God's Workers and Fields
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul tells the church in Corinth that they are not yet spiritual people, yet they are of the flesh. Paul could only teach them with spiritual milk (like a baby) and not with spiritual meat (for the grown up believer). The focus had not been on God but on the ones who taught God's word. There was favoritism in the church.
While the favoritism can be attributed to the different sects of Christianity, I do not believe there were more sects of the faith at the time. The church as a whole was still growing. The word of Christ was still being delivered to those who didn't know of Christ. As we stand in 2016 the unity within the church could simply mean within your specific church. If you are favoring one pastor over another and only want to hear from one pastor then that could be part of why this church in Corinth was divided between those who followed Paul or Apollos.
One pastor waters and another may plant seeds, but they both have responsibilities under God who is the ultimate authority. If you are only likely to do what your pastor says and not read your Bible and seek to understand it on your own, you are doing yourself a disservice. We are all responsible for our role in our faith and our growth. God doesn't expect us to be experts in scripture to where we have to fill out tests when we reach the pearly gates. This isn't that kind of test. The test is while we are here. We are to learn and spread the word of Christ and be loving and not show partiality based on race or gender or anything. We are not to be partial. God does not want division in His temple (1 Corinthians 3:17).
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The Seed is the Word of God
The Parable of the Sower is to explain how we can plant seeds in people with the Word of God (the Bible). Some seed will get trampled and eaten up by birds. Some seed will fall among rocks and will not be able to grow properly as there is no moist soil for it to grow from. Some seed can fall among thorns and when it grows up it is choked out by those thorns. And other seed can fall into good soil and be very fruitful.
The Word of God is that seed and what people do with it is how that seed grows or does not grow in that person. We need "good soil" in order for that seed in us to grow. If we spend all of our time around thorns and rocks and where the seed can be eaten up from us, then the seed/The Word is not growing to its capacity. The image below gives an illustrated look at how our faith in that seed can either make or break its growth.
Is the word planted in you deep in the soil or is it getting choked out by disbelief, worldly ideas, false gods, and distance from God? That is the question you must ask yourself. The fruit will reveal the answer.
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