God Gave the Growth

1 Corinthians 3: 1-9, page 167
And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh.
For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Sermon
It’s wonderful to be a pastor, and one of the wonderful parts of being a pastor is being invited into people’s homes. A member of the last church I served invited us to her home for dinner, and over dessert we were talking about dreams.
The daughter, I guess she was 7, announces to the table – I have two dreams: to be Taylor Swift’s sister and to be in the snow naked.
There are a lot of directions this sermon could take after making that statement.
But what I want you to see is that one of these dreams makes this daughter a typical 7-year-old girl in my mind – the other makes this daughter a most unique 7-year-old girl – and I am willing to bet that if you asked me and if you asked her which dream, if it were to come true, would make her wholly unique and which would make her wholly typical – the 7-year-old girl and I would answer completely differently.
We believe that who we are identified with makes us special – even those of us who dream up the most unique thing to do in the snow ever dreamed of.
So Paul worries about the church in Corinth – people who worry about who they are identified with, some saying “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” but “what then is Apollos? What is Paul?” A good question – especially when you consider how Paul is the one writing the letter and asking the question, “What is Paul” as though he were wondering the same thing.
The human situation is one of constant change – and those who think that the heroes of their day, who believe that being associated with certain celebrities means something, often don’t realize that celebrity is an ever-revolving door.
I was honored to be invited to Kiwanis last week by Murray Miles. Over fried chicken our table was discussing the old theater, and Murray told a story about Gene Autry. Gene comes to town to perform at the old Princess Theater, but the p. a. system wasn’t working and a man named Mr. Orman was the only one in town who could fix it. The problem was that Mr. Orman was also the telegraph operator in town and he couldn’t leave his post at the telegraph machine to get down to the theater. However – it just so happened that Gene Autry himself was an old telegraph operator and he told Mr. Orman that he would man the machine if he’d go down and fix the p. a. system.
That’s how it happened, there are even pictures to prove it – but Mr. Ashley Brown who was sitting to Murray’s right pointed out the problem with the story – “It’s only a good story because we know who Gene Autry is – if you don’t know who Gene Autry was you don’t really care that this star was working on a telegraph machine.”
Some in the church were saying “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” but “what then is Apollos? What is Paul?”
“I planted,” the apostle says, “Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”
And isn’t that what matters. That in our ever-changing world – where the famous, the powerful, the elite few are an ever-changing cast of characters, isn’t the one who gave the growth the one that matters? Shouldn’t celebrities be worried less about retaining their place in society and more about the good work for the Kingdom that they can do during their time in the public eye? Shouldn’t we be worried less about our association with the powerful knowing that the powerful of today will almost certainly not be the powerful of tomorrow? Considering how short our time here on earth is – isn’t our relationship to the everlasting God the one that matters far more than our relationship with the rich and famous or their place in the public eye?
You wouldn’t think it were true by looking at television – seeing how low the likes of Meatloaf and Jose Canseco will sink on Celebrity Apprentice just to get back in that spotlight for however short a period of time – maybe they feel forgotten, their music and professional baseball careers long gone – but they certainly don’t gain back their value in our eyes by fighting other has-been celebrities to avoid being fired by Donald Trump.
And you wouldn’t think it were true by reading the paper – watching the former President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak ever so reluctantly relinquish power only after nearly his entire country demanded his resignation through two weeks of protests.
Nor would you think it were true by listening to a 7-year-old girl who thinks being Taylor Swift’s sister would make her truly special when don’t you know that the God who gave her all the creativity in the world looks down from heaven marveling at what she has thought to do in the snow.
But Paul knows the human condition, and he knows that we have trouble believing we are valued for just being who God created us to be – that we want to believe that it’s who we are identified with that matters – and maybe Paul even knows the human condition so well that he knows himself – knows that he has been tempted to think that it’s all those eyes watching his every move, all those ears listening to his every word that make him somebody.
What is Paul, he asks – and maybe this is the question he asks himself, as though he could see into the future, imagine the towering cathedrals, universities, and popes who would take his name – picture the generations who would look back on his words for wisdom and enlightenment – that just maybe millions upon millions would aspire to be like him – and then, then Paul would be somebody.
What is Paul, he asks – what is Paul but the planter of a seed – and neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
All humans face this same problem – and I know it’s true because I face it myself.
I want to prove that I am somebody, but if I hear these words from Paul, that just being who God created me to be is enough, then I’ll know the truth and I’ll find the freedom to just be me that I seek.
It’s not my works that make me somebody – it’s the God who created me and claimed me in baptism who has made me somebody.
It’s not what people say about me that gives me my worth – it’s Christ who died on the cross for me that makes me worthy.
And I don’t need to stay up all night worrying about the words that these hands will type – as I only need to use these hands to point to the God who gives my work purpose and meaning.
For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building – and it is God who has called you great – it is God who has made you worthy – it is God who can give your life meaning.
You don’t need to be Taylor Swift’s sister to be somebody in the Kingdom of God – for God has already called you daughter – God has already called you son.
And it’s not that Taylor Swift is nothing – it’s just that in the eyes of God she’s nothing more than you.
Amen.