Training

I was driving and thinking recently about the Person of Jesus Christ; about how incredible He was in the “days of His flesh” (Hebrews 5:7); His integrity, patience, compassion, selflessness, self-control, etc. If you think of Him you can’t help but grow quiet in deep admiration and amazement for Who He is.

Then one of God’s promises hit me – “We shall be like Him . . .” (1 John 3:2). All who belong to Him are going to have His exact image stamped into their souls. I’m going to be like Him! If we’re honest, is there really anything in time or eternity we want more than that?! Nothing is more important, nothing. So, everything we go through is designed to that end.

“God causes ALL things to work together for good to them that love God, to them called according to His purpose . . . to be conformed to the image of His Son . . .” (Romans 8:28-29)

Who Jesus was as Son of Man wasn’t based on his upbringing or his vocation or his physical appearance or social status. It was based on Who He was within His soul and spirit; it was based on His thinking. Here’s what I mean.

“As he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7).

We are what we think. This is why there is such an overwhelming emphasis placed on our thoughts, our mind, in the Bible.

“Be transformed (into the image of Christ) by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2).

This is where the battle rages and where the victory is won or lost. Circumstances have nothing to do with it. We can have everything we think we want and be miserable or have nothing and be happy. It’s our thinking that determines our personal development as children of God. Freedom, rest, maturity, Christlikeness, etc., all these things are directly related to thinking, to truth (John 8:32; Matthew 11:28-29; 2Peter 3:18; 2 Timothy 3:16 and many more like passages).

Those who are victorious, who have inner happiness and rest, are those who think truth 24/7. For the mature believer every situation, every event, every relationship, every good thing, every catastrophe is run through the grid of truth resulting in thanksgiving or indignation or sadness or joy or rest or patient endurance.

When our minds are filled with, and controlled by the truth (cp. Ephesians 5:18 with Colossians 3:16) which is God’s viewpoint of life, we simply look at our situation and determine God’s will based on His Word and His leading in that instance. Then we move forward in full dependence (not on ourselves) but on His indwelling Spirit to provide the strength, wisdom and resources needed to accomplish God will, “Not by power, nor by might, but by My Spirit says the Lord . . .” (Zechariah 4:6). In principle, living the Christian life is not that complex. Challenging, absolutely, but God never intended this to be beyond our comprehension. The more we “learn of Him” the clearer things become.

Here are a couple of practical illustrations:

In Exodus 14 the children of Israel were faced with two choices: Death by sword (the Egyptian army) or death by drowning. This would be considered an impossible situation, unless death was your goal. The only other alternative would be a miracle – God would have to intervene, which He did. So, as they are standing at the Red Sea they can panic, which they did, or they can apply the truths they’ve learned and exercise faith. They can relax and wait on the Lord. This is not what they did (except Moses, Caleb and Joshua), but they could have.

Abraham was given the promise of having a son to be his heir. Eventually, Abraham was too old to have children, as was Sarah, and no child had been born. So, Abraham faced two choices: Wait on the Lord to fulfill His promise (which took 25 years, by the way) or Abraham could try to help God, which he did and which produced Ishmael and the Arab nations. Some time after the Ishmael fiasco Abraham relaxed, rested and waited. As the years went by, Abraham actually had to “hope against hope” being way beyond the age of being able to have children. But God had promised. This was the truth Abraham knew, so he held on to that in spite of the circumstances of his life which gave every appearance of making the fulfillment of God’s promise impossible.

John had “no greater joy” than to see his children walking in the truth (3 John 4). There are a number of things that can bring a parent joy in relation to his children. John knew what the most important was and rejoiced when he saw it. Why would John place this above love or integrity or any other admirable characteristic? Because when the truth controls the thoughts, the rest will happen naturally.

