The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. (1 Corinthians 3:8, NIV)
In the 2018 Links Players magazine, TNT sports anchor Ernie Johnson talks about the time when he and his father, Ernie Sr., a beloved Atlanta Braves broadcaster, were able to play Augusta National together.
In Ernie Jr.’s observation, the course was so pristine that it appeared each blade of grass had its own caretaker. Imagine that! It’s an exaggeration, of course, but if it is believable anywhere, it would be at Augusta. Even high definition has a hard time finding fault at the home of the Masters.
In 1 Corinthians 3, which we began to review yesterday, Paul speaks of the work of those we called gospel-givers. These are the men and women who have good news to tell and do so whenever they can. I hope you are one of these people!
In Paul’s picture of gospel ministry, there are those who plant, those who water, and the one who makes things grow. God is the one who makes things grow, but we are those who plant and water. Let’s take a minute to consider what that work looks like.
We cannot absolutely say what Paul had in mind in this particular passage, but it is easy enough to believe that he is taking up ideas we read elsewhere in Scripture.
In each of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), Jesus told the Parable of the Sower. In this parable, Jesus spoke of the seed being sown and landing on four types of soil. Three of the soils were unreceptive, but in the fourth soil, the seed flourished, producing as much as “one hundredfold.” When Jesus explained the parable, he said quite simply, “The seed is the word of God.”
So those who plant are those who take the word of God out into the world. They cast it into the ears of those who would hear, and when those ears are open, not only is the gospel given, it is received to an end that brings life. The planters cannot produce this growth, but they can sow in hope that growth will come for many.
To consider those who water, we might turn to Ephesians 5, where in the context of a discussion on marriage, Paul charged husbands to make their wives holy, “cleansing [them] by the washing with water through the word” (Ephesians 5:26). The word, then, has not only an initiating role in one’s faith, but also an ongoing place. Water washes, nourishes, sustains. So does the word of God.
We might say in the end, then, that gospel-givers are word-givers, be they planters or waterers. Perhaps this is not sophisticated work (each caretaker has but “one purpose”), but it is work so important that Paul affirmed we would be rewarded in faithfully doing it. Certainly the height of that reward is watching the Lord do his growing work in the very fields where we are doing ours.
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Jeff Hopper
February 13, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.