Foundations of the Christian Life Chapter 4 - Spiritual Growth through the Bible.

Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 4 Spiritual Growth through the Bible.

We are looking at our spiritual foundation and we have seen that there are three parts to our foundation:
1. Christ.
2. The Word of God, the Bible.
3. A foundation of understanding we need to lay in our lives as outlined in Hebrews Ch6:1-3.

We are presently engaged in looking at some aspects of how the Word of God, the Bible, is foundational for our Christian life. In the last chapter we saw how to be a Christian means, if we are going to be in any way consistent, that we believe and practice Christian beliefs and not those of some other faith. As the only source we have of Christian belief is the Bible it follows that, for the Christian, the Bible has to be the source of all belief and practice. The Bible has to be our authority. If we do not take the Bible as our source then we are left with the scenario that anyone can come up with any idea they like and call it “Christian”. This is not an allowable practice in any other field of human knowledge so there is no reason why we should accept it when it comes to Christianity. Either the Bible is our authority or the word “Christian” means nothing at all.

In this chapter I want to look at the power of the Bible to change us, to grow us spiritually.

The Bible has power.

Isaiah 55:11
“… so is my (God’s) word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

* When God speaks he has a purpose in saying what he says. There is “something” he wants to achieve. That “something” is defined by the word he speaks.
* God’s word “will accomplish” the purpose God has for it. The phrase “will accomplish” implies that the word is not just inert words and breath, rather the implication is that the word of God has personality in itself that can ensure the words are fulfilled as God intended.
* The result is what God says will happen.

Hebrews 4:12
“For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

* God’s word is living and active. It is not dead or inert.
* It has the ability to penetrate deep into the lives of people – to the deepest parts.
* As it penetrates it not only exposes what is hidden inside us, it also judges what is there in such a way that we know right from wrong.

Because the Bible, the word of God, is infused with the power of God, the Spirit of God, it is not just a “dead letter” but is alive and active in such a way that what God says will happen.


But this leads us to the question, “What does God intend to happen through his word?”
To answer this let’s return to some of the Bible verses we have already looked at.

1 John 2:12-14. Three stages of Spiritual Growth.
“I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
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.”

Here John outlines the characteristics of three “stages” of spiritual growth. It is the difference between the first two stages, children and young men, that we want to consider here.
The key difference between the two stages is that the “young men” have learned how, in their experience, “ to overcome the Evil One”, i.e. Satan. John says this twice – just so we get the point. The key to being able to overcome the Evil One is also given: “The word of God lives in you.”

In other words, to grow from being a spiritual baby to being a young man, a warrior, one needs to get into the Word of God in such a way that it “lives in you.”

The word “lives” is significant. The Greeks had two words used in the Bible for “live”. One word means “to have a temporary residence” - this is not the word used here. The other word means “A permanent dwelling place” – this is the word used here.

In other words, “young men” have developed a relationship with the word of God that is so close that it can be said the word is “in them”, it is a permanent part of their lives.

Two other scriptures that give the same idea in a different way:

Hebrews 10:16. The Promise of the New Covenant.
“This is the covenant that I will make with them…, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.”

* God is here promising a new relationship that came through Christ. It is a relationship defined by a covenant.
* In this relationship God is going to "put his laws into the hearts" of people and "write them on their minds". They will be in the hearts because the heart is the deepest place of motivation. From the heart we act subconsciously, without thinking about it. It is the place of automatic actions. The mind is the place of conscious actions. This means there is not just going to be a change in people at a superficial level but at the deepest levels of personality and will.

The idea God is trying to convey here is that his laws, his ways of doing things, will become an inner motivation. The “heart”, in the Bible, means the centre of the human personality, the place that all of our actions and words come out of. In other words God is wanting his ways, his law, to be so central in our lives that we always live, act and speak out of a deep inner motivation powered by his word. In the Old Covenant the Word of God was, to a large extent, external – laws written on stone. In the New Covenant the law will be internal – on our hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:2.
“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.”

* God wants his laws, his ways, so written on our hearts that we always act in accordance with them.
* If this is the case then other men and women would be able to look at our lives and “read” our lives in such a way as to see God in them. We will be a letter from God to them.

The question naturally arises, “How do we do this? How do we get to have God’s law written on our hearts?” The rest of this chapter and the next will be devoted to answering this question.

The first thing we need to realise is that in Christ we already have everything we need to become mature Christians.

