与神同工
哥林多前书三章5至9节
5亚波罗算甚么?保罗算甚么?无非是执事,照主所赐给他们各人的,引导你们相信。
6我栽种了,亚波罗浇灌了,惟有神叫他生长。
7可见栽种的,算不得甚么,浇灌的,也算不得甚么;只在那叫他生长的神。
8栽种的和浇灌的,都是一样,但将来各人要照自己的工夫得自己的赏赐。
9因为我们是与神同工的;你们是神所耕种的田地,所建造的房屋。
信息分享
基督需要各色各样的工人来参与祂的工作。祂需要传福音或宣教的同工,也需要牧者或教师。每个岗位都需要人去承担。倘若参与事奉的人出现彼此嫉妒,或互相争竞,就必然产生问题。
哥林多教会正面对这个问题。他们不肯承认信徒各有恩赐,以及各人亦有不同的职分。例如,这人去撒种,那人去浇水、另一个人去施肥;但尽管各人努力工作,却必须明白一个首要事实,就是唯独神可以叫所种的植物生长,无人能替代神的角色。
因此,我们各人只是与神一起同工。留意第9节,它指出我们是神的同工、神的田地和神的房屋,换言之,神是主位,我们只是客位的角色。
一切都是神所掌管的。我们只是祂手上的工具。祂大可以独自做成祂的工作,根本不用我们帮忙,可是,祂却愿意拣选我们与祂同工。祂可以差派天使为祂工作;但祂却没有这样做,反而将传福音及建立别人的特权赐给我们。
留意保罗说我们是神的田地。这表示神正耕耘我们的生命,神正在我们的生命中工作。祂在我们的生命中耕耘,为是的让我们的生命能结出丰硕的果子。
保罗也说我们是神的房屋。倘若神要建造我们,那么祂手上一定有一份蓝图,祂要按着祂的设计来精心建造。工程至今尚未峻工,一直要等到主再来的日子,我们才能按照祂的心意,完全的建造起来。
此刻,我们必须时常紧记:我们是与神同工的。
LABOURERS TOGETHER WITH GOD
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
Message
Christ has all kinds of workers in his service. There is the evangelist or missionary. There is the pastor or teacher. Each has a place to fill. Trouble will come if these servants become jealous of each other or if a group begins to think more highly of one worker than the other.
That was the trouble in Corinth. They failed to recognise that Christians have different gifts and different tasks. One man was to sow the seed. Another was to water it. Another was to feed it. But more important than the work of any of these men was the fact that it was God alone who gave the increase and growth. No one else can do that.
So then all we really are is workers together with God. Notice v.9. Three times in this verse the name of God comes first. We are God's fellow workers, God's field and God's building.
The whole emphasis is on God. We are nothing but instruments in his hand. He could have done his work without us, but he has chosen not to do so. He could have used angels, but instead he has given us the high privilege of making known the good news and of helping each other grow in Christ.
Notice it says we are 'God's field'. It really means God's ploughed soil. We, ourselves, are the place where God is working. He wants to work in us so that he can work through us to bring about a harvest.
We are also said to be God's building. If God is building our lives, then he has a master plan that hoe is working to. He is not finished yet. He is working and building toward the day when we will be all 'that he wants us to be-that will be when Jesus comes again.
Remember now - we are workers together with God.

