Scripture Reading(s)
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
3:1 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
3:2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready,
3:3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?
3:4 For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?
3:5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each.
3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
3:7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
3:8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.
3:9 For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Reflections
Divisions, quarrels and disunity were unfortunately and still are common things that take place in the church. Paul here is working on encouraging this church to grow and flourish but they are being hindered due to small and petty things. Often times leaders within the church got placed on a higher pedestal and the congregation would become divided over who to follow and who was the best. Paul’s aim in this passage is to point them back to Christ and focusing on their spiritual growth.
The moment we become wrapped up in which leader to follow and allow for jealousy to run rampant in our hearts, that is when we see the evidence that our focus has been taken off Christ and onto the human standards of spiritual growth. The Church is there to breed and fuel a body of believers that are ready to grow and encourage others and keep the cycle going. Christ is the center of the church and also at the center of every leader involved in the church. Without Christ, we are nothing and will have no direction.
When you start to nice conflict arising among a body of believers, recall that it is Christ that is to be the focus and His approach to conflict is to be gracious, forgive and move on to doing His work. Let us keep our focus on doing God’s work as a unit and bringing Him Glory.