Planters and Waterers
Bible Text: 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 | Speaker: Pastor Jerry Irwin | It is a poor students who never grows from the place where his teacher let him. God intends for us to grow under the tutelage of His gifts to the church.
PLANTERS AND WATERERS
1. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ
2 .I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able
3. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4. For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5. Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6. I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour
9. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
Today I want to preach from the 1st Corinthians 2: 9-16, Over the years I have quoted, written pápers, and preac passage many times. Like all other passages, ever new this story never grows old. There is so much wisdom attached to this letter to a first century church, a church Paul established with the help of Aquilla and Priscilla, and a great man of faith named Appollos.
Paul continued to mentor the church through his letters, or epitles which were meant to be read over and over again until all have heard his teaching. It is a poor student who never grows from the place where his teacher left him. God intends for us to grow under the tutelage of His gifts to the church; evangelists, pastors/teachers missionaries, etc.
The Corinthian church was a troubled church, with many worldly, carnal things that sabotaged their destiny, and deferred God’s intended purpose for them; everything from strife and divisions, to incest and fornication. So with that background in mind, lets read the words of our text, and with God’s help, lets learn the value of sowing and reaping, planting and watering in a spiritual connection with our Great God. God wants you to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord.
We must realize that the culture of the Corinthians was one of debotchery. Sexual perversion, wealth, and prosperity was the norm in this great city. POLYTHEISM, which means many gods, was the belief system of the Greeks. It was into just such a world that Paul planted a Christian church. He challenged them to make a difference in their world; but another problem much harder to solve, prompted the pen of the Apostle to this troubled church. It was a carnal attitude of allegiance to individuals.
Listen! There is no problem like a church fight! When the church ceases to be spiritual, and becomes carnal, destruction and damage is on the way! The HS is not in the business of division! He is interested in multiplication. He is never involved in assassination of character, and discord, and malice, in fact He says that HE hates it! Anything that causes division, God is not in it! All divisive activity is carnal!
The AP was called the Aristotle of the Early Church. He wrote over half of the NT!. He bore in his body the brutal marks of his apostleship. Thirty-nine stripes, beaten with rods, tastings oft naked and in peril, stoned and left for dead; but none of those afflictions hurt nearly so bad as his outcry: I was in accusation among false brethren. Intelligent and submitted he was, but yet he was smeared and slimed by those who once thought he was a great messenger of God. He was personally assaulted!
When Appolos came along, they were exposed to an ardent and eloquent speaker whose speech was persuasive and filled with intellectualism. Many were so moved that they felt that they had to attack the ministry of Paul to show their loyalty to Apollos.
You see, Paul’s preaching was not with those enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the power of God. With this contention among the members of the church, satan had an opportunity to make inroad into the body with destruction as his intended purpose. No wonder the Bible says that if you show respect of person, you sin. Such asinine activity violates the “Love One Another” admonition of our Savior. Faith with out works is dead! If you know it, you must do it.
To be planted is destiny concealed. To have increase is to have increase revealed. Seed you can’t see, Increase is something we call watered. Its the difference that brings the intended purpose. Watering is the last step before increase. The seed will die in the ground without watering.
By putting seed in every living thing, God doesn’t have to come down and create again. Our destiny lies in the power of the seed to procreate! God created destiny in every living seed.
The procreation destiny is totally dependent upon the discovery of the seed
Genesis 8:22
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease
Mark 4:20
And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
This theme runs all through the Bible: John 15:1 Jesus said:
John 12:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Agriculture
Agri – corpse, shell
cult – unorthodox
The living thing is not natural to the ground it is in. It had to be planted. God made it grow!
It means that God has planted you into a place where, by rights you should not have made it. God has placed a seed into a ground in which you were not intended to make it. A wise husbandman cleared the ground, tilled the ground, and placed a your destiny for increase into a ground that would require faith for you to be successful. By reason and logic, you should have thrown in the towel a long time ago, but God said “LIVE” He planted you! He willed you into existence!
You don’t look like where He brought you from. You don’t fit the prognosis. You didn’t become an addict; you didn’t wind up on skid row, you didn’t go to jail. Praise God, His seed remaineth in you and you cannot sin. God willed for you to make it, and become who you are, and against the odds, you have a destiny of life and not death. Amidst all the abuse, pain, frustration, embarrassment, GOD said LIVE!