1st Corinthians chapter 3 We'll begin in verse 5 this evening Who then is Paul and who is Apollos
and but servants. That's what that word is there,
servants. By whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every
man. The Lord gave to whoever every
man is, the Lord gave them servants to minister the gospel unto them
that they might believe. What a wonderful verse of scripture
this year. And Paul deals very thoroughly
with this problem in the Corinthian church of them boasting about
who their preacher was. We've seen that already in the
previous verses, but it was like in our day, if somebody said,
well, I sat under Henry and they were proud of that, you know,
I'm glad. You know, I'm glad you did. You
heard the gospel, I guarantee you that. She sat under Henry,
or I sat under Don, or I sit under Todd, or Greg. No disrespect
to anybody, but Paul is saying here, who is Henry? Who is Don? The word ministers, as I said,
is servants. You know what's included in that
definition? If you look that up in Strong's
Concordance, it says one who serves food and drink. We've
run across that before, haven't we? A waiter opening and alleging,
Paul said that Christ must needs have suffered. That word alleging
means to set food on the table. I've had some great service in
restaurants over the years, but I don't remember any of their
names. I almost can, I thought about
that. I've had some that were so funny, I just about, I remember
them. But if I did happen to remember
one of their names, I haven't really given them much thought,
just lately. Have you? Or ever. Understand now, we are to esteem
those who preach the gospel of Christ, we're to hear them as
though God did speak by them. because God does speak by them. They're to be counted worthy
of double honor, 1 Timothy 5.17, but that's not because they personally
are something special. God don't pick people like that. It's because God has honored
them with this privilege. The apostle Paul did not glory
in his credentials, As a respected scholar, nor in any accomplishment
he had achieved, he called himself a servant of Jesus Christ. That's how he introduced himself
in his letters. A high and wonderful calling,
but God didn't choose to honor outstanding individuals with
that office. And the carrying out of that
service as God's minister is not all it's cracked up to be when it comes to the flesh. And let me be clear about that
too. Now, I wanna be clear about that. It's wonderful to be able
to study the word of God. I believe Marvin would say amen
to this in his heart. To be able to study the word
of God and preach it as your daily business. To be in a situation
where you have to study the word of God, that's a good place to
be. It's a wonderful thing. If God ever shows you something,
and he does, once he showed us Christ, he showed us everything,
but he continues to give us light on the scripture and reveal Christ. We grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus. As much as anybody has preachers,
the Lord is pleased. But there's nothing about the
business of studying and preaching and all that goes on in a church. You remember when Paul talked
about his daily experiences? It wasn't good stuff, was it?
The care of the churches was listed Right next to floating
around in the ocean for a few nights. Marvin, has it ever gotten
that bad? I'll tell you what, no. It's
gotten pretty close. But we just need to understand
this. We're not whining about it. It's
just there's heartache. There's failures, there's disappointments,
but here's the thing, none of it, none of the experience of
it makes a minister of the gospel feel superior to anybody else.
None of it. There's not a thing about it
that causes that. But oh, what a privilege. God
said, I'll give you pastors after my own heart. You know, see that
word gave in the Karate? And this is part of it, isn't
it? I thought about this, loving people, pastors after my own heart. We
know what that means. God's heart toward his church
or his sheep is he loves them, he's jealous over them, he's
protective of them. He gives pastors that are that
way, he makes them that way, he didn't find us that way. but
he knits hearts together. And I thought about this, loving
people is brutal. Have you ever thought about that? Do you know what I mean by that?
Loving someone ties you to them and all of their trouble and
all of their sorrow and all of their loss and all of their fear
and all of their pain and their joys too. But the overwhelming sense of
helplessness that love brings is overwhelming. Nothing will put you in the dust
more securely than loving somebody or loving a bunch of somebodies.
And that's where a minister belongs, in the dust. It's worth every
minute of it. It's worth it, isn't it? By whom you believed, he said,
by whom you believed. Oh my. It's just mentioned as a matter
of fact here that the way sinners believe on Christ and are saved
is by a ministry of the gospel. How should they? except God sends
them, and how are you gonna believe on somebody unless somebody preaches
him? Romans 10 is very clear about
that, but your faith in Christ has nothing to do with the minister
himself, personally. It has to do with God sending
a minister, but who that is doesn't matter.
I'm real glad it's me in your case, I really am. And I hope
you're glad too. But our faith is in Christ. The
glory goes to Christ. The one that brings the increase,
the one that matters, Paul said in this context. He said, who?
He that watereth and he that planteth is nothing, but God that giveth the increase.
