1 Corinthians 3 (Pt 3)

1 Corinthians 3:5-6 (ESV)

[5] What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. [6] I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

Apollos was a young, well educated, gifted preacher who only needed his theology tweaked a bit by Priscilla and Aquila (see Acts 18:24-26). Paul was described in this way, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account” (2 Cor 10:10). Yet God used both of these men in the lives of the Corinthian believers.

I think of those described in Hebrews 11. They “suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Heb 11:36-38). Others were described as having “through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection” (Heb 11:33-34). Could these have been serving the same God? And yet they were. Some experienced great victories and some suffered great loss, but their faithfulness spoke volumes about their faith.

I think of Gordon Hanson who traveled by snowshoe and cross-country skis to take the gospel to a small, backwoods community in northern Minnesota and plant a church. Later in his life he was faithfully preaching the gospel in area nursing homes. And then I think of Charles Spurgeon who was called the Prince of Preachers. He was already preaching to 10,000 people by the time he was 22 years old. His sermons are still read to this day. And yet he battled with depression most of his life that was so bad he sometimes could not get out of bed. Which of these men were greater in the eyes of God? I’m not sure God thinks like that at all. These men were heroes of the faith because they faithfully did what God called them to do. But they never thought of themselves as heroes. They were simply preachers of Good News.

We are a celebrity centered society. We celebrate celebrity encounters. But the encounters that I really value are those with men like Gordon Hanson, Jim Schreiber, Walter Duff, Bob Page, and Art Anderson. Many have never heard of these men, and yet they modeled biblical ministry for me. They were not out to gain a following. They just faithfully served God and left behind a legacy of faith. Each had a different gift. Each had a different role. Each had a different personality. But God used them in my life and the lives of many others. Yet each of these men would say that they simply served as God called them. Ministry wasn’t about them. It was about Him. Our world needs a few more men and women like that in these days.