SLM: 1. DCC

The Struggle for Spiritual Growth

Christian life is like growing roses; it’s not recreational, it’s war.

A Christian who “lets” nature take its course “will atrophy in five minutes.”

Disciplined struggle

Growth in Christ is not easy.

Our Opponents:

The World that resists us from the cradle to the grave

The Devil, an intelligent, personal, created, fallen being that is more powerful than you, cleverer than you, that goes masquerading around as an angel of light, trying to seduce you throughout your life.

The Flesh that hates the smallest victory of the new man of the Spirit

*negligible = small/insignificant

All that we have to withstand these enemies is Christ and His Holy Spirit and His Church and the means of grace

(In His grace and in His wisdom, God has provided ways by which we can regularly have our faith in His promises fortified. Historically, we have referred to these ways of strengthening our faith as the ordinary means of grace. Prayer, the preaching of the Word, and the sacraments are not elaborate or fancy methods of giving us what we need to confirm our trust in Christ. To an outside observer, they do not seem special at all. After all, they make use of rather common things such as human speech, bread, wine, and water. But by faith and the work of the Spirit, these common elements are used to do an uncommon work — the confirmation of our trust in Jesus and the strengthening of our wills to flee from sin and rest in Christ alone.

Preaching is not a powerless human explanation of the biblical text, for the Spirit accompanies it so that God’s Word achieves its purposes (Isa. 55:10–11). Prayer is more than empty words; it establishes communion between us and the Creator, thereby empowering us for belief and faithful, effective service (James 5:16b–18). Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are not mere memorials that we do simply because Jesus tells us to do them; rather, we participate mysteriously in Christ Himself when by faith we take part in these ordinances (1 Cor. 10:16).

Question and answer 65 of the Heidelberg Catechism emphasize the role of the sacraments in confirming our faith. They bless us as we receive them in faith, and if we neglect them, we weaken our trust in God’s work.)