150201 Active Spiritual Growth

Philippians 4:8-9  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹ What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

“Think about these things”, “practice these things”, both phrases indicate an active participation by us in our spiritual life. We have confidence that God, when we come to faith in him, will faithfully do the work that needs to be done in our lives. Many Christians have stunted their growth by becoming too passive with regard to growing in grace. It is true that God is always faithful and he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. However these promises should not cause us to simply sit back expecting God to make us right in every respect. The New Testament is filled with admonitions to participate in our growth in grace.

Let’s look at a few of the passages that encourage us in our spiritual growth. First of all we need to…

Put some things to death. Turn with me to Romans 8:13-14. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

How we live our lives determines our spiritual growth. Here we are told to put to death the deeds of the flesh. In Romans chapter seven the apostle tells us that nothing good lives in his flesh and that is certainly true of our flesh as well. Paul acknowledges that it is “by the Spirit” that we are able to put to death the deeds of the body. At the same time we have to remember that WE have to do it ourselves! It is not the Holy Spirit who is commanded to put to death the deeds of the flesh, Christians are instructed to take the steps necessary to put down the power of the flesh-life in us. So long as we live in the body our fleshly habits are with us and must be broken. Only as that occurs in our lives are we truly able to be led by the Spirit of God. When we do this we will be able to…

Work it out. Turn with me to Philippians 2:12-13. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

A key to working it out is obedience. Jesus taught that we have the responsibility to not only hear his words but also do what he says. Everyone who does what Jesus says — “obey him” — is like the person who built his house on a rock. When the winds and rains come, even the floods, that house will stand! But the person who hears his words and does not do them is like a person who built his house on the sand and when the winds and rains come the house will fall! (Matthew 7:26-27)

Working it out is similar to homemade bread. When the bread dough is prepared one of the ingredients will be yeast, or leaven of some kind. The dough must be kneaded enough for the leaven to be spread throughout or else it will not rise properly. This does not mean that we somehow earn our salvation it means that we cause our salvation to infiltrate all of our life. When Paul talks about disciplining his body and keeping it under control (1 Corinthians 9:27) I believe he is talking about suppressing the flesh — the habits and emotions of the past.

When we suppress the flesh and allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit we will be able to obey the Lord Jesus Christ and work out our own salvation. As we work out our salvation we will enjoy the realization of the benefits of salvation in our Christian lives. We are to work out this growth in sanctification, and do it solemnly and with reverence, because we are doing it in the presence of God himself. The reason we are to work, and expect that the work will yield positive results, is that “God is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” I can assure you that the result is far less painful than falling back into the old ways of living and resisting the Holy Spirit. We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) instead we are to walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16) When we walk by the Spirit we will discover that we do not have time to gratify the desires of the flesh! Many times we tried to be “spiritual” by suppressing the habits of our flesh-life. Battling flesh-life is a waste of time. Instead we are to walk in the Spirit. That gives us the ability to actively grow in grace. We have a responsibility to work it out and to…

Strive for holiness. Turn with me to Hebrews 12:14. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

While we are in the process of working out our salvation we will be blessed by God when we actually work at our salvation by striving for holiness. We do this in a number of ways. We need to guard ourselves against bitterness and sexual immorality in fact a large part of the whole process of active spiritual growth is setting a goal to…

Stay away from wrongdoing. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, ⁵ not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. ⁸ Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Many times I’ve had people ask me questions concerning the will of God in their life. Paul’s words to the Thessalonian church are pretty specific. We are to be holy. One aspect of sanctification is staying away from sexual immorality. In the world we live in today this is a pretty formidable task! Advertising, television programming, the Internet and songs on the radio are all saturated with sex! Paul’s warning carries a great deal of weight when we consider that God has called us to purity and when we disregard that we are disregarding God. God is always present for the person who is born again. We don’t just come to visit him on Sunday morning. The Holy Spirit is resident in the body of every Christian. Our spirit is bonded with his Spirit and we should be careful to…

Choose purity. John says that those who hoped to be like Christ when he appears will actively be involved in personal purity while they live. Turn with me to 1 John 3:2-3. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ³ And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

We have been adopted into his family. We now live by a new set of rules and new standards. The home I grew up in had a very loving atmosphere and a strong emphasis on “right living”! I can’t imagine how many times, in my growing up years, I heard the words, “This family doesn’t do (fill in the blank)”! Or it could be, “We do go to church.” For instance. I soon learned not to say that some of my friends were doing something and I wanted to as well. I would simply be told that my friends do not live with us and do not have the same set of rules we do. We are part of the family of God and our older brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, is coming again and when he comes we will be like him. Since we have such a hope we will actively pursue purity because he is pure. Don’t expect that one day God will just simply pour purity into our lives. Remember we have the responsibility, with regard to our spiritual growth, to work it out ourselves. And one way we can do that is to…

Avoid uniting with unbelievers. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 6:14-15. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? ¹⁵ What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

The Bible tells us that evil communications corrupt good manners. (1 Corinthians 15:33) Who we associate with goes a long way towards setting the pattern for our lives. “Unequally yoked” is usually applied to marriage and certainly fits there. Every effort should be made to link our lives with godly people. At the same time “unequally yoked” should apply to every area of life. I am not saying that we should avoid all contact with unsaved people. If that were true we would hardly be able to witness to anyone. I am saying that we should avoid tangling our lives up with people who don’t know God. Righteousness cannot have partnership with lawlessness! Light does not associate with darkness! Jesus said that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. And he was talking about him associating with Satan. The same holds true in human relationships.

If we’re going to make every effort to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord we will best do that when we are united in our efforts with godly people. We are to continually build up patterns and habits of holiness, for one measure of maturity is that mature Christians “have their facilities trained by practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14). There are no shortcuts. There is no “holiness for dummies” book. We are encouraged repeatedly to give ourselves the old-fashioned, time-honored means of Bible reading and meditation. As we do that we should…

Physically give ourself to God. Turn with me to the very familiar passage of Romans 12:1-2. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We are to actively participate in our spiritual growth by physically giving ourselves to God. We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices. We are to present our bodies as holy and acceptable to God. That is our real worship!

We are to make every effort to avoid being shaped by this world. After all, friendship with the world is enmity to God (James 4:4). Instead of being conformed to the world we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. I quote Bill Gillam from his book Lifetime Guarantee. He is referring to becoming a living sacrifice. “Only this will bring solid, lasting, consistent satisfaction. Only this will enable a person to build a self-image that will be totally impregnable to anything this world can throw at it.” We must be able to trust Jesus for our day-to-day life. We need to continually be growing in grace. This will give us a self-esteem based on a “righteousness… which comes through faith in Christ.” That kind of righteousness is from God and depends on faith.

We need to make every effort to focus on things that are honorable, that which is right, that which is pure, and things that are beautiful and commendable. Not only are we to think about these things we also need to practice these things. Our lives should be always reflecting that which can be approved. We should study the Bible to discover the characteristics that reflect the godly life. We need to pattern our lives after the lives of great men and women who have gone before. When we do these things, and do them well, then the God of peace will certainly be with us. None of these good things can happen in us unless we are children of God. Have you received Christ? Has he received you? This could be your day of salvation! Jesus promised that whoever came to him he would receive.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.