The Christian Man – Chapter 3 – Growth
Becoming a more kingdom minded man is the goal of the chapter and I took a ton of notes. I forget how I did this the first two chapters, but I may have updated my method and I am going to roll with it. In business, there is a drive for continuous improvement, but it is hamstrung by the need for consistency to assess the impacts of changes and know if change is progress or just change. For me, I want to keep getting better, but the data set will never be large enough to know if a change worked, so I change and hope for improvement, over and over again.
The first scripture in the chapter is Romans 12:2 and addresses transforming ourselves such that we can figure out God’s will for our lives. How to find the good, pleasing, and perfect, and that is of course what we all want to strive for.
The author suggests that 90% of our problems in life will be solved by time spent in studying the Bible, having a study group, and having a place to serve. Since in the next chapter he suggests our relationship with our wives is greater than 50% of our problems (before and after) I am not sure of his math skills. He follows that up stating only about 10% of people read the Bible regularly and less than 10% have a study group. I was wondering if he understood that most people who do not read the Bible regularly would not have a study group and that his two facts were really one, or if he meant only 10% of people actually reading the Bible regularly had a study group. That would be a significant data point. Either way, there is a whole lot of improvement available to the world, and to us, if we read the Bible regularly and if we study it in a group.
Big picture growth is for non-believers to become seekers and feel drawn to God, then to become new Christians and feel drawn to know God, and then finally for not new Christians to mature in their faith and feel drawn know more about God. Since the Bible is God’s word about Himself, it stands to reason we learn more about Him through studying it. But the real goal of growth is to follow the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 and make new disciples. Disciples follow the person of Jesus and adhere to His teachings, so naturally we become equipped to share when we know more about Him through study.
Growing from a basic faith and repentance, we add maturity, love knowledge, wisdom, humility and power. We use these to produce the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). These fruits are seen in our marriages, our kids, our friendships, our work, our sexuality, how we interact with our culture, and our personal ministry (the following chapters of the book). We have an excess from God that we can share.
One of my personal passions was engaged when the author stated: “Evangelism without discipleship is cruel.” I want the church to reach more, but it has to provide an environment for new believers to understand what that means and how to grow as Christians. I feel many churches either never evangelize or do not disciple those it evangelizes. Christianity is sometimes more prevalent than powerful.
Summarizing what the author said, God can be seen in His creation, read about in His scripture, indwells us in prayer, worship, study, fellowship, counsel, and fasting, and can be shared through stewardship, service, and evangelize. Christianity can be powerful when these avenues are directed the way God intends. Our time in the Bible should be focus on finding this intent of God, His will. We should pray while reading the Bible. (I did note the author saying nothing is too insignificant to bring before Him in prayer.) He mentioned leaving room for your mind to wander down the paths at the leading of the Holy Spirit and not to be too rigid in how you relate to God.
One take away for me was the authors goals to study, then speak what he studies, then to teach what he studies, and then finally to write about what he studies. Even though it is just for me, these blogs reinforce my current hope to do something similar.
The author goes through the how and benefits of a small group, but the basics are finding others to love and be loved by.
The final aspect is to find someone who has a bigger problem and help them. God has made tasks especially for you to do, today and everyday, and we only need follow to find them. As the author puts it, we are to find those things that make our heart race and put a smile on our face.
I never feel better than when I get up from reading the bible and learning something new, or learning something new from my Bible study group, or knowing that I have done something following God. That is the life we are called to and if we meet these needs, we solve 90% of our problems. The author may be on to something here.