Spiritual Growth

A few weeks back I preached to you from 2 Peter. The main thought was about making your calling and election sure. We looked at Peter’s list of character traits, some qualities of Christian living. The list started with faith and ended with love. It was there that Peter wrote, ‘For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Peter connects being effective as a Christian, along with its certainty of being called and elect, to spiritual growth. ‘If these qualities are yours and increasing…’ I thought it would be good to explore this idea of growing as a Christian a bit further. Being clear here is important because, among other things, this whole area of Christian growth is tied up with being sure that you are among the saved. Assurance and growth go together. So, that’s what we are going to look at today. And our text is a single verse that comes from Psalm 119. ‘The unfolding of Your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.’

Let’s start with this. The Psalmist points to one of the benefits of God’s words: understanding. Even just a moment’s thought will result in a question: understanding of what? Another moment’s thought will result in an answer. The unfolding of God’s words leads us to understand life; to understand what this life is all about and how do we can pursue it well. Now, it’s just a fact that we all already have some thoughts about what this life is about and how to pursue it well. Everyone understands life in one way or another. Here is an example of one person’s understanding of life.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

The title of that poem is Invictus. It’s Latin for ‘invincible’. I think you can see why the poet titled it that way. It’s how he understood life, his life. I’m going to guess that most people are unfamiliar with that poem, but I’m also going to guess that way too many people agree with the basic theme of that poem. Life is hard. You’re going to be beaten up by the various things that happen. And yet, the way forward is to find strength within yourself and to press on. It’s all up to you because you decide your future. You command your life. You are the master of your fate. You are the captain of your soul. Or to use the more modern cliché: you can do anything you want. Just try hard enough. You are in control.

Well, that certainly is one way to understand life, and it is popular, especially among certain groups. And I think that it is safe to say that Jesus would label it complete foolishness. And, quite frankly, I think even pagan common sense would agree. Such an attitude is both very proud and very naïve. Such a person would have to have a very inflated view of his capabilities and a very limited experience of the great and powerful evil that lurks in our world. But that was the poet’s creed. That was how he understood life. The author of the poem died in 1903. I wonder what he is thinking now.

But what did our poet friend leave out of his creed? That question is helpful only if it helps you answer this one: what have you left out of your creed? The poet wrote out something of how he understood life. Few people do anything like that. But we all have a creed we live by, even if we write nothing. We all have some sort of understanding of life. And that is what guides our decisions from day to day. But the understanding of life that we follow has holes in it. There are gaps in our understanding of how life works. It’s just plain wrong in certain places. And that shows in the choices that we make each day. What do you think sin is? It’s responding to life in ways that reflect a poor understanding of how life really does work. Why is someone proud? It’s because he thinks that he is better than others. Is he? Why do people give themselves to compulsive shopping, pornography or eating too much? Well, to them it is just obvious that pleasure of some sort smoothes out the rough parts of life. Does it? One way of looking at sin is to see it as decisions made based on an understanding of life that is wrong, at least on that particular topic. We all have ways in which we mis-understanding life, and these mis‑understandings trip us up. Poor choices, which are based on a faulty understanding, lead to a life that just doesn’t work as well as it might. Or to say that using church words: ‘the wages of sin is death.’

This leads to another question. Can this be changed, and if it can be, then how? Can people who don’t really understand life – and make such a mess of it as a result – be changed so that they do get it, so that they can understand and live well? The answer is, of course, ‘Yes’. That’s what the Gospel is all about. And you are evidence of that. But how does this happen? To answer that question we’ll need to take a closer look at some things.

Let’s start with this. A right understanding of life does not reside in the mind. That is a common error, especially among some. They figure that understanding is about thinking and thinking happens in the mind. So, solving life’s problems, understanding life well, is all about re-educating the mind. Or so we are told. Just remember this the next time you hear some public figure talk about the solution to teen pregnancy or drug abuse or the like. The solution that gives hope is often some form of re-education. That’s what was behind the popular ad picturing an egg frying while someone said, ‘This is your brain on drugs.’ Re-educating people is the solution. That’s one of the mantras of our day.

But to say that understanding is a matter of the mind is only part of the answer. And, since it is only part of the answer, it misses something crucial. It is more accurate to say that understanding is a matter of the soul. To be sure, the mind is an aspect of the soul, and it has a role to play. But within the soul you will also find the affections and the will. Each has a role to play when it comes to understanding life and growing in that understanding. The mind is all about information. It thinks. So, after he writes about some Christian virtues, Paul instructs the saints, ‘Think about these things.’ The affections are about desires, and they answer the question: What do you love? And therefore, what do you crave? This is how the Godly man is described. ‘And his delight is in the law of the Lord.’ Then, there is the will. Based on what the mind thinks and what the affections desire, the will chooses. And so, Joshua says, ‘Choose this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.’ The soul is made up of the mind, the affections and the will. These three work together when it comes to understanding life.

