Team Effort, Team Recognition

“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.” (1Co 3:8 AV)

So much is made of the reward of being present when a lost soul comes to Christ that we miss a great truth.  First and foremost, the Holy Spirit has far more to do with the salvation of a lost soul than the efforts of the saint.  The Holy Spirit is the one that convicts.  The Holy Spirit is the one that illumines.  The Holy Spirit is the one who guides.  He may use us to do so, but it is still the ministry of the Holy Spirit which is most responsible for the winning of a lost soul.  More to the point, though, we have erroneously stressed the importance of winning souls to the point it has become a contest.  If we are there when the sinner accepts Christ, we assume we get a reward that others do not.  We get the jewel and all others are out rewards.  Not so!  Not according to this passage.  It doesn’t matter If we are the ones handing out tracts, or the ones plodding up the fallow ground, or the one there who gets the privilege of witnessing a decision.  We are all rewarded for our labor.  This is important to understand.

Years ago, to earn the engineering merit badge at Boy Scout camp, we were to design and build a raft that was then sailed the length of our lack to the waterfront.   It had to built without the use of modern tools, nails, screws, or glue.  The idea was to build a raft as though we were stranded on an island.  We used rope to lash whatever logs we could find to 55 gal drums.  We fixed a main beam to the raft and used a poncho as a sail.  Bark was the rudder.  All the boys who build the raft rode it and it had to stay together to earn the badge.  We initialized each lash we made.  In case of failure, we knew who was responsible for a failed lashing.  But the point is this.  That raft came together because the instructor gave guidance.  He challenged every decision we made.  He guided us when it looked like something might not work.  We lashed it together.  Each doing their part.  No one lashing was more important than another.  Each had value to the whole.  Without the instructor supplying the rope, guidance, and encouragement, the raft would have never come together.  It would have never stayed together.

So, too, is it with the winning of the lost.  We have far less impact on a person coming to Christ when compared to what the Holy Spirit does.  Conversely, winning the lost is, more than not, a team effort.  Each doing their part.  Each an essential part.  And, each receiving reward.  So, next time someone tries to convince you they are more spiritual and receive more rewards for being there when a sinner receives Christ, remember, there was someone else who handed them a tract.  There was someone else who broke up their false ideas.  There was someone else who debated and worked.  They all receive of the labor they bestowed.