Community Covenant Church - Sermons

October 21, 20

Scripture Reading

Hebrews 5:7 – 6:3

7During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

6:1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And God permitting, we will do so.

Message

“A New Season to Grow”

2 Peter 3:18

In C. S. Lewis's children's series, The Chronicles of Narnia, a young heroine named Lucy meets a majestic lion named Aslan in the enchanted land of Narnia. Making a return visit a year later, the children discover that everything has changed radically, and they quickly become lost. But after a series of dreadful events, Lucy finally spots Aslan in a forest clearing, rushes to him, throws her arms around his neck, and buries her face in his mane.

He touches her nose with his tongue. She gazed up into the large wise face.

"Welcome child," he said.

"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."

"That's because you're older, little one," answered he.

"Not because you are?"

"I'm not. But each year you grow, you'll find me bigger."

R. C. Sproul, "On Narnia Time," Men of Integrity (1-30-04)

C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia are some of my favorite books, and I love the imagery of this reunion between Lucy and Aslan. I also appreciate the correlation Lewis makes between Lucy’s growth and Aslan’s size; for how true it is that as we allow ourselves to grow spiritually God indeed becomes bigger… grander…deeper, wider…than He was when we were children.

It is interesting how Lewis phrases Aslan’s words. He does not say to Lucy “each year as you grow, you’ll find me bigger” but rather, “each year you grow, you'll find me bigger."

Now I might be seeing something here that Lewis did not intend, and yet how true it is that while we all physically grow up from childhood into adulthood, not everyone grows spiritually. But it is precisely that kind of growth; spiritual growth, that opens the door for us to see God more fully, to grasp His greatness and majesty, and to increasingly appreciate what it means that the Almighty and Uncontainable GOD revealed Himself to us in Jesus.

“…each year you grow, you'll find me bigger."

Spiritual growth, like physical growth requires nourishment. Physical growth is greatly influenced by the kinds and quantities of food we digest. Deficiencies can cause birth defects, blindness, and skin diseases to name only a few problems. Excesses cause joint deterioration, diabetes, bone pain and heart disease.

To physically grow-up healthy, one needs to establish a good balance, not only among nutrients, but between eating and exercising.

Now the same can be said about spiritual growth. Here too to grow-up healthy, one needs to establish a good balance, not only in what we take in, but also in how we exercise our spiritual lives. Elizabeth O’Conner emphasizes that point in her book Journey Inward, Journey Outward, declaring that there is disaster awaiting churches or individuals who fail to do both; to “take in” the Christian faith while also exercising that faith in a way beyond themselves.

During the summer we took time to explore inward growth. Then, just this past week we finished a series of messages about outward growth… of putting faith into action. But the truth is, healthy Christian growth occurs when both inward and outward growth are occurring.

Today I preach on this topic of growth because I am convinced that while we live in a era of deep spiritual hunger, I am not convinced that people are discovering the living water and the bread of life which satisfies our spiritual hunger; or, if they are eating that which is offered by our Lord, I am not convinced that they “balance” their intake with spiritual exercise. If this is true, then they will not, as Lucy did, encounter an increasingly awe-inspiring God when they lose their way in the world. Their “god” will simply be too small to support them in their troubles; not because God is small, but because they have never matured spiritually.

Over the next few weeks, before the Advent season comes upon us to begin telling the Story over again with the narrative of our Lord’s birth, we are going to explore aspects of our spiritual growth. Today I want to make the case for growth itself, but in the weeks ahead we will look at aspects of that balanced spiritual diet, and what we can do to continue our growth.

As I hope you grasped from our “Reflections before Worship” in your bulletins; growth is not an option for Christians, it is a necessity. This side of heaven we are all called to deliberately, thoughtfully and unceasingly grow to become more like Christ every day. The Apostle Peter exhorts his readers:

2 Peter 3:18

… grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the same context in which we live; in a world full of temptations which would turn us away from God and leave us spiritually malnourished, Peter tells his readers to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

But do we? Are we growing as Peter encourages us to do so? Or, do our life-choices, our calendars, our actions proclaim that “we’ve got enough grace, thank you”, or that “we’ve got enough knowledge of Jesus”; both attitudes leaving us content to spiritually retire and just coast toward heaven?

Ø But growth is not an option for Christians, it is a necessity. We are all called to deliberately, thoughtfully and unceasingly grow to become more like Christ every day.

Let me lead you in a quick self-assessment so that you can determine for yourself whether or not you are growing in Christ:

Now what is important in assessing one’s spiritual growth is that you take measurements about 6-12 months apart. Unlike children who want you to measure their height every week to see how much taller they’ve grown, spiritual growth is more like the growth of an oak tree; it is measured not by short-term events, but by long-term change.

Let me quickly ask you a number of the questions related to spiritual growth first asked by Donald Whitney about ten years ago in Discipleship Journal:

1. Are you more thirsty for God than you were 6-12 months ago?

One of the powerful signs of a growing Christian is that the more we know Jesus, the more we want to know Him. The Psalmist declares

Psalm 42:1

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.

Do you desire God as much as you desire water when you are parched?

The Apostle Paul writes to the Philippian Christians

Philippians 3:10

I want to know Christ…

Wouldn’t you think it enough that Paul had his Damascus Road experience; that he was blinded by a vision of the glorified Christ, that he heard Jesus’ voice, and eventually spent years learning about Jesus’ teachings from the Apostles and the earlier Christians?

