DiscipleShift Part 2: Growth Stages

Introduction

Developmental Delays: A Tale of Two Brothers

As Christians, Jesus’ calling to be His disciple is for us to be “Born-again” and growing and maturing in the new life He provides for us. Just like when we are born naturally and go through different growth stages, so it is with our lives when we are born again spiritually.

John 3:1–8 ESV

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 3:1–3 (ESV)

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh.

5 Stages of a Person’s Spiritual Development:

1) Not Alive (Spiritually Dead)

Ephesians 2:1–5 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Before a person is made alive by Jesus, they are dead in their trespasses.

Anyone without a personal, saving relationship with Jesus that is defined by Him being Lord and you being on a road to discipleship is dead.

It doesn’t matter how nice of person they are, how religious they are, how sincere in their beliefs they are, how much they know, etc… Without being born again into a personal, saving relationship where we recognize Jesus as Lord and we are on a road to discipleship, we are dead in our trespasses.

But there is hope in our spiritually dead state…Jesus can do what nothing else and no one else can…He can bring us from death to life!

What is the expectation of someone who is spiritually dead? To act as someone who is without Jesus:

“…following the course of this world…disobedience…liv[ing] in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind...”

Lost people act like lost people…spiritually dead people act like spiritually dead people

What do spiritually dead people need?

Hard Spiritual Truths, The Gospel, and the Love of Jesus on Display

They need to be called to life, not habit reforms.

Behavior modification is never a substitute for salvation. You can’t work your way to be saved. All you end up with is internally conflicted religious lost people.

2) Spiritual Infants

1 Peter 2:2–3 ESV

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Spiritual infants are people who have recognized that Jesus is Lord and have committed to giving their lives to Him, but there is not much beyond that.

Can people who are recent born again Christians, or people who have been “Christians” for a long time, but have remained stagnant in their faith.

Hebrews 5:12–14 ESV

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Spiritual infants tend to lack knowledge about what Jesus teaches or what the Bible says. It’s not a lack of intelligence, its about a lack to information.

They haven’t studied the word for themselves. They haven’t spent much time internalizing messages about God’s Word.

Infants generally are all about consuming. They have been trained by the world to consume so when they are born again, the worldly habits are still in place, but are spiritualized.

They tend to look at the pastor and church as something to cater to their needs. When they are uncomfortable they cry. Give them some time shiny to catch their attention and their happy. Mostly, they sleep on their faith…alot.

Just like regular infants who need time to grow and mature and require a lot of attention, there is also a tremendous amount of joy and excitement for those who are involved with spiritual infants.

For spiritual infants there is a lot of learning and developing that takes place. They have to learn to spiritual turn over, crawl, walk, etc. with Jesus.

They may not know they need to go to church consistently and regularly…or pray and read their Bibles (They may not even know where to start).

They don’t know about the joy and worship of tithing.

They don’t realize the importance of Christian Community and doing life together: Maybe they think they connect with God through nature or that their church is the outdoors. Maybe they have a, “all I need is me and Jesus” attitude.

Sometimes they may get caught up in other worldly or spiritualized concepts like karma. OR that after getting saved and being obedient through baptism, then every broken thing in life shouldn’t affect them anymore.

What do spiritual infants need?

Lots of love

Basic Spiritual truths fed to them so they can grow and thrive.

Personal attention from a mature believer who can be a spiritual parent to them.

Protection and guidance during this very vulnerable stage.

Christian Truth taught and modeled for them as they seek to develop new habits that form a new pattern of living as follower of Jesus.

3) Spiritual Children

1 John 2:12 ESV

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

1 Thessalonians 2:10–12 ESV

You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Born again people in this stage are continuing to grow in their relationship with God and their relationships with other Jesus followers.

They have learned enough about the teachings of Jesus and the Bible to hold conversations about spiritual things.

People in this stage are also very curious about things they are reading in the Bible.

Though they are growing, much of their spiritual life still revolves around themselves - wanting what meets their needs, their desires, and their interests.

As children generally are, they are quite still self-centered, not yet fully oriented to the focus on others that marks people who are living in maturity in God’s kingdom and family.

As with spiritual infancy, its not about how long you’ve been a Christian, its about what has happened or not happened in a relational discipleship process during that time.

Spiritual children can be people who have been Christians for 60 years while someone who has been a Christian for just a few years may be spiritually adults or spiritual parents.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A SPIRITUAL CHILD

They can do some things for themselves, but are still quite dependent on care and guidance from other more mature Christians.

They can be active in the church, but still view church involvement through the lens of self-benefit. If the ROI is beneficial to them, then they will give and serve. If the church is no longer meeting their needs, then their commitment to the church fades.

Children generally crave affirmation and approval and will do the right things as long as they are rewarded in a way that makes them feel appreciated.

The key trait of a spiritual child is wanting to grow closer to Jesus and others, but still from their own self-defined terms.

What do Spiritual Children need?

A strong relational connection to a mature believer to help being more Jesus-focused and Kingdom-minded.

Someone who can help them transition from spiritual dependency to learning how to spiritually feed themselves.

Teaching about who they are in Christ and what it means for Jesus to define their identity through the Word of God.

Clear expectations of what it means to be a Jesus-follower and what it means and looks like to trust God in obedience, doing what the Word says, rather than what they feel is right.

As they transition to the next stage, they will learn what it means to have a servant’s heart that honors our Father, rather than being self-centered and to do the right things for the right reasons.

CLOSING

It’s important for us to understand what stage we are in as disciples. When we realize what stage we are in, we can begin to see why we are where we are and what we need to do go grow and mature.

At times we will have traits and characteristics of each of these. When these happen we need to address them for our growth and maturity in Christ for the purpose of His glory and kingdom.