One of the gifts of God is this progression of life…We all know that there is this progression of life…there is an expectation that when young you are going to grow up…
Baby in the womb…infant wanting to walk…child wanting to be a teenager, a teenager wanting to be an adult…
Do you remember…Did you ever wish they could just grow up? Maybe you yearned for the day you would get your driver’s licenses. Or job. Or graduate from high school. Or go away to college. ***Growing up (sucking thumb)
Infants are expected to grow to childhood, children are expected to go through puberty to youth, and youth are expected to become adults. In fact…you usually spend a lot of energy as an infant, child and youth looking forward to the freedoms of adulthood.
You really didn’t want to be a kid anymore. You wanted to be seen as an adult. You wanted to feel like…you have grown up, grown up. But then you get older…and want to be a kid. You want to go back
We understand the concept of growth from the physical development of humans…this is the same in the Scripture. We all know how that happens physically, but what about spiritually? Salvation is only the entry point of Christian living…not the ending point…The universal metaphor used in Scripture to describe spiritual growth. Infancy (babies), childhood, youth, and adulthood
What is the basis of our spiritual growth?
So what is Spiritual growth…it has everything to do with grace…It is not only the gift of God to salvation but also the gift of growth in Christ…
2 Peter 3:17-18
auxanó – to cause to grow, to increase, to raise position
***Auxiliary speakers…amplify
Growth is a necessity, not an option.
The Christian life is like riding a bike: if you aren’t moving forward, you’ll fall off. To maintain your steadfastness, you must be growing.
Peter is connecting our spiritual growth with our understanding of grace… Grace is growth… Grace is the key to a relationship with God because He both saves us by His grace and sustains us by grace… God’s grace is not static; it is dynamic. It brings real change in our lives and compels us to increased growth.
***Remember who this is writing this…Peter, the one who denied Christ…he had a unique personal perspective of grace..Grace will meet you anywhere, but it will not leave you there.
This changes everything…it tells us why it is that so many people feel that their growth is stagnate, stuck…and that is where the struggle lies for many of us… But grace is opposed to every human way of approaching God
BIG IDEA: GRACE BECOMES AN IDOL WHEN IT CRIPPLES INSTEAD OF COMPELS OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH IN CHRIST
One of the greatest problems that the church faces today is such a huge lack of spiritual maturity. Too many people are immature and unable to handle the work that God desires them to do because they haven’t grown up in Him.
Warren Wiersbe – “After over forty years of ministry, I am convinced that spiritual immaturity is the number one problem in our churches.”
Immature grace…It is one of the most used resources mentioned in the Scripture…If it is an under-utilized resource in…it will become the most immature resource in our lives…
Well before we answer that question…let me tell you what spiritual growth is not…If you settle for immature grace it will leave you thinking these things…
- Spiritual growth is based merely upon my knowledge of God and the Bible
- Spiritual growth naturally happens over time
- Spiritual growth is accomplished through activity
- Spiritual growth is experienced in temporary successes
So what does spiritual life look like?
3 commands, imperatives – Read 2 Peter 3:14-17
1. SEE GRACE AS YOUR INSPIRATION TO GROW AND NOT YOUR INHIBITION FROM GROWTH
Vs. 14 - Make every effort – since you are waiting…then be diligent
spoudazó – to exert oneself, endeavor
Grace calls us into an active spiritual journey not a passive one…
What am I making an effort too? What is the goal of grace? Have to know where you are going
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13
According to this verse, you can define spiritual maturity in one phrase. Spiritual maturity is being like Christ.
Conformity to … Christ is the goal of human development.”
Thus…Grace is not an excuse; it’s a persuasion.
Am I making every effort to make progress in Christian living?
Cannot develop muscle without exercise…atrophy
2. EXPECTANTLY CONSIDER WHERE GOD'S GRACE IS LEADING YOU
People want to grow but lose desire…indifference or negligence…and even distracted…satisfied with the growth up until that point
hégeomai – to consider, go before, to think
Grace causes us to consider God’s timing in every circumstance
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:13
Don’t be apathetic… The patience and relenting nature of God should create a sense of urgency, not apathy, and that urgency should create a desire
Well what do I do in the mean time?
