The Transfer of Ownership and Partnership with God: Part 2

Acts 2: 41-47

Last week, we learned about the practice of transferring the ownership of our lives to God. This week, we want to continue by looking at what happens after we surrender ownership to God: partnership with God.

Before we go into this concept, we must first ask: What does it mean to be partners with God?

Partnership implies that we are working alongside God. This means there are things that God entrusts to us and things that ultimately belong to God. So, what are we responsible for, and what is God's responsibility?

We can see an example of this in Scripture through the life of the early church in Acts 2:41–47.

Our responsibilities: devotion, surrendering ownership, serving the poor, receiving with joy and gratitude, living out our faith, and praising God.

God's work: producing awe, performing signs and wonders, giving the church a good reputation, and adding people to the church.

It is important not only to recognize our responsibilities, but also to be good stewards of them.

If we find ourselves dedicating our time and energy to building a good reputation or increasing the number of people following Jesus through our own will and effort, we will eventually become disappointed. We have begun relying on our own strength and pride instead of God. This can lead to burnout or even resentment toward others who we feel are not serving as much as we are.

But these things ultimately belong to God. Our responsibility is faithfulness to what He has entrusted to us, not controlling the outcome. God sees us as His partners in His ministry, so we ought to focus on faithfully carrying out what He has given us and trust Him with the results.

However, we can also find ourselves on the other side of the coin. We may let go of everything and seemingly give God full control, believing that means we no longer have to participate. But refusing to participate in the responsibilities God has given us is not surrender—it is laziness.

And in our laziness, it becomes easy to blame or complain to God because we have removed ourselves from any sense of responsibility or agency.

Paul illustrates our partnership with God using the image of planting and watering. He says that while he planted and Apollos watered, “God gave the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6–9).

This is an important distinction: we are responsible for planting and watering, but God is responsible for the growth.

What God is ultimately seeking from us is not our performance, but our faithfulness. As Habakkuk 2:4 says, “the righteous shall live by his faith.” God has entrusted us with responsibilities, and He calls us to faithfully carry them out. We see this principle in Jesus' parable of the talents, where the servants are commended for faithfully stewarding what was entrusted to them (Luke 19:17–22).

Therefore, we become good stewards in our partnership with God not by trying to control the results, nor by avoiding our responsibilities, but by consistently practicing faithfulness.

We do what God has entrusted to us, and we trust God with what only He can do.

Reflection Questions:

1. What responsibilities has God entrusted to me in this season of my life?

2. Am I more prone to trying to do God's work for Him, or to avoiding the responsibilities He has given me? Why?

3. What is one responsibility God has given me that I can practice faithfulness in this week?