Who causes spiritual growth?

This week, we have been looking at how Christians act unchristian as a result of rivalries based on personalities that reveal our spiritual immaturity and our failure to recognize roles. In the passage we have been looking at, a man named Paul reveals a third thing that can occur in the lives of Christians who act unchristian as a result of rivalries based on personalities. And the third thing that can occur is that rivalries based on personalities fail to recognize who causes spiritual growth. We see this reality revealed for us in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9:

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."

In these verses, we see Paul show us three things that spiritual maturity recognizes when it comes to what causes spiritual growth. First, spiritual maturity recognizes that God causes spiritual growth. In verse 6, Paul uses a farming analogy to unpack the reality that while Paul and Apollos each had different roles and responsibilities in the church at Corinth, it was not Paul or Apollos who caused the church to grow; it was the work of God through Paul and Apollos that caused the church to expand and grow.

And in the same way today, it is not the pastor or the people, or the environments that the pastor and people create that causes spiritual growth and maturity. It is God working through the pastor, the people, and the environments that causes spiritual growth and maturity.

Second, spiritual maturity recognizes a mutual concern for spiritual growth. In the first half of verse 8, Paul explains that he and Apollos are united in their mutual concern for the health and spiritual growth of the church at Corinth. In addition, maturity recognizes that there is diversity based on the quality of their ministry. In the second half of verse 8, Paul states that while they are united in their focus for the churches spiritual growth, they understand that their different roles within the church will result in each of them being evaluated and rewarded for the quality of their ministry by God.

And just like the church at Corinth, we are to recognize that as followers of Jesus partnering together in the church, we are to be united in the common mission that God has given us to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world, while at the same time understanding that we will be evaluated based on the specific gifts and ministry roles and responsibilities that we are given in the church. Christians who act unchristian, however, reverse these realities. Christians who act unchristian end up with diversity when it comes to their concern for spiritual health and growth while expecting unity when it comes to roles, responsibilities and rewards.

Third, spiritual maturity recognizes that Jesus is the Senior Pastor. In verse 9, Paul closes this section of his letter by reinforcing the reality that everything is under God’s leadership and plan; As God’s fellow workers, Paul and Apollos are serving under the leadership of Jesus, who is the Sr. Pastor.

And just as it was at the church in Corinth, the reality is that pastors and leaders serve under Jesus, who is the senior Pastor. In addition, the church at Corinth, who Paul describes as a field and a building here, also belong to Jesus. Paul’s point here is that because of this reality, the church should leave behind their spiritual immaturity that is focused on jealousy and rivalry. Instead the church should move forward by uniting under the reality that Jesus is the Sr. Pastor and that every aspect of the church is under His leadership, so that they could move forward in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus as individuals and as a church.

Maturity recognizes and responds to the reality that Jesus is the Senior Pastor and that those who serve in leadership in the church are to be followed as they follow Jesus. Christians who act unchristian, on the other hand, want to be in authority but not under authority, which reveals the reality of their spiritual maturity.

So are you a Christian who acts unchristian by failing to recognize who causes spiritual growth and the reality that Jesus is the Sr. Pastor?