Having the Right Perspective Part One
As we are well aware of by now, the Corinthian church is beset with jealousy, quarreling, division, and factionalism. This is one of the larger reasons Paul wrote this letter to the church – 1 Corinthians 1:10ff, “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and though. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’”
This factionalism revolves around two things: First, an implicit misunderstanding of the gospel, and in particular of the centrality of the cross. Their love of pomp, prestige, rhetoric, social approval, their raw triumphalism, I am better than you because of what I believe and who I know and listen to attitude, demonstrated they had not reflected very deeply on the entailments of the gospel of the crucified Messiah. That is why Paul spends so much time on true wisdom, power, status in chapters 1 and 2. Second, the factionalism revolves around an unhealthy infatuation with church leaders. “Many in the Corinthian church are boasting in their individual teachers as though they could ‘belong’ to them in some way” (Fee, 129). Again, as Gordon Fee says it, “At issue is their radically misguided perception of the nature of the church and its leadership” (Fee, 128). In short, they are making some Church leader their prime point of identification. Having utterly crushed the first wrong reason for the division in the church, Paul will now straightforwardly assert himself to disabuse them of this wrong perception of church and its leaders by providing them a right and proper perspective on the church and its leaders. He will start to do so by using Apollos and himself as examples in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9.
But before we dive into this text, let us take a step back for a moment and take a bird’s eye view of chapter three because vv.5-23 is one sustained argument. In the next three paragraphs, Paul seeks to correct their perception of church and its leaders. In vv. 5-9 Paul uses an agriculture metaphor to answer how the church body is to regard its teachers and leaders. In vv 10-17 Paul uses an architectural metaphor to address the current leaders/teachers of the Corinthian church. He warns them to build the church with imperishable materials corresponding to the foundation – Christ crucified. He says the church is God’s temple in Corinth; they are resolutely warned against destroying it. In vv. 18-23 Paul brings the argument begun in 1:10 to a preliminary conclusion – what folly to boast in men, boast in God and in Christ for all things are yours in Christ. Three truths stand out in the midst of this entire chapter. First, church leaders are mere servants. Second, it is God’s church. He built it, He sustains it, He is passionate about it and will protect it from evil. Third, because God is passionate about his church, he holds its leaders accountable for how they build it. In the following weeks we will be unpacking these verses and these truths and seeking to learn all we can about church and its leadership from it.
Today, in verses 5-9 Paul makes three essential points about Church and Church Leaders, so let us unpack these truths and as we go we will consider various points of application.
Church Leaders are Servants, Not Masters (v. 5)
“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? With these two questions Paul wants the Corinthian believers to stop and think for a moment about what it is they are doing by joining themselves to such names. Who or what is Paul after all? Who or what is Apollos really? Are they not mere men, how is it you have made them lords of some sort, to whom you may belong? Do you not know, after all, what Apollos and Paul really are? They are servants (v.5).
Servant is a common imagery in Paul for himself and his coworkers (cf. Col. 1:7, 23, 25; 4:7). He has gathered such imagery from the Lord himself who taught his disciples that “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:42-44) and who as the ultimate expression of servanthood “gave his life as a ransom for many.” So the cross is not just instructive for the gospel, it is also instructive for church life and church leadership. Christ set the standard as the ultimate servant of God, so must Paul and Apollos and all other church leaders. They are servants not masters. They are servants of God and through their service to God they came to believe in Christ. By saying such, Paul is pointing out the absurdity of their “leader worship.” Some of you say “I follow Paul” or “I follow Apollos” but what are they - mere servants doing the task given them by God through whom you believed. You do not believe in Paul or in Apollos, nor did they die for you, why do you quarrel and fight amongst yourselves over them then, as if they are masters over you and you belong to them? We are but servants through whom you believed – as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
Servant Leadership is Required and Dependent upon God
This emphasis on serving is crucial for recovering a biblical perspective on leadership. Too many churches today are run like they are businesses and the pastors are CEO’s. This should not be. Jesus taught servant leadership, “Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be the greatest. Jesus said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:24-27). Elsewhere he said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Jesus lived servant leadership, getting on his hands and knees washing the feet of his disciples and by giving his life for the ungodly.
Division, rivalry, jealousy arise in the church because certain leaders lord it over the flock and God’s people often love to have it so; it is less demanding, less disturbing. Authority in the church, truly Christian authority, comes from those who lay down their lives for their brethren in service and availability. Any other authority is worldly and is to be rejected and will be held accountable for such.
A servant-leader understands that he is dependent upon and desperately needs the power of God to be effective. That is the direct teaching of Paul here in vv. 6, 7 and it is his teaching elsewhere. Paul labored for the maturing of everyone in the energy of God, which so powerfully worked within him (Col. 1:28-29; 2 Co. 3:5; 2 Co. 12:9, 10; Phil. 2:13). Hence, a servant-leader prays, humbly asking God to give him the strength needed to do the work he is called to do.
I ask that you would pray for me as your servant leader to be what Christ and Paul and Apollos modeled for me. That I would humbly depend upon God and do all things in his strength and for his glory. This method of leadership goes against everything you are ever told in the world. I can only do it with God’s help and your prayers.
Church leaders have both Diversity and Unity (v.6-8)
These servants are diverse but also united in purpose. They are diverse in that each has been assigned his task by the Lord and each will be paid/rewarded according to his own labor. They are united in purpose in that they each with their many talents and God-given tasks work for one thing – the growth of the crop to a rich harvest and in that they each belong to God. Paul illustrates such diversity and unity through the analogy of agriculture or farming. He says in v. 6, “I planted the seed (that is, I founded the church), Apollos watered it (that is, continued a teaching/leadership ministry among them), but God made it grow” and in v. 8, “The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.” Again with such unity and diversity, Paul’s point comes out loud and clear. Who are Paul and Apollos that you argue and fight over them? They are but diverse servants, united in goal and purpose. We are servants of mutual concern, mutual labor, mutual love. We are humble field hands (the plowboy and the water boy) engaged in mutual, manual labor totally and thoroughly at one in purpose.
Imagine how shocking this language must have been to these Corinthians who were seeking status and success through triumphalism! Paul has just informed them that these men, these teachers and leaders of the church, are but servants and what’s more, humble field hands engaged in dirty, hard, manual labor. This is not glory and power in the world’s eyes. What a massive reorientation of perspective this must have been.
Christian leaders are only servants and are dependent upon each other, it is utter folly to attach oneself so defensively to one. Such allegiance is making too much of one person, almost inferring a god-like status. No Christian leader is to be venerated or listened to or adulated with the kind of allegiance and devotion properly reserved for God. To do so is ignorance and betrays a deep misunderstanding of the nature of Christian leadership.
We Each have our Assigned Tasks and are dependent upon each other
Paul and Apollos both did their assigned tasks: Paul planted and Apollos watered. Both activities are vital. Each depends on the other. As David Prior says it, “It is no good one planting seeds where the other cannot water them, and the one who waters does not achieve much if he waters everywhere else except where the seeds have been sown. Both functions are important and are dependent upon each other. Both need to work hard and can expect to be rewarded at the end. The parts played by Paul and Apollos were not irrelevant. Indeed, Paul stresses that through the ministry of himself and Apollos the Corinthians came to faith in God. They are insignificant compared with God himself, ‘who gives the growth,’ but they are vital to the divine scheme of things. Each has his distinctive work to do and that work requires strenuous toil. So each individual’s contribution to the work of God is essential.
Implicitly, this also means that Christian leaders should refrain from presenting themselves as if they have the corner on the truth, or all the gifts, or exclusive insight and authority. Christian leaders are only God’s servants doing God’s assigned tasks.
The Church and its Leaders are God’s (v. 5-9)
While these two aspects of Paul’s argument to the Corinthians are significant, they pale in comparison to this larger point – we all belong to no one but God. Focus on him. All of what Paul says in vv. 5-9 serves to redirect their focus, to redirect their perspective from the servants to the one God, “whom both equally serve, and to whom they all belong” (Fee, 132). Look back at vv. 6-7 with me. “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” In effect, the ultimate answer to the first two questions posed by Paul, “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul?” are answered with a resounding “nothing!” This is not to say that Paul and Apollos are worthless and unimportant, for as we have discussed they each had important tasks to accomplish given them by the Lord, for which they will each receive rewards, but it is to say as Barrett says, “they have no independent importance.” From the perspective of ultimate responsibility for the Corinthians existence as Christians and as a church, Paul and Apollos count for nothing. “Without God’s prior activity bringing them to faith and causing them to grow, there is no church at all. Hence the point is clear: stop quarreling over those whose tasks are nothing in comparison with the activity of God. Focus on him alone, for he alone saves and sanctifies” (Fee, 132). Verse nine says just as much, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. Notice the emphasis on God’s possession. Everything is God’s. Everything is under God, the church, the ministry, Paul, Apollos everything. Therefore it is absolutely not permissible to say, “I belong to Paul” since the only legitimate slogan is “we all belong to God.”
The Church does not belong to you
All too often those “in charge,” be they clergy, boards, whatever tend to think of the church as “theirs.” Share story of Pisani. Wrong Answer. Nor does the church belong to the people, especially those who have “attended all their lives” or “who have supported it with great sums of money,” as though that gave them special privileges. The church belongs to Christ, and all other things – structures, attitudes, decisions, nature of ministry, everything – should flow out of that singular realization. The church belongs to its Lord, and to him alone. He purchased it with his own blood. He gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Should Christ have done none of this, there would be no church to speak of. The church belongs to Christ. It must be done in accordance with his will. It must serve him and reflect him in its worship, its music, its preaching, its teaching, its everything. He is supremely worthy of it. O church arise, and proclaim the glories of your blessed redeemer!
