Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Crystal Spring ON MISSION Pt. 5: INVEST

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been discussing our mission as a church—to Know Christ, Grow in Christ and Show Christ to others. We’ve also begun discussing how we might accomplish the last piece of this mission more effectively—showing Christ. Last week we looked at how important it is to identify those around us who are in need of Jesus Christ. This week, we are going to delineate how we are to INVEST in those we’ve identified so as to bring them one step closer to a saving relationship with the Lord. Investments are an important topic. Whether it is a farmer investing in a crop, or a family investing in their future, investments require know-how and effort if they are to pay off. It takes the right people doing the right thing in order for something small to grow into something big. The kingdom of God is no different.



The church can stand to learn a lot about how to invest in God’s mission from 1 Corinthians 3:6-9. As an investor himself, Paul identifies much concerning how to make strategic investments and how to partner with God in the process that is already unfolding. In this passage we are going to ask and answer four questions concerning the investments that showing Christ adequately requires.

I. QUESTION #1: WHAT ARE THE ROLES?-3:6

Corinth was a city situated on the narrow neck of land between two bodies of water. This placement made this city an economic stronghold. Merchants and sailors frequented this area as major trade routes passed through this land. This also made the city diverse in its religious scope. However, to “Corinthianize” was a popular Greek idiom for “go to the devil.” Aside from the negative connotations that surround the people of this land, it was incredibly populous and wealthy. Paul had started the church at Corinth with many difficulties (1 Cor. 2:3). Originally, his preaching did not set well with the Jews and after his eighteen month tenure there, Paul established a Christian church. Sometime after Paul left Corinth and Apollos arrived. Although his message did not differ in substance from Paul’s, the teaching styles of these two were exceedingly different.  The immediate occasion of this letter to Corinth was another letter Paul had received from the Corinthians Church, for which a reply was necessary. Paul was distressed because although Corinth was in the world, the world had entered the church. This is why he deals with grave evils and divisions for nearly half of the book. After dealing with these matters, Paul turns to the matters mentioned in the letter written to him, questions about marriage and celibacy, about food offered to idols, probably also about public worship and spiritual gifts. Paul’s purpose was three-fold. First, he wrote to set right the problems that the church was experiencing. Second, he wrote to answer questions from the church. Third, he wrote to give doctrinal teaching, particularly on the resurrection. Leading up to 3:6-8, Paul has greeted the church and begun to address the many problems this church faced. One of these problems was a failure to realize who does what in the evangelism process. In 3:6-9, Paul addresses this issues and answers the question “how do we invest wisely in the process of showing Christ to the world in need?” 

The conduct of the Corinthians was unbecoming of Christians. They had, as Paul discusses in verse 1-5 of this chapter, proved themselves to be juvenile in their spiritual understanding and as ignorant as babies in their ways. This ignorance led to jealous rivalries and misplaced loyalties. Some pledged allegiance to Paul and others to Apollos. In response to this, Paul calls them “mere men.” So, in an effort to set them straight, Paul breaks down these divisions by addressing where loyalty should truly lie.

Paul begins this passage by first humbling himself and calling himself a “servant” (cf. 3:5). Then, Paul takes it a step further and         likens himself to a plow boy.  Immediately, Paul identifies with a humble character in this agricultural metaphor. In fact, this metaphor may have offended some of the listeners who held people in Paul’s position to high esteem. That said, Paul understood that even he served as a planter—someone who makes a small but important investment in the lives of those around him.

If Paul was the plow boy, Apollos was the water-boy. Again, Apollos was another teacher that had ministered both in Corinth and in Ephesus at the time of Paul. Although his message coincided with Paul’s, their respective styles of teaching were very different from each other. Even still, the image of a planter and waterer makes several key points that help the church in Corinth and our today understand how we ought to investing in the showing Christ process. First, the labor of one without the other would be useless. Planters need waterers and waterers have to have seed to water upon. Both are required for the one goal of yielding a crop. This means that showing Christ is not a solo endeavor—it is a team investment. Second, a rivalry between a planter and a waterer is absurd. No farmer ponders whose job is more important, they are simply concerned about receiving a harvest.

Two roles are exposed in the process of showing Christ (two ways to invest in an effort to show Christ)—a planter and a waterer. There are those who initially engage people with the truth of God (either through an act of service or word of encouragement or invitation for coffee, etc.) and there are those whom God uses pour into these investments with consistent installment of time, attention, and love.

However, the most important lesson from this simple metaphor is that God alone is responsible for producing the harvest. Planters merely scatter seed. Waterers simply keep the ground wet. But the miracle of growth is performed by God alone.

