Recently I was talking with one of the members here and they were remarking about how much they get out of Aaron's lessons.
And of course I said that and he's not here.
Oh wait, no he isn't.
Is he there?
Anyway.
That was a route track.
Let's start over.
Recently I was talking with one of the members here and they remarked about how Aaron's lessons were so powerful, so informative in helping them grow as a Christian.
And you know what?
There's a thought that comes from this that I want us to understand Growing as Christians doesn't stop when we become a new Christian Growing as Christians is something that we do
constantly That we do as we mature in Christ as we grow old physically that is what we do is we are growing in Christ Now to illustrate this we think about a tree that is planted
well
the tree that is planted it takes time to grow it takes time to to mature to come to a point where it can bear fruit and we say that at the point where it can bear fruit that it
is mature but does the tree stop growing no no the tree is constantly growing as long as it will remain alive it is going to grow it's going to spread its roots it's going to
produce more more branches it'll grow and grow and grow and that is how we are to be as christians
We don't stop growing, but we continue to grow.
A key text, or the key text if you will, of this lesson is 2 Peter 3, 18.
And as Peter is concluding his second epistle, he gives a command that we as Christians must observe.
And in this command he says, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be glory both now and forever.
Amen.
We have to grow.
As Christians, this is uh not a suggestion.
This is a command.
And so today we want to take the time to ask the question and to answer the question, is growing in Christ, rather, just for new converts?
Of course it's not.
And we'll notice that as we enter this lesson today, or this afternoon, the first point we want to note, the first point we want to consider
and looking at this idea of growing in Christ is the idea that it is a command.
It is a command to grow.
when we ask this or when we mention that this is a command we must ask the question well who is amenable to this?
To whom is this remark made?
Is it just for for those Christians to whom Peter was writing or is it for all Christians?
Well of course we understand that this command is given to all Christians.
Everyone who reads this word everyone who names the name of Christ is given the command to grow.
Some might look at growth and they say, well, I've been a Christian for 30 years and I don't need to grow.
I've learned all that I need to know.
There's nothing more for me to learn.
Yeah, that preacher, he can get up there and he can say a few things and that's nice and all, but there's nothing more that I can learn.
I've reached the pinnacle.
know, the Bible says something about that.
When we look at the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 5, starting in verse 12, the Hebrews writer rebukes those to whom he is writing because they had reached this point
where they said, don't need to know anything.
I don't need to know anything more than what I already know.
And yet the Hebrews writer remarks to them that you ought to be teachers.
You ought to know more than you know right now, but now you need to go back and learn the first principles.
Now you're at the point where you need to go back and have a new convert study if you will.
You need to have this all these things that you should have had so strong and you should be able to teach them to others.
You now have to have them taught to you again.
And that's what happens when we have this mindset in our hearts that I can't learn anything else.
I don't need anything else.
But if we are to fulfill this command, if we are to grow in Christ, we must first ask, well, what is growth?
What does it mean to grow in Christ?
There's different ways of defining the term grow, but one in correlation with the word that is translated grow in 2 Peter 3, 18, it carries this idea of to increase, to make
large, to strengthen, to be fruitful.
In terms of our growing as Christians, it's more to it than just learning more facts.
Growth in the life of a Christian is more than just saying, I've memorized now 20 scriptures instead of the 10 that I knew originally.
No, growing in Christ means strengthening your faith.
Yes, memorizing passages of scripture, yes, knowing further facts about scripture is crucial
to having a better and a stronger faith but there's more to it than just memorizing words on a page or or reading words on a page.
Growing in Christ is taking what we learn and applying it to our lives to make us stronger as Christians to make us better in the service of God.
That's what growth is.
But so we ask the question then, how does this happen?
How do we see growth take place?
Well, first and foremost, staying in the book of 2 Peter, we find that faith is grown by adding to it.
Look with me at 2 Peter chapter 1.
2 Peter chapter 1.
starting in verse five.
And beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to
godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now remember what was it that we said was one of the definitions
for growing or for growth is this idea of being fruitful.
If we want to grow, if we want to be fruitful in Christ, then we can't stay as we are.
We can't stay the same.
We have to add to our faith.
We have to add to this virtue.
We have to add to this knowledge.
We have to add to temperance and so on and so forth down this line.
A good study to increase faith on the practical level would be to go through these different verses or these different attributes that we have to add to our faith and to
take note of each of these individually, to study them, to apply them in our lives.
That's how we grow.
But we also grow by increasing our prayer life.
When we look at 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 17, there Paul writes to pray without ceasing.
Now of course we know that Paul is not literally saying you can never stop praying.
From the time you get up to the time you go to bed you're to be praying that entire time.
That's not what Paul is saying.
Rather Paul is saying we have to have a mindset that we are always going back to God to pray to him.
