•I Corinthians 3:5-9
•Spiritual Growth
•The Wide World
•Corinth
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
(I Corinthians 3:5-9, ESV)
Main Point
• No Church leader has the right to claim any sort of following
• Both the laborer (leadership) and the field (congregation) belong to God
• The growth that comes is from God alone
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Application Points
• Spiritual Growth
– In America we have been blessed with influence and affluence
– This ease has even bled its way into our spirituality
– Once we had an association meeting
– He had been on sabbatical and went to a European nation
– He studied their growth
– He created a program which emulated what he learned
– While there he learned to create fire in a new way
– By following the program we will have fire in our congregations again
Application Points
• Spiritual Growth (2)
– Not only the American Baptists but all denominations and Churches seem to be having issues with attendance and growth
– Our response is to set up a program
– We can change issues by making a different plan
– Physically (getting in shape, taking meds, having surgery)
– Financially (talking to a specialist, plans/programs to achieve goals)
– If we have the right model…then we will see the growth we desire
– We heed the words of others in order to come up with some system
– We read the experts books
– We will follow their blog posts and their Facebook pages
Application Points
• Spiritual Growth (3)
– Do not doubt that God has blessed these congregations
– The concern is missing the forest for the tree
– Another regional pastor was focused greatly on missions trips
– I asked why he was so sure that everyone should go on a missions trip?
– The justification for continued missions trips was that it caused something good
– I responded with, “Shouldn’t we be asking why people need to get away from our congregations in order to have this growth?”
– “Maybe there is something wrong with our congregations and what we are doing and teaching?”
– He just shrugged
Application Points
• Spiritual Growth (4)
– RC Sproul one time answered a question similar to, “What is a concern for the modern Church?”
– His response was to reflect on the final sermon of Martin Luther
– Luther warned about the dangers of relics
– A relic would be nails from the cross, bones of the apostles, milk from the breast of Mary
– The belief was these relics had power
– Sproul then said that was the danger, the concern, for the Church
– Not in relics, but the program
– By seeking the right program we will finally have power and true Spiritual growth
– This leads to the important question
– “How can we have true Spiritual growth?”
– “Where can growth be found?”
Application Points
• Spiritual Growth (5)
– Paul does not expect Apollos to do everything Paul did
– Paul recognizes something and that is how each leader is gifted and then utilizing their gifts faithfully
– It isn’t going to be in a program, but whether or not we are being faithful to our callings
– Not everyone is gifted in teaching/preaching or called to this particular aspect of ministry
– Some pastors are better at vision, some pastors are better at outreach
– I trust by being faithful to my calling there will be growth within the congregation
– To be in line with the Scriptures and proclaim what God has entrusted to us, the Gospel
– Growth comes not because Paul is more like Apollos…growth comes because both are fulfilling their callings faithfully
– If this is the case with the greatest leaders of the Church, how much more will it be the truth for each of us?
– I have a responsibility to God to lead in truth
Application Points
• Spiritual Growth (6)
– This may be a reason why Paul begins the letter with Church leadership
– He can set up the reality for everyone else within the congregation
– There is a “program”
– We are going to be faithful in what we are called to be
– We are going to encourage everyone to be faithful in what they are called to be
– By seeking God’s grace and wisdom through faith, we trust we will see the growth God has promised
– You want to grow as a Christian?
– You want to grow as a congregation?
– Be faithful. That’s it.
– It might lead to new things, praise the Lord!
– Praise the Lord that He has given us a simple program to follow
– Be faithful to God, and you will find true spiritual growth
•Application Points
•The Gospel of Christ
–Origins
–Where we began
–Fall
–What went wrong
–Redemption
–How it is fixed
–Glorification
–Where it at leads
