Introduction: Do you remember, as a child, the anticipation of growing taller? I remember my brother and I would stand beside a doorframe in our home and use a ruler to mark our growth. We would mark a spot above our heads and then measure down to get our height. I do not know that we had any particular height in mind. We were merely excited to be getting taller. Could I ask you an important question? Do you desire to grow spiritually? Do you want to know God better? Do you want to know about spiritual truth? I believe that within the heart of every person there is a desire to find answers that would draw you closer to God. That desire creates eagerness. If so, what should I do? What do I need to know?
I. If you are to be prepared for spiritual growth the condition of your heart must be right. We are in the middle of hurricane season. When conditions are right there is a possibility for the development of hurricanes. Even so, right conditions must be present for spiritual development to take place. In our text I see three conditions that must be right for spiritual growth to occur.
A. To grow spiritually you must be a part of God’s family. Peter addresses the believers as the beloved. That is a general term for the followers of Jesus Christ. You must know Jesus Christ to be a part of God’s family.
Illustration: Several years ago my grandmother Patrick called me to her home. She said she had something to give me. It was my grandfather’s New Testament. He was given this New Testament during WW I. It was given to him in 1917. Obviously, this was a precious gift for me. She gave that to me because I held a special place in her heart. She would not give such a gift to a total stranger. The gift came because of a special relationship.
Even so, spiritual growth occurs in the life of a person who has a special relationship with God, through His son Jesus Christ. Let me ask a couple of rhetorical questions.
Suppose I want to plant some snap beans in my garden. However, unknown to me, the seeds I purchased are no good. They are dead. Would those seeds sprout and grow even if I water and pamper them?
What if I go into the woods and dig up an oak tree? I want to plant the tree in my yard. You generally plant such trees during the winter months when they are dormant. However, unknown to me, the tree I dig up is dead and not dormant. Would that tree grow even if I water and pamper it? To grow spiritually you must be a part of God’s family.
B. To grow spiritually you must have a desire. In verse 18 we read where Peter gives a rather strong word of instruction. He commands us to grow. You and I will not grow unless we desire to grow. This is a heart issue.
At Faith we utilize three primary resources to facilitate growth.
1. Our worship services are a spiritual growth resource.
2. Our Sunday school teams are a spiritual growth resource.
3. Our CLASS process is a spiritual growth resource.
Let me make a couple of important statements concerning this process.
First, no worship service, Sunday school class, or seminar will help you grow unless you have a desire to grow. This is a heart issue.
Second, in addition, you will not desire to benefit from any of these resources unless you have a desire to grow. This is a heart issue.
Illustration: I went to Louisiana to visit my mom this week. On Wednesday I helped her cut the grass on her property. She owns about 7 acres. Due to the size of the property you have to use a tractor and bush hog. Let’s imagine that I am preparing to bush hog and begin by fueling the tractor. However, I am unaware that the tractor has a clogged carburetor. It will not crank because the carburetor is blocked. Nothing will change that situation until I get the carburetor unclogged. Even so, nothing will change your spiritual life until the heart is unclogged. To grow spiritually you must have a desire for growth, based upon a thirsty heart.
C. To grow spiritually you must show a spirit of consistent determination. In the context of this passage, Peter discusses the danger of false teachers leading people astray. He says "beware lest you also fail from your own steadfastness." Many things will sidetrack your spiritual development. False teachers will sidetrack you. The pace of life will sidetrack you. Church issues will sidetrack you. Satan will send distractions to sidetrack you. The uncertainty of life will sidetrack you.
Did you hear about Satan’s worldwide convention? Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his devils, he said, "We can’t keep Christians from going to church. We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can’t keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship with Jesus. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So, let them go to their churches, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they cannot develop their relationship with Jesus. This is what I want you to do. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!" "How shall we do this?" shouted the devils. "Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds. Tempt them to spend, spend, spend and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6 to 7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work! Over stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or CD player whenever they drive. To keep the TV, VCR, DVD, PC, Game Boy, and their XBoxes going constantly in their home. See to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam minds and break that union with Christ. Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, catalogs, sweepstakes and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so their husbands will believe that external beauty is what’s important and they’ll become dissatisfied with their wives. That will fragment those families quickly! Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation, exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don’t let them go out in nature to reflect on God’s wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with a troubled conscience and unsettled emotions. Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning; but crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work! It was quite a convention. The devils went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to get busy and be more rushed than ever before. I guess the question is: Has Satan been successful at his scheme?
