When God Grows: Trusting God's Unexpected Harvest

Devotional

Day 1: Watermelon Seeds and Cucumber Vines

A story about a backyard garden reveals how God grows unexpected goodness where we least expect it. Uncle George tossed watermelon seeds into bushes, believing his "uncle magic" would produce fruit. Instead, Aunt Theresa’s intentional care grew cucumbers neither planned nor controlled. Like them, we often mistake our efforts for the source of growth. God works through both our haphazard seeds and others’ quiet labor to create harvests we couldn’t engineer. The challenge is to celebrate what actually grows, not what we imagined. [43:27]

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building."
(1 Corinthians 3:6–9, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you been disappointed by a "watermelon" that turned into a "cucumber"? How might God be inviting you to savor the goodness of what actually grew?

Day 2: Fertilizing What You Didn’t Plan

Miss Charlotte’s mattress, moved grudgingly by volunteers, became the very thing that freed her to tend her flowerbed. We often resent tasks that feel insignificant—moving mattresses, fixing coffee spills, reviewing budgets. Yet these acts create space for others to flourish. Like Aunt Theresa fertilizing vines she didn’t plant, our small obediences become part of a story we may never see. God stitches together our grumbles and gifts into a tapestry of grace. [55:42]

"Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."
(Galatians 6:9–10, ESV)

Reflection: What "mattress-moving" task feels fruitless to you? How might it be preparing the ground for someone else’s joy?

Day 3: Weeding in Shared Soil

The Corinthians argued over who deserved credit for spiritual growth, blind to God’s quiet work. Like church ladies hugging a young intern they’d nurtured decades earlier, we often discover our labor overlaps with others’ in ways we can’t control. Pulling weeds, cleaning spills, or teaching preschoolers aren’t isolated acts. They’re threads in a larger story God is weaving across generations. Our job isn’t to own the garden but to tend it faithfully. [54:16]

"One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
(John 4:37–38, ESV)

Reflection: Whose unseen work made space for your faith to grow? How can you honor their contribution today?

Day 4: Resting in the Gardener’s Grip

Uncle George panicked over his accidental vines, scrambling to control their growth. But the cucumbers thrived because Aunt Theresa worked without anxiety, trusting the soil and sun. Ministry often feels like frantically protecting "our" projects from birds, bugs, and bad decisions. Yet God reminds us: the growth was never ours to manage. Like a gardener who sleeps while seeds sprout (Mark 4:27), we labor best when we trust the One who never sleeps. [53:28]

"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."
(Psalm 127:1, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you striving to control outcomes? What would it look like to tend faithfully instead of anxiously?

Day 5: Cross-Pollinated Grace

A pastor compared leadership changes to cross-pollination—sharing blooms between gardens. The intern who learned “Do Re Mi” in a sanctuary later returned as a leader, her faith shaped by both campus ministry and church ladies. Our work isn’t about building monuments but scattering pollen—letting God carry the fruit of our labor to unexpected places. Every goodbye and hello becomes a chance for grace to spread. [58:09]

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to plant and a time to uproot… a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them."
(Ecclesiastes 3:1–3, 5, NIV)

Reflection: What endings or beginnings feel disruptive? How might God be using them to spread grace beyond your reach?

Sermon Summary

The Corinthians had bought into a specific vision for how God could grow among them, and Paul finds them arguing over who gets the credit and who gets the blame. Some claim Apollos. Some claim Paul. Some are just mad and know who to blame. But Paul keeps pulling their eyes off the workers and back onto God, because while people argue about control, God is growing good and uncontrollable things.

The watermelon-cucumber story gives that truth some dirt under its fingernails. The seeds tossed into the bushes looked like one thing to uncle George, but aunt Theresa had been tending something else on purpose. The fruit came up big and juicy, but it was not what George expected. That is how expectations work. They can turn into disappointment before people even realize they are carrying them.

The church’s work often looks like that poolside garden. Some people plant new seeds of faith, telling the stories of Jesus for the first time. Some people water, studying Scripture, visiting the sick, encouraging the grieving. Some people quietly pull weeds, clean spills, review bids, read insurance policies, watch kids on mission trips, and make sure everybody comes home in one piece. All of that labor matters, but Paul’s word remains the center: God gives the growth.

God’s growth also refuses to stay inside one person’s preferred plan. A child grows into someone unexpected. A program becomes something different than the original dream. A new leader comes, a loved leader leaves, and people who like control start looking for either a hero or a culprit. But God never leaves, never gets lost in traffic, never gets a flat tire, and never stops tending the people left behind.

The mattress story makes the same point with a little holy slap across the face. Moving mattresses felt useless compared with building wheelchair ramps, because ramps looked like “watermelons” and mattresses looked like “cucumbers.” Then Miss Charlotte’s new ramp led straight into a house where one of those mattresses had become part of God’s care. Clarity does not always come that neatly, but the truth still holds: good things growing in one place grow everywhere, and even the biggest wins belong to God.

The work of discipleship, leadership, and change becomes lighter when the church stops grasping for credit and rests in God’s steady work. Cross pollination is good. The good things grown in one garden carry life into another. The abundant harvest belongs to God, and faithfulness means showing up bravely, tending what is actually growing, and giving God the glory for the growth.

