another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is
Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is
he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the
increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man
shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers
together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
In his book The Pre-Eminence, T. Austin Sparks writes.......
So let us be warned, because the first men that the churches exalted were faithful
men like Paul, Apollos and Peter. It began in the churches, because each group
believed the man, or the group, they followed to be the greatest.
They believed this because they thought they had been given greater and
superior revelations than their other brethren. Therefore, there was something in
their heart, spirit and soul that desired to have the preeminence; and this gave
satan the ground he needed to cause jealousy, strife and division among those
Paul and the others had espoused to the Lord.
Sadly, this same thing has taken place throughout the ages, and the majority of
the Church has divided itself into separate groups and organizations right up to
the present time. Keep in mind that Paul said that in the beginning the Corinthians
had been wholeheartedly and sincerely devoted to the Lord.
So what took place at Corinth among the Christians is an example of satan's most
deceitful and seductive power, as he uses the revelations of the Holy Spirit which
are given through the faithful servants of God, to seduce the Lord's bondservants
into thinking they are superior to others in the body of Christ.
Beloved, we must never exalt the servants of God, for this leads to our being
exalted because of the abundance of revelations. Also, if we believe that we are
superior to others in the body of Christ because we have been given an
abundance of revelations by God, then this will lead to our not being able to
discern the false apostles sent by satan.
"THEREFORE LET NO MAN GLORY IN MEN. "