You will open your copy of God's Word, 2 Peter 3. We took a brief hiatus for Christmas, a couple of week break. We have been in a Sunday morning series on meaningful church membership. Meaningful church membership. We continue now back into that study, the study of that series. with the idea that every single member of the church matters. What you do matters. What you don't do matters. We begin our Christian journey, or should begin our Christian journey, by joining a local assembly, by assembling together with that assembly, by worshiping alongside that assembly, exercising our spiritual gifts with the other members of that assembly. We strengthen one another. We love one another. We give to support the needs of the body. But as we broach this new here, I want to give thought to the idea of growing. Each week has been a verb of some kind, and this week is no different. Growing. Your growth. Your growth or the lack of spiritual growth affects this assembly. It affects this body. And so each of us have been called upon to grow up together. Grow up together. Let's study this idea that we have before us this morning. In 2 Peter chapter number 3, just one verse, the close of the second epistle of Peter, we read this word. these words, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. One of the leading factors in children who develop growth there is a disorder among children called growth stunting. It is also called stunted growth. Same disorder that is prevalent among children in many places on this globe. This sickness among young people can be the result of different illnesses or even genetic disorders But primarily, stunted growth among children is the result of inadequate nutrition. Many of us have seen these sad television commercials of some third world country where poor nutrition, healthy food, having healthy food access to nutritious food is a major problem. And we see those disturbing images of children with their bellies distended and swollen that all stems from a lack of a proper diet. And when we see things like this, it grieves us. And it should grieve us. This is not how God designed life on planet Earth. Instead, those horrific scenes are part of the living on a fallen planet that has been cursed by sin. I want to make something of a spiritual application to this. Although I cannot provide heart-rending video evidence I believe the same disorder that is growth stunting exists among American Christianity today. Not physical stunted growth, as much as spiritual stunted growth. If we were to make an analogy of this disease, this illness, I really don't know how any rational mind could argue that we have an epidemic of spiritually malnutritioned Christians, malnourished Christians in America today. While we may appear healthy and vibrant, I assure you any level-headed assessment of our true spiritual health would reveal an underlying illness in Christianity. Far, far too many born-again believers suffer from stunted spiritual growth. The current state of our nation, and of Christianity at large in America, should greatly concern us. Now this may sound harsh, It may sound as if I'm being overly dramatic, but I assure you that I am not. If you will get online and look at the state of theology, I mentioned this sometime back and I told you you were going to hear about it again, but Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries a few months ago did an extended survey of the state of theology. And they asked numerous questions to both unbelievers and to believers, to those who were not Christian and those who were confessing Christians. And the results of it is just absolutely astounding. And I don't mean that in a good way. It would grieve you. I encourage you to take a look at it. I'm not going to walk you through some of the statistics. We've actually done some of that. And I mean many of the most basic Bible truths are unknown, misunderstood, or flatly not believed by the majority of confessing evangelicals. There's something wrong with the spiritual health of Christianity. Friends, right here where we live, there is a famine in the land. Right here in Houston County, right here in Perry, Georgia, there is a famine in the land, not of food, nor of water, but of hearing of the Word of the Lord. This is called evangelicalism, to become weak, frail, and anemic. I don't want to sound overly critical, and I have debated whether even say anything about it, but Glenn and I have talked to others. We have talked to this Tuesday morning prayer group that I go to. It's a group of men, many of which know nearly nothing about the Bible, nearly nothing about the Bible, though they've sat in church for decades. And I sometimes wonder, are we helping or not? When we go there, there's this part of me that I want to be careful who I'm associated with, whom I am aligned with, and at the same time, I want to try to feed these men something, because they're not getting much very, very often. I don't mean that as a public criticism of those of different denominational differences, but it's just true. It's just true. It's just true. This overwhelming, and I believe it is the overwhelming lack of sound biblical teaching, and I'm going to point first at the pulpits. This overwhelming lack of sound biblical teaching combined with the affluence of our American lifestyle has led to this spiritually lethargic form of Christianity that produces malnourished, unhealthy believers. Growth stunting has become an epidemic in America. Spiritual growth stunting has become an epidemic in America. And this is really, friends, this is not a new problem, but it is a prevalent problem among many confessing Christians. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter number 5, if you don't mind, back towards the front of your Bibles to the fifth chapter of the book of Hebrews. And I want you to see that this lack of true spiritual growth is not a new issue. It's just that it is a common problem that exists, but it shouldn't exist. There's no reason, especially in our society and culture where Bibles are prevalent and means of media as they were there's no reason for Christians today to be malnourished But in Hebrews chapter number five Look at verse number 12 for when for the time You ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again Which be the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk, and not strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe, an infant. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Do you understand what the Hebrew writer is saying there? He is saying, listen dear friends, I'm going to summarize this for you. He is saying, there are some of you who have been saved long enough that you ought to be teaching others the Bible. But rather than teaching the Bible, you need to be taught the Bible. You ought to be, the writer would say, you ought to be far more spiritually advanced than you are. Instead, you need to learn the most elementary of Bible truths. Rather than enjoying a steady diet of wholesome meat, you're still on the milk. Can you imagine that? He's saying these grown, as you are grown, mature, should be mature believers are still on the milk and not on the meat. of the word. There is really something quite unnatural about a baby bottle hanging out of a grown man's mouth. Amen. But get what the Hebrew writers say. This time, you shouldn't have been grown up. But instead, you're still nursing. To make a modern day application, The Hebrew writer is saying something like this. You ought to be teaching algebra by now, but you haven't even learned your multiplication table yet. You should be running a marathon, but you're still stumbling around like a toddler learning how to walk. You should be cycling in a race, but instead you still got training wheels on. aimed at spiritually immature believers, the Hebrew writer was saying something like this. Listen, y'all been saying long enough now, you ought to be ready to teach Sunday school when needed. Instead, you can't even define some of the most basic Bible doctrines. You've been a Christian long enough that you ought to be leading a home Bible study, but you've not even read your Bible. And what concerns me as a Christian and as a pastor is that this stunted growth was not only true of those first century Hebrew Christians, it's also true of many 21st century Gentile Christians. Don't let any of us sitting here today think that this Command given us by Peter doesn't apply to us. Listen, it applies to everyone in the building. Everyone in the building. Happy New Year. See that transition I did right there? Some guys go to school for years trying to learn how to do that. Happy New Year. I want the sermon today, and I told you when we began this series, it's gonna get all up in our business, and I'm in it. I want this sermon today to serve as something of a challenge for this 2023rd year of our Lord. As you know, many people view the turning of a new calendar for a new year as a time to recommit themselves to get physically healthy. And I want this message today to challenge all of us to recommit ourselves to becoming spiritually healthier. And I want every member of Memorial Heights to be the healthiest, strongest, and most mature Christian that you can possibly become. It's time we all grow up for the glory of our good and gracious King. Let us commit anew to growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Friends, He is worthy. He is worthy. Have you note with me today three lessons about growing. Three lessons about growing. First from the text, notice the exhortation that is given to us straight from verse 18, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now to just clarify something, let's say this. You cannot grow as a Christian unless you first become a Christian. The things that we're going to discuss today primarily apply to those who have come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now just like a human cannot grow until there is first life, A person cannot grow spiritually until there is spiritual life. In other words, you cannot grow into a Christian. You must be birthed into Christian life. You must be given new life. You must become a new creature in Christ before you can grow as a Christian. You, if you are here today and you've never being saved, I urge you to commit your life to following hard after the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Be saved. Be born again. Man, it would be awful, I mean awfully wonderful if you became a Christian today on this New Year's Day. You begin a new life in Christ. Listen, in order to Grow as a Christian, you've got to be a Christian. The things that we're going to outline together, they don't help you become a Christian, they help you grow as a Christian. So I urge you first today, follow, submit, yield your life to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior of sinners. So first, you need to ask yourself, am I saved? Am I saved? If so, as a Christian? That's what I want to plant in your heart and your mind today. If you're here and you're a confessing Christian, you say that you have been saved, you know the Lord. Ask and answer this question in your own heart. Am I growing as a Christian? Am I closer to Christ and closer to the image of Christ than I used to be? Now the truth is, now let's just think to that. This is not an easy question to answer. Some days, I think I can say we here, some days we certainly don't feel more Christ-like, and we may not act very Christ-like. But nonetheless, something every Christian should consider is this, am I consistently growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? But how do we measure that? You say, preacher, I see it on the page, Peter exhorts us to grow. I think I'm growing, but I'm still struggling. How do we measure Spiritual development. That's a good question. Now, when you think about the physical growth of children, that can be easily tracked, right? Probably many of you here, I don't know, some of you anyway, when your kids were growing up, do you remember doing this? You'd back them up to a wall and put a little pencil mark or a pen mark right on the wall over top of their head and you'd write, Here's John at age seven. Here's John at age nine. You can come back years later and look at that and see the growth of that child, right? Many of you will be familiar with that. But there isn't that same kind of tangible measurement that exists to measure spiritual growth or spiritual maturity. However, I think there's some good questions that we could ask ourselves really some, I hope, soul-searching questions that we should ask and answer ourselves that would sort of serve as a rule, if you will, a measurement, if you will, even a barometer of spiritual growth. So if you are interested in gauging at least to some degree, gauging your own level of spiritual growth, here are a series of questions that I have tried very carefully to articulate well. I would ask you, Christian, if you are here today and you are confessing Christian, I'm not asking for a vocal answer. Ask this, answer this in your own heart. Do you have an increasing desire to see God's glory known among every nation? And how often do you think questions like that? I think that's good. I think that's good. Is it my desire? to see the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ planted and hanging on every kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation on planet Earth? And how often do you think about those kinds of questions? Do you have a greater hunger for spiritual things than you had in your past? Do you have an increased sensitivity to sin? I think one of the greatest marks of spiritual maturity is this. Do you have an increased sensitivity to your own sin and a deepening hatred of it? Does love for God constrain you from doing certain things rather than the fear of God? Have you found victory over some specific besetting sin? Now listen, there are things that I have struggled with for years, and the preacher still struggles. I'm not going to stand up here and say I've got the victory because I'd be too scared to say that out loud. But I hope God has given me the victory over some other things. Can you say that? Is there some marked area of weakness in your life that God has grown you, matured you, and given you victory over? This might not be the best day to ask this, but do you have less interest in the earthly matter? Things like sports. I told you the wrong day to ask that. Things like sports, politics, hobbies. Now listen, all that's fine, but do you have an increasing appetite for eternal things and a decreasing appetite for those things? I want to ask you one more. Am I growing as a Christian? Ask, answer this question. Do you have more boldness in sharing the gospel than you once have? Do you? I don't mean just mentioning the name of Jesus or talking how good God is. I mean literally boldness in sharing the gospel. That's the one you're going to hear more about moving forward. These are just some questions for us to ask and answer to measure our own spiritual growth. Friends, Peter says grow. Grow in grace and knowledge as a Christian, as a believer. Listen, I want to be clear about this. The Christian life is, there's no neutral in the Christian life. Sometimes we tell ourselves there is, but there isn't. In the Christian life, let's be honest, you're either swimming or you're sinking. There is no in-between. You're either moving forward or you're falling down. One example is like a child on a bicycle. The worst thing they can do is stop pedaling. They're going to fall. Listen, when you stop pedaling, when you stop moving forward, Christian, you're going to fall. There's no neutral here. There's no treading water here. Peter's exhortation is that we are to grow. Grow. Think now, this is Peter, and this is the last inspired words he would ever pen to people that he loved. Think about that now, his last words, Peter, that he would write in a letter to people whom he loved, and his closing exhortation to them is this, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That ought to carry some weight with you. That's how important that it is. Peter is saying you need to develop. What does it mean to grow? To develop, to increase, to mature. You ought to be developing as a disciple of Christ. You ought to be increasing in your knowledge of all things eternal. You ought to be maturing. And this is not necessarily naturally We should mature and get wiser as we get older, you know, physically, naturally. But you can be very young in Christ and still be very mature in Christ. And at the same time, you can be saved for a long time and still be an infant in Christ. But at some point, you ought to be off of the milk and on the meat and be a seasoned saint. And I think all of us here would agree that this is something we should be doing It is something we want to do, but it's something we struggle to do well. Now, I want to state the obvious just because it has to be said. Peter would not be inspired to give us this exhortation to grow unless there was a need for us to grow. Or let me say it like this. Regardless of what we may think of ourselves, Christian, you got some growing up to do. You got some growing up to do. So do I. You have not arrived. You do not know it all. You don't have it all figured out. Now we all know this, don't we? I mean, we know. And we would never be so prideful as to say, I know it all, I've arrived. We would never say this, but sometimes we act that way. I know that I've said this before, but I just, I never, I guess I'll never understand why it is that some people will stand, and I've heard preachers do this, they'll stand and, you know, here, Here Peter says grow, grow in the development or increase in the things of God. Yet I've heard preachers stand and say, why haven't changed my mind on any single doctrine in 45 years? Well, that means one of two things. Number one, the unlikely possibility that you, that person, has perfect knowledge of all biblical truth. I find that a hard pill to swallow, don't you? And secondly, you know what the only other option is? You're not growing. You're not growing. Because when you're green, you're growing. That is, when you're willing to be taught When you're not going to be, I'm not suggesting that we are carried away with every wind of doctrine, doesn't the Bible warn us against that? But willing to learn, to be taught, to grow, and to stand and say, I was wrong. If God's Word and God's Spirit hasn't shown you where you're wrong, and where you need to change, then brother and sister, something's wrong with you. or else you've reached some elevated plane of higher sanctification that us lesser Christians can only dream about. But instead, we are here exhorted that we should grow, learn, increase, and mature. Or perhaps, let me flip it like this. If the apostle Paul could say he hadn't arrived Now, brother and sister, you hadn't arrived. Philippians chapter 3, verse 12 through 14. I'm not going to read it all and give you parts of it. Paul says, not as though I had already attained. I'm not there. Philippians 3, verse 12. Either or already perfect. But I follow after it. He says, I'm doing my best to lay hold of what's laid hold of me. That's rich right there. Brethren, he says, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That should be our desire. That should be our goal. That even Paul would say, I'm still growing. I'm still learning. And brother, as he still is, still doing that, we should be doing that. We need to grow. We need to mature. We need to develop. And I think you agree with that. But how? How? How do we grow? The growth that we're talking about, the spiritual growth, is akin to sanctification. Sanctification is that glorious doctrine that teaches us The Holy Spirit using the Word to conform us to the image of Christ. That is a progressive process. It doesn't happen immediately. It doesn't happen overnight. Neither does spiritual maturity. I look at it like this. Sanctification is the process of the Spirit working in us and through us. And spiritual growth is us working in cooperation with the Spirit of God. Yielding ourselves. committing ourselves to doing what we should do to grow and mature. Or as it says in Philippians 2 verse 12, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Work out what God has worked in you. You can't sanctify yourself, but with spiritual disciplines you can grow and mature. Now ultimately, it is the work of God. And it is by the grace of God, that's just a fact. But listen, it doesn't happen by accident. Spiritual growth doesn't happen by accident. So, we saw the exhortation given to us. Notice, secondly, the means of transformation in us. The means of transformation in us. You know, something that I've been kind of hard on Americans, but I'm gonna say one more thing. We Americans, well, we're spoiled, and we are, and normally, We like things easy. You remember, I don't know if it was Office Depot or Staples or whatever it was, they had the easy button. You can mash it on that commercial, had the easy button. We liked that as Americans. When it comes to spiritual growth, we're asking, where's the easy button? There isn't one. There isn't one. How many of you know what Miracle-Gro is? You garden? Sprinkle a little miracle grove in your water and watch your flowers and plants just bloom and blossom. Well, I got bad news. There's no spiritual miracle grove. The process of spiritual grove requires discipline, effort, consistency, and self-denial. It doesn't just happen. You know it would be great, right? If we could put our Bible under our pillow at night, and through some supernatural act of spiritual osmosis, the Bible would just seep into our brains while we slept, wouldn't that be great? Well, you can try it and let me know how it works out, but I don't think it's going to help you out. Spiritual growth. doesn't just happen. It requires prioritizing the eternal over the temporal. How do we grow? What is this means of transformation in us? Look at the text. Grow in grace. You want to know how you grow in grace? By grace. You want to know how you grow in knowledge? By knowledge. You receive more grace to grow in grace. You grow in knowledge by gaining more knowledge. This is not some idea that you're going to become more saved than what you were. That's not it at all. But you're to grow in faith and understanding and your grasp of all things biblical. You are to grow in that, that grace, that knowledge. There's not some silly, get spiritually healthy, quit program. As you know, I've been trying to get healthier, lose some weight. But I can tell you this much, all those little flashy programs, lose 60 pounds in six days and requires 10 minutes of exercise, baloney. It doesn't work that way. And if you think you're going to get spiritually healthy and be some kind of a Goliath slaying spiritual giant with no effort on your part, you forget it. It requires effort, discipline, consistency, a death to self, setting one's affections on things above and not on the things of this earth. That is the transformative process in us. I'm going to quickly list, and I gotta be quick so I can get these kids on the plane. I wanna quickly list. Twelve, and I'm going to go through them. Twelve methods of growth. Man, I've got a sermon. You can preach a sermon on each one. If you're somebody who takes notes, here you go. You ready? Number one, number one, number one. Saturate your life with the Word of God. Saturate your life with the Word of God. Read your Bible. Study your Bible. Memorize Scripture. Meditate on Scripture. Make the Word of God central to your life, your home, your priorities. Saturate your life in the Word of God. You will never, ever, ever be a strong, vibrant Christian without a steady diet of the Word of God. There is no substitute, period. You pick your Bible up on Sunday and you don't touch it again until next Sunday or Sunday after, you are a spiritual weakling and you will remain that way. Now that's just as bold and plain as I can say it. You will remain spiritually stunted and anemic if you are a stranger to the Word of God. Number two, I told you I got to move fast. Listen to lots of, caveat, sound Biblical preaching. Listen to lots of sound Biblical preaching. With the radio, CDs, sermon audio, YouTube, there's no reason why you cannot fill your ears with the Word of God, with good Biblical preaching. Now, to be just a jerk just a minute, do you know football came on 12 o'clock yesterday afternoon? What time did it go off last night? 12 o'clock. There are some people, I didn't sit there the whole time, but I sat there too much. For 12 hours, sat there glued to the television watching football game. And you wanna tell me you don't have time to watch a 45 minute sermon? Bull, it's just a matter of what matters to you. What is your priority? Number three, read good Christian literature. Your Bible should be first, but you ought to be a reader. Sometimes I say when I'm preaching, here's a really good book and I would encourage you to read it. And I want to believe some of you are there on your phones right there ordering off Amazon while I'm saying that. Maybe a little overly naive of me, but that's what I want to believe. How much good Christian literature do you read? I'm serious. I have known men and women, and I ain't trying to get in too much trouble, but I've known a lot of Christian women who have read books. You can stack the books from the floor to the ceiling of all the books that they've read, they've never read the Bible. Read good Christian literature. Fourthly, oh, you knew it was coming. You knew it was coming. Attend every church activity and service possible. It doesn't matter one bit how good a meal is if you're not there to eat it. It doesn't matter how nutritious it is, how healthy it is, if you're not there to consume it, it is not going to benefit you one bit. Attend every single church service and activity possible. I'm not going to re-preach that. I've preached it already. to whatever available. Number five, go to Christian conferences. Good Bible preaching, teaching conferences. I can tell you about some. Lord willing, I'll be down at Ligonier's in March. Go to them. Go to a conference. If you can go to the beach for the weekend, you go to a Bible conference for the weekend. Number six, you ready? You're gonna fall out your puma. Get on the mission puma. I'm dead serious now. Instead of spending a week at some popular vacation spot, go spend a week with a missionary. You know something that I was both blessed to hear and grieved to hear? Was David Miller, you remember David Miller, came and preached out in a wheelchair for us? David Miller told us that 70% of the church members there, and this is a small church, 70% of their church members have been on the foreign fields serving a missionary. 