Before we can or will
consider the laws of spiritual growth, we need to have a
real concern for that growth. There must be in us a
strong sense of its importance and necessity. We must
realize in a living way that:
1. The measure of our ultimate satisfaction to the Lord
will be the measure of the fulness of Christ.
2. The measure of our value to others will depend
entirely upon our own spiritual measure: not merely upon
what we believe, or think, or say.
3. The measure of our own joy and satisfaction will be
according to what fulness of Christ we know and live in.
Because these three things constitute the whole nature
of, and reason for, our being called into the
fellowship of His (Gods) Son, the New
Testament is ninety percent occupied with the growth and
maturity of believers.
As there are definite laws of growth in the physical and
mental man, so there are in that of the inward man.
Some of these are quite obvious, such as proper and
suitable food, pure air, regular exercise, and systematic
self-discipline. To violate or neglect any of these laws
of body and mind is to arrest development, limit
capacity, and open the door to adverse and destructive
elements.
There are corresponding lawsthe counterpart of the
abovein the spiritual life, with similar effects
for good or ill in observance or neglect. We are not
taking up these particular factors here, but are
specifying three otheralthough relatedlaws of
spiritual growth. The first of these is
That
Unattractive ThingObedience.
No one naturally likes
that word. It is unpleasant from infancy onward. Its very
essence seems to imply the presence ofat leasta
peril of disobedience, and the universal natural dislike
of it more than impliesit provesthe presence
of a wish to be free from any obligation or law. Yes,
that primeval revolt, and break from God which was the
beginning of actual sin has entered as the Serpents
poison into the very blood-stream of the entire creation,
and the very mention of obedience stirs a secret dislike,
if not resentment.
It would take too much space to show how, through all
time, the one thing which has been Gods supreme
obstacle to mans relationship with Himself has been
this inherent disobedience as the active expression of
unbelief. On the other hand, it would take volumes to
show fully how every movement into fellowship with God in
His great purposes has been based upon a demanded
obedience of faith; a test, a challenge and a conflict
issuing in a willing capitulation to the Divine will in
some general or particular direction. Here, our only
intention is to point out and emphasize the fact that
there is no possibility of the slightest true and genuine
spiritual progress and growth beyond the point where
light received, the Lord showing His mind, has not had a
definite response in practical obedience. Time does not
change this, and no matter how long we go on or imagine
that the matter is passed over, when at length the real
question of approval for particular usefulness arises, we
shall be brought right back to the hindrance of that
reserved obedience. It is like the presence and secret
working of some injury in the physical system which
flares up when a particular demand is made years after.
God does not live in time. All past and future is present
with Him.
But there is a realm of obedience which is not law but
love, and love transforms the unlovely to delight. Hence
the Apostle Paul, in calling for an obedience which would
make possible a spiritual enlargement, puts the matter on
the basis of love, and then gives the supreme Example of
the obedience of love. Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ, Who... became obedient
(Phil. 2:5). It is those whose love for the Lord leads to
swift actions in relation to light received, who make
swift progress, and are seen to grow up in beauty before
the Lord. On the other hand, those who are careless or
rebellious when the Lord has spoken, and tardy in
response practical responseare marked by
repeated defeats, recurrent bouts of spiritual
cloudiness, and inability to meet an emergency demand
when it arises. Too often this lack of obedience, or
positive disobedience, is due to its origin in SatanPride.
The second thing to be mentioned here is
That
Unrecognized ThingAdjustableness.
One of the most common
causes of spiritual stultification is fixedness. It is
peculiarly common in the realm where Christian truth has
been reduced to a fixed form, order, system, and creed.
The doctrines of Christianity are such and such; so many.
The accepted and established ideas of Christian service
and methods are so-and-so. Peter had his fixed position
as to Jews and Gentiles, and, because of it, came
perilously near missing the larger purpose of God, and
presented the Lord with a real battleground in his
Christianity. It has so very largely resolved itself into
a finality of position, which results in a closed door to
fuller revelation as to what God means by His Word. The
fact is, that God only gives us enough light to get us to
take the next step, but when that step has been taken, we
are in the way of being shown that much more was meant by
the Lord than He showed then. The first expectations of
many servants of the Lord in the Bible, expectations
resultant from something said by the Lord to them, were
later seen to have been not all that He really meant, but
there was something more, and perhaps other than they
thought.
Can anyone really dispute that full light very often
means a shedding of things and ideas that we thought
were of God? Is it not true that, as we go on,
we find that certain leadings of the Lord were tactical,
intended to get us to a certain place where alone we
could learn of a greater necessity? There is very much of
this kind of thing in relation to both doctrine,
practice, and serviceits nature and ways, and while
Divine principles will never change to all
eternity, the clothing of those principles may vary and
change with both dispensations and generations and stages
of our own lives.
In all thiswhile Truth remains unalterablethe
only way to grow is to be adjustable and not static and
fixed. Do your religious traditions bind you in such a
way that you are not free to move with God? If He sees
this to be so, He may not give you the light necessary to
enlargement. But if He sees that, although you may be in
a comparatively false position, your heart is
really set on His fulness at any cost, He may present you
with light which will test your adjustableness severely.
See the case of the disciples of John the Baptist
transferring their discipleship to Christ. See the case
of Peter and what happened in the home of Cornelius. See
also the case of Apollos in Acts 18:2428; as also
the disciples mentioned earlier in that chapter.
Our third principle of growth is
That
Crisic Point Of Committal.
Very often the whole
mounting avalanche of Divine working in our livesan
avalanche built up as silently and slowly as the added
snowflakes in the Alpsjust waits to move with power
and overwhelming for that finalyet all-inclusiveact
of committal. We wait; we think, wrestle, contemplate,
analyze, go round-and-round; we reason and argue; we
recognize that there is nothing else for it, and even say
so; we even come to the point when the matter is settled
in our conviction and acceptance, and we think that we
are over the hedge, but nothing happens, nothing
eventuates. Why is it? The Lord knows more than we do
about the deceitfulness of our hearts. A covenant has two
sides, and in the Old Testament two sacrifices were
connected with a covenant; one representing God, the
other the offerer; both were killed and the two
parties to the covenant were represented as passing
between the two (See Abraham in Gen. 15). There has to be
a slaying of something on our side! In other
words, God is waiting until we have burned our boats
behind us. Though we may have approached the shore of His
will and way for us, there will be nothing from Gods
side while our boats are just left on the shore so that,
if things dont go quite as we expect, we still can
retreat. That boat is an evidence of doubt or
reservation. It must be burned, so thatwhatever the
consequencewe have no alternatives.
The young believer will not grow unless he or she makes a
committal in testimony, so letting others know where they
stand. The law holds good in every stage of development
and progress. If policy governs, or fear, or how
such a step will affect our prospects, or any
consideration which conflicts with what we know in our
deepest hearts is the way indicated for usfor usthose
things are boats or bridges representing a false Safety-first
policy. As when the bleating lambs were preserved by Saulthe
finger of God will point to them and say, What mean those
boats? God will wait for the full and final capitulation
without a reservation, and to defer is only to be
involved in confusion, and either becoming a misfit,
having missed Gods first best, or losing out
altogether.
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Jan-Feb 1946, Vol. 24-1.