We are labourers together with God

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2023

1 CORINTHIANS 3 VERSES 1 – 10

 

How disheartening and disappointing it must have been for the great apostle Paul.  When he first visited Corinth he fed them with the milk of the word of God.  Deep spiritual instruction was out of the question for they were babes in Christ.  Now however they should have made progress as far as their spiritual understanding was concerned.  They were however not ready to receive deep spiritual meat.  Paul goes on to remind them of their duty – verse 9 “For we are labourers together with God; ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”  He wanted to see growth in their Christian walk.  It was the most important work for each of them.  They had a position to fulfil in the work of Corinth.  We are labourers together.  Each of us has a work to do for our Lord and master.  A duty to perform.  We face an unfinished task.  There is no one excluded.  Everyone has been given a gift to exercise.  Everyone of us has a work to do.  A duty in the church.

 

We must labour consistently.  Paul is not speaking  of those who laboured in the past or those who would be called in the future.  He is speaking in the present continuous tense.  An ongoing and never ending duty “for we are labourers”.  What is a labourer?  Firstly, they are someone who works hard.  They are not afraid to roll up their sleeves.  A willingness to get things completed and finished.  Jesus called many to follow him and serve him.  He called them workers, labourers, active in the Lord’s work.  David was diligently watching over his flock when God came to him.  Nehemiah was working as a cup bearer in the king’s palace when God revealed what was happening in Jerusalem.  Peter was mending his net when he heard the call of the master.  The Lord is looking for workers – what about us?  Could the Lord depend on us to do a great and mighty work for him?  Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10 “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” 

 

“There’s a work for Jesus, ready at your hand,

‘Tis a task the Master just for you has planned

Haste to do His bidding, yield Him service true

There’s a work for Jesus none but you can do.”

 

 A labourer is someone who works hard.  He is a good timekeeper.  He knows when to start, when to take his breaks and when to finish for the day.  He does not sleep in and take extra breaks then finish before the job has been completed.  Time is important in the work of God.  As labourers with God we need to be on time otherwise it is the Lord’s time we are wasting.  Time is of the enemy.  All meetings must be attended and must be attended on time.  The Psalmist knew the value of God’s time – Psalm 90 verse 12 “So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”.  A labourer also stays on the job.  Labouring is not easy at times but the labourer must stick at it despite the difficulties and success.  He cannot give up and walk away.  He must persevere.  It can be discouraging at times but we must be willing to stick at it, to stay on the job we are involved in - the ongoing, never ending work for the Lord.  If we are going to be employed we must stay on the job, be determined despite the struggles and they will come.  We must be always abounding in the work of the Lord.  1 Corinthians 15 verse 58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”.  We must stay on the job.  Finally a good labourer is someone willing to obey instructions.  Usually the labourer is under a higher authority.  They have a boss who gives them instructions and advice.  The instructions must be followed for the work to be done correctly and efficiently.  He must be willing to follow good advice.  Our master is Jesus Christ and we must be willing to obey his instructions when living for him and serving him.  If we are to be effective for the work we must be willing to submit to his authority.  We must receive the instructions contained in his word.  His word gives all the advice we need to do his work effectively.  We will then see a work done for him and eternity.  We must labour consistently.  We must work hard.  We must be good timekeepers.  We must stay on the job and obey God’s instructions.

 

Secondly, we must labour co-operatively – “together with God.”  Note the 2 words Paul used.  He is referring to a togetherness among the people of God.  There is a work to be done.  There is a work for us all to do.  It must be carried out with a spirit of unity, togetherness.  A mental unity among the brethren.  That is not always the case.  Satan finds some gap in the hedge.  The church must constantly guard against it if they are going to avoid disunity.  There must be unity in discussions.  We must be careful how we address one another.  Colossians 4 verse 6 “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”  We must be careful how we speak to each other and how we speak about each other.  We should be free from gossip and bitterness.  Our language we use should be gracious and honest.  It should be worthwhile and profitable otherwise a spirit of disunity could rise up among us.  Ephesians 4 verse 31 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”  There must be unity also in our discussions.  The work of God is not excluded from decision making.  We often hear “the Lord will sort it out.”  Perhaps the Lord will but he has given us intellect and a mind to make decisions for the furtherance of his work.  As a church body we have responsibility to make decisions.  Some may be easier than others.  Regardless of how significant or insignificant they may be pray that the Lord would unite us in making them.  O that we would be of the same frame of mine.  Philippians 2 verse 2 “Fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”  There must be unity in our discussions and our decisions.  There must also be unity in our desires.  What is our utmost desire?  Yearning to glorify God?  Do we have a longing to magnify our Saviour?  Is that not man’s chief end – “to glorify God and magnify him?”  John 3 verse 30 “He must increase but I must decrease.” John realised as the servant of Jesus he must keep himself in the background.  He constantly pointed men and women to the Lord.  Do we have a longing to magnify our Saviour in all our doings?  In everything we seek to do there should be unity among us.  When we labour co-operatively there should be a willingness among us, a unity in our discussions, our decisions and our desires.  A mighty blessing from the Lord will come.  That is what Psalm 133 verses 1 and 3 says  “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  for there the Lord commands the blessing, even life for evermore.”  O labour with a spirit of unity will allow the Lord to work mightily among his people.  We must work together to achieve what God desires.  We must labour consistently and co-operatively.

 

We must labour conqueringly – “with God”.  That makes all the difference when labouring for God.  Paul did not say “we are labourers together” and stop there.  No he assured his readers that God was part of everything they were seeking to do for him.  Labourers, workers and grafters with God.  The fact that God works alongside his servant guarantees success.  When God goes before us and with us who can stand against us?  We are on the victory side when working together with God.  It means seeking to please God.  We are not labouring and working to serve the world around us.  We are seeking to please the Lord who works with God.  What man thinks of the ministry is not important.  What God thinks is supremely important.  It must not be the praise of man but the “well done” of God which triumphs.  We are not to hold back anything in our service for God.  May the fear of man be taken away from us.  God has sent us with a wonderful task and message.  Let’s not water it down.  Let’s do our master’s biding as men and women seeking to please God.  Working and labouring must please God.  We must depend on him.  Corinth was not left to their own devices, they had a source to draw from, to give them much needed strength for the task ahead.  God wants to see the church produce fruits.  How are we going to see things accomplished, to see fruit in our own strength?  By depending on the Lord for he works with us.  There are times we feel so inadequate for the task before us but our sufficiency is of God.  He gives us the strength we need.  For we are labourers together with him.  Isiaah 40 verse 31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.”  There will be times when we need renewed strength for the task but the Lord will grant it when we wait on him.

 

We are labourers together with God.  There is no-one excluded.  Everyone as part of the church has been given a gift to exercise.  The labourer ploughs the soil, one sows the seed, another waters the soil.  Let me challenge you – what part are you going to play?  Are we all in it together?  Are we going to be labourers together with God? 

 

If we are we must labour consistently – work hard, be good timekeepers, stay on the job and obey God’s instructions.  We must labour co-operatively – united in discussions, our decisions and our desires.

                                   

We must labour conqueringly – working together is one thing, working together with God is a wonderful and victorious thing.  Labouring together means we must seek to please him, rely daily on his power and strength. 

 

“We are labourers together with God.”