Basic Growth Principles

Time, Adversity, and Sovereignty of God... Like any growth or training these three factors are at play in our spiritual growth. Like anything of complexity God chooses to form it over time, we need to learn to be patient in that process. God will also often use adversity to strengthen us, we need to learn perseverance in those hard times. God is also in complete control, we need to learn to trust Him even when things are not clear, and we don't understand.

The rings of a tree are an amazing illustration of this. Each ring indicates a year in the life of the tree, as you count all the rings one is overwhelmed by the history of the tree It has been produced after years and years of growth. But the darker rings, though skinny and showing limited growth strengthen the tree, that it may be strong enough for growth to continue.

God has a custom training program that he puts each of His children through. This program is filled with diverse experiences (Ecclesiastes 3), both joyful and hard. He doesn't follow some pattern like those often outlined in Christian Books, instead he personally trains us in a way that is specifically designed for us. I find this often very confusing when God is teaching me something, but I don't understand what it is. The training of Daniel by Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid comes to mind.

Daniel - "So"? You're supposed to teach and I'm supposed to learn. Four days I've been busting my ass, I haven't learned a thing.

Mr. Miyagi - You learn plenty.

Daniel - I've learned to sand your decks. I've waxed your car, I paint your house, paint your fence.

Mr. Miyagi - Not everything is as seems.

Daniel - Bullshit! I'm going home, man.

Mr. Miyagi - Daniel-san!

Daniel - What?

Mr. Miyagi - Come here.

Mr. Miyagi - Show me sand the floor.

Daniel - I can't move my arm, all right?

Daniel - What are you doing? What are you doing?

Mr. Miyagi - Now show me sand the floor.

Daniel - How did you do that?

Mr. Miyagi - Show!

Daniel - Sand the floor?

Mr. Miyagi - Stand up.

Mr. Miyagi - Show me sand the floor.

Mr. Miyagi - Sand the floor.

Mr. Miyagi - Sand the floor.

Mr. Miyagi - Big circle. Sand the floor.

Mr. Miyagi - Sand the floor.

Mr. Miyagi - Now show me wax on, wax off.

Mr. Miyagi - Wax on, wax off.

Mr. Miyagi - "Wax on, wax off!"

Mr. Miyagi - Wax on...

Mr. Miyagi - ...wax off.

Mr. Miyagi - Concentrate. Look in my eyes.

Mr. Miyagi - Lock your hand, thumb inside.

Mr. Miyagi - Wax on...

Mr. Miyagi - ...wax off.

Mr. Miyagi - Wax on...

Mr. Miyagi - ...wax off.

Mr. Miyagi - Wax on.

Mr. Miyagi - Wax off.

Mr. Miyagi - Show me paint the fence. Up, down.

Mr. Miyagi - Up.

Mr. Miyagi - Down.

Mr. Miyagi - Up.

Mr. Miyagi - Down.

Mr. Miyagi - Other side. Look eye. Always look eye!

Mr. Miyagi - Show me paint the house. Side, side.

Mr. Miyagi - Lock wrist. Side, side.

Mr. Miyagi - Side, side.

Mr. Miyagi - Show me wax on, wax off.

Mr. Miyagi - Show me paint the fence.

Mr. Miyagi - Show me side, side.

Mr. Miyagi - Show me sand the floor.

Mr. Miyagi - Look eye! Always look eye.

Mr. Miyagi - Come back tomorrow.

Daniel is frustrated, he feels that Mr. Miyagi is taking advantage of him. He has been waxing his car, sanding the floor, and painting his fence and house. When is the training going to begin? But the training has already begun, and its in a way that Daniel never would have predicted. He has learned discipline in the following through with the tasks that Mr. Miyagi asked. He has also built up his physical strength as he has worked hard on these tasks. Little did he know he was also learning muscle memory for block moves that he could use in karate. This is not unlike the experiences we have in our own life. Times of heart-ache, death, and adversity occur throughout life. We may feel cheated and wonder what God is doing. But these can be experiences that leave us in frustration, or they can be used by God to shape maturity in our lives. We need to learn to trust God and how He teaches us.

Identity in Christ

We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)

Romans 6:6-7

We are now dead to sin, so how come we keep sinning!? You look around and you see those that call themselves "Christians" doing things that are not very Christ-like. Inside you also know that you didn't instantly become perfected when you came to Christ. You still struggle with your sinful nature. Were we really freed from sin? Can this verse be taken as truth?