You’ve explained the Gospel to your friend a thousand times. He asks good questions and seems to grasp the main points. Yet he doesn’t become a Christian. Why? His mind has the appropriate information. He sees that Jesus has come to be Savior and Lord. He gets that. But there is something that he desires that stands in the way. He understands that if he becomes a Christian, Jesus will be Lord of his life. But he doesn’t want that. He wants to be the master of his fate and the captain of his soul. So, his will, based on the desires in his affections, chooses to reject Jesus and the Gospel. And not that he does this because his mind comprehends one aspect of the Gospel quite well. Jesus is Lord. In this, he is just like all the kids who saw the ad about the frying egg and then still went out to buy more drugs. If your friend is ever going to understand life correctly and become a Christian, it will take more than filling his mind with truth. It is not just his mind that matters. It’s also his affections as well as his will. If this person is going to understand life correctly his soul must be changed.

And that is true not just when we are talking about conversion from unbelief. It is also true when it comes to change in a Christian’s life. Understanding the dynamics of the soul will help you to understand something about spiritual growth. If you are going to grow spiritually, that is, understand life better, then your soul must be changed. That’s not just a matter of filling the mind with truth. It also means dealing with the affections and the will. So, sometimes the reason a Christian isn’t growing is not that there are things that he doesn’t know. Sometimes the problem is that he is loving the wrong things and, as a result, he chooses foolishly.

Now, in a way, all of that was preparation – introduction, if you will. Now we’re ready to take a look at our text. ‘The unfolding of Your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.’ Let’s start with this notion of light. This is an image, a metaphor, and it’s all about the basic conflict of this life. That conflict is often presented as the contrast of light and darkness, good and evil, Jesus and Satan. Our text assumes the problem of evil. It assumes the darkness. And change occurs, the darkness is pushed back, as the light comes. Change occurs when Scripture, God’s words, make an entrance. ‘The unfolding of Your words gives light.’

But now we need to be careful. Is the Psalmist saying that whenever someone hears God’s words all the lights turn on and he then understands life? Clearly not. There are plenty examples in the Bible of people hearing God’s words but being completely unchanged. This phrase about the unfolding of God’s words points to something more. It points us to the work of the Spirit. Change only occurs when the Spirit brings the words of God to bear. It’s when He impresses the Scriptures on a soul – on the mind, the affections and the will – that the lights come on.

And the Psalmist makes that clear. Notice that the Psalm says, ‘it imparts understanding’. What’s the ‘it’? The light. It is not the words by themselves that give understanding. It’s when the Spirit, using God’s words, turns on the light within the soul that greater understanding results. The mind gets more information from God’s words, information about how life really works. The Spirit gives greater clarity here. The affections are altered so that what is desired is changed. Now, Jesus is desired more than the sin that was once loved. Then, the will chooses to embrace whatever aspect of the Gospel that the words of God were dealing with. And the result of all of that is a greater understanding that shows as a life lived well – or, at least, a life lived better. Growth, that is, greater understanding, occurs when the Spirit takes God’s words and drives them home to the soul: to the mind, the affections and the will.

That leaves one more thing in the text to look at: ‘the simple’. It’s the simple who gain understanding. But who are these ‘simple’? This is one way of referring to those who don’t understand life correctly. You might call them unsophisticated or naïve. Proverbs uses this label quite frequently. It’s important to note that there is a moral quality to this label. The simple are not blameless. They should understand life, but they don’t. There are several themes that flow through this word in our text here. We could look at this in terms of God’s kindness in giving understanding to the naïve who should have known better. But let’s consider another Bible theme reflected here. For growth to occur in a person, he needs to see himself as simple. Spiritual growth happens when we acknowledge our need. We don’t understand life correctly. We are among the simple, especially in certain areas. And that shows in how we can mess up large portions of our lives. The person who acknowledges this will then seek the help he needs. He will look for that help in God’s Spirit who uses God’s words to give the light that leads to greater understanding. It is those who know that they are among the simple who will be changed. Or to say this using church words, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’

All of this explains the change we call spiritual growth. It begins with the awareness of need. You do understand life some, and yet there are still holes in your understanding, holes that are filled with worldly notions. So, acknowledging your need – admitting that you are still simple in some area of your life – you appeal to the Spirit for change. The Spirit takes God’s words and enables you to see what they are really getting at. He turns on some lights. Your affections see the beauty of Jesus more clearly, and they desire Him instead of some sin that was filling that hole. And, as a result, your will chooses. It chooses to repent of your worldly ways of understanding life and, instead, to believe that Jesus really is Savior and Lord over that part of your life also. That is, you come to believe that Jesus will rescue you from the sin that is making a mess of that area of your life and that He will lead you into a deeper understanding – and experience – of life. Spiritual growth.

Now, this is the kind of sermon that will need to percolate a bit. You’ll need to ponder and then come back to some of the things here to see them more clearly. And I am confident that the Spirit will use future sermons and you own Bible reading to help you do that. But I think that there are some things that are already clear. First, there is the key place of God’s words. If you want to grow as a Christian you need more and more Bible. The Spirit uses God’s words, and He will use them in your life. But He cannot use those words if you do not have them in your mind. Second, there is the key place of prayer. Prayer for change is the evidence that you know that you are still simple, that there are parts of life that you don’t understand correctly. Asking for the Spirit to give you a more correct understanding is clearly something He wants in you. So, you can be sure that He will grant that request. Third, everything I’ve talked about today is tied to Jesus and the Gospel. The Spirit is here, doing His work in you, creating more growth, only because Jesus has sent Him to do exactly that. Spiritual growth – growing in a correct understanding of life – is a benefit of the Gospel. And as that happens, one result will be a growing certainty that you are one of His.