Prayer is not just something we do three times a day.
when we think about who God is.
to us, He is our Father.
As Christians, He is our Father, not just any father, because we know that Father sometimes cannot be the best, cannot be as close to us as we might like and appreciate,
but this is a good Father.
God the Father is the best Father.
He's a Father who loves us and cares for us so deeply.
when looking at who God is, should we not want to talk to Him?
Should we not want to go to him in prayer?
Brothers and sisters, prayer is not just about asking God for things.
Prayer is not just about, let me tell you what happened with so and so today and how they wronged me.
Sometimes prayer is just thanking God for who He is
and the practical side of things.
and looking at how to apply this go through Psalms read the Psalms note the prayers that David wrote in them note the prayers that the psalmist would write.
sometimes yes it was God here are these enemies that are besetting me here is this wrong that's going on and do something about that God please but other times it's I will praise
thee for I am beautifully and wonderfully made
Sometimes it's thank you Lord for who you are.
Thank you for your mercy, for your wisdom and power.
We are to be people of prayer.
But in that prayer, we need to understand that we need to be asking for things according to his will.
In 1 John 5 and verse 14, we are reminded in prayer to remember what God's will is.
1 John 5 and verse 14.
Ahem.
John would write, and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we desired of him.
Verse 14, excuse me.
And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.
according to His will.
What was the prayer that Jesus prayed in the garden?
Did He say, Father, get me out of this, and that was it?
Or did He say, if there be any way, let this cup pass from me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, as thou wilt.
when we are praying we need to remember that it's not about us.
It's not about our desires but it is all about God's will.
It is all about who God is.
In James 4 and verse 3 we are told that they did not receive what they wanted because they asked to miss.
That they may consume it upon their own lusts.
They were praying to God for things that they ought not for things that were not according to God's will and then they were wondering why they didn't get them as if God owed them.
No brothers and sisters, God does not owe us and that is not why we pray.
We do not pray as if God were some genie that we can rub the lamp and then ask our wishes and he has to grant them.
No.
No, God is so much more and he is the one with a final say, not us.
but we also grow by being diligent.
By having this diligence, remember that in 2 Peter chapter 1, he says, giving all diligence.
We don't just add willy-nilly, so to speak.
No, we have to give diligence.
It is hard work to add to our faith.
It takes time.
It takes effort.
Because remember, with some of these things that we are changing, we're changing parts of our lives.
We're changing attributes that we said defined who we were.
But notice I said were.
Because when we are buried in baptism, we bury that old man.
When we are raised to walk in a newness of life, we are a new creature.
And yet so many times there are those who claim to be Christian and yet act just like they did in the world.
If we are to grow in our faith, we cannot stay the same.
And in this idea of tearing down, it hurts.
You think about when you're building muscle, it's an old adage I know, but when you're building muscle, it hurts.
It hurts to tear it down.
Justin knows.
It hurts to tear that muscle down.
But the reward, it comes back stronger.
Through that pain, there is growth.
Sometimes as Christians we face hardship that is unbelievable at times.
Though Job did.
And yet through those difficulties, Job didn't charge God foolishly.
But rather he would remark to his wife when she says, why are you waiting to curse God and die?
What's left for you, Job?
He says to her, we've received good things from God.
ought we not to receive that also in other words job is saying it's God's will who am I to question it
That right there is faith.
That right there is a faith that we need to have.
but also a faith that we need to have, a faith that grows, is a faith that follows after your pure religion.
Look with me at James chapter one.
James one in verse 27.
Here James writes, pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the foggabless and the widows and their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the
world.
Two ideas are brought out here.
Number one is caring for others.
Part of being a Christian is caring for others, is meeting the needs of those who are in need.
If we can help
then offering that help.
That's part of being a Christian.
But James doesn't stop there.
He doesn't stop with just saying, pure religion is helping those in need.
No, he says keeping himself unspotted from the world.
What does this mean?
Well, this has the idea that we are not diving headfirst into the world.
We are not following after worldly things, but rather, no, we...
We are following after God.
We are seeking to serve Him above all.
Yes the world pulls at us at times.
Yes Satan comes at us with his temptations trying to lure us away from the Lord.
But if we're to keep ourselves unspotted from the world then we resist the devil.
And you want to know the best part about that?
The word of God tells us resist the devil and he will what?
Flee from you.
But we have to be strong enough to resist.
And therein lies the struggle.
But ultimately we understand that this is a command.
We are commanded to grow.
But we will never grow unless we determine to grow.
you won't grow by accident.
That goes back to the hard work aspect of it.
If we are going to grow, we have to determine, I am going to be the best I can for the Lord.
I am going to serve my Lord more faithfully and so I am going to grow.
Whatever it takes, whatever I need to change.
That is a heart that will grow.
But number two, we look at the conduct.