It was not enough for this growing Christian. “I want to know Christ…”

In the Beatitudes Jesus teaches:

Matthew 5:3

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

You are growing spiritually if your life is guided by an unending list of what you have yet to learn about Christ and have yet to do for Christ.

If your spiritual journey is told completely in the past tense, you are not growing.

2. A second question to assess your spiritual growth over the past 6-12 months is, are you more and more loving?

1 John 4:7-8

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Remember, growth is a balance between intake and exercising. Notice, Peter did not write “Grow in the grace of Jesus”, nor did he write, “Grow in your knowledge of Jesus”. He wrote “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

As we grow in our knowledge of God as love, we are also to grow in our graciousness… our love in action toward the world.

In learning about Jesus, are you less selfish today than you were 6-12 months ago? As the result of your study of Jesus life and teachings, are you better able to give yourself away, and to love your enemies than you were 6-12 months ago? If so, then you are growing spiritually.

3. Are you more sensitive to and aware of God than ever before?

In Romans 6:11 Paul declares that because of the cross, by faith we are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. To be “alive to God” is to be growing in your awareness of God’s Holy Spirit at work in you.

- When you look at fall colors this year, are you more sensitive to the Spirit’s reminders of our Creator God than you were a year ago?

- When you find yourself in need of direction, do your sense the Spirit’s scriptural promptings more than you did 6 months ago?

- As you hear of needs within the church, are you better able to appreciate the equipping power of God in your life, than you were a year ago?

If so, than you are growing.

4. Are you governed more and more by God’s Word today than you were 6-12 months ago?

Next week we will explore God’s Word as a core element of our spiritual growth, but let me simply ask if you are daily reading more of the Bible than you used to. This is certainly a sign of a growing Christian. To read the Bible demonstrates a yearning to better know God’s will so that you can live in greater obedience and righteousness. We do so as a response to God’s gracious salvation in Jesus, and not because we can ever earn salvation by righteous living.

Can you point to specific ways the Word of God has guided your life over the past year? What does your Bible reading declare about your spiritual growth?

5. Are you concerned more and more with the physical and spiritual needs of others?

One of the major reasons I love the Evangelical Covenant Church is that from the beginning, over 125 years ago, there we a people called to share the Good News of Jesus while also heeding God’s call to show compassion and mercy to people in need. Whether we’re talking about our mission here in Hopkinton, or our shared missions outside this community (in New England with the Cromwell Children’s Home, or the Seafarer’s mission in Boston; or across the boarder into Mexico, or across oceans in 15 countries), spiritually-growing Christians have kept that balance between meeting the physical and spiritual needs of others.

Have you noticed some religious fellowships that are good at evangelism, but neglect people in need? Or, have you noticed some fellowships running impressive numbers of programs to meet the physical needs of people, but never get around to proclaiming God’s Kingdom and the Good News of our salvation in Jesus? For some fellowships, that is a deliberate decision, but for others it has changed over time without much conscious thought.

Remember the model Jesus gave us:

Matthew 9:35-36

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Growing Christians are concerned more and more with both the physical and spiritual needs of others. Are you growing in compassion for all the needs of others?

6. Are you more and more concerned with the Church and the Kingdom of God?

This is a wonderful question asked 10 years ago, but even more relevant today in a day when “the Church” is being questioned by younger generations seeking spiritual growth. If by “the Church” one means a religious organization filled with empty tradition, I too would call it into question as being a church. But if by “the Church” we define it as the fellowship of believers, as does the Covenant, I would point the younger generations to Ephesians 5:25 where we are reminded not only of a husbands need to sacrificially love his wife, but also we are reminded that “…..Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” Ephesians 5:25.

For us to grow more and more like Christ, we grow more and more in love with the Church… the very body of Christ at work in the world today. God is always bringing about reform in His church….. He is purging away all the human structures and traditions which are irrelevant and useless to His Kingdom. If we are growing in Christ, we encourage those changes even as we love the church and give ourselves for the sake of this God-ordained fellowship.

Citation: Donald S. Whitney, “10 Questions to ask to Make Sure You’re Still Growing”, Discipleship Journal, Jan/Feb 1997 (Issue 97) pp. 25-28.

These are just six of the 10 questions first asked by Donald Whitney, but I think your answers will point you to whether of not you are a growing Christian.

So how about it? How would you assess yourself?

Perhaps more important than where you are right now, where do you want to be 6 months.. a year from now?

Peter cries out, “be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:17b-18a

Healthy growth in the Christian faith requires a balance between growing in knowledge and growing in grace….the knowledge of Christ and the grace of Christ.

Are you growing today? Is God growing in size to meet the challenges of your life, or has your lack of growth cause the Almighty and Infinite God to appear inadequate for your needs?

It has been noted that certain sharks when captured and placed in smaller aquarium tanks will grow to be only 6 inches long when fully matured. But that same shark, if given the ocean in which to grow, will mature to a normal length of 8-feet. I am afraid that as I look into the world I am seeing too many cute 6-inch Christians swimming around in puddles, when they could easily make some changes to mature in the ocean’s depths.

Maybe something needs to happen in your life that will spur on your growth, so that you too will discover a God who is big enough to not only meet your needs, but to be the Savior of the world, King of Kings, Lord of Lords…. Creator and Ruler of the Universe.

Grow.

…. grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.