Freedom of Faithful Toil

“…and the Lord added to their numbers day by day,” the national believer read out loud.

We were looking in Acts 2 and simply asking: “what does this passage teach us about what the early church did?” When doing trainings with national believers, I often read this passage and ask this question. On this particular day, the Spirit of God brought this principle of kingdom growth to the forefront.

The last verse in Acts 2, verse 47, has a principle that is crucial. It was God who added to their number day by day. It was not the strategy or the miraculous works the apostles did that added to their numbers. God was the one who grew the kingdom in Jerusalem!

Of course, we know that people did not suddenly come to faith without hearing the good news. The followers of Jesus were sent to make followers and teach them to obey all He had commanded. Peter just preached calling for repentance and baptism. The DNA of the early church was one of bold witness and deep dependance! This dependance is there at the end of the passage. It does not end highlighting the apostle’s work, but rather the Father’s.

Often we work as if this verse should say, “And by their hard work, missed Sabbaths, and tireless labors their number grew day by day.” Or even worse, “By her labor alone, without breaks, without proper sleep, skipped meals, the kingdom of God came.” Oh how foolish this is, and yet, how often we fall into believing that it’s up to us to grow the kingdom.

This principle of kingdom growth, that it is the Lord who brings growth, is found all throughout the Scriptures. Mark 4 is a popular parable that Jesus used to teach this same principle. The farmer in the parable does not do a lot of hard work. In fact, the unexpected twist in this story was the lack of toil the farmer performed over the field for the harvest to be ready.

Rather, it says that the farmer “sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how,” (Mark 4:27). A farmer hearing Jesus teach this parable might be surprised at what he was saying. The hearer might understand that it is hard work to farm. Yet, even though a farmer works hard, there is a moment when he just needs to step back and wait to see what happens. A farmer has no control over the actual growth of the seed. Yet, in this parable about God’s kingdom, there is this unseen force in the story causing growth. It is God who brings kingdom growth.

And later, Paul reiterates this in his letter to the Corinthian church. He tells them, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth,” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

This principle of Kingdom growth is not a free pass for the Christian to sit idly by. We know that Jesus gave His church a responsibility to make disciples among all nations by going, baptizing, and teaching to obey. Yet, we know that we do not save people, God does. We do not cause them to open their hearts to the Spirit to accept the word, God does. We are His instruments in this work.

Paul and his missionary team are an example for us in this. too. They went, preached the gospel, made disciples, new churches were started, they appointed leaders, and went on to another place.

This all left me with personal questions. Do I work like this is true? Or do I work like the mission depends on me? Do I live in a functional state of independence from God or do I understand my role as a planter and waterer?

Practically, this principle from Scripture challenges us. It might mean we commit to a regular daily prayer of surrender and reminder to our hearts that it is not up to us. 10 minutes everyday after or before the work begins committing all to the Lord, trusting He is the one bringing growth. Maybe we commit to memory a verse or passage that reminds our hearts of kingdom growth reality. It should regularly cause us to stop and step back from our work to evaluate the posture of our hearts and realign them to our reality as workers who plant and water.

The principle of the unseen grower in Mark 4, Jesus building His church then in Jerusalem and now around the world, is ultimately a freeing reality for us. The life of a disciple of Christ is one of hardship, yes, but also is full of joy in obedience, not in results.

Like the national believer who discovered this truth from Acts 2, let’s earnestly pray to the Lord of the harvest and faithfully toil until the work is complete!