Andrew Fountain - How we Grow

Sermon notes - How we Grow

• There is not one of us here, I would venture to say, who is completely happy with who we are.
• Most of us have areas of our character where we would dearly love to grow.
  • We would like to be more careing, more loving, more disciplined
  • We would like to love God more, pray more
  • We would like to be more filled with the Holy Spirit
  • Lose character weaknesses and flaws
  • Be more filled with joy and hope, more content, more Christlike.

• But how does change happen?
• There are many ideas out there:
  • The non-christian world is also very interested in this, and one of the best selling categores of books is the How to change

• How to change your life in the next 15 minutes

• How to change things when change is hard

• How to change your mind for good in 21 days
  • overcome addictions
  • conqueror fear
  • fix your relationships
  • improve your career
  • find happiness
• (only 21 days!)
• I’m not saying these books have no value, but if they really worked then why would we so desperately need more and more books?
• The same is true with Christian books, (many of them good of course)
  • disciplines
  • techniques
  • steps
  • motivational speakers
• It all points to the widely felt need to see change in our lives
• Demo of a pot of earth—how do I get a plant to grow in it?
  • plant a seed
  • how can a seed produce a whole plant?
    • because the seed is an amazing tiny capsule of information and growth mechanisms and it contains life
      (although of course the life is through God’s own power)
• I have been reading and re-reading Colossians to ask how change happens in people
  • The two books of Ephesians and Colossians are very similar, and both of them are condensed versions of “everything you need to know about the Christian life”
  • Colossians is shorter than Ephesians, so it’s even more condensed
  • How does Paul expect his readers to change?
  • The answer surprised me
• I found 8 places where Paul talked about change in Colossians
  • and in every singe one, there was the same surprising answer!
  • Lets look at them and see what is behind it:

But let’s look at the verses:

• The fruit here is faith and love
  • The image is of a growing plant
  • But what makes it grow? where has it come from?
• See the “because” in v.4
  • It’s because they heard of the kingdom of heaven
• What is the seed that is growning and having fruit in v.6?
  • it’s the “word of truth”
• See how it fits together:

• When I read this, it reminded me of something very clearly:
  • The word of God bringing life
  • That was exactly what happened in the Old Creation

• God’s word carries with it the power of his Spirit
  • He speaks the word, and the Spirit causes the words to come to life

• So the Old Creation was made by God speaking, and the Spirit giving life to the Word
  • In the same way the New Creation happens when we speak the good news of Jesus Christ
  • This truth is the seed that brings new life
  • Just like a seed, it carries life in itself

• Let’s look back at the verses and see how this is the case
• Now I’d like to look at other verses in Colossians that speak of growing

• The old man is the Adam that is in us
• The new man is Jesus
  • We are being renewed into the image of our Creator
  • But what is it that is causing this new life to flourish?
    • knowledge !?
• Now this surprised me
  • because I have not found Christians who know a lot of truth to be always the most loving and Christlike.
  • Sometimes they are, but more often they are a mixture, just like anyone else.
• I ran a Bible Seminary for 9 years and there were some wonderful Christians there among the faculty and students
  • but there were also some very immature and even unspiritual people.
  • Not much different to most groups of Christians, a mixture
• I have been a member of churches where there is an intense focus on truth,
  • but this doesn’t necessarily result in wonderful fruits of growth and Christ-likeness.
• So I was surprised.
• So if say to Paul, ok, we understand that salvation needs to come from an understanding of the truth of Jesus
  • But not spiritual growth.
    • That is through discipline, prayer, worship, working through issues
• Now those four things are very important, so why does Paul not mention them?
  • Every single time he talks about growth, it is the same deal—truth

• So what enables the things in v.10 is the understanding in v.9
• I’m just going to give you a couple more:

• Here again is the image of a plant growing

• So how do we resolve this?
  • Question time…
• Here’s a suggesion:

1. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for majoring in very minor parts of the law
   • But neglecting the really important things, live loving one another
     • When people who are proud of their knowledge of truth, it’s usually the same kind of thing
   • They might have a detailed knowledge of the prophecies in Ezekiel,
     but not the loving fruit of the Spirit in our lives
   • They may be great on solving apparent contradictions between Luke and John
     but not really get that God is our father

• Parable of the man building his house on the rock
  • He who hears my words and does them
• Probably the most important is 2.
• But going back to 1. I want to ask you what you thing are the main truths?

• Go through each of the above and ask what difference in makes for me?
• for me
  • At age 17 I was not following Jesus. I was living my life for my own pleasure.
    • What truth above caused me to change?
  • I could earn a lot more money if I had continued my career in the computer industry, rather than leading a church.
    • What truths do you think are controlling me?
  • Last year my old minivan finally died. What truths controlled my choice of a replacement?

• why not:

• So if we believe this is true, let’s try it right now!
  • Here is some “seed” from Colossians chapter 3

1. -3. What are the key facts
   • What effects might these have on you
4. -6. What are the key facts
   • What if God took you to heaven in a vision and showed you this, would it change your life?

• What practical ways would our life be changed if we really believed these things?
  • We need faith
  • The Spirit to make the seed of the word germinate and bring forth life
  • We’ll pray that the Spirit will bring life to these words in you

Updated on 2017-07-17 by Andrew Fountain