I find that activities, projects, and events are more fun when I get to do them with others rather than by myself. When we reach out with God’s Word and His love, we are never alone—we are workers together with God in outreach!
I Corinthians 3:9:
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
The Word states that we are laborers, workers, together with God. As we get busy operating our ministry of reconciliation, we can be comforted and energized knowing that we are not doing this alone. Being successful at outreach is not all up to us. Our success is directly related to our trust in and work with God.
II Corinthians 6:1:
We then, as workers together with him [God], beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
We are workers together with God. The Greek word translated “workers together” in II Corinthians 6:1 can be understood as “be partners in labor.” We are God’s partners in the labor that we perform with and for Him. As we reach out to others with God’s Word and His love, we are partners in outreach with God.
Luke 10:2:
Therefore said he [Jesus Christ] unto them [the seventy], The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
As laborers in God’s harvest, we can be confident that as we put in the work, planting and watering, God WILL give the increase. One illustration that comes to mind is a garden. During my in-residence training in our ministry’s leadership training program, called The Way Corps, I had the opportunity to work with other Way Corps trainees in maintaining a garden. We had to work together to plan, plant, water, maintain, and harvest. We never had to coerce a plant or force a vegetable to grow on the vine. We did our part and God gave the increase. By God’s design and goodness, the harvest was there when it was time.
Being workers with our heavenly Father in outreach is similar. We work with God as we plan outreach activities into our lives. We do not have to compel someone to grow or try to force the increase in the numbers of people who are won to the Word. As we faithfully “plant” and “water” with God’s Word and His love, God gives the increase.
I Corinthians 3:6:
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
Some of the ways we can “plant” and “water” are by speaking, preaching, and teaching God’s Word to others. We can invite them to a Way Ministry home fellowship, which provides a Word-filled environment that encourages each believer’s spiritual nurture and growth. We can follow up and spend time with those we have reached out to. And God gives the increase.
As people believe and become faithful to the Word, they will grow and mature in their walk with Christ. That’s our spiritual “paycheck” for our labor with God: people being delivered from the darkness of this world, being given a godly purpose in life, and being equipped with the resources of God to claim the more abundant life that Jesus Christ came to make available. God will not forget our labor of love in outreach (Hebrews 6:10)! We give of the abundance of truth we have, knowing that God gives the increase in those won to the Word.
I Corinthians 3:9:
For we are labourers together with God….
We are partners in outreach with God as we share the Word of Truth, faithfully speaking and teaching the Word, fellowshipping and spending time with those who want to know more of God’s Word; and God will always be there to give the increase. When we plant vegetable seeds in the ground and support their growth all the way through harvesting time, we see the growth that God designed in the plants. In the same manner, as we plant the Word of Life in others and support them in their spiritual walk, we will see them grow and the Body of Christ grow (Ephesians 4:15,16).
The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37). We can be the laborers who are workers with God in outreach. What a life we have to live! When we reach out to others with God’s Word and His love, we are never alone—we are workers together with God in outreach!