GROWTH STAGES OF THE DISCIPLE, ARE WE THERE YET?

(The gift and brokenness, a living sacrifice)

Let us begin our final study with a quick summary of where we have been.  Everything hinges on having made the leap of faith to a salvation experience.  After that decision comes the process of growth, or sanctification.  Our study is illustrated by the idea of a new believer reducing, losing weight, or laying aside the heavy weights that slow him down.  Once he has made that bold step, he finds himself living in the first circle, which is new birth.  In that circle, we are given two gifts; praying and reading the Word.  By doing this, he begins His weight loss program as he grows in the faith.  (Heb. 12:1)

In the second circle, he continues reducing by becoming a bridge builder evangelist.  In this sphere because he has been praying and reading the Word, he continues to follow the example of the blind man of John Chapter nine by building relationships and building bridges to God. 

Good feelings that come by seeing souls won to Christ begin to work on him and he wants to share his faith in a greater way.  He puts a cadre of verses into his mental bank and they start coming alive.  He has by memory a series of verses known as the Roman Road, which helps him lead people to Christ personally.  Romans 3:23; 6:23 and 10:9-13. 

 By now in this third circle, he has taken the step of baptism or maybe has begun to tithe and take a leadership role in the church. He is attending worship services regularly now two or three times per week.

He serves, because he loves, not because he is seeking a fire escape. So, hasn’t he arrived yet?  No, we are still not there yet. 

In the last circle, suffice it to say that he is doing everything he can to grow and prosper spiritually.  He has even caused pain and misery to his adversary, the great deceiver, but unhappy with the progress, Satan works overtime to pull him down and defeat him.  The new disciple will sometimes be faced with doubt and confusion, sickness, deaths, loss of job or home, divorce, lawsuits; and on and on it goes. These trials lead him to depend on Christ at a deeper level, and the faith that he garners gives him confidence so that he now considers it pure joy when he faces trials and temptations of many kinds.  He realizes that the testing of his faith produces endurance, and that he must have perseverance to become mature and complete. James 1:2-4. 

He may reach a point that he will be completely broken.  Of course, it should be understood that brokenness might come for anyone at anytime, before or after a decision to follow Christ.  But it is often after the decision that it becomes more real and discernable in the life of the new believer. 

This is where the rubber meets the road in ones spiritual life and growth.  Because the believer is now living in victory, Satan is so angry that he can’t sit still. He pulls out all the plugs to keep one from following in the Master’s steps.  

This is spiritual warfare, and the new disciple is doing everything he possibly can to work for the Master as he sets out in this “kingdom walk”.  He realizes this is a journey that will ultimately lead him to heaven and eternal life.  But while he is still here on this earth, he is attempting each day to practice this “kingdom walk” right here in the earthly Kingdom. At this point in the process, some become tired, or discouraged and they turn back on their commitment.

But our faithful traveler has been taught that he must grow or he will shrivel up and die.  He realizes that he must exercise, or he will either gain weight and be worthless; or he will shrivel and die. He knows that this walk is all about relationships.  It is about commitment; first to God, so he is trying to complete the work that he was given. He has done all in his power to keep the faith and finish the race.  He has fought the good fight along the way.  So now he has finally arrived; right? RIGHT?  No, my friend, he has not arrived, he is only beginning.  He is not there yet, and he never will be, until he steps into eternity.  He must reach this stage of brokenness, the stage of being a living sacrifice, Romans 12:1; and of dying out to sin.  It is like a kernel of wheat falling to the ground and dying. Once it dies, it germinates and springs to new life.  So it is with the new believer.  

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John12:24. 

This brings the new believer goes through a growth process.  He grows by reducing, and with all the loss of weight, he is now able to run the race, and fight the good fight.  He is more able to carry his cross in humility, and not be puffed up as a man of God, thinking he is God’s gift to humanity in soul winning.  It is that new seed that shoots forth the fruit of humility, that sometimes is lacking in believers.  But when we go through that stage of brokenness, reducing and dying out to sin, it is then that we are going to find new peace and joy that puts us on a road to real true spiritual growth.

What we have tried to demonstrate with this study is not to attempt to gauge a brother’s spiritual maturity, or draw judgments of what degree of growth he has reached in his spiritual walk.  It is only a tool, hopefully to be used by the individual himself to help him determine where he sees himself in this journey.  It is hoped that each individual might use this tool, and if he still needs help he should go to his mentor, triad or accountability group to help him along the path. 

Dock Caton 01/25/13

GROWTH STAGES OF THE DISCIPLE #5

(The gift, brokenness, and a living sacrifice)

Now that one has experienced a good amount of growth: what next?  Some have grown in the faith to a point they have found a real closeness to their Master. The experience of praying, reading the word, building relationships and perhaps even the skills to lead someone to Christ, has given a sense of satisfaction and confidence.  Perhaps it has even given a sense of false pride.  That can be a dangerous state to be in.  

As stated in the last article, Satan is not going to give up on you.  He will fight harder than ever to throw the new disciple off track, and try to prevent progress.  He will use every tactic to get anyone to fall, through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.  All of this is tough on the rookie follower.  Pride, ego, and the carnal mind can easily fool us into believing we are invincible.  Temptations may begin to get the best of us. Just because we have memorized a few verses, and may even be able to lead someone to Christ does not mean we have arrived.  Not at all, my friend, we are only beginning. 

Things may begin to get a little tough.  Now is the time that the rubber meets the road. We must be ready to step up to the plate, and lay it all on the line.  We must make that total commitment.  And just about the time we feel we are ready, is often when things begin falling apart at the seams. But we have a grave responsibility to keep up the good fight. 

Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1

What does this mean?  Let’s take a glance at some scenarios, and see what a living sacrifice really looks like.  Maybe because of the growth we have experienced by now, we are thinking all is well.  But one must ask himself how he will be able to hold up under the stresses blows and woundedness that life sometimes brings our way.  Sickness, early loss of a family member or friend, separation, divorce, loss of home; all of these are only the beginning of a myriad of traumas that could overtake us. How would that affect our spiritual journey?  This is not to leave the impression that these things won’t happen long before during or after our commitment to Christ, but the question is, how will we respond to such events?  These things often begin once someone has made a commitment to follow the Master. 

Christ wants a committed servant.  He wants and needs people who are alive and vibrant.  He believes this is just a reasonable act of worship for the committed believer.  It is our belief that when one is truly committed as a living sacrifice it is then his spiritual gift will begin to become apparent.  Until one makes such a commitment, it is doubtful that he will really understand spiritual growth.  At least he will not understand it to the depths. 

We all have a gift and are required to use it.  (See Ephesians 4:11-13)  If we are faithful in the use of our gift, He may add others.  But usually there is at lest one that we will discover in this phase of our journey.   Gifts and giftedness can change with seasons of life, but the commitment of the living sacrifice remains.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of hands.  I Timothy 1:6.

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s Grace in its various forms.  I Peter 4:10.

We will end this series with one more written account, which is to follow soon. But for now if we have made the attempt at true commitment, or being the living sacrifice, we will move into the next circle which is demonstrated on our graph to be about the size of a softball.  It is believed we have to reach this circle of commitment and brokenness, before we will understand our giftedness, and perhaps before we will truly understand the working of the spirit. But once again, even with this growth and commitment, it must be said again, “WE STILL HAVE NOT ARRIVED.”  When will we ever get there?     

Dock Caton  01/13/13