Spiritual growth in Christian preaching emphasizes the gradual, God-ordained process of maturing in faith and holiness, often illustrated by natural growth like trees or fruit trees that require time, care, and perseverance (2 Peter 3:18). This growth involves enduring trials, humility, and the diligent application of God's truth to overcome sin and deepen one’s relationship with Christ (Colossians 1:10).
Solitude is essential for spiritual growth, while excessive socializing can hinder it.
A certain degree of solitude seems necessary to the full growth and spread of the highest mind; and therefore must a very extensive intercourse with men stifle many a holy germ, and scare away the gods, who shun the restless tumult of noisy companies, and the discussion of petty interests. Novalis.
A soul not growing spiritually is dying, just as a tree that does not grow will die.
If a tree is not growing, it is sure in the long run to be dying. And so are our souls. If they are not growing, they are dying; if they are not getting better, they are getting worse. This is why the Bible compares our souls to trees; not out of a mere pretty fancy of poetry, but for a great, awful, deep, world-wide lesson, that every tree in the fields may be a pattern, a warning, to us thoughtless men, that as that tree is meant to grow, so our souls are meant to grow. As that tree dies unless it grows, so our souls must die unless they grow.
— C. Kingsley
Active, prevailing thought refreshes the soul and expands understanding and reason.
How vastly disproportionate are the pleasures of the eating and of the thinking man!—indeed, as different as the silence of an Archimedes in the study of a problem, and the stillness of a sow at her wash. Nothing is comparable to the pleasure of an active and prevailing thought,—a thought prevailing over the difficulty and obscurity of the object, and refreshing the soul with new discoveries and images of things, and thereby extending the bounds of apprehension, and enlarging the territories of reason.
— Dr. South
Repeated Bible study reveals new spiritual insights and deepens delight in God's word.
Dr. Buchanan, in a conversation he had with a friend, a short time before his death, was describing the minute pains he had been taking with the proofs and revisions of the Syriac Testament, every page of which passed under his eye five times before it was finally sent to press. He said, he had expected beforehand that this process would have proved irksome to him, but that every fresh perusal of the sacred page seemed to unveil new beauties. Here he stopped, and said he to his friend, as soon as he recovered himself, "I could not suppress the emotion I felt, as I recollected the delight it pleased God to afford me in the reading of his word."
Persistent study and hard work promote spiritual and intellectual growth.
A correspondent of the New York Evangelist gives a striking notice of the Rev. John A. Sherman, a Missionary in Benares, upon the Ganges, 500 miles above Calcutta. While at Andover, Mass., though on a passing visit, and in a foreign land, where he wished to notice things around him, he read, during the ten days of his stay, Henry's Life of Calvin, a recent German work in three large octavos, besides much in periodicals, and besides spending considerable time in social intercourse, preaching
# 211. IMP
A Sabbath school with all ages fosters deep interest and obedience to God’s word.
A gentleman, speaking of a certain Sabbath school in Massachusetts, says: The school embraces those of all ages, from 3 to 80. With a few exceptions, the whole congregation attend the school.
A more interesting school I have never seen: all seem desirous of under-
# 400. SATAN,
Letting go of burdens enables spiritual ascent and clearer perspective on earthly things.
When men have ascended a short distance above the earth in a balloon thing’s down here begin to look small. The higher they rise the smaller everything on earth appears—it gets fainter and fainter as the balloon goes up, until a train of cars seem like a mere thread, and the great masses of houses and factories look like mere clots. The balloonist carries with him what he calls ballast—that is, small bags of sand, and when he wants to rise higher, he throws out some of the sand, and the balloon, thus freed from weight, shoots upward still higher and higher.
Persecution refines and strengthens believers like fire refines spices and plants.
As frankincense, when it is put into the fire, gives the best perfume; as spice, if pounded and beaten, smells the sweetest; as the earth, when torn up by the plow, becomes more fruitful; as rose leaves give the finest odor after hard pressure, and the grapevine yields best after cutting, so the children of God are improved by persecution.
Christians must learn to feed themselves spiritually from God's Word for growth.
You know it is always regarded a great event in the family when a child can feed itself. It is propped up at table, and at first perhaps it uses the spoon upside down, but by and by it uses it all right, and mother, or perhaps sister, claps her hands and says:
“Just see, baby’s feeding himself!”
Well, what we need as Christians is to be able to feed ourselves. How many there are who sit helpless and listless, with open mouths, hungry for spiritual things, and someone else has to try to feed them, while the Bible is a feast prepared, into which they never venture.
Many Christians show stunted spiritual growth instead of flourishing in grace.
The vendors of flowers in the streets of London, are wont to commend them to customers by crying, "All a blowing and a growing." It would be no small praise to Christians if we could say as much for them, but, alas! of too many professors the cry would truthfully be, "All a stunting and a withering."
Believers experience spiritual seasons paralleling nature's cycles of growth and fruitfulness.
The things which are seen are types of the things which are not seen. The works of creation are pictures to the children of God of the secret mysteries of grace. God's truths are the apples of gold, and the visible creatures are the baskets of silver. The very seasons of the year find their parallel in the little world of man within. We have our winter — dreary, howling winter — when the north wind of the law rushes forth against us; when every hope is nipped; when all the seeds of joy lie buried beneath the dark clods of despair; when our soul is fast fettered like a river bound with ice, without waves of joy, or flowings of thanksgiving. Thanks be unto God, the soft south wind breathes upon our soul, and at once the waters of desire are set free, the spring of love comes on, flowers of hope appear in our hearts, the trees of faith put forth their young shoots, the time of the singing birds comes in our hearts, and we have joy and peace in believing through the Lord Jesus Christ. That happy spring-tide is followed in the believer by a rich summer, when his graces, like fragrant flowers, are in full bloom, loading the air with perfume; and fruits of the Spirit, like citrons and pomegranates, swell into their full proportion in the genial warmth of the Sun of Righteousness. Then comes the believer's autumn, when his fruits grow ripe and his fields are ready for the harvest; the time has come when his Lord shall gather together his "pleasant fruits," and store them in heaven. The feast of ingathering is at hand - the time when the year shall begin anew, an unchanging year, like the years of the right hand of the Most High.
Spiritual growth requires different 'food' at different stages, like physical growth.
See POISONS AND MEDICINE.
ADAPTING THE BIBLE
The postulate that any portion of the Scripture is as serviceable as any other portion for the purpose of stimulating and nourishing the moral and religious growth of children, regardless of their age--the Bible itself refutes this postulate. In 1 Peter 2:2, “As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word.” We have a very plain assertion of the need of different food for different stages of growth in the spiritual life, the assertion clothing itself in terms of the food for the several stages of the physical life. In 1 Cor. 3:2, “I have fed you with milk and not with meat,” we have the same truth set forth by another writer, who employs the same physical analogy. When we turn to Hebrews we find the author employing in more detail the same analogy to teach the same fact--Heb. 5:12–14. Here we really have granted, embryonically, it may be, the principle that is striving to-day for recognition at the hands of the religious teaching world.--A. B. BUNN VAN ORMER, “Studies in Religious Nurture.”
Spiritual growth requires assimilating truth like a plant drawing nourishment from soil and air.
See DISCONTENT, DIVINE; FOCUSING THE EYE.
ASSIMILATION
The alfalfa plant is a rank species of grass that grows in the western sections of our country. It is valuable for horses and also for enriching waste land. It thrives in a soil where other plants would fail because of its power to find water. Roots in search of moisture have been found that were eighteen inches in length. The stalk makes heavy drafts on the surrounding air for nitrogen. Its powers of assimilation are remarkable. Its rapid and sturdy growth is a result of its habit of drawing upon all the surrounding air and the soil to build itself up.
If we wish to grow we must avail ourselves of every possible means. Soul culture depends not only upon hearing the truth, but upon assimilating the truth. (Text.)
Some grow spiritually by steady growth, others rush and miss lasting progress.
* * * * *
Are there not moral and religious “bolters and chewers.” Some men try to get their religious pabulum by “bolting” all their experience in a revival; others, with a more quiet deliberation, are intent upon growing in grace through the years.
In an address at the Royal Dental Hospital, London, Dr. Osler, as reported in _The Hospital_ (London), asserted that the public may be divided into two great groups, the bolters and chewers. Says this paper: “He maintains that it is the business of dental students to endeavor to convert the overwhelming percentage of bolters into a select group of chewers. This is their mission of utility; but Professor Osler also affirms that they have a mission to beautify the race. He holds that if there is one thing more beautiful than another under heaven it is a beautiful set of teeth. To promote these missions he would have attached to every elementary school a dental surgeon to inspect the mouths of the children; and total abstainers will learn with a shock, that he considers the question of teeth more a national problem than that of alcohol. If people generally had good teeth instead of bad, the chewers would be many and the bolters few, and a potent cause of human suffering and physical deterioration would be arrested.”
Humans develop automatic tendencies and understanding beyond natural abilities through experience and guidance.
Man early acquires automatic tendencies and abilities quite beyond the compass of his natural equipment. Man is gifted natively with a brief and fleeting form of attention, but by exercise and wise guidance its effectiveness may be greatly increased both as to direction and span. Imagination and memory may be natively vigorous in a desultory and disorganized sort of a way and yet be comparatively helpless when confronted with a situation requiring the organization of details into a system or unit. For example, children may get a great deal of pleasure out of fairy stories long before they understand much from the various disconnected and often incorrect interpretations they make of the words they have heard. This tendency is shown also in childish explanations of things. One young man notices that leaves, sticks, and stones left standing some time on the pond where he skated gradually sink into the ice. He notices, also, that slight scratches and flakes of snow gradually disappear. Such data led him to explain to himself the phenomenon as due to the fact that the water worked through the pores of the ice and froze on the top. It is evident that he had not heard of radiation from dark as compared with light surfaces, but it illustrated an automatic tendency to explain things fairly well developed which was quite beyond the power of man naturally.--STUART H. ROWE, “Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1907.
Conquering forests with axes symbolizes breaking through barriers to spiritual growth.
* * * * *
The conquering races were compelled to follow river-beds, and could not penetrate the forests. It was not the warrior who finally conquered English soil, but the farmer. The half-dozen kingdoms, which were divided by vast forests, coalesced only when the ax cut away barriers. Earlier races could not inhabit any part of the earth except the coast lines. All their food came from the sea; and the refuse still remains as the great shell-heaps of the sea-coasts of Europe.
So to-day in the moral world one must cleave his way through barriers as with an ax to the open of a large place.
Like an acorn, a person's growth depends on their capacity and environment.
You do not preach to the acorn that it is its duty to become a large tree; you do not preach to the art-pupil that it is his duty to become a Holbein. You plant your acorn in favorable soil, where it can have light and air, and be sheltered from the wind, you remove the superfluous branches, you train the strength into the leading shoots. The acorn will then become as fine a tree as it has vital force to become. The difference between men and other things is only in the largeness and variety of man’s capacities.
— JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE
Darkness and difficulties help growth, like bulbs growing in the dark with charcoal preserving sweetness.
There is a darkness which helps and sweetens. Disappointments, difficulties, discouragements, and all things dark, come to us apparently to depress us, but these are part of the experience which helps us. Black charcoal will keep water sweet. Bulbs must be buried in the darkness if they are to grow. In the winter a florist endeavored with success to grow some bulbs without placing them in the ground. He gathered some small stones and put them into basins, placing the bulbs on the top of the stones. Then he poured in sufficient water to touch the bulbs, and to conserve the sweetness of the water he introduced little pieces of charcoal among the stones. He then placed the basin in a dark cupboard and kept them there for ten weeks, and when he took them out the green leaves of the bulbs were showing. (Text.)
True strength comes from deeply rooted dependence on God, not surface-level ease.
Some splendid pines were found, after a heavy gale, lying prostrate, tho they were strong trees in their full prime. To a questioner an old woodman said: “They got their water far too near the surface. If they had had to strike their roots deeper for moisture no winds could ever have uprooted them.”
Many folks are easily upset because all life has been too easy with them. Their roots have never struck deep because there was no great compulsion to make them go deeper for the sources of life. Our very wants, if we do not succumb to them, but go deeper until we find the heart’s need, may become the means of our strength. (Text.)
Changing spiritual environment and nourishment can transform the soul profoundly and beautifully.
A Dutch scientist has just completed five years’ study in South America. He took some insects from Holland into the rich tropic atmosphere, changed their environment, put them in a friendly environment, and gave them the best food. He expected to modify their coloring, having exchanged the damp, foggy sky of Holland for the brilliant hues of the tropics. And lo! these insects doubled their size; the dim subdued tints became gay and brilliant. At last he discovered that insects that in Holland crawled, in the South spread their wings to fly and meet God’s sun. He began with potato-bugs in Holland; he ended with brilliant creatures that lived on the nectar of flowers, and only five summers and winters stood between the marvel. Oh, marvelous transformation, through environment and food! More marvelous still the way the soul can grow. Last year you lived in the damp, foggy miasmatic levels of selfishness; sordidness, like a cloud, wrapt you about. Suppose you take down your tent, and move into the tropic realm of love and faith and hope. Open the soul’s wings to the light, the sun and dew of God’s spirit. Live in the atmosphere of purity and prayer. Expel hate and fear, like poisonous winds. Imitate Christ’s life. Love the master spirits. Read the great poets. Insist upon leisure to grow ripe. Guard your hours of solitude; practice the presence of God.
— N. D. HILLIS
True spiritual growth occurs when the divine Spirit unites with human powers.
Carbon from the air entering the cells of plants comes in contact with a substance called chlorophyll resident in the cells. A wonderful change at once takes place. When the sun is shining, the carbonic acid and water contained in the cells are decomposed; _i.e._, separated into the parts composing them. These, with the carbon, then unite again and form a new substance very different from either the carbon or the water, viz., starch or like substance, which, with some of the mineral matters supplied through the soil water, serves as food for the protoplasm of the cells, so that the latter increase in number rapidly and thus cause the plant to grow.
There is real growth of the soul of man only when the divine spirit unites with the human powers. (Text.)
Spiritual growth often happens unseen during difficult and discouraging times.
Moses, when he came down from the mountain, “wist not” that his face shone. So in much of our spiritual life, we are unconscious of the fact of growth. As a writer upon life in the fields likening the spiritual life to that of the seed says:
But all the winter through, tho it was hidden by frost and snow, the seed was growing beneath the earth; the difference is that now we can see it. And so it is with the growth of the soul. The soul is growing, tho we do not know it, in its winter weather, when all is dead and cold and dark; when the Spirit has convinced us of sin and we say, “I seem to have no part and lot with the saints, no joy nor peace; I only feel the burden of my iniquities; I question whether I am a living soul.” Ah, but the seed sown by the hand of God is growing through all those wintry days; if a man can feel and lament his weakness, his deadness, his barrenness, he is a living soul. (Text.)
New believers often misjudge spiritual realities until experience grants true perspective.
See LIGHT.
ILLUSION, SPIRITUAL
Worldly men on first coming into the spiritual life often misjudge the values and dimensions of Christian realities. Only long Christian experience enables men to get the right perspective of Christian realities.
If you have always lived in valleys or near the sea level, then you have always been viewing distant objects through a dusty or vaporous atmosphere. If you should go to a mountainous region or an elevated plateau, you would suffer great illusion as to distances. As you would still have the mental standards of the lowlands, very distant objects would seem to be quite near. You would travel all day to reach a mountain that seems but an hour’s walk away.
Some people grow harder under spiritual influence, others absorb and are transformed like sponges.
On almost any sea beach you may see lying together smooth white pebbles, and ragged sponges, both drying in the sun and waiting the return of the tide. But when the tide comes and strikes the pebbles not a drop of the water enters them, thousands of years they have rolled up and down there, wearing smoother and growing more impervious all the time. But at the first touch of the incoming tide the sponges drink themselves full.
There is the same difference in men. Tides of spiritual influence flow around some men and they keep growing harder--the same tides fill and transform others.
Trials remove outer decay, allowing inner spiritual life to grow stronger and healthier.
I was lately in a grove where a number of large sycamores were shedding their bark; at least three layers of the bark showed plainly, the coarse outer bark brown, but this shed in large spots or blotches, exposing the white inner bark, so well known in this great tree; but this also was peeling up, and falling here and there, and showing the clear, green inmost bark of the tree; the outer layers ripening, drying, dying, and falling off, but the inmost bark strengthening and renewing itself day by day.
But I was imprest with the fresh, wholesome look of these sycamores. Many trees of that name seem dying; not so those where the decaying outer bark was loosening and dropping, while the fresh young inner bark was coming out to take its place. I never saw healthier trees. They certainly were not hide-bound. I believe the quick dropping of the old bark gave the vigorous inner bark a chance to come out and strengthen, just as we know trials and afflictions often bring out the inner life in beauty and strength.--FRANKLIN NOBLE, “Sermons in Illustration.”
Continuous study supplies a living stream of knowledge, avoiding spiritual stagnation.
Some one asked Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, why he continued to study for his pupils “as tho he should not have enough to give them.” “It is not,” was his reply, “because I fear I should not have enough to give them, but because I prefer that they should be supplied from a running stream rather than from a stagnant pool.”
“Stagnant pools” have been the ruin of many men in many walks of life.
Light enables the soul to develop fully, like sea-anemones opening in sunlight.
The human soul can only develop its full capacities when illumined. Light from without must call out the latent powers of the mind.
The sea-anemone is attractive only when light reaches them. In gloom or shadow they fold themselves up on their peduncles and look withered and repellent. In the sunshine that plays on the waters in their pools these strange creatures open out like blossoms expanding their petals. (Text.)
The path of the just shines brighter and brighter until full light is reached.
The light to which you come at length in the railway tunnel, and before you reach the end of the tunnel, is the very same light exactly, as far as its nature is concerned, as the light into which you come at the end of the tunnel; and the light which shines from the end into the tunnel increases more and more from its first shining until you reach the full light at the end. So the wise man says that the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The light of the perfect day is the same as the light that shines in the path all along, and that began to shine even ere the sun was up. The lights are in nowise different except in degree.--ALEXANDER MILLER, “Heaven and Hell Here.”
Spiritual growth is gradual and requires patience, not sudden emotional experiences.
Time goes to the making of the oak, and the man and the Christian. Moral development is slow. We must not be surprized nor disappointed to find it so. As one says:
The sunrise is gradual, as we have seen--there are many tremulous gleams before the wheels of his chariot are moving over the sea. And so we should beware in a measure of momentary impulsive religion: the idea that we can pass in a moment from deadness, darkness, worldliness, to the full assurance of the favor of God. There are such cases, but they are rare, and the religion of sudden emotion is apt with many to prove not lasting.
If religion is a growth, let us be patient in the process.
Some Christians show little spiritual growth despite long-term faith and regular practice.
Many Christians converted years ago show no more progress than the subject of this sketch:
“There is a young man in England,” says _The Dietetic and Hygienic Gazette_, “who at the age of twenty-four is developing at the rate of only one-sixth of that of the average human being. At present he is learning his alphabet and can count up to ten only. During the last nineteen years he has eaten but three meals a week, has slept twenty-four hours and played twenty-four hours, without the slightest variation. In spite of his twenty-four years he looks no older than a boy of four or five and is only thirty-six inches in height. For the same period his development physically and mentally has been at only one-sixth the ordinary rate, while absolutely regular and perfect in every other way. At his birth this child weighed ten pounds and in no way differed from any other child. He grew and thrived in the usual way until he attained the age of five. Then his progress was suddenly and mysteriously arrested, and since then six years have been the same to him as one year to the normal person. He has attracted the attention of many medical and scientific men, more than one of whom has exprest the conviction that this remarkable man will live to be no less than three centuries old.” (Text.)
Spiritual growth requires enduring many steps before reaching the summit of faith.
When one is climbing a mountain whose lofty peak he has long admired from a distance there is an arduous ascent and one with many steps to be made; but how good and wholesome is the way. The path which winds through grassy meadows, the bridge which crosses the rushing stream pouring down from the heights, the slow and toilful ascent, repaid by the purer air and the rarer flowers and the wider vision, over obstacles, and then, at last, the height itself, different from the rest only in this, that it is the culmination! There can be no Parnassus without the steps that lead to it.
— GEORGE CLARK COE
Multiple spiritual 'strings' enable fuller, richer Christian life and service.
Thomas K. Beecher tells a story of finding his father’s old fiddle in the garret, where on a rainy day he had taken some children to play. It was all covered with dust and had only one string. And Mr. Beecher held it up to the children and told them how he used to hear his father play on it the old tunes, “Merrily, Oh,” and “Pompey Ducklegs.”
Of course, they cried “Play on it. Play the old tunes.” “I can not,” he said, “for it has only one string.” When he tried it he could only pick out with three notes a tune. Then he said, “If it had two strings, I could play six tunes, and if it had not only a G string, but a D string and an A string, and an E string, I could play all the tunes. You can not play real music with one string.”
— N. MCGEE WATERS
Growth requires struggle; the weaker is absorbed by the stronger in spiritual life.
See ADVERSITY.
STRUGGLE AND GROWTH
Life in crystals can be explained by the struggle for existence, which is ardent even here. In fact, if during their growth two crystals come into contact, the weaker will completely disappear, absorbed by the stronger.--_Revue Scientifique._
Physical activity like walking can stimulate creativity and spiritual inspiration.
See STATIC PROGRESS.
WALKING FOR INSPIRATION
Much bending over the folio does not make the better part of poetry or of prose. It inheres as much in the physiological condition that results from the swinging of the legs, which movement quickens heart action and stimulates the brain by supplying it with blood charged with the life-giving principle of the open air.
In spite of his club-foot, Byron, one of the most fecund, if not the most moral, of poets, managed to walk about in the open to an extent that should shame the verse-writer of to-day, clinging to his strap in the trolley-car. Wordsworth walked all over the Cumberland district and the neighboring country. Wherever he happened to be he poked into every secret corner. Shelley, we are told, rambled everywhere. Despite all unseemly cavil as to Tennyson’s drinking habits, I should say that he drew more inspiration from his walks than from his wine. Goethe, who during his lifetime required fifty thousand bottles of the vintner’s best to sweeten his imagination, found his extensive walks about Weimar a source of great inspirational profit. (Text.)--BAILEY MILLARD, _The Critic_.
As one ascends spiritually, burdens lessen, just as air pressure decreases on a mountain.
A writer, speaking of variation to be seen in the column of mercury in a barometer, says:
If you prop up the tube, and watch it carefully from day to day, you will find that the height of the column of mercury will continually vary. If you live at the sea-level, or thereabouts, it will sometimes rise more than thirty inches above the level of the mercury in the cup, and frequently fall below that height. If you live on the top of a high mountain, or on any high ground, it will never reach thirty inches, will still be variable, its average height less than if you lived on lower ground; and the higher you get the less will be this average height of the mercury.
The reason of this is easily understood. When we ascend a mountain we leave some portion of the atmosphere below us, and of course less remains above; this smaller quantity must have less weight and press the mercury less forcibly. If the barometer tells the truth, it must show this difference; and it does so with such accuracy that by means of a barometer, or rather of two barometers--one at the foot of the mountain and one on its summit--we may, by their difference, measure the height of the mountain provided we know the rules for making the requisite calculations.
The higher one ascends, the less weight oppresses the climber. This is a truth also of the moral life. The higher one ascends, the less obstacles and weights he encounters. In the valley the demoniac writhes; on the mountain top Christ appears in His glory.
Article on how young families are returning to church, though often for
selfish reasons. Emphasis is on yuppies and liberal churches.
Used in sermon:
Newsweek article conclusion:
Spiritual development takes time, also discipline and hard work
- virtues many churches themselves no longer seem to encourage.
Thank God for faiths that can help overcome addiction, loneliness or
stress, for institutions that can help raise the children among us.
But the quest for meaning and purpose does not end there. [1385]
*
Though difficult, Christian pilgrimage is rewarding. Our experience with Christ on earth is much more a journey or a process than it is an event. Like a pilgrimage through unfamiliar territory, the way is hard and confusing, full of risk and surprise.
1. Pilgrimage brings blessing.
2. Pilgrimage requires uncertainty.
3. Pilgrims need not journey alone.
4. Pilgrimage involves sadness.
5. The source of refreshment.
Sermon on Man born blind.
I. Blind from birth.
A. A good God would not cause calamity unless sin was involved.
B. Jesus teaches this can happen, but not always.
1) In this instance he does not tell them the cause, but
the purpose, which is to show the power of God.
II. The healing.
A. Mud in eye.
1) Strange, but considered medicine.
2) Built confidence in patient.
B. No healing of blind in OT.
1) Messiah will do it.
2) Reason neighbors doubted he was same man.
III. Four interrogations.
A. By Neighbors.
B. By Pharisees.
1) Sabbath violations.
a) Healing, kneading, anointing.
2) Sign of perplexity that they ask his opinion of Jesus.
a) Man -> prophet.
b) They have made up minds in opposite direction.
1> Some saw God behind healing, but they're never
mentioned again.
3) Parents hauled in.
a) Fear of excommunication.
C. By Pharisees, again.
1) Don't perjure yourself. Joshua 7:19
a) We KNOW Jesus is a sinner.
2) Man falls back on what he knows - personal experience.
a) Theology is important, but God's power is more so.
D. By Pharisees, a third time.
1) Blind man has presented indisputable evidence - I was
blind, now I see.
a) Pharisees go back to square one. 9:26
b) They ridicule man, he parries with them.
2) He is cast out.
IV. Jesus find him. "Do you believe?"
A. Deeper knowledge of Jesus after each interpretation.
1) Man.
2) Prophet.
3) From God.
4) Lord and Savior.
B. Who is really blind?
1) Jesus doesn't say Pharisees are blind.
a) This would give them an excuse, ignorance.
b) But they claim to see (have spiritual knowledge)
therefore they sin.
2) Two progressions:
a) Blind man sees Jesus as just a man, to the Son of God.
b) Pharisees go from acceptance of miracle to rejection
of Jesus, and are judged guilty.
#3112
*
Sermon in John series. Man born blind. John 9:30-41
==============
DOG EYE GNIEES
==============
I. What it would be like to be blind.
II. Why was he blind?
A. Jews associated suffering with sin. 9:2
B. No reasons, but a purpose. 9:3
C. A "Messiah" miracle.
III. The O.J. trial of the First Century.
A. Man undergoes four interrogations.
B. Basic convictions. 9:25
C. Rejecting Jesus, they reject the man. 9:34
IV. Two progressions.
A. The healed man grows in his perception of Jesus.
B. The Pharisees shrink in their perception of Jesus.
V. How well do you see?
A. Many are unaware of the will of God in their lives.
B. Ask God for spiritual sight.
In "Our Daily Bread" a story is told by A. Parnell Bailey who visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. "These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth."
Article on faith after disappointment. Basis of sermon on August 6, 1995.
=================
PASSAGES OF FAITH
=================
I. Disappointments can lead to a deeper faith.
A. Paula Rinehart loses a baby.
1) Other losses and disappointments followed.
2) (divorce of parents, son had learning disabilities...)
B. She no longer felt in control of her life.
1) Off-balance feeling.
2) Felt blind-sided by unexpected circumstances.
C. Questions and doubts resulted.
1) Edged toward skepticism.
2) Abundant life seemed empty.
II. Stages of adult development. (Gail Sheehy's book "Passages")
A. Adulthood is not climbing a hill and resting passively on top.
1) Each "passage" is marked by crisis or a turning point.
2) Each holds the potential for new growth. [or failure]
a) Doubt and disappointment are part of the process.
B. New Testament characters went through passages.
1) They spiral from illusion to disappointment to real hope.
2) They were failures at times, yet continued to follow.
III. Early faith: A faith that insists.
A. Rudimentary faith yearns for predictability.
1) "If I do this then God will..."
2) Our faith or obedience obligates God to fulfill our desires.
a) Jesus' disciples had this kind of faith.
b) "Vending machine" faith.
B. This kind of faith cannot bear the full weight of life.
1) It is subtle way of conforming God to our own image.
2) God is not like anything we can fathom.
a) We cannot put him in a box.
b) We must simply trust him.
3) Disappointment can lead us to deeper faith.
IV. Second passage: Disillusionment.
A. The turn from faith to disappointment.
1) It is usually unexpected.
2) We don't see the extent of our expectations until they are
not fulfilled.
B. Possible reactions:
1) Confusion and doubt. (John the Baptist; Jesus' disciples)
2) Cynicism and apathy.
C. End of faith can hold potential for its true beginning.
1) Better than holding to faith that conforms God to us.
2) Disappointment can bring out the feelings in our faith.
a) Especially denied (negative) feelings.
b) Rinehart turns from faith, yet is revived by Ps 139:8,10.
3) God transcends our understanding - and control, leading us
to trust in him.
V. A true hope.
A. Differences in faith.
1) Early faith focuses on doctrine, knowledge, sure answers.
2) Later faith has room for mysteries.
a) We journey blind.
b) In Acts, Paul waded through failure and disappointment.
B. Shift to experiencing God's hold on us.
1) Trust is not an easy thing.
2) Someday we will see him face to face. 1 Jn 3:2
The life of faith is sometimes an uphill trek, but the view from the top is
well worth it. Therefore we must keep moving forward.
1. Take it one step at a time.
2. Take time to eat.
3. Keep moving forward.
4. Travel in fellowship.
5. Look back (remember).
6. Stay on the alert.
7. Behold the beauty.
8. You will reach the peak.
#3483
*
Can significant spiritual growth occur when times are tough?
1. Sing for Joy
2. Receive good times as a gift
When finally, the clouds lift, the sun shines, and we enter a period
of calm, we don't seem to know what to do.
3. Draw near to God
4. Repent
5. Practice spiritual Disciplines
6. Erect alters and monuments
7. Be a steward of the Good times
In his sermon “Christmas 365 Days a Year,” Stuart Briscoe brings listeners face to face with their spiritual condition:
“The Bible says we’re being changed from glory to glory even by the Spirit of the Lord. Do you know what you ought to be able to do at the end of a year? You ought to be able to look back and see some specific ways in which you have grown spiritually. There ought to be evidence of new habits, new attitudes, and new abilities relating directly to the fact that you’re being changed by the Spirit of the Lord.
“Can you think of one overwhelming weakness that had you by the throat at the beginning of this year? Do you honestly believe that if Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, came into your life, he could release you from it, and you could live in newness of life?
“You say, ‘I don’t know about that.’ Nothing is impossible with God. If it is part of the divine will, it rests well within the divine capability.”
*
[see #3957 for original article on preaching with illustrations]
Sermon in 1 Peter series. Love and Spiritual Growth. 1 Peter 1:22-2:3
======================
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE?
======================
I. What will you be remembered for?
II. Focusing on what is really important.
A. Christian love is what matters.
B. God's Word is what lasts.
C. What are you doing about both?
III. Love is greatest sign of real faith.
A. Purity comes first.
B. We start with our brothers.
C. Love must be deep.
D. Love must be sincere and from the heart.
E. How does our love measure up?
IV. People don't last, God's Word does.
A. Spiritual birth is meant to last.
B. God's Word should energize us.
C. The Bible is not static, but living and enduring.
D. People are like lawns.
V. To add you have to subtract. 2:1
A. Get rid of the negative stuff.
B. Crave spiritual milk.
VI. Where do you stand?
#4081
*
2 Timothy contains everyday ways to build your faith.
1. Seek faith-inspiring models. 2 Tim 1:5
2. Immerse yourself in the Bible. 2 Tim 3:15
3. Remember God's past faithfulness. 2 Tim 2:8
4. Stretch beyond your comfort zone. 1 Tim 4:12, 2 Tim 1:7, 1 Cor 16:10f
5. Cultivate a lifestyle of obedience. 2 Tim 3:1-9
6. Grow continually. 2 Tim 3:14
I once sat in an audience of about seventy-five people in Yellowstone National Park and watched a bear cub amble across the side of a rocky hill no more than twenty yards behind the speaker. The man was oblivious to what was happening behind him. And the audience was equally oblivious to whatever he was trying to say.
So it caught my attention the other day when I read a piece about the bears of Yellowstone. They are no longer as plentiful or visible to park visitors.
People coming to the park were no longer simply seeing and photographing the bears. They had begun feeding them -- in violation of notices posted throughout the park area. And the things they were giving the bears were quite different from their normal diet of wild berries, fish, and small animals. Cupcakes and sandwich bread simply aren’t good for them. Park rangers began noticing the terrible consequences.
Have you ever wondered how bears survive long winters in hibernation? God created them with a marvelous mechanism for storing fat in their bodies during the warmer times of the year. Then, as they sleep through the cold months in their dens, those layers of fat burn off slowly and keep them alive until spring arrives.
But the fat buildup in bears from human junk food burns off much more quickly than the fat residue from their customary diet. Thus, during the winter months, dozens would exhaust their reserves, effectively starve, and then freeze to death. So the bears have now been moved to the high country and away from the tourists.
I think I’ve known some believers whose lives came unraveled because they had lived on a diet of spiritual junk food for so long. Things like devotional books, Christian music, bumper stickers, and inspirational TV can serve a good purpose. But they can also be a sweet-tasting substitute for the serious pursuit of God.
Things like “The FAX of Life” or even your church’s Sunday worship experience just aren’t enough to nourish your faith. If they are all you are getting, you are relying on secondhand spirituality. Even if you eat them often and take your fill, they are relatively empty calories compared to personal time in the Word of God, serious prayer, and conscious imitation of Jesus Christ. Malnutrition may set in. You can die!
Like you, I’ve been taught and encouraged by others. But their experiences of God cannot count for our own. Each of us needs the nourishment of a balanced diet from healthy spiritual resources. Occasional “treats” should not be the main course.
Christian discipleship in a fallen world is no picnic. So eat and live accordingly.
Although life has many satisfying moments, there will be times of adversity.
In fact there is a greater risk of personal tribulation the longer we live. Hardly a week passes by where we don’t hear of a car wreck, broken bone, life-threatening illness, unexpected death, financial collapse, or marriage breakup.
David was no stranger to difficult times. Many of the Psalms grow out of the crucible of personal conflict. A close reading of Psalm 70 shows that he often became impatient in hostile environments. Four times he asked God to hurry in answering his prayer. (Psalm 70:1, 5) Five times he requested that God would “let” circumstances change regarding his adversity. This song closes with David asking God to “make no delay.” (Psalm 70:5)
Like David, the suffering saint will ask “Why is God so slow in answering my prayers? Why does He delay in working out solutions to my problems?” Consider these Biblical ideas:
1. Adversity Is An Opportunity To Repent.
Many of our hardships are caused by the disobedience of others to God’s will. If God was quick to punish, few would be alive. It is God’s nature to be slow in punishment so the wicked will have time to change their thinking and behavior. Even if our trials involve only circumstances and not wicked people, hardships make us examine our own heart. (See Psalm 130:1-3 for a good illustration of this.)
2. Adversity Is An Opportunity To Grow.
History shows that when a culture becomes addicted to pleasure and luxury, it soon ceases to exist through self-destructive behavior. Tribulation ensures our survival by instilling within us the qualities of discipline, independence, and creativity. Paul said that adversity helps create perseverance, character, and hope. (Romans 5:5) Saints who graduate from “the school of hard knocks” are those who have grown the most in Christ.
3. Adversity Is An Opportunity To Shine.
When the Corinthian church had so many problems, Paul wrote “there must also be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” (1 Corinthians 11:19) In a church fuss, those who have God’s approval are those who obey God no matter what others do. Paul believed that others would be able to see our mature faith by the way we handled conflict. God approves of us when we survive suffering and our faith remains intact.
Men have a tendency to be impatient in misery. We should not interpret God’s slowness in answering our prayers as slackness. He may be trying to give us a lesson.
Rowland Hill once visited a home and saw a child riding a rocking horse. After watching the boy for some time he wittily remarked, "He reminds me of some Christians. There is plenty of motion but no progress."
---The Gospel Herald
Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, once told a story about a flock of barnyard geese in Denmark. Every Sunday the geese would gather in the barnyard near the feeding trough. One of their number, a “preaching goose,” would struggle up on the top rail of the fence and exhort the geese about the glories of goosedom. He would them how wonderful it was to be a goose, rather than a chicken or a turkey. He would remind them of their great heritage and tell them of the marvelous possibilities in the future.
Occasionally while he was preaching, a flock of wild geese, winging their way south from Sweden across the Baltic Sea on their way to sunny France would fly overhead in a marvelous V formation... thousands of feet in the air. When that happened all the geese would excitedly look and say to one another. “That's who we really are. We are not destined to spend our lives in this stinking barnyard. Our destiny is to fly.”
But then the wild geese would disappear from sight their honking echoing across the horizon. The barnyard geese would look around at their comfortable surroundings, sigh, and return to the mud and filth of the barn. They never did fly. Sadly, there are a number of people in the Kingdom of God who remain in the barnyard rather than spread their winds to fly.
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