Struggling in Spiritual Growth

What is spiritual growth?  We had a great class discussion, and here is a summary of that time.

Spiritual growth is a lifelong battle filled with amazing blessings and various challenges.  To grow, the believer needs to persevere in the Lord.  Spiritual growth will be marked by a growing understanding of God, his holiness, my sinfulness, and God's provision. 

Two of the Bible passages related to this topic are Philippians 1:3 - 26 and 3.

First, look at 1:3 - 26.  It is filled with prayer (v. 4, 9, 19), God's faithfulness (v. 6) and testimony of God's goodness (12 - 14).  There are no strong commands, but there are descriptions of Christian life that flow from who God is and what He is doing.

Then, check out chapter 3.  The first two verses are filled with commands.  Rejoice in the Lord (v. 1).  "Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate" (v. 2).  Be joyful because of who you are in Christ.  Be aware of those who are trying to lead you away from Jesus Christ and the Gospel.  Paul then goes on to say that he has done many things that should give him confidence, but they give him nothing.  The essential, most important thing is knowing Christ Jesus and being in Him.  This chapter continues with Paul writing about pressing on (12), straining forward (13), and pressing on (14) - a lot of struggle-filled language.  

Spiritual growth comes from God, and we are involved in this process.  Another way to think of spiritual growth is progressive sanctification.

Progressive sanctification is the supernatural process accomplished through the Father (1 Thess. 5:23), the Son (Eph. 5:26) and the Holy Spirit (2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2) and in cooperation with man (Romans 8; Galatians 5; Philippians 2:12-13; 1 Cor. 15:10). Progressive sanctification is an ongoing process (Phil. 1:6) towards the goal of Christ-likeness (Rom. 8:29). 

 Here is the definition of sanctification in my ordination paper.

Sanctification is God's ongoing work in the believer's life, whereby the Spirit of God, in cooperation with the believer, brings about holiness in the believer's character, conversation, and conduct.  Romans 15:16 and 1 Corinthians 6:11 show that the Holy Spirit is involved in sanctification.  In Romans 8, Paul writes about life through the Spirit.  A believer is set free from the law of sin and death because of the Spirit (v. 2).  The Holy Spirit enables us to fulfill God’s law (v. 4).  “The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” (v. 6).  A believer is saved by the Holy Spirit and needs to rely upon the Holy Spirit to live out the Christian life (Galatians 3:3). 

The reality is spiritual growth is a struggle for every believer.  It is a fight against sin and selfishness.

Another specific area that many, if not most, Christians struggle with is evangelism.  This week, we introduced evangelism with a homework assignment.  Find an evangelism technique that uses each of these numbers 10, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. 

In the next class, October 18, we will
look at 7 different evangelism techniques,
continue with the struggles & spiritual growth & evangelism with more discussion and specific prayer,
and look at the meaning of Colossians 2:6, 7.