Sermon: "Spiritual Growth Hormones???"
If you’re a baseball fan, you probably know that over the past 10-15 years there’s been a growing controversy over the use of steroids. By that I mean that the players will inject themselves with these steroids that allow them to work out and not grow tired. They can add muscle and increase their stamina. The problem for these players, and for baseball, is that the use of steroids is dangerous and illegal.
One of the players at the center of this whole controversy is a guy by the name of Barry Bonds. I want you to take a look at this picture of Bonds that was taken when he first started playing back in the early 90’s – you can see he’s got a pretty slight build. And here’s a picture of Bonds taken recently, and you can see how much he’s bulked up.
He, and other players say they are growing because of lifting weights, but there’s a lot of evidence that points to the use of steroids, and so Major League Baseball is cracking down and testing players to see if they have steroids in their system.
There’s another problem that Baseball is faced with however, and that is something called HGH, which stands for Human Growth Hormone. Unlike steroids, the use of HGH can’t be detected by doing testing on the players, and there are suspicions that many players are using some form of this Human Growth Hormone.
And so there are increasing suspicions that players are using this stuff, again because it helps them to grow, helps them to become stronger, helps them to develop physically.
Kind of makes you wish that their would be some kind of spiritual growth hormone available…something that could help us to grow and develop spiritually.
There’s no such thing of course. Even though many of us here this morning would say that we want to be experiencing spiritual growth, there’s no hormone out there that we can take that’s going to bring it about quickly or easily.
Let me ask you…how important is spiritual growth to you? How much progress have you been making when it comes to your relationship with Jesus?
Let’s take a quick and easy test. Let’s all go back 10 years, to 1997. Think about where you were back then. Where you were living. Married, single, in school. Where you were working. Where you were going to church.
Were you:
Unsaved
An Infant in Christ (Very limited knowledge of Jesus, Bible, Prayer)
On the Journey (learning to worship, learning to serve others, looking to apply what you were learning)
Mature (solid understanding and ability to apply God’s Word, love to worship… dependent on Jesus for everything)
What has happened over the past 10 years?
How much spiritual growth has occurred over that period of time? Maybe you made the decision to follow Jesus in the past 10 years.
Maybe you have become a participant rather than a spectator when it comes to worship.
Maybe you have been able to begin to grasp the love that God has for you…and you’ve been learning to accept it.
Maybe you have learned to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.
Wherever you found yourself 10 years ago, or even 1 year ago, I hope that you’ll be able to look at the depth of your relationship with Jesus and see that it has been growing and developing over time.
Towards that end, what I’d like for us to talk about today is spiritual growth. As I said, there are no spiritual growth hormones available to us, but we do have the incredible benefit of having the Word of God in our possession, so let’s get into it this morning and see what God wants to teach us regarding our spiritual development.
Let’s break this down into 3 parts…we’ll get started by looking at some examples of spiritual growth – individuals found in the Scriptures who experienced what we want to experience.
Then we’ll look at how spiritual growth is something that should take place for all Believers…not just so that we can increase our knowledge, but so that God can get what He’s after…a relationship that becomes more and more personal and meaningful over time.
Finally we’ll take a look at things we can do to grow spiritually, again, so that we truly love Him and know what it is to be loved by Him.
Let’s begin by reading about some…
1. EXAMPLES OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH
I like games, so let’s play one like we did two weeks ago...listen to these passages of Scripture, and see if any of you give me the name of the person who is doing some growing.
I Samuel 2:22-24, 26 Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear spreading among the LORD’s people.
And the boy __________ continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men.
Anyone here who can fill in the blank and tell me who is growing in stature and favor with God? (Samuel)
What a contrast between what’s going on with the sons of Eli and what’s going on with Samuel. Sexual sin was calling back then, and while Eli’s sons are turning their backs on God and giving in to sinful desires that would lead to their downfall, Samuel was committed to the Lord was growing in stature and in favor with God.
Sexual sin is still calling today…calling loud, calling clear…and in the face of all these temptations that we have all around us, wouldn’t it be great to be able to resist and grow in stature and in favor with the Lord? We can, and we’ll talk about it before we close.
How about this one?
Luke 2:40-41 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover.
Who are we talking about here? (Jesus)
We know very little about what was going on in Jesus’ life prior to the last 3 years that He walked among us. But we get a glimpse from this verse and from a few other verses that even during His childhood Jesus was not only developing physically, but spiritually as well.
Later on we read this about Jesus when He was 12 years old…
Luke 2:52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Almost the same exact wording that was used to describe Samuel’s spiritual development. Maybe we should stop and each of us ask ourselves, “Is this me? Am I growing in favor with God? Am I growing in wisdom?”
