Let me start today by asking you a question. Why do you love your spouse? Let me share two possible answers that I could give.
First answer: I love my wife because when I get home from work, she cooks dinner—and she is a great cook. She does all of my laundry. She runs the kids here and there, does all of the grocery shopping, and keeps track of everybody’s schedule. Oh, and she cleans the house.
Second answer: I love my wife because she has integrity. She is honest, kind, and truly caring. She loves the Lord very much and sets a positive Christian example for our sons. She is extremely loving, understanding, and forgiving of my many faults. Also, she is very pretty. She is beautiful, both “on the inside and the outside.”
Hopefully you can identify the key difference between the two answers (both of which are true), but I’ll say it anyway. The first answer focuses on what my wife does for me, while the second answer focuses on her virtues or attributes—who she is.
I finished Part 2 of this mini-series by asking how and why a church, or an individual Christian, can and should improve in its/his/her spiritual growth. I’m not going to focus too much on the question of why . . . perhaps I’ll take that up in some future blog entry. Suffice it to say for now that the Bible teaches that we should be growing and maturing in our Christian faith (see Hebrews 5:12 and 2 Peter 3:18 for starters). Instead, I want to focus for a few minutes on the question of how we can and should improve in our Christian lives.
Now, if you’ve read my profile, or my personal story (series of blog entries starting last September), you know that I have a passion for studying and teaching the Bible. So it should be no surprise that my answer to how Christians should improve in their spiritual growth is by studying the Bible. If you want to know who God is, study the Book that tells us all about Him, right? However, there is an important caveat here. You see, there are different approaches that one can take in learning about God by studying the Bible. And two of these approaches parallel the question I asked above.
On the one hand, we can look at all of the wonderful stuff God did for people in the Bible, and apply that to ourselves. I call this the “magic genie” approach. God is our magic genie in a bottle who is there to do a lot of stuff for me (or our church). God is the one who gives me a house, and a car, and a job. God is the one who makes me feel better when I’m sick, or helps my son to get good grades so he can get into a good college. Some of these things are no doubt sincere desires and worthy to be taken before God in prayer. But do you see how it all centers around what God does for me?
On the other hand, we can get to know God more and more intimately by studying what the Bible says about His attributes—who He is. God is holy. He is perfect. He is our creator and sustainer. He is just. He is angry. He is jealous. He is eternal. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He is triune.
Do you see how the second approach can lead to a much more substantial and vibrant Christian life? The more we find out about God, the more we want to learn. And the more we learn about Him, the more we love Him. And the more we love Him, the more we want to serve Him. And the more we serve Him, the more glory He receives and the more mature we become as Christians.
And before you know it, the church—individual Christians and the corporate body—is experiencing unbounded spiritual growth. In other words, Little Grove Church is no longer the same today as it was five years ago. To bring my story full circle, you will recall me saying back in Part 1 that my 5k and 10k running times did not improve because I didn’t do the things necessary to experience improvement. Studying the Bible with an eye toward learning more intimately who God is will cause a church to experience spiritual growth and improvement.
In my view, the best way to achieve this is by teaching Christian theology and doctrine. This probably sounds boring to most people. After all, churches are flooded these days with “Bible studies” about parenting, divorce recovery, financial management, you name it. And don’t get me wrong. I think some of these types of studies are legitimate and even necessary. But again, they ultimately focus on what God can do for me, not who God is.
The study of theology and doctrine starts with the question, “Who is God?”, and moves on from there. It introduces, or reintroduces a person to God and sets him or her on the path to knowing and loving Him more and more intimately for who He is. It’s by no means the only answer to the question of how a church can experience spiritual growth and improvement, but it sure is a huge step in the right direction.
There is a church in Little Grove, Tennessee, that to most outside observers is a pretty robust, active church. The church has been around for a few decades and most people in the community have heard of the church and its pastor. It has several hundred members. It has a sixty person choir, a praise band, a sizeable youth group, several Sunday School classes, and lots of programs for the children. Oh, and lest we forget, Little Grove Church has “fellowship”—which is code for a seemingly endless stream of events involving the consumption of much food.
Now, is there anything wrong with what is going on at Little Grove church? Maybe yes, maybe no. You see, the thing is, if we were to look at things there five years ago, we would give a very similar description of the church and its ministries. Its membership has not substantially changed since 2005. Neither has the size of the choir or youth group or most Sunday School classes. But looking at the situation in terms of numbers is merely an exercise in bean counting. What is of greater concern is whether the spiritual atmosphere at Little Grove has improved at all in the past five years. Sadly, at Little Grove, and at many churches in America, one year goes by . . . three years go by . . . five years go by . . . and there is often not a lot of discernable spiritual growth or improvement. Why is this?