We even notice the command first, the command to grow.
And now we look at the conduct, how to grow.
In what way are we growing?
grace.
We grow in grace.
Grace is the attitude that governs the command to grow.
You know someone once said ability is what you're capable of doing.
Motivation determines what you do but attitude determines how well you do it.
Brothers and sisters if we have an attitude that says it's a chore to go to worship.
It's a chore to read my Bible and don't even get me started on praying.
That is not a heart that will grow.
That is an attitude that is against growth.
We must grow in grace.
The word translated grace and in this passage carries this idea of thankfulness, of favor.
And so with it comes this idea of we are thankful to God for what He has done.
We are thankful for the word that He has left us by which we can grow and we are seeking His favor.
We are seeking to have the favor of God.
And the only way that happens is if we follow Him.
as if we obey His word.
Look with me at Colossians chapter one.
Colossians chapter one.
We'll start in verse nine.
Here Paul is writing concerning this idea of growth and he says for this cause we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be
filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might.
According to his glorious power unto all patients and long suffering with joyfulness giving thanks unto the Lord unto the father Which hath made us mean to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light?
Paul shows that he is praying for the brethren in Colossae and this prayer is not one of saying well I hope that they just stay where they are I hope that they don't fall back.
I to to be fair.
That is a part of it is not falling back into sin
But he is praying for them to go forward, to increase in their faith, to grow stronger in their knowledge of God, to learn more about who he is and to be thankful to him.
Some have asked the question, well, why should I be thankful to God?
And usually this question is asked in a situation in which there's a lot of hardship, maybe financial difficulty, the passing of a loved one.
And the individual asks, why should I be thankful to God?
What has He done for me?
It's never easy in moments of great difficulty to realize what God has done.
But when we stop and take a moment to consider, take a moment to understand that God died for you.
Jesus died on that cross for you.
Yes, there's difficulty on this earth, yes.
But the reward, the blessing that God left for us to have
if we obey Him is so much greater, is so much better than anything we could hope for on this earth.
That's not all God did for you.
Again, looking at the Psalms, we can see how much God has done in this world.
How much good God has done for each of us.
I'd encourage each of us to take the time sometime this week, just sit down and write out everything that God has done for you.
And don't forget the fact that you're breathing because He allowed it.
The air in your lungs is a blessing of God.
The sunshine we see today is a blessing of God.
When you start adding it up, it fills up a notebook.
It fills up more than we can even write out.
We need to be thankful.
And when we take the time to have this attitude of a thankful heart, this mindset that remembers what God has done for us, brothers and sisters, that encourages us to grow.
That spurs us in our desire to grow for God.
Because it's not just about securing our place in heaven.
No, it's about serving our God.
It's about growing closer to Him.
That's what growth is about.
but as we consider.
we consider how do we grow in grace.
Grace is an attitude, yes, but there is more to it than that.
When he says grow in grace, he is encouraging us, he is helping us to understand that we need to be more gracious in our lives.
To be extending the same grace that God has showed to us, to others.
When we look at Job, we already mentioned his immense trial and how he looked at God and he says, should we not receive good and bad things from God?
But in Job chapter 13 and verse 15,
Job says something that is almost mind-boggling.
In Job 13, 15, he says, though he slay me, talking about God, yet will I trust him.
Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.
This is faith.
This is a trust in God.
This is a relationship with God that is strong.
To where he says that he can trust God even in the midst of these difficulties.
We have faced many things that are trying in our lives, but I would dare say no one in this room has faced anything as bad as Job.
Remember, he lost everything.
Everything.
were taken within an inch of his life.
And yet he still had the faith to say, though he slay me, yeah, I will trust him.
when we look at examples like that examples like Paul and Silas as they're in the stocks in the innermost part of the prison in Acts chapter 16.
Do we find them wailing and crying and saying how could this happen to us we weren't doing anything wrong we're falsely imprisoned falsely beat well woe is me for this sure there's
not a God because we have had this happen to us.
Is that what we read of them doing?
They were singing songs of praise and they were praying to God.
I don't know about you, but I wish I could hear that.
I wish I could have heard them praying and singing.
What an amazing sound that would have been.
faith these men had.
The grace that said I'm going to be thankful to God because of his grace, because of his unmerited favor that he showed to us.
I'm going to be thankful to him, I'm going to praise him, I'm going to grow in him.
But ultimately we grow by remembering what Christ has done.
I've already touched on this, but Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9 shows us that Christ left the glories of heaven.
Glories that, let's face it, we cannot understand, but we long for.
And yet He left that.
He left where we're trying to go to come and save us.
To come and provide us a way to be saved.
What an amazing God we serve.
How amazing is our God and that is why we grow.
And that's who we're trying to emulate.
Someone who says your soul is worth going through immense pain, immense sorrow.