Scripture is true, sin no longer has dominion over us, but we can still choose to follow it. We have been slaves to this cruel master for so long (since birth), that it hard to understand living any other way. But that is exactly what God calls us into. He wants us to stop the life we lived before that lead only to death and begin to live a life that really is living. This can be very difficult, because we thought we knew what living really was. Just like the example of the farmer that discovered arsenic in his well, we have been drinking water that has made us sick, but we never knew what is was like to live a healthy life, to drink from a pure source. We are so used to going to the arsenic contaminated well that we do it by habit and go to it instead of the well of pure water. We choose the carbon-monoxide instead of oxygen.

It seems crazy, but its true. This happens for three major reasons. First, we have spent are whole life living one way and we often follow that path without thinking, like a reflex. We have trained ourselves that this is the solution and we often don't take the time to question it. Second, the flesh, the traitor within will often encourage us to follow the old path. He'll tell us that its much easier, and quicker and we won't have to think about it. Finally, the world continues to bombard us with messages that this is the right way to do things. It runs on principles opposite to the Kingdom of Heaven, yet it often speaks loader, and so it can seem to be right.

So much of the old man was trained for survival in a world apart from God. But now that Christ has reconciled us to God we no longer need to fall back into these things.

We Need to be of Worth. Before we so wanted to be of worth. We needed people to see value in us. We tried really hard to create something to offer others so that they might like us. We needed other's praise so we could feel we were valuable. We may have even been prideful convincing ourselves that we really were better. We may have boasted to build ourselves up, or we may have gossiped and slangered others in order to bring them down. But now we know that God delights in us. He has shown us that we are His treasured, and only His judgment really matters.

We Need to Feel Safe. Before if someone said something that we felt might be attacking us we needed to try to defend ourselves. We needed to retaliate in anger, or run and hide, or put on a front acting like "it was only a flesh wound" when it really hurt. Now the Lord is our defender. He comes to our aid and makes up for our failing. He are able to rest in his security instead of fighting a battle where we are continually in defeat.

We Need Love. Before we tried to find that love in friendships and relationships, maybe even wrongful sexual relationships. We grabbed hold of these very tightly because it was all we had in this love-starved world. But now we know that God Loves us with an everlasting love, we don't need to fear rejection. Now we can live a life of love toward others because we are confident in His Love.

We Long for Intimacy. Before we may have tried to find this intimacy with a girlfriend. We may have even related to them sexually before entering into marriage, seeking that belonging, but not really committing or revealing ourselves. But now we are in relationship with Christ we are known and accepted by him and so we also are able to accept others as well as share ourselves without shame.

The things we did to protect ourselves before in an environment apart from God, didn't really work before and are now pointless in view of the life that we now have as children of God. We need to learn to let go of these disfunctional compensation strategies and hold fast to the Way, Life lived in the Truth of our reconciled relationship with God. The Spirit is our guide as we daily renew our mind, forgeting these silly ways of the past, and living a new life, a life not poisoned by sin.

So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Romans 7:21-25

Filling of the Holy Spirit

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
AMEN.

Like the Apostles Creed we often speak in great detail about God the Father, and all the works of Jesus Christ, but when it comes to the Holy Spirit we don't quite know what to say. We understand that the Holy Spirit exists and that in some way the Spirit is active in what God is doing, but "it" remains abstract. We may even be unsure of what pronoun to use when discussing the Holy Spirit, should we use "he" or "it". For a new believer its even more complex as they may get confused when the term "Holy Ghost" is used, or may think that the Holy Spirit is something like the Force from STAR WARS, or may wonder if it will give them magical abilities.

In John chapter 14 Jesus tells His disciples that He will send the Paraclete, which is translated into English as "Advocate", "Counselor", or "Helper". Jesus makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is not an it, not some type of uncaring Force that just exists, or some symbiotic relationship with impersonal midichlorians. Instead Jesus specifically tells His disciples that he is not abandoning them, instead he is sending the Holy Spirit. "He" and not "It" will be with us forever, He will guide us in Truth, and He will teach us everything. Unlike the Force or some sort of magic, which may be used by both good and evil alike, the Holy Spirit is Good, The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). By the Spirit we are free not to follow the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). The Holy Spirit is not some mystical power that we use to manipulate our world, instead He is our Counselor, a guide that helps us in the process of living the abundant life that Jesus Christ did.

