Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
2/15/98 pm
Evaluating Spiritual Growth
Reading – Selected Scriptures On Spiritual Growth
One of the early explorers to the North Pole charted his journey hourly to ensure that he stayed on course through the white wasteland. At one point a strange phenomenon began to occur. When he checked his position, his instruments indicated that even though he had been moving north, he was actually farther south than he had been an hour before. Regardless of the speed at which he walked toward the Pole, he continued to get farther from it. Finally he discovered that he had ventured onto an enormous iceberg that was drifting in one direction as he was walking in the other. You see, there is a world of difference between activity and progress. This is as true on our Christian’s journey toward heaven as it is on a North Pole expedition.
In our reading tonight we find that the Christian life is meant to be one of growth and progress.
- We are to become mature, attaining the whole measure of becoming like Jesus.
- We are to grow up into Him who is the head of the church.
- We are to leave the elementary teaching and go on to maturity.
- We are to grow up unto our salvation.
- We are to grow in grace and knowledge.
It’s often hard to recognize spiritual advance over a week’s time or maybe even a month’s time. Trying to determine the progress of a soul is like looking at the growth of an oak. We can’t actually see it growing at the moment, but we can compare it to where it was some time ago and see that there has indeed been growth. How can we know that we are we more like Jesus than we were a year ago at this same time? How do we know that we are making real progress and not merely deceiving ourselves with activity?
These ten questions can help us discern whether or not we are maturing spiritually.
Let’s use them to evaluate our spiritual Growth
FIRST, ARE WE MORE THIRSTY FOR GOD THAN EVER BEFORE?
Psalm. 42.1 says, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” Have we been thirsting for God like that? Is He our passion? Here it is church, our soul-thirst is a sign of our soul-growth. Do we yearn to know Jesus Christ more and more intimately?
You see, in spite of all of his maturity in Christ, in spite of all he had seen and experienced, the Apostle Paul declared late in his spiritual walk, I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.... I want to share in His suffering... I want to become more like Him. What was he talking about? Didn’t he already know Jesus better than most of us ever will?... Of course he did. But the more he knew Jesus, the more he wanted to know Him. The more Paul progressed spiritually, the more thirsty for God he became.
Question... Are we thirsty for the Lord? Like a deer thirsting for water are we thirsting to be filled and saturated with God? That’s a sign of someone who’s growing spiritually.
ARE WE MORE AND MORE LOVING?
The mark of a Christian is an unconditional love for others. Listen to these scriptures:
- As I have loved you, you should love one another.
- If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
- Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God.
- The world will know you are my disciple when you love the brethren.
Question!... Can we recall recent instances of Christ-like love in our lives? Have there been occasions when we’ve sacrificed our own:
- Interests,
- Preferences,
- Plans,
- Or rights for the interests, preferences, plans and rights of others? These are mileposts on the journey to maturity. Show me someone who is always complaining about others and I’ll show you an individual who is stalled in selfishness and is stuck spiritually.
ARE WE MORE SENSITIVE TO AND AWARE OF GOD THAN EVER BEFORE?
In Romans 6.11, Paul writes, Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. There was a time in our lives when we were not even aware of God, much less sensitive to His will. But now, we have been born again of water and the Spirit. We have crucified the old man of sin in the act of New Testament baptism. We have been raised to walk in a newness of life. Now we are aware of God in every facet of our lives.
- We understand that it is in Him that we live, move and have our being.
- We understand that He lives in us by the Spirit He gave us.
- We understand that He is the one who has set the limits of our existence.
- We understand that He empowers us to accomplish the task assigned us.
- We understand that He will not allow us to be tempted and tried beyond what we are able to withstand, but will with every temptation provide a way of escape.
- We understand that He will not forsake us or leave us to be alone.
- We understand that He will work all things out to our benefit.
Mature Christians find spiritual peace and pleasure in these promises. As we worship and fellowship tonight, we are being bombarded by:
- Radio and television signals,
- Cellular phone conversations,
- Satellite transmissions
- And microwave signals.
But of course, we are entirely unaware of them, for we aren’t built to receive them. But once we are made alive to God, we are cognizant of God’s presence everywhere. Indeed!... Paul says, He is not far from any one of us.
WHEN WE ARE ALIVE TO GOD, WE ARE NOT ONLY SENSITIVE TO HIM, WE SEE HIM EVERYWHERE IN ALL THINGS.
- In nature’s sweet song.
- In the church,
- In our family,
- We see Him providentially in our trials and struggles.
The poet has said it so well in the song we sometimes sing.
“Have you ever stood at the ocean with the white foam at your feet;
Felt the endless thundering motion,
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.
Have you ever stood at the sunset with the sky mellowing red;
Seen the clouds suspended like feathers,
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.
Have you ever stood at the cross with the man hanging in pain;
Seen the look of love in His eyes,
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.
Have you ever stood in the family with the Lord there in your midst;
Seen the face of Christ on you brother,
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.
Listen to me church, if we find ourselves seeing God:
- In the ocean waves,
- In the sunset,
- In the warble of the wren,
- In the bloom of a flower,
- In the nearness of a friend,
- In the loss of a loved one,
- And on the face of our brother, then chances are we are growing spiritually
ARE WE WILLING TO BE GOVERNED MORE AND MORE BY GOD’S WORD?