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 2 Peter 1:3-4
The point is, the Christian life is not “starting out” with Jesus and then “graduating” to something better. There’s no such thing as “advanced Christianity” – every person who begins their Christian life begins it with everything they’ll ever receive. But you ask, “How can a person who’s been given everything they need for life and godliness continue to struggle? What more can we need when we already have everything?” The answer is this: Even though we’re given everything we will ever need at spiritual birth, we still have a whole lifetime of growing in our understanding of Christ and of the riches, power and life that He’s already given us!
To grow in grace does not mean gaining more grace from God. God’s grace never increases; it is infinite, it cannot be more, and according to the nature of God, it could never be less. Our awareness of grace grows…
3. DEFEND THE TRUTH OF GRACE IN YOUR LIFE
Bear in mind – proginóskó – Keep in mind, to know beforehand
When a medical prognosis is made, a patient is better able to prepare himself for what is ahead & if possible, to correct himself.
***If the doctor tells you to, “lay off the fried chicken, salt, bacon, & other artery cloggers... or have serious heart problems”; then you know beforehand & can change your eating habits according to this information you’ve received.
- Peter has given you the futures prognosis!
Reasons many don’t grow…they don’t see the need for growing
phulasso – to guard, watch, and keep an eye on
Grace should give me stability in the truth…when you twist grace it becomes unstable and volitale
You are either growing in grace or being drawn away…no center grown…
…so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Ephesians 4:14
Maturity is contrasted with instability of vs.14 (wave tossed; wind blown!)
So we no longer act as children… For a moment consider how a child acts?
Impressionable - it doesn’t take much to impress a child. Everything is wow! And when everything is wow we move from one thing to another pretty quickly
- Gullible – easily convinced of just about anything
- Manipulative – play each other to get their way
- Selfish, self-centered, self indulgent…Distracted (wow! About everything)
If they don’t get what they want…what do they do… Cry! Whose needs do they care about? Their own. Do they every say thank you? no
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:1-3
Peter tells us in 1Pe 2:2, a true believer will long (epipothéo - strong yearning…sucking motion) for the nourishment of the word…sucking motion…Baby longs for the mother not because of discipline…because it knows it will die
Read your Bible? Always seems to be the answer…why?
Perhaps some might think that these five keys are too simplistic to have any real value for spiritual growth. The truth of the matter is that complexity is not a prerequisite for spiritual growth, obedience is. There are many truths in the Scriptures that are simple to understand but obviously not so simple to apply.
On a daily basis - 19% -- are reading the Bible on a daily basis.
“I’m convince that the big crisis among Christians today is not that we are easily dissatisfied but that we are all too easily satisfied with how far grace has taken us…we learn to adjust to things that we should be altering; we learn to be okay with the things we should be confronting; we learn to avoid the things we should be facing; we swindle ourselves into thinking that things are better than they are, an in so doing we compromise the calling and standards of the God we say we love and serve…when settle for good…when grace is trying to offer us more…
“As a watch is our authority on time, as maps are our authority on directions, as a dictionary is our authority on definitions, so the Bible is our authority on what to believe and how to live.” The more you know it the more you know what to do…why?
4. GROWING IN GRACE LEADS TO GREATER GLORY
God will never be glorified by our behavior for Him, only by His grace to us.
In other words, God’s grace is not the means for us to glorify Him; God’s grace is His glory fully realized within us.
“Grace and glory differ very little; the one is the seed, the other is the flower; grace is glory militant, glory is grace triumphant.” —Thomas Brooks
Spiritual growth is grace vertical…glory horizontal…
So His grace doesn’t empower a life that brings His renown as much as His grace is all that is necessary for His renown. Our lives reveal the glory of God as we by faith choose to live as conspicuous recipients of the grace already ours in Christ. I’m learning that God hasn’t given His grace so I’ll live for His glory. He’s given such grace as a demonstration of who He is – which is His glory.
Are you resting on grace for your spiritual growth or is grace your crutch to keep you a cripple?
