How many mature believers in Christ do you know? How many immature believers in Christ do you know? If you are a believer, which category do you find yourself in?
One of my greatest joys in ministry over the years has been to help new believers to grow in their faith. Another group that I have and currently minister to are those who became believers many years ago and were no longer growing. To see them begin to grow again is quite fulfilling as well.
A brief history of discipleship
The reasons why believers stagnate in their spiritual growth are numerous. One of the reasons is that no one ever took the time to disciple them as new believers in the basics nor did they teach then what they needed to do to grow. Parachurch groups like Campus Crusade for Christ, the Navigators and Max Barnett’s BSU at the University of Oklahoma led the way is discipling and equipping new believers on college campuses.
Because of the organizational structure of local churches, that type of discipling seldom occurred. Some are beginning to do so now, but the vast majority are not. The best attempts some churches are offering are a one or two-hour session introducing new and prospective members to the church and its vision. Some of these may touch on some basics of the Christian life, but that is quite limited in such a brief orientation.
I rejoice to see large number of students on college campuses turning to Christ and being baptized en masse. I hope these new believers are getting the follow up and discipling in small groups or one on one they need.
After Billy Graham began his crusade ministry and thousands were coming to Christ, he asked Dawson Trotman to develop a follow up plan for these new believers. Graham was familiar with what Trotman’s discipling work of the Navigators on college campuses and several branches of the military.
What the Bible has to say about spiritual growth
What does the Bible have to say about spiritual growth? Let’s begin by digging into I Peter 2:1-3:
“Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”
Diagraming a sentence is helpful in any type of Bible study. While I forgot much of what I learned about diagramming, I can still pick out the subject, verb, and the object of the verb. The subject in this sentence is “you” which is understood and “long for” is the verb with “milk” being the object of the verb. Everything else in these verses are modifying adjectives and phrases and clauses.
The verb “long for” can also be translated as “crave.” How were they to long for? The phrase “like newborn babes” gives us the how. Do you remember your newborn babies? You didn’t have to force them to eat. They had an inborn hunger. Remember how they would let you know when they were hungry?
What is it that Peter is telling them to long for? The object of the verb here is “the pure milk of the word.” Of course he is using milk as a metaphor for God’s Word. What does milk do for a baby? It provided sustenance, life, and energy. A newborn baby can’t live without milk.
Paul’s teaching on the milk of the Word
Paul also used the metaphor of milk. We read these words in I Corinthians 3:1-2:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able.”
Paul is concerned that the believers in Corinth were still on the level of the milk of the word, which is for new believers. Those Peter was writing to were new believers so it was appropriate for them to be longing for milk. Those in Corinth had been believers long enough that they should have been weaned off milk by now and be on solid food.
The author of Hebrews wrote to Jewish believers who were in a similar situation. Read these words in Hebrews 5:12-14:
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. “
Those to whom he was writing should be teaching new believers, but because they had stagnated in their spiritual growth, they needed to go back on milk again as when they were new believers.
Now let’s go back to I Peter 2:1-3. The word Peter uses to describe the milk of the word can be translated as pure, unadulterated or without guile. It’s interesting that in the previous clause, Peter gave them a list of sins to lay aside and one of those was guile. Perhaps he is using a play on words telling them to lay aside guile on the one hand, but on the other hand to long for the milk of the word that was without guile.
Peter uses a clause of purpose that modifies the verb “long for.” He says “that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.” The nutrition of God’s Word was for the purpose of helping them to grow spiritually.
Without regular intake of God’s Word, we cannot grow spiritually. Imagine feeding your newborn baby a few days and then skip a few days every now and then. That baby is not going to be healthy even if he lives at all with sporadic feeding. If we are not consistent in nourishing on God’s Word, we cannot be spiritually healthy either.