Thursday, July 26, 2018
1 Corinthians 3:5-7 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
SUMMER CHORES WHERE GOD GETS ALL THE CREDIT
Since we moved into our home recently, the garden out back has needed a lot of care. In fact, it basically needs to be mowed. There is however, one large cucumber plant that was already there which we have started to work on. The previous owners must have planted it before they moved out, but now we get to enjoy it and tend to it.
What Paul says to the Christians in Corinth is pretty simple. Like our cucumber plant, much of my work (Paul says) was started by someone else. But now, I get to carry on with it. I may plant more plants too. But someone else may eventually care for and water those once I either move or pass on. Paul's point to me is that when it comes to the work of Christ's kingdom I may be both planting and watering. I may be planting the Word of God by sharing it with others for the first time. Or I may be watering with the Word of God the faith of someone who is struggling with a sin or in a personal problem, one I myself have also been through. But either way, it is the Word of God that is being used. It is the Word of God that is bringing life and bringing healing to the soul in need. Therefore it is God, not the pastor, who "gives the increase" to faith and deserves all the glory and credit!
A minister is a servant, that is, one who serves someone or something. It is easy to be lazy, to grow tired of caring about other people's souls and only worry about ourselves. But it is our Lord Jesus who has purchased us with His blood and has called us to serve Him as ministers, servants in the work of His kingdom! With that cucumber plant we can help or hinder its production, but finally God gives the crop. In the lives of God's people the Lord has promised that His Word will accomplish exactly what He pleases according to His divine plan and will.
May the Lord give His servants the faith to depend on the Word we share to accomplish our Savior's will, that many finally receive the final fruit of faith-- namely, eternal salvation. To our Lord alone is all the credit and glory. Amen.
