The objective of this lesson: to cause disciples to consider the meaning of spiritual growth.
This was a difficult lesson to write. It is an application lesson based on the scriptural insights of lesson 5. You are asked to think, apply, and share.
Do not expect the questions asked or the views stated in the discussions to be simple. Do not expect to have all the answers and to be ready to respond to all situations. Acknowledge this is a complex topic.
Spiritual growth is a difficult concept. Spiritual grow requires a person to advance in his (or her) understanding of God's purposes. Spiritual growth does not mean that "you" reach the same conclusions "I" reach in a study of scripture. Spiritual growth is more than an indoctrination in concepts that "I" accept or understand.
Neither the biblical concept of spiritual growth nor unity means full agreement. Both involve respect for disciples even if we disagree. Study of scripture will not always result in agreement among disciples. It did not even among Jewish people in the Old Testament--that is why they cited rabbis who agreed with their position as authority sources. See Matthew 7:28, 29.
Spiritual growth involves searching God's mind and ways. Have you read 1 Corinthians 3:11-16 or Hebrews 5:11-6:3 lately? Have you considered Romans 11:33-36? "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."
God is too big to be placed in anyone's box of understanding. Spiritual growth primarily involves pursuing an understanding of God's thinking and ways. Because we disciples pursue God, we always grow beyond our current maturity level.
Pursuing God's thinking and ways is a huge challenge! It is bigger than correct doctrines, or correct procedures, or correct facts! Such always has been true. Carefully consider Isaiah 55:6-9 and Jeremiah 18:5-10.
In the Isaiah scripture, human perspective considered it too late to repent. It was from human perspective, but not from divine perspective. The Jeremiah scripture affirms the conditional aspect of God's pronouncements. God had (has) a powerful regard for human repentance when that repentance was (is) genuine.
Observation #1: In concerns about spiritual growth, note this concern involves growth versus deception. In question form, "Is this spiritual growth or spiritual deception?" That dilemma is not new. When Jesus died, even his closest disciples thought God's work ended because of the horror of Jesus' death. Yet, in Jesus' death God was at work producing a universal Savior. Even Jesus' closest disciples struggled with the meaning and usefulness of Jesus' resurrection because his resurrection did not fit their expectations. Yet, human expectations were vastly inferior to God's purposes. God's purposes and ways exceeded the disciples' understanding.
God's people always have struggled to grasp God's purposes. Why do we expect to be different in that regard? Many times that struggle was (is) founded in God's enormous love for people. You might wish to use Jesus' parable in Matthew 20:1-16 as an illustration.
The same was true of the apostle Peter in Acts 10:10-23. Though an apostle, he was quite Jewish in the way he expressed faith in Christ. He never violated the Jewish dietary code (Leviticus 11). He never socially associated with gentiles, and could not imagine God wanting him to do so. He held his Jewish ways so firmly that he did not understand why God sent him when he arrived at Cornelius' house (Acts 10:28, 29).
Do not reject Peter's Jewishness as a Christian. The only way he knew how to live was as a Jew. Doing things in Jewish ways did not refute his faith in the fact that Jesus was the Christ. However, when his Jewish ways conflicted with God's purposes, God expected him to abandon his comfort zone to pursue God's purposes. Accepting God's purposes cost Peter because other disciples did not understand Peter pursued God's purposes.
Most who study this lesson are gentiles. We owe Peter a huge debt of gratitude for finally understanding (Acts 10:34, 35) and paying the price for understanding (Acts 11:1-3 and Acts 15:1). Peter's understanding was extremely unpopular with the majority of Jewish Christians. Despite its unpopularity among Jewish disciples, it was God's intent and purpose.
Christianity would have been exclusively a Jewish movement or reformation had it not been for Peter's understanding. Paul's insights (from God) into God's universal interest in all people went much deeper than Peter's basic awareness. One of the significant reasons Paul endured so much opposition was his understanding of God's universal interest in people.
Do not conclude that God's will always is obvious to those who are genuinely disciples!
From the above illustration, it should be obvious that God's purposes at times exceeded even an Apostle's understanding.
Observation # 2: Spiritual growth or development means some Christian understands more than "I" do. With each disciple, there are limits to understanding. As examples, every English translation of scripture is a translation. Thus, a disciple who can read and understand Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek has an understanding advantage over one who does not. Or, the disciple who correctly understands context has an understanding that exceeds the disciple who disregards context. Or, the twenty-first century disciple who sees scripture as combined documents written to first-century disciples has understanding advantages over twenty-first century disciples who view scripture as written to (rather than applied to) twenty-first century disciples. (Understanding first-century problems reflecting the writer's concern greatly influences twenty-first century applications.)
Spiritual growth always will mean that "you" may understand things "I" do not see because we as people are pursuing an understanding of God. Anything that moves people closer to God will increase those people's understanding of God. No one will be saved because they understand the mistakes of others (including ours). Salvation results from God's mercy and grace and our expressing gratitude through being obedient as we seek to practice righteousness. We as disciples are dedicated to doing (being), not just knowing.
