This morning as I did my reading for “Walk in the Word” I was struck by the passage in 1st Corinthians 3. Here Paul lays out the responsibility of humanity and the sovereignty of God that brings about the salvation of all who believe.
1 Corinthians 3:6-9 “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.”
Paul said he planted the seed. What that means is that he was the one who first presented the Gospel and put it in the people’s hearts and minds. He did this through what he said and the way he lived. He reminded the Corinthians saying, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). Paul focused his whole being on sharing the love of God revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ.
Then Appollos came and watered it. What a beautiful picture of community and commitment. In Christ both men did their work and each man’s work complimented the other’s. Unfortunately, it can work the other way too. A person can work hard for weeks, months, or even years to share the love of Christ only to have another believer destroy that work. Instead of watering the seed of the Gospel they poison it with their sin. Apollos watered the seed of the Gospel Paul had planted in the people.
But it was God that made it grow. A farmer can only plant seed and water the field. He cannot make the crops grow. That is beyond his ability. All he can do is put the field in a position to produce a crop. All we can do as believers is share the Gospel and encourage its growth with grace and mercy. “All we can do” makes it sound like that isn’t a lot. It takes all of our effort and focused prayer to get the seed of the Gospel presented into a person’s life and then all of our discipline to water it. But it is God who makes it grow. It is Jesus that saves through God’s divine determination, Christ’s own atoning sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit’s prompting and conviction.
We all have an important job to do. We all must share the Gospel so that it gets into people’s hearts and minds. We must live Gospel oriented lives and water the seed of the Gospel. We must pray and ask God to give life and bring conviction. We must work and trust God that He is will in the right season bring growth into a harvest of revival.
Email comments thoughts or questions to me at jpettus@lhbg.org.
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