September 20 Message: "Changing and Growing"

Main Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17

Last Sunday’s message was centered on changing and growing, and why we must experience both when we become Christians.

When we accept Christ, we become a new person. That does not mean we completely change overnight. The change is a process. In the natural world, humans do not come here as fully grown and fully mature. We come as helpless babies. We start out drinking milk, and later take on food with more substance. We continue to learn and grow until we become adults (hopefully, we continue to learn even after we are grown). The same is true of us spiritually. We start out learning more about God, His Will and His Ways. We learn to pray. We spend time with like-minded Christians. The Bible starts to make sense. Life starts to make sense. We see the beauty of God and His handiwork in this world, even in the midst of misery and pain. We trust what God is doing with and in us, and we gain godly confidence. We are growing up in the Lord.

We are a new creation when we accept Christ into our lives. Growth is the vehicle of that change.

One thing to remember about spiritual growth is that, unlike physical growth, spiritual growth is a choice. In the physical world, we do not make the decision if we will or will not grow. We don’t decide how tall we will grow, or how fast we will grow. That is determined by our physiology and our DNA. But we can choose to grow, or not to grow spiritually. Unfortunately, there are many Christians who choose to remain as spiritual infants. They may initially start to grow, but somewhere along the way, they choose to stop. But, when things stop growing, they live for a while, but eventually they die and start to decay.

How do you know when you’re growing spiritually? To answer that question, you must continually self-assess – to measure yourself. There are two very effective ways to do that. The first is to measure yourself against yourself. If you’ve been a Christian for a while, there should be a change. Are you the same person you were before you accepted Christ? Are you still mean-spirited and quick tempered? Do you still curse? Do you flip people off on the freeway, with a "I Love Jesus" sticker on your bumper? If someone is hurting or in need, do you simply not care, which is the same way you used to feel? Are you still focused on money and material things? Do you still cheat on your taxes, or do you still purchase items that you know are stolen? Do you still steal? Do you still cheat on your spouse, or treat your children badly? Are you still disobedient to your parents or belligerent with your boss at work? Are you disrespectful to your elders? If any of these examples describe the way you used to be – and also describe who you are today, it doesn’t appear you’re growing much, if at all.

The second, and even more important way we self-assess is by looking at the standards given to us in the Word of God. There are many. One good place to look is Galatians. Galatians 5:22-23 gives us a listing of those qualities that we find in Christians who are growing in the Lord. Likewise, Galatians 5:19-21 gives us a listing of character traits and actions that we find in those who are definitely not growing in the Lord. Read and assess. And be honest with yourself.

One thing to remember – when you self-assess, you’re doing just that. You’re looking at yourself. You are not comparing yourself to someone else (“well, at least I’m not as bad as him”)... You’re not going to grow by doing that. That’s like a person who committed a murder admitting he did it, but saying at least he’s not as bad as the other guy who killed two people. When we stand before God, He will not ask us about what the other guy did. We have to talk to God about our own lives and our own actions.

God does not leave us to grow alone. He is there to help us every step of the way. He is the Divine Gardener, who waters us, fertilizes us, and also prunes us. Water represents those things that are essential to our spiritual growth: Bible study, hearing the Word of God, prayer, fellowship with other Christians. The fertilizer represents those things that help promote growth — primarily Christian activities that nurture us. And the pruning represents the cutting away of those things that hinder our growth. This is usually the part we don’t like, but it is necessary for us to grow into who He created us to be. He will cut away bad attitudes, bad habits, even bad people – anything that come between us and Him. We have to accept God’s pruning; we must accept what we don’t like, as well as what we like. If it is from God, it is only for our good.

Matthew 13:4-8, as well as John 15:1-8 are good scriptures to read to get a better understanding of God’s desire for us in this area.

Remember, spiritual growth is a choice. What choice have you made today?

Be blessed …HGCF