For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.
Who your favorite on-line Bible teachers are tell a lot about you. For example, I like Francis Chan, Ben Stuart, Mike Winger, Paul Leboutilier which would put me in a conservative, non-charismatic, academic evangelical camp. My son goes to a church where they have several teaching pastors that take turns. I see the logic in that because everyone appreciates different styles of preaching and it's nice to get fresh illustrations, life experiences, and perspectives on scripture. The problem would be if one spoke at the 8:15 service, one spoke at the 9:30 service, and one spoke at the 11:00 service every week. I would fear that you would get 3 different churches in one church all following different pastors, all loyal to their preacher. I even saw that a little bit in my son's church where I heard both pastors and told my daughter in law that I really liked one of them better and she liked the other one much better. I was a little surprised that she could possibly like the one better and I'm sure was surprised that I could possibly prefer the other.
Here in 1Corinthians 3, we have that going on but to an unhealthy degree. Paul planted the church in Corinth. He led them to the Lord by sharing the gospel, but he didn't save them, God did that. Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria Egypt who was a Christ follower and gifted teacher and apologist who came along after Paul left and helped disciple the church. He didn't "grow" them, the Holy Spirit did. This was greatly appreciated by Paul because the Great Commission doesn't just say evangelize people but also to make disciples. Apollos was helping make disciples. The problem was, like my theoretical illustration of the three pastors dividing a church 3 ways, this was what was happening. There began to be two churches - The Church of Saint Paul and The Church of Apollos. Paul is appalled because there should be one church - The Church of Jesus Christ. Paul didn't save them - Jesus did. Apollos didn't die for their sins - Jesus did. This quarreling, jealousy, division was childish and totally missing the foundation of Christ that Paul had laid. He felt like he needed to go back to the basics with them.
Who is the most important person in your church? Is it the pastor? Is it the biggest giver or the head of missions? Maybe the pastor of evangelism or head of the Children's ministry? The answer is yes, and you. We are all equal co-laborers for Christ and celebrity status or notoriety have no increased importance in the body. When we start inflating people, we are shrinking Christ. We become nothing more than spiritual "Swifties". Grow up and be Christ fanatics.
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