Why is Spiritual Growth Necessary?
Asking why we should grow to maturity in Christ is like asking why we should be Christians. The two questions are synonymous with each other. To be Christian is to hold truth, to be saved from the penalty of sin, and to follow Jesus Christ in faith and trust all the way to his kingdom in heaven. It is this latter description that especially makes being a Christian synonymous with spiritual growth. If you have made the decision to put your faith in Christ and follow him, doing so does not equate to not following him. To put on Christ, the new self, born by the spirit of Christ, is spiritual growth and the process towards maturity in Christ. This is synonymous with following Christ and if that is so, how could we make a decision to follow Christ to be saved only to look at Christ and say, “No, I don’t want to put that on; I don’t want to be that.”
Because this connection between answering why we should be a Christian and why we should grow spiritually exists, I want to answer the question titling this writing with two passages: Matthew 13:44-46 and Mark 8:35-37. With these passages, I want to make the argument that the value of God’s kingdom, being so great that we sell all we have to obtain it (Mat. 13:44-46), includes our life itself (Mk. 8:35). “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul” (Mk. 8:36-37)? This great exchange is had by faith in Christ, the taking off and selling the old self to purchase the new in Jesus Christ, making a profit of historical gain.
The amazing thing that should not go unnoticed or be misunderstood, is this exchange is a gift from God by his grace. A profit of this sort is only possible for us if the one offering his kingdom (God) makes a great sacrifice. That sacrifice was the death of Jesus Christ.
Although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:6-8)
At a specific time in history, God gave up something infinitely great so that we could profit something infinitely great. So then, “You have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20).
Loss for Gain
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Mt. 13:44-46)
The first thing to note with this passage is the incredible value the kingdom of heaven, God’s kingdom, has. So much that the man finding it is willing to sell all that he has, with joy, to obtain it (v.44). That part should not slip from our minds, that the man does so with joy. He was joyful, happy, excited to give up all he had to obtain the value of the treasure and pearl. As if what he was giving up had no value in comparison to what was being purchased. All that he had was lost in his mind. The things lost were as rubbish, being forgotten to reach for the greatest prize; that which lay ahead (Phil. 3:7-14).
The parable given by Jesus does not say the value of the man’s possessions, but whatever it is, I think it is safe to say that what Jesus had in mind was something great; maybe even the man’s life. I believe we can assume this because of Mark 8:35-37. What I want us to notice in this passage from Mark is the link between saving one’s life (v.35) and gaining the world (v.36). That is, to save your life in this world is to gain the world. Also, the link between the antithesis of forfeiting one’s soul (keeping it; v.36) and life for the sake of the gospel of Christ (v.35). That is, to lose your life in this world for the gospel of Christ is to keep your soul.
35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake [Jesus] and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? (Mk. 8:35-37)
In these verses, and in other passages of Scripture, we see that life is had in one of two places: either here on earth or in Christ and his heavenly kingdom. If we think that true life is found here in this world, alienated from God, we will forfeit our soul to hell when these bodies die. Contrarily, if we believe true life is found reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, we will put away what is of this world, that which alienates us from God, in order to have true life in Christ now and forever in God’s heavenly kingdom. We read in 1 John 2:15-17:
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
To lose one’s life for Jesus and the sake of the gospel (Mk. 8:35) is to let go of one’s attachment to the world and the things thereof. The entrance to God’s kingdom is through the gospel of Jesus Christ (John 10:9). Therefore, if in Mat. 13:44-46 the kingdom is had by the selling and loss of all one has, is this not to say it is one and the same with Mk. 8:35-37 whereas we lose our very lives in this world to gain our soul and the kingdom? We must let go of our attachment to the things of the world, this life, for Jesus Christ and his kingdom.
Mark 8:36 asks what profit a man receives for gaining the whole world but forfeiting, giving up, his soul. This is a rhetorical question because there is no profit in that exchange. Contrarily, the parables in Mt. 13:44-46 make it perfectly clear that exchanging everything one has in this world for God’s kingdom is great and joyful profit. Mark, then follows up the rhetorical question with, “For what will a man give in exchange for his soul” (Mk. 8:37)? Based on everything we have answered with thus far, the answer here is our very lives attached in love to the things of this world, such as what is found above in 1 John 2:15-17.
Relating to Spiritual Growth
Finally and precisely, how does this relate to the original question asking why spiritual growth is necessary? It is necessary because to follow Christ is synonymous with putting on Christ. As seen in last week’s writing and this one, to put on Christ is to simultaneously put off the old self; which is synonymous with selling all the love one has for this world, losing one’s life for Jesus’ sake and the gospel. Following Christ, being a Christian, is selling and losing the old to have the infinitely valuable profit of the treasure and pearl of God’s kingdom, the new.
Spiritual growth is removing the old to put on the new, day by day. If you believe in the great value of the kingdom from the parables of Mat. 13:44-46, then you equally value spiritual growth and maturity in Christ. Still, we realize we are in this very moment, day by day, selling the love we have in and for this world, removing the old to put on and exchange for the new; until one day we hold in full the treasure of the kingdom of God in and through Jesus Christ.
Pastor Ben