Tag Archives: Spiritual Growth

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4 Keys To Spiritual Health

Recently, I started an ongoing series of posts called Establishing Spiritual Disciplines. In this series, I’m looking at several key disciplines that you and I need to develop in our lives if we want to grow spiritually. These are individual disciplines, but the same holds true for church growth as well: If you want your church to grow, there must be certain healthy key characteristics present. If they aren’t there, the options are simple; either you grow these in your church, or you don’t grow at all.

Stethoscope

Church growth is a funny animal. It seems like everyone is an expert and every book you read has a different strategy for success. In order for the church to grow, quite simply, the individuals in the church must be growing. But that’s only a part of it, too. There are things that must be in place at a corporate level as well.

Every other “expert” has an opinion on what those things are, and they may list a dozen different ideas, all of which are different from the next expert’s advice. Even so, I think there are a few essential keys that must be present in the life of the church, just as they are in the life of the individual, if you want to see some significant growth.

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Memorize Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:22-24

Paul moves into his final illustration of the chapter with this week’s passage, the image of a servant. First, however, he addresses Timothy’s youthfulness and encourages him to stand strong in the face of temptation.

Take a look for yourself in 2 Timothy 2:22-24:

2 Timothy 2:22-24

If you look closely, you’ll see that these few verses are laid out in a pattern. Paul instructs Timothy to avoid certain things, and then he encourages him to pursue the opposite. He then does the same pattern again, giving Timothy something to avoid and then to pursue.

Paul probably used this structure to help remind Timothy of his instructions. And, once we see the pattern, it helps us remember as well. It’s in the final part of this passage that Paul introduces the imagery of the servant.

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Memorize Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:19-21

This week’s passage is split across two images that Paul uses to convey to Timothy his role as a believer and as a minister. First, he wraps up his discussion of the image of a workman with a couple of quotes. And then he shifts to the image of a household utensil.

This passage is bit longer than usual. You can see it in 2 Timothy 2:19-21:

2 Timothy 2:19-21

As Paul works his way through this chapter, he has described ministry as several different images: He has used the image of a son (verses 1-2), a soldier (verses 3-4), an athlete (verse 5), a farmer (verses 6-13), and a workman (verses 14-19) so far. Now we will look at the illustration of a utensil (verses 20-23). There is one more image in this chapter to look at; the image of a servant (verses 24-27) will conclude the chapter.

First, however, Paul wraps up his discussion of the workman with two quotes. As Timothy addresses the false teaching that has infiltrated the church in Ephesus, Paul encourages him by stating that God’s foundation is solid. There is some speculation as to just what Paul is referring to with the idea of a foundation. There are five major options:

  • The church in general (see 1 Timothy 3:15)
  • The faithful believers in the Ephesian church
  • The faith in general
  • Christ specifically (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-12)
  • The apostles and prophets, with their messages

While any of these certainly fit here, the context seems to indicate that Paul is referring to something broad in the context. In essence, what Paul is saying is that God has accomplished something that is so solid that it cannot be shaken, regardless of what any false teachers may stir up.

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Personal Retreat Days (ESD)

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Creating margin in your life is important if you are going to grow in your faith. Taking the time to develop space for God to work on your spiritual growth is a key aspect to maintaining that growth throughout your life.

One of the best ways I’ve found to do this is through a series of Personal Retreat Days.

Bear Trap Ranch, Colorado Springs

Let me state this right up front. This is not my idea originally. I wish it was. I would love to be able to claim credit for something that has impacted my life so drastically. But I can’t. I took this idea straight out of Leading On Empty, by Wayne Cordeiro. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it. It is easily on of the most influential books I’ve ever read. You can find more helpful tools based on this book at LifeJournal.cc.

The tenth chapter of Cordeiro’s book is perhaps the most important. This chapter is all about developing the intentional life. Beginning with the daily flow, the chapter gives some incredible insights for creating a cadence for your life. From there, Cordeiro turns to the weekly life, and how to practice Sabbath. Both of those could be examined closely and give a lot of benefit.

But the next section is what changed my life. Looking at life from a seasonal view, one of the main activities is a Personal Retreat Day. My purpose here isn’t to repeat everything Leading On Empty discusses. You can pick up the book and see what Cordeiro suggests on your own. What I would like to share is a brief overview, a look at how I use the day, and the benefits I’ve gained in my life.

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Memorize Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:16-18

After encouraging Timothy on what he should be doing as a minister in the church in Ephesus, Paul turns briefly to what he should not be doing, and gives the example of a couple of men who fit the description of the false teachers.

See this passage for yourself at 2 Timothy 2:16-18:

2 Timothy 2:16-18

Paul just spent the previous verses explaining to Timothy what he should be doing as a minister, as a believer. He now turns to what Timothy should avoid. This is a pretty strong contrast to what the description of a workman approved by God should look like.

Godless chatter

The first thing he mentions here is “godless chatter.” He has already spoken of this to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 6:20 (1 Timothy 1:6 and Titus 3:9 also convey this idea). Paul’s first word in this statement is the word “avoid.” This is a pretty strong command, telling Timothy that he should do whatever it takes to stay away from such a thing. But just what exactly is this? The Greek word literally means “profane and worthless, empty noise.” These false teachers are using a lot of empty speech to spread their teachings. Look at verse 18 for an example, referring to how the false teachers handled the resurrection. They said that it was already past. Such teaching is nothing more than empty speech. But behind this chatter, the philosophical implications were powerful, and once they were accepted, they robed the gospel of its power.

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Cultivating Solitude (ESD)

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Solitude is a necessity for anyone who wants to listen for the still, small voice of God. Just like any other discipline, it takes some effort and it takes some practice. The more you work at instilling opportunities for solitude in your life, the easier it becomes to shut out the noise and distractions of daily life and focus on listening to God.

But how do you do that? How do you cultivate solitude into your everyday life?

Cultivate Solitude

It’s not as difficult as you might imagine. In order to be effective at this, you need to remember that this is a twofold discipline. Every spiritual discipline is something that you do. But it is also a state of mind. Doing these things helps you to be who and what God has created you to be.

Understanding that, there are several things that yo can do to eliminate the distractions and instill solitude. There are many way to do this. Here are a few that I’ve found to be most effective in my own life.

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Memorize Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:14-15

Paul moves into the fifth example in his series of illustrations in this second chapter. This illustration is familiar to a lot of people, and the latter half of this week’s passage has often been quoted to encourage believers to study the Word.

You can see this passage in 2 Timothy 2:14-15:

2 Timothy 2:14-15

Much like Paul’s first letter to Timothy, this second letter contains a series of instructions on how to deal with false teachers. In the previous passages, Paul has encouraged Timothy to stand strong in the faith, especially as one living and serving in a pagan world. As Paul begins this passage, he continues that encouragement, but in light of the false teachers that have apparently been a problem for Timothy since the first letter was written.

This passage can be broken into three parts, or three exhortations, from Paul to Timothy.