What helps you grow?

Short teachings from Hillcrest Church further exploring Sunday's teachings.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, how are you doing today? Hope you're well. This is Tim, and we are continuing to dive deep into Living Sent. So today I wanted to. There's some things that have been rattling around in my head. You know, this week flown out of Jeff's sermon, this theme of discipleship. What does it mean to be a disciple ourselves, an apprentice of Jesus? What does it mean to lead others to be devoted disciples, apprentices? How do we do that? What does that look like? And in a lot of ways, this touches on a central theme of my whole vocation and what we do as pastors. I mean, we're constantly asking the question, how do we genuinely help form people into Christ-likeness with every aspect of their lives? You know, how it's not just memorizing facts about the Bible. It's not just getting volunteers for a church program. It's like, how do you how do you form whole people, relational lives and our emotional worlds, and what we believe and and um how we speak and how we act and how we feel. How do you form whole people to be uh more like Jesus and to to live in closeness with the triune God? You know, um, and so there's a lot of there's different ways to talk about that. There's a lot of um theologically uh we can talk about that, and I believe uh we have like you you that's a non-negotiable. We have to talk about, you know, the who we're trying to become like Jesus, we can't do this without the Spirit, um, uh these kinds of things. We can't do this apart from being part of the body of Christ, the Christian community. Um, but also I think practically, because the New Testament probably the way I would say it is the New Testament has a lot to say about what it looks like to become Christ-like, you know, for example, the fruits of the Spirit, right? Um, but the New Testament has less to say about maybe some of the the kind of process or method. Um and it but the, I mean the New Testament does talk about this, but not in any kind of systematic way. And so this is where I'm going. This is the question that I'd I'd invite you uh to kind of reflect on practically. What helps you grow spiritually for you? Like when I would I would encourage you, you know, we've been talking about the life of discipleship that's about spiritual formation, growing, um uh to reflect uh God's character uh more and more. What what has helped you, what is helping you now actually be transformed more into the image of Jesus? And and I think I mean this in a really practical way. Like what practical things do you see uh do you see helping you in that? And I think part of it is we have to have a, you know, that we have to have a well-rounded understanding of what spiritual formation is, you know. Um it's not always gonna, you know, because I think we can start off with maybe an immature understanding that like, oh, spiritual growth just means I like I feel good or I have warm fuzzies about God. And like there is like I do hope for every person they have um they have deep affection and intimate experiences with the living God. Um but true spiritual growth, uh we can't we can never reduce it into kind of yeah, um warm fuzzies or kind of a consumer religious experience we're trying to procure for ourselves. Um because then that's what that leads to the that leads to people thinking, yeah, I'm growing spiritually, but I'm not part of a church, I'm not part of a Christian community, yeah, I'm growing spiritually, but I'm not serving. Um yeah, I'm growing spiritually, but I'm not um I'm not having to die to old addictions and habits, the sin at work and with me. And well then if if you're you know, if a person's understanding of spiritual growth is all good feelings, but none of those, it's done, it's not the the awkwardness and the difficulty of Christian community and the the hardness of service and um the the the having to to let go and have parts of our of ourselves uh die, um if if then we have a um we have a uh a shrunken understanding of what spiritual formation is because true spiritual formation is growing in love of God and love of others, growing to look in our character more like Jesus. We can't do it our own, we depend on the spirit, but to but to actually grow in those things, uh just like getting in physical shape or or learning intellectual skills, it's not it doesn't always feel good or easy, or even you know, deepening a friendship or uh or growing uh in a marriage. Like these things, uh they're good and they're worthwhile, but they're not always uh easy or fun. Um there's uh kind of reflecting about I think there's a few big areas that often help people grow practically, and I just uh name some of these as you kind of think about what helps you grow spiritually. Um I think some things that help people grow uh is um like a rich Christian community, so just being in rich community, you know, a small group or a uh a core or a uh uh or even just a Christian family setting, just being in that environment helps us grow. It's good for us. There's um there, there's we you know, just we become like those we're around. I think that's a thing that helps us grow. And we're isolated from those things, it could be a place that we struggle to grow. Um I think a big one are practices, just like practices, uh, so uh gathering for corporate worship, um practicing uh Sabbath rest, you know, daily Bible reading, daily prayer times, like practices uh can be things that help us grow, repeated year over year. Um uh intentional um like mentoring relationships could be one-on-one or just a s, you know, just a few people. But and I we see this a lot in our our campus ministry, oftentimes we can enter into like intentional spiritual friendships or mentoring relationships where there's a there's a real intentionality about them, um, and those can be powerful vehicles for spiritual growth. Um, I think a huge place that people grow is uh service. So this could be, you know, and that you could define this service, outreach. Um I just know, you know, uh being a youth leader, being a treasureland teacher, all like uh, and I would say service with reflection. Um not like doing those things, but also with reflecting on them as part of your spiritual walk and what you're learning through them. But those are powerful ways that people grow. Um intellectual learning, like just spiritual rootedness, uh, I think is a powerful place. People, I know for me, the life of the mind has always been really uh key for my um for my uh spiritual growth. Um and an and a a big one that is uh is very real, I would say suffering. I think oftentimes suffering, it doesn't it does it's not automatic growth, but suffering is often an opportunity uh to press into God. And suffering, this can be defined in all sorts, I mean it could be acute suffering or just seasons of confusion and transition. Um uh that these can be times, um, you know, these desert seasons where if we lean into God, they become times of uh immense uh transformation. So those are just some of the ones that come into my mind. Um that uh, and I, you know, I'm sure we we could talk all sorts of other ways, and there's other things that help us grow. Um, but I yeah, what I just yeah, I would encourage, you know, in your life of walking with Jesus, what do you find helpful? Um, what helps you love the triune God more? What helps you love, like re genuinely, not just feel warm, fuzzy, you know, but genuinely act in loving ways towards those around you? What helps you mature uh in your your emotional life, in your your thinking true things life? What helps you grow in those things? What helps you uh shave off and file away those those shin sinful sharp edges of your soul? What helps you grow? Um I think I think uh awareness, uh noticing what has helped you grow historically, noticing what's helping you grow now. Um I think that is as a helpful practice. And then as we are in relationships with others, um being aware of what's helping them grow and being being aware of of how these things, you know, our opportunity to mentor others, or when that our friend is going through a hard time, aware that, oh, like this is an opportunity for Jesus to do something powerful in this person's life, um, or our awareness of how important rich Christian community is, you know, how how important you know in our in a in our house with our family, how important uh regular practices are, all these things. I think as we as we understand what helps us grow, what what generally helps people grow, it helps us better encourage those around us and their followership of Jesus as well. So the reflection question for the day what helps you grow? Grace and peace.