We Are Laborers Together

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Paul is trying to bring a sense of unity to the church in Corinth. They were divided into different sects based on their favorite apostle. Some where of Paul, some of Peter, and even some had cast their lot to Apollos. He had ask the question in the first chapter “Is Christ divided?” (1:13) Paul realized the danger in that once you cut asunder a living thing it ceases to live. Much like the mother who when Solomon went to divide the baby between her and the other mother who had lost her child, the true mother cried out that Solomon not divide the child so it could live. Paul is like a father here, pleading with the Corinthian believers not to be divided but unified in the mission, message, and ministry. He does this by reminding them “We are all laborers together.”

Benjamin Franklin was inspirational during one of the most challenging times in the colonies prior to the revolutionary war. The leaders of the colonies could not all agree as to how to govern the new found country and what’s amazing is they had not even won the war yet. They were loyal to their political affiliations and this brought about division. In the heat of the moment it was Franklin that stood up and said “Gentlemen we must  all hang together or most assuredly we will hang separately.” This realization brought them back to the reason why they we willing to fight for the principles of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness.

We too need to remember why we are Christians. Most importantly we need to remember how we became Christians. We heard the Gospel. It was shared with us and we have been commissioned by Christ to proclaim this message to all the world. It is must come from a unified front. Christ prayed in John 17:21 that His church would be one. Unified in its mission, message, and ministry.

The application to us today is that we have our same divisions as the first century. We may not be divided in our own church but we are divided in the Church as a whole due to our denominationalism, worship styles, and other minors of which we major on. We may not agree on sanctification, Spirit Baptism, Spiritual gifts and the proper use of them, or even on the second coming, but what we should agree on is the core tenants of the faith concerning the incarnation, the divine/human Christ, the sinlessness of Jesus, along with His death, burial, and resurrection. We must agree that salvation is by grace through faith only through the atoning work of the cross. Finally, that death has been conquered through the resurrection of Christ from the dead and because He lives we will live also.

Paul told the Corinthians that they were being carnal and human instead of spiritual. This was the foundation of their error. God’s work is spiritual. We cannot do kingdom work with carnal hands. Christ is the founder of His church and the Holy Spirit gave it its life. Let’s us seek to be spiritual and work along side our brothers and sister in Christ from other denominations to present an unified messages to the unbelieving world around us!

Pastor Robby