daily devotional

Daily Devotional: One in the Task, Individual in the Reward - February 2

“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.” I Corinthians 3:8

You often hear people wishing they could somehow return to the New Testament church. After reading Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, you pray, “God deliver us from the New Testament church!” Divisiveness, a pernicious problem plaguing the Corinthian church, caused the believers to divide into competing units ? “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas.” 54 Paul gives the antidote.

The two operative words are “one” and “own.” The Corinthians are one in the task, individual in the reward. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” 55 Paul and Apollos need each other as they labor together in Christ’s vineyard. As the Apostle later explains, the diversity of the gifts is needed to edify the church. We do not function independently from God or one another as we invest in the lives of others.

You maintain unity in the task because your reward is according to your own labor. Accountability is individual, not corporate. Each laborer of God receives his reward on the basis of his own faithfulness to the Master. You are not rewarded on the building of your own reputation, school, church, special ministry, etc., nor on the basis of the performance of others. You please God, not by what you have, but by what you do with what you have. The faithfulness of others (or the lack thereof) in no way impacts your reward. When you labor with one who competes with you, seeking to destroy your work, you freely serve your competitor, knowing that God will reward you, not on the basis of your production, but your willingness to seek His cause. God rewards on the basis of faithfulness to opportunity; labor, not results.

To the degree that all practice this, contentions and divisiveness in the Body of Christ cease. Paul offers a simple but powerful formula: You are united in the task but individual in your reward.

54 I Corinthians 1:12
55 I Corinthians 3:6

This daily devotional is provided by the Leadership Foundation (www.leadershipfoundation.org) & Walter Hendrichsen.

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