And this passage, from the previous chapter, listen to this, from
chapter two of 1 Corinthians 2, 2. For I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear, and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power that your faith, everything we do,
we do it in such a way that your faith should not stand in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God. It has to do with what
we preach. It has to do with the way we
preach it. How shall they hear without a preacher? But look
at the next phrase in our text, even as the Lord gave to everybody. When the Lord determines to save
a people, he sends them a preacher. He does that. Thank God for that. The Lord gave. And this message is amplified
in the next couple of verses. The Lord gave. He gave some apostles,
some prophets, some preachers, some teachers, some evangelists. Before we look at the next passage
though, notice just in passing how the scripture uses phrases
like every man. You think that means everybody
that ever lived or ever will live in that? World means world. Yeah, every man means every man
too, but it doesn't mean what you say the world means. In this case, it means everybody
that hears the gospel and believes it. It just happens to mean that
in John 3.16 too, all of God's elect. God's world is his garden. We have that illustration in
our text in that we will look at Lord. Well, the Lord's world
is his garden. He said he didn't plant the weeds.
We know he rules over that and he's sovereign over that, but
that's not part of his garden. When you love your garden, you
don't love the weeds. Just the truth. If you don't
understand how the Bible can say God so loved the world and
also say God hateth all workers of iniquity, it's not a difficult
thing to grasp. Just don't jump to the false
conclusion that world or every man means everybody that ever
lived lives or ever will live, and you won't have a problem. Verse six, I have planted a polis
watered But God gave the increase. Now you say, well, you had your
part in it then. Well, no, look at it. So then
neither is he that planteth anything. It's done in such a way where
it's not you doing something for the Lord, it's him doing
something for you. Neither he that watereth. Nothing,
nothing. But God, God gets all the glory
because he deserves all the glory. He gives the increase. Now, Paul
uses two occupations to illustrate what it is to preach, to minister
Christ and the results of preaching the gospel. And most importantly,
not just to illustrate the ministry itself, but to show how that
God, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who is worthy of all
the glory and gets all the glory. He uses these two occupations
to illustrate and just exalt Christ in it. Here it's a gardener
or a farmer, somebody who plants it. The word husbandry, we're
gonna see in a minute, means a cultivated field. That's what
the world is to the Lord. His cultivated field where he
plants the good seed. He prepares the heart, the good
soil, he plants the good seed, and he gives the increase. So when you plant or water, you're
involved in gardening or farming. But think about the sense in
which you are involved. It's hard labor. Nobody can deny
that. Some of the hardest labor there
is. Just even having a backyard garden, it's not gonna happen
unless you put in the effort. And the Lord said, by the sweat
of your face, I'm glad I don't have to grow everything that
I eat. That's a lot of sweat. Hard labor, you're fully engaged,
you're invested in it. but you are utterly helpless
to accomplish the desired result. Remember what Paul said also
in the previous chapter, verse three, I was with you in weakness. That word means I was impotent,
I was helpless, I was with you in complete inability. Thank
God I was with you, the Lord used me. but I can't do anything. Paul
aptly acknowledges here that the one who plants and the one
who waters is nothing. Think about it, in this whole
scheme of things, the earth is God's. The soil is God's. The sunshine, the water, we water,
but God's got to give us water. We plant, but God's got to give
us seeds. Did you know that soil is the
product of millennia of decomposition of organic matter? The soil,
God just made one earth, he just made dirt one time. It's always
been there. And what we do, and what I'm doing tonight and the
results of it, And the results, every time the
gospel is preached, has its origins from the very foundation of the
world. God has purposed whatever increase
and has provided everything necessary and manipulated every circumstance
and event throughout history to bring to pass the fruit from
the beginning. Whatever result there will be
from the preaching of Christ now, God has purposed it and
prepared it since before time was. And what the apostle just
said in verses six and seven is that we are nothing and Christ
is all. The same thing he says in the
illustration of the builder in verses nine through 11, but first
look at verse eight. Now he that planteth and he that
watereth are one. 70 in here, the ladies are getting
mad at me if I go lower than that. It's warm up here. He that planteth and he that
watereth are one. Why are you making much of one
and less of another? And every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor. Now, one in purpose? Every preacher of the gospel
has one purpose. There's one point. That's to
exalt Christ. He said, if I be lifted up, I'll
draw. If somebody's gonna be saved,
it's gonna be about Christ being exalted in his glory, in his
resurrection glory, in his redemptive glory. in all of his glory. One body with Christ as the head. There's a difference in gifts
and ability and in circumstances. Every man's personal experience
of labor in the ministry is different and the wages are different. That word reward there, religion
obviously jumps to the conclusion because they've already got this
preconceived notion. that everybody that goes to heaven
is gonna line up for their prizes. Their crown is gonna be more
elaborate if they've done more for Jesus, it's gonna have more
jewels in it, they're gonna get a bigger mansion and all that.
It's all blasphemous nonsense. And I say blasphemous, I don't
say that lightly. But if you think that anything
like that compares to being like Christ and with Christ. If it
means anything in the presence of God's son, it's a denial in my mind of Christ. I don't recommend it. I don't
know if it's heresy or not. I'm not the judge of that, but
I call it heresy. Because how can you think anything
would add to Christ? We have a whole context here.