II. QUESTION #2: WHAT IS THE RESULT?-3:7

The next thing that Paul answers for his audience is “What is the result?” However, before he offers the answer to this inquiry, he reminds them that God is ultimately in control of the process—“So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything.” At the end of the day, it is about God, not who plants or who waters. Paul takes this to its extreme by saying that compared to what God does to cause the growth, the one who plants and the one who water is nothing!

I love to listen to good music. When we consider genius composers like Mozart and Beethoven, or modern composers like John Williams and others, do we ever concern ourselves with the paper they write the notes on or the ink with which they pen the beautiful harmonies and phrases of music that leave us breathless, NO! In the same way, planters and waterers are nothing compared to the miracle of seeing a plant grow. However, without Paper or ink, music would not be written and without planting and watering, the miracle of Evangelism will not take place.

Before we get lost in the metaphor here let me bring us back to the text. Paul is talking about the miracle of showing Christ well. Both Paul and Apollos played a role in God’s ministry and evangelism—they were tools in the process.  But they weren’t anything compared to God who was the one who reaps the harvest of souls and grows His church. The same is true today. Paul’s desire is to show that in the process of investing in evangelism, we play an intricate role, and yet, at the end of the day, God is the winner of souls. For whatever reason, he has given us a piece of the action. We get to be plow boys and girls and water boys/girls in our world today!

III. QUESTION #3: HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?-3:8

In the face of the divisions that unfortunately plagued the church in Corinth, Paul speaks unity. While many sided with the Paul camp or the Apollos camp, Paul ruins the debate by saying, “you know, we are all equally invested in this process,” “now he who plants and he who waters are one” (3:8). They were one in several ways. One in purpose (showing Christ) one in rank (no one above another) and one in loyalty (to God). The same is true of the church today. We are one in our effort to reach this world for Christ.  

While unity joins everyone together, Paul also states “but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor” (3:8). Laborers are paid for their backbreaking work in the field and so will those who are working to spread the seed of the gospel in this world. Also, according to this verse, you are not rewarded based on commission. God rewards based on faithfulness, “according to his own labor.” Unlike a stock broker who is paid to the degree that he earns or the farmer who is compensated for the yield of his crop, the believer is rewarded for the effort he/she puts to the task of investing in the process of showing Christ irrespective of results! Likewise, believers are not judged in comparison to others around you, “to his own labor.”

Sometimes, I struggle with comparing myself to others, even in the ministry. I find myself striving hard to be like so-and-so or as educated as this person/ successful in ministry as this or that church. This is wicked! Paul communicates here that God is concerned with you doing what you do faithfully. Not how much you have done compared to Billy Graham, Charles Spurgeon, or even the Apostle Paul.

IV. QUESTION #4: WHY IS THIS THE CASE?-3:9

In order to bring the concept of investing in evangelism home, Paul reminds them that they are fellow workers with God. The church at Corinth, Apollos, Paul, and all other believers were “fellow workers.” Often times the church fails to realize how profound this is. God has included us in the process of growing his church! He has placed a glorious responsibility upon us to be His planters, His waterers, His investors! The profundity of why God would include imperfect and selfish men in a process so great is mind-blowing.

However, it is less inconceivable when we realize that we are the product of this process. We too are a field that God has harvested sometime in the past. The field belongs to Him, He owns it. And at one point in time a man named troy McDaniel, a children’s pastor planted a seed. A couple of parents watered on that soil, and when the time was right, I was ripe for the picking. I don’t care if you’re John Piper, Charles Stanley, Adrian Rodgers, or sitting in this room today. You were a product of this process. And what is awesome is that after having been reaped as a harvest, we are now employed as workers in His field, doing our job to plant and water in order that God can supernaturally reap the next harvest of souls.

So What?


What about your investment? Are you fulfilling your role as a planter/waterer in God’s fields that are ripe for harvest? What is resulting from your life’s work? Are you even concerned about the field to which you were called? How about this question: if everyone invested in the process of showing Christ to the degree that you do, what could the church expect to yield? We have been given a high calling, not just to identify those who need the Lord, but to invest in their lives so as to introduce them to Him.  We are God’s appointed workers, laboring in HIs field. We must no thwart our responsibility to be about the task at hand. However, we must also remember that God is the sovereign owner of the field, and we is the only one capable of saving anyone. He is the power behind the miracle, not us. We just get to be a part of the process.  So how can you plant this week? How can you water on that which has already been planted?  How might you chose to invest? 

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