How to Grow as a Christian

Guest (Male): God has given you spiritual gifts that make a significant difference in your life for him. So how do we grow spiritually? This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, how to grow as a Christian. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: One of the most amazing visits I've ever experienced is in Sequoia National Forest in California. When I stood at the base of the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world, I was absolutely amazed at its size. The General Sherman is not only the largest tree in the world, it's the largest single living thing on planet Earth. Another type of sequoia in the northern part of the state, the Coast Redwood, actually grows taller than the General Sherman and its neighbors here in the park. The Mendocino Tree in the Northern Redwoods is currently the world's tallest tree at over 367 feet tall. The General Sherman here is just under 275 feet tall, but by volume, it's the world's largest. At its base, this tree is over 100 feet in circumference and 30 feet in diameter. As I try to take in with my eyes the stupendous size of the tree, the General Sherman, when I stood there, I was completely amazed as I realized that it began from a sequoia seed, very small, that I could hold in the palm of my hand, about the size of an oatmeal flake. The question that arises in my mind is this: How did such a tiny seed grow into such a colossal tree? In a moment, I'm going to share with you how the seed of the word of God enables us to grow as well. But let's go back to the General Sherman Tree. Named for William Sherman, the famous Union Army General during the Civil War, the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is not the world's tallest or the world's oldest, but it is the world's largest. It is amazing when you think about this tree and its size. It's incredible. There is also a tree called the Methuselah Tree. That's, of course, named for Methuselah in the Bible, who lived to be 969 years. It's the oldest tree in the world, a bristlecone pine. It's located in the White Mountains of California, north of Death Valley. The Methuselah Tree, get this, is nearly 4,800 years old. By contrast, tree ring measurements of the General Sherman show it to be about 2,100 to 2,200 years old. According to Dr. Nate Stephenson of the US Geological Survey, the General Sherman isn't so large because it's exceptionally old, but because it's growing so fast. Each year, it adds enough wood to make a tree one foot in diameter and more than 100 feet tall. Most of the largest sequoias are really just middle-aged, Dr. Stephenson said, but they're still growing like teenagers at a fast and furious rate. How did the General Sherman grow to be so large? Why does it grow so fast? I'm going to tell you that a little later. But I want to compare the growth of the General Sherman Tree to our spiritual walk with God because today my message is how to grow as a Christian. Since God wants each of us to grow in our spiritual walk, he shares the secrets of Christian growth in his two books: the Bible and the book of nature. He is the author of both. In Colossians chapter 1, verse 6, I read, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." In Ephesians 4:15, the Apostle Paul urged Christians to grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ. In God's other book of nature, what better example of growth can be found than a tree that grew from a tiny seed to become the world's largest living thing? If the General Sherman Tree could talk, what could it tell us about how and why it grew? Undoubtedly, it would tell us that like all plant life, it relies first of all on a process scientists call photosynthesis, which is a complex interplay of sunlight, water, air, and the green chlorophyll of the plant that produces fuel or food needed for growth. The General Sherman would tell us that it also needs the nutrient-rich soil into which its extensive root system is anchored. It would tell us that it needs just the right climate to support its growth. To grow stronger as well as larger, it needs to resist the seasonal winds, exercise, if you will. Animal life isn't the same as plant life. People aren't sequoias. But many of the things that help the General Sherman Tree to grow are the very things that help humans to grow. We need sunlight, air, water, food, and an environment that supports life and growth. As God created us, we need the same things for spiritual growth as we do for physical growth. Let's change our focus for a moment now from seeds and trees to people. One of life's happiest miracles is the birth of a new human life. A tiny newborn enchants us and enthralls us. We delight in the infant's every physical