Hebrews 5:14 talks about having our spiritual senses exercised by moving from milk to meat. A person does not move from weakness to strength physically without consistent exercise. Take a long enough break in your training and you almost have to start over. One does not “run with patience the race set before them” (Hebrews 12:1) in one day. Spiritual maturity is actually defined in several passages as the result of growing in the knowledge of God – going from the elementary principles of Gods Word to the deeper things of the Lord (Hebrews 5:14; 1 Corinthians 2:1-3:2).

The things we desire most, inner rest, happiness, confidence, hope, etc. are the result of moving from infancy to maturity. They are the fruit of the Spirit developed in a life saturated daily with the intake of truth. There’s no other way – there’s no short cut to maturity.

So, what are the specific means given in the Bible for a believer to move from spiritual childhood to spiritual adulthood? The clearest passages on this would be 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17; Ephesians 4:11-15; 1 Timothy 4:16; and a comparison of Hebrews 5:13-14 with 1 Peter 5:2a & 1 Corinthians 3:2a. The bottom-line is simple: Spiritual maturity is reached by growing in the knowledge of our Lord through consistent study and personal application of the Word of God.

As we grow in our understanding of God's Word, the Lord will “test” all we learn by providing pressures and trials so that what we have learned can become part of who we are in real life experience (Romans 5:1-5; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7). As we learn of Him and as the Divine Architect shapes the circumstances of our lives, we move forward to maturity. If the study and application of God's Word is the single, highest, daily priority in our lives we will win; if its not, we will lose. As Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, believed that the attitude of any person toward the Word of God was the most “. . . certain indication of the innermost character and reality of that person's spiritual state.”

Now, nothing I’ve said is probably much of a revelation. We all know that we grow through knowledge learned and lived. However, even Christians who are daily in the Word often find themselves defeated and confused, not because they are unstudied but because they are "untaught" (2 Peter 3:16 "amatheis"). There’s a huge difference.

Just as the role of the pastor involves teaching, the role of the believer involves listening (Hebrews 13:7). It’s a simple system in concept; the pastor studies and teaches, and the congregation listens, learns, and applies the truths they receive. “Untaught” means “uninstructed”. Personal study is important (Acts 17:11) but it can never take the place of being instructed in the Word from those called and gifted of God to do so (Ephesians 4:11-15).

In the early church the believers gathered primarily to hear the teaching of the scriptures; other activities were secondary (Acts 2:42 cp. 1 Timothy 4:6, 11, 16), and for good reason - the primary goal of the Christian life is "growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ ... that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine... but speaking the truth in love, may grow up . . ." (2 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 4:15), and this can only happen as the saints commit themselves in ongoing, faithful submission to the teaching of God's Word.

So, isn’t this happening? Pastors are teaching all over our country. If this is happening, why so much defeat and immaturity? Where’s the breakdown? It’s twofold. First, there are certain realities in "handling the Word of God" (2 Corinthians 4:2 cp. 2 Timothy 2:15b) which must be utilized to insure that effective teaching is taking place. For example, there are definite rules of Biblical interpretation that if ignored can sabotage effectual teaching. Not everyone who is teaching is doing so in a way that can move believers forward spiritually. If the pastor you are under isn’t giving what you need and you limit your intake to what he is offering in spite of a feeling of spiritual starvation, moving forward is not going to happen.

“They (the prophets/teachers) heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially." (Jeremiah 8:11.

Your loyalty to your pastor and church is admirable, but your loyalty to God and His plan for your life must have the highest priority (Matthew 10:37-39).

There are ways to teach the Bible that genuinely instruct and edify the saints and there are teaching methods that leave the church empty - or worse. For instance, the Bible has devotional content, but it is not primarily a devotional book. It is a revelation of the nature, character and plan of God; and these truths aren't going to be learned by devotional-style teaching, and they aren't going to be learned overnight.

Teaching "... all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27b) in all its glorious aspects is what builds the soul and spirit of a young believer into a mature saint. It is God’s plan for us to grow to maturity in this way. Bible teaching is to be accurate, in-depth, and thorough (Colossians 1:28; Acts 20:27).