Before we were made alive to God, we were controlled mostly by what we wanted. But after we become alive to Him, we have a new desire to be governed by His will. In other words, the MATURE Christian has a compulsion to do what God wants him to do. And we know what God wants us to do from studying Scripture.
A classic text on the sufficiency of Scripture for the Christian is Second Timothy 3.16 & 17. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Words like;
- Teaching,
- Rebuking,
- Correcting,
- And training
Are all growth related words.
When we are growing as a child of God, we can regularly point to:
- How the Word of God has been teaching us
- How it has rebuked us for our sins and reproved us,
- How it has shown us the way to correct the mistakes in our lives.
- How the Bible has been training us to live in new ways that God says are right.
Here it is church, if we can point to specific ways the Word of God has changed our lives during the past few months... WE ARE GROWING!
ARE WE CONCERNED MORE AND MORE WITH THE PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF OTHERS?
In Luke. 9.11 Jesus encounters a crowd of people, and we’re told, He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. This was typical of Jesus.
- He was concerned primarily with their spiritual needs.
- But He cared deeply about their physical needs, also.
The more we become like Jesus the more concerned we will be about the physical and spiritual needs of others.
Let me give you something to think about. Have you noticed this, the longer a person is a Christian, the less evangelistic he tends to be. This is obviously not a mark of spiritual growth, but of spiritual stagnation.
- We must always fight what I call evangelism erosion.
- We must always be ready to give an answer for the faith we espouse.
- We must always be ready to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered.
Church, when someone comes to us asking for physical help, do we immediately start thinking of reasons why we can’t or should not help them, or are we becoming more sensitive their needs? A sure sign of Christian maturity is seeing needs we’ve never seen before, and making arrangements to meet those needs -- Be they physical or spiritual
ARE WE MORE AND MORE CONCERNED WITH THE CHURCH?
Ephesians 5.25 reads, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Yes, husbands are to love their wives. But this verse also teaches us that we are to love the church. Folk, the more we become like Jesus, the more we will love His Church. We’ll be concerned about expressing our love by our serving in His Kingdom. Christians who isolate them selves from the Church aren’t growing stronger by their isolation. They are like a body part that’s separated from the body. When I broke my wrist, my arm was in a cast for several months. I didn’t use it much. When the cast was removed, my arm was ALMOST useless. WHY?... Because it had not participated in life’s activities with the rest of my body.
In the same way, the more we separate ourselves from participating in the life of the Body of Christ, the church, the less we will grow. Those of us who choose just to come occupy a pew once, twice or three times a week, but never get involved in ministry cannot expect to grow.
ARE THE DISCIPLINES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE MORE AND MORE IMPORTANT TO US?
Growth in godliness is ultimately a gift from God. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing for us to do. Paul tells us we have a role to play also. First Timothy 4.7 says, train yourself to be godly. The NASV reads, discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness.
Peter tells us how to train ourselves in godliness, Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
As we engage in the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life, the Holy Spirit molds us more and more into the character of the Master. That’s Christian Growth!... That’s Spiritual Maturity!
ARE WE MORE AND MORE AWARE OF OUR SINS?
Late in his life, when he was about as mature as a Christian gets, the Apostle Paul described himself as the worst sinner in the world... The chief of sinners. How could he say that, since he was probably more like Jesus than anyone we’ve ever met? Because the closer we get to Jesus, the more aware we become of our sins and how unlike Him we really are. The more we grow as a Christian, the less we will sin. But it often seems as though we sin more, because our sensitivity to sin is so much greater.
ARE WE MORE AND MORE WILLING TO FORGIVE OTHERS?
Ephesians 4.32 exhorts us to forgive each other just as, in Christ, God forgave you. Forgiveness is one of the hardest and most unnatural things we could be asked to do. Forgiveness is a work, a discipline. But the more we become like Jesus, who forgave even those who nailed Him to the cross, the more we will be willing to forgive ANYONE OF ANYTHING.
- Are we still bitter at someone we were bitter toward six months ago? If so, then regardless of all the Christian activities we may be involved in, we have deceived ourselves about having made any real spiritual progress during that time.
- Have we forgiven any longtime hurts during the past few months? If so, then we have made a measurable advance in spiritual maturity.
ARE WE THINKING MORE AND MORE ABOUT HEAVEN.
Paul wrote to the Philippian church saying, I am torn between two options:
- I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
- Or I could remain here in body and serve the church
The more Paul became like Christ, the more he wanted to depart and be with Christ. Do we think like this very often? One of the signs of spiritual maturity is a desire to be where He is.
THREE THINGS IN CLOSING ABOUT SPEED AND DIRECTION
First, spiritual growth occurs intentionally, not accidentally. We don’t just drift closer to Jesus... In fact drifting implies moving away from maturity.
Secondly, activity alone does not determine growth. Sometimes despite our activity, we can be moving away from Christ-likeness. Direction is more important than activity.
Thirdly, regardless of the measure of our maturity, what is past is past. We can start fresh today... Tonight... Right now! What would God have you to do?
Some of you need to become a child of God tonight by faith, repentance
and baptism.
Some of us need to start fresh right now, becoming what God calls us to be.
Come to Jesus now!