detail, its very behavior. Most of them, anyway. A newborn is utterly dependent and vulnerable and so needy. To live and to grow, it needs air, water, food, movement, or exercise, and lots of tender loving care. It can't walk, it can't talk, it can't feed itself. Sometimes it can't even focus its eyes very well. But we have expectations of that little person. A few years later, when it's time for the first grade, we'd be unhappy and alarmed if the child still couldn't walk, talk, or feed itself. No matter how much we might enjoy an infant's tiny size, we don't want it to stay that size year after year. We expect growth. We look for it. We delight in it as we mark a child's height on the doorframe. We celebrate it as a child grows larger and taller and stronger and becomes ever more independent and capable and self-sufficient. God wants each of us who have chosen to be his followers to grow too. Let's take a moment now to consider what it takes for a Christian to grow. You know, some people in their Christian life have been on a plateau for year after year. Some grow very little, and some aren't growing at all, and some are actually going backwards. How do you grow as a Christian? First, though it may seem too obvious, before a Christian can grow, he or she must first be born. The Jewish ruler Nicodemus came one night to see Jesus, about whom he'd heard so much. Nicodemus was curious to know how Jesus performed his miracles. But Jesus refused to satisfy his curiosity. Instead, he moved right to the heart of what Nicodemus really needed. "Unless one is born again," Jesus told Nicodemus, as recorded in John 3, verse 3, "he cannot see the kingdom of God." It's futile to try living the Christian life, futile trying to grow without first being born. Yes, we're born once when we come forth into the world as infants. But Jesus said that just as birth begins our physical life, it also begins our spiritual life. Nicodemus had been born once, but Jesus told him he needed to be born again, a second time. The new birth, just like our first birth, is a gift and miracle of God. It happens when we invite Jesus to come into our hearts and lives, bring us to spiritual life, and make us new inside. Once we're born again, we aren't instantly mature Christians, we're just infants. Many have been Christians for many years, and they forget about the fact that there are still some Christians that are newborn, and they judge them harshly. They expect mature Christian behavior from spiritual newborns. It takes time to grow, and just as babies are immature, noisy, and sometimes messy, so too brand-new Christians can mess up and behave immaturely as they grow in their spiritual understanding and experience. We Christians of many years need to be patient with their mistakes and guide them as they grow. Somebody may be wondering at this point, "I would like to experience this new birth. I'd like to experience this new relationship with Christ. I'd like to be born again, but I don't know how." Jesus says this in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 and onward, "Come unto me, all you that are burdened and heavy-laden, and I'll give you rest." Being born again is not a complicated process. It simply means that we acknowledge that we cannot save ourselves, that Jesus Christ can save us, and we make a conscious choice to come. And we say, "Jesus, I want to come to you. I sense your Holy Spirit drawing me. I sense your Holy Spirit guiding me. I sense you, Lord, taking the initiative to save me. But Lord, I come. I open my heart to you, I open my mind to you. Lord, I come." Once we do that, Jesus divinely works within us through his Holy Spirit to change and transform our lives. Yes, we're born once we come forth into the world as infants, but Jesus said that just as birth begins our physical life, it also begins our spiritual life. Nicodemus had been born once, but now, when he comes to Jesus, he's born again. The new birth, just like our first birth, is a gift and miracle of God. It happens when we invite Jesus to come into our hearts and lives, bring us to spiritual life, and make us whole. Once we're born again, we aren't instantly mature Christians, we're just infants. Many who've been Christians for many years forget this about newborn Christians. After the new birth, growth begins and the Christian life never stops. The rate of growth may vary. Christians may have times of fast or slow growth, just as any growing child or youth. Whereas we reach spiritual maturity at adulthood, as Christians, we should be like the General Sherman and never stop growing. In the Christian life, the things we need to grow in the beginning are the same things we need to grow along the way. Let's take a look at some of those things.
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Mark Finley: To grow as a Christian, we need air. And the air a Christian breathes is prayer. Prayer doesn't need to be complicated. It doesn't need to be some kind of difficult spiritual obligation. Prayer is a personal one-on-one conversation. It's talking with God as a friend and listening for his voice in return. God loves us, friends. He wants to be involved in our lives. He's already our creator, the one who sustains our life, but he wants to be our friend, our daily companion, our helper. For any of our human relationships to live and grow, communication is an absolute necessity. No one builds a friendship or falls in love without abundant communication. If you've ever been in love, you don't find communicating a burden or a duty. It's an effortless pleasure. God wants to build that same kind of love relationship with each of us. He wants us to open our hearts and lives to him. He wants us to bring to him not just our needs, but our fears and worries, our hopes, our joys, large and small. In Philippians chapter 4, verse 6, I read, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God." Just as a couple in love share both the big and little things with each other, God wants to hear from us all through each day about what's going on around us and inside of us and what's happening in our lives. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 17, we read that we are invited to pray without ceasing. What does that mean? It means to be in an attitude of prayer and to share with God our concerns, our joys, our sorrows, our wonderfully positive experiences, and some of our negative experiences throughout the day. That doesn't mean, of course, that we talk nonstop to God all day. It means simply that we stay aware of God's presence, share with him our thanks, our praise, our requests, and our concerns throughout the day. In Ephesians 6:18, I read in the New International Version of the Bible, "Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." It's true that many people think of prayer as primarily asking God for things. God certainly invites us to do just that. Matthew 7, verse 7, we read, God says to us, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it will be opened unto you." But as delighted as God is to help us, to give to us, to provide for us, what he wants most of all is to build a relationship with us. He wants to be our friend, and he wants you to get to know him too. Prayer is the best way, one of the best ways really, to help that happen. To grow as a Christian also means to grow in our knowledge of God. In John 17, verse 3, I read that when Jesus was in prayer to his heavenly father, he said, "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you've sent." We know that to grow physically we need air, but we also need food. If prayer is the air, the breath of our spiritual life, then our food is the word of God, the Bible. As we communicate with God each day, prayer is the main way we carry on our side of the conversation. But for relationships to grow, communication has to be a two-way street. God promises to listen to us when we talk. In 1 John 5:14, he says, "Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." For communication to be complete, then, we need to listen to God as he talks. Sometimes when we're praying, God may speak as if it's directly to us, in what 1 Kings 19:12 calls a still small voice that we hear inside of us. But most of what God has to say to us, he says in the Bible. And though written long ago and available to everyone in the world, God makes his word personal to us as we read it. The Bible is our daily spiritual bread, the nourishment we need to grow in our Christian walk with God. In words that Jesus himself spoke, he said in Matthew 4, verse 4, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" We need not just physical bread or food to sustain our bodies, as Jesus said. We need spiritual bread, the words of God to sustain us spiritually and to help us grow. All scripture, the Bible says of itself in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Get this, friend: it is through daily reading of God's word that we come to know him because it's in the Bible that God himself tells us about his own life, his own character. When we read scripture, we discover what God is like, and our lives are transformed by the spirit. John 5, verse 39 says, "You search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, and those are they that testify of me." The Bible not only helps us grow by changing our hearts, it helps us grow in understanding truth. John 17:17 says it this way, "Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth." Sanctify is a Bible word that includes the ideas of an inner spiritual change and spiritual growth. Good parents would never expect their newborn to start right out in life eating solid food. An infant just isn't ready for corn on the cob and baked potatoes. No, we know that newborns need milk first. In the same way, in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 2, as the apostle addressed new Christians, he said, "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby." Some parts of the Bible are more challenging to understand than others. And especially at the beginning of the Christian life, some parts of the Bible may not seem as interesting as others. New Christians often find that such Bible books as the Psalms and Proverbs in the Old Testament or the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New Testament are easier to read than some other books. The most important thing in Christian growth, though, is to take God's word every day as your spiritual food. Your body wouldn't do well if you ate only once a week or once a month. You need regular meals every day. The same is true of our spiritual food. Let me share with you something about my own personal devotional life. When I get up in