The Consumer Church - 1 Corinthians 3-4

1 Corinthians 3:8 (ESV)

He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

There is a lot of comparison on in the US church market.  We have been programmed to be consumers. That programming is not limited to cars, restaurants, and/or prime shopping. We carry that into our choice of churches and church leaders. It is very easy to fall into the trap of picking a church that will serve us well and meet our needs and is personality driven. It is hard to argue that should not be a concerned to some extent. After all, the Body is supposed to serve the others parts of the Body, correct?  

This is where we struggle. When we look for church in a consumer mindset we can grow cold to our responsibility to serve. We are to be part of a church body to serve that body. This is where the above verse gives us some clarity.  The Corinthian believers had developed a favorite mentality centered around the popularity of one servant of God over the other. There was a teaching pastor named Apollos who many people loved.  There was the apostle Paul that many people loved.  Some were loyal to one and some to another.  We get the impression from the text that this has caused quite a division in the church.  Paul is writing to them and wants them to understand that this is not right and this is not how God designed the church.  

The above verse, however, is as much for him and Apollos as it was for the church.  To understand the context here is what he just wrote to them:

1 Corinthians 3:5-7 (ESV)

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

We will probably always fight consumerism in church work. We will always have people show up becuase one church shines brighter than the other.  But let us not commit the sin of the Corinthians.  Each man must labor and God gives the reward. We are not serving mankind, we are serving Christ, the head of the church. This church forgot that.  

Colossians 1:18 (ESV)

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.