"Growing in Christ" 4/29/25

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Do you often feel stuck, weighed down, wanting to grow deeper in fellowship with Christ???

Dane Ortlund gives a helpful diagnostic in his book Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners. He points out four common approaches to growth in the Christian life.*

1) God then me

2) God not me 

3) God plus me

4) God in me

The first view, God then me, places the emphasis fully on man and what we must do. But this fails to account for the depth of our sin and our need of God's daily empowering presence.

The second view, God not me, commits the opposite error and ignores what the Bible teaches about our responsibility to obey. 

The third view, God plus me, acknowledges the truth that in our growth, God is at work and we are too, but this too falls short of the fullness of the biblical teaching, which emphasizes that Salvation (including sanctification) is not God plus man, but completely a gift from God.

These views promise much, but leave us empty and uncertain, lacking the strength to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus. 

The Bible's teaching about growth is captured in the fourth view Dane describes, God in me. Instead of 50/50, the Bible teaches God is 100% involved and we are 100% involved in our growth. 

Paul expresses the reality of God in us, working in us, empowering us to serve Him in 1 Corinthians 15:10,

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (cf. Galatians 2:20)

We find this same pattern of God in us in Philippians 2:12-13,

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Notice the emphasis on God working in us and our working out what He is accomplishing in us. Again, God is fully active. He is the source of our growth and we are called to actively respond with awe and humility.

Consider one more example.

Colossians 1:28-29,

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Again, Paul expresses that he is fully involved, toiling to proclaim Christ, and yet at the same time God is at work in Him, giving Him the strength to press on. 

Q. Why is this important?

A. Because I am unable on my own to produce the fruit of Christlikeness, but with Christ in me I am empowered to serve Him with what C.F. Moule called "a strangely relaxed kind of strenuousness". 

Brothers and Sisters, we can give our all with joy, because filled with His fullness, we are not reliant upon our limited strength. 

Are you discouraged, keenly aware of your weakness? Remember the power of God at work in you who believe in Christ. 

Through Christ you can endure and grow through any and every situation.

Grace & Peace,

Matt

P.S. *Dane Ortlund acknowledges his debt to Jerry Bridges for pointing these four approaches out.

P.P.S. 

Bonus Quote: "Christ is the redeemed man's new environment. He has been lifted out of the cramped restrictions of his earthly lot into a totally different sphere, the sphere of Christ. He has been transplanted into a new soil and a new climate, and both soil and climate are Christ. His spirit is breathing a nobler element. He is moving on a loftier plane." 

James Stewart (Scottish pastor, 1896-1990), as quoted in Deeper by Dane Ortlund.