Christian Growth Is Not an Event: Eight Steps up the Ladder

Sermon outline

Christian growth is a process, not an event: you are complete in Christ, but you grow in stages by working at it, being stretched, staying teachable, focused and accountable, practising what you learn and living thankful.

1. Rooted, built up and established as you have been taught

   You walk in Christ the way you received Him, and you become rooted, built up and established in the faith through spiritual instruction, so there is a need for Christian teaching. Paul adds 'abounding with thanksgiving': walking in appreciation is a key for a child of God. It is a privilege to be in the church and to carry God's presence, because when you share the gospel Christ is speaking and you are injecting life into people.

   Illustration: People think the pastor must be with them all the time. As long as someone is carrying you in his heart and praying for your growth, he is with you in spirit.

   “You get established in the faith by teaching of God's word.”

   • Colossians 2:1-7

2. Word ruled, not sense ruled: you are complete in Him

   Beware of philosophy and the traditions of men. A Christian takes his teaching about life from the Word, not from grandparents or parents, and raises the Word above every philosophy instead of pulling it down to their level. The world says revenge; you respond as the Word says. You are complete in Christ, who is the head, not the tail, of all principality and power. He spoiled them and made an open show of them, and has given you the power of attorney over those forces, so you lack nothing.

   Illustration: Someone said that Christ is the author of the Bible, and He is the only author who walks with the reader.

   “You are word ruled. They are sense realm ruled.”

   • Colossians 2:8-10
   • 2 Corinthians 5:20
   • Colossians 2:15
   • Matthew 16:19

3. Growth is a process, and you have an assignment: fishers of men

   Reading from his partnership letter, he says growth comes in stages, the way a plant does not appear fully grown the moment soil, water and sunshine meet. God invested His presence in you so that you would be effective: light, salt and a fisher of men. That also answers why some people leave the church. The net brings in every kind of fish, and in time what is in the heart shows, usually an unwillingness to submit to instruction. Take advice even when you do not yet agree with it, because we all stand at different levels on the mountain.

   Illustration: He went fishing at the harbour with a man for three hours in the hot sun, and all they landed was a little toby fish. When the man tickled it with a metal rod it blew up like a tennis ball.

   “Christian growth is not an event. It's a process.”

   • Matthew 5:13-14
   • Matthew 4:19
   • Matthew 13:47-48
   • Romans 13:1
   • Hebrews 13:17

4. Elisha refused to be talked out of his destiny

   Three times Elijah told Elisha to stay behind, and each time he answered, 'I will not leave thee.' Along the way the sons of the prophets, men of God themselves, kept speaking into his life to turn him back, and he told them to hold their peace. His perseverance paid off: he was asked what he wanted, he took up the mantle and parted the Jordan, and the same prophets bowed before him. There are too many voices today. Where God is taking you is not where He is taking them.

   Illustration: The voices that say, 'You're going to that church? That born-again thing? Speaking in other tongues is of the devil.' One day the same people will come and ask what made you successful.

   “You must refuse to listen to others because where God is taking you is not where God is taking them.”

   • 2 Kings 2:1-15
   • 1 Kings 19:19-21

5. 1. Labour

   For growth to happen someone must work, and you have to work on your own growth instead of leaving it to others. Do not miss church, the prayer meeting, home cell, Bible study or the leaders' programme. It will cost time and money for books and devotionals. Do not go by your feelings; he too sometimes has to motivate himself to come. And while you labour on yourself, labour to win souls.

   Illustration: A copy of the Rhapsody of Realities devotional costs about the same as an ice cream.

   “You ought to invest in your own spiritual growth.”

   • Psalm 122:1
   • Proverbs 11:30

6. 2. Stretching

   Growth means stretching, and stretching gets uncomfortable. Most people then look for the door. Instruction you do not like is stretching you to your next level, so make up your mind to push through and refuse to be mediocre.

   “That's a good place to be. You are stretching for growth.”

7. 3. Learning

   Knowledge must be consumed, and you must be teachable as well as hungry. Some people have an opinion about how to run a church or a business they have never run. He asks men of God he respects to speak into his life, even when what he hears is not pleasant. Maturity also means studying to be quiet and minding your own business: do not pry into where people work and what they earn, respect their boundaries, and do not dominate the home cell. Study the Word, and get books and tapes.

   Illustration: An older Christian nagged him for about a week with advice on what he should be doing. At the table he finally stood up and said, 'I'll give you money. Why don't you start your own church?' The man said he was not called to that.

   “Someone may just know a little bit more than you.”

   • 1 Thessalonians 4:11
   • 2 Timothy 2:15

8. 4. Focus

   Most people make no headway because they cannot keep focus. Refuse to drift and refuse to be distracted: do not run from convention to convention and meeting to meeting, because you have been given a diet and a grazing field, and food meant for others may stunt your growth. Family, people and things all fight for your attention, and the cell phone most of all.

   Illustration: A call that goes on for twenty or thirty minutes and leaves you with nothing but a hot ear. He leaves his own phone behind when he comes to church, and tells them to switch off in the house of God and during family time.

   “The name of the game is focus, focus, focus.”

9. 5. Be accountable

   Every great leader has checks and balances, and your growth accelerates when someone is watching over it. He has deliberately placed himself under other men of God to whom he answers, and he loves it because it keeps him straight. So when the pastor phones to say he missed you, do not be arrogant or lie; he is phoning to inspire and check on you, not to scold.

   Illustration: 'If I'm offline, I know I'll get a phone call.'

   “Accountability is not a weakness. It's actually a strength.”

10. 6. Building on the past

    Growth always uses past truths and lessons, so build on what has been placed in your life. Do not be born again today and want to be an evangelist or pastor in two months: you need to be instructed and discipled. And if the very people who led you to the Lord fall, do not despise them. Pray for them and carry on.

    “Growth always uses past truths and lessons in life.”

11. 7. Application

    Whatever you learn, practise it. Growth becomes solid only when you do what you know.

    “Growth solidifies when you practice what you know.”

12. 8. Gratitude

    Learn to give joyful thanks for past blessings. Be thankful for your church and for a spiritual father who instructs you, as Paul was to Timothy, and for the ushers, security and car guards who serve you. Stop cursing the job or business you once prayed for. Thank God for bread, lights, a car, your spouse and children. Serve Him on fire when everything is against you, not only when you want something, because a heart of appreciation receives more.

    Illustration: The shop shelf has brown, white, health, seed and whole wheat bread, while older people remember queuing for rationed bread in wartime. When the lights at his home were off for two or three days and they cooked on a gas stove by torch and candle, he told his wife how thankful he was for lights.

    “When you have a heart of appreciation, God will give you more.”

    • 1 Corinthians 4:15
    • 1 Timothy 1:2