Faith Firmly Rooted

As a minister of discipleship within a local church, I can relate many stories of people finding a Bible Study within our church, plugging in, and beginning to grow deep roots in God's word and in their relationship with Christ.

For others, finding the right Bible study can be a challenge.  Here are some things to keep in mind about that.

Ask yourself: Whose job is it to see that I grow spiritually?

Here are the most common answers to such a question.

1. It is my pastor's job

Yes and no on this one.  Your pastor is entrusted with shepherding and  spiritual caring for the "flock" that God has placed under his stewardship.  However, if all you do is come to church, sing some songs, and listen to a sermon once a week, you might or might not actually ever begin to grow spiritually.  Most every pastor (and virtually every pastor worth listening to) would agree that if you really want to start growing spiritually, you'll need to be involving yourself with other believers in Bible study and prayer.  Do you know what statistics are showing to be the number one proven way for churchgoers to begin growing spiritually is? It is simply this: Prayerfully study the Bible when you are not at church!  Your pastor can't force you to do that, but he can certainly influence and encourage you to do so.

2. It is my church's job (or my discipleship pastor's job)

Yes and no on this one. Your church (and your discipleship pastor if you have one) are like your pastor in that they are entrusted with overseeing and facilitating the spiritual development of those God has placed under their stewardship.  However, as much as they labor to assist in people's spiritual growth and make it easy for them, sometimes it doesn't seem to happen.  I occasionally receive complaints from people that they are not growing spiritually...some of whom are deeply involved in a Bible study.  I know...it is a head scratcher.  But even though your church and your ministers strive hard to help you grow spiritually, the job is partly your responsibility as well.  Do you show up to church ready to listen and learn?  Do you attend a Bible study at your church expecting to hear God speak to you through the scripture?  Or are you waiting for just the right Bible study to come along with just the right people with just the right teacher?  You might be waiting a long time. 

3. It is MY job

This might be getting close to the right answer.  It's almost there.  As we said before, you should absolutely take responsibilty for your own spiritual growth.  Don't let obstacles deter you from it.  Your pastor will try to influence and the church should provide avenues for spiritual growth, but nothing is stopping you from picking the Bible up or praying.  Every day, spend time in prayer and Bible study.  Don't let your spiritual growth rise or fall on a Bible study teacher or whether you can manage to squeeze in time for a small group during the week on top of serving and worshipping.  Take ownership of your spiritual development.  Make it your priority.  Rearrange your schedule and priorities if you must.  See if you can let God have your heart every single moment of every single day whether you are at church or not, whether you are reading the Bible or doing anything under the sun!  And yet, the responsibility doesn't rest on you alone...

 

4. It is God's job

Here's a very important truth.  God desires that you grow spiritually.  And He is orchestrating it behind the scenes in countless ways - through the experiences He allows you, through the relationships you have, through the sermons you hear, prayers you pray, conversations you have, etc.  Even when you think you are not growing spiritually, God might strongly disagree.  Watch and pray for eyes to see how He is growing you and stretching your faith even in ways you might not see at first glance.  Write them down if you need to.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  (Philippians 2:12-13)

Notice that there are two things at "work".  We are continuing to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  The idea is that we strive to live in obedience to God and live for Him.  But the second "work" is God's work.  And it is a different tense.  This is a completed work that is already finished.  Someone once said, "We are in the process of becoming who God already sees us as."  Christ saved us.  We are in the process of living like it and in the process of being saved. (The big word for the process is sanctification...we are in the process of being sanctified or made holy or set apart.)  We do our everything to grow spiritually, knowing that it is ultimately God alone who brings it about in our lives, in His own ways and in His own timing and He who started the work in us will be faithful to complete it...and this is so certain that He already HAS completed it! 

Whose job is spiritual growth anyway?  YES...your pastor and your church play a part.  YES...you are accountable for your own spiritual growth.  YES and most emphatically...God grants it, He does it, He gets the job done in His people's lives.     

-RCW

Most sincere apologies for not having written anything for almost a month!

Last month, I read some very cool news from my dear old Wheaton.  For the full press release, you can click here.  It seems that the Billy Graham Center Archives of Wheaton College are opening up to the public more treasures from the past.

The story of missionary couple Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, who served among the Waorani people of Ecuador, is widely known to American evangelicals through their published writings as well as the movie entitled "End of the Spear," which was based upon their story. After Jim and four fellow American missionaries were martyred by the Waorani (also called the Huaorani, or the Auca Indians by non-Waorani) on January 8, 1956, Elisabeth Elliot returned to continue ministering to the people who had taken her husband's life, she edited and published his journals, and later wrote more than 20 books.

