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Today's Pathway: I Corinthians 3:8-9 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

Paul concluded yesterday's passage by stating that neither the servant of the Lord who plants nor the servant of the Lord who waters is any thing, for the increase always comes from God Himself. However, in verse 8, Paul makes sure to tell his readers that there is a reward for those who are faithful in their service to God. He starts out by stating that the planter and the person who waters are one. Both are necessary if there is to be a successful harvest. So, even though their responsibilities may differ, they are on the same "team", and become one unit working for the production of the crop. Sometimes church members forget that they are to be working together. Paul will address this in more detail in chapter 12, but for the present we need to realize that the preacher and the song leader and the instrumentalists and the teachers and the deacons and the Children's Church workers and the ushers and the janitors may all have different tasks, but they are to be working as one unit in order that the church might carry out the Great Commission that God has given to it. And when there is an increase, it comes from God, and He deserves all the glory.

Even though the church members are working together and are united in their service, Paul teaches that each individual in the church will receive his own reward. For example, perhaps the church is moving forward, but one of the Sunday school teachers isn't working very hard at being a good teacher. Perhaps he doesn't prepare, or he doesn't attempt to minister to his students outside of class. Maybe he only shows up for church when he has to teach, but skips out on the other services. When it is time for God to reward His servants, the reward for that teacher will be commensurate with how faithfully he has served. At the same time, there is a man in the church who has not been gifted as a teacher or as a leader. However, he has great mechanical skills and he knows how to take care of things. That man is continually looking around the church property to see what needs to be done. All the light bulbs are changed. The church vehicles run. The grass is cut. On any given Sunday the church members don't need to worry about the appearance or the functionality of the facilities because that man has seen to it that things are done. And they always see him in the services because he is committed to the Lord's work. When that man stands before God he too will be rewarded appropriately for his labors in the harvest field, and his reward will certainly be greater than that of the lazy teacher.

Verse 9 adds something else. We are laborers together "with God". We are not just working "for God", but we are working with Him. Matthew Henry put it this way,

"They are laborers with God, not indeed in the same order and degree, but in subordination to Him, as instruments in His hand. They are engaged in His business. They are working together with God, in promoting the purposes of His glory, and the salvation of precious souls; and He who knows their work will take care they do not labour in vain."

"Ye are the house which God builds, and in which He intends to dwell. As no man viewing a fine building extols the quarryman that dug up the stones, the hewer that cut and squared them, the mason that placed them in the wall, the woodman that hewed down the timber, or the carpenter that squared and jointed it, but rather the architect who planned it, and under whose direction the whole work was accomplished; so no man should consider Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, any thing, but as persons employed by the great Architect to form a building which is to become a habitation of Himself through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22), and the design of which is entirely his own."