Saturday, June 2: 1Corinthians 3- It is always about the Lord.

We live in a world that easily falls into personality cults. In politics, in entertainment and, yes, in the church we easily create 'personality cults' around favored and important leaders. Apparently in Christendom this habit dates back to the early church. Paul comes down hard on the Corinthians for making more out of church leaders than is wise.

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 (5-7).

God definitely uses human earthly leaders. The church needs planters and waterers, but our focus needs to always and only be on God –Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit. God saves us. God grows us. God protects us. God, God, God… it is always and only about the Lord.

My sense in the text is that neither Paul nor Apollos sought any kind of personality cult, but people latched onto them. While this might have been true for Paul and Apollos, unfortunately, not all leaders are this pure. Whether the leader is complicit in encouraging the personality cult or not we, as the church, must guard our hearts against it.

I have leaders and writers who can speak deeply into my soul. I thank God for these people. At the same time I must be careful not to have my following and learning from them become more important than my following and learning from the Lord. These leaders/teachers play a part in my growth but only as far as they point me to and teach me about the Lord. As Paul notes neither… is anything, but only God.

And in any situation where I might be a leader, I must become as humble as Paul, recognizing that I may play a God ordained part in helping people in their journey of faith. Still, I am nothing… God is everything. And I suspect that I will be judged quite harshly by the Lord if I get this wrong!

So this morning the Lord is bidding me to examine and make sure that I am following Him and I have not slipped into the error of following any mere human whom God may have appointed for a particular task in helping the church grow in Him.

Who are you following and are you maintaining a God focused, God honoring perspective? Think about it…

Jesus, be the centre. Be my source, be my light. Jesus

Jesus, be the centre. Be my hope, be my song. Jesus

(Chorus) 

Be the fire in my heart

Be the wind in these sails

Be the reason that I live

Jesus, Jesus

 

Jesus, be my vision. Be my path, be my guide. Jesus

(Chorus) 

 

Be the fire in my heart. Be the wind in these sails. Be the reason that I live. Jesus, Jesus.*

 

*Be the centre, Vineyard Music.