2 Peter 1:3-4.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world through evil desires.”

* God’s power has already given us everything we need for life and godliness. There is nothing we will need to get through life that God has not already supplied to us. There is nothing that we will ever need to live a life honouring to God that he has not already supplied.
* The past tense, “has”, tells us that this gift of provision happened when we became a Christian. This provision of God comes “through… him”, i.e. through Christ. The provision comes to us when we accept the “call” God gives us. This “call” has nothing to do with our own goodness or worthiness but is pure grace – it comes out of “his own glory and goodness.”
* Not only has he called us, but his “glory and goodness” have also given us his “promises” and the promises are “everything we need for life and godliness” (The writer is using a Hebrew writing form known as parallelism, where he says the same thing in two different ways). When God gives us a call to become his children he also gives us everything we will need to make that fully possible – but in a promise form.
* Through the promises, i.e. by taking them and making them real in our own lives, we can “participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world through evil desires.” In other words, we will be changed on the inside – instead of evil desires motivating us we will have an inner nature that comes from God. This new inner nature will motivate or words and actions. But it all starts with the promises – and the promises are in the Word of God.

2 Corinthians 1:20
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

* God has made many promises but they all find their “yes” in Christ. In other words they are fulfilled in and through Christ.
* When we agree with the promises – we say “Amen” to them and they become ours in experience then we bring glory to God; i.e. our lives show forth God’s life.

Romans 8:32
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

* God has given us all things – and they come through and with his Son, Jesus.

Ephesians 1:3
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. “

* God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing. The “has” again tells us that this gift happens when we become a Christian.
* These blessings come through Christ.

So God, in Christ, has already given us everything we need to be mature spiritually. But this provision comes to us in the form of promises found in the word of God.

God’s intention is that we take the promises and make them real in our experience so that we grow up spiritually and bring glory to Him.


This doctrine has been called the Doctrine of Legally (or Positionally) vs Experientially. Basically it says this:
1. Because of our position “in Christ” we already have every spiritual blessing.
2. However in our experience this is not yet true.
3. Spiritual growth is the process of taking what we have already been given in Christ and making that real in our own experience.

Two Illustrations of this Doctrine:

Ephesians 1.

In this chapter Paul lays it out for us:
V3 We already have every spiritual blessing.
V13,14 This gift of every spiritual blessing is the Holy Spirit. Compare Ephesians 1 with 2 Corinthians 1 where Paul again talks about the gift of the Spirit in the same context as the gift of the promises of God. For Paul the gift of the Spirit is the gift of the promises of God. The same idea is found in Romans 8:32 which is part of the great chapter by Paul on the gift of the Spirit.
V18ff We need to come to “know” what God has given us. The word “know” here means to “know in intimate personal experience.”
We are given “every spiritual blessing” but the problem is they are all “in heavenly places”. We have the task of, through faith, bringing them down to our life and experience here on earth so that we can be what God has already given us.

Joshua 1.
In Joshua 1 God gave the promise of the land of Palestine to the nation of Israel. The force of the Hebrew is not future, but past, “the land which I have given you (v2)”. In God’s mind it was a done deal. He had made the gift. Then God tells them “every place you put your foot on will be yours (v3).” They had to go in and possess their possessions. This was going to involve a bit of a fight.

In the same way God has given us, not a promised land, but a land of promises. We too must enter in and possess the land he has given us in the Spirit.

HOW DOES THE BIBLE CHANGE US AND PROVIDE FOR US EVERYTHING WE NEED?

Answer: He wants to use the inherent power in the word to change us

2 Timothy 3:16,17.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. “

* God's word is inspired – “God breathed” – energised by God’s Spirit. It has power.
* “and is useful for”

But the question is “What is it useful for?” We need to do a little English grammar analysis here. One of the things we need to do when reading anything is to get the key idea and not be distracted by side comments. In this passage when we ask, “What is the Bible useful for?” there are several comments that are side issues and two comments that are important. We identify what is important by eliminating the prepositional phrases (Prepositional phrases are side comments, not the big idea).

“for teaching” - prepositional phrase
“for reproof” - prepositional phrase
“for correction” - prepositional phrase
“for training in righteousness” - prepositional phrase

These are not the big idea – the big idea is still to come.

“so that the man of God may be” two things:
a. “Complete.”
b. “Equipped for every good work.”

This is the big idea – we need to be complete and be able to do everything God wants us to do – this is what we want isn’t it?

What does it mean to be complete?
Scripture tells us that mankind is lacking. Because of sin we are broken, lacking what God wanted us to be. We fall short of the glory intended for us. God’s purpose in Christ is to make us complete, whole – reflecting the glory he intended for us. All our brokenness restored to wholeness. The Bible usually calls this Holiness.

Now God’s way of making us whole is through the Bible. And he has four methods that are outlined in this scripture:

a. “For doctrine”
b. “For correction”
These first two are to do with what we believe.

c. “For Instruction in righteousness”, i.e. in right living.
d. “For Reproof”, i.e. correction of wrong doing.
These last two are to do with what we do, how we live.

