[:en]SCRIPTURE: 1 CORINTHIANS 3
“The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:8-9)
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11)
“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standard of this age, he should become as “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight” (1 Corinthians 3: 18-19)
ON DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH (vs. 1-23)
There were problems in Corinthian church because they were immature Christians. They were infants drinking milk and could not receive solid food of God’s Word. There were jealousy and quarreling among them. Just like little children, they argued about their leaders causing division in the church.
Paul gave the image of a field by portraying the minister as a farmer working in the field. The local church is the field. God’s word is the seed. Many workers are needed to prepare the soil, plant the seed, pull the weeds and reap the harvest. But all of them share in the harvest and receive wages. God’s servants should also work together to plant seed, water the seed and keep it growing. They work as one with united heart and purpose. Church member must not compare Christian workers because all glory belongs to God only.
There are different kinds of church workers:
- He builds the church with Christ as the foundation of the Gospel. He uses lasting materials (gold, silver and jewels) to make it firm and strong which is able to stand the test. His aim is to glorify God and not to get praise from men.
- He is in a hurry to build the church with wood, hay or straw because he wants large crowd and big statistics. He lusts for self-glory and his work will be burned up and he will suffer loss.
- Instead of building up the church, he destroys and tears it down because of selfish intent. He substitutes man’s wisdom for God’s Word. One day, God has a severe judgment for him.
SUMMARY:
We must not remain as infant in Christ taking only milk. Start to take solid food so as to grow spiritually into maturity.
Everyone must do his work without competing or comparing with each other. We should acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all. The materials we use in our ministry must be God’s Word, not human wisdom. Paul concluded with “No more boasting about men” All things belong to Christ our God” (vs. 21-22)[:]