I can relate. There are so many times I can look back on where Jesus has dragged me through a period of growth that I just didn’t want to go through. That is the price of following a living God.
To me, that’s part of what John 7 is about. Jesus emphasizes that his blood and flesh that he wants us to consume are living bread and living water.
My three kids are way past kindergarten these days, but one of the most important science baselines in the homeschool kindergarten year was "living versus nonliving."
The most important concept to take away from this unit were that living things differ from non-living in three essential ways. First, living things change. Second, living things can move and grow. Third, living things make more of the same – they reproduce.
Following Christ, consuming his living bread and water, means these same things for us. Christ brings change in us – both dramatic and subtle. He causes us to move and grow – even if we feel dragged sometimes – and when we follow him with our whole heart and mind and soul and strength others cannot help but meet him through us – we reproduce by making other disciples.
The desire to change seems built into human beings – we want to learn, to improve ourselves and our circumstances. But the change brought by Christ is something entirely different.
Psalm 80 cries out our desire for this different level of change. “3Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.”
Dietrich Hildebrand, in his book Transformation in Christ, wrote: “All true Christian life must begin with a deep yearning to become a new man in Christ, and an inner readiness to “put off the old man” – a readiness to become something fundamentally different.”
The call to change in the New Testament is about that yearning -- Christ tells Nicodemus that he must be “born again” – Christ is more than a Redeemer who removes our bonds and cleanses us from sin – he is the dispenser of a new divine life which will wholly transform us and turn us into new people.
Paul echoes this in Eph 4:22-24 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Living bread, living water, causes an immediate change. But what about moving and growing? Spiritual growth is increasing conformity to the character of God as revealed in Christ. Bill Johnson, in his book “Face to Face with God,” says this: “To behold him and remain unchanged is impossible. The question for every believer is whether we’ll be satisfied with a partial transformation or whether we’ll be so captivated by who he is that we will allow him to remove everything in us that would inhibit us from becoming a mature manifestation of Christ.” (Col 3.1) We have been raised with Christ, so we set our hearts on things above.
God's desire is for our growth as a people of God. Ephesian 4 tells us the purpose of spiritual gifts. 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
This growth is in our best interest – the things that will make us the most satisfied, the happiest, most joyful people come from this growth: Galatians 5: “22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.” Imagine a life given over to these attributes!
Growth in Christ is not just a suggestion to believers –(2 Peter 3:18) we are actually commanded, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” And Paul admonishes the church at Philippi and us with it to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Not growing is actually resisting God: “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1:6)
So how is this brought about? Yes we have confidence that He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it – but we have the joy and privilege of being actively involved in this transformation. How do we become involved?
Mainly, through active and intentional exposure to the person of Christ. Paul says in 2 Cor 3, “12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. …17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflecta the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
We can be bold to seek Christ, seek fellowship and friendship with him. We are free to see his glory, reflect his glory, and be transformed simply by being in his presence! We’re here doing exactly that this morning, but we don’t have to stop here. We can meet him any time, in moments of personal worship and gratitude. We can live in awareness of his presence, and if we set our minds to it, we are given constant reminders: in nature, where “1The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” (psalm 19) And in other believers: “you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” I have stories of believers being Christ to me that could fill many many sermons – I’m sure many of you do, also.
Part of intentionally coming into the presence of Christ is also through study. How we do this is very personal. I consume books, reading the Bible and books about God gets me all excited and I do so fairly quickly – but that’s part of who I am. If that doesn’t come easily to you, are you still able to use study to enter into the presence of Christ? Of course. It doesn’t matter if God speaks to you through an entire book or through a single verse, it is the intentionality of setting our minds on Christ that matters. Find the way or ways that speak to your mind and ultimately into your heart.
The third and possibly most obvious way to encounter Christ is through prayer. Paul encourages us to “pray without ceasing” – a constant dialogue. Those of us who grew in our faith in denominational churches are very familiar with formal prayer – but informal, personal conversation with time left for listening is a way to invite Christ into your moment-to-moment life.
Where are your growth areas? How is Jesus working in you to transform them? I know people for whom this transformation is combining with a sweet, yielding disposition to day by day mold them gracefully into the image of Christ. It’s beautiful to see.
My youngest daughter has this kind of spirit – she always has. You know the toddler love for the word “no?” My son loved it so much that he had one “no” that meant “no” and another “no” that actually meant “yes!” Erin, on the other hand, I always called my “yes” girl – because even at that age she would respond with an enthusiastic “yes!”
As she is growing into faith she has an uncanny ability to say “yes” to God – especially in prayers that seem over-bold. It is not unusual on a Sunday morning to see her at an unexpected place in the sanctuary, praying for healing over someone who hasn’t asked for it nor told her what their problems are. But she says “yes” to God.
I relate more to my son's multiple "no"s when God talks to me about my personal growth places… remember those grooves in the sand? I have nice long ones. Probably not very even since I do some kicking along the way, too. But he who started the work in me is very patient to finish it, and after every piece of painful pruning I find myself more dependent on him and less interested in the world or my own self-dependence, and hopefully looking just a little more like him.
We are all on a journey. And the beautiful thing about this growth in Christ is that though we are more and more optimistic with a love that “…believes all things and hopes all things” (1 Cor 13:7), we are also very real about what we face in this life.
Jesus on Earth was very real. When he had presented this hard teaching about following a living savior, many left him, but others had a living faith that would satisfy the third kindergarten definition: they would make others.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
I love Peter’s response. It resounds with our hearts. First, he says, in effect, "Lord, we have been thinking about it. We have investigated the alternatives. You're not easy to live with. You embarrass us. You frighten us. We don't understand you at times. We see and hear you do things that simply blow our minds. You offend people whom we think are important. We have looked at some alternatives, but I want to tell you this, Lord: we have never found anyone who can do what you can do. 'To whom shall we go?' You have two things that hold us, two things we cannot deny. There are your words. What you say to us has met our deepest need, has delivered us from our sins and freed us from our fears. Your words, Lord, are the most remarkable words we have ever heard. They explain us and they explain life to us. They satisfy us. Nobody speaks like you do, nobody understands life like you do.
That holds us, and makes us hold on. Even when we're being dragged.
