1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (NIV)
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. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
It is distressing for Paul to hear that a faction has formed in the Church at Corinth who claim to follow him and another who claimed to follow Apollos. Far from feeling flattered, he is scandalized. After all, both he and Apollos are mere servants of God, each simply doing the work that God has called them to do, expecting to receive their reward, not from the accolades of men, but from God.
Paul uses an agricultural illustration. One farmer may plant a seed as his job requires, and another may water that seed. But which gets the credit when the harvest is brought in? If a person sees clearly, he will give all the credit to God. Even though planting and watering are both necessary for the harvest to be brought in, if God doesn’t cause the seed to grow, all the sowing and watering in the world won’t produce a single stock of wheat.
In the end, Paul has been faithful in his work, as has Apollos. But both realize that God is the master of both of them, and of the Church which has grown up by their faithful laborers. And it is to God that both of them look for their reward.
This mindset is clearly shown in Paul’s last sentence. Paul and Apollos are fellow workers under God’s leadership, not competitors. And the Church that they have built and strengthened through their labors is not their field or their building, but God’s. God saved the people through them. He built the people into a Church by their efforts. And he is continuing to cause the people to grow into Christlike disciples through their instruction and council. So, all glory for the Church and what it accomplishes goes to God, and both Paul and Apollos are fine with that.
Father, it is tempting as leaders to feel good about the praise that we get from people, and to start to own that, and to believe it. And it is easy to look at other leaders with resentment when they seem to be having greater success than we are. But both attitudes are clearly wrong. We are merely Your workers, working at Your direction, and bringing in a harvest from Your field. In fact, the seed we sow and the water with which we nurture the growth both come from You as well. Paul never worked for the praise of men, and he was successful far beyond anything that we’ve been able to produce, even with all our technology, our curricula, our buildings, and our sound and light systems. I think that all of us would be more successful and more satisfied with what we’re doing if we, like Paul and Apollos, got our eyes and hearts off what other people are doing, and simply do what You called us to do with all our hearts, and letting You receive all the credit for making things grow. Amen.