But the Holy Spirit only really has power to transform our lives when we give God full authority. As long as we choose to sit on the throne of our lives He will not work through us. As Chris Adsit so simply expressed our relationship is cyclic God gives us power, direction, and motivation and in return He expects us to respond in obedience, commitment, and discipline. As we do this, we live the fullness of life as it ws intended and enjoy a greater love and dependency on Him.

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my laws.
Ezekiel 36:26-27

Scope and Significance of Salvation

The second training objective seems to build off the foundation of the first. That first opportunity with the new christian gave them security that something amazing had taken place, something of eternal significance. The new brother in Christ was given little hints as to what took place, but this second objective takes those hints and gives an overview of the significance of what has happened.

It's hard to appreciate what you have now unless you understand what you were saved from.

THE BAD NEWS

• A condemned sinner - Romans 3:23
• Separated from God - Isaiah 59:2
• Headed for hell - Revelation 20:11-15
• Unable to please God - Isaiah 64:6

Like the "Prodigal Son", before we came to Christ we wanted to do our own thing. Instead of being His child, we in affect said "I wish you were dead, give me what's mine and I want to do my own thing independent from You". By doing this we headed out on our own path apart from Him, This path deviated from His plan for our life and the deviation we call "Sin". As we moved father away from Him we also separated ourselves from Him. God's path is the only one that leads to Life, so as he treked out on our own we also headed toward death. Instead of being the glorious sons and daughters He created us to be we became enslaved to sin, which continues to dehumanize us. Even when we thought we were doing good things, they did not stem from true love, which is what truly pleased God, and His original intent in His creation. Our sin has gummed up the gears of His incredible system, every created thing.

I'm glad that's not the end of the story. Christ came and redeemed us.

THE GOOD NEWS

• You were declared righteous in the eyes of God - Hebrew 10:12-14
• Your sins are forgiven and forgotten - Hebrews 10:15-17
• The Holy Spirit entered your life - Romans 8:11
• You have been born again - John 3:1-8
• You were given eternal life - 1 John 5:11-12
• You were made into a new creation - 2 Corinthians 5:17
• You were reconciled to God - 2 Corinthians 5:18
• You are no longer at war with God - Romans 5:1
• Redeemed from the hands of the enemy - Colossians 1:13-14
• You became an adopted child of God, with all of the accompanying rights and privileges - Romans 8:15-17
• A wall of supernatural protection was set up around you - Psalm 34:7
• All the angels in heaven know you and are rejoicing over you - Luke 15:10

You can't just put a band-aid on this situation, the only way to stop sin is death, and so Christ died in our place. He took the punishment for our defiance, all of it, none is left. He also gave us His Spirit that we might live the way God intended. With His Spirit we are a new creation, birthed in the spiritual realm destined to live for eternity. We have been reconciled with God, so we can now call Him father, and He calls us His sons and daughters. We used to be defiant, opposed to Him like an enemy, we now are learning to love Him as He continues to shower us with Love. We are no longer filled with fear and shame in His presence, instead we approach Him with the confidence that only His Love can bring. We even call Him intimately "Abba, Father". We have been rescued, we were lost and now are found, and God and all the angels want to celebrate, because we mater that much. He loves us and continues to protect us and care for us as a Good Shepard. How awesome is that!!!!

Blessed Assurance (part 1)

(Just so you know, the title is the name of a Hymn not something I came up with)

First I thought I would talk about what sort of stuff pops in my head when I think of AoS. Really, most of the context I have for assurance of salvation is my own personal experience of it. I haven't spent much time talking with other people about the permanance of their own salvation in Christ. When I first became a Christian the question of whether I could lose it didn't came to my mind by myself. I guess I always assumed that salvation is something that God does to us, not something we do ourselves. That meant that God would have to be the one to change his mind, not me, and I didn't think that he could do that. Also, as a child I also didn't have much opportunity to get involved in sins that would provoke doubt. There weren't many things that happened on a daily basis that seemed wrong or counter to what people talked about at church. Being a Christian is just part of who I was.. like being male. I wouldn't stop knowing about Jesus, and he wouldn't stop knowing at me.. so how could one of us lose the other?

