G.R.O.W.
G.R.O.W. Introduction
“Grow up!”
What does that even mean? I can’t even keep track of how many times I heard that phrase as a child, but never quite knew what that meant. Did they want me to be taller? Did they want me to quit school and get a job? Did they want me to start making dinner and taking care of the house? Did they want me to be the one offering wisdom and counsel in the home? What exactly did they mean when they told me to “Grow up?”
We hear this idea expressed a lot in Christian circles as well. “I want to grow in Christ.” “They just need to grow more.” “Give them time, they’ll grow.” These expressions are all fine and well, but what do we mean when we say them? Do we mean the same thing?
There are a great many ideas surrounding what it means to “grow” as a Christian. These ideas come from a variety of sources: personal reading of scripture, Christian growth books, denominational influence, seminary training, etc. For that reason I am sure we don’t all mean the same thing when we speak of “growing” as a Christian.
This next series is going to be a non-exhaustive address of what it means to “grow” as a Christian. I say non-exhaustive because we realize there is far more on the subject than we intend to cover. I say address because we do not intend to provide a once and for all answer to what it means to “grow,” but rather simply speak into it generally.
To do this, the word “grow” is going to be broken down into four primary principles with one main idea per principle. Each pastor will be addressing one principle:
Grace – We grow as we receive grace and share the grace we have received (John 1:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9).
Repentance - We grow as we repent of unholy things in our life (Matthew 5:8, James 1:27).
Obedience – We grow as we obey God in the ordinary, daily moments in life (Matthew 7:24-25, Philippians 2:12-13).
Works – We grow as we do the good works God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10, Titus 3:14).
Again, we realize this is not exhaustive, but we do believe it is a good place to start. One of our hopes is to demystify what it means to “grow” in Christ as a Christian. We see some objective principles laid out in Scripture and intend to unpack those principles in bite size pieces. If we do this well, we trust that we will all have a better, more objective sense of whether or not we truly are growing in Christ.
“Grow up!”
What does that even mean? I can’t even keep track of how many times I heard that phrase as a child, but never quite knew what that meant. Did they want me to be taller? Did they want me to quit school and get a job? Did they want me to start making dinner and taking care of the house? Did they want me to be the one offering wisdom and counsel in the home? What exactly did they mean when they told me to “Grow up?”
We hear this idea expressed a lot in Christian circles as well. “I want to grow in Christ.” “They just need to grow more.” “Give them time, they’ll grow.” These expressions are all fine and well, but what do we mean when we say them? Do we mean the same thing?
There are a great many ideas surrounding what it means to “grow” as a Christian. These ideas come from a variety of sources: personal reading of scripture, Christian growth books, denominational influence, seminary training, etc. For that reason I am sure we don’t all mean the same thing when we speak of “growing” as a Christian.
This next series is going to be a non-exhaustive address of what it means to “grow” as a Christian. I say non-exhaustive because we realize there is far more on the subject than we intend to cover. I say address because we do not intend to provide a once and for all answer to what it means to “grow,” but rather simply speak into it generally.
To do this, the word “grow” is going to be broken down into four primary principles with one main idea per principle. Each pastor will be addressing one principle:
Grace – We grow as we receive grace and share the grace we have received (John 1:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9).
Repentance - We grow as we repent of unholy things in our life (Matthew 5:8, James 1:27).
Obedience – We grow as we obey God in the ordinary, daily moments in life (Matthew 7:24-25, Philippians 2:12-13).
Works – We grow as we do the good works God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10, Titus 3:14).
Again, we realize this is not exhaustive, but we do believe it is a good place to start. One of our hopes is to demystify what it means to “grow” in Christ as a Christian. We see some objective principles laid out in Scripture and intend to unpack those principles in bite size pieces. If we do this well, we trust that we will all have a better, more objective sense of whether or not we truly are growing in Christ.