August 24, 1911

Apollos at Corinth

(Concluded.)

EGW

God's servants do not all possess the same gifts, but they are all his workmen. Each is to learn of the great Teacher, and is then to communicate what he has learned. God has given to each of his messengers an individual work. There is a diversity of gifts, but all the workers are to blend in harmony, controlled by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. As they make known the gospel of salvation, many will be convicted and converted by the power of God. The human instrumentality is hid with Christ in God, and Christ appears as the chiefest among ten thousand, the One altogether lovely.RH August 24, 1911, par. 1

“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.” In this scripture the apostle compares the church to a cultivated field, in which the husbandmen labor, caring for the vines of the Lord's planting; and also to a building, which is to grow into a holy temple for the Lord. God is the master worker, and he has appointed to each man his work. All are to labor under his supervision, letting him work for and through his workmen. He gives them tact and skill, and if they heed his instruction, he crowns their efforts with success.RH August 24, 1911, par. 2

God's servants are to work together, blending in kindly, courteous order, “in honor preferring one another.” There is to be no unkind criticism, no pulling to pieces of another's work; and there are to be no separate parties. Every man to whom the Lord has entrusted a message has his specific work. Each one has an individuality of his own, which he is not to sink in that of any other man; yet each is to work in harmony with his brethren. In their service, God's workers are to be essentially one. No one is to set himself up as a criterion, speaking disrespectfully of his fellow workers, or treating them as inferior. Under God, each is to do his appointed work, respected, loved, and encouraged by other laborers. Together they are to carry the work to completion.RH August 24, 1911, par. 3

These principles are dwelt upon at length in Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church. The apostle refers to “the ministers of Christ” as “stewards of the mysteries of God;” and of their work he declares: “It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”RH August 24, 1911, par. 4

It is not given to any human being to judge between the different servants of God. The Lord alone is the judge of man's work, and he will give to each his just reward.RH August 24, 1911, par. 5

The apostle, continuing, refers directly to the comparisons that had been made between his labors and those of Apollos: “These things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”RH August 24, 1911, par. 6

Paul plainly set before the church the perils and the hardships that he and his associates had patiently endured in their service for Christ. “Even unto this present hour,” he declared, “we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day. I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”RH August 24, 1911, par. 7

He who sends forth gospel workers as his ambassadors is dishonored when there is manifested among the hearers so strong an attachment to some favorite minister that there is an unwillingness to accept the labors of some other teacher. The Lord sends help to his people, not always as they may choose, but as they need; for men are short-sighted, and can not discern what is for their highest good. It is seldom that one minister has all the qualifications necessary to perfect a church in all the requirements of Christianity; therefore God often sends to them other ministers each possessing some qualifications in which the others were deficient.RH August 24, 1911, par. 8

The church should gratefully accept these servants of Christ, even as they would accept the Master himself. They should seek to derive all the benefit possible from the instruction which each minister may give them from the Word of God. The truths that the servants of God bring are to be accepted and appreciated in the meekness of humility, but no minister is to be idolized.RH August 24, 1911, par. 9

Through the grace of Christ, God's ministers are made messengers of light and blessing. As by earnest, persevering prayer they obtain the endowment of the Holy Spirit and go forth weighted with the burden of soul-saving, their hearts filled with zeal to extend the triumphs of the cross, they will see fruit of their labors. Resolutely refusing to display human wisdom or to exalt self, they will accomplish a work that will withstand the assaults of Satan. Many souls will be turned from darkness to light, and many churches will be established. Men will be converted, not to the human instrumentality, but to Christ. Self will be kept in the background; Jesus only, the Man of Calvary, will appear.RH August 24, 1911, par. 10

Those who are working for Christ today may reveal the same distinguishing excellences revealed by those who in the apostolic age proclaimed the gospel. God is just as ready to give power to his servants today as he was to give power to Paul and Apollos, to Silas and Timothy, to Peter, James, and John.RH August 24, 1911, par. 11

In the apostles’ day there were some misguided souls who claimed to believe in Christ, yet refused to show respect to his ambassadors. They declared that they followed no human teacher, but were taught directly by Christ, without the aid of the ministers of the gospel. They were independent in spirit, and unwilling to submit to the voice of the church. Such men were in grave danger of being deceived.RH August 24, 1911, par. 12

God has placed in the church, as his appointed helpers, men of varied talents that through the combined wisdom of many, the mind of the Spirit may be met. Men who move in accordance with their own strong traits of character, refusing to yoke up with others who have had a long experience in the work of God, will become blinded by self-confidence, unable to discern between the false and the true. It is not safe for such ones to be chosen as leaders in the church; for they would follow their own judgment and plans, regardless of the judgment of their brethren. It is easy for the enemy to work through those who, themselves needing counsel at every step, undertake the guardianship of souls in their own strength, without having learned the lowliness of Christ.RH August 24, 1911, par. 13

Impressions alone are not a safe guide to duty. The enemy often persuades men to believe that it is God who is guiding them, when in reality they are following only human impulse. But if we watch carefully, and take counsel with our brethren, we shall be given an understanding of the Lord's will; for the promise is, “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.”RH August 24, 1911, par. 14

In the early Christian church, there were some who refused to recognize either Paul or Apollos, but held that Peter was their leader. They affirmed that Peter has been most intimate with Christ when the Master was upon the earth, while Paul had been a persecutor of the believers. Their views and feelings were bound about by prejudice. They did not show the liberality, the generosity, the tenderness, which reveals that Christ is abiding in the heart.RH August 24, 1911, par. 15

There was danger that this party spirit would result in great evil to the Christian church; and Paul was instructed by the Lord to utter words of earnest admonition and solemn protest. Of those who were saying, “I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ,” the apostle, inquired, “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” “Let no man glory in men,” he pleaded. “For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.”RH August 24, 1911, par. 16

Paul and Apollos were in perfect harmony. The latter was disappointed and grieved because of the dissension in the church at Corinth; he took no advantage of the preference shown to himself, nor did he encourage it, but hastily left the field of strife. When Paul afterward urged him to revisit Corinth, he declined, and did not again labor there until long afterward, when the church had reached a better spiritual state.RH August 24, 1911, par. 17