Spiritual Growth

The first Sunday following the beginning of the football season is an exciting time around the church, especially when the regional rivals compete. The 'esprit de corps' flows through the hallways and into the Sunday school rooms as teams and/or players are praised or vilified.

I imagine it is the same in churches across the country. Sporting events often draw out a passion that is incomparable to other group activities.

 In the eighth grade I ran cross country (440-yard dash). I was not the fastest runner, but I enjoyed the competition and the comradeship of being part of a team. The only negative was that I had to walk 3 ½ miles after practice to get home. In my freshman year I got a job at a bookstore where I worked seven days a week 6:00 - 8:00 a.m. before school, so I got up at 4:30 a.m., so I could walk the 3 ½ miles into town. Needless to say cross country ceased to be important. My passion was about working so I could buy a car.

I sometimes tell folks I grew up fast, but in truth I am still growing up. I do not run as fast or as often as I used to, but I still enjoy running long distance. I enjoy spending my early morning hours reading scripture and in prayer. I believe we are who we are because of our history. Our passions are formed by life events that help create our personalities. My father instilled in me strong work ethics and he got me my first job at fourteen and I have been working ever since. I enjoy sports, but I am not passionate about sports or any team. I compete against myself, which is why I enjoyed running; however, age and bad knees have made running more difficult.

I see running as a metaphor for our faith journey. One cannot run a race if one does not practice running. We will cease to grow in faith if we stop practicing or faith. In fact, in both cases we will lose the gift. Faith is not something we receive and then just have to use when we need it. Faith is a gift that requires nourishment as well as practice. Our faith needs to be nourished so it can flourish just as a runner needs to practice to win a race.

Tom Cocklereece believes Christians move in and out what he calls the four stages of spiritual growth. His philosophy is based on scripture and he believes we all begin in a pre-stage period and unless we are intentional about spiritual growth (practicing our faith) we will regress to an earlier stage of development or to the pre-stage period, what he calls the Carnal Christian. Whether or not we are intentional about progressing through the stages of spiritual growth depends upon our passion or desire to nourish our faith.

“Carnal Christian—a spiritually regressed and stagnant Christian seeking little spiritual nutrition (1 Corinthians 3:1, 3).

Stage one, Babe in Christ—a newborn Christian feeding on the ‘milk of the work’ and often fed by others; regresses easily (1 Corinthians 3:2).

Stage two, Growing Christian—a growing Christian feeding on solid spiritual food learning to feed [self] but still vulnerable to regression (Heb. 5:12-14).

Stage three, Advancing Christian—a growing Christian feeding [self] the ‘deep things of God,’ consistently led by the Holy Spirit, and less susceptible to regression (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).

Stage four, Maturing Christian—a growing Christian feeding self, others, and “bearing fruit,” and unlikely to regress” (John 15:8). (Tom Cocklereece, Simple Discipleship, How to Make Disciples in the 21^st Century)

Words to ponder…

Original publication in "The Morrow Mirror, Words to Ponder… September 7, 2014

Discipleship

How does one become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Christians have been asking this question since the Apostle Paul began sharing the gospel message throughout Judea and the known world in the first century. Paul dedicated his life to following Jesus’ command, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you” (Matt.28:19-20). 

Drive-by evangelism was popularized in the 60s and 70s when church members would drive through a neighborhood, go house to house asking residents if they believed in Jesus, while handing them a religious tract; which was written by someone who believed the best way to get sinners’ attention was to scare the “H-ll out of them. The tract of course would have the church’s name and address stamped on the back so the sinner could find the church the following Sunday. This was the strategy for getting people to church so they could be baptized and then join other believers walking the neighborhoods to seek the lost for the Lord.

Drive-by evangelism may have been popular in the early-mid twentieth century, but I find it difficult to believe the success of the twentieth-century church, or any church throughout the generations had much to do with passing out tracts to strangers or by scaring them. I believe it had more to do with individuals sharing the gospel stories and how the stories changed their lives. These individuals were not trying to make disciples, they just wanted to share what they truly believed with people they truly cared about.

“More often than not, investing in authentic relationships precedes personal evangelism and is a key element in effective witnessing. People are open to the gospel when presented in the context of a genuine relationship by a Christian they view as authentic, because they have had the opportunity to get to know and trust the messenger. People desire friendship and authenticity and tend to reject the messenger who is simply trying to reach his [or her] evangelism quota.” (Tom Cocklereece, Simple Discipleship, How to Make Disciples in the 21^st Century)

How does one become a disciple of Jesus Christ? This is a good question but the question I want to address is how does one become an authentic Christian. A Christian who has a passion for sharing the gospel story with family and friends as well as their neighbors, because this is how we not only make disciples, it is how we truly become a disciple for Jesus Christ. Next week we will begin by looking at what Tom Cocklereece calls the four stages of spiritual growth. 

Original publication in "The Morrow Mirror, Words to Ponder… August 31, 2014