We need to understand these four things:

a. “For Doctrine”.
This is the teaching of right belief. What we believe is important because what we believe will determine what we do. If we are confused about what is true than we will not act correctly in certain situations. Right doctrine is important. One of the lies of this age is that, “it doesn’t matter what you believe, what you feel to be true is more important.” But what happens when I feel one thing and you feel another? We can’t both be right. The common way to answer this is to say, “What you feel is true for you and what I feel is true for me.” This reduces knowledge to a personal whim or feeling. It implies that there is no objective truth that we could know to decide on what is truth. But in real life we all know that such a stance is garbage. It is not true in science or in any other field of human knowledge so why try to make it true in areas of religion and morals? It is woolly thinking at best. Right doctrine is important.

b. “For correction”.
This is the correction of wrong belief. If there is “truth” and it is Jesus, then anything that contradicts that truth is “not truth” – it is by definition wrong. The bottom line is all religions and philosophies are, in a sense, intolerant – and Christianity is no different. In fact science is intolerant. You just see how far you will get in the world if you are a scientist and you don’t believe in gravity or some other basic scientific fact. Science is extremely intolerant of deviation from what it considers to be true. Every belief system is intolerant of anything that disagrees with it. If you doubt that try taking a Christian position with a Hindu or Bahai philosopher. In theory they accept all beliefs but they get very intolerant when faced with Christian belief.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father (God) except through me.” This is a very exclusive statement. Either Jesus was right or he was wrong. If he was wrong then we can disregard everything Jesus said because he obviously wasn’t sure of the truth. But if he was right then it draws a line in the sand, as it were, and says that “all the other religions and philosophies are not ways to God, only Jesus is”. This is a very intolerant stance to take.

It is all a question of what authority one is accepting.

The point is this – if there is a truth – and we believe it is Jesus, then things that disagree with that must be untruth – wrong – and so need correcting. Part of the function of scripture – and of Bible teachers - is to correct wrong thinking. Being a Christian necessarily involves making the decision that Jesus was right in what he said, and so as Christians we become exclusive and intolerant by definition. But this is no different to any other religious group.

c. “For instruction in righteousness”.
The Bible idea of righteousness is not a philosophy or idea but a way of life that is pleasing to God and will bring us to wholeness. God says here that the Bible will teach us how to live as whole human beings.

d. “For reproof”
Again if there is a right way of living there is, logically, wrong ways to live and when someone is caught in a wrong way of life they need to be corrected. This the scripture does - it reproves those who go astray.

2 Peter 1:3-9 – says the same thing as Paul was talking about in 2 Timothy 3:
v3,4. "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

V5-9. "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."


* The end – what God wants to achieve through his word – is twofold:
(i) Who we are - “Participate in the divine nature and escape corruption” (vs 3,4).
(ii) What we do - “Will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive” (vs 9).
* But in between is a process – we “add” one thing to another in a specific order. And the things we add are character qualities. We need to be adding them in such a way that they are increasing in our lives.
* We get these character qualities by claiming the promises.


If the word of God can change our lives and make us like Christ the next question must be, “How do we tap into the power of the word to change us?” What is the process?

The answer to this will be the content of the next chapter.

HOMEWORK.

1. Read Psalm 119 during the week. On a piece of paper make a list of all the things that are mentioned there that the Word/Law/Statutes/etc does for us. Many are mentioned several times, note the references beside them.

2. From the list made in question 1 choose one thing that you feel you have a need for God to help you with. Write out the promises in full from Psalm 119 on a card or piece of paper. Carry it with you all week. Read it several times daily – out loud. Claim the promise God gives to meet that need. Keep the list made in answering question 1. You will need it later to claim other promises.

Claiming the Promise (say something like this):
"Father I am aware that I have a need in this area of my life (be specific – don’t just name it generally but give details of the problem area that you want God to act in).
Father I see in your word in Psalm 119 that you have provided for this need through your word (Quote the specific promises that relate to that need).
Father I claim these promises now and I ask you to move to meet this need because of your promises, In Jesus name I ask it, Amen."

Then look out – God will begin to move, but it might not appear so at first. We will find out why next chapter. Be open to God to speak to you from other scriptures about that need.


TRANSFORMER VERSES.

2 Corinthians 3:2.
“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.”

Hebrews 10:16.
“This is the covenant that I will make with them…, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.”

Hebrews 4:12
“For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

PRAYER:

Father God, I understand that you want to change me so that other people can see in my life the glory of God. You want me to be a letter that can be read by all men.
Father, I understand that for this to be true you have to write your law on my heart and mind so that it becomes the basis of all my thoughts and actions.
Father I want this to be true of me. I invite you, by your Spirit and by your Word, to penetrate deep into my heart and mind to expose and judge the deep thoughts and intentions of all my thoughts and actions so that I can give them to you to be cleansed. I want to be a partaker of the divine nature and be free from the lust that is in the world. Set me free, I pray, by your word.
In Jesus name I ask this, Amen.