It is God's doing.

Secondly, God's servants have differing responsibilities, it is God who produces the growth. That's verse 6. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” We want to be careful because the world comes up with if we put these two together and we mix things, then we cancel out the effectiveness. And Paul talked about that back in chapter 1 and into chapter 2. Then it is not God's work any longer. We can get 100,000 people at a football game. You're going to say Gil's preaching, probably not going to get 100,000 people out. So we want to be careful. We think we mix and then we work in the Gospel but we cancel the effectiveness of the message when we mix it with men's ideas. So God's servants have differing responsibilities. It is God who causes the growth.

Thirdly, it is not the servants who are significant, but God who causes the growth. Very simple, I am a servant. I came here 50+ years ago and there were 60 people. I was a servant, I preached the Word, the Spirit of God did what He and He alone could do with the Word in lives. And the work grew. Oh, I'll take credit for that. Well, who gets the credit? There are men who have been preaching the Word faithfully for many years and they have very little to show, but it is their labor that will be rewarded. That's the key. They were faithful and they'll be rewarded for their faithfulness. I thought, I guess I'll get a big reward because I had a bigger church. No, may find out this person who labored and they say he wasn't very successful but he taught the Word but nobody got saved or hardly anybody and hardly anybody was growing. But he was faithful, he labored. Want to emphasize that.

Fourth, all God's servants work together to one end. Beginning in verse 8, “Now he who plants and he who waters are one.” We have different gifts, different responsibilities but we're all working together to one end. We don't work and say I get credit for this and you get credit for that. We are all one, we are just servants. It ought to be clear. Servants are given different responsibilities. Their faithfulness depends on what they are given to do. That's all. Now I have to be faithful with what God gives me to do. We all work to one end because we want to honor the God that we serve. Now we want to be careful because when we begin to develop the world's methods, then we begin to go to the world, then we begin to work the world into the church and then pretty soon we just have a secular organization under the title ‘Church,’ which is what we call liberal churches today. They don't really preach and teach the truths of God's Word but they may be large, they may do a lot of things, “good things” that the world appreciates, but they are not servants of the living God.

Fifth, rewards will be given to servants according to their toil, not their success. That's the end of verse 8, “each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” That's it. Each one. So we all are serving the one God, but each one. So there is a point, I have to be careful. Each of us, we have a multiplicity of gifts here but each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. The most prominent in the congregation, that doesn't mean I get the biggest reward. We're rewarded according to faithfulness with our labor. How faithful are you in the area God has given you? There are people here that are faithful and they don't get the recognition. I get all this recognition and all this honor but . . . What does he say? “Each will receive his own reward according to his own labor,” not according to his own success. Does he grind it out? Keep that in mind, it puts it in perspective. It doesn't matter whether I get recognized here and now, it will all be dealt with before the bema seat.

Sixth, the workers and the church all belong to God. Verse 9, “We are God's fellow-workers; you are God's field, God's building.” So all I am is a worker, serving the living God. You are God's field, you are God's building, that's what matters. You are God's field, God's building, I am simply doing the task that God has given me. You are fulfilling the task God has given you. We're not talking about human recognition here, we're talking about faithfulness, we're talking about labor, we're talking about toil. I think we have people who have faithfully labored and toiled and they'll get almost no real recognition. They are just faithful and this work grows and goes because of the contributions they make. Right. They are concerned this is what God has given me to do, I want to do it to the best of my ability. I'm doing it for Him. This all is tied to what he covered in the first couple of chapters on the focus on the cross. In chapter 2 verse 2 Paul said, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” It wasn't me, all I did was come and tell you the message that God had entrusted to me, and the Spirit of God used it to transform your life. I don't get any credit for that as far as humanly speaking. You oughtn't to be following me, I just came and told you what Christ did and God used it. So the workers, the church, it all is God's. So all I have to do is be faithful where God has put me and what God has called me to do and He'll do the rewarding. As he says, each man must be careful as he'll pick up in verse 10.

That's what we are all about. So thank God for bringing us together, thank God for the history we have, thank God for the present we have, and thank God for the future because it is God's work, using the people where He has put them.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for Your truth, thank you for the riches of Your Word. Lord, we want to be careful, we want to learn from the letter to the church at Corinth. We want to be those who are careful to heed the Word of the Spirit, the truth. Thank you for this congregation, the faithfulness of so many in so many ways and so many areas who labor. Lord, it is for Your glory, Your honor. All is accomplished as a testimony of the working of the power of Your Spirit and we give You praise. Thank you for bringing us together today to look into Your Word. I pray for the rest of the day, I pray for the evening, the various events going on that they all will be used to accomplish the work that only You can do in lives. We pray in Christ's name, amen.