And yet how many times do we look at a soul who needs saving and out of fear of rejection, we keep our mouth shut.
We walk the other way.
Will Christ have done that?
Part of growing in Christ is seeing those opportunities and seizing them.
seeing those around us who are lost and taking the time to try and reach out to them.
That's part of growth.
We are commanded to grow, but we cannot grow without an attitude that is thankful to God, an attitude that desires to please Him.
But then number three, let's look at the content of growth.
And this comes from the knowledge.
The knowledge, this is the meat on the bones, if you will, of growing in Christ, because it's all well and good to have the right attitude.
It's all well and good to understand that it's a command to grow, but it's nothing if we aren't studying the right things.
It's nothing if what we're filling our hearts and minds with is trash that the world has put out.
You see, we understand this when it comes to plants.
Let's say you were wanting to water a plant.
Maybe it's a small little flower.
If you water that with good water, what's going to happen?
It's going to grow.
But what happens if you water it with dirty, nasty, polluted water that has a bunch of poisons in it?
You think it's going to grow?
That seed wants to grow, has the heart of someone who wants to grow.
It has the sunshine that it needs, but it's being fed the wrong thing.
When we listen to the world, when we listen to men, instead of God, we're filling our hearts with that nasty polluted water.
Instead of the water of life that Christ came to give us.
We cannot grow if we're not fed the right things.
Philippians 4 and verse 8.
In Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8, Paul gives us a list of things that we need to have in our hearts, things that we need to keep at the forefront of our minds.
And writing to the Philippians he says, finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, sometimes think on these things.
Sorry, I read that wrong.
Occasionally, no, no, hold on.
On Sundays, no, wait.
Think on these things.
This is a constant state of thinking, a meditative state.
We don't pick up the Bible and say, well that was a good read and shut it and never think about it again.
as Christians if we want to grow, if we desire to grow, if we want that water that is going to help us grow, we want that meat that is going to help us grow, then we have to
meditate, to think on things that are true, that are honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous.
In other words meditate on scripture.
And if you do that, watch if you don't grow.
Watch and see, you will grow.
But we ask the question as we do with all, how do we grow in knowledge?
How?
What does this look like?
How do we actually go about meditating and putting these things into our hearts?
Well, number one, it starts with a desire.
Remember in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 2, he compares the desire that we are to have for the knowledge of God to the desire that a baby has for milk.
Now, Justin and Megan are well aware of this at the moment.
When Laius is hungry, does he care what time it is?
Does he care who's around?
No.
He wants that milk.
And that is the same way that we are to be as Christians.
Such a strong desire that says, well, I could go do this thing or I could go study my Bible.
This thing's all right, but no, I want to go study my Bible.
A desire that says, I'll put the book down to go read my Bible.
I'll turn off the television to read my Bible.
Do we desire it?
I'm afraid sometimes we don't.
Speaking, as Brother Clark would say, starting behind me and going forward.
I'm afraid sometimes we get caught up in this world and forget that we are the desire of the world beyond.
We are desire the things of God.
But this is also done through studying God's word.
Second Timothy 2 and verse 15 tells us to study, to show thyself as proven to God.
If we want to be approved by God, we have to study His word.
That's what we are to be filling our minds with.
But we also have to have a mindset that is willing to take in what we hear, but also to check it.
Acts 17, 10, that those who were more noble than those in Thessalonica, those of Berea, they searched the scriptures to see if the things they were being taught were so.
If we want to grow in Christ, then we have to search the Scriptures.
We have to fact check as it is.
It is vitally important that we study, and Satan knows this.
That's why it's so hard sometimes.
because Satan doesn't want you to study.
He knows the power of God's word and he knows that if you study, you will grow.
We've looked at growth today.
We understand that growth is something that all of us as Christians should strive for.
Something that is not just for new converts, it's not just for people coming back to the church after years of being away.
It's for those of us that have been in the pews all of our lives.
It's for those of us who have always been true to God.
Growing in Christ is for all Christians,
and it starts by understanding its command.
It continues by having the right attitude an attitude of grace, of thankfulness, of love toward God.
And it is spurred on, is given, it is understood by studying God's Word.
How are you doing today?
How are you in your life with Christ?
Are you growing?
Are you becoming stronger as a Christian?
Or maybe it's the case that you've never even started.
You've never become a Christian.
We stand ready and willing to fix that right now.
To baptize you into Christ that you may begin your walk with Him.
But as most of you in here are Christians, maybe it's more likely the case that you look at your life and you say, haven't been studying as much as I should.
I haven't been growing in Christ as much as I should.
I haven't been giving him the time that he deserves.
God has done so much for us.
And he deserves so much more than we can give him.
If you look at your life today and you decide that you want to give Him more than you have, then please join me on the front row as we stand and as we sing.