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Key Takeaways

1. God grows beyond human expectations. The cucumber story refuses to let disappointment have the final word. Something can be genuinely good and still not be what someone thought was being planted. Faithfulness means tending what God is actually growing, not only what human imagination hoped would appear. [46:50]
2. Credit and blame distort the garden. The Corinthians wanted to know whether Paul or Apollos deserved the praise, and that same instinct still shows up whenever something succeeds or fails. The need to assign credit or blame can become a way of avoiding trust. Paul’s answer lowers human pride and anxiety at the same time: workers matter, but God gives the growth. [48:34]
3. Hidden tending is holy work. The visible fruit depends on quiet labor that many people barely notice. Coffee spills, budgets, bids, tablecloths, safety teams, hospital visits, and Scripture shared with a friend all become part of the same garden. God dignifies the work that never looks impressive because growth depends on more than the dramatic moment. [50:39]
4. God arrives before the workers. Mission does not carry God into an empty place, because God is already ahead in the van and still behind with those who remain. That truth relieves the anxious burden of thinking everything depends on one person’s presence. Faithful labor can happen with courage because God’s presence is not fragile. [52:07]
5. Cross pollination serves the harvest. Leadership changes can feel like loss, but the garden image makes room for movement as gift. Good things grown in one place can seed, shade, and strengthen another place. God’s harvest is larger than one role, one congregation, or one season.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[39:59] - Opening and Campus Ministry Context
[40:43] - Corinthians Argue Over Growth
[41:41] - God Grows Uncontrollable Things
[41:57] - Uncle George and the Seeds
[44:22] - Watermelons Turn Into Cucumbers
[45:33] - Laboring Together With Different Expectations
[47:17] - The Temptation to Stop Tending
[49:39] - Planting, Watering, and Pulling Weeds
[51:46] - God Is the One Who Makes Growth
[53:28] - Wins Belong to God Too
[55:00] - Mattresses, Ramps, and Miss Charlotte
[57:31] - Cross Pollination in God’s Garden
[59:16] - Brave Work and God’s Glory
[59:39] - Closing Prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (ESV)
"What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building."

Ephesians 3:20 (ESV)
"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us."

Genesis 1:31 (ESV)
"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good."

Observation Questions

In 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, what metaphor does Paul use to describe the roles of believers in God’s work, and what does he say about God’s role?
The sermon mentions a story about watermelons turning into cucumbers. What unexpected outcome occurred, and how did different people contribute to the growth? [44:22]
According to the sermon, what are examples of “hidden tending” in the church (e.g., tasks that seem small but matter)? [50:39]

Interpretation Questions

Why does Paul emphasize that neither the planter nor the waterer “is anything” in 1 Corinthians 3:7? How does this challenge our tendency to assign credit or blame?
The mattress-moving story felt “useless” compared to building ramps, but later proved meaningful. How does this illustrate the difference between human expectations and God’s purposes? [55:00]
How does the idea that “God arrives before the workers” (e.g., already present in mission work) reshape our understanding of leadership or responsibility in the church? [52:07]

Application Questions

Describe a time when something you invested in (e.g., a relationship, project, or ministry) turned out differently than you expected. How did you respond, and how might focusing on God’s growth instead of your expectations change your perspective?
Think of a “hidden” task in your community (e.g., cleaning spills, budgeting). How can you affirm or support those who do this work, even if it goes unnoticed? [50:39]
When have you felt tempted to take credit for a success or assign blame for a failure? What practical step could help you redirect that energy toward trusting God’s role in the outcome?
The sermon says leadership changes can feel like loss but also bring “cross pollination.” How might you approach a transition (e.g., new leaders, programs) with openness to God’s unexpected growth? [57:46]
Miss Charlotte’s mattress became part of God’s care in an unexpected way. Where have you seen small, seemingly mundane acts become part of a bigger story of God’s goodness? How does this encourage you? [56:40]

Sermon Clips

54s

“And I was grumpy all week about moving those mattresses and God delivered one of them, basically smack across my face. We don't always get the benefit of that clarity but I am here to tell you that the good things growing here grow everywhere. And they grow to the benefit of all of our good work, but only because God is the one that makes them grow. And so we work in that knowledge but we also get to rest in that knowledge. That God is the one that holds our future, that grows all good things.”

61s

“We all labor towards these good things but God is the one who makes them grow and God never leaves us. So it is true that sometimes programs and people turn into things we never expected, things we never wanted, things we'd, as Ephesians say, could have never hoped or imagined. Negative. But always what God created. And what God creates is good, very good. So we don't have to debate who gets the credit or the blame or whether something is good or not or growing or not because we can rest in the fact that God grows good things. That God is the one growing the things, that the things are growing, and that if God is growing it, it is good.”

50s

“We all labor towards these good things, but God is the one who makes them all grow. And God never leaves us, and God already is everywhere we go. is incredible relieving news. That when you go out to mission trip, God is already there in the van leading ahead of you. You do not have to wait. God never gets lost in traffic. God never gets a flat tire. And when you leave, that God is staying behind too. That the people that you leave behind are tended to with love.”

76s

“And George was definitely disappointed when his big magical watermelons were actually cucumbers. Some of us are growing something right now that is going to be something totally different than we expected. Maybe we're raising a child that grows up to be someone different than we imagined that they would be when they were little. Maybe we're raising three different children and all three of them seem like very different people every day when we wake up in the morning. Maybe we're starting a new program or fixing up a building or making a new relationship, trying to invest in new leaders, and those people and programs and buildings are just not what we thought they would be. And there is a huge temptation that when things are different than our expectations, we stop going out to make sure that they are fed and watered and protected.”

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