Does that mean if "your" understanding as one in Christ is not "my" understanding as one in Christ, one of us is not Jesus' disciple? No. Read Romans 14 and especially note verses 10-12. Agreement among disciples was not mandatory. Respect was mandatory. Each disciple in Christ will explain to God what we did and with what motives we did it. Our mission as God's community does not involve showing contempt or judging (passing eternal condemnation) on each other. It involves knowing why we do what we do, and not causing those for whom Christ died to stumble.
There needs to be an "open" (rather than a "defend my position") study of scripture on (a) the fact that disciples can and did disagree and (b) disagreement among disciples with an attitude of respectfulness does not mean a loss of unity. Note that understanding is more easily extended to disciples who know less than "we" know than to disciples who know more than "we" know. Those who know less receive sympathy; those who know more receive suspicion.
Observation # 3: Knowledge is not the key; faith in the Creator God who sent us Jesus is the key. To prepare your thinking, consider 1 Corinthians 8. One of the huge "issues" among first-century disciples concerned disciples converted from an idolatrous background versus disciples converted from a Jewish (including proselytes) background. One of the realties of worship (both Jewish and idolatrous) in the first century and before was (a) giving a sacrifice and (b) eating part of the sacrifice (consider 1 Samuel 1:1-8 noticing verses 4, 5.) Knowledgeably eating a part of the sacrifice honored the God or god to whom the sacrifice was given (consider 1 Corinthians 10:23-33).
In the age of science there has been a rise on the emphasis on knowledge and a decline on the emphasis of faith. We are entering a period when faith (not necessarily Christian perspective) is rising in the conviction that scientific perspectives do not answer everything.
When disciples reduce Christianity to facts, they often encounter serious spiritual discouragement when situations do not match their "facts."
Notice in 1 Corinthians 8 that accurate, correct knowledge can be the taproot of arrogance. The contrast is between the disciple who is correct in what is known about idols and God, and the disciple who is incorrect in what is known about idols. It is about the spiritual destruction of the disciple, not about allowing weak consciences to control the ekklasie. The disciple with a weak conscience will not suspend growth and understanding. The action: the disciple with correct knowledge will not spiritually destroy the disciple with a weak conscience.
Disciples do not seek a knowledge which will "explain" or "explain away" situations or conditions they do not understand. Rather, they seek trust in the God who gave us Jesus to be our Savior. Your salvation ultimately does not rest on how much you know, but on trusting enough to surrender to God's purposes. This is not a discouragement to knowing what we can know spiritually. It is an encouragement to trust God even when trust exceeds knowledge.
This is not presented as a "congregational control" device exerted by the weak disciples who do not wish to learn, mature, or change views. Remember the concept of a disciple involves learning and changing. Remember the emphasis is on disciple-disciple respect in the Christian community. In a healthy congregation bringing people to Christ, there always will be disciples with weak consciences. Nurture their learning, do not ignore their existence. It is not a combative situation, but a respect situation.
Too often, disciples try to control congregational situations by appealing to their weakness. I Corinthians 8 is an answer to a question asked Paul by disciples at Corinth. We do not have the question asked or the letter they sent Paul. Note four things: (1) Paul's remarks are addressed to stronger Christians who do understand; (2) the urgent matter is a respect for the weaker; (3) Paul gives no justification for remaining weak; (4) Paul's comments did not focus on "controlling" a congregation by manipulating "church politics."
In our restoration movement efforts, some myths continue to hurt our efforts. They include these. Myth 1: First-century congregations were ideal. Myth 2: Our goal is to restore first-century congregations. Myth 3: Knowledge is the key to restoration. Myth 4: Scripture is addressed to the current century. Myth 5: There are no literary devices in scripture. Myth 6: Correct forms make motives meaningless.
Myth 1: Which congregation? The Jerusalem church? The congregation in Corinth? The disciples in Thessalonica? The seven congregations in Revelations 2, 3? Congregations in the first century had serious problems!
Myth 2: Obviously, from the insights to myth 1, disciples collectively in a province or city were not ideal. Our objective is not to reproduce their problems or inferiorities in their relationships.
Myth 3: There is no knowledge insight that will address the problems in every situation. Often trust in God exceeds what is known.
Myth 4: Scripture was written to address the needs of the people to whom it was written. It would have little value to the people to whom it was written if it primarily addressed situations that would occur over 2000 years later. Most of us would have serious problems if people 500 years from now said scripture was written to them.
Myth 5: Should a Hebrew or Greek idiom (like--in English--"watch your step") be translated by its meaning or by the literal statement (which would not make sense in English).
Myth 6: Read Matthew 6:1. Should there be equal emphasis on motive and form? Practically speaking, should someone's reasons for being baptized be stressed as much as the fact that the form of baptism in the New Testament was a burial?
For Thought and Discussion
The discussion should include that spiritual growth involves a human pursuing God's thinking and ways.
The discussion should include growth involves leaving old understandings to accept new (to the person) understandings.
The discussion should include this insight: another disciple will understand things I do not yet understand. It is difficult to acknowledge that another disciple understands something I do not understand. Only God as He expresses Himself through Christ is the standard.
The discussion should include the realization that disciples need to be faith centered rather than knowledge centered.
Examine the meanings of each myth. The discussion should include why each is a myth.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 6