S158P5 – Harvest imagery: the workers and the field
1 Cor. 3:7-11
[N]either he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
In the natural world, the harvest is a culmination of many different factors coming together. Someone prepares the soil and plants the seeds. Once planted, the rain waters the plants. They breathe in nutrients from the air and absorb the sun’s rays. Depending on the plant, someone may perform some pruning along the way. Maybe another will work on getting rid of pests. Then, one will come in and reap the harvest. In this process, the crop merely grows. It has no functional role in any of this. In God’s kingdom, however, the crop is not merely the fruit of labor. The crop plays an active role by laboring itself before the harvest. We can say that we are working plants and not merely growing plants.
In this passage we are called the field of God. We are the place from which He will reap his harvest. Yet, He also asks for our help in that field. Whereas corn and wheat grow passively, we grow actively. Even before we ourselves are harvested God asks us to contribute to the labor. Some of us will plant other seeds as we are growing. Others of us will water those seeds just as we are being watered. We do not bear fruit only right before the harvest to be collected at that time. We continually bear fruit during these lives until the harvest, or at least we should. The spiritual walk we are expected to lead will see us filling many roles simultaneously, tending to the very field in which we are growing.
The expectation is that we teach others while we ourselves are being taught. We feed others while we are being fed. We water others while we are being watered. The point is that we do not simply wait to be fed and watered and nurtured to maturity. A large part of our Christian maturity comes from sowing and tending to new seeds in God’s kingdom. In fact, we cannot see growth in ourselves if we are not helping others grow as well. We must be active participants in working God’s field even while we are growing in it. Father, give us the desire and discipline to sow and tend to the precious seeds of your kingdom, trusting You to bring the increase only You can bring.