Personal study of the Bible and reading random books and articles can help, they can supplement, but there is no substitute for learning from the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. Just as salvation is “one way only”, so also is growth to maturity. God has laid out His plan for this in His Word, as well as the reasons it must be this way, and we ignore (or creatively alter) that plan to our own peril.

The second reason for much of the spiritual struggle in our generation is the unwillingness of the saints to persevere under the teaching they need until they reach maturity. This problem was actually prophesied in 2 Timothy 4:3 which states, “For the time will come when they will not endure (lit. persevere in) sound doctrine..." Bearing down (“enduring”) under sound teaching day after day, week after week and year after year is what we must do. “Give us this day our daily bread” has become “give us this week our weekly devotional”. Moving from milk to meat does not mean moving from “Our Daily Bread” to “Max Lucado”. There’s much more to it than that.

God’s not asking for production. He’s not asking for us to help Him do what only He can do. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He loves us with an infinite love and has made complete provision for our growth and happiness. He will work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

What God is asking is for us to grow in grace and knowledge as we learn the truths of His Word by faithfully, consistently listening, praying and applying; getting us to the place where we think the truth at all times, where our minds have been so renewed by the scriptures, away from the thinking of the world (and the resultant misery of the world’s thinking), that we can see God as He really is and share His happiness. A disciple is first of all a student.

Ok, just to be both specific and annoyingly repetitious, let's sum up.

Just as the non-Christian wants to believe there many paths to God, many Christians want to believe there are many paths to spiritual growth. But in salvation God has made one perfect provision, the cross, and anyone who tries to enter another way, will not get in (John 10:1). So also in spiritual advance, God has made a perfect provision. It’s a system of training based on learning in humility under authority through discipline. It’s not a multiple choice. It’s not a smorgasbord. There is one plan, one provision, one way.

"I have come that they might have life . . . the words I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life." (John 10:10, John 6:63).

Life in Christ, as the Lord intended it to be, only comes by the word of God. In numerous passages and principles we are told to live one day at a time. We are to forget the past (Philippians 3:13) and leave the future in God’s hands (Matthew 6:34). The past is past and the future is unwritten. We must live in the present, each day, and in this day we are in training. Each day we are to learn the scriptures from those gifted by God to teach and open the scriptures to us. If our pastor doesn't teach four or five times a week (and whose does?) then there are books, CD's, etc. that are available for us. We can learn through those whom God has called to this ministry as often as we'd like.

The bottom line is - we need consistent instruction; it's a suvival issue. Every day we need new strength. We must be brought into the truth as often as possible, so our minds can be occupied with Christ and the enemy's lies cannot get a grip on us. We can stay above the world and deception we are living in, we can abide in Christ, if His word dwells richly in our souls (Colossians 3:16).

". . . if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules." (2 Timothy 2:5)

The “rules” for spiritual growth are very simple: daily instruction of God’s word under the authority of the spiritual gift of pastor/teacher (Ephesians 4:11-15; Hebrews 13:7,17). This is the system of training for spiritual advance God has provided for His children to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)

It would take a whole study to detail why, Old and New Testament, the humility/authority issue is so vital to the spiritual development of the people of God. It would take another study to demonstrate the need to have the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher engaged instead of simply opting for personal devotions.

Daily devotions isn’t the plan, reading the latest, most popular Christian book isn’t the plan, going to Church on Sunday and maybe throwing in a home group during the week is not the plan. Just as the cults have come up with a multitude of what seem to be Biblical and reasonable plans to get into heaven, Christians have also come up with a multitude of what seem to be Biblical and reasonable ways to move from infancy to maturity, but there’s only one way.

So, all we need to do at this point is ask ourselves two simple questions:

1). Do we know and believe the specifics of God's provision for our growth in Christ?
2). Are we availing ourselves of that provision each day or have we substituted our own agenda?

Every day we make a choice. If we make the right one, by God's grace, we win this race.