Spiritual Growth, Eph.4:11-16.                continuation
Having talked about the need to grow spiritually we also need to look at the issue of recognizing the lack of growth in our lives. The Apostle Paul dealt with this problem in Heb. 5:12-14.
Should we be concerned about the lack of spiritual growth in the life of a believer or in a Church? Should we identify it and do something about it or simply ignore it? The answer to these questions is a firm- YES, we can not ignore it.
How do we identify the lack of Spiritual Growth? From the verses in Hebrews we see that the lack of growth is due to an inability to feed on the Word of God and instead depending on other things for Spiritual Food, really spiritual junk food.
If you have been a Christian for five years or more, you should be able to open your Bible and explore the basic truths of the Word. Whats more, you should be able to share these truths with other people. Concerning this problem, the writer to the Hebrews goes on to say that these believers cannot discern between right or wrong because of their immaturity. Instead of becoming teachers they still need to be taught.
What do we mean by lack of discernment? The inability to clearly see the difference between bad and good or the difference between what is genuine and false regarding Spiritual truth in the Bible. How will we be able to instruct others if we ourselves are not sure about what the Bible teaches?
Heb.6:1-2, enumerates another mark of Spiritual Immaturity. It is the preoccupation with First Principles in the Christian Faith and an unwillingness to move on to deeper things.
What are the First Principles? Repentance, Faith toward God, Baptism, Laying on of hands, Resurrection from the dead, the coming judgement. If we put these subjects in groups we see that they are: How to be saved-How the Church runs-God's future judgement.
The amazing thing is that these subjects are termed as 'Milk' and not solid food. If we are to grow in the Faith and mature as Christians we need Solid Food.                        End.

Spiritual Growth Eph.4:11-16.                    continuation
Do the Scriptures speak to encourage us to grow spiritually or is it left to our own devices to do so?
About a dozen references in the New Testament alone testify to the fact that it is God's will and desire for us to grow spiritually and not to do so would be against God's will. In 2 Pet.3:14-18, we are told to GROW in God's Grace and Knowledge. For Spiritual Growth to take place in our lives we need Grace and the true Knowledge of God. What sort of Grace and what kind of Knowledge?
Grace-Unmerited Favour. We are saved by Grace. We do not deserve it. God simply loved us and saved us from Eternal Hell.
We are, therefore, to grow spiritually in this undeserved Grace of God, not by our own efforts, goodness, good works, etc., but by allowing God's love to lift us out of sin and enrich us spiritually. Peter stresses the fact that we are to grow 'in Grace', not into Grace.
God lifts us from the soil of sin and transplants us into the soil of His Grace. We grow by remaining and functioning in His soil of grace. We do not grow by projecting ourselves into God's Grace. We are not the ones to do it or achieve it. We Grow by already being in the soil of Grace.
Peter also talks about growing in the Knowledge of God. Lots of believers are busy gathering a lot of Christian knowledge in their minds like, historical knowledge, Church knowledge, etc. All this will help in some respects to our overall Christian life but not necessarily to grow Spiritually. As believers, we need to learn who God is and what His desire is for us to live Godly lives.

In Pro.9:10, we are told that the knowledge of God's holy ways will give us understanding- that is  the correct the ability to know the truth of God's character, His ways, His will for our lives. We need knowledge of God in our hearts if we are to grow and become healthy beings in Christ. n We cannot go around getting hold of any doctrine that we meet and expect to live normal Christian lives

Sound knowledge of God's Word will produce sound believers planted and rooted in God's soil, watered by the Word of God to produce good fruit.                          To be continued