ApolLOS Creed

1 Corinthians 1:12 

I bring this up because some from Chloe’s family brought a most disturbing report to my attention—that you’re fighting among yourselves! I’ll tell you exactly what I was told: You’re all picking sides, going around saying, “I’m on Paul’s side,” or “I’m for Apollos,” or “Peter is my man,” or “I’m in the Messiah group.”

Happy April beautiful people! It's the beginning of the second quarter of this year. I think April happens to be one of my favorite months, next to my birthday month of September, of course. Mainly because of the tulips and all of the other flowers that tend to come into full bloom around this time. I guess the visible evidence of the season changing from winter to spring is what's exciting. Plus, I can't wait to go on bike rides and jogs along Lake Michigan. It's THEE best!
Gives me hope that maybe in the spirit realm the same seasonal shift is occurring. 
And I don't know about you guys, but this chick is eager for some customized tangibles. 
You know what I mean? 
Real talk! Ha! 

Anyway, I feel like playing a fire fighter today. 
In the new testament, a nice portion of it matter of fact, is comprised of letters from Paul to specific churches. 1st and 2nd Corinthians are letters that were written to the Church of Corinth. 
Corinth is located in the south-central part of Greece and was known to be a wealthy city having sole control and access to the Peloponnese land and also dominated trade in the neighboring gulfs. 

The Corinth Church, was one that Paul made sure to give mad shout outs to for being enriched in every way, having all kinds of speech, all kinds of knowledge, lacking no spiritual gifts, while eagerly anticipating the revealing of Jesus Christ. 
To sum it all up, he let them know that they were some bad sons of Christ. They were killing the game out here. 

HOWEVER, which leads us to his admonishment in the verses and chapters to follow, we see Paul swiftly went from being greatly proud of the Church of Corinth, 
to terribly disturbed by them. 
WHY? 
Because of infighting. #GoodandTerrible

These people basically had all they needed to continue to advance the kingdom of God, yet they found themselves arguing over something so stupid and asinine! 
 Over who was repping who!

I can almost imagine how much righteous indignation rose up from Paul's belly. Burning his esophagus like acid reflux upon him hearing the most futile, kindergarten, back and forth engagements transpiring in his absence amongst his fellow brothers and sisters of the faith. 
I bet he wanted to take the filter off and give them all caps, 
"OH YOU CHILDISH CORINTHIANS!" 

Instead, he gave them a tasteful rebuke. He was not about to allow them to weave for themselves a trend in this behavior. Putting what made them great on the wayside, just to rot and waste away for spit ball wars. 
He was not about that life. He had to straighten them out. Immediately. 

Now, I've spent close to three years on the sidelines as a benchwarmer per-say. 
This is probably the longest I've ever actually thought I'd be my own version of Bobby Boucher in the movie Waterboy. (I give you full permission to laugh at this. I already did.) 

No seriously though, since I gave God my life, all I've known is 100% full throttle ministry and nothing in between. Plowing and tilling and sowing. Warring and weeping, and sacrificing on behalf of the people of God. This is all I know.

 The endeavors I've participated in during these consecutive off-seasons, doesn't compare to what I'm really used to doing. 
So sitting out has been quite an adjustment. But I've used this time to reflect, heal, recalibrate, and get delivered from some stuff. 
I won't necessarily curse this space at all. 

The only thing is, I have become quite acquainted with the chattering and heckling of some others who are also on the sidelines or not doing as much. The vicious stone throwing and fire dart shooting at those on the field, or in other words those who have more visible platforms, is off the chain!
Sometimes I can't tell who is or who isn't for Jesus. 

You've got whole ministries beefing with other ministries. Followers of one leader, chiding followers of another leader. Leaders with smaller platforms or long since defunct/obsolete platforms calling themselves "exposing" leaders with major platforms. 

Clout chasers chastising other people's movements, only to turn around and produce carbon copies of what they've just put their tacky mouths on. 
People of the cloth who claim to love Jesus and his people but feeding their sheep the bitter backwash and chewed up remnants of their offense. 

Leaders who've gotten a little taste of influence now giving themselves the responsibility to measure people's assignments and their authenticity with the basic notion, 
"If it doesn't look like what I'm doing, it's not Jesus. It's demonic!" 

 People supposedly holding spiritual gift offices criticizing how others are flowing in their gifts and using church lingo to grade folk. 
Brothers and sisters of the faith bullying other siblings with the idea that if one doesn't have physical proof (typically photo-ops) that they have a relationship with the leader of the house then, they're an orphan. 

It's absolutely disheartening for someone like me, who once upon a time had a tunnel vision for ministry but dealt with having to bob and weave the javelins and spears while on the field, thrown from people whom I thought was on the same team as me! 
Then some odd years later, now seated on the bench dodging spit and phlegm coming from those who wish they could be in the position of those in greater positions. 
The copycatting, and one upping, and comparison battles, 
IT'S, JUST, TOO, MUCH!

I tell y'all, it's been taking everything in my soul to keep from making an exit stage left and leaving the entire stadium of God period to become a Christian monk or something. (Is there a such thing?)

