Spiritual Growth

The Bible has a great deal to say about spiritual growth, about Christians developing spiritually, about taking on stature and growing on to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). But we cannot talk about growing spiritually unless we also acknowledge that there is also some kind of spiritual retardation and stunted growth for some Christians.

Paul’s concern about the Corinthians was that they never seem to grow up:

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1, NKJV).

Spiritual babes are carnal and not spiritual.

The writer of Hebrews said the same thing, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe” (Hebrews 5:12, 13).

Spiritual babies are milk Christians and are unable to take solid food.

Spiritual Growth is a Command

Spiritual Growth is a divine command. It is not optional whether you and I grow or not.

“You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Peter 3:17, 17, emphasis added).

Notice the contrast that Peter brought out, separated by the word “but”. Christians have to make their own choice. They must choose for themselves, either be deceived by wicked influence of the flesh and the devil or grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The food for growth

What is the thing that makes people grow? You are what you eat. In other words, what you put in your body is what you are. If you eat a whole lot of wrong things, your stomach will rebel against it. If you continue to do it your body will miraculously try to accommodate it and stores it up in folds of fat. This is potential heart attacks.

Similarly, the thing that makes Christians grow spiritually is the type of spiritual food they eat. What spiritual food you partake is what you are as a spiritual person. We cannot build our Christianity out of Christian view points from other people, view points of Christian book writers and view points of “Christian” film producers.

A preacher must first be partaker of what he feeds the sheep. He must check out to see if the food is good for spiritual children. He must feed them with the pure Word of God:

“…. As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2).

Only the pure milk of the Word would ensure healthy spiritual growth.

You cannot grow by eating junk food of religious spectacular teachings, soulish entertainment, unsound doctrines or “itching ears” sermons.

Those who do not grow are caught in the peripheral Christian world. They delight in talking about semi-soulish secular things. There is no flow of deep devotion that comes from their type of Christianity. If you talk about Jesus and the Bible you do not see any sparkle in their eyes. Talk about the business world, new management methods, politics and promotional schemes you will have great response from them. When you talk about spiritual things you will receive very little response. They will have just enough spiritual knowledge to satisfy their conscience as professing Christians!

If they want to grow they must eat the right food. That means they have to feed upon the Word of God on a regular basis.

Nothing can take the place of the Bible

Nothing can take the place of the Bible which is the Word of God. If you do not read your Bible you can be religious without being spiritual. If you delight in the Word of God you will find delight in reading Psalm 119 in which the psalmist wrote about the excellencies of the Word of God.

There is nothing in the Bible to say that by the laying on of hands you will blossom into maturity. God has not provided this short-cut. By the laying on of hands you may get healed; you may receive spiritual gifts; you may be ordained. But the laying on of hands has nothing to do with the development of your stature or character.

The only thing that is going to make you grow and develop spiritually is to feed on the Word of God which is your healthy spiritual food. The Bible contains all the right ingredients for growth. If you are a born again, Spirit filled, child of God; if you are constantly feeding on the Word of God and maintaining your prayer communion with the Lord; if you are walking and fellowshipping with the Lord, you will be growing automatically.

But most likely you are not going to see your growth yourself. But someone else will see it.

Paul wrote to Timothy, “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all” (1 Tim. 4:15, NKJV, emphasis added).

“These things” are the things mentioned in the previous verses (12 – 14). These are doctrine, Word of God, godly conduct and spiritual gifts.

Christians must continue to grow, for otherwise they are likely to backslide. It is a tragedy for men and women who come to the door of the Kingdom of God and stay at the entrance. They have not tasted the benefits that are offered inside the Kingdom of God. They live forever at the door of the Kingdom. They have not gone inside to the place of God’s appointment and to take the mountain of treasures that God has offered them!

Secret of growth

Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin” (Matthew 6:26, 28, emphasis added).

Jesus Himself revealed the secret of growth, both physical and spiritual:

1. The Father gives food for growth, both physical and spiritual. He feeds us.

2. The lilies of the field provide an example how growth comes naturally and automatically. The lilies just drink up the rain and the sunshine provided by God – that is all. Lilies can do nothing by themselves.

