Welcome to the cultivating growth podcast, where each week we discuss different ways in which we can grow as followers of Christ. This week, we'll be introducing the new podcast and talking about what it means to grow and why that's such an important topic for anyone. Who is trying to follow Jesus with that?

Let's get to it

Well john i'm excited to start this new podcast. Yeah, me too We I think the topic is one that we'll be able to spend some time on And really an important topic for each and every One of us to kind of, you know, think about, you know, when you think about growth, you know, from my perspective and from everybody's perspective, a lot of times we're thinking of, you know, the way that we've grown physically versus the way that we grow spiritually.

And there are a lot of similarities between those things, but there are some major differences. And I think one of the biggest differences right off the bat is physically when you grow, when you're little and you grow, it just kind of happens. Right. You don't think a lot. I know you've got to eat and you've got to, you know, have nutrition and all those things.

But kind of growth happens. You just kind of grow as you get older. But yes, spiritually, it just isn't that way. That all of the growth that's going to happen spiritually isn't something that just happens. Isn't just something that takes place. It is a conscious choice that you're going to have to make.

Yeah. You know, I've got, I've got three little kids at home. And they grow rapidly at this stage in their life. They're, they're just constantly growing and they're outgrowing clothes and outgrowing shoes. And if you were to go and ask them, how are you growing so much? They would have no clue. They wouldn't, they wouldn't have any idea how it's happening.

It just is. It's just the stage of life that they're in. They're just growing rapidly. But to your point, that's not the way it works with a follower of Christ. If you go to a follower of Christ who is growing and you say, how are you growing so much, they should have an answer to that question. Because it's not something that just happens as you get older, it's not something that just happens with time, it's something that happens when you put the work and effort into it.

And that's why this is such an important topic, because time and time again throughout scripture, the importance of growth is seen And so if we recognize the importance of it, then that puts on us a responsibility to figure out, okay, well, how do I do that? It's not going to just happen overnight like it does with my kids when they're growing.

I have to put the time and effort into it so that I can see that growth. And so that's really what we're going to try to do is just look into scripture and see what is, what does God have to tell us about growing? And the answer is it's almost an endless list as we've kind of discovered, as we've started thinking through this podcast, the responsibilities to grow and the directions and instructions on how to do that just fill the pages of scripture.

Yes. I was kind of thinking about kind of the beginning of. of what our discussion is really going to be. There are kind of two things that kind of popped into my mind right away. Number one, I mean, there's got to be a desire to grow. We've got to want to grow and we've got to be able to find that reason, right?

We've got to be able to get ahold of that reason. And then secondly, just the understanding and you made you know, kind of alluded to it just a second ago, you know, kind of  the understanding that. God, he's demanding growth of us. That's what he's expecting. Maybe it's even a better word, you know, from his children.

He's expecting growth. And so when we think about that first one, listen, a passage that kind of pops into my mind right away at the very end of 2 Peter, at the very outset of, you know, the very end of that letter that he's writing, I mean, literally the very last  He has that admonition and he says, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And to me, we read a passage like that and I know it's kind of at the end and it's kind of, you know, his so long, if you will, that this is just something that needs to happen. But I think it helps us in that desire and reason because it allows us to get closer to God. And, you know, that should be, you know, the desire that we have.

I mean, it's a big part of, you know, communication, right? We want to get closer. It's a big part of relationship. And so if we are growing closer to God, in essence, now my relationship with him is getting better. And that can be a foundation for the reason that we have a desire to grow. It is to better my relationship with God, to get closer to him.

And one way that that can happen is growing in our knowledge of who he is. Yeah. And that, that to the point that you were making at the very outset, that comes with a lot of effort. And we can even look to our physical lives to recognize the fact that growth doesn't come without growing pains. All right.

Again, to use my children as an example, when they hit a growth spurt, sometimes they complain like my knees are kind of hurting me or my back sore this morning or something like that. Well, it's because your body is growing and there are some pains that come along with That process. And the same is true for us as followers of Christ in order to grow in the way that God wants us to, that's going to mean some hard work and that's going to mean some growing pains at times.

It's going to be times where maybe we don't realize just how much effort it's going to take. And there are going to be times where, man, I've really been studying on this for a long time and I'm just, I'm hitting a roadblock or there's going to be obstacles we have to overcome. There's going to be resistance to that growth.

Just like there is physically, and we have to be able to fight through that. And we do so because we understand just how important that growth is. We understand that as a follower of Christ, not growing is not an option. I have to continually be pressing forward, continually be moving in that direction.

And I, one of the passages that I came across when I was thinking about this at the, kind of the outset of this podcast was in Colossians chapter one. As Paul is writing to the Christians in Colossae, he, he says this beginning in verse 9, For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. There's this recognition on the part of Paul that I'm going to be praying for you, I'm going to be working with you, because I want to see you increasing in your knowledge.

I want to see your spiritual understanding grow. And he sees that as such an important aspect of being a follower of Christ that he's kind of in the trenches, working with them, praying for them, helping them in every way that he can. And that's how we should be with one another because we all realize just how important this growth process is.

