1 Corinthians 3:1-9: Don't All These QBs Play for the Same Team?

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 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?

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Name dropping is an old sin--the attempt to gain regard in the sight of the person you are speaking to by impressing them with the high quality of your connections. Or the anti-name-dropping, attempt to get people to ignore your competition by associating them in the minds of those you are speaking with a poor quality connection. 

It must have been really annoying for Paul, Apollos or Peter. They saw themselves as being on the same team. But other people around them promoted them as if they were on competing teams. Like the 49ers: one commentator says, "I'm for Jimmy Garroppolo." Another writer says, "I'm for Trey Lance" A third pipes up, "No, no, Brock Purdy is the best quarterback!" Meanwhile, a blogger writes, "You are all wrong!!!! They should throw all of those away and draft a new QB." Meanwhile, these QBs look at their friends and teammates and say, "Don't we all play for the 49ers? We're all getting paid mega-bucks, but play for the same great head coach." 

Some people try to make their place in life bigger by diving into the tiniest of perceived cracks between two people. Choosing one side or the other creates a new hierarchy where none existed before. Paul says, choose God, do your best and let him decide who rises or falls