Paul addressed divisions in the church in Corinth and in the process he describes quite well how God provides the increase in His church. Paul’s demonstrating what can and should happen when people are unified in purpose. Paul said, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants or waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:5-7 ESV).
Paul says that he who plants and he who waters are one, and each receives his own reward for the work they did. When we look at the very early church after Christ ascended, it grew quite rapidly. The church today is still in a fast decline and we could easily model what the early disciples did to plant and water. Afterall, God is still the one who gives the growth. The early disciples did not have a goal of reaching masses. In fact, they often traveled to small towns and villages to preach. But they still planted and watered. And God gave the growth.
This message is very important for us as families, because we can (and should) work together to plant and water. Our theme this quarter is God and family. There’s no better way to connect to God than to work together to bring people closer to God. There are ample opportunities to do so too. If we really believe that it is God, not us, who provides the growth then we will easily share the Good News with people and see what God does with that!