Similarly in the spiritual sense, means you must expose yourself to the Word of God, drink in the Spirit that comes by the Word which contains all the healthy ingredients for healthy growth. No one can try to growth.

Many of us run from one “Deeper Life Conference” to another (even Advance Deeper Life Conference”; run to camp meetings and run from one Christian seminar to another. Nowadays there is no shortage of conferences, seminars and meetings to keep Christians so busy that they have no time to read the Bible. We try to get a fresh shot in the arms in all these conferences in order to grow. But, all we get is men derived knowledge.

Paul said, “We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him” (1 Cor. 8:1 – 3).

The Source and process of spiritual growth

He who loves the Word of God loves God and God knows anyone who loves His Word. But if you look toward men’s teachings for growth this is what Paul had to say:

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:6 – 8, NKJV, emphasis added).

When Paul said “… so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him” he meant growth is a process in our Christian walk. This process is Biblically referred to as “sanctification” and takes time. In fact it takes us a life in the sanctification process. We must always remember that growth is not a “crisis” but a process; but birth is a “crisis” which is instant. After we have experienced the “crisis” of our spiritual birth we go on with the growth process.

Sanctification through the Word of God was referred to by Christ Himself when He prayed to the Father for His disciples:

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

God as the only source of spiritual growth is made clear by Paul:

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6).

Danger of failing to grow

If you starve yourself physically you are going to become weak, emaciated and eventually die. If you withhold from your spiritual life the things that made for growth and development, you are going to become spiritually weak.

When your physical body is run down because of the lack of nutritious food it exposes itself, in a way, to the attack of virus and germs. Similarly, if we do not maintain our spiritual relationship with God, immerse ourselves in the Word and the Spirit, we expose ourselves to some kind of spiritual infection.

That is why Paul said, “We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow in all things into Him who is the head – Christ” (Eph. 4:14, 15).

Notice that we cannot speak "the truth in love" to one another unless we know the truth of God’s Word and have some truth to tell others!

The need to grow individually and corporately

We can never make the Word of God exhausted. In other words, we always have something to learn from the Bible no matter how spiritually grownup and matured we become. A preacher’s problem is not having something to say to the hearers, but it is to what God wants to say at an appointed time and season! A preacher must have the enough of the Word in him that he is ready to preach the Word “in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2).

Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and …” (Col. 3:16).

We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. God does not let the Word of God yields its secret to lazy people. To have the Word of Christ dwell in us richly means hard work. Salvation comes by grace through faith and not by works (Titus 3:5), but knowing the Bible does come by hard work!

Paul said the Local Church as a Local Body of Christ needs to grow up together:

“… in whom (Christ) the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21, 22, emphasis added).

Here the Lord reveals a very important spiritual truth that many Bible teachers and Pastors of mega-churches failed to understand.

The Local Church will never rise higher than the conditions of our homes. In other words, the Local Church will become an expression of the home life of its people! That is why, in the New Testament, the Bible tells us that sanctification starts in the Christian home situation (1 Cor. 7:14). Godly fathers and mothers sanctified the children.

This is in total contrary to what Rick Warren wrote in his book “The Purpose Driven Life”

“Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever. Our families on earth are wonderful gifts from God, but they are temporary and fragile, often broken by divorce, distance, growing old, and inevitably, death. On the other hand, our spiritual family – our relationship to other believers – will continue throughout eternity. It is a much stronger union, a more permanent bond, than blood relationships” (Page 118).

The writer sounds convincing and logical. But, if you do not know your Bible well enough but blindly feed on man’s words and theory like the above you will be deceived. The truth is wholesome families form a wholesome Local Church; God fearing families form a God fearing Local Church. God delights to see His people reflect the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ:

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

When we continuously feed on the pure Word of God; when we commune with the Lord through the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will take the Word of God to change us to the same image that we see – the reflection of Christ, from glory to glory!