Growing in Christ
. . . we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ (Eph 4:15).
Spiritual growth does not just happen automatically in the life of a follower of Christ. All kinds of life require certain conditions to grow effectively. Without those conditions a living organism will grow weak and possibly die. A newborn Christian is a spiritual organism that demands spiritual conditions in which to prosper.
If we ask the typical Christian today what those conditions are we will usually get an answer something like this: Go to church regularly, read your Bible, have a time of devotion and pray. Some will add things such as tithe regularly, be involved in some ministry of the church, take part in the worship time etc. Yet, massive numbers of people are not growing in such an environment and many are leaving these churches because they aren’t seeing genuine growth in their lives and others.
God has provided a corporate setting in which we are continually growing spiritually. It is called the body of Christ. If we are truly born again, and Christ dwells within us we will be growing if we are planted in a healthy spiritual environment. This is true of all living things. A plant, for example, may have life in it but if that life is not cared for it will begin to lose vitality and stop growing. The question we need to be asking is whether our church environment provides the essentials for genuine spiritual life?
The typical church service in a typical traditional church consists of a time of musical participation and a message from the pastor and perhaps some formal prayer and a challenge to the congregation at the end. Many people are going to these services week after week without experiencing much genuine spiritual growth.
Paul explains bluntly the conditions for growth in the body of Christ. Keeping in mind that it is a spiritual body with spiritual needs, he says:
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love (Eph. 4:14–16).
In verse 14 the apostle sums up what we are experiencing in many of our traditional churches. A lot of doctrine is tossed around through teaching using eloquent methods of oratory on topics of interest and the result is much cunning and craftiness and in some case “deceitful scheming.” The actual Greek in that verse could end with “in their methods of error.” In other words, Paul is indicating that certain methods err because they miss the mark of providing the conditions for spiritual growth.
In another place he says that in the end times “. . . people will not tolerate healthy doctrine, but with itching ears will surround themselves with teachers who cater to their people’s own desires” (2 Tim 4:3). In the first place what we call “pulpit preaching” was not a practice of the early church because it did not encourage spiritual growth but only served to attract people who wanted their “itching ears” satisfied. Secondly, speaking at people is not an effective method of communication. Dialogue is much more effective. Any effective teacher will agree.
In the next words of this passage Paul explains the conditions needed for the body of Christ and individuals in it to grow spiritually. He starts with “speaking the truth in love, we will grow.” In the Greek it is not “speaking the truth” but “truthing” or living in an environment where truth is prevalent. So, what does that look like? It is a context where all pretending and false spiritual facade is avoided. In this environment people are not trying to impress others with their knowledge or speaking ability, but are simply being honest and expecting the same of others. They are being truthful with themselves, one another and God. That attitude sets the stage for growth to take place.
Next Paul shares how the corporate spiritual body grows. Everything flows from Christ, the Head of the body. He is life itself and came to give us abundant life that must flow from Him to everyone else. Then as Christ flows His life to us through His Spirit the body is “fitted and held together by what every joint supplies.” The joint is the connection between the parts of the body allowing every member to flow life to the others through their words and actions. This can only happen when each individual member is working properly. In other words, no one gets to just coast along passively and take it all in without participating as a member of the body. This flowing of life between the members “causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
This scares many people because we tend to shy away from open sharing, But this sharing will be very diverse as each person participates according to their unique place in the body of Christ. Romans 12 speaks of this diversity that God has provided His body. Some share out of a teaching, leading or prophetic gift. Others are givers, servers, merciful or encouragers but each is coming from their unique place in Christ.
There is no clergy system in God’s provisions for His church. Instead He has called us to be a kingdom of priests, each having equal access to the throne of God (Rev 1:6; 1 Peter 2;5; Heb 4:16).
Growing in Christ is not about how much knowledge you have or how many hours you pray. Paul says “. . . we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Eph 4:15). If we are growing spiritually we will slowly look more and more like the Christ we serve. We will gradually become “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29).
This process is called “transformation” which is the English word for the Greek wod from which we get the word metamorphosis, which is a gradual change that takes place in living things. The word is used in Romans 12:2 where Paul says “. . . be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is.” He says it another way to the Corinthians: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18). As we spend time in the presence of Jesus we are changed into His image and have His glory in our lives.
This process happens as we are in fellowship with other followers of Christ not in isolation. We saw this in Ephesians 4:16 earlier. God made us to be connected to others, not as loners. So often I see believers who have no connection to the body of Christ who can’t figure out why they are not growing but are staying in the same place or move backward and abandon their faith.
So what will your life begin to look like when you are growing in Christ? Here are the characteristics you will begin to experience: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22, 23). Notice that all of these qualities have to do with how you treat others and of course God. Love, of course, is the overriding quality that God shares with us as we walk with Him and it is accompanied by these other spiritual fruits that will change your life as you begin to look more and more like our Lord.
But you can’t do it in isolation. You need God and the fellowship of His people to begin and continue this transformation and growth toward spiritual maturity as a child of the King.
