Read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as spirituala
but as worldlyb—mere infantsc in Christ. 2I
gave you milk, not solid food,d for you were not yet ready for it.e
Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since
there is jealousy and quarrelingf among you, are you not worldly? Are
you not acting like mere human beings? 4For when one says, “I follow
Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,”g are you not mere human beings?
5What, after all, is Apollos?h And what is Paul? Only
servants,i through whom you came
to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the
seed,j Apollos watered it, but
God has been making it grow. 7So neither the one who plants nor the
one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The
one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be
rewarded according to their own labor.k
9For we are God’s co-workers;l
you are God’s field,m
God’s building.n
Think
The church in Corinth seems
to have become quite obsessed with their leadership – following Apollos and
Barnabas – and forgetting that ultimately we’re all called to follow Jesus.
Paul wants the church to get
their perspective right. In the age of
celebrity church leaders perhaps we need to re-think our attitudes!
Pray
Paul
ends this passage with: “…we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s
building.” I love the idea that God is
at work – building us into something, growing us into something. Pray for those whom God appoints as his
‘co-workers’. Pray for all of us
Christians as we are being built up by God.
a 1Co 2:15
b Ro 7:14; 1Co 2:14
c 1Co 14:20
d Heb 5:12–14; 1Pe 2:2
e Jn 16:12
f Ro 13:13; 1Co 1:11; Gal 5:20
g 1Co 1:12
h S Ac 18:24
i 1Co 4:1;
2Co 6:4; Eph 3:7; Col 1:23,25
j
Ac 18:4–11; 1Co 4:15; 9:1; 15:1
k
ver 14; Ps 18:20; 62:12; Mt 25:21; 1Co 9:17
l
Mk 16:20; 2Co 6:1; 1Th 3:2
m
Isa 61:3
n
Eph 2:20–22; 1Pe 2:5
No comments:
Post a Comment