A Picture of Growing in Christ, Part 7 - Let’s Get Practical Again
March 17, 2022 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
In this series, I have been painting a picture of what a healthy, growing Christian looks like. At the center of spiritual health is the commitment to the ordinary means of grace offered in the weekly worship of the church. This habit is supplemented by personal commitments to the Word, prayer, and body fellowship throughout the week. Last week I outlined some practical ways to be committed to the ordinary means of grace and to Scripture. Let’s think about practical ways to be committed to prayer and body fellowship.
A healthy, growing Christian is committed to prayer just like humans are utterly dependent on breathing. A few weeks ago I wrote that a commitment to prayer is evidence of a worshipful heart, a mind thinking rightly, and a humble esteem for our abilities. Those are the internal qualities of a commitment to prayer. What about the external qualities? To be a person who prays without ceasing (1 Thes. 5:17), we need to cultivate daily prayer habits. Just like any commitment of value, we need to make time for prayer. Write it into your schedule. It does not have to be a long period of time. Using a journal to write out prayers or keep track of prayer requests can help keep our minds from wandering while praying. Pray with your Bible open; let Scripture fill the content of your prayers. Take the words of the Psalmist and make them your own in prayer. A healthy habit of Scripture memory and meditation will strengthen your prayer life. And pray with people on a regular basis. Spouses and families should prayer together. Life Groups and Bible studies should pray together. Church members should pray together. A diminished commitment to prayer is functional atheism at work in our lives.
A healthy, growing Christian is committed to living in community with the body of Christ. This body fellowship involves relational interconnectedness where we love and serve one another; it also involves fighting shoulder to shoulder for the perseverance of one another’s faith. The first practical application of this is simple: we need to spend time with the people of the church. You cannot love others with brotherly affection and rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep unless you are spending time with people. The relationships envisioned by the commands of Romans 12 take time and intentionality to develop. Take time to greet people after service on Sundays. Get involved with a Life Group. Attend our special fellowship activities. Even if you feel like you are connected with a group of people at church, be open to new relationships; look out for those who might be lingering on the fringes. Another excellent way to spend time with others at church is by serving. Sometimes relationships form more naturally when the people involved are not so focused on each other but on a common goal to accomplish, like keeping the kids alive in nursery or painting trim in the basement or going on a missions trip.
Cultivating these kinds of relationships within the body of Christ, where we know and are known, enables and undergirds the second dynamic of body fellowship where we are “striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27). I call these deeper relationships Hebrews 3:13 relationships, for this verse says, “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” We do not grow and mature and persevere in our faith as lone ranger Christians. We need one another. You will not form these Hebrews 3:13 relationships with every member of the church, but just a few people. These are relationships where you trust one another, are honest with one another, gracious and forgiving of one another, and are open to being taught by one another. Nothing kills spiritual growth like an unteachable spirit. Do you have a few people in your life who can and do exhort you on a regular basis? Do you have a few people in your life who are watching out for you that you might not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? Do you have people who are striving with you for your faith in the gospel? We cannot program or assign these kinds of relationships. Spend time with the people of the church and pray that these kinds of Hebrews 3:13 relationships would develop for you. Think not only of how the people of the church can meet your needs, but also of how you can meet the needs of others. For whom are you striving?
