I am truly convinced that if we believe the Gospel and enjoy Jesus then God will take care of the rest and spiritual growth will happen.
Christians put SO much on the things we do for Jesus, when we need to put the emphases on what Jesus did for us.
The Gospel.
It is central to why the Christian does what the Christian does, it really is the foundation to Christian wisdom.
Before Christ, this was just as true, enjoyment of God was still the root of wisdom.
Solomon, a wise man in his own accord got this and in his wisdom, with the Holy Spirit, he penned Proverbs that reveal the nature of God and pierce cultural precepts of "wisdom", shedding light on the true nature of Godly wisdom.
Proverbs 1:7 says "Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge", so running with that, here is what Solomon says occurs in us when our attention is on our Lord.
1.
You'll be bearing fruit.
(Proverbs 12:12, 19:23, 20:13)- Ministering to people can be exhausting, frustrating and slow goings.
Doing "God's work" can often be the most exhausting work one can partake in.
This is because we are laboring for something so far beyond our impact.
By nature, man's finite labor for the infinite is complete vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:14), but Proverbs shows a God who works on the scale of the infinite through the hands of man.
Proverbs 12:12 says "the root of the righteous bears fruit", and the righteous are those in Christ, since only He was righteous.
When you water a tree, you don't water the branches, you water the root.
Christian, water the root of the Gospel in you and it will produce Gospel fruit.
Just like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:6 "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
When you enjoy God and cultivate the abilities he's given you (which come out in full when God is enjoyed) fruit comes in ways only explainable by divine ordination and execution.
Examples: People get saved, relationships get restored, people get needs met, great art/writing is produced, etc.
All by God through you, not by you with God's help.
2.
You'll be repenting of sin.
(Proverbs 15:9, 16:6, 19:25, 21:11)- God is holy.
And since we aren't holy, this causes quite a rift between man and God.
And on the Cross, God dealt with our ungodliness, by making His Holy son unholy as a punishment for our ungodliness, thus making His people holy by the atoning blood of the Holy One, Jesus.
The more we enjoy this and believe this, the more our indwelling sin comes out swinging.
The great war of our life is the spiritual war, where, as Christians, the Holy Spirit (fittingly named) within us is in conflict with our unholy flesh and Satan.
Victory is repentance, or, turning from sin to Jesus.
When we want to know and enjoy Jesus we are confronted by our sin, which does not want that.
But Jesus has given the gift of repentance to us.
This comes from correction, either from within (The Holy Spirit) or Godly community reproving, rebuking or correcting us.
This confronts us with our sin, and when we are enjoying Jesus this instruction will humble us before God and make us go back to Jesus.
Proverbs 17:10 says "a rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool", here we get a picture of a man who has been shown his sin and is broken by how evil it is.
But this man knows that "By steadfast love and faithfulness (sounds like Jesus, huh?) iniquity is atoned for and by fear of the Lord one turns away from evil"(Proverbs 16:6).
This man sees Jesus as the answer and trusting in Jesus as the death sentence of sin.
3.
You'll be in community (Proverbs 18:1, 18:22,17:11, 17:17)- Gospel growth isn't just something that happens in quiet time, it's a community project.
God's people, the church is where Jesus brings us when he saves us.
A healthy Christian is a Christian in community, Solomon says "whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgement.
", saying essentially that it is unwise and narcissistic to be a Christian out of community.
So when Gospel growth happens, it isn't just God working through a single person, but God working through his Church to advance his Church.
God wrote the epistles to collective churches and church leaders for a reason.
The reason is that God means the church to advance, repent and experience Gospel growth.
Solomon also speaks of marriage as a Godly relationship with the spiritual implications of holiness and grace (Proverbs 18:22).
God uses all kinds of community to grow us as Christians, because in the Church of God, as John Donne says "No man is an island".
4.
You'll love Jesus more (Proverbs 15:13, 12:28, 13:12, 12:21)- Misplaced affections lead to so much of the unnecessary depression we experience in this life.
As Christians we have been given "everything needed for life and godliness" in Jesus.
Yet, sin causes us to misplace our affections, worship and find security in things that are not God.
As Mark Driscoll says "we take good things and make them 'God' things".
The problem is that everything that isn't God will ultimately fail you in the end.
But when we, as Christians, believe God, something happens.
We learn to lean on Jesus more, instead of on the stuff that always lets us down, (yet we strangely return to over and over).
This repentance leads to Christ taking center stage in our affections.
That is essentially Gospel Growth summed up.
Solomon shows how this leads to joy when he says "in the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death"(Proverbs 12:28).
Fullness of life is Christ, who is our righteousness, as you believe the Gospel this will lead to affection for Christ.
Because you will realize that this is it, the fulfillment of God's requirements of holiness and the fulfillment of man's joy.
This gospel is what Solomon calls the "desire fulfilled" (Proverbs 13:12) as all other desires are in the end unfulfillable.
This is not complete, as you are probably well aware of.
Nobody loves God with all of our heart, mind and strength, but Jesus did and on the Cross, God credited us as righteous.
So take heart in that good news and from one sinner to another, remember that "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6)
Christians put SO much on the things we do for Jesus, when we need to put the emphases on what Jesus did for us.
The Gospel.
It is central to why the Christian does what the Christian does, it really is the foundation to Christian wisdom.
Before Christ, this was just as true, enjoyment of God was still the root of wisdom.
Solomon, a wise man in his own accord got this and in his wisdom, with the Holy Spirit, he penned Proverbs that reveal the nature of God and pierce cultural precepts of "wisdom", