THURSDAY
This week marks the second of our two conference weeks in the devotional. During these weeks when we have guest speakers scheduled, the devotionals take a different format since I typically write them based on the previous Sunday's sermon. When I'm not preaching, I take a different approach.
For these two weeks, we are exploring some stories and texts that didn't make it into this campaign. Due to conference week preparations, I'll keep my commentary brief.
In 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul is addressing divisions in the church. Some were claiming to follow Paul while others were claiming to follow Apollos. The church was divided and Paul is correcting these divisions.
1 Corinthians 3:5–9 (NIV) 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Paul is describing the principle that it is only God who produces fruit in the believer’s life. If we are successful at all in ministry, it is because of God’s work. This is one of the underlying themes in the Parable of the Sower and the Seed in Matthew 13. Jesus tells his disciples that they cannot produce fruit unless they abide in him like a branch to the vine.
John 15:4 (NIV) 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 implies this idea as well. The fruit of the Spirit is the virtue that the Spirit of God produces in the life of the believer. God fights for us by producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in us. It is always God who produces spiritual growth. So this is another way that he fights for us both as the recipients of God’s grace ourselves and as ministers of the gospel. This is a great comfort as we are ministering to one another. We are called to obediently share the good news in one another’s lives and point one another to Jesus, where we can collectively grow in him.