Read Together: 1 Corinthians 3:1–9

Ministry comes with certain challenges, as Pastor Jerry reminded us on Sunday. It challenges our pride and self-sufficiency as it requires us to recognize that ministry is not about us and that the results are ultimately not ours to manipulate, but God’s to produce. Amid church conflict, the apostle Paul had to remind the Corinthians of these truths in 1 Corinthians 3.

The Corinthian church was struggling with internal divisions that centered around different kinds of leadership and teaching styles. Some claimed to follow Paul while others looked to Apollos as their favorite leader and teacher. Paul had founded the church. Apollos had pastored it for a time. Now the church was divided into groups based on their preferred personality.

But Paul sets them straight: ministry is not about personality cults. Leaders in the church are servants. Gospel ministry is bigger than Paul or Apollos. It’s about Jesus and serving him. It’s not about the leaders themselves because it is God who gives the growth. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

Ministry is like farming or gardening. A gardener can plant seeds and water them, but he cannot make the plant itself grow. God, the Creator, is responsible for the growth of plants. In the same way, preachers, missionaries, and Bible study leaders can proclaim the gospel and speak truth, but God alone can cause the gospel seed to sprout and grow and bear fruit. Ministry is not about any one personality or preacher because none of us can manipulate real growth. We faithfully tend “God’s field,” and we leave the results in the hands of God.

Discussion Questions

1. Why is it wrong to make ministry about one certain leader and their personality?
2. What is the picture Paul uses to describe ministry and what does it teach us about ministry?
3. How does the truth that “God gives the growth” motivate us to do ministry?

Ideas for Younger Kids

• Read Mark 4:26–29 with your children. This is a short parable about the growth of the kingdom of God. God’s kingdom grows through God’s power.
• Use this parable as a starting point to talk about the picture of a garden or field. Consider having young kids draw a picture or color a picture of a garden or field. Talk about how serving God can be like tending a garden. When we tell other people about Jesus, we can’t make that person grow to know Jesus. But God can. We should focus on planting and watering and entrust the growth to God. Just like God makes plants grow, he makes people grow to know and follow him.

Memorization: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Cor 3:6)

Song: Listen to “Press On” (Keith & Kristyn Getty). “Now let the Word be scattered like the seed on the soil/ Day by day/ Watch it grow in His care.” Encouragement to press on in faithfulness to the Lord as we live for him and share his truth with others.

Pray Together

• Praise God that he is the One who gives growth in our lives and in the lives of those we minister to.
• Confess before God that we tend to make too much of ourselves or certain leaders and try to manipulate results instead of entrusting them to God.
• Give thanks to God that his Word always accomplishes the purpose he has for it—it never returns to him void (Isaiah 55:10–11).
• Pray that God would grow us and help us to trust him to give growth to those we serve and speak the truth to.

Go Together

• Think about what ministries you are involved in. Write these down. This can include your ministry as a parent to disciple your children, church ministries, and your witness to family, neighbors, coworkers, classmates, etc. Entrust these to the Lord and pray that you would be faithful in them and that God would give growth to those you minister to.
• Ask yourselves: Are there any other ministry opportunities that God is calling us to participate in as a family or individuals? Who can we minister to this week and share love and truth with?