The apostle Paul was a man who wanted to extend the boundaries of the gospel. He looked for places where it had not gone before, like Corinth. In fact, this was his mission statement: "To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment" (2 Corinthians 10:16). After he started the church in Corinth and left, it was pretty stable. But people took advantage of his absence and started stirring up trouble.

The church started saying, "I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas [Peter], I'm of Christ" (see 1 Corinthians 1:12). They were taking sides, like people have done with radio preachers, and now, internet preachers. They started making nonexistent divisions, even though all of them were servants of Jesus.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." His sphere of influence was as a church planter, and Apollos as a Bible teacher. But, really, it's God's church, and He's the one who gives the increase. The problem is when waterers want to take the credit as the planters and neither one wants to give God the glory.

When Paul said, "But 'he who glories, let him glory in the Lord'" (2 Corinthians 10:17), he was quoting Jeremiah 9:23-24: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord." Paul used that famous Scripture to say, "If you're going to glory, point upward. Glory in the Lord." He continued in verse 18, "For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends."

Having a favorite teacher is okay, to a point. When they become the measuring rod by which you decide whether to fellowship with another person or whether that person is spiritual, that's a problem. The important thing is not what any specific teacher said—it's what Jesus said.

Corinth was focusing on the messenger rather the message, as we all tend to do. Here's the danger that Paul and Apollos and Peter all experienced. When God begins to use you, other people will recognize it, and they'll put you up on an imaginary pedestal, and you'll have to work hard—and should work hard—at getting off that pedestal and breaking it down. Because you're just a man or a woman like anybody else.

God uses people, and He looks for those who are available, not necessarily those with great ability. But you'll find when you're available, He gives you ability. And while God is using you, you must have the awareness that you are weak, limited, flawed. Because Paul said, "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise…the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty…that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Corinthians 1:27, 29).

We are God's tools at His disposal. And when God uses people like us—foolish, weak things—He gets more glory. When a skilled individual is confined to using poor tools, his ability shines forth even more brightly. A surgeon can perform an operation in a high-tech surgical suite with the latest technology. But to perform that procedure on a mission field with a Swiss Army knife—that's skill. For God to change the world through people like us—that's awesome.

That's why we look at the message, not the messenger. So take heart. God wants to use simple people like you and me to change our city and state, just as He used the disciples to change the world. He not only wants to, but He is going to use you.

Are you ready?