the morning, I pray a simple prayer, "Lord, today I consecrate my life to you." Typically, I pray that prayer before I get out of bed. "Lord, today I desire to do only your will. So today, fill me with your spirit." Then I begin to read. This year, I'm reading my Bible through, but I started it differently. I started in Psalms in late December or early January. And I've read from Psalms right now, as this broadcast, as we're preparing it, I've read from Psalms all the way through the Old and New Testament, and I've come back to Genesis. Now I'm reading the book of Genesis, reading the story of Adam and Eve and then on to Noah, then on to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and my heart is just thrilled with the word of God. Fill your heart, fill your mind with God's word every single day. The important thing in Christian growth is to take in God's word as spiritual food. You don't only read it, but you say, "God, how does this passage apply to my life? God, what significance does this passage have for my daily walk? God, how can this passage shape my understanding?" Your body wouldn't do too well if you ate only once a week or once a month. We need air and food to live and grow, both physically and spiritually. But what would happen if you breathed and ate but never exercised? Some people already know the answer to that question. They eat, but they're not exercising, and they're overweight and getting ready for heart attacks. They learned when they stepped on the scales or measured their waistline that they were eating without exercising, and that wasn't too good. The experts say that to stay strong and healthy, we need a minimum of about half an hour a day in which we exercise at least moderately. To grow stronger in our Christian experience with God, we need regular exercise too. Well, how do we exercise as Christians? First, we put forth the effort, and it's a pleasant one, of sharing what we've learned in getting to know God. Have you ever heard one person in a happy love relationship talk about the other? Getting someone started at this isn't a problem. Often, the problem is getting him or her to stop. In Acts chapter 4, verse 20, the Apostle Paul said that he and his fellow Christians felt they absolutely had to share what they knew of Jesus. They said, "For we cannot but speak the things we've seen and heard." In other words, Jesus has so changed our lives that we can't be silent. In the Bible, we call this sharing "witnessing." Notice in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, what Jesus said to his followers shortly before he left this Earth to return to heaven: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you'll be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, to the end of the Earth." Along with sharing with others what we've learned about God and the truths he's taught us in his word, there's another way we can get daily spiritual exercise. God has given to every person spiritual gifts. We all don't have the same spiritual gifts, but we all have something to share. Your spiritual gift may be hospitality. You may love to invite people over, and as you do that, you can share Jesus. Your spiritual gift may be the gift of music where you can sing. Your spiritual gift may be the gift of teaching or the gift of organization. But God has given you spiritual gifts that make a significant difference in your life for him. How do we grow spiritually? Remember what the Bible said, and remember that sequoia tree with the little seed, the size of a little flake of oatmeal? The Bible says that the seed is the word of God. As we pray, as we open the word of God and pray over the passages that we are reading, God transforms and changes our lives. Let me be very practical with you. Let's suppose that I'm reading the Bible and as I'm reading, I pray over those passages. Prayer is our talking to God. Reading the Bible and praying is letting God talk to us. Let's suppose I'm reading Proverbs chapter 3 and I'll start with verse 5. I am reading in my devotions quietly before I get involved in my activities of the day. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding." And I say, "Lord, I'm reading in scripture, Proverbs 3, verse 5, to trust in the Lord with all your heart. Today I have worries and anxieties. Teach me to trust you with all my heart. In all your ways acknowledge him." "Lord, today I don't want to go off in a tangent with my own thinking process, my own ideas. I want to acknowledge you, and I believe, Lord, you're going to direct my paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes." Lord, today give me the wisdom in every decision that comes from you. "Fear the Lord, depart from evil." Lord, keep me today from the evil in this world. It says if I do that, if I trust in you, Lord, if I depart from evil, it's going to be health to my flesh and strength to my bones. Lord, I want that in my own life.
Guest (Female): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: Look, if you're already in the path of Christian growth, continue with your prayer life every day. Continue with your Bible study every day. Continue looking to share your faith every day. But if you are not yet following Jesus, if you've not made a full commitment to him, right now, open your heart to Jesus. Open your heart to him right now and say, "Jesus, I give my life to you." As we pray. Father in heaven, we thank you today that we can grow as Christians as we seek you each day through prayer in those quiet moments, as we study your word. May your word enter our hearts and change our lives. And also, Father, as we witness and share our faith with others. Thank you, Lord, that we can be growing Christians. And for those who may not have committed their lives to you yet, I pray that as they listen to this broadcast, the spirit of God would touch their heart and change their life and draw them closer to you. In Jesus' name, amen.