70%. We don't have 70%. You want to grow? I'm asking, do you want to grow? Do you want to grow? Number seven, ask an older, more mature Christian to disciple you. Number eight, disciple someone less spiritually mature than you. You need someone, I've said this, and I'm gonna say it again, you're gonna hear more about this, you need to be sitting at the feet of someone. And Christian, whether you've been saved a week or 10 years, you gotta have somebody sitting at your feet. You need to be discipled and you need to be discipling someone. Discipling someone will make you study. It will make you study. Number nine, pray. We stood right up here and sang just a single hour before the throne I stand and I thought, yeah, yeah. Pray. Number 10, fast. Fasting is a lost art among Christianity. Fast. Number 11, separate yourself from that which hinders your spiritual growth. You ought to have a disciplined denial of every detrimental behavior. A disciplined denial of every detrimental behavior. Hebrews again, 12, says it like this, setting aside every weight in the sin which does so easily mislead us. Those who run marathons don't slap 25 and 50 pound weights on their shoulders before they begin the race. They set aside every weight. Christian, to become stronger, more mature, You need to set aside those things that you know, and this is a process, I'm talking to me too, that you know are detrimental to your spiritual development. And then 12th and finally here, patiently endure suffering. Suffering is the gift that nobody wants, but seldom are we in Suffering is God's gift to grow you. It is God's gift to grow you. Your body needs nutrition, fresh air, rest, and discipline. So does your soul. These are some but not all the ways. Grow in the grace of knowledge. We grow in grace by grace. We grow in knowledge by knowledge. Third, we saw the how Now we move to the why. Or what is the motivation that should prompt us? The motivation that should prompt us. And it is this, I gave the proverbial cat, let the cat out of the bag. Our primary motivation and our desire to grow should be this, that Christ would be known among the nations. That Christ would be known among the nations. That your family, can I bring it home a little more? that your family would know Christ and the power of His resurrection. That this church would be as strong as possible, as healthy as possible. We, Memorial Highness, are no stronger than our weakest men. You're not an island. What you do and don't do affects the body. This is meaningful. church membership grow. An underdeveloped member affects the whole body. In closing, when everything is said and done, the guiding principle that directs us to spiritual growth comes down to this. Christ and His kingdom is central to my existence. Not everybody here is as cultured as everyone else. I personally like Star Trek, and if you don't, you're just not cultured. But in Star Trek, they have what they call their prime director. And that is that every action and decision that, it's called the Federation, every action and decision that the Federation makes is directed by one overarching principle. You want to know what that is, go look it up. But here is the Christian's prime directive. That every action and decision should be directed by this overarching principle. that Christ and His kingdom is central to my existence. What I do each day, how I manage my time, what I value, what I prioritize, all of this is governed by one overarching guideline, that Christ would be known among the nations. And as long, friends, I know, as long as we're in these bodies, maintaining this commitment and following hard After this directive, it's going to be a struggle to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Why? Look at the close of our verse. To Him be glory. What is our motivation? To Him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. May 2023 be the year that you grow and mature more than any other. Maybe you need to recommit today to following hard after Christ. I would implore you to do so. Don't be a stunted Christian. Don't allow your growth to be stunted, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Because He's worthy. He is worthy. He's worthy. God bless you. I'm going to ask you to stand with me this morning as we are dismissed. If I can help, I'll be right here. If you have questions, I'm right here. If you want to recommit your life to Christ, just come by me. We'll work it out. Never confess Christ. I urge you to plead with Him. Find rest for your soul. God bless you. I love you.