When you think about working for God, what do you picture? Where are you while you’re working? When someone says they’re “out in the field,” it usually means they’ve left their sterile office building and gone to where the action is happening. The secret: you are God’s field!
“For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Cor. 3:9).
This year, we’re going to consider four different fields in which we should be working:
- Our Heart — Luke 8:9-15
- Our Family — Deut. 6
- Our Church — Eph. 3:14-19
- Our Community — John 4:33-38
The Big Idea: God calls us to courageously cultivate the soil of human lives, beginning with ours.
God is the Owner
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
- Paid for by Christ’s Blood – Acts 20:28
- We can’t boast about our work – Eph. 2:9-10
Getting Dirty
Working in the field isn’t easy, as we learn clearly from many examples in the Bible (2 Cor. 11:23-30).
- It’s uncomfortable work to expose sin and address it.
- We may feel unprotected out in the field, vulnerable and exposed to the devil’s attacks.
- There’s a lot of uncertainty when we get after the work, especially when we’re dealing with others and their reactions.
Growth Happens There
In the field is where the growth happens — and though we don’t cause the growth, we have to take up our part in the work for it to be successful (1 Cor. 3:6-8).
- Planting the Seed — We stick with God’s truth, rules, and standards and bury them deep within us.
- Entrenching Habits — We encourage each other through daily watering, helping that seed take root.
- Fruit of Our Labor — God grows his fruit in our lives.
Conclusion
So get to work for the Lord! He wants you to be productive for him. And if you won’t bear fruit, don’t be surprised when he cuts you down to make room for someone more productive in his field (Matt. 3:7-10).