In January, the Billy Graham Center Archives made additional writings available for the first time, as the 54th anniversary of the missionaries’ murder approached. Thirty previously unpublished letters, dated from 1953 to 1959, provide insights into the relationship the Elliots had with the Williams Community Church of Williams, Oregon. The church was one of several which provided financial and prayer support for the Elliots. Williams Community Church donated the letters to the Archives last year. They are now posted at wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/docs/Elliotletters/intro.htm.  I might add that Jim and Elisabeth happened to have graduated from Wheaton as well.  :)

The story of those martyred missionaries and the glory that God brought about through their tragic deaths is a story worth remembering.  For myself, it definitely brings to mind some ideas about the theology of suffering and how God's ways are far beyond our own understanding.  Sometimes it seems that by allowing evil, God brings about an even greater good than if He had not.  (For more on this, just read some Alvin Plantinga's God, Freedom, and Evil).  Or for a Biblical reference, some good examples would include:

• the story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50 --- see especially Joseph's statements in Gen. 45:4 and 50:19-20),
• Job (the book of Job), 
• Jesus (the Gospels --- Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), 
• the early church's martyrs (the book of Acts), and 
• Paul's words about God having allowed him to have a "thorn in his flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7-10).  

       These are just a few examples among others.

Do you have an opinion?  Leave a comment!

-RCW

Well, 2009 has come and gone and evidently, my informants ESPN alerted me a few days ago (with their "top ten plays of the decade" and whatnot) that a decade has drawn to a close.  This of course should not have been news to me, but somehow my silly brain was imagining that it would be another year (at the completion of 2010) that such a "turn-of-the-page" would come.  Seeing as how I have only lived through a couple of these decade things, and seeing as how the last one changed when I was all of 18, I am hit with the magnitude of the occasion.

Not wanting to let the moment slip by without sneaking in a quick line, I worked to squeeze in time for a post.

I have spoken before of how the Christian life---from our birth, to our spiritual birth or conversion, and throughout our entire life until our dying day---is a process.  It is a spiritual journey in which God is drawing us closer to Himself.  We may not always understand how or why or that it is even happening, but for Christians walking with God, He is perfecting us all the while and transforming us back into the image-bearers He meant for us to be...in the image of Christ. I have written about this subject (sanctification) previously.

With that spiritual and theological reality firmly in mind, let me ask you----could you adequately map your spiritual journey in words or art or music or a line graph or some medium of the sort?  What if you reflected on where God has brought you, what He has done in you, what He has transformed about you and when by the decade?  Where were you spiritually in the early 80s?  What changed about your faith by the mid 90s?  What did God do in your life by 2000 or by the time you had children, etc?  This is a spiritual journey and it is important (even very Hebrew) to walk forward through life looking backwards over your shoulder and recalling the great things that God has done.  This reflection is also healthy, deeply rewarding, and often humbling.  It also happens to be a marvelous spiritual exercise to start any new year.

Have a happy one!

-RCW

P.S. One of the astonishing things about this sort of activity is that you may at times be tempted to think that you had certain times or years when you were far from God or that you felt distant from Him.  Let me encourage you that it is often in our lowest and bleakest of states that God is doing the most refining and bringing about the most spiritual growth in our lives.  If I were to graph the spiritual "valleys" of my life, I doubt very much if God would chart them as valleys...to Him they might be mountaintops.  For it is when we are weakest---when we must lean most closely upon Him for everything---that His power is perfected in us.  To adapt some words from A.W. Tozer: "Before God can use a man greatly, He has to break a man deeply." 

P.P.S. For you theology dorks like me out there, Wayne Grudem provides a good spiritual growth graph of this sort in his Systematic Theology in the section on sanctification.   

You might have guessed that there would be more to come on this topic. The discussion arose over the occasional question posed in a variety of ways: Where should a new believer start? With just a twinge of sarcasm, I mentioned one thing in the first posting: Starting with the Bible may be the most novel thing to do. Ya think?! I mentioned two things in the last posting: 1) Start a journal; and 2)In that journal, record any thoughts or questions you might have or topics you'd like to study. Pray and seek answers relentlessly.

Here now comes still another bit of wisdom.

Be on your guard for discouragement will most assuredly come to you sooner or later. Here are 2 possibilities that frequently cause discouragement in the early stages of our walk with Christ:


• ONE possibility is opposition from outside. One reality we often dismiss or forget is the simple fact that the enemy Satan always seems to mount a counter-attack of sorts. Sometimes it is as sure as clockwork. This is why if you were to come to me ecstatic over your friend, coworker, loved one, or whomever becoming a Christian, more and more I believe that the best thing I could do is to urge you: "Now you REALLY have to pray!" We should always pray very hard for those who have just newly become followers of Christ. For the scriptures even promise that there will be trouble awaiting them on account of their decision. If we think of this in terms of the reality of spiritual warfare, we will understand the exchange that has taken place. The enormous truth is that the new believer has become a traitor to his original army (evil) and has joined the ranks and battle lines of the opposing side (righteousness). Turning from the kingdom of darkness and joining the kingdom of Christ is a decision that those living in darkness (be they spiritual beings or human ones) will surely want to persuade you to reconsider.



