And the Credit Goes To...

Sermon Outline

1. Quarreling and envy arise from the question of who gets credit for the success of the Church’s mission.

2. Such quarreling over who gets the credit distracts from fulfilling the mission opportunities God sets before us.

3. The fact is, it’s “okay” if we plant but can’t claim any credit for growth!

In Mission Work, the Credit Goes to God.

4. God is giving you yourself growth today in the nutrient-filled Gospel words “the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead” (Lk 24:46).

5. So you can become involved personally in the work of mission.

Sermon

Missionaries in the 1940s and on to today have left their home congregations to work in Papua New Guinea, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and countless other countries. They travel far, give up many comforts we take for granted, and sometimes are in danger. But do the missionaries get the credit for doing that work? Many of you members of this congregation have prayed for that mission work and given offerings to help spread God’s Word in those countries. The missionaries thank you. But do members of congregations get the credit for that mission work?

In July 1969, a young missionary in Papua New Guinea made an outreach journey with twenty-one national pastors. After three days of walking through tropical rain forests and over a mountain range, the group came to the first village of twenty to thirty people. That evening, the mission group told the people about salvation through faith in Jesus. They repeated that message in another worship service the next morning. Before the mission group left, the leader of the village spoke. He ended his brief speech by saying that it would have been “okay” if the mission group had not come. Ouch! Who would want to get the credit for that?

1.

In the congregation in the Greek city of Corinth, a problem had developed. Two verses before our text, Paul rebukes members of the congregation: “There is jealousy and strife among you.” He described the quarreling and envy back in 1:11–12: “It has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ.’ ” It boiled down to who gets the credit for the success in that new mission congregation: Paul? or Apollos? or Peter? or Christ?

2.

In our text, v 5, we read, “What is Paul?” Ah. Perhaps Paul is the one to get the credit for planting the congregation at Corinth on his second missionary journey. That’s why some claimed that they belonged to Paul. He was born a Roman citizen, brought up in the city of Tarsus. Paul was trained as a Jewish rabbi. And as a zealous Pharisee, he persecuted the early Christians. On the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him, and Paul became a believer. Eventually, Paul spent eighteen full months, one of his longest stays on any field, preaching in Corinth. But is Paul the one who gets the credit for the mission work in Corinth? In v 21, following our text, we read, “Let no one boast in men.” Paul is not the one who gets the credit for the mission work in Corinth.

Are our congregations today much different? Members often look back in the history of their congregation and want to rest on the laurels of past members. Just what Satan wants—distracting us from fulfilling the mission opportunities God is setting right before our eyes.

In our text, v 5, we read, “What then is Apollos?” Ah. Perhaps Apollos is the one to get the credit for the mission work in the congregation at Corinth. Apollos, the Scriptures tell us in Acts, was a brilliant man. He was born and educated in Alexandria, Egypt, where there was a large Christian community. Apollos left his homeplace to work in the congregation in Corinth. There he taught accurately about Jesus and could prove to others from the Old Testament that Jesus was the Messiah. He was eloquent, a great orator, the kind of man any congregation would want as its pastor. But is Apollos the one who gets the credit for the mission work in Corinth? That verse following our text, v 21, still reads, “Let no one boast in men.” Apollos is not the one who gets the credit for the mission work in Corinth.

Yet, even to this day, members are tempted to single out their favorites in the congregation. Such picking and choosing can easily lead to bickering and strife. God’s kingdom is much larger than our little world of interest. And if people do not come to believe in Jesus, they perish eternally.

What about Cephas, St. Peter? Some members of the congregation in Corinth claimed, “I follow Cephas.” Perhaps Peter is the one to get the credit. He was well known to the congregation in Corinth. Peter was one of the twelve disciples. He was one of the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem before himself departing for mission fields afar. But is Peter the one who gets credit for the mission work in Corinth? V 21 also applies to Peter: “Let no one boast in men.” Peter is not the one who gets the credit for the mission work in Corinth.

Satan tempts congregation members to accept and prefer their favorite friends in a congregation and sometimes to shut others out of their group. Forming small groups, excluding others, can distract believers from being witnesses to the saving Gospel of faith in Jesus. As a result, people perish eternally.

Corinth: They could easily become followers of the great Church leaders—Paul, Apollos, Peter. Congregations today: What’s wrong with getting distracted from reaching out to unbelievers? What’s more, we havedone a lot of mission work already. Corinth? Excuses. U.S. congregations? Excuses. How easy it would be to pass off sin by just giving excuses. Does our sinful nature get the credit for that?

3.

The missionary who’d made that journey in July 1969 went back to Papua New Guinea twenty-nine years later. While there, he went to Timothy Lutheran Seminary and visited with the students. One of them, Michael, said that his mother told him that shortly after Michael was born, a missionary and several national pastors visited their village. The missionary’s eyes lit up: “I was that missionary!” So the leader who’d said it would have been okay if the mission group had not come to their village now had one of his men studying to be a pastor! Who gets the credit for that?

Our answer comes in vv 6–7 of our text: “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.” It’s clear:

In Mission Work, the Credit Goes to God.

It is not Paul, not Apollos, not Peter who gets the credit. It is not the missionaries, not congregation members. No. No. And no. Rather, in mission work, all the credit goes to God, who gives the growth.

4.

And God is giving you the growth today. I mean you personally. He forgives your sins of being distracted from doing his work. In the Gospel for a Mission Observance, Jesus states, “The Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead” (Lk 24:46). Those words are bursting with nutrients. “The Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.” Those are the sweet, nutrient-rich words of the Gospel. Chew on those words; swallow them whole. “The Christ should suffer and rise from the dead.” With those words, Jesus’ death and resurrection, God gives you forgiveness of all your sins. He promises you that nothing, not even our sins, can separate us from his care every moment of our lives. He assures you that you will live with him forever in heaven someday. And with those words he gives the growth in your life that makes you a fellow worker with him and with all believers. Satan wants you in small, exclusive cliques. But God gives you the growth and puts you in that larger group of believers who are doing what Jesus goes on to say in that Gospel for a Mission Observance: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations” (Lk 24:47).

5.

Because God has given you growth personally, you can now be a part of that proclamation to all nations. As starters, you can look in our own community for mission opportunities. The United States is the third largest mission field in the world.

But more: You are doing mission work with that large group of people in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, working in approximately ninety countries around the world. You have an important responsibility in that work, planting new churches, developing church leaders, teaching in schools, and doing human care. You can become involved personally, connecting with people around the world. You can pray for missionaries and their work. As an individual or a congregation or a group, you can adopt a missionary. We can get the information for you to do that (lcms.org/whatwedo).

There’s more you can do. You can become a missionary. In Vietnam and in other countries, you can teach English as a second language. You can go as a missionary, a layperson, using your God-given skills to support pastors and teachers in their work.

One of the favorite Bible stories of the believers in the country of Papua New Guinea is Jesus telling about the faith of the woman who begged him to heal her daughter. Jesus told her that it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. But the woman replied, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Mt 15:27). The people in Papua New Guinea believe that if they receive only crumbs of everything God gives, those crumbs will be sufficient for them and their faith.

Look at your faith through the eyes of believers in Papua New Guinea. Reach out with the gifts God gives you to do his work here and around the world. In mission work, God gets all the credit; he gives the growth. As for you, v 9 of the text describes your part in that work: “For we are God’s fellow workers.” Amen.