(Contributed to Sermon Central by James Harrington)
This is why I say we must have a spirit of consistent determination.
II. If you are to be prepared for spiritual growth your focus must be right. Sometimes, in the spiritual life we focus on the wrong things. We focus on what we must do! We focus on what we must know! We focus on what we must read! We focus on what seminar we must attend! These are important matters. They should be given consideration; however, they are not the crucial focus.
A. The crucial focus should be grace. Why is grace so important? Why should we grow in grace? We should grow in grace for three reasons.
(1) Grace is the foundation of the spiritual life. You get into the spiritual life by grace. You enter a relationship with God by grace.
A ministerial student illustrates grace in a beautiful way.
Illustration: I left work early so I could have some uninterrupted study time right before the final in my Youth Issues class. When I got to class, everybody was doing their last minute studying. The teacher came in and said he would review with us for just a little bit before the test. We went through the review, most of it right on the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that I had never heard of. When questioned about it, he said that they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book. We couldn’t really argue with that. Finally it was time to take the test. "Leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one and I’ll tell you to start," our prof instructed. When we turned them over, every answer on the test was filled in! An explanation was at the bottom of the last page: "This is the end of the Final Exam. All the answers on your test are correct. You will receive an A on the final exam. The reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you. All the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get the A. You have just experienced..."grAce." He then went around the room and asked each student individually, "What is your grade? Do you deserve the grade you are receiving? How much did all your studying for this exam help you achieve your final grade?" Now I am not a crier by any stretch of the imagination, but I had to fight back tears when answering those questions and thinking about how the Creator has passed the test for me.
(SOURCE: MikeysFunnies.com. This happened 04/30/02 in a youth ministry class at Hannibal-LaGrange College. Contributed by SermonCentral)
The Bible says "for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast." (Ephesians. 2:8-9)
(2) The spiritual life is impossible without grace. You cannot know God apart from grace. You cannot grow apart from grace. You cannot deal with failure apart from grace. There is a somewhat humorous scripture passage found in Exodus 33. God called Moses to lead the Israelite people out of Egypt. That was a huge job. Moses was overwhelmed with the task. They had started on their journey when the Israelite people built a pagan image. Moses was frustrated with the people for building the pagan image. Moses helps the people confront their sin and is considering moving forward. He is seeking God in prayer. As Moses stood on Mt. Sinai he prayed this prayer. "Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight."(vs. 13) In verse 15 we find an additional statement. "If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here." Moses knew that following God is impossible without God’s enabling grace.
(3) Grace sustains you when you fail. In II Corinthians 10 we find a situation when the apostle Paul seemed to fail in his prayer life. He had a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what the thorn to be. Paul prayed three times that God would remove the thorn. However, Paul’s prayers seemed to bounce off of the ceiling. By human standards, his prayer was a failure. God did not give Paul an answer. The only answer Paul received was the answer of grace. God told Paul "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." (II Cor. 12:7-10) Sometimes life does not provide answers. During those times we trust the grace of God to sustain us.
B. Peter instructs us to grow in grace but also to grow in knowledge. The order of these items is important. Grace must precede knowledge. Have you ever heard the phrase: "Don’t get the cart before the horse." In other words, keep things in order. Grace comes before knowledge. Grow in your knowledge of Jesus. Why is it important to grow in our knowledge of Jesus? It is a simple answer. Without Jesus there is no grace. Without Jesus there is no illustration of grace. Without Jesus there is no understanding of grace.
Illustration: As Jesus neared the cross he predicted that Peter would deny Him. In fact, Jesus said Peter would deny Him three times. Peter arrogantly denied the possibility that he would do such a horrible thing. However, Peter did deny Jesus! When Peter was feeling discouraged and guilty Jesus said He wanted to see him. Without Jesus there is no relief. Without Jesus there is no grace.
Illustration: While I was in Louisiana this week my mother and I went to visit my Uncle Roland and Aunt Wanda. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together. At the end of the lunch my aunt served a tasty berry cobbler. As she passed out the bowls of cobbler I was thinking to myself, "I hope she has ice cream to go on the cobbler." "You cannot have cobbler without vanilla ice cream." My aunt came through. She brought out the vanilla ice cream. You cannot have cobbler without ice cream. Even so, you cannot have knowledge without Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment of grace and spiritual truth.
We need to have the right conditions within our heart. We also need to understand the unqualified grace of God in Jesus Christ. When these things are true, we will grow spiritually!
