GOD'S FELLOW WORKERS

Passage: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Key verse: 9

NIV

The Church and Its Leaders

3 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit(A) but as people who are still worldly(B)—mere infants(C) in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food,(D) for you were not yet ready for it.(E) Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling(F) among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,”(G) are you not mere human beings?

5 What, after all, is Apollos?(H) And what is Paul? Only servants,(I) through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed,(J) 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.(K) 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service;(L) you are God’s field,(M) God’s building.(N)

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Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source: BibleGateway

ESV

Divisions in the Church

3 But I, brothers,[a] could not address you as (A)spiritual people, but as (B)people of the flesh, as (C)infants in Christ. 2 (D)I fed you with milk, not solid food, for (E)you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is (F)jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For (G)when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” (H)are you not being merely human?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? (I)Servants through whom you believed, (J)as the Lord assigned to each. 6 (K)I planted, (L)Apollos watered, (M)but God gave the growth. 7 So (N)neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each (O)will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are (P)God's fellow workers. You are God's field, (Q)God's building.

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Footnotes
  1. 1 Corinthians 3:1 Or brothers and sisters
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Source: BibleGateway

1. Not spiritual, but worldly (1-4)

Paul rebuked the Corinthian Christians as unspiritual. They had fallen into divisions and argued based on whose fellowship they belonged to. Mature Christians do not do such things. There must be no quarreling and no jealousy in the body of Christ. When we do these things, we show ourselves to be worldly-not mature servants of Christ.

2. We are only servants (5-9)

The quarreling among the Corinthian Christians was all the more troublesome because they were quarreling over mere servants of Christ! Apollos, Paul, and any other Bible teacher were servants of the Risen Christ, sent to bring the word of God and point the way to Christ and his salvation. They were all part of the body of Christ-the family of God. There was no point in arguing about who their Bible teacher was. The same is true today. There should be no quarrels amongst denominations. We all belong to the body of Christ. We are all God's co-workers; God's field, God's building.

Prayer: Father, thank you for calling me into the body of Christ. Help me to be useful to your work, as your fellow worker.

One Word: We are God's co-workers