The Corinthians thought they were becoming spiritually mature. Paul looked at the way they were treating one another and reached a very different conclusion. “As long as there is jealousy and conflict among you, aren’t you unspiritual and living by human standards?” (1 Corinthians 3:3 CEB). We might say that is a difficult measure of maturity...

They were fascinated by wisdom, gifted teachers, impressive speech, and the sort of sophistication their culture admired. Some identified themselves with Paul. Others preferred Apollos. What probably felt to them like discernment about who was the better teacher had become rivalry within the church. Paul names it as spiritual immaturity.

His concern isn’t that Christians appreciate faithful leaders or learn from different teachers. Paul clearly respects Apollos. The problem comes when the servants of Christ become competing centers of loyalty, and the church starts organizing itself around personalities rather than Jesus. So Paul changes the picture.

“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you came to believe” (3:5). Then he gives them an image from the field: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow” (3:6). Paul planted. Apollos watered. Both had a role. Both had work God had given them to do. But neither could produce life. God gives the growth. How does that change how we think about ministry and about the church?

We can become attached to the person who planted something in us—the pastor who first made Scripture understandable, the teacher who helped us grow, the mentor who walked beside us, the church tradition that formed us. Those relationships are gifts, and gratitude is appropriate. But servants are still servants...

The grace comes from God. The life comes from God. The growth comes from God.

Paul then moves from the field to a construction site. He had laid a foundation in Corinth, but he wants to be clear that the foundation wasn’t Paul himself. “No one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (3:11). Everything the church becomes must be built there–on Jesus. Not on a pastor, personality, or preferred style; and definitely not on our particular group, clique, or faction within the congregation.

Christ is the foundation, and what we build upon Christ matters because Paul eventually reveals what sort of building he has been describing: “Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in you?” (3:16). The “you” here is the church together. Paul is confronting a divided congregation by reminding them what grace has made them. They are not competing groups gathered around preferred leaders. Together they are the place where God has chosen to dwell by the Spirit. That makes division more serious than a personality conflict.

When jealousy, pride, comparison, gossip, or rivalry tear at the fellowship of believers, we’re damaging something God calls to be holy. When we encourage one another, serve without needing recognition, forgive, make room for someone different from us, speak well of another servant of Christ, and place Jesus above our preferences, we participate in God’s work of building the church. This is a core part of Christian maturity.

Maturity isn’t measured by how much Christian information we’ve accumulated or how confidently we can defend our preferences. The Holy Spirit forms a people whose lives increasingly resemble Jesus—humble, holy, loving, and committed to one another.

The Corinthians were settling for something far smaller. They were saying, “I belong to Paul” or “I belong to Apollos.” Paul turns the whole thing around: “All things are yours… you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God” (3:21, 23). They didn't need to make themselves important by attaching themselves to the right personality. Their identity was already secure in Christ.

We can honor those who plant and those who water. We can respect those who serve obediently. We can receive their gifts gratefully. But our hope isn’t ultimately in any of them.

Christ is the foundation. God gives the growth. And by the Spirit, God is building us together into something holy.

Think of one Christian leader, teacher, or mentor who has helped you grow. Thank God for that person today, and then intentionally pray that your gratitude for the servant will always lead you beyond them to deeper dependence on Christ, the foundation of your faith.