In last night’s sermon, we looked at the question ‘What does growth look like?’ and the short answer to that might be ‘Jesus‘! As always, Jesus is our example in all matters of faith, so if we want to learn how to grow spiritually, we need to look at His life and ministry. Jesus could have chosen to come to earth as a man, simply to preach and then die for our sins, but instead, He came as a baby, living in relative obscurity for thirty years before beginning His ministry. What was the point of all those years of insignificance and hidden living?

Jesus  is our model in faith. He came as the ‘second Adam’ to show us how life should be lived as well as to die for us to bring us salvation. ‘In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.’ (Hebrews 2:10-11) Heb 2:18 goes on to say ‘Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’ Jesus came to show us what a life of obedient submission to God looks like and He showed us that insignificance and unimportance in the world’s eyes do not have to define us. We all have dignity and purpose in this life because we are made in the image of God and just as  Jesus willingly learned obedience from suffering (Hebrews 5:8), so too can we.

We know little about the childhood of Jesus (see Luke 2:40, Luke 2:52), but Jesus obviously grew naturally and in grace and wisdom and favour with people. He understands our humanity and therefore can help us in our weaknesses (Heb 4:15-16). He learned patience through suffering and therefore encourages us to see that spiritual growth cannot be rushed but will come naturally as we develop our relationship with our heavenly Father, just as He did.

Waiting patiently for God is itself a sign of increasing spiritual maturity, but we often find it difficult to do this! Few of us enjoy waiting for God. Abraham got impatient waiting for the son of promise to be born, hence he slept with Hagar and saw Ishmael born. ‘His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.’ (Gal 4:23) Saul got impatient waiting for the prophet Samuel to arrive and offered the burnt offering, even though he was neither a prophet nor a priest: Samuel’s comment was ‘You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.  But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.’ (1 Sam 13:13-14) Impatience is a natural tendency, but it is one that we have to let go of if we are to grow spiritually. ‘Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.’ (Prov 14:29) Impatience is a sign of immaturity, but if we are patient, we have great understanding, for we are displaying a confidence in God’s ability to work all things together for good in His timing and in His way.

God Himself is patient (2 Pet 3:9, 1 Pet 3:20, Rom 2:4, Rom 3:25), so it’s obvious that He is going to want to develop patience within us, since His goal is for us to become conformed to the image of Christ. (Rom 8:29) One of the ways that God actually works patience into our characters is to allow difficult circumstances into our lives so that we learn not to rely on ourselves but to rely on Him: ‘this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.’ (2 Cor 1:9) The force of ‘pester power’ (demonstrated in the story of Samson and Delilah and experienced by every parent of a demanding toddler!) does not work on God, however! It requires maturity to accept that we do not understand the whole picture and to accept that God knows best, even when it seems He does not give us what our hearts yearn for. Nonetheless, we need to learn that He loves us so much that He will not give in to our demands if that is not the best thing for us, just as we have learnt that as parents, there are times when we must harden our hearts to our children’s pestering and protect them from themselves. The more we allow God to work patience into our lives, the more we will grow spiritually.

God’s aim for us all is for us to grow up: ‘until 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.’ (Eph 4:13) Spiritual growth can only happen when we have experienced spiritual birth, however: “Birth presupposes growth, but growth proceeds from birth,” Eugene Peterson says. (‘Practise Resurrection’, P 3) As Jesus taught Nicodemus, we need to be born again (John 3:6-8) and that birth comes from God. (John 1:12-13)

We start out on our spiritual journey by the work of God’s Spirit in our lives causing our new birth or regeneration. There is only one way to start out, by Jesus Christ (John 14:6, Acts 4:12), and as we are born again by God’s Spirit as faith is ignited in our hearts, so we must continue to walk in the Spirit by faith (see Gal 3:2-3, 14). Growth is ultimately God’s work in us:

God’s Regeneration Outworked With The Holy Spirit

That work of growth is something God produces in us and it is the natural progression intended by Him for every one of us. Eph 4:13-14 in the Message version says ‘God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and to tell it in love – like Christ in everything, so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.’ Growth is not forced in the natural world. The seeds that are planted will grow, providing the conditions are conducive to growth – sunlight, water and so on, as these chilli seeds show:

October 2013

December 2013

In the same way, spiritual growth is a spiritual work which happens in spiritual realms to people who have been born again of God’s Spirit. Our problem comes because growth cannot be rushed and we are often impatient to see progress in our own lives and in other people’s lives. Our instant society with its consumer demands leads us to believe we can have whatever we want whenever we want, but our times are in God’s hands and ‘there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.’ (Eccl 3:1) God works patience into our characters so that we grow through waiting patiently for Him, learning through the trials and suffering life brings (James 1:2-4, Rom 5:3-5).

Mark continued his series on Joseph this morning, looking at Genesis 39:1-4 TNIV. Having considered how the worst day of his life (when he was sold into slavery) was actually the beginning of the fulfilment of God’s plans imparted to him in a dream and then having looked at the ‘strange place’ when we are in between God speaking and the fulfilment of His promises, today we looked at what Joseph actually did in the intervening years.

The key truth is told us in Gen 39:2 TNIV:’The Lord was with Joseph.’ Despite all that had happened, God was with Joseph. He had not abandoned him or forgotten him, even if it seemed that things were still going wrong, since being sold into slavery cannot have been how Joseph expected to see the dream fulfilled. God had actually engineered all the circumstances, however – Reuben’s conscience refusing to allow his brothers to kill Joseph, the Ishmaelites being on hand to buy Joseph, Potiphar now having a vacancy in his household for a slave – to bring Joseph to this place. God is able to influence even non-believers so that His plans come to pass!

When God is with us, what happens? We see that Joseph was successful in his work. God was revealed in his life through his ordinary, mundane service and Potiphar saw that the Lord was with him. He recognised something different about Joseph in the way that he worked, and as God is with us, people will see something different in us too: loyalty, steadfastness, diligent work should all be characteristics of the Christian.

Gen 39:3 TNIV tells us that God caused everything Joseph did to prosper. Joseph worked; he was not idle, simply waiting for God to bless him. He worked and served God to the best of his ability, cooperating with God and recognising that God was in control. As a result, Joseph found favour in Potiphar’s sight and was promoted. He served Potiphar as a way of serving God (see Col 3:22 TNIV), rather than simply working. Service comes as we get to know God and see that He is in every aspect of our lives. Joseph’s dream was actually getting closer to fulfilment, but it may well be that there was still no visible evidence of this to him. We have to serve God by faith, trusting Him to work all things together for good even when we cannot trace what He is doing.

‘My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.’ (Ps 131:1-3 TNIV)

‘You liberate me from my own noise and my own chaos
From the chains of a lesser law You set me free
You liberate me from my own noise and my own chaos
From the chains of a lesser law You set me free

In the silence of the heart You speak.’ (Audrey Assad, ‘You Speak’)
Audrey Assad, ‘You Speak’

At last night’s prayer meeting, we focussed on Acts 12:1-5 TNIV and in particular looked at the phrase ‘and the church was earnestly praying to God for him.’ It was a time of persecution for the church; James, the brother of John, had been killed by Herod and Herod was all set to do the same to Peter. The church prayed not in any half-hearted way, but earnestly – the word here (ektenes) is translated ‘without ceasing’ in some versions and is the root of our English word ‘extended’ or ‘extensive’, showing us that the church was fully stretched in praying. This was no light-hearted hobby, but a call placed upon them by God to which they responded with unstinting prayer.

Motorcycle champion Guy Martin has recently featured in a series of programmes called ‘Speed’ on Channel 4, looking at what is required to break several speed records. Olympic cyclist Laura Trott spoke of her gruelling training regime on this, how she pushes herself to the limit every day in training, to the point where she can do nothing after training except rest because she has pushed her body hard. We need to pray with the same fervour and dedication!