Who Are We?

Who Are We ? A lesson in Humility and servitude. 1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

1Co 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is {Apollos [A Jew from Alexandria, eloquent (which may also mean learned), and mighty in the Scriptures; one instructed in the way of the Lord, according to the imperfect view of the disciples of John the Baptist, Act_18:24, but on his coming to Ephesus during a temporary absence of St. Paul, A.D. 54, more perfectly taught by Aquila and Priscilla.} Priscilla, being the wife of Aquila, is sometimes mentioned before her husband ,in scripture, as having taught Apollos the finer points of scripture, concerning women and the gospel, some call her a disciple. Apollos learned his teachings primalary from the writings of John the Baptist. So we can see here that even the most eloquent of men, may need to be retaught.

After this, he became a preacher of the gospel, first in Achaia and then in Corinth. Act_18:27; Act_1819:1. When the apostle wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians, Apollos was with or near him, 1Co_16:12, probably at Ephesus in A.D. 57.], but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? Paul, as an example to all, shows humbleness. He puts himself in a place of servitude and not as lord over the people. Paul received this blessing from the words of Jesus, who stated that, “I came to serve and not to be served.” Paul and Apollos were in total agreement, they were the servants of God and of the people. Paul goes on to state their role in the plan of salvation a lesson that we all need to take another look at.

1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. Paul ,as an Apostil [Our Lord gave them [ apostils] the “keys of the kingdom,” and by the gift of his Spirit fitted them to be the founders and governors of his church (Joh_14:16,], established the Gospel here and Apollos increased the people’s knowledge of Jesus but God was the one who ,saved and increased the membership of the church. Sense neither Paul nor Apollos could ,save nor add to the church , He put the Glory and addition of saved souls to the church to the account of God.

1Co 3:7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Who are we, are we someone special that sets us apart from the rest of Christianity or are we, as Paul stated, just messengers of God to deliverer the word to others? There are special blessings in scripture for the ministers of the gospel, but what we want to look at here is our place in God, again, as servants and not as lords over the people. People come to Jesus, not because of who ministers the word [we all must preach the same to all men , so that one minister is no different, in the word, than another.] , but they come to Jesus because of the word. It’s the word that saves, and the drawing power of the Holy Ghost that urges repentance on the heart of the individual. There are many today that have forgotten their place in God and are thinking more of themselves than they should. I’ve talked to some who act like the old town sheriff who counts his worth by the notches on his gun. We save no one, I have never met a minister that has ever saved a soul, not one. Surprised, don’t be, it is not in man to save, but to deliver the word that God might save. “ that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you;” If we are following the word of God, we all must be following the same path, there should be no division among us.

1Co 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe [A matron at Corinth, some of whose household informed Paul of the divisions in the Corinthian church.], that there are contentions among you.

1Co 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. The repeated δὲ and, expresses the opposition between the respective parties. The followers of Apollos preferred his more philosophical and rhetorical preaching to the simpler and more direct utterances of Paul. Others ranged themselves under the name of Peter. The differences here the people were referring to was ,the delivery of the gospel, ministers deliver the word as per their ability. [1Pe 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.], some like a, soft delivery and some an evangelistic approach, but the word must all be the same. For example, My brother, the Pastor of, Three Mile Baptist Church, is more of an , philosophical preacher with a soft touch and I, a Evangelistic approach, Hell Fire and Brimstone, my Mother, a teacher as Pricilla, but we still preach the same word.