Yeah, and to also understand that if we're not growing, increasing, you know, from the passage that you just read, you know Abounding more and more, you know, other passages being diligent, you know, those pressing forward, pressing on, you know, all of those phrases that we see biblically, which are alluding to this idea of growth that you're, you're pushing forward.

It does take an incredible amount of effort, but, you know, with the recognition that it, If that isn't my philosophy, if that isn't my life as a Christian, if I'm not pressing forward there, there is no idol, right? There is no neutral. If I'm not pressing forward, I'm going backwards. And so, you know, Hebrews chapter two and verse one, you know, give the more earnest heed to the things that you have heard, lest you drift away, right?

When we hear a passage like that, that should put into our mind that if I'm not Pressing forward all of the time, if I'm not giving the more earnest heed to the things that I read and the things that I'm meditating upon, well, guess what? I'm going to begin to drift. I had, you know, someone that told me long, long ago. 

And I've used this in, you know, various lessons at different times, that the life of a Christian is like being in a boat, or being in a rowboat. And you've got to continually be rowing. You've got to continually be pushing forward. That if, even in the very moment, in the very second that you say, Well, I'm going to take a rest, or I'm going to take a break, or I'm going to pause just for a moment, and those oars come out of the water, you don't have to Consciously think about drifting away.

It immediately begins to happen now. Sometimes that may happen Slowly at first, but as soon as those oars come out of the water,  that boat begins to drift. And so you've got to constantly be pushing forward and your desire to get closer to God, but also fulfilling that desire of this is what God's expectation is for us to be pressing forward at all times.

Yeah, and to use that analogy, if you quit rowing, you now become much more vulnerable to rough water. Yeah. And rapids and those types of things can really do a lot of damage to you. Whereas if you're rowing and you're pushing forward, you can get through those things and get to the other side. But if you stop, then you become very susceptible to your surroundings.

And that's the case with us as Christians today. If we're not growing, we become very, very vulnerable to the world. We become very, very vulnerable to the resistance we're going to face and the ups and downs of life. And so there's a responsibility that we have to grow. I was reading in Psalm 92 beginning in verse 12, it says, the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree and he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing. And there's a sense that you can go to Psalm one and get kind of a similar idea of something that is planted by the waters. When you're grounded in the Lord and grounded in righteousness, you are going to thrive, even in old age, even in times of hardship, you're going to be pressing forward.

You're going to be. You're going to be thriving. You're going to be growing. You're going to be flourishing, to use the words of the psalmist. And so that idea is something that all of us should be embracing, because again, we don't want to be vulnerable to the things of this world. We want to be thriving in this world as followers of Christ.

And that means constant growth, constant effort moving towards God. Yeah. One of the things that we certainly don't want, the one, you know, kind of last passage that I had. Thought about and, and really thinking, I'm sure it'll be a passage we'll talk about as we move forward, you know, in this podcast, but there in Hebrews chapter six, in a discussion that, you know, the writer is having with the brethren that he begins towards the end of Hebrews chapter five about the reality that, you know, he wants to He wants to showcase some more teaching, some maybe deeper, more difficult kinds of teaching about Jesus and his priesthood.

But he makes the point there at the end of chapter 5 that they're just not ready for this. They should be at this time. They should have grown to the point. That they should be ready for this, but he says that they're not. They're still acting like children. That goes back, you know, to the analogy that really we started with.

But he kind of continues that discussion in chapter 6, and he gets kind of to the end of that. And the discussion really ends with one of the ideas that we don't want to be, right? What he says there in verse 12, that you do not become Sluggish or lazy. You know, other translations would use. Well, I don't want that.

I don't want God looking, you know, ever looking at me and saying, well, there's a lazy Christian there or a sluggish Christian. I don't want that in any way. And so you have the opposite of that in verse 11, the one right before that, that we desire that each one of you show the same diligence, full assurance of hope  until the end.

And I like the end of that verse because it really paints that picture that this is the it's that attitude that we have to have now To the very end of that attitude of pressing forward pushing forward all the time Yeah, that's our goal and that's that's really to kind of wrap this up. I mean, that's what this podcast is going to be all about We're going to talk, you know, each week about different ways in which we can grow and just that idea of growing closer to God is going to be in the background of all of those.

That's why it's going to be important to grow in faith and love and all of those things. It's because it takes us closer to God. It makes us more like him and that's what we want to be. God is not lazy. God is not sluggish. That's the opposite of who he is. And so growing in our faith. faith, growing in our love, growing in kindness, growing in all of these things makes us more like God.

That's what we want to do. That's the type of growth that he wants to see in us, and that's why it's so important we spend time talking about it. So let us be this week reminded that the Lord expects growth from his children, just as we expect our children, our physical children, to grow. That if they are not growing, we immediately know there's a problem in some case.

the same for God. And then also, let us certainly consider that as we grow, we get closer to God and the beauty that there is in that. So let's think about this, that, those things this week. We look forward to our time as we continue to unravel and unwrap this idea of cultivating growth.

for listening this week. If you haven't already done so, we'd appreciate it if you would take just a second to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you're listening. And rate and review the show so we can continue to spread the good news of Jesus as widely and effectively as possible. Thanks again for joining us this week, and we'll talk to you again next week.

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