We're talking about a gardener. There's gonna be fruit, the fruit
is not always the same everywhere. The reward is your pay, that's
what it means, or in this case, produce. The result of your gardening. The result of God, everything
is his. It's his message. We're just
ambassadors for the king. And he could have had somebody
else do this. It doesn't matter about us. It's his message, it's his power
that enables sinners to hear it. It's his grace that is the
salvation of a sinner. It's by his grace that we're
saved through faith. His gift is everything. So every man's personal experience
is different and that's gonna vary based on your situation,
your circumstances, the Lord's gifts, the Lord enables in different
ways. God doesn't give the exact same
results in every minister's experience. God always gets the glory in
all of it. We're one in purpose, we're one
body, one Lord, one faith, one birth, one baptism, The one hope
of our calling. Everything that matters, we're
one in Christ. God always causes us to triumph,
Paul said. If we preach his gospel, it's
always a win. Whether it's result is life unto life or death
unto death, it's a sweet savor of Christ unto God. That's a win. Not talking about
some heavenly rewards here, jewels at our crown or nonsense like
that. The context is key. The farmer's wage is fruit, produce,
and that is given by God. God gives the increase. As many as were ordained unto
eternal life believe. the Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be saved. Verse nine, for we are laborers
together with God. Do you have any idea what I just
said? We are laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry, you
are God's building. What an incredible thing. You know, the first thing that
delights my soul about that, you're laborers together with
God. The first thing that came to my mind is this, how can we
mess that up, Marvin? How can we mess that up? We're
laborers together with God. I can't mess that up. Take my
yoke upon you, he said, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
in heart, and you shall find what? Oh, we're gonna put the Lord's
yoke on, it's time to get to work for Jesus. No, not what
it says. Do you know how to be a phenomenal
success in everything you do? You know, don't you? Be a laborer
together with God. I'll tell you this though, if
you are a laborer together with God, you're not gonna get any
glory. Not an ounce. But the thing about it is, you're
not gonna want any. You're not gonna want any. It's
a guarantee you're not getting any. We gotta be honest with ourselves
about that. Anything we do, really, we should
be laboring together with God. If you're doing it for his glory,
I guarantee you everything he does is for his glory. And you
know how God gets glory? By honoring, exalting, revealing
his son. Boy, I want you to know that,
don't you? a laborer together with God.
And notice the two, God apostrophe S. Here's where Paul joins the two
analogies together. Husbandry means, as I said, a
cultivated field. That's what he's been talking
about. And then he says, you're God's building. He's gonna talk
about being a builder in the Lord's work. And he brings those
two together here. A cultivated field. God so loved
his husbandry. God created us in a garden. He took upon him the burden of
all my sin in a garden. He was laid in a garden tomb. And when he rose from the dead
for my justification, Mary supposed him to be the gardener. And we are God's building. I don't have any idea who built
my house, do you? Anybody, any of the people? Jason
probably does. Probably knows a few names. when you go through it, when
you know as much as he does. But I don't know who built it,
but I know who it belongs to now, the bank. But I'm getting there. It's God's building. Look at
the way Paul said this. According to the grace of God,
which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take
heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man
lay, and that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Everything I am and everything
I do is according to the grace of God, which is given unto me.
You see how it starts? According to the grace of God,
which is given unto me. Paul said, I'm a wise master
builder. This ain't playtime. God don't play around with it. He doesn't use people and allow
them to neglect the work. He doesn't allow them to bring
shame upon him, though we're nothing. Paul just got through
saying, I'm nothing. So don't think he's bragging
here. He's just telling the truth. God's not playing around. It's according to the grace of
God, which is given unto me. When God bestows his grace upon
somebody, he's not slack about it. Paul was a wise master builder. That is the Lord in his grace
upon Paul gave Paul the determination to know nothing save Jesus Christ
in him crucified. He said, as a wise master builder,
I lay one foundation because there ain't no one. That is the Lord in his grace
upon Paul. Nothing save Jesus Christ. A wise master builder lays the
foundation and Christ is the foundation. What is the building? Well, he just told us, you are.
You're God's building. And in God's building, every
stone rests fully on him and stands on him alone. I just want to go back to this
phrase again. We are laborers together with
God. God has one business on this
earth. He created this earth for this
reason. The kingdom of heaven is like a king that made a marriage
for his son. What an honor to be in on that
and to be a laborer together with God. I'm glad you're with
me on this. in his ministry in this place. But what matters is God's with
us. Religion loves to say, up to
you. Don't they? You ever been in
it? Up to you, it's up to you. This, this, this, and this now,
but it's up to you. You just denied God his sovereignty,
his purpose, His love, it's not love for the Lord to wish you
well on your way to hell. That's not love. Destroyed everything
about God with that one innocent sounding, sentimental statement.
Up to you. If you learn one thing in this
book, you read this book and tell me what's up to you. You know what I like to say by
God's grace? You've heard me say it a lot
of time, by the grace of God, I've got three words to combat
those three, in on it. There's a big difference between
up to you and in on it. Oh Lord Jesus, this is my prayer. Yoke us to thyself. so that in all that we do, we
may rest in your sovereign will and trust in your omnipotent
grace.