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.

 

Don't Make Disciples

This post will be updated on Thursday, October 15.  Be sure to check back for more ministry and discipleship helps.

Today I have the privilege of presenting a workshop at the Bridge Fellowship's annual conference.  The workshop is titled "Why Churches Don't Disciple."

On September 13, Pastor Brett preached a Vision Message for Trinity Baptist Church. 

In August, he shared his excitement about the planning process and about sharing the message.  Leading up to the message, some people were speculating what this exciting vision message would be.  Were we beginning a building program, changing our name, starting a new program, or making a staff change?  

One of the message's opening points was that we weren't going to sit back and watch something happen.  This vision is something we all are going to need to engage in.   You can watch the sermon HERE.

Here is the Biblical basis of the vision and the message.

• Mission of the Church - Matthew 28:19 -20 - To exalt Christ and make disciples.
• Pattern of the Church - Acts 2:42 - From a lecture you attend to a body you belong to.
• Schedule of the Church - Hebrews 10:24 - 25 - From an hour to fill to the goal of discipleship.

Remember the schedule serves the pattern, and the pattern serves the mission.

With all of this in mind, what is essential for discipleship?  The Holy Spirit using these four things is absolutely necessary.

1. Prayer
2. The Bible
3. Learning
4. Community

Seven reasons churches don’t disciple.  The quotes under each point are from the articles unless otherwise noted.

The first five reasons come from a 9Marks article series.

• Because they preach cheap grace (9Marks article).

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession.  Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 43 - 44).   

 If salvation is reduced to merely saying a prayer, discipleship is unnecessary.  However, if a believer's life is marked by a dependence upon God, we will always strive to depend on God more and more.

• Because they are seeker-sensitive but believer-insensitive (9Marks article).

Churches can become so focused on doing whatever it takes to get those who are not part of the church to come to church that they lose their zeal for disciple-making.  "We are desperate for people to enter, and desperate for them to stay."

• Because they are less converted (9Marks article).

"In some large, well-known evangelical churches, you can become a member simply by ticking a box on a welcome card.  There is little or no attempt to examine the person spiritually to try to ascertain that they are truly followers of Christ." 

Meaningful membership is very important.  The obvious first place to teach about meaningful membership is in the new members class.  Another, less obvious place to teach about it is anytime you can take to remind the whole church what it is: services when new members are voted in, and teaching times when members and others can be reminded of what it is and ask questions about how it works.  Trinity has offered classes like "We are the Church,"  and "Be a Disciple and Make Disciples" to remind the church who we are and what we do. 

• Because they are program-dependent (9Marks article)

"A program - however biblically faithful - is no substitute for ongoing, personal discipling."   

"Programs can imply that discipleship is a matter of following the correct 'process' rather than cultivating the correct character."

• Because they are too often ashamed of the gospel and therefore assume the gospel (9Marks article)

"'Growth without the regular, faithful teaching of the gospel is growth without depth.  If we want depth as well as breadth, there's no substitute for gospel-saturated preaching and conversation.'"

 "The deep, wide discipleship we long for in our churches will only come when we stop assuming the gospel, and actually proclaim it."

In our discipleship, we can become afraid to call out sin and call people to repentance.  I do believe in the assurance of salvation.  I also believe that if someone shows no fruit of salvation, we should ask tough questions.  

• Because they don't pray.

In The Praying Church, Paul Miller shares some challenging prayer ideas.  One of the book's guiding principles is "Prayer is not one more activity of the church - it lies at the heart of all the church's ministry." (26) 

One question asked during the workshop was, "How can pastors help their church pray corporately?"  The easy but hard question is to have a church prayer meeting.  Whether your church has a prayer meeting or not, another way to help your church pray together is to share a weekly or monthly prayer theme.   More on this coming in a post later this week.

• Because they promote "perfection," not sanctification.

Discipleship often doesn't happen because church members want to appear perfect rather than live out sanctification, sinners growing into the image of Christ through dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Some Resources:

• 9Marks Discipleship Journal 
• Deep Discipleship by J.T. English
• Discipling by Mark Dever