Message Notes

Senior Sunday School 26 October 2025

Text: 1 Corinthians 3

Subject: “We are God’s fellow workers”

Lesson #16

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labour.

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

1 Corinthians 3:5-9

CORRECTING WRONG THOUGHTS

1. Wrong actions had occurred

a) Carnality was not addressed

b) Factions had become a reality

c) The problem must be addressed at its roots

2. Wrong thoughts

a) This was the very root of the problem

b) Wrong thoughts arose from carnality

c) Carnality had to be addressed firmly

3. The Correct View proposed

a) That Paul and Apollos were mere “ministers”

b) The word may simply be translated as “servants”

c) Both certainly saw themselves only as servants of God

4. Their ministries were different

a) Paul was a planter

b) Apollos watered

c) But God was the One who gave the increase

5. The key Person to honour and praise

a) God is the One to be praised

b) He is the Giver of the seed

c) He Giver of the rain

d) He is the One who will cause the seed to become fruitful

e) The servants should not receive the praise when God does the major share of the work

6. The overall picture

a) Paul and Apollos

i) They are servants of God

ii) They are fellow workers of God

b) The Corinthian Church

i) God’s field

ii) God’s building

This is the correct perspective to have!