Faithful Builders

Faithful Builders

1Cor 3:5-23

One of the things I love about Paul’s letters to the Corinthians is that we’re shown a church that was pretty messed up. Despite the fact that Paul had planted this church, and then at some later date Apollos came and built upon what Paul had started, they still got sidetracked on some doctrines and moral issues. For example, our chapter today addresses the divisions and factions that had arisen in the Corinthian church where they bragged about following certain teachers. But we also find in this letter that they had an issue with sexual immorality where a man was physically involved with his father’s wife, and the congregation didn’t try to correct the issue.

There’s also the issue of believer’s bringing lawsuits against other believers, and the abuse of Christian liberty they displayed concerning eating food sacrificed to idols. They had disorderly worship and the misuse of speaking in tongues that needed correction and the misunderstanding of the Lord’s Supper where some gorged themselves while others went hungry. Some among them denied or were confused concerning the resurrection, and finally, the lack of love and spiritual maturity they were displaying toward those who didn’t have the same gifts as others.

One would think that with Paul and Apollos being their foundation layer and builders, the church in Corinth would be near perfect. But here we are, reading about how imperfect they were. And in a way it gives me hope. It gives me hope because if a messed-up body of believers like them could still be 1Co 1:2 …sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, and also 1Co 1:5 …in everything…enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, and be confirmed 1Co 1:8 …to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ and also still be 1Co 1:9 …called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, then friends, there is also hope for us!

There is hope for us because like the Corinthians, we also had faithful builders who were careful how they built.

1. The Builders

1Co 3:5-9 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. [6] I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. [7] So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. [8] Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. [9] For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

The Corinthians had gotten caught up in a prideful “keeping up with the Joneses” type mentality. It’s prideful because they were using their teachers as a club, wielding their names around as if one were better than the others. “I am of Paul!” “I am of Apollos!” “I am of Cephas!” And then those few who would trump them all by proudly declaring, “Well, I am of Christ!” But Paul is telling them that this kind of attitude, especially among the church, is nonsense. It’s causing division where there should be no division. Paul, Apollos, Cephas were nothing but workers in God’s field. One cultivated the ground and planted, the other came along and applied the water, someone else might even have come along and done some weeding. The one who does the real work, the one who causes the cultivation, planting, watering, and weeding to be effective is God. Nothing anyone else does means anything if God isn’t giving the increase!

Terri and I planted some tomatoes in containers this year. We fixed up the soil as best as we could. We watered. It rained. The sun shined, but our little tomato plants grew long stems and a few leaves that mostly withered. They produced 3 or 4 little cherry tomatoes, but that’s mostly it. All our efforts had very little effect. And you know, it’s been this way with us and growing tomatoes for years. We seldom get a decent crop while others, they’re pulling in tomatoes by the bucket.

I don’t know what we’re doing wrong, but like Paul said, we’re not anything. It’s all about God who gives the increase—who causes the growth! Human leaders, teachers, pastors, we’re simply instruments used by God, so all credit and growth belong to Him and Him alone. The emphasis here is unity within the body of Christ and recognizing that all Christian laborers are working together for God’s purpose, not their own.

Now, in verse 9, Paul makes a change. I want you to notice that he switches analogies from agriculture to construction. He said, 1Co 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. He switches from field and growing crops to building construction, and when constructing a building, the most important part of that project is…