Bible reading in one year: Ps. 105 & 106; 1Cor 3
“The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour. For we are God’s fellow workers: you are God’s field, God’s building” – 1 Cor 3:8-9 (NKJV).
Each of God’s people fills a different role that is equally valid and significant in His overall purpose. One Christian may be the first to deliver God’s message to a certain individual. Another believer may come along later to encourage that person by words or example to further consider God’s truth, or perhaps to grow in a relationship with Christ. In some cases, Christians may pray for years for family members who do not know Christ, then another believer has the privilege of praying with that person to receive Christ. But all of these efforts are aimed at the same purpose, and it is God who finally brings people into a relationship with Himself and develops them into what He wants them to be.
For this reason, all who serve Christ must take comfort in the fact that whether they see the effect of their service for Christ immediately or not, they are expected simply to be faithful to their tasks and opportunities God has given them (Mt 25:21 &23). They are not responsible to cause the spiritual results in people’s lives. At the same time those who serve Christ must never become puffed up with pride over the results or success of their ministry; all of it is accredited to God alone.
In the above passage, God’s people are pictured as His farm and His building, where Paul, Apollos and all other servants of God work together for Him.
Pastor Lawrence Chiazor