Last week we looked at a touching moment in Jesus’ infancy. His parents brought their infant son to the temple to be dedicated to God. They wanted nothing but God’s best for their special son. And in the temple God brought them across the path of one of his true saints, Simeon, who loved their son, who affirmed the vision that God had given them for his future, and helped them understand the price they would pay for being the parents of the Messiah.
And then that passage ends with a simple summary statement that covers the next 10 years or so. It is Luke 2:40, “And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.”
This morning I want us to think about this simple statement, that Jesus grew. Of course, that is obvious physically. He wasn’t born man size. But he also grew in wisdom and knowledge. I don’t imagine he got his potty training right the first time. When he helped his Dad in the carpenter’s shop it took him time to master each of the tools. The Bible says that he never sinned. His intentions were always right. But that doesn’t mean that could do everything without practice or trial and error. The Bible is clear that he really was human as well as divine.
Sometimes people picture Jesus as some sort of Robocop who could walk in anywhere and handle any problem because he was God. But in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians chapter 2, verse 7, the Bible says that he emptied himself of his divine powers. In John’s gospel he said that he spoke the things he heard from his Father, he didn’t just know everything, he often had to listen to God, like we do. In a few weeks we’ll look at the time he was tempted by Satan. He was really tempted, but he didn’t give in to the temptation. He often prayed all night because the answers didn’t come easily. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he really sweated out having to go to the cross. One part of him didn’t want to do it. But he kept on course. When he was crucified, the nails really hurt.
Jesus didn’t come into this world with bulletproof underwear or a free pass to avoid suffering or a handy dandy manual that gave him all the answers easily. He had to grow. He had to learn. He really struggled and he really suffered. And that should only increase our awe at what he did for us and our love for him that he should empty himself to that extent and go through so much for us.
And it is very important that we understand that spiritual growth will be a process for us, too. You don’t inherit spiritual maturity from your parents. You have to grow it for yourself.
There are some preachers who have done the church a terrible disservice in the way that they talk about being born again. The Bible is clear that we all must find new birth in Christ. That’s the doorway that is the beginning for all the spiritual riches of God. But some preachers try to pack all of the spiritual life into one experience. Get saved and all your problems will be over. And if that works for someone, fine. But my experience and the experience of everyone for whom I’ve gotten close enough to really know has been that being born again is only the beginning. God doesn’t zap us into a new person without any continuity with the old person. He teaches us step by step so that we understand what is happening and can participate in the process at each stage.
Accepting Christ, being confirmed, attending a renewal seminar, reading a spiritual book, all these may be important steps on the way. But none of them are substitutes for the entire process of growing to spiritual wholeness.
All too often I meet people who have moved far enough along the path of growth to have what you could call a child’s faith. They went to Sunday School. They got confirmed. But they stopped growing. They didn’t continue the growth process. And pretty soon they are dealing with adult problems and trying to handle them with a child’s level of maturity. And it doesn’t work. And all too often they blame God for not solving it all for them. All too often they give up. All too often they just can’t handle the challenges of adult life in a Christian way.
And so it is imperative that we all accept this challenge to keep growing. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, always talked about, “Moving on to perfection.” He never claimed that he made it. But he was determined that he was going to aim high for his Lord and challenge his people to do the same.
You know the saying, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” Let’s aim to be the very best for our Lord.
Now it’s not fair for pastors to tell their people they have to grow and then abandon them to figure out alone how to do it. So this morning I want to share with you a very simple process that might help you get a sense for where you are in your own spiritual development and set goals for a next step.
In your bulletin there is an insert with a diagram of a baseball diamond. It breaks down the process of becoming a mature disciple of Jesus Christ into four steps. I’m borrowing this from a pastor Rick Warren, in his book, The Purpose Driven Church, and you may recognize that I’m expanding on my article in the church newsletter for this month. As I talk about them, you decide which base you are on today and see what you can do to advance to the next base in this new year.
In the process of spiritual growth, how do you get to first base? There are two commitments that are needed to get started. First, you need to be committed to Jesus Christ. You can’t be a Christian, a follower of Christ, without that commitment. It is in that first initial commitment that the weight of the guilt of our sins is lifted off of our shoulders, that the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see spiritual perspectives to which we once were blind, that we gain a taste of what God is wanting to do in our lives, that we receive a vision of the goodness and wonder of God. Those gifts from God make all the difference. Don’t leave home without them.
Until you make that commitment to Christ, you haven’t even gotten to first base, you really can’t progress very far, you are never going to score. In a group this size, there are probably some for whom that commitment is not clear right now. That’s the first work you need to do. It will revolutionize your life.
And right beside that commitment is a commitment to God’s family, the church. I’ve had lots of people tell me that they can believe in God without being part of a church, but I don’t believe it. What does that kind of belief mean? If they love God, then they certainly ought to love God’s family the church, but what are they doing for the family? Usually nothing. If they love God, they ought to be working to learn more about God, but what are they doing? Usually nothing. If they love God, they should be doing something to build the kingdom of God, but what are they doing? Usually nothing. When was the last time that God really spoke to them and challenged them to change their lives in any way? Usually they can’t remember. When was the last time they made any sacrifice for God at all, did anything except what they just wanted to do for themselves? Usually a long time.
That’s not a faith in God. That’s a faith that they can be lazy and complacent and that spirituality really doesn’t matter.
I need to be in the church. I need Christian brothers and sisters who will worship with me to help me sense God’s glory and goodness. I need to study the Bible with other people to get me out of the ruts of the way I have always seen things in the past. I need to see new facets of what Jesus is like as I receive the love of different members of the church who are using their different spiritual gifts. I need to discover and develop the spiritual gifts that God gave me through serving alongside Christian brothers and sisters. I need to combine my efforts for building Christ’s kingdom with other people so that we can accomplish more by working together.
No one is going to grow closer to God without also growing closer to the church. And unless the commitment to Christ is followed up with an equal commitment to be part of the church, attending regularly, praying for the church, making an effort to share your life with the other members of the church, that commitment to Christ just plain will not last.
So those two commitments get us to first base. Maybe someone here needs to get alone and speak to Christ personally and get their commitment to Christ clear. Maybe someone here needs to make a commitment to be in church regularly this coming year. You won’t grow without it.
But once you get safely to first, what’s next? Don’t camp out there. The journey has just begun. I pity the church that has first base all clogged up with half of its members just standing there, not trying to advance. What’s the next step? How do you get to second base?
That’s a new commitment. It’s a commitment to practicing the spiritual disciplines that will enable God to mold you and give you a new heart. If you commit to spending time with God each day, time to pray and time to read your Bible, you’ll find that the Holy Spirit will begin using the words you read and guiding the prayers you pray and they’ll make you new. Those deep wounds that most of us carry in our hearts will begin to heal. You’ll be made whole. You’ll be set free. It won’t happen overnight. It’s a lifetime process. But what could be more important than to become spiritually whole?
A second spiritual discipline, which is almost as important, is the discipline of sacrificial giving to God. We don’t want to become materialists in the church. But when we put our finances under the discipline of God and start making each of our financial decisions according to what God calls us to do, all of a sudden we see our priorities in a whole new light. Opportunities to make a difference in the world open up that once were impossible because in the past we had squandered our money on unimportant things. Martin Luther once said that there are two conversions that are necessary, conversion of the heart, and conversion of the pocketbook. You can tell when someone’s faith is really taking a hold on their life by how it is influencing the way they use their money.
Well, if you have been parked on first base for a while, take on those two spiritual disciplines and move to second base. Make a commitment to spend time with God each day. Make a commitment to give to God’s work sacrificially.
Some of us have already been doing those things. Maybe you’ve been on second base for a long time. You have been learning a lot. You have built up some spiritual muscles through your spiritual disciplines. But where are you going to go with it all?
I remember taking swimming lessons when I was a boy. When we were learning the sidestroke they had us stand on the beach and go through the motions of picking an apple and throwing it away. Pick an apple and throw it away. I wasn’t hard to get that worked out on the beach. But I wasn’t a swimmer until I did it in the water.
The next commitment for you is the commitment to find that area of ministry that is just right for you, your purpose for being on this earth, your personal calling from God, that unique area of service where you can jump right in and it will be a joy and a fulfillment for you.
How do you find your ministry? Most importantly, pray and ask God each day where you can serve and then get out and do it. And it won’t be long before a pattern will develop of what God is saying to you.
But there is an interview process that I am learning to do and love to do with people to help them put together a profile of their spiritual gifts and their temperament and their life experiences and their skills and then recommend 3 or 4 possibilities for service that would be just right for them. I would love to do that with any of you. It will help you make that switch in perspective from being a net receiver to being a giver that moves us on to third base. And, of course, it is good to be serving even while you are on first base and second base. That’s part of growing. But until you have had a good time of letting God work on your soul through regular spiritual disciplines, your effectiveness in ministry will be limited. He’ll clean up some of your rough edges that keep people at a distance. He’ll work some of his deep love for others into your heart that will keep you motivated to serve. So you can start serving on any base.
Well, as soon as you have reached third base, you need to start looking to get home. The next step is really the fulfillment of the process that you started to get to third. Take some time to explore different areas of ministry. And then settle in with one of them and really take it on to be your ministry. Whether your ministry is teaching children, decorating the sanctuary, inviting people to church, organizing fellowship events, ushering, music, visiting shut-ins, mission work trips, or whatever, Now is the time to commit yourself that you are going to fulfill that ministry with all your heart, that it will be well done, that you are going to be a self starter and not depend on having to be asked. It is your ministry.
Every time someone reaches home plate, the church scores, a disciple has been made. Can you picture a church with 50 members who are dedicated to doing some part of the ministry with excellence and thoroughness and joy? How about 100 members, or 500 members serving like that? Wouldn’t it be exciting to be part of something like that? Think of the things we could do for God together.
On your bulletin insert I want you to do two things now. First make an X somewhere on that baseball diamond to show where you are today. And then, at the bottom, make a commitment to yourself and to God of something you will do to move ahead in becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. If you have questions about what that means for you, please give me a call. I love to walk through these things with people. And let me pray for you now.
