My Role In My Spiritual Growth – Cleaning Up
A farmer goes out and plows his field. He sows the seed. He cultivates the plants and fertilizes them. All the while he knows that the plants grow because of forces outside of himself. The farmer is utterly dependent on forces he can not control. He can not force the seeds to germinate. He can not produce the rain that is needed for the plants to grow. He can not provide the sun shine that gives the plants energy. For a successful harvest, the farmer is dependent on the things that only God can provide.
Yet the farmer knows that unless he diligently pursues his responsibilities to plow, plant, fertilize, and cultivate, he can not expect a harvest at the end of the season. In a real sense, the farmer is in partnership with God. The farmer can not do what God must do and God will not do what the farmer must do.
Christian growth – discipleship – is a joint venture between God and the Christian. No one can grow as a disciple without God doing His part – but no one can grow as disciple without doing their part either. God has given us the tools to walk as disciples – but it is the responsibility of the Christian to walk. Second Peter three eighteen says:
“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18 (NKJV)
This verse gives us some insight into Christian discipleship. First it shows us that diligence and effort are required to become a disciple. We are commanded in this verse to “grow”. Christian growth is not totally automatic. Second this verse gives us insight that growth is a process which will take a lifetime. There will always be areas that we will need to grow in spiritually. We will never reach full spiritual maturity in our lifetime. The pursuit of discipleship is a life long effort.
We as Christians talk much about our salvation. How Jesus defeated sin on the cross and how if we believe in Him, we have salvation. But we do not as readily talk about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the purpose of His presence. We do not talk about overcoming sin in our lives and our responsibility to “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We emphasize salvation but many times and we ignore sanctification. (Sanctification is the process of becoming like Christ.) Let me give you three reasons why we do this:
1. In many churches we emphasize evangelism over discipleship. We are drilled with the responsibility of bringing in the lost. We are very good at telling people how to BECOME a Christian. We have an open door policy of bringing in the unsaved and we are glad when they enter – yet the back door stands wide open because we are not very good at teaching people what it means to BE a Christian.
Look with me at the Great Commission:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.” Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)
Notice that this verse does not tell us to make “Christians” – it tells us to make “Disciples” who will practice the teachings of Jesus. Who will become “doers” of the word. We must strive for a balance of telling people how they can be saved and then instructing them after they are saved. We must help bring people to a saving knowledge of Christ. But we also must help them learn what it means to be a follower of Christ. As a people of Chirst - we must be balanced in this effort.
2. The second reason we do not talk about discipleship very much is because we are reluctant to face up to our own personal responsibility of spiritual growth. We pray for God to overcome the sin in our lives when we should be walking in obedience to His word. I am not saying that we should not pray but:
It is always easier to pray than it is to OBEY.
We must strive to “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” That takes work and effort. It does not happen instantly or automatically. We are responsible to do those things that will help us to grow closer to Christ.
3. The third reason we do not talk about discipleship is that we do not understand the proper distinction between God’s work in our spiritual growth process and our own responsibility. We struggle with the question, “What am I to do myself, and what am I to rely on God to do?” Only when we have a proper understanding of the spiritual growth process will we understand our responsibility. The spiritual growth process is not unlike the physical growth process. When a child is born he or she will grow if all the right elements are in place – growth is a natural process, but the child must have nutrition, exercise and rest. The same is true in our spiritual development. It is interesting to note that the Bible talks about the same elements for spiritual growth that are found in physical growth. Here are three verses that prove the point:
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 (NKJV)
This verse speaks of nourishment.
“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4 (NKJV)
This verse speaks of exercise – “walk in newness of life.”
“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” Psalms 37:7 (NKJV)
There will be no health without rest – physically or spiritually. In order to grow spiritually we must have food, exercise and rest.
But the question must be asked; what is the goal of discipleship? The goal of discipleship is holiness. Look at what it says in first Peter chapter one.
"I am holy; you be holy." 1 Peter 1:16 (MSG)
Holiness is the goal of discipleship.
Now when I say the word holiness some people bring up images in their minds of bunned hair, long dresses and stiff collars. Others have the idea of a “holier than thou” attitude. Still others think of a list of does and don’ts. But in spite of all those concepts, the word “holy” in various forms is used over 600 times in the Bible. Most important is the fact that God commands us to be holy.
With all the ideas of holiness floating around out there we need to come to a common biblical understanding of holiness.