 The hate for this place that I'm in is real but I swallow this discomfort. 
Because I hate more of what GOD'S BODY has become. 
Or maybe has always been.
Many nights I've been moved to tears at what seems like a terrible case of the measles or something that the body of Christ is suffering from. 
And it's my love for God's people and a heartfelt desire to see the body well and whole that keeps me from hanging my jersey up.

1 Corinthians 3:4
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

It's the Apollos creed that some of the people of God today are following. The "who's the greatest of them all," mindsets over the creed of Christ! The creed of Christ is where no one is greatest among anyone because everyone's a SERVANT! 

When will we, disband these worldly sets and stop killing each other to be in the popped spotlight of the world so that we may focus ourselves on having a hunger and thirst for righteousness?
When will Jesus be the center of our joy? When will we stop using ministry as a hustle and start humbling ourselves to gain the mind of Christ?

You know what Paul equated this nonsense behavior too? Milk drinking. Milk drinkers don't have a choice but to be worldly. When the body of Christ is more worldly than a little bit, it becomes susceptible to mumps and measles because its immune system is not built up enough to block the wiles and influences of the enemy. 

Work can't get done by the body of Christ on a grand scale with infighting going on within its members. 
In the words of the late Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?" 
God responds to agreement. He blesses pure covenants. Not quarrelers or covenants bred by BLOODY HELL! 

How much longer will we let competing and backbiting turn us stupid and infantile? 
How much longer will we confuse having a big brand with having an anointing and let this misinterpretation cause us to hate one another? You can build a big brand and it not have been breathed on by God. You can be gifted and not anointed! 
And just because the brand is smaller doesn't mean God favors it more. Jesus' ministry started with 12, graduated to 5,000, and is now today in the millions!
Can we argue this? 

How many even have confused being called with being chosen? 
For many are called...
This may seem like I'm starting a fire, but I beg to differ!
I want to extinguish these pockets of strange fire that we've ignited and get us to tend to the infection of comparison.

Titus 3:2 
Tell them not to speak evil of anyone but to live in peace with others. They should be gentle and polite to everyone.

Hear me! If you're going to preach, preach in the method that God has ordained you. If you're going to teach, teach in the method that God has ordained you. If you're going to evangelize, prophesy, pastor, sing, facilitate, do it in the method that God has ordained you. In school when we were given tests, if we smelled like we wanted to look off someone else's paper, we either failed or had points taken off. When it comes to your assignment, I don't care what it is, pretend like this is the same case.

 Last week, I had a dream, that I was invited by an acquaintance to a party at a lounge. When I arrived to the party, the room was smokey and lit with red lights. There were people there I was familiar with and people of whom I wasn't. They were huddled off in booths doing things I really couldn't make out since it was so smokey. 
Needless to say, I didn't feel quite welcomed. 

I wound up going to a bathroom, well lit with white lights filled with a lot of women pampering themselves in the mirrors. There were mirrors on both sides of the bathroom and all were occupied by multiple women. I just wanted to wash my hands and take a quick glance of myself. 
But I couldn't. 
Still, that unwelcoming air I felt in the smokey red room, permeated the well lit bathroom too. 
I walked straight ahead, past the pampering women, and out of another door which led me to the hallway of a school. 

I looked ahead down the hall and saw a huge brawl. Kids were fighting. I saw bookbags, rulers, paper, folders, and pencil holders flying across the hall. 
There was a large space between me and this crowd. I felt myself tempted to go down there. But I instead went to a locker next to a classroom and opened it to retrieve my belongings. I remember feeling as if someone was standing with me and a familial love radiating from them. Then I felt someone standing behind me and it was my old elementary school principle watching me. 
She stood there, petite in stature, never saying a word. Her eyes though, they spoke, saying, "You better not go down there. Don't you dare go down there."
Then I woke up.

I believe this dream was simply a representation of  the various unholy aspects of ministry. 
You have the dark deviant side of ministry where sin is ripe. The bright vainglorious side of ministry where holiness is overshadowed by vain presentations. And the immature quarrelsome side of ministry where unhealthy conflicts brew. None of these sides are inviting or welcoming to those who are seeking fellowship, deliverance, and/or impartation/teaching. 
Does this make sense?

We as the body of Christ have been called to be a city on a hill. The light of the world. The salt in the earth. Yet our potency and efficacy is gravely depreciated as we mar ourselves with the elementary antics of that of the world. 
There is no way in heaven we should ever be caught using other siblings in Christ to be our motivators to compare and compete. 
What are we comparing and competing for?
When Jesus died for all of us and engrafted us with unique functions to pursue a predestined cause!

If we were otherwise dying to self daily and pulling the blueprints of our assignments out of our own designated lockers, seeking and relying on God's counsel to help us understand them, we would never be able to entertain anything that takes us outside of where we're designed to be.
Nor would we be inclined to worry ourselves about things that we were never called to do. 
Thus, suffocating all chances of any type of sibling rivalry seasoned by none other than paltry comparisons.

1 Corinthians 3:5-7
What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role. I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow...