Praying to Grow
Bible in a Year: Job 17-19; Acts 10:1-23
Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God. 1 Corinthians 3:7
Today's Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Insight
The Corinthian church was plagued by a partisan spirit that threatened to divide it. Each group exalted their favorite teacher over the other teachers (1 Corinthians 1:10-17). Paul warned that leaders like himself were merely God’s servants whom God had assigned specific tasks to help build up the community (3:5). He stressed that it’s God who makes the church grow (vv. 6-7). It doesn’t matter which tasks we’ve been assigned—“what’s important is that God makes the seed grow” (v. 7 nlt). Those entrusted to build up God’s people are “servants of Christ,” and all servants “must prove faithful” (4:1-2). As “co-workers in God's service” (3:9), God will help us be faithful in building up each other. As we persevere through prayer, He’ll grow His church and reward His faithful servants “for their own hard work” (v. 8 nlt).
After Lam Wai Chan moved from his native Singapore to pastor a church in Japan, he panicked. The church had barely twenty members. In a nation known as a “missionary graveyard,” where about one percent of the nation’s people are Christian and many churches sit empty, Lam felt “like I was taking over a sinking ship.” Crying out to God, he sensed the answer: Offer the church back to Me.
Rather than “update” worship or music, Wai Chan asked members to pray—for their needs, family members, and friends who didn’t know Jesus. Slowly, the church doubled in size.
Their faithful praying is a living, biblical model of how to build a community in Jesus. First, pray. “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,” Paul wrote, “present your requests to God,” and do all of this without worry about anything (Philippians 4:6). In this way, we offer our ministries, churches, and programs back to God. We may plant seeds and water them, but as the apostle said, “Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:7). He was imploring believers at Corinth to stop quarrelling about which church leader they followed (vv. 3-6).
As Paul said, “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (v. 11). Let’s prayerfully give our churches back to Him. Then, watch them grow.
Reflect & Pray
What tests your work to build a community in Christ? How can you give the effort back to God?
Dear God, as I stay faithful, please build Your community.