The Man is Nothing. God is Everything
Now I know this sounds contradictory to what I said before about our work being essential, but does not Scripture say both? I know you may be thinking in your mind, Pastor, you have flatly contradicted yourself, how can this be, explain yourself. And you would do well to ask such a question and I would turn you to the Scriptures. It teaches man’s responsibility and divine sovereignty side by side in this passage. Paul affirms yes, we work hard and toil hard according to the task given us and we will be rewarded accordingly, he even gets specific and says I planted and Apollos watered but at the same time he says, “but God made it grow. SO (notice the strong causal/logical connection) neither who he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” We are responsible beings yes, we have much work to do, but we are totally and thoroughly dependent upon God for it and through it, and so without God we are nothing. God is everything. These are not my words. I am not making this up. This is straight from the Scriptures. God ordains the end and the means.
Many years ago a famous violinist died. Leaving behind no family members, there was no one to whom he could bequeath his Stradivarius. An auction was summarily convened, in part, to sell the instrument. It was eventually purchased by another violinist. He paid twenty thousand dollars for the violin, a sizeable sum in its day.
Shortly thereafter the new owner of the Stradivarius announced that he would play a concert on his new violin. When the evening arrived the concert hall was filled to capacity. People were waiting in breathless anticipation. At just the right moment he walked out on stage with nothing but his violin and he began to play a composition of Paganini. He held the audience spell-bound. His technique was flawless. His tone was exquisite. At the conclusion of the final note, the audience instantaneously jumped to their feet and roared with applause. He bowed, simply, and walked off stage. A few seconds later, with the applause still thundering, he walked back on stage, took his violin by its neck, raised it over his head and smashed it on a nearby piano bench, shattering it into a thousand pieces. He then walked off the stage. The audience was horrified. They were stunned. A moment later a second man walked out on stage and stood before the people. They became very quiet as he spoke these words: ‘The violin on which the maestro has just performed his first selection, the same violin that he has just destroyed, was but a twenty dollar violin. He will now perform the rest of the concert on the twenty-thousand dollar Stradivarius.
What was the point he was attempting to make? The genius is never in the violin. It is always in the violinist. And the same is true for the church leaders. AT best, the church leaders are but a twenty dollar violin. But music can be heard when he is taken up in the hands of the Heavenly Violinist.
We do not worship the rod of Moses, the trumpet of Gideon, or the slingshot of David. Such would be grievous expressions of misdirected worship. But such is also the case when the leader and church rest their confidence in their own strength and abilities. What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. The man is nothing. God is everything. Worship God.
Depend upon God
As was mentioned before, in this passage Paul places the emphasis on God and the servant’s dependence upon God. Apollos and Paul are servants. God assigned them the task. Paul planted, Apollos watered. God was giving the growth. The planter and the irrigator are nothing, but God who gives the growth is everything. The planter and irrigator are equal. God will give them their individual reward for their toil.
Our dependence is illustrated in vv. 6-8. IN verses 6-8 is an illustration taken directly from an agricultural scene, where the farmer plants seeds or seedlings. To make the seeds germinate or the plants take root, the farmer’s co-worker supplies the necessary water to the field in one way or another. The farmer is expected to do all the field work in preparation for growth. This includes plowing, fertilizing, sowing or planting, watering, weeding, cultivating, and spraying. But here the activity of man must stop, for he cannot make the plants grow. Man readily admits that he is unable to control the weather. He cannot make the sun to shine, the wind to blow, and the rain to fall. Consequently he is unable to make the plants grow and is completely dependent on God for the harvest yield. God alone gives the increase.
Similarly, Paul preached the gospel in Corinth. He planted seeds where no one had proclaimed Christ. When he left for Ephesus a year and a half later, Corinth had a fledgling church. When Apollos came to the Corinthians, he supplied the water. He helped them by demonstrating from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. But all the work of both Paul and Apollos would have been in vain if God had not continued to increase the church spiritually and numerically. The work of Paul and Apollos was temporary but that of God is continuous. Paul and Apollos eventually left Corinth, yet God continued to enlarge the church (Kistemaker, 106). Man is nothing. God is everything.
Not man but God receives the honor and glory for the work performed in the church. God receives his full due. The work of preaching and teaching the gospel that is performed everywhere can succeed only if God grants his blessing. The ministers are nothing in comparison to God.
I want to be perfectly clear about this. The church at Corinth would not have existed unless God made it grow. Paul and Apollos could have labored year after year after year and nothing would have happened unless God gave the growth. No one in Corinth would have been quickened, regenerated, justified, sanctified unless God gave the growth. Salvation and Sanctification belong to God. He gives the growth. The same is true of First Baptist Church. This church would not exist had God not made it exist and it will not grow spiritually and numerically unless God makes it grow.
What does this say about our church and its leaders? We must do things God’s way. We must be in step with the Spirit. This is God’s church and it must be done his way. We must worship in Spirit and in Truth. We must then wholly throw cast upon God. We must cry and pray and plead with God to help us be faithful to him and reward us for such faithfulness. We must cry and pray and plead with God to demonstrate his power, to bring the rain, to cause things to grow. We are wholly dependent upon God. We can do nothing and are nothing without him. He is the source of our strength, life, and vitality. We are but servants. We are God’s workers, God’s field, God’s building so let us do things God’s way.