envying and strife and divisions among them. PAUL’S ANSWER Paul’s answer to this tragic state of affairs was pointed and direct, for he says: “ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but min isters (servants) by whom y e believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” I Cor. 3:5-6 Who then is Paul? Who then is Apollos, that you should follow after a man, and not after Christ? They are only channels and instruments whom God chose to accomplish His purpose. God uses different instrumental ities, different men, different talents, different approach es, different personalities, but everything still depends upon the blessing of the Spirit of God. And so Paul’s admonition seems to be, to get their eyes off the instru ment, and place them alone on the Lord Jesus Christ. He accuses these Corinthians of acting like little children. He tells them that they are still in their childish admir ation of human personalities, and have entirely over looked and missed the message with which these men have been entrusted by the Spirit of God. He seems to say to these Christians, “You think yourselves better than the others, but you are acting like little children so that I have to feed you with milk from a bottle, instead of the solid meat of the Word of God whereby ye may grow.” HIGHER MATHEMATICS Now listen to Paul’s amazing argument in the follow ing verses: “/ have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, (h e is a ‘zero’) neither he that watereth ( another ‘zero’) but God that giveth the increase.” I Cor. 3:6-7 Paul says that he is absolutely nothing by himself. He is nothing but a “ zero.” He also asserts that Apollos is nothing by himself — he also is a “ zero.” They are both “ zero,” nothing, nil. Apart from God and the Spirit of God, all o f their talents, all of their abilities, Paul’s logic and Apollos’ oratory, are only empty words and phrases. But now notice an example of divine calculation and mathematics. Here is the answer which Paul gives in a striking manner. “ Now he that planteth and he that watereth are ONE.” I Cor. 3:8 Here Paul says that zero and zero equal one. Two zeros can be something, if they are placed in relation to the digit, one. We have already shown that Paul is a zero, and Apollos is a zero, and yet Paul and Apollos together, when in the proper relation to Christ, become something. Now Christ, of course, is the ONE, the only ONE. Without him Paul and Apollos and Cephas are ab solutely nothing by themselves and collectively they still amount to only one big zero. But now add the digit, ONE, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the zeros immediately become something. That one digit makes the difference. If we
take a zero and place after it the numeral, ONE, we have .01, or one one-hundredth. It isn’t much, but it is after all something. Now take two zeros, and add the numeral, ONE, and we have .001, or one one-thousandth. The more zeros we place before the ONE, the less the amount. The more of Paul and Apollos we place before Christ, the only One, the less it amounts to, and the less we shall see of Christ. But now let us reverse these figures. Instead of putting the zeros before the one (Christ), let us place the one before the zero, and then we have 10 — ten. Nothing has now become “ten.” It has increased ten-fold in value. If we add two zeros after the ONE (add Paul and Apollos after Christ) then we have one hundred — we increase ten-fold. The more zeros we place behind the one, the more it increases — ten-fold each time. You see it all depends upon where we put the Lord Jesus Christ, and where we place the minister. If the minister comes first, Christ diminishes. If Christ is first, we lose sight of the servant, his faults, his weaknesses, his personality, his ability, his graces, his virtues, as well as his shortcomings, and we see only Christ. And now one other thing. If we add one zero to the one, we have ten, but the more zeros we add, the great er Christ becomes, and so Paul concludes this section with the remarkable words: “For w e are labourers together with God: y e are God’s husbandry, y e are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the founda tion, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” I Cor. 3:9-10 LABORERS TOGETHER We are laborers together. God uses Paul and Apol los and Peter, and all the other instruments and gifts to the church. They have different personalities, they have different appeals, they have different abilities, but all are preaching the one and the same Christ. And after all, it is the message which counts, and not the messen ger, and as we become occupied with Him, we begin to lose sight of the instrument entirely. And this is the cure for all sectarianism and the evils of denominational- ism. We must become so occupied with Christ and His program, so busy preaching HIM, and recommending HIM to sinners, that we have no time to quibble over minor issues and hair-splitting differences, or to bicker over non-essential doctrines, and engage in profitless ar guments. We then can differ on many, many issues and disagree on many minor points, but still be so united in the one great program of the gospel and exaltation of the person of the Lord Jesus that we count these things as nothing, and holding Him aloft, we are submerged completely until men see not us, but only Christ. This is the desperate need of the church today. We are so busy defending our sectarian dogmas, so busy defend ing our own doctrinal positions, so busy building our sect or denomination or group, that we have left off present ing the Lord Jesus Christ. Thousands of Christians love their church more than they do the Lord Jesus, are more zealous in making chinch members and proselytes for their own denomination, than gettting people saved from the awfulness of sin and eternal condemnation.
.. quibbling over hair-splitting differences
SEPTEMBER, 1963
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