Shut up and rake!

So I left off with one of my meditations from my journey in Senegal, on the first half of 1 Cor. 3. The first bit there talking about understanding what our significance is in this world. In short, its nothing more than being sanctified followers of Jesus and that is the calling on every believer’s life, no matter what you can do, or how well you can do it. Christ is the only significance in us. 

Moving on, let’s pick up in verses 6 and 7…

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 

I thought often about this passage when working in the villages in Senegal. I was kind of  nervous about what sort of message I was sending because I knew that my words and actions could have effects on what non-believers see the gospel as. Because we are the body of Christ, the world will watch and judge what we say and do, because they honestly are fighting their own battle of rejecting or accepting the Truth of Christ, and sometimes we encourage them to take steps of faith, but sometimes we also push people away. I most certainly did not want to give any reason for anyone to see God or His Word (which is Christ) in a negative light.

What I had to learn from this passage however, is very closely linked to the afore mentioned topic of my significance in this world. Since only Christ is significant, I am only a laborer. Now, I don’t mean that in the sense that serving Christ is like slavery. The  Bible makes many references to being an effective body member, to being a laborer in the fields.

I mentioned in my last post, something that I think we all are capable of falling into when trying to minister: Making carbon copies. I don’t think we mean to sometimes, but we get so caught up in “Oh well this passage says this, and that passage says that, Oh and this one book I read has all these things to say about it and last sunday our preacher talked about these seven guidelines to…” and we almost go into over load. 

Now, I’m also not saying that we should talk about Jesus less. What I am saying is that since we are laborers taking care of God’s husbandry (that means a lot of plants and junk) then we need to be smart care-givers to the small plants, in order to nurture them to growing in the Lord.

Going back to verse 6, Paul says that he planted, and Apollos watered but God gave the increase. The growth process is the same in the Spiritual and Physical worlds. It requires a little planting, a little watering, and then comes the increase. 

1.) It is important that we know, no matter how good we can plant or water, that ONLY God can and will give the increase. It is not our job, because it is outside of our capabilities. This should take the pressure of us, and lead us to not trying to instantly grow a tree with anyone we want to see become a strong believer. Which means…

2.) Trees don’t grow over night! If a seed is planted, do you immediately saturate it with gallons of water, so that it will speed up its growth? Heck to the naw! You’ll only drown the seed and kill any potential. Souls are the same. If the seed is planted, it needs a little bit of water and then a good bit of time to take it in. After a while it needs more water, until it gets to the point that the root has taken hold and the tree is able to gather its own water.

This has lead me to my conclusion. We need to stop worrying so much about results based off how well we can communicate and just let the Spirit of God move. Shut up and rake! Plant a few seeds here and there in some good soil (because a good planter, only plants in good soil. Matthew 13) water it a bit at the appropriate times, and watch God make awesome things happen! 

Our call is simple. Jesus told us to make disciples. By His own example, he ministered to 12 men specifically, taking good care to nurture their growth. He did so for 3 years until His work was complete on this earth. 11 of those twelve men became the strong-rooted men who made disciples of others who became strong men and women, whose fruit went to make other disciples who “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6) sharing the Gospel.


Practically, what I took away was this: I may not get to pray with someone, or even be present when someone gives their life to Christ, and that's ok. Because if I am faithful to just plant and water a little, in order to come back and water later or for someone else to do a little watering, God will still give the increase and it's all gravy because I got to take part, but God gets all the glory!

Sit tight, and we may be able to do more then 2 verses next time...but don’t count on it, because God’s word is good like that…

Peace and Grace