We are all different people. We all
have different personalities. Some people have lots and lots
of friends while others prefer to have a few very close
friends. Some people are athletic, others are intellectual.
Some are shy and quiet, others are outgoing and boisterous.
As we each have different
personalities, we relate to other people in different ways.
We relate best to people who are most similar to us. If you
share the gospel with someone who is very different from
you, you may not get the same reaction as you would from
someone who is very much like you. This does not mean that
you should not share the gospel with people who are not like
you. This also does not mean that if someone else shares the
same message and the person accepts then but not when you
told them that you failed.
The apostle Paul encountered very much
the same thing in his ministry. He taught the gospel in the
city of Corinth. It was a very sinful city that must have
troubled him a lot during his time there. Yet he found some
success and a church was started. Some time later, a man
named Apollos came along and he built upon what Paul had
started and he saw more success.
We certainly couldn’t say that Paul
was a poor evangelist and someone else had to come in
because he couldn’t do the job. Instead, Apollos was simply
able to reach some people that Paul was not. He also built
upon the foundation that Paul had already laid. Paul writes
about this in 1 Corinthians 3:1-11
Brothers, I could not address you as
spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. I gave you
milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.
Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For
since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you
not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one
says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are
you not mere men? 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 made it grow. So neither he who
plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who
makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters
have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his
own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's
field, God's building. By the grace God has given me, I laid
a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is
building on it. But each one should be careful how he
builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one
already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
This passage is great because it fits
into our soil analogy that we have been using. Even if we
plant the seed, the job still isn’t done. Plants need to be
watered if they are to grow. Paul recognized that he wasn’t
the one to do the watering. He considered the Corinthians
immature and he was not the one to speak to them about
spiritual things. But Apollos was.
Next Section -
The Work of Apollos
