"God Gave Growth!

“For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 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." (1 Cor. 3:4-6 ESV)

Paul starts Chapter 1 by recounting his apostleship, which was being called into question by those “disturbing” the gentile churches. But in verse 2, please notice what he says about the believers who live in Corinth, “to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling.” If you’ve ever heard a message from I Corinthians or read either 1 or 2 Corinthians, you know that by action, these believers would not be called “saints”, not as we define “saints” in the 21st century.

First, notice that these believers have already been sanctified.  They were already sanctified (made holy) not because of how good they were, or how many times they prayed, went to church, or did the “right” thing, but because our Lord Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection made us that way. It was JESUS, not their actions, that made them sanctified. Believers, we really need to stop trying to be good enough for God to accept, love, and bless us. We are already set apart for His service; we have already been sanctified and made holy.  We need to start living our lives in a manner that shows we have been set apart for God’s use and brings honor and glory to the one who deserves it, our risen Savior.

Paul then addresses divisions in this local assembly, where people are taking sides and claiming they are better than other believers because they follow Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, who we know as Peter (1:12). These divisions cause untold damage. I’ve seen divisions, and I’m sure some of you have as well, that happen when different groups of people start following personalities in the Church instead of following God’s Word. It’s devastating to the local church.

In Chapter 2, Paul once again reminds them that those who preached the gospel of grace to them did NOT do it using “persuasive words of wisdom,” but in “demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” (2:5). He reminds them not to follow the teaching of this world, but to receive the things from the Spirit of God.

In 3:6, Paul gives us one of the most profound doctrinal statements in all of Scripture. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” The context shows that he was teaching the believers in Corinth that neither Paul nor Apollos did anything except what God had called them to do. Paul spoke the gospel and taught them during his 18-month stay, and Apollos taught them additional truths from the Scriptures after Paul left. But it was God, and God in His sovereignty, that caused growth in their numbers and spiritual lives.

All too often, we (and I’m speaking to myself as well) get our focus all wrong. We look at the outcome of our ministries and get discouraged by “human wisdom”. We think that because we don’t have “a lot” of people coming to church, reading our devotionals or responding to our witness, we are doing something wrong. And that is exactly what Paul is speaking against in verses 12-16. As believers, we need to stop looking at “success” as the world defines it and start looking at what is spiritually true: “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (KJV).

Many times, in our ministries, whatever they may be, or in our personal lives, when we don’t see circumstances or people change as fast or in the way we would prefer, we need to remember it is the sovereignty of God that causes the increase or change. I find the root of our problem is that we say with our lips we believe that God is Sovereign (in control of everything), but in our lives we don’t believe it. We try to make things change in our time; we aren’t willing to turn our cares over to Him and wait for Him, in His sovereignty, to “cause the growth”.

So, believers stop letting this world tell us what is acceptable to God, what success looks like, and what we need to do. And let all of us start listening to the Holy Spirit and God’s Word and start living as we believe in and trust our Sovereign God.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"