Disciples of Jesus Grow Up

We all start out physically the same - we are born as babies.
We all start out spiritually the same - we are born as babies.

John 1:12 says, “But all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

1 Peter 1:3 says, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.

We start out being born as babies but we have to GROW UP both physically and spiritually.

Disciples of Jesus grow up.

It begins with being born.

John 4:1 says, “Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John…”

Baptism is the outward symbol of being born again. So baptism is like birth and just as all people start with birth, so all disciples of Jesus start with birth.

Then as disciples we have to learn.

Matthew 11:1
When Jesus had finished instructing His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

Jesus teaches.
Disciples learn.

The word disciple means “one who sits at the feet.” In Jesus day disciples would literally sit at the feet of their teacher as he taught.

Jesus used a variety of methods to help His disciples to learn.

He used:
Scriptures
Illustrations
Modeling (He showed them truth)

Jesus had formal times when He taught His disciples and He used informal spur-of-the moment situations to teach them.

Jesus wanted His disciples to learn.

Jesus also wanted to take them a step further, He wanted them to understand.

Mark 4:34 says, “He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to His own disciples He explained everything.”

Jesus used parables or stories to communicate truth to the crowds. But to His disciples Jesus explained the meanings of the stories so they could gain a greater understanding.

Jesus wants us as His disciples today to learn, but to go deeper and understand what He is telling us.

The disciples of Jesus got their deeper understanding from having Jesus reveal that understanding to them. We as disciples of Jesus today get our deeper understanding from the Holy Spirit as He works in us and reveals truth and wisdom to us.

Understanding comes as we hear God’s Word, have the Spirit give us understanding and we then live that revealed truth out in our everyday life.

That brings us to the fourth thing that we need to do so we can grow up - Abide in God’s Word.

Jesus says in John 8:31, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples.”

What does it mean to abide in God’s Word?

It means to:
Read it
Study it
Memorize it
Mediate on it.

But abiding in God’s Word most of all means to live it!

We can read, study, memorize, and mediate in and on God’s Word, but if we don’t obey God’s Word, we are not abiding in God’s Word.

When someone comes to me for counseling, I tell them up front that what I am going to use to counsel them is God’s Word. It has to be the authority of how to live for a disciple of Jesus.

Then there is one more element in a disciple growing up.

That element is found in Acts 6:7. It says, “And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”

The last element in disciples of Jesus growing up is to GROW.

All healthy living things grow. If you and I are healthy disciples of Jesus, we will grow.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about disciples of Jesus growing up.

We will all grow at different rates. But we all need to grow.

Paul in Ephesians 4:11-16 writes to encourage the church in Ephesus to grow.

Paul writes:
And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The goal in growing up is to grow up and be like Jesus.

Everything involved in following Jesus and being His disciple is about becoming like Jesus. So when God’s children grow up, He wants us all to be like Jesus.

All the big words we use in the church like salvation, justification, and sanctification really mean to grow up and be like Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is ultimately about being like Jesus.

What makes Christmas so awesome is that God gave us the Role Model for what we are to be when we grow up.

So in a few days when we celebrate Christmas we are celebrating the coming of our Savior and our Lord and our Role Model. God could have just told us what He wanted us to be, but He loved us enough to send the one and only Son of God. Jesus lived so we could see how we are to do everything and then He died to pay for our sin and then He rose from the dead to overcome our sin.

May we celebrate Jesus and grow up to be like Him.

Growing and Celebrating as We Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls
Joe