What is Spiritual Growth?
Next to my desk, I have what I printed in the first weeks of my role as Associate Pastor at the Orchards Community Church. “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Col. 1:28-29). Being given the reins of the growth ministry (that is spiritual growth, not numerical), I saw then and still see today these verses encompassing my focus. Presenting every person, especially those within OCC, complete or mature in Christ is my goal and the aim of this writing along with future writings.
In this first article, I want only to explain what is and is not spiritual growth. I have already given a clue as to what it is, or at least its destination, that being maturity in Christ. There are multiple assumptions to what spiritual growth represents, of which I hope to remove. For some, spiritual growth has not been a topic of thought. Whatever it is has naturally been assumed since the day you put your faith in Jesus Christ. You were and have been on a mission to know more about God and what this life in faith in Christ is. Though, what about the person with a theologian’s knowledge of the Bible but has only now come to faith? Are they automatically a mature Christian at the moment of being born in Christ because they can recall God’s word from memory and can explain to you what you thought only a pastor or theologian can?
What about the person who says to forgo the theological stuff, the stuff that tells you about God and the Biblical account? They say you only need a relationship with Jesus. To experience his presence and to love him is all that matters. Is this spiritual growth? How can you have a relationship with someone you do not know? This is why I begin what is planned to be a series designed to grow us spiritually with the very basic question, what is spiritual growth?
Spiritual Growth Is Not:
Let us begin with what it is not. I think the “is not” of spiritual growth is almost always made up of the “what is”. What is spiritual growth includes knowledge of God but is not knowledge of God alone. Increasing in the fruits of the Spirit is spiritual growth but left alone is not. To grow in love for God, His church, and others is certainly an indication of spiritual growth. Yet, you are far from mature if you know little the work of Jesus Christ, the hope that is in Christ, and all that is true for life and godliness. If you are still confused by the second sentence of this paragraph, let me put it another way. There are many simple answers and assumptions given in defining spiritual growth. Many of them are correct in that they point to one piece of the puzzle, but in doing so leave out the whole. Jesus Christ is not love alone. He was the perfect man. He embodied perfect love, wisdom, faith, obedience, zeal for God, fear of God, peace, hope, etc.
I want to bore into the reasoning of this a little further. Let us take knowledge for example. To have the knowledge of the gospel, God’s word, Jesus Christ, and all the mysteries of God is something we should all strive for. It could be reasoned this is spiritual growth. Some argue you are not a mature Christian and ill-prepared if you do not know doctrine and the theological knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures. This is true. You must know God. At the most basic level of salvation you must know there is a single and eternal God that has created all things. That you have turned from this God through distrust and pursuit of your own glory as your representative, Adam, the first man did. That you are therefore justly sentenced to punishment in hell for eternity. That God in Jesus Christ has come to earth as a man like you. He did this to be a perfect man, seeking all of God’s glory. He did this to die as a perfect man; to die in your place and put upon himself your punishment. Yet, he defeated death by rising from the dead to be your representative for righteousness and life; to present you to God for eternity blameless and perfect as he is. Again, this is to know God at the most basic level. This is the beginning of doctrine and theology and the beginning of your salvation. At this point, you are a babe in Christ as Peter would say in 1 Pet. 2:2. You must now grow, “Longing for the pure milk of the word.” Contained in this word, God’s word, is doctrine and theology, the knowledge of God.
Yet, many will argue to do away with the doctrinal and theological mumbo jumbo. It is not necessary, they say. The whole case for salvation and the spiritual life is very simple, you must love and be in relationship to God and Jesus Christ. This is true. You must simply love and be in right relationship to God in Christ. To grow spiritually is to grow in love for God. Did Jesus not say all of God’s commands are summed up in, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Mat. 22:37)? Seemingly in opposition to knowledge, did not Paul say in 1 Corinthians 13:2, “If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing”? This is abundantly true. Throughout Scripture, from beginning to end, there is the emphasis to love God, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and neighbor. It is clear from 1 Cor. 13:2 and other passages (1 John 4:7-21), if you do not love, you are not in Christ nor saved. It is essential to love. Though, Paul is not exhorting to disdain knowledge.
Spiritual growth is to grow in the knowledge of God and Christ. It is also to grow in love for God and man. It is not either of these by themselves. If you are growing in the knowledge of God, is that growth not nourished by an understanding to love above all (1 Cor. 13:2)? In your love for God, do you not desire to know him all the more? Like a man and woman in the “honeymoon” phase of a relationship, it is every small detail and bit of knowledge of each other that grows their love for one another. So should we be in relationship to God, yearning to understand the smallest of details of his person. With every piece of information we receive, whether that be of his attributes, his purposes, or his working in history, we should grow in love for him. “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). Christ has come with a purpose that we may know God and yet, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). To know God and to love are intrinsically connected.
Spiritual Growth Is:
If you have not noticed, our question dealing with the nature of spiritual growth in Christ has tilted from what it is not, towards what it is. Still, what it is has not been pinpointed. We are not there yet. Spiritual growth is both the love and knowledge of God in Christ, but that is not all. A fruit tree that grows big and strong because it receives nourishment but does not produce fruit is a worthless tree. So are we if we are stagnant in our basking in the love and knowledge of God. If we do not produce fruit, if we are not persuaded by the love of God to love others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are deceitfully grown like the big and strong tree lacking fruit. Likewise, if we are receiving the knowledge and love of God, yet not putting away the things loathsome to God, we are deceiving ourselves. How can we love God and the things of the world simultaneously? “ For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16).
In writing this last paragraph, I am pressed to go back to what spiritual growth is not. It is not our works. If we believe for a second that our putting off the things of the world and acts of love means we are more mature in our Christian life, we are still a babe in Christ; because our knowledge of Christ should tell us that everything we are in Christ is literally that. The, “That,” being, “In Christ”. What we are as a Christian is everything that Jesus is. Being born again by the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9) we are now to, “Put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). Now fully tilted to the other side, this is spiritual growth. You must put on Jesus Christ.
“Lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit” (Eph. 4:22), and, “Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created” (v. 24). “You laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him” (Col. 3:9-10). “Let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom. 13:12). “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (v.14). If adding knowledge to our Christian self is like putting on a shirt and growing in love is like putting on pants, then to put on Christ is like sewing the two pieces together to create a single garment. Clothing ourselves with Christ is all the knowledge and mysteries of Christ along with the love for him and others sewn and mixed into one. Putting on Jesus Christ encompasses everything that our faith is. Being born-again according to Christ, spiritual growth is a learning how to walk in what we have put on and what we have been born into.
If you have not noticed the other similarity in the three passages referenced above, putting on Christ coincides with laying aside or taking off what is old. What is old is these bodies we have been originally born into; these bodies immersed in darkness, sin, and separation from God leading to death. Therefore, as we walk this new Christian life, our spiritual growth is learning and knowing what this garment of Christ contains and so throwing off what is in opposition to it, that of the old that remains. If our faith is in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, we bear the image of God as children of God. This image is the glory of God in Christ of which we should show off to the world (2 Cor. 3:18, 4:3-4). As the verse referenced from Romans says, we have, “Put on the armor of light” (13:12). Then, may we continue to throw off from ourselves what is darkness to shine bright what we have put on, the image and glory of Jesus Christ.
What is especially important in using these passages to make my argument for putting on Christ as the summation of spiritual growth, is looking at the context of these passages. Leading up to the reference in Romans 13:12-14, Paul began in chapter 12 with, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (v.2). In other words, be transformed by what you know and how you think, leading to how you act. This knowledge comes from what you have put on, Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God. Paul continues from there to exhort the removing of the old and the putting on of the new, especially that of love. “If there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:9-10).
The Ephesians passage is essentially the same but ordered a little differently. The gentiles (unbelievers), “Walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding” (4:17-18). “But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus” (v.20-21). There are five words there that emphasize the knowledge of Christ being essential: mind, understanding, learn, heard, and taught. These words emphasize the transformation of our minds in what we know about Jesus Christ, coming from a mind darkened in understanding to one of light, hearing and learning what we have been taught in Christ. Paul goes on to exhort putting off the old to put on the new (vv.22-24), leading to, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (5:1-2). Again, we have the knowledge of Christ and love coinciding with putting on Christ (v.24). It is the same in Colossians. There is the mind being referenced in 3:2, followed by an exhortation to put away the old to put on the new (v. 9-10) but, “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (v.14).
Conclusion
This idea of spiritual growth is much more simple than many make it to be. Yes, it is multifaceted. Though, I think it will help us all to visualize our Christian walk as the putting on of Christ, to clothe ourselves with Christ, the nature and image of God. As we have this done, and if you have your faith in Jesus Christ alone then this has been done, we must peel off and throw away the old to reveal the brightness of the glory of this new. We do this as we hear and are taught, as we learn and understand to know what the glory of God in Christ is. This mingles with love because to know God in Christ is to know love. Our knowledge of what we wear leads to love, which leads to being like a tree bearing good fruit, serving all for the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
Pastor Ben