Spiritual Growth

qINTRO

Today we begin a series of lessons called “Training for Godliness”

Title comes from 1 Tim 4:7-8

Godliness: εὐσέβεια devoutness, piety, religion

How can I become a more spiritually minded person, more devout person, more Christ-like?

DISCUSSION

The Expectation of Spiritual Growth

2 Pet 3:18 “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”

Ever growing 1 Thess 4:1

Expected to be holy (1 Pet 1:15-16; 1 Thess 4:7)

Expected to develop spiritually Heb 5:11-14

The Purpose of Spiritual Growth

Without direction discipline is drudgery (Whitney 15)

Who among us had a hero growing up? a ball player? musician? Did you do things to imitate that person who inspired you?

I wanna be like Mike…Kobe Bryant had the discipline to become like Mike and copied everything he did.

The purpose of our spiritual growth is so we can become like Christ!

Rom 8:29; 1 Jn 3:2

The Discipline of Spiritual Growth

How will I conform to His image? How will I purify myself as He is pure?

Mt 11:28-30 Answer the invitation—take His yoke of learning—trained in the master’s school

1 Tim 4:7-8 exercise (γυμνάζω): to train, undergo discipline

Discipline: training that corrects, molds or perfects the mental faculties or moral character

A disciple will undergo the discipline of Christ—be my disciple

Lk 9:23; 14:26-27 Following Jesus is not like following someone on twitter

How can we be like Jesus if we never do what He did?

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (The Spiritual Disciplines—The Lord Expects Them)

My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing—by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself. If we have faith in Christ, we must believe that he knew how to live. We can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father.—Dallas Willard

If training for a half marathon, undertake different exercises to complete that race—long run, speed day, hills, stretches, hydration, and nutrition

Over the next several weeks we’ll be looking at different exercises whereby we can grow spiritually

EXHORTATION

How committed are you to growing spiritually?

God expects us to grow into the image of Christ, but it takes discipline to do so.

Have you chosen to follow Jesus?