Someone said that “Wisdom is knowledge applied.” You see, knowledge is good, but all the knowledge in the world isn’t worth a whole lot unless you do something with it.
I can guarantee you that if have been growing in wisdom, that is taking what you read in God’s Word and applying it to your life, then you are growing in stature, and in favor with God, and yes, with men as well.
Let’s look at one more example; see if you can get who is being talked about here…
Acts 9:21b-22 “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet ______ grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
Anybody know who we’re talking about here? (Paul, or Saul as he was called then.)
You see, there was once a time that Paul hunted down and did harm to any who claimed that Jesus was the Son of God. And so you can understand why everyone is perplexed, not sure if they have got the right man here, because now he’s going around proving that Jesus is the Christ.
And very effectively too, because we read that Paul is growing more and more powerful…and I’m certain the Scriptures don’t mean physically, but spiritually.
This is good to read, because it shows us that no matter what kind of life we used to lead, Jesus can change us, and help us to grow strong.
Let’s move on to our second point and see that: Not only can we grow spiritually, but…
2. SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS EXPECTED
We’ve looked at the Scriptures to find examples of others who experienced spiritual growth, now let’s stay in the Bible so God can show us what He’s looking for in regards to spiritual development.
Let’s start by recognizing that God expects us to…
A. Grow Up in our Salvation
I Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Have you ever said anything malicious about another person? Sure. Have you ever been deceitful in order to get your way? Who hasn’t?
Have you ever been a hypocrite, standing up for one thing and doing the opposite? Ever been envious, ever slander someone behind his or her back? Yes, yes, and yes.
And when we do these things, we’re showing our lack of spiritual maturity, aren’t we? The thing is, we’ve all been there, and yet we should be working to leave there. It’s what Jesus is expecting from us.
So here’s what we’re to do…just like a baby craves milk, we’re to crave spiritual milk, something that can strengthen us and help us to grow, so we can leave all that other nonsense behind…all the pettiness and shallowness and weakness that characterizes an immature Believer.
A good source of spiritual milk is the Word of God. When we get into God’s Word we can drink deep…and experience His touch and His pure kindness and His deep love for us. And we miss out on all of that when we neglect God’s Word.
So, God expects us to crave and drink deep from His Word, and if we do this, we can grow. Grow up in our salvation and…
Grow Into Christ
That might sound strange to some of you at first, but this is really what it means. The notion of being one with Christ…to be is such a close relationship with Jesus that He is alive in you is difficult for some to grasp at first. Because all we’ve ever known is living life on our own, depending solely on ourselves.
But we are expected to get to this point of being one with Jesus. There’s a great passage in the 4th chapter of Ephesians where God is showing us how it’s supposed to work in His church, how it’s supposed to work here at Five Forks.
He begins by telling us how He expects us to be working together as a church…smoothly, easily, in rhythm with one another, because He’s put people here with different gifts and abilities that allow for things to come together. And as we work together, if our relationship with Jesus is alive, our church will be very much alive.
For instance, this morning you’ve got me standing up here, but there’s someone in the sound room making sure you can hear me, and someone up there running the PowerPoint presentation in hopes that it will help you retain what you hear. Different people working together, smoothly, easily, in rhythm.
But make sure you understand what God is talking about here… it’s not so much about how well I speak, or how clear the sound is, or how precise the PowerPoint is…it’s also about how the three of us relate to one another and help one another and love one another, even if one of us messes up. Especially if one of us messes up.
If our relationship with Jesus is alive, the way we work together here at Five Forks will be pleasing to God, and His church will be very much alive.
Now let’s go to this passage in Ephesians and pick up with chapter 4, verse 14…
Ephesians 4:14-15 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ.
None of us should ever be content to remain a spiritual infant. God expects every Believer in this church to be growing, working together, sharing with each other what we are learning from God’s Word, talking about what it means to grow up into Him.
This is God’s expectation for His church, around the world, and here at Five Forks.
Now, so far we’ve looked at some examples of spiritual growth, we’ve looked at several passages where we see that God is expecting us to grow spiritually.
Let’s close by looking staying in God’s Word and take a look at…
3. SOME THINGS WE CAN DO TO GROW SPIRITUALLY
I’m going to suggest three things for you to consider. First, you can grow spiritually by…
Putting Away Childish Things
Take a look at what Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Corinth…
I Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
So we ask ourselves…how does a child talk? Sometimes cute, but many times cruel. Kids will be critical, they’ll mock others and laugh about it…and think they’re hilarious.