To be holy is to be morally BLAMELESS.
It is to be separated from SIN and consecrated to GOD.
In First Thessalonians chapter four verses three thru seven, Paul used the term holiness in contrast to a life of immorality and impurity. Peter used the word holiness to show that a Christian should live outside the realm of evil desires. (1 Peter 1:14-16) John used the word holy in contrast to things that are wrong and vile. (Revelation 22:11) Holiness is therefore to be pure. It is to be morally blameless.
We have a problem with that – don’t we? None of us are absolutely pure. None of us are absolutely blameless. How then does God expect us to be holy?
The first step in becoming Holy is to CHANGE THE WAY I THINK. Look with me at Romans chapter 12.
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
Circle the words – “renewing of your mind.” The process of Spiritual growth – Christian growth – the growth of Holiness – is a process of “mind change”. It is a process of seeing things from a Godly perspective.
In Romans chapter eight Paul talks about those who are rebellious toward God and those who are seeking holiness. He says:
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Romans 8:5 (NKJV)
It becomes clear that if we desire to be holy – we must change our way of thinking. We must set our minds on the things of the Spirit. There are two big problems with this:
1. We don’t take sin as seriously as God does.
2. We are more concerned with behavior than with obedience.
Let’s consider the first problem; we don’t take sin as seriously as God does. Why can I say that? Because we mentally categorize sins. We consider some sins worse than others. How many of us would consider the act of killing someone as bad as over eating a little? Yet God considers both of these acts as sin. One is called murder the other is called gluttony. What we consider to be small in nature – and therefore we sometimes allow them – God still considers sin.
Let me give you some examples of sin found in the Bible and see what you think.
Do you remember the story of Lot’s wife? How she was turned into a pillar of salt? The only thing she did was look back on her home. And because she turned around to look she was destroyed. It seems like a small thing – doesn’t it? (Genesis 19)
Or what of the story of Uzzah who was walking beside a cart that was hauling The Ark of The Covenant and how he was destroyed – when all he did was reach out and touch the Ark Of because the oxen had stubbled and he was afraid that the ark would fall to the ground. (2 Samuel 6)
Or what about the destruction of Ananias and Sapphira when all they had done was gone out and sold a piece of land and kept a little money back for themselves. It was there property in the first place. Shouldn’t they be able to keep a little of it? (Acts 5)
All of these examples show the holiness of God. All of these individuals were just a little off the mark. All of them were just a little disobedient. But in God’s sight all of them sinned.
God considers all sin to be “sin” – moral impurity – no matter how big or small it is. You see, God is totally holy. God is totally pure. God takes sin seriously. He has nothing to do with moral impurity. There is no lying. There is no cheating. There is no act of deceit. There are no impure desires. He is totally Holy. We don’t take sin as seriously as God does. To move into holiness we must change our way of thinking about sin. Sin in any form or degree - is still sin. We must take sin as seriously as God does.
Secondly, we must become more concerned obedience than with our behavior.
God wants us to walk in OBEDIENCE – not victory.
Obedience is oriented toward God. Victory is oriented toward self.
This may seem like a splitting of hairs to some of you but let me state it this way. If I am striving for victory – if that is my goal - I can claim the glory when I am victorious. When I am obedient toward God – He gets the glory because I am doing what He asks me to do. When I am obedient I am following God. Serving God is a matter of obedience. Victory becomes a by-product of obidience - when I successfully obey God. Look at what the scripture says in First Samuel.
“Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention [is better] than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22 (HCSB)
Let me ask you – does God want sacrifice? The answer is yes. But do you know what He wants more? He wants us to obey Him with our hearts. He wants us to listen to Him. If you obey He gets sacrifice. Obedience includes that. But you know you can go through the motions and give a sacrifice. But sacrifice without your heart involved becomes nothing more than a ritual.
Obedience is a matter of the HEART.
Jesus said it this way.
"If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15 (NKJV)
Let me paraphrase this verse:
"If you love Me, Obey Me."
You see keeping the commandments of Jesus is an act of obedience but it is also to be an act of love.
Obedience is my role in my spiritual growth.
Folks we need to seek holiness in our lives. We need to see sin as God sees sin. Any act of sin is impurity. We need to be transformed in the way we think. We need to dedicate ourselves to God. We need to “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We need to come clean.
Let us pray.
*This sermon series was inspired by the book “The Pursuit of Holiness” by Jerry Bridges.
