1 Corinthians 3
"What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord [Jesus] assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (1 Cor 3:5-7).
Paul views Apollos and himself as nothing more than God's servants. The Corinthians believed through Paul and Apollos at the coordination of Jesus. Paul planted, and Apollos watered. But only God gets credit for the spiritual growth in the lives of thee Corinthian believers. The planter and the waterer are minor characters. God is the main character.
I worked with an unbeliever named Cleveland for four-five months last year. For discipleship group accountability, he was my "one lost sheep" that I was praying for and reaching out to. Cleveland and his family were at our life group where we went through parts of John R. Cross's Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. But frankly Cleveland wasn't showing much commitment or interest. So I sort of gave up on him. Then suddenly yesterday, as we were packing up to move from New Zealand to the United States, I got a message from Cleveland's wife that Cleveland wanted to be baptised before we left. So we baptised him in the Taeri River at Outram Glen. He is definitely a believer now. I had given up on Cleveland, but God was working behind the scenes to give growth in Cleveland's life. Now he is a changed man.
Father, thank you that you are always active in our lives, drawing us onward and upward. Pastors, missionaries, teachers, and disciple makers are your servants and minor characters. It is you who gives the growth in our lives. Thank you that you care about each one of us and are very interested in our individual spiritual growth. Thank you for working in Cleveland's life when I had given up on him. Thank you for his baptism yesterday. Help Cleveland to be a man of God and to lead his family spiritually. In Jesus' name, amen.
- Jeff Coleman