IT'S HARVEST TIME! (8 OF 36)
by Keith Krell
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:5-9
This content is part of a series.
It's Harvest Time! (8 of 36)
Series: Saints Gone Wild
Keith Krell
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
How many of you remember these from last week? [Hold up Jena's garden tools.] My wife, Lori, corrected me and informed me that these are not "purple female utensils." Rather, they are lavender garden tools. (Sometimes we can all get a bit tongue-tied.) I used these lavender garden tools to illustrate that we are merely tools in God's garden. God the Father is the Gardener and the church is the garden. Instead of awe over a garden tool, like a preacher, we ought to be in awe of the Gardener. After all, the Gardener is the One who is responsible for all the work. Therefore, I suggested that the mark of successful tools is: Do we point others to the Gardener (see John 3:30)?
Now I would like to go back to the passage that we looked at last week and approach it from another angle. As we anticipate Easter this next Sunday, it is imperative that we understand the process God uses to bring people into relationship with Jesus Christ. As we consider this process we will discover the important role that the church plays. Turn with me again to 1 Cor 3:5-9 and we will learn that a fruitful harvest requires a faithful witness. Paul writes, "What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."
By way of refresher, let's reflect on several principles in this text.
First, we are servants. We are nothing in and of ourselves. We are simply God's mouthpieces through whom people come to believe.
Second, we all have different roles and responsibilities in God's garden. Some ...
Series: Saints Gone Wild
Keith Krell
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
How many of you remember these from last week? [Hold up Jena's garden tools.] My wife, Lori, corrected me and informed me that these are not "purple female utensils." Rather, they are lavender garden tools. (Sometimes we can all get a bit tongue-tied.) I used these lavender garden tools to illustrate that we are merely tools in God's garden. God the Father is the Gardener and the church is the garden. Instead of awe over a garden tool, like a preacher, we ought to be in awe of the Gardener. After all, the Gardener is the One who is responsible for all the work. Therefore, I suggested that the mark of successful tools is: Do we point others to the Gardener (see John 3:30)?
Now I would like to go back to the passage that we looked at last week and approach it from another angle. As we anticipate Easter this next Sunday, it is imperative that we understand the process God uses to bring people into relationship with Jesus Christ. As we consider this process we will discover the important role that the church plays. Turn with me again to 1 Cor 3:5-9 and we will learn that a fruitful harvest requires a faithful witness. Paul writes, "What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."
By way of refresher, let's reflect on several principles in this text.
First, we are servants. We are nothing in and of ourselves. We are simply God's mouthpieces through whom people come to believe.
Second, we all have different roles and responsibilities in God's garden. Some ...
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