Sermon: The foremost cultivation (1 Cor 3:6-7)

WHAT IS FOREMOST?
The Foremost Cultivation (1 Cor 3:6-7)
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2013

(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to
each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted.)

I knew little about farming when we moved to rural Pennsylvania from Long Island and, despite my having lived here several years, I still know little about farming. What I have come to appreciate is that farming is very labor intensive, with long hours, few days off, and a good deal of financial uncertainty. Unfortunately, not everyone appreciates that.

A man with a small farm attracted the attention of The US Department of Labor, which claimed he was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an agent to investigate. "Give me a list of your employees, and tell me how much you pay them," the agent demanded. "All right," said the farmer. "I have a hired man who has been with me six years. I pay him $600 a week, plus room and board. I have a cook who has been here six months. I pay her $500 a week plus room and board." "Anyone else?" the agent asked. "Yes," the farmer admitted. "There is a guy who is not too bright. He works about eighteen hours a day. I pay him ten dollars a week and give him chewing tobacco." This is what the agent was looking for. "I want to talk to that man!"..."Speaking," said the farmer.

Not everyone appreciates that farming is very labor intensive. Whether or not you are involved on an actual farm, your work for the Lord makes you part of The Foremost Cultivation.

At the close of Matthew's gospel, Jesus charges the apostles with the task of spreading the gospel, an assignment they undertake in the book of Acts. While many Christians think that charge applies to every believer, it actually has a much narrower focus, having been given to and implemented by a select few in the early church, those God equipped for the task, namely apostles and, to some extent, evangelists.¹ Apart from the twelve Jesus chose, including Matthias (Acts 1:26), Judas's replacement, only a few others serve in this capacity:

• As apostles, there are Barnabas and Paul (Acts 14:14), Andronicus and Junias (Rom 16:7);

• As evangelists, there are Phillip (Acts 21:8), Priscilla and Aquila (Rom 16:3), perhaps Apollos (Acts 18:28).

These are the relatively few in the early church so named who are spiritualty equipped and actively engaged in spreading the gospel. The Holy Spirit prepares the majority of believers for other tasks in the church, and Paul lists some of those tasks in...

1 Cor 12:28 ...in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? [No] Are all prophets? [No] Are all teachers? [No] Do all work miracles? [No]

Spiritual gifts are selective. Everyone does not have the same gift, and every gift is not available to every person.² Paul makes the point with another partial list in...

Eph 4:11 ...he...gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

In yet another list, Paul stresses that it is important, having identified one's gift, to focus one's service by exercising that gift.

Rom 12:6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

These are various ways the Holy Spirit prepares and directs a believer's ministry to make him most productive. When a believer understands how the Spirit has equipped him, that understanding keeps him from wasting time and energy trying to be or do something for which he is not suited. For example, a person whose spiritual gift is serving will not try to be a prophet, lest he spend his efforts in a frustrating and fruitless pursuit. Paul offers these descriptions of spiritual gifts not as a series of options from which a reader can choose the one he likes but as a series of possibilities from which a reader can identify the one(s) he has.

Once a person correctly identifies his spiritual gift, he can maximize his ministry, whatever that may be, making the most of his time and energy for the edification of the church, which is the purpose of spiritual gifts, "that the body of Christ may be built up" (Eph 4:12b). The believer must not rule out, however, that on occasion, God might want him to serve in a different capacity, especially if he is the person otherwise most qualified. There are two situations when such a spiritual gift substitution might be appropriate:

• A local church substitutes when the appropriate gift is unavailable.

That may have been the situation at Ephesus when Paul told Timothy to "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim 4:5), despite the fact that Timothy's gifts were probably "preaching and teaching" (1 Tim 4:13).³ Paul thought Ephesus, where Timothy was, needed more concentrated outreach but, in the absence of someone specifically equipped for the task, like an evangelist, the most qualified person was Timothy, the local minister. He was the substitute because the appropriate gift was unavailable. By the same token...

• A local church substitutes when the appropriate gift is unnecessary.

That may also have been the situation in Ephesus, where Paul told Timothy to appoint elders who were "able to teach" (1 Tim 3:2; 2 Tim 2:24), able to communicate the fundamentals of the faith. The requirements for being an elder are all character qualities and do not include any particular spiritual gift, let alone that of teaching.⁴ If having the spiritual gift of teaching were a requirement for elders, it would have reduced considerably the pool of potential candidates for that position. Although "teaching" (1 Tim 4:13) was probably one of Timothy's gifts, the task of serving several house churches, as Ephesus likely had, would have been more than one person could handle; hence, there is a need for several elders "whose work is...teaching" (1 Tim 5:17). They were the substitute, because the appropriate gift was unnecessary.

