God gives the increase to the crop in His field. He provides the ministry to help things along. He gives His sons and daughters whatever is needed to bring them to maturity the best resources and experiences to cause real growth. The plant has some work to do too. God provides the bulk of the resources for growth water, nutrients, sunlight, and the like, yet the plant has to absorb them and use them to maintain itself and to grow. The seed, activated by water, puts out roots and a shoot. Continued use of those resources causes it to put on height, develop a head, display flowers, and eventually produce fruit. God provides the knowledge, environment, energy, gifts, and whatever else is needed for a Christian to grow and produce spiritual fruit, but the Christian must consistently respond to His providence to make them happen. Each Christian must respond and must be careful how he responds. A plant that does not respond well to what God supplies withers and dies, and so does the improperly responsive Christian. God has planted His people in His field, and He is looking for spiritual growth so that He can harvest them for His Kingdom. To those who fear His name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings, and they shall grow.

Spiritual increase cannot be measured by human means, yet it constitutes the vital concern for the church. Members, coworkers, visitors, and subscribers can all be tallied, yet who but God can track the increase of faith or the development of a church member's character. No minister can present a yearly report on the ratios of sheep to goats or wheat to tares. Managers can keep close tabs on income and expenses, but no quarterly reports can be given on the ripening of the fruit of the Spirit. No chart can mark the increase or decrease of the poor in spirit, the meek, or the pure in heart. Humans cannot measure such things, yet paradoxically, those are precisely the matters about which a church should be most concerned. Impressive membership numbers and abundant income are profoundly poor indicators of spiritual health. The people took these indicators as proof that God was with and pleased with them, yet their spiritual state went unmeasured and immeasurable, except through anecdotes. Positive metrics give the impression that all is well in the church, yet though it cannot be charted, there is still division within the church. The numbers may not indicate it, but there is still leader- and organization-idolatry. God's work is creating men in His image. He is working salvation. The work of God is that we believe in Him whom God sent. In short, the work of God is centered on changing people, aligning them with Him so that they are ready to live with Him for eternity. Currently, His work is primarily centered on the church. A focus on preaching to the world does not provide church members with the staying power they need to grow and persevere in the face of doctrinal confusion. When things fell apart, it became evident that only a small percentage of those supporting that work were truly converted. If the same pattern is followed today, focusing on financial and membership growth rather than the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God and growing to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, the result will not differ. Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. The ones doing the planting and watering should not be the focus. God is the One leading His work and the One determining its results. While it may be natural and harmless enough by itself to want to measure the number planted or watered, such metrics cannot tell the whole story. The vital measurement is the spiritual increase that He gives in faith, in character, in humility, in love, in unity with Him and with the brethren, the metric only He can track.

God gives the increase in His field. The one who plants and the one who waters are one. They are equals and they both have a job to do. Each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. The one who waters will be judged upon how well he watered. The one who planted will be judged on how well he planted. They are not going to be judged on the seed. After the planting and after the watering it is up to the individual seed the plant and God. God is the One that gives the increase. The productivity of the whole field is on God. He is the One that made everything work. It was His purpose and His power. He did it all.