1Now listen, my friends, when I was there with you, you started to believe in Jesus, but you didn’t understand very much about him. You didn’t live like Christians, so I couldn’t teach you hard things about how to follow Jesus. You were Christians, but you were just like babies that don’t understand things.
2You know, babies can’t eat hard food. They can only drink milk. Well, that is a picture of you mob. I couldn’t teach you hard things. You couldn’t understand them. And even now you are not ready.
3Even though you are Christians you still don’t live like Christians. You see, you want things that other people have. And you argue with each other. This shows that you are not like God’s people. You are still like people that don’t know God.
4You see, some of you say, “Paul is our leader,” and others say, “No, not Paul, Apollos is our leader.” And you argue with each other. You are just like those people that don’t know God.
5Just think about Apollos and me, Paul. We are not important bosses. We are only workers for God. God gave each of us our jobs and we helped you believe in Jesus Christ. I’ll use picture talk now. Think about a garden. One worker plants seeds, and another worker puts water on the young plants to help them grow properly. But it is God that makes the seeds grow up to be big plants. The worker that plants the seeds is not important, and the worker that gives water to the plants is not important. The important one is God. He makes the plants grow. Well, that’s the picture story about the garden. It is a picture of you mob. God is making you grow like he makes those plants grow, and Apollos and I work in God’s team, just like those workers in that garden. I started telling you about Jesus, and Apollos taught you more about him. We both want you to have life, but we can’t give you new life. God is the one that gives you new life. We are just his workers, and, you know, God will pay each of us for our work.
9We work together for God, and you are like God’s garden. And I’ll use another picture story. You are like God’s house that he is building for himself.
10This is the picture story. A builder builds a house. First, he puts cement down on the ground for the building to stand on. This cement is called the foundation. Then other builders build the house on that cement foundation. This story is a picture of you getting into God’s family. God was good to me and gave me the power to work for him. I told you about Jesus, and it is like I put down a good foundation for you at that time. And now other Christian workers are teaching you more about Jesus. They are like the builders that build on that foundation. They have to do it properly. Jesus is the only strong foundation. Nobody can put down any other foundation for God’s family.
12I’ll tell you more of this picture story about the builders. Good builders build with really good things like gold, or silver or jewels. But other builders don’t work properly, they don’t care, they only use wood, or grass or leaves. If a fire comes, the houses made of wood, or grass or leaves will burn up, but the houses made of gold, or silver or jewels will stay good. So you can know which builders did a good job. Christian workers are like those builders in the picture story, some Christian workers do a good job and tell God’s word properly and some don’t do a good job.
13One day Jesus Christ will come back and then God will test what the Christian workers did. God will show if the Christian workers did a good job, or maybe not, like the fire in the picture story shows if a house is good.
14If they did a good job it will stay good a long time, like the good houses in the picture story, and God will pay those good workers.
15But if it is no good it will finish up, like the rubbish houses in the picture story, and God will not pay those workers, but he will still save them.
16You know this, don’t you, that God’s spirit lives in you Christian people. You are like a special house that God lives in. You are like the big building here on earth they call the temple.
17Yes, you mob are God’s special people, like his temple that is his special house here on earth. So if anyone makes a Christian mob split up, it is like they break up God’s house, and God will punish that person properly.
18Some of you mob think you are really smart, but you are thinking wrong, like the people of this world that don’t know God. So stop tricking yourselves. You have to think God’s way instead, and let other people think you are fools if they want to, but you will be truly wise.
19The people of this world think they are very smart, but God knows they are fools. Like we read in God’s book, “People reckon they are smart, but God uses their own smart ideas like a trap to catch them.”
20In another place we read, “Smart people think up great ideas, but God knows those ideas are useless.”
21So, don’t think that any man or woman is the important leader. You see, God is your leader and he gives you everything you need.
22It’s like this, he gave you all of us. He gave you me, Paul, and Apollos, and Peter. We are all here to help you. God uses everything to help you. If you live, or if you die, God will make it good for you. He will use things that happen now to help you, and he will use things that will happen later, to help you.
23You see, you belong to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ belongs to God. And God is the most important one.
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