1 Corinthians 3:3-11 - For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

It’s a sad testimony to the church when you hear people say things like, “All they ever do is bicker and fight at that church!" Too many churches have gone off-mission because all their energy is spent fighting their own members! There is nothing new under the sun. It has always been Satan’s way. If he can’t destroy a church from outside opposition, he will try to destroy it from within, a sort of Holy Civil War.

The Corinthian church had such a problem. People put themselves in two camps. While some wore their “Vote for Paul” t-shirts, others had on their “I Heart Apollos” buttons. It was like children picking sides for kickball!

But Paul wrote to them to tell them this was foolishness. And here we see an interesting display of God’s math. God says 0+0=1. Did you catch that? So neither he who plants (Paul) nor he who waters (Apollos) is anything. So planter Paul = zero, and waterer Apollos = zero. But then he says he who plants and he who waters are one… So planter (0) plus waterer (0) equals one!

This is God’s math. We tend to think we are something special, “this church would collapse without me.“ But the truth is, you and I are just links in God’s chain. A link by itself is nothing, but all together, they form one chain. Paul did his part and Apollos did his part. Individually, they are nothing. The same is true for you and I in the church. You do your part, and I’ll do mine. But unless God is in it, nothing is really happening! That’s why Paul said only God gives the growth.

I am so excited for the launch of this church on October 2. We have an amazing team of people all eagerly doing their part. Individually, we are all zeros. But linking together, with the Holy Spirit reigning through us, God is going to do big things.

Want to link up with us?

p.s. - is a zero, but slightly offended at being called “a big fat zero"