Likewise, while Jesus tells the apostles to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt 28:19), and apostles are the primary ones God assigns to spread the gospel, He does not limit outreach to apostles or even to evangelists,⁵ any more than He limits acts of kindness to those who have the gift of mercy, or acts of charity to those with the gift of giving. While some ministry is best suited to some believers, those the Holy Spirit specifically equips for it, any ministry, when a need arises, may be suitable to any believer who is available, and that includes...

* LXIX The Foremost Cultivation 

...which is...

• The partnership with God (1 Cor 3:6-7)

...as believers do their part to advance the kingdom and as God does His part to support that venture. The apostle Paul, using his own experience in ministry, explains the distribution of labor in....

1 Cor 3:6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.⁶ 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

As an apostle, Paul's witness is part of a larger ministry of discipling, baptizing, and teaching that includes evangelism. The same would be true for Apollos, who may also be an apostle.⁷ Nevertheless, the principle Paul states here with this farming metaphor is valid for any believer who has a role in communicating the gospel, and is what Paul reiterates elsewhere,⁸ which is that...

1. Your responsibility is to help prepare the crop.

Just as a physical crop of wheat or barley has stages of development, from its initial planting to its final harvesting, and may need some attention along the way to maturity, so a spiritual crop of souls has stages of development and may need some attention along the way to maturity, attention that God's people—that you—can provide. Elsewhere, Paul describes some of that attention.

• Your part may be at the beginning, with first contact, when an individual notices the testimony of your life—your godly priorities or your godly habits—and wonders why the choices you make stand in such contrast to the choices others make. So Paul says to Christians in Philippi...

Phil 1:27a ...conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

• Your part may be when a person starts to ask questions about God. So Paul says in...

Col 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace...so that you may know how to answer everyone.

• Your part may even be when a person is arguing with you in an attempt to determine if what you believe will stand up to careful or critical scrutiny. So Paul says in...

2 Cor 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Whether a person comes to you for general information, or has specific questions, or has serious doubts; whether you have a role at the beginning of a person's quest toward God or somewhere down the line, your responsibility is to promote the growth of his faith at whatever stage it is.

You may not know precisely where a person is on that path, but that does not matter. Your responsibility is to advance his position wherever he may be so that his faith continues to grow—using Paul's farming metaphor: Your responsibility is to help prepare the crop.

That is the task before you, which may seem formidable, until you realize two things:

• First, your role is not unattended.

• Other believers, before you or after you, may have a part in helping a person on the path toward knowing God. It is likely that you are only one person God will use in the process of bringing that individual to faith. Your role is not unattended.

• Second, your role is not unlimited.

• God does not expect you to do it all. In particular, He does not expect you to close the sale, to seal the deal, to move a person "from death to life" (John 5:24; Rom 6:13; 1 John 3:14). You may bring him to the point of making a decision, but that decision is not something you can make for him. Your role is not unlimited, which is also Paul's second point in this farming metaphor.

While your responsibility is to help prepare the crop...

2. Your responsibility is not to produce the crop.

That task is God's alone, because only He can regenerate a person, which is probably the crop Paul has in mind here, the product of a transformed life ("he harvests the crop for eternal life" John 4:36).

Regularly spreading the gospel is not the primary responsibility of most Christians, who have other gifts and, thus, other responsibilities. The Great Commission, which Jesus gives to the apostles, is nowhere repeated in the epistles, which are written to rank and file believers (see n. 1).⁹ That realization should be a relief to those who do not have the spiritual gift of apostleship or evangelism, yet who thought (or who were told) that if they were not telling others about Jesus regularly, even aggressively, they were not pulling their weight as Christians, not living up to God's expectations. What instructions the epistles do give for those with other gifts is that they are to offer a more subtle testimony in both word and deed.

• Paul says in...¹⁰

Col 4:5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone [i.e., when someone else initiates the exchange].

1 Thess 4:11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business... 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders....

• Peter says in...¹¹

1 Pet 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds....

1 Pet 3: 15b-c Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

While none of you should be silent about your faith, God does not expect believers without the gifts of apostleship or evangelism to be engaged to the same extent as believers with those gifts. He also does not expect believers, with or without those gifts to be preoccupied with the results of their efforts but to realize that their responsibility is not to produce the crop.¹²

Your primary responsibility as a Christian lies in whatever capacity the Holy Spirit has equipped you. For most Christians that is not spreading the gospel. Nevertheless, having a different primary assignment does not let you off the hook for communicating your faith as the opportunity presents itself.

This passage is also a reminder that whatever role you may have in relating the gospel to others, you are not responsible to ensure a particular outcome for that endeavor. In fact, according to Paul's statement, even those whose primary responsibility is spreading the gospel, apostles and evangelists, are not responsible to ensure a particular outcome. That is up to the all-loving and all-powerful God you serve.

Having considered The Foremost Cultivation, we will look finally at The Foremost Culmination, which is the proximity of God in 1 Pet 4:7, as He draws history to a close.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.

(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted)