No Pain No Gain?

ME AN MAH FREN LEROY VICNAIR USED TO HUNT AND FISH TOGETHER ALL THE TIME. ONE DAY ms WIFE TELL ME, u BOUDREAUX, AH JUST BOUGHT ME A PARROT BIRD BUT AH CAN'T TEACH HIM TO TALK." "BOUDREAUX,

YOU KNOW WAY BAACK IN THE OLD TIMES, HOW THOSE PIRATES USED TO TAKE DEM PARROTS WITH THEM WHEN THEY WENT TO SEA AN THE PARROT WOULD LEARN HOW TO TALK, JUST BEING AROUND THE MEN."

" WELL , IF YOU TAKE MAH PARROT WITH YA'LL NEXT TIME YA'LL GO TRAWLING, AN HE LEARN HOW TO TALK, AH'M GONNA GIVE YOU ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS."

SO NEXT TIME ME AN LEROY WENT OUT TO TRAWL, WE TOOK THE PARROT WITH US. TIIE PARROT WAS WITH US ALL THE TIME. BUT HB NEVER SAID NOTHING. THEN, ONE DAY WE GOT SUMPTHING CAUGHT IN THE BOAT PROPELLER, SO LEROY SAY," AWM GONNA HAVE TO GO OVERBOARD AN TAKE WHATEVER IT IS LOOSE."

THEN LEROY SAY, "BOUDREAUX, IF AH LOOSE MAH BREATH HOW YOU GONNA GET ME BACK UP?" AH SAY "AWM GONNA PULL YOU UP WITH A ROPE!" THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THE PARROT SAY," PULL-EM UP WITH A ROPE, PULL -EM UP WITH A ROPE!" AVERYBODY WAS ALL EXITED AN HAPPY BECAUSE DAT PARROT DONE LEARN HOW TO TALK.

AFTER WE GOT GOING AGAIN, WE WAS GOING ACROSS THE BAY REEL FAST, AN AH SAY, "LOOK LEROY, WE GOING FIFTY MILES AN HOURI" THEN RITE OUT OF THE BLUE, THB PARROT SAY, "GOING FIFTY MILES AN HOUR, GOING FIF1Y MILES AN HOUR!" AVERYBODY SAY, "MANN !-DAT PARROT DONE LEARN HOW TO TALK SUM MORE!"

SO, AH WAS PAYING SO MUCH AITENTION TOTHE PARROT AH RAN OVER A SMALL SANDBAR, SO AH SAY, "OOP'S HIT A BUMP!" THE PARROT SAY, "OOP'S HIT A BUMP!!"-"OOP'S HIT A BUMP!!"

DAT PARROT DONE LEARN HOW TO TALK REEL GOOD. SO, WHEN WE GOT BACK HOME AN LEROY'S WIFE HEARD HOW GOOD DAT PARROT COULD TALK, SHE GAVE ME TWO-HUNDRED DOLLARS.

THEN ONE DAY SHE TOOK HIM TO CHURCH,AN THE PRIEST WAS SAYING HIS SERMON, AN HE SAY," IF JESUS COMES DOWN TO EARTH, WHO KNOWS HOW HE'S GONNA GET UP?" THEN THE PARROT HOLLER OUT LOUD, "PULL-EM UP WITH A ROPE!!" "PULL-EM UP WITH A ROPE!r'

THEN THE PRIEST GOT MAD, AN GRAB THE PARROT BY THE NECK AN SWUNG HIM AROUND AN AROUND. THEN THE SAY PARROT SAY; GOINO FIFTY MILES AN HOUR !!" "GOING FIFfY MILES AN HOUR!!"

BOY, DAT MADE THE PRIEST REEL MAD; AN HE THREW 1llE PARROT AGAINST THE WALL . TIIEN TIIE PARROT SAY , "OOPS !- HIT A BUMPH" - "OOPS ! -IDT A BUMP!!"

Well we don’t want to hit any bumps when it comes to our spiritual growth.

Intro

Last week we learned a little about change… or rather growth in our walk with Jesus. Growing in our faith is not easy.

Romans 12:1–2 NLT

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Paul often referred to it as running a race and talked about training to be a great follower of Jesus.

1 Timothy 4:7 NLT

7 Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly.

Paul says to train yourself to be godly.

You may have heard the term, No Pain No Gain. If you have eve worked out or played a sport, you have had a coach yell that at you at the exact moment you thought you might just die in that workout. It’s a true statement when it comes to exercise. The only way to grow stronger is to push your muscle to the point of exhaustion and then it grows stronger. Same way with endurance… you have to run or walk until you are tired to get better. It’s the same if you had an accident and are going through physical therapy.

It’s the same when it comes to spiritual growth as well which is why we often just don’t grow. Most people want to avoid pain and enjoy pleasure. If it tastes good, eat it. If it feels good… do it. If it doesn’t avoid it or get rid of it.

Then, to make things worse, when we do get serious about our growth, we do it in our own power which causes a lot of pain and does not yield the results we want.

Christian growth the way God does it does not happen fast. It happens slowly. It takes time. It’s like the difference between fast food and a good home cooked meal. Fast food will fill your stomach, but it’s unhealthy. A home cooked meal will have more flavor and will be healthier… it just takes more time and effort and we don’t like to work for something.

So too often we try to grow in ways that we think will be easier but are not.

Ways we try to grow

We try to grow in our faith by our own effort.

We agree that we were saved by Grace, but we have to keep it on our own.

Galatians 3:3 NLT

3 How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?

Growth is not just a matter of human effort. God has things for us to do that can help us to grow… church attendance, Bible reading, Bible Study, Witnessing, Tithing, Morning QT… Those are all good and can help us to grow, but there is more to it than that.

One of the mistakes we make is to think that just because I am involved in growth producing activities, I will grow. That’s like thinking that if you go to the gym you will get healthier watching others exercise.

That doesn’t work, and just attending church etc doesn’t either unless you choose to grow your relationship.

We try to grow by keeping the rules

A lot of people see being a Christian as simply following a long list of rules. Rules do not produce growth. They will control things that do sometimes need to be controlled.

Hebrews 13:9 NCV

9 Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you into the wrong way. Your hearts should be strengthened by God’s grace, not by obeying rules about foods, which do not help those who obey them.

Hebrews says that we are strengthened by Grace. Remember a couple of weeks ago, we talked about how Grace calls us to obedience.

You are a Christian and you are in a rowboat in the middle of the gulf. You don’t know where you are going but you are paddling to get somewhere. Then a cruise ship named God’s Grace comes along and rescues you. You get up on it and it’s wonderful. It’s full of wonderful things and it is taking you to exactly where God wants you to go. But too often, we get drawn back to feeling the need to keep the rules so you find your row boat and right there on deck get in it and start rowing… like you think your are helping the cruise ship.

That looks about as silly as it sounds when you and I resort back to keeping the rules.

It doesn’t work.

Growth is what God does, not me keeping a bunch of rules. This idea comes has a name - religion. Religion is about keeping rules. Christianity is about a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The Christian life is not keeping rules, it’s God’s power in my life

He does have things for us to do and he dies have a direction and purpose for us, but you will not find it just by keeping rules.

Another mistake we make is...

We try to grow by feeling bad

Some people feel more religious if they feel bad. If I feel guilty, it means I am growing closer to God. Or if I can just feel bad enough, then I will want to grow closer to God. Neither of those make sense to me.

Guilt can work for short term, but it will not help you into a life time of spiritual growth. You will eventually decide you don’t want to feel bad anymore and because you have grown to think that it’s God who is making you feel guilty and bad, you will abandon your walk with the Lord. so you decide to get as far away from God as possible.

God is not making you feel guilty. You are making you feel guilty.

It’s almost like sometimes we decide to beat God to the punch. You feel like you did something wrong… didn’t read your Bible or pray enough… were impatient with someone… and you think God is fixing to condemn you so you do it to yourself hoping that now he won’t condemn you.

The truth is God is not going to condemn you…

Romans 8:34 The Living Bible

34 Who then will condemn us? Will Christ? No! For he is the one who died for us and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us there in heaven.

This is just one of many scriptures that tell you God is not going to condemn you. So if God is not going to condemn you, why do you spend so much time and put so much effort into condemning yourself.

You cannot guilt yourself into growth

I am not saying to pretend that you never sin… we all do. but the Bible says that when we confess it, he forgives it.

1 John 1:9 NLT

9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Instead of trying to do it all on your on, or trying to keep a growing and changing number of rules, or by continually condemning yourself, try it God’s way. Your way just produces shame and guilt. God’s way produces growth and peace and happiness and joy…

So what is God’s plan for growth?

Ephesians 4:22–24 NIV

22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

This is the growth process God uses. Put off the old and put on the new. In this process, God allows us to be part of it and there are things he does and things we do to make it work.

1. Put off the old

This is what used to be… what you liked to do when you were miserable and lost without purpose or Christ. It’s selfishness, trusting in yourself, sinful habits, taking advantage of people, using other people… it’s everything your old nature… your lost nature had you doing before you decided to turn to Christ.

Jesus gave us a picture of it.

Luke 5:36 NLT

36 Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.

Jesus is saying that you don’t just try to improve your old way of living. drink less… eat less… not cuss as much… be nicer to those around me… Jesus is telling you to get rid of the old.

I know this is difficult. When you think of taking off the old… ways you treat people, old ways you got things done, old ways you used to make yourself happy… As much as you know these old things are bad for you, they are comfortable in a way and it’s difficult to take them off… to get rid of them.

Stockholm Syndrome - It’s named after something in Stockholm. Kidnappers would kidnap someone and then they would become friendly with each other. Patty Hearst was kidnapped and this happened.

Spiritual principle - there are some things that are holding your spiritual growth hostage and you’ve become friends with them because you’ve become familiar with them.

So this makes taking off the old difficult because you feel like you are taking off something or someone familiar. But it’s also something that needs to go away.

Paul called these old ways of living, the desire of your sinful nature.

Galatians 5:19–20 NLT

19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,

He kind of hits us all. It would be nice if he stopped with idolatry or sorcery… but then he identifies anger, jealousy, selfishness… we all struggle with something in this list because that’s our old nature and Paul tells us to put it away.

Where so you see your life caught up in the old right now? Instead of feeling guilty about it, getting caught up in some other ways of thinking, identify it and confess it to God and ask Him to take it off. That’s where it begins.

You may have failed many times… you may feel great shame and you are afraid to try again because you are afraid you will fail again. Trust God one more time. Believe that he is going to show you some new things in your life that can change everything.

Now, I know how we are. We think, OK, I have put off the old, so now I will grow because I will keep all the rules… I can do this and all your energy goes right back into the old way of living.

It’s really more simple than that. here is what God wants you to do…

2. Put on the New

You don’t have to work up enough guilt or feel worthy or clean yourself up to do this. god simply says, take off the old and put on the new. You do not have to deserve it. You do not have to earn it but doing good things. You don’t have to achieve it. It’s a gift. It’s called GRACE and it changes everything.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

You become a new creation when you receive Jesus Christ. When you begin to see it as a gift, you will quit trying to earn it. When you are trying to earn it, you can never do enough to feel like you are there....

Let me get practical.

Say you have a problem with gossip and you realize that God doesn’t want you to do that so you decide you want out of that habit. You don’t just stop talking… you will explode because you are a talker… it’s one reason you gossip. You put off the Gossip but you put on encouraging words. you just replaced the old with the new.

Maybe you struggle with envy and you know you need to stop. You stop envying … that’s putting off the old, but you start giving. You look to see at what they might need that you have and you help them by giving it to them. You have replaced the old with the new.

You stop sexual immorality and you start a new purity in your relationships. You don’t just leave an emptiness there, you replace it with purity.

You stop impure thoughts… but you don’t walk around thinking, I’m not going to think about anything… that doesn’t work. You replace impure thoughts with pure thoughts. Maybe you pray for them… contextualize them.

Lying. You don’t just stop lying… you make a conscious effort to tell the truth. But do it with love.

Stealing. You replace it with working to pay it back.

Mean words - replace them with kind words....

Whatever that thing that needs to be replaced you thought of a few minutes ago, think of what new thing you can replace it with. What’s the new thing that needs to start in your life.

I am not talking about just doing something different to distract yourself… the feelings will still be there. I am talking about something new.

Here are a couple of tips.

It will feel unfamiliar at the beginning because it’s not what you are used to doing. So at first you might stumble a bit. That’s ok. Get back up. But soon, you will realize that this was the way you were meant to live.

Maybe you are a grouch… God is not going to make you into someone who just sings the sun will come up tomorrow… he may make you into a joyful grouch.... then you grow even more as time goes, but at first, it will feel unfamiliar to you and to others.

Paul was killing Christians then he became one… it took a bit for other Christians to believe he had changed.

This might sound confusing, but let me simplify it.

Colossians 3:3 NCV

3 Your old sinful self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God.

Your new life… your new nature is with Christ. So the closer you get to Jesus, the more you get this new life God has given you.

The closer you get to Christ, the closer you get to this new life.

So when you get confused, just move closer to Jesus and it will clear up.

Now this is hard. All of us have struggled with this and that’s why this next step is vital.

3. Renew your mind

That basically means that you change the way you think.

Romans 12:2 NLT

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

God transforms you by changing the way you think.

Transform is the same a metamorphosis. It’s like a caterpillar going into a cocoon and coming out a butterfly. It becomes something brand new and that’s what God does. He transforms us as we change the way I think. We begin to see things the way God sees them.

If you see the world as God see it, you will have a lot more compassion… a lot less selfishness… more love.

Part of the change is that we begin to see our sin like God sees it. I would see how it hurts others and myself and how it keeps me from God’s plan, it would be a lot easier to let go of the old sinful ways.

Renewing your mind means you begin to see things the way God sees them.

We have to put off the Old and put on the new. we do that by renewing our minds. When we do, we begin to see things the way God does.

Ephesians 4:22–24 NLT

22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Paul gives three examples… I have already shared some of these, but let’s review.

Stop telling lies and start telling the truth.

Ephesians 4:25 NLT

25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.

The new thing… truth replaces the old thing… telling lies. How do you do that? By renewing your mind. Paul said we all belong to each other so when I lie, I actually hurt myself too. You begin to think differently.

The reason people lie is that they want their life to be better and when you realize that lying hurts the ones you lie to as well as yourself, it’s easier to stop lying. It’s a new way of thinking.

Stop Stealing and start working

Ephesians 4:28 NLT

28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.

You stop stealing from others… but you begin to work and earn for yourself. Then you over come the selfishness that causes stealing bu giving to others. It’s a new way to think.

Here is another one…

Get rid of bitterness and put on kindness and forgiveness.

Ephesians 4:31–32 NLT

31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

How can you forgive someone who has offended or hurt you? Think about how much Jesus has forgiven you. It’s a new way of thinking.

Where do you need to put off the old and put on the new? Maybe you are sarcastic and ungrateful. Put that off and put on a new way of thinking. Develop an attitude of gratefulness for all God has done for you… a new way of thinking.

Where do you need to do that?

Where do you need to take off the old and put on the new?

How do you know if you are growing? … if you are making progress?

You will see results. Paul wrote that we would begin to see fruit when we grow in our faith in Jesus.

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

That’s the outcome of growth. It’s not about being perfect, but growing towards a goal of knowing Christ more and more.

Let’s commit to grow, even though its more difficult and sometimes painful… no pain no gain.

You may wonder why it seems to take so long to become mature in your faith… or at least to feel like you have matured in your faith. I don’t know the answer.

It could be because your growth is God’s project and not yours and he has all the time of eternity and he wants you to grow more and more like himself.

It can and is often times, frustrating. We want growth now. We don’t want the crock pot method of growth, we want the microwave version.

You have to begin with this: TRUST

Trusting in Jesus to be your Savior is the first step of trust. Trusting him to help you grow is the next.

There is one thing I do know!

Philippians 1:6 NLT

6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

You begin by recognizing you can trust God with your salvation, your growth, your future… everything. God begins the work by drawing you and he will continue it until he completes it. He does the heavy lifting.

We just have to put off… put on… renew.

Prayer

Salvation

Help us to put off the old… put on the new… allow you to renew our minds.