Well, I think that some of the reasons are similar to those I mentioned last time pertaining to my lack of improvement in running 5k and 10k races. You will recall that I made three observations about myself. First, I have periodic surges in enthusiasm that quickly wane. Second, running just isn’t a high enough priority in my life. And third, the training that I do is inadequate to achieve results that would show marked improvement.
Little Grove Church has periodic surges of enthusiasm. Every summer they have “revival week.” Every so often they have campaigns to invite more people into the choir, or give more in the offering plate. But these initiatives rarely result in lasting or continual improvement.
Also, at Little Grove, though it’s tough to admit, many don’t hold church life and spiritual growth as a real priority in life. Many of the kids have AAU baseball tournaments on Sundays, others stay home from church to work on house projects they didn’t get done on Saturday. And during the week, people are involved in numerous activities—many of them very worthy endeavors—that preclude hard study of the Bible or developing more intimate relationships with other believers. Other priorities tend to crowd out the time that it would take to make great strides in spiritual growth.
In short, like my 5k and 10k races, Little Grove Church does much of the same stuff year after year, and gets the same results. My question is, is this how a church should be? Should a church be content to be the same today as it was five years ago? And by extension, should a Christian be content to be the same today is he or she was five years ago?
As you might guess, my conviction is that of all people, Christians—those who have a real, personal relationship with the God of this entire universe—should not be stagnant in their spiritual growth. This is not to say that there are not hills and valleys in one’s spiritual journey, or times of exponential growth as opposed to relative plateaus. But in general, I think that Christians—individually and corporately as the church—ought to be actively, discernably improving. I should not be the same Christian that I was five years ago. And Little Grove Church should not be the same church that it was five years ago.
At this point, some additional legitimate questions can be raised, such as why I think that these assertions about Christian living are true, and how best to implement them in one’s life (and the life of a church). I will take up these questions and finish up this mini-series in Part 3.
Over the past few years, I have run in about a half a dozen races. I do about one or two a year. Most have been 5k runs, and one was a 10k (the Richmond Monument 10k, a very fun experience). I was a runner and wrestler in high school, but after that, my days as an athlete were over. So any running I do now is merely for trying to keep in shape, and to have fun (if you want to read some interesting stories about a real-life amateur athlete, check out http://jimsoccernut.blogspot.com).
One thing I’ve noticed in the races that I’ve run is that my results have not really improved. It’s not a big deal to me, except for the brief period of time at the very end of the race, and for a few weeks thereafter. It is during those times when I think to myself, “I can run faster than this. I can improve my time. Next time I’m going to train harder, and longer. I’ll eat better. I may never reach my high school times, but I’m sure I can shave several minutes off of what I’m doing now.”
But alas, no improvement. Why not? Well, allow me to be brutally honest.
First of all, the initial surge of enthusiasm and increased dedication always wanes. On a few occasions, after a 5k race, I have continued “training” at an elevated level for a few weeks, but my eagerness fades away, usually after two or three weeks. If I could continue that increased level of effort, and continue building over time, there is no doubt in my mind that my performance in races would improve markedly.
Second, and related to the first (and remaining brutally honest), I don’t improve because improvement in my running times just isn’t a high enough priority in my life. And in the final analysis, I’m okay with that. Earlier in my adult life, I wanted to run a marathon someday. But now I’ve revised that goal, and I can honestly say that my goal is never to run one (very achievable, wouldn’t you say?). There are things in my life—family, teaching, church, studies, etc.—that tend to crowd out the time that it would take for me to make great strides in my running.
Third, if I take an honest look at the “training” that I do, it’s pretty underwhelming. I hit the treadmill at work twice a week. More than that is untenable with my current schedule. And while I try to watch what I eat, I’m not nearly as careful as I ought to be. I still indulge in lots of food that a “runner” should not eat, including way too much restaurant meals.
So, here’s the bottom line. I think I could improve my race results if I really wanted to—if I really put my mind to it. But I don’t do the things necessary to improve. Year after year, I run a race, have temporary good intentions, increase my dedication a little bit, and then slowly slip back to where I started. Running does not take a high enough priority in my life to do otherwise.
As a result, year after year, I get the same results.
Now, at this point you might be asking, “Dave, why are you telling us all this about your running? Surely you must be using this as an example to drive to some larger point, right?”
Well, if you asked this, you would be right. I’ll elaborate in “Part 2,” and end today’s entry with a “to be continued . . .”
Let me start today by asking you a question. Why do you love your spouse? Let me share two possible answers that I could give.