• The SECOND possibility is that the discouragement comes from within. There is a marvelous book that any Christian might enjoy entitled Letters Along the Way. One of the early difficulties for the main character of the book was that once he became a Christian, he constantly felt terrible about himself. His conscience was suddenly so acutely aware of his sin and so aware of his shortcomings, so stricken by the chasm between God's perfection and his own non-perfection, that he became very discouraged indeed.
  
  If that describes you, rest assured that the feeling of inadequacy is one that is not only normal, but to an extent encouraged. In fact, that feeling is likely the result of the Holy Spirit already working within you. Dwelling on your own shortcomings can lead to guilt. And this sort of guilt is much different than the natural feeling of conviction from the Holy Spirit. One leads us to throw up a white flag and surrender, sulking over ourselves. The other leads us to fall on our knees in repentance so that we can live in the victory that is ours thanks to the forgiveness extended to us by our Most Holy God. God wants us to redirect this new feeling to its proper result - He wants us not to wallow in self-centered grief, but to look to Him and let this feeling cause us to overflow with gratitude for His grace and mercy He has shown us by cleansing us and making us holy.
  
  
  

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while,

'He who is coming will come and will not delay

But my righteous one will live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.'

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." ~ (Hebrews 10:35-39 NIV)~

-RCW

I had to hunt down the place that I had seen the title of this entry ("Failing Forward") before. Turns out the title is borrowed from a John Maxwell book I once saw (though I KNOW the contents are not very similar). If I insert a link to the book here, I am sure no one will sue me. :)

Anyway, since it has been a while since I wrote anything, I will pick up the laptop (no more pens I suppose) and write.

The date is difficult...January 14th is now upon us. Our resolutions have recessed into the back of our consciences. Our priorities -- so sleekly and newly structured at the New Year -- have relapsed and slid back into their default positioning. Our gym membership we were so excited to get for Christmas hasn't been used in 6 days and we have plans every night for the next week that will keep us from breaking the trend.

I don't know if this describes you, but the bottom line is that January can be one of the most depressing months for many people - myself included. It's still cold outside, the sun doesn't always show itself, and perhaps your favorite football team is done for the year.

Maybe you've never noticed this rather depressing January phenomenon that I'm describing, but for many people it is very real. For some people, their entire spirituality suffers. After all, depression is something that can really disrupt or dissolve our spiritual lives if we allow it. One of the most common ways this is seen is at New Year's when Christians make lofty goals -- a goal of reading the Bible every day or spending 30 minutes in prayer every day, memorizing x number of scriptures per month, etc. Many times, by January 14th, people lose heart and simply give up.

If that's you, DON'T.

Don't resign to failure. In the words of one of my favorite bands (though ripped from their original context, of course): "Don't write yourself off yet."


Consider Hebrews 12....
In Hebrews 11, we are presented with a series of "heroes of faith." The writer of Hebrews (whoever it is...there is not much agreement upon who wrote it) presents many pillars of faith from the Old Testament and tells of how they trusted in God even though they didn't always get to see results. Hebrews 11:1 - "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction (or evidence) of things not seen."

The sum of Hebrews 11 is that all of those Old Testament characters had to exercise faith in God because the things He promised them and the things they hoped for...they were not always seen. In fact, MOST of the fulfillment of God's promises weren't seen in their lifetimes.

Hebrews 12:1-11 picks right up and says, on account of all these people who have gone before us, "Therefore...." Well, you should read it for yourself here.

Press on. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. You are not under law, but under grace. You walk by faith and not sight. Run with perseverance. Shed hindrances to your faith...even when they come from your own thoughts.

Don't allow the enemy to paralyze you in the present because of what has happened in the past. It's one of his more clever and predictable schemes.

Today is a brand new day to live for Christ. What we all seem to remember is that Ephesians says that it is by grace through faith that we have been saved. What is easy to forget is that Colossians turns around and says this: Therefore in the same way as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk (live your lives) in Him..."


-RCW


P.S. If you have a hard time thinking of failures and struggles being opportunities to grow in your faith, or if you think that doubts and depression are not part of a true Christian's life, I would strongly challenge you to think differently. There are plenty of great resources on the topic. There are plenty of lives throughout church history to testify about it. There is plenty in the scriptures to correct such error. I rest confident that doubt and disillusionment in the Christian life can be a tremendous catalyst for spiritual growth - I'm living proof.