Session 5: Growing in Jesus

What comes to mind when you think of spiritual growth?

Don’t reply to this, but who is someone you know that shows a lot of spiritual maturity?

Think about this person. What about this person makes you say that?

What would you say is the most important factor in spiritual growth? Why?

As we continue our walk with Jesus, we should become more like Him. We should do this through daily Bible reading, prayer, corporate worship, personal evangelism, and some form of a Bible study with other believers. As we do these things, we should find ourselves conforming more to His image.

John 15:1–4 ESV

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

Everyone who has accepted Christ abides with Him if they have truly gone through a conversion experience. There are times we are closer to Him than others.

What does it mean to be “in Christ”?

I think it means to have accepted the gift of salvation He gave to us. I think those who have had a true conversion experience will always be in Christ. Even though there are times we will be closer to Him and allowing Him to do incredible works in our lives, I think we will never totally lose the relationship with Him.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

John 10:27–29 ESV

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

John 6:37 ESV

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

How do we abide in Him?

Abiding in Christ may sound like some mystical mumbo jumbo thing, but in reality there are some definite steps we can look to so we can have a deeper relationship with Him.

Some of these are

regular Bible reading prayer

corporate worship silence and solitude

personal evangelism personal devotions

group Bible study

You don’t need to answer this one out loud, but I do want you to think about it.

What spiritual disciplines do you practice regularly in your life?

John 15:5–8 ESV

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

What does it mean to bear fruit? There are many of us who would think it would mean we need to be out evangelizing the world through our testimonies. While winning the unsaved to Christ is a part of this, I believe it isn’t the whole. I think we need to try and see how we are bearing fruit in all aspects of our lives. There are those we are doing much better at, and there are those areas of our lives we need to allow Christ to take more control. We need to make sure our lives in their entirety looks more like Christ, and not just certain areas.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Once again, a lot of the questions tonight are for introspection and not necessarily for us to talk about in an open group. These first two are like that.

In what areas of your life do you see Christ’s impact most readily?

In what areas of your life do you need to pray for more “fruit”?

We will discuss the next two.

Why is it important that followers of Jesus continue to bear fruit?

Without bearing fruit, the vine becomes useless. We had a neighbor who put in grapevines along our property line. They produced some nice grapes the first couple years they were back there. I noticed last year, they took them out and I saw the wife out walking and asked her why. For the last few year, the grapes would get to where they were just about ready to become ripe enough to eat, then they would rot on the vine. They took them out.

We need to bear fruit. If we are in Christ, we will emulate His spirit. We will become more like Him as we bear more fruit. Remember, we are saying fruit is more than just winning other people to Christ.

How do spiritual disciplines help us to grow spiritual fruit in our lives?

As we practice the spiritual disciplines we talked about earlier, we will become more aware of the lives we are supposed to be living. We will learn more about Christ and the way we can better shine His light. We will become more consistent with bearing the fruit our Father wants us to. The Bible talks about the spiritual fruits we are supposed to be displaying.

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Mark and I have preached on these pretty consistently over the last month. As we grow in Christ, these fruits should be becoming more evident in our lives. When we find they aren’t, we need to realize these are areas in our lives we need to turn over to God and allow His Spirit to help us to produce the fruit that is pleasing to Him.

1 John 3:24 ESV

24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

The spiritual disciplines will help us to do this.

2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Just as Jesus shared grace and love to us, we should be doing the same with our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we do this, it will take care of so many of the issues we face in the church. As we grow to be more like Christ, the more patience, love, understanding, grace, kindness, you name any descriptive word that comes close to being a fruit of the Spirit, we should have it.

Why? This is the fruit which should be on our vine.

Why is it important that our relationships with others and our love for others always flow out of the love we have been shown in Jesus?

It is the love Christ has for others which will show us how we are to love others. If we are to become more like Him, we will begin seeing others through His eyes instead of our own. I really think when we do this, the spirits of the fruit will be evident in all of our dealings with each other whether it be a good or bad situation.

When we look at the fruit we are producing through every aspect of our lives, it will change the way we approach things.

James 1:23–25 ESV

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

We are allowing the Word of God to permeate and help us to become more like Christ. We simply aren’t a people who learn the Word and then do nothing about it. We allow it to convict us, and help us to be who God wants us to be.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

As followers of Jesus, we are God’s people. We should be equipped to go out and share His Word and His works through word and deed.

How might the climate of the world around us lead Christians to behave in ways that are un-loving and lacking in grace?

The world is telling us to be busy looking out for ourselves. If we are more Christ-like in our lives, we will put ourselves second to everyone else. Once again, we will look at others needs instead of our own.

Romans 12:10 ESV

10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Questions to consider this week:

What do you need to limit or cut out of your life so that you might further abide in Jesus? Take concrete steps toward this change this week.

Take up or renew a spiritual discipline this week. Plan time each day to devote to this discipline.

Ask at least one person to check in with you this week to keep you accountable for practicing spiritual disciplines. As a group, offer to do this mutually for one another.