The first time I heard about someone having a problem with that was when my Mom told me that one of her friends was always nervous about "unbecoming" a Christian and losing her relationship with Christ. Even without thinking about any verses that just seemed wrong. Whenever this lady did something she thought was really bad she prayed that the Lord would save her, in case He had left after she messed up. After I heard about this possibility it stuck with me. Mom said that she didn't think that it was possible to become un-saved because of what she had read at the end of Romans 8. That's where Paul lists the things that cannot separate us from the Love of Christ. It's a long list.

Assurance of Salvation

As Chris is very quick to point out "Assurance of Salvation" is in some ways a controversial topic. Many issues related to salvation, like predestination, have caused heated arguments and even the creation of new denominations (like the Presbyterian Church). So we do not enter into this topic lightly.

Like Chris stated many individuals who come to Christ. May only know about the religious experiences they have seem in Hollywood. They may expect the heavens to open up and the singing of angel choirs, or they may expect that the Holy Spirit will give them Jedi-like abilities. They expect that once they have prayed "the prayer" that they will have some sort of religious "experience". When I excepted Jesus Christ into my heart when I was in first grade, I didn't experience any supernatural event, but I did feel like I was doing the right thing, and that was good enough for me at the time.


The Matrix is one of my favorite movies. In the Matrix Neo makes a number of choices, from "following the white rabbit", to "taking the red pill", to "seeing the oracle". Each time more truth is revealed and Neo better understands his world and himself. But each of these events also begins as a let down. He waits at the party all alone until Trinity arrives, After he swallows the pill nothing instantly happens, and after he sees the Oracle all he has is a cookie and feelings of doubt. I don't think this is that much different from someone who prays "the prayer". What they said were words, not some magical incantation, and they may have truly made Christ Lord in their hearts, or they may have just said they would. Unfortunately no one can just try on the Spiritual Life, just like Neo can't simply be told what the "Matrix" is. We either except Jesus as Lord and become born of water and spirit (John 3:5) or we continue are lives simply living on the level of the flesh, a life which is wasting away.

But God doesn't leave our salvation as some hanging question. Are we saved? Are we not? He paid the price for our sins and he wants us to live in the confidence that we have been redeemed from death. The first epistle of John couldn't make it much simpler, "I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. " (1 John 5:13). Jesus couldn't be more clear in his open invitation in the gospel of John, "Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away" (John 6:37). God has made it clear that he's not going to let us go, even when we are unfaithful he will be faithful to us. He's not going to abandon us, he says "I will never leave you and I will never abandon you" (Hebrews 13:5b). If he was willing to give his life on the cross to save ours how much more will he continue to pursue us, even when we are stubborn. As it says "But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

This is exciting truth that should be foundational to how we live. Not only do we now see that God loves us to the point of dying for us, even before we've got our act together. We have also become God's children, born of God (John 1:12). We have become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are clean of our sins, they can't condemn us anymore (Romans 8:1-3). We are no longer enemies of God, instead we are His children (John 3:16-21). This is a relationship that will last for eternity, and it will not be taken away. How wonderful this assurance, it should transform our entire lives!

My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father's hand.

John 10:27-29

About the Personal Disciplemaking Blog

The Guys and I have just finished Part I of "Personal Disciplemaking" and excellent book written by Chris Adsit. Inside the book the author explains the importance of following the biblical model of making disciple to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and bringing people into a mature relationship with Christ. To often individuals can come into the Church and instead of being fed and cared for so that they can grow from spiritual infant to spiritual adult, they often can get lost in large churches and remain spiritual babies. The book outlines how we can fit into God's plan to mature his children. How we can come along side these new Christians and with love and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, can help them to adjust to the yoke of Jesus and begin their journey walking and learning from Jesus daily. As Chris Adsit so simply puts it we are all a work in progress, and as disciples of Jesus we are in a continual learning process.

Part II of the book outlines a number of "Training Objectives" for a new Christian it includes basic foundational truth that every Christian should understand and live by. Its like the "Basic Survival" guide to living a regenerated life, it includes big topics like Salvation, Prayer, God's Word, the Holy Spirit. We have created this blog so that each member of the group can blog what they are learning from these chapters. It's an experiment in distributed study and we'll see if it works. These topics are so foundational in the Christian walk and I look forward to reviewing them and what the Holy Spirit will teach us as we return to these central truths.