Spiritual Growth: More than meets the eye..

[SHINY4UJESUS]

-Spiritual Growth: More Than Meets The Eye-

 

“ But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Here there is no conflict with the Law.” +Galatians 5:22&23+

 

As we grow in Christ, we mature into a more accurate reflection of Christ; but this is specifically regarding His character, intentions, attitudes, and perspectives. Many believers misunderstand the idea of spiritual fruit; thinking things like tithing, consistent church attendance, bible study, extravagant prayer, doing good works, fasting and such are fruit. This however, is not the case at all; the fruit are the internal changes that result in the external displays of faith. One can have all the outward signs of faith without having any internal maturity or sincere fruit. The spiritual fruit are the changes in our character, intentions, perspective, and ideals; rather than simply a surface-show of acts.

For example, lets take a look at the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, (LUKE 18: 9-14.) The pharisee stands atop the temple porch, pounding on his chest as he thanks God for his being more righteous than the sinner below him. He boasts that he prays, tithes, fasts, preaches, teaches, gives to the poor, and does other good works. However, none of these are spiritual fruit; they may be obedient acts, but they are not spiritual fruit. The tax collector, on the other hand, stands on the street; too ashamed to even look towards God, too unworthy to even touch a temple stair given his life of sin.

Jesus tells us it is this sinner and not the Pharisee who walks away justified; and that is not because of the outward acts-but the inward spiritual fruit of humility. You see, the sinner knew he was unworthy, he knew he had fallen short; and the humble attitude and posture are a type of spiritual fruit. The pharisee had all the outward signs of obedience, but he was proud, condemning, and boastful; which definitely are not fruit of the Holy Spirit. We do well to combat the misconception that spiritual fruit and acts of obedience are the same thing; because they definitely are not.

 

“ It's like this: When I was a child I spoke, thought, and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see things in perfect clarity. All that I know is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.” +1 COR.13:11-13+

 

“ And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.” +PHIL. 1:6+

We do well to remember that spiritual growth is a process, rather than an instantaneous result. It is easy to fall into the habit of comparing our growth and results with that of others to define our maturity in Christ, but we should not do so. There are times when God grants one person a more exponential growth and faster return than others, and there are times when we must be patient; as God allows us to mature at a slower rate. This is a matter that is up to God, according to His plan and purpose. This does not necessarily mean we are not sincere; it does not necessarily mean we are not investing ourselves in daily habits that will nurture growth. It simply means as Paul stated in 1 CORINTHIANS: “ My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God, not we, who provided the growth.”

Just as a person begins as an infant and must go through a time consuming process to grow and mature; we also must endure season after season of growth until we mature spiritually. Patience is key in this as in most things in life, so we cannot expect that our maturity will be an immediate reward simply due to having the desire to mature. As we prayerfully and meditatively study the Word of God; as we become more consistent and reflective in our prayer life; as we become more regular in attending church, small group sessions, and services/events; and as we apply principles like tithing, fasting, doing kind things for others, and serving-we will gradually mature. Maturity will not be reflected simply in these acts, but rather in developing the type of character, principles, perspectives, and approaches Jesus set as examples for us.

“ Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn't talk to you as I would to mature Christians. I had to talk to you as though you belonged to the world, or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk and not solid food, because you couldn't handle anything stronger. And you still aren't ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful desires. “ +1 COR. 3:1-3+

“ You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries out for milk.” +1 Peter 2:2+

“ And a person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong; and then do what is right.” +Hebrews 5:13&14+

When a child is just born, we cannot simply hand him/her a plate with a t-bone steak and silverware! For a time that infant can only have formula, breast milk, or a similar liquid form of high nutrition sustenance. The infant has no teeth to bite or chew yet, it does not have the coordination or muscular and ligament strength to manage utensils, and does not have a digestive system developed enough to process solid or even semi solid foods right away. Even if the infant could manage to ingest those types of food; it could actually make the child ill to consume such things. No that infant needs the stuff with the highest nutrition content and most easily digested. Just like an infant in the flesh; a spiritual infant must focus on “consuming, “ those things that are most foundational and basic elements/principles of the will and Word of God; and thus, “the pure milk of the Word.”