I was walking with Karen in a store last week, and along came this guy in his 30’s who was dressed different than I would dress…he had his pants pulled up to his rib cage it looked like. You know how our minds go, at least I know how my mind wants to go.
Back to childhood. Back to the days of making fun of somebody for no good reason. Back to spiritual immaturity. For a moment I was tempted to say something to Karen, to make a joke. But I didn’t.
I don’t want to talk that way, or even think that way. How this guy wears his pants is no business of mine…he might be the kindest, gentlest man in the store.
I want to put childish talk and childish thoughts behind me, because I want to be growing closer to Jesus. I want to be growing spiritually.
How does a child reason? If somebody hurts me, I’m going to hurt them back. Right?
And if we continue to reason like children after we become adults, we’ll keep right on with that same attitude. And boy, the fights that can get going.
When someone experiences spiritual growth, and becomes a spiritually mature man, a spiritually m ature woman…they understand there’s another way to reason. To overlook the offense. and not retaliate. Not even go running to your best friend to tell them what somebody said.
Oh for the spiritual maturity to be able to talk, think, and reason like a man and not a child.
This week, I’d like for you to catch yourself when you find yourself talking, thinking or reasoning like a child. And take a step towards spiritual growth by putting it behind you.
Another way to experience spiritual growth is by…
Hungering For Deeper Truths From God’s Word.
We need to follow through on God’s expectation that we will crave pure spiritual milk. There’s a passage in Hebrews that talks about this…
Hebrews 5:14-6:1 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…
What a shame that some people who would have been Believers for many years still have trouble distinguishing good from evil.
One reason for this is because they haven’t exposed themselves to God’s Word in a serious way. They may read it, but they don’t study it and don’t look for ways to apply it.
Let’s not be satisfied to have the extent of our knowledge of God’s Word consist of John 3:16. As important as that verse is, there is so much more.
Some of you know that Jesus loves you, but you don’t know how much.
Some of you know that Jesus lives in you, but you don’t know to what extent.
Some of you know that Jesus can use you, but you don’t know how.
Jesus wants to reach us, He wants to teach us, and yet many never develop any kind of meaningful relationship with Jesus because there is no hunger there…no hunger for the deeper truths.
This week, I’d like to ask you to pursue the deeper truths of God. Take your bulletin and re-read the scripture passages throughout the week. Ask God to show you what He wants to teach you from these passages.
Do this, and it will be an indication of spiritual growth taking place.
Finally, another way to grow spiritually is to…
Overcome Temptation
Is there anything better for our spiritual growth than to get to the point where we say “no” to a temptation that used to just kill us?
You see, giving in to temptation and continuing to sin in this area or that area can shut spiritual growth down.
But how great it is when we stop mocking other people…when we stop visiting the porn sites, when we refuse to join in when those around us – even our friends – are being….childish?
There’s a passage found in God’s Word where John indicates that spiritual growth is taking place because a person is learning to overcome temptation. He writes…
I John 2:14b I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
There is just so much out there isn’t there? All kinds of temptations that keep coming after us day after day after day.
The temptation to get caught up in gossip…the temptation to fall into sexual sin…the temptation to grumble about this and complain about that. The temptation to care more about what others think about us that what Jesus thinks about us.
We just need to remember one very important thing when it comes to overcoming temptation…if we are a Believer, not only does the word of God live in us, but the Word of God lives in us, that is Jesus.
As long as we try to overcome temptation on our own, forgetting that Jesus is living in us, we are doomed to fall into sin time and time again. And any hope for spiritual growth will be pretty dismal.
On the other hand, if, as we grow, we remember that Jesus has all the power we need in order to overcome temptation, and if we simply offer ourselves to Him, we will not only overcome the temptation, we will experience spiritual growth.
This week, identify whatever temptations you might be likely to face. Be ready. Be prepared. So that when it comes, you will right then and there offer yourself to Jesus. Offer Him your eyes, offer Him your mind, offer Him your heart.
He’ll take it, and guard it, that is, He’ll help you to resist the temptation…Because He can, and because He loves you.
CONCLUSION
People grow spiritually. We looked at some examples, but they’re not limited to people in the Bible. People are growing and developing spiritually all around us. Are you?
It’s what God is looking for, it’s what God expects from every believer. We are to crave pure spiritual milk – that is, God’s Word, and we are to grow in our relationship with Jesus, to be one with Him.
There are many ways to do this, but here are three that we looked at this morning:
We can grow by putting away childish things
We can grow by hungering for the deeper truths of God
We can grow by overcoming temptation
Don’t leave these three steps here. Take God’s Word with you. Read and re-read these passages this week. Look to apply them, and you will experience real spiritual growth. And who knows how much you will have grown by this time next year.