I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:6-9)
Paul was dealing with a church that had become focused on the person who was ministering rather than on the fact that it is God that causes the growth and brings about spiritual fruit.
Borrowing an image from the processes of agriculture Paul explains the relation in which his teaching differed from that of Apollos; just as Christian workers have different jobs and see different results – it is God who gets the work done and makes things grow.
When a farmer plants a seed, and waters it, he really does not make it grow. The miracle of life does that. All the farmer can do is to provide the right environment for growth, and trust in the miracle that God provides. We do the same thing by planting the Word of God in people’s hearts and minds.
Once that seeds starts germinating as a person puts their faith in Christ; God wants them to grow. However, making a one-time decision that is then neglected and left malnourished is not what Christianity represents and that many fail to understand. True Christians live and have a personal relationship with God through His Son. When a person comes to Jesus, they become a new creation in Christ and are born again; and as spiritually newborn baby they need to be nurtured to grow.
Peter wrote his second letter challenging the believers to become more mature in their faith by adding to it specific Christians virtues, thereby becoming effective and productive in their knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-9). Peter desired that they become strong in their faith to withstand the false teachers that had crept in and adversely affected the churches so that they could detect and combat the spreading apostasy. And he told them to, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
We are saved by God’s grace, and we need to grow in that grace. We are also to grow in the knowledge of Christ. Certainly part of that knowledge is learning about Christ from the Bible, but we are also to grow in our own personal knowledge of Jesus, as we walk with Him daily, spend time in prayer, submit to His Lordship and authority in our lives through the choices and decisions we make.
There is something wrong about “a Christian” who never experiences Christian growth. Imagine having a baby who was not growing, you would be alarmed and would be checking with doctors to find out what was wrong. Likewise, if you are not growing as a Christian, then that means something is wrong.
When we have been in the presence of Jesus and our Father we want to be like Them, and the desire to be like Jesus is the foundation of all spiritual growth and that growth is the most natural aspect of Christianity.
Paul told the Corinthians, “test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5).
As we see in this verse if you do not see any spiritual growth you should be testing yourself by asking “Am I really a Christian? Have I really put my faith in Christ?” If you have not, that would definitely be a reason why you are not growing spiritually.
It is no shame to be a baby, if you were born a few months ago. But if a person has been a child of God for several years and has not grown, he has a problem. Everyone needs to grow if they are a true born again Christian, and everyone can grow, if they simply apply the Bible principles of growth.
You need to understand that you cannot grow as a Christian until you first become a Christian. There must be spiritual life before there can be spiritual growth. The seed must have been planted and constantly watered for it to grow.
Once the seed germinates and starts’ growing it needs to develop and grow to produce fruit. In the same way a young believer in Christ needs to grow by learning about God, the Word, prayer, forgiveness, sin, temptation, and a host of other Biblical issues.
When we talk about spiritual growth and maturity, we are not just talking just about Bible knowledge gained, we are talking about character. True spiritual growth and maturity will always result in the Christian becoming more like Jesus in character which is accomplished through the Holy Spirit living in us.
In the same way that Paul told the Corinthians that, “The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building,” he tells the Ephesians that Christ Himself gave different people the task so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-13).
The purpose was so that they would grow in Christ and would no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming (Ephesians 4:14).
But, instead by speaking the truth in love, the end result of service in the body of Christ is spiritual growth. We are no longer immature infants blown back and forth by the wind, but we become mature, solid adults in Christ, knowing the truth of God’s word and speaking that truth in love as God shapes our character to become more like Christ.
If we are faithful at planting and watering God’s Word it will grow and bear fruit and that is our goal as believers, and the reason Jesus gave the great commission.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
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