In the spiritual infant stage, a believer should focus on learning the message of Christ; the gospels of Matthew and Mark; perhaps Romans also for the truly dedicated infants. The only Old Testament books a spiritual infant can possibly “digest,” are the creation story in Genesis and daily study of proverbs and Psalms; but even then, it is still better to have the gospels as the primary focus for a time. Only by understanding who Jesus is, what His character is, and the purpose of His coming to earth can a spiritual infant grow properly into a full understanding of who Jesus is, why it is critical that He did what was done, and who we are as believers in Christ.

The danger here is that if we delve too deeply into the more “meaty,” aspects of God's will and Word; we cannot completely “digest,” what we are receiving. This can lead to many misconceptions, deceptive perspectives, misunderstandings; and generally can be more obstructive to growth than beneficial. We will find a lot of things we just cannot understand, we will find what seem to be contradictions, we will have limited grasp of context and application of what we learn. In the end, it can cause us to doubt our own faith and standing in Christ as we find failure to grow and develop as we would expect.

The next stage of spiritual growth is the “toddler to adolescent,” stage; where we can “digest, semi-solids and 'light' solid,” food. This is when Psalms and Proverbs begin to take on a more living and understandable quality. These are concepts and principles that are more clear-cut and easily applied, helping us to mature our spiritual intellect and perspectives. This is also where we can delve into the gospels of Luke and John; which have a lot more symbolism and a more profound, more scholarly composition than the first two gospels. This is where we begin to absorb the books of Romans, James, books of Peter, books of John, Genesis, Exodus, and the like. These are 'semi-solid,' as they are more in depth and tend to have many peripheral concepts and applications than the first two gospels, Psalms, and Proverbs; yet are not too deep and complicated compared to the remaining books.

The next stage is of course, the “teenage,” years. This is when we are spiritually mature enough in our intellect and application to begin learning, understanding and applying many of the deeper principles and concepts from some of the more complicated books. Deuteronomy, Chronicles, Kings, Esther, Job, Ecclesiastes, the prophetical books are all good old Testament books for this stage. Acts, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Jude, Hebrews are worthy New testament books for this stage. All of these books take what was learned already into a deeper level of comprehension and begin to tie everything together. A lot of it is the application stage, and developing a better grasp of things like gifting, Christian responsibilities, discernment, etc.

Finally, once one is a mature spiritual “adult,” or elder; its time to delve into the pure beef jerky! Leviticus, Numbers, and Revelation should not really be attempted unless you are seriously seasoned and spiritually mature. Mostly because it will be impossible to get any benefit out of them at all. Unless one is mature, genealogies, temple specifications, legalistic precedent, and especially divine revelation; simply won't be digestible. I mean you are welcome to give it a shot, but I assure you...Leviticus and Numbers will bore you to tears and likely quench the fire of desire to study the Word if one tries to tackle them too early. These books are tough to “chew on,” tougher to “digest,” and have tendency to cause spiritual “indigestion,”!

This all being said; we do well to recognize where we are at spiritually and consume the correct food for our stage of development in order to nurture the proper consistent growth.

“ Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church......It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.” + 1 Corinthians 12: 4-7&11+

At some point in our walks, the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself in us by displaying gifts of the Spirit. This is not to be confused with spiritual fruit,(love, peace, grace, kindness, etc.,) and is not to be confused with spiritual acts of obedience, (tithing, consistent prayer, diligent bible study, fasting, church attendance, etc.) A person can display acts of obedience without having sincere fruit, putting on a pharisaic show of seeming maturity; but little more than a whitewashed deception. However, one cannot have true gifting of the Spirit without having true spiritual fruit, sincere obedience, and a true movement of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual gifts can be as simple as serving others passionately, teaching others wholeheartedly, encouraging others without restraint, sharing money and possessions at a sacrificial level, leading with perfect integrity, and extreme/unrelenting kindness, (Romans 12: 6-8). They can also be of a more miraculous and noticeable nature, such as: having/giving divine wisdom, special or intimate knowledge that a person could not possibly know, incredibly unwavering and unshakable faith/faithfulness, power to heal/perform miracles, power of prophecy, power of complete spiritual discernment, speaking/praying in unknown tongues, and power to interpret tongues, prophecy, visions, etc (1 Corinthians 12:1-11 &27-31).

At this point let us sidetrack to the gospels for further education about gifting; because there are parables that illustrate a principle that is not defined in these two passages. In MATT 25:14-30 we see the Parable of the 3 Servants, and then in LUKE 19: 11-27 we see the Parable of the 10 Servants. Now, to the naked eye one might think these are two different recollections of the same parable and concept, but this is not so. In the parable of the 10 servants, note that each of the servants receives the same amount; yet in the parable of the 3 servants the amounts are different, and is stated that “it was divided in proportion to their abilities.”

In Luke, the parable of the 10 servants; the concept is regarding the universal gift of salvation and freedom by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The idea is that we are all equally given the same measure of grace, and we are all equally given the opportunity to invest that gift given to the purpose of adding more souls to the kingdom. Some servants became dedicated completely and invested the gift given in a manner that resulted in a great return on the initial investment. Some did so-so and netted a decent return on the initial investment. However, some simply sit content in their salvation and never use it as an opportunity to bring other souls to a saving knowledge of Christ.

In Matthew, the parable of the 3 servants however; note that each servant received a different amount in proportion to each person's ability and potential for return. This my friends, is referring to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The concept Christ was illustrating is that some are given more gifts, and more powerful/rare gifts; while others are given one gift, or less apparently powerful gifts. For instance; one person may be gifted with the power to divinely heal, give prophecy, perform miracles, and deliver words of divine knowledge...while another may receive only the gift of encouragement or great kindness.

This is not to say that the one with less gifts, or less miraculous gifts is any less mature than the one with multiple and miraculous gifting; but simply that the Holy Spirit gives as He sees fit in proportion to a believer's ability. It does not make one believer superior to the other, it does not mean one is more mature then the other. Quite to the contrary; it means the one given more is expected much more. In essence, if we are given a greater investment, the Lord expects a much greater return on that investment then He will expect of the person with just one gift.

With all this being said; we must be aware that while the manifestation of these gifts prove maturity; the number or import of the gift has no bearing on the level of maturity. One with the gift of profound teaching may be at a greater state of spiritual maturity than one with multiple gifts like prophecy, healing, etc. Maturity again, is based more on the internal development of character nd principles than the outward manifestation of gifts.

“ And as Christ's soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in His army. Follow the Lord's rules for doing His work, just as an athlete either follows the rules, or is disqualified and wins no prize. “ +Ephesians 2:4&5+

At some point we must simply accept where we are in Christ, and if we are seasoned-if we are mature; we have to keep our perspective and direction focused on what we are destined to do in Christ. All the praying, studying, church attendance, and efforts put in to grow are worth little if we refuse to move forward into the grace given us. Spiritual fruit is a sign of possible maturity but it is not the only sign. Spiritual gifting is a sign of possible maturity,but it is not the only sign. Acts of obedience are a sign of spiritual maturity, but they are mot the only sign. It is only when we beginto have all of these things together reflecting in our lives are we truly mature.

May our Father in heaven grant us clarity and wisdom in this. Amen!

[markdohle]

Thank you for spending so much time preparing this.  A lot of wisdom here.

 

Peace
mark

[SHINY4UJESUS]

Well first all praise, honor and glory all God's alone. It is but one chapter of an upcoming e book resource soon to be published for the purpose of educating and equipping the body to facilitate the ministry Return to Grace. I am encouraged however by your confirmation. If you want I have many more prepared and can even email you the full e book prior to publish. Other specfic topics are bible study, faith, prayer, judgment, generous living, etc. If any of these are more tailored to your current stage in Christ you are welcome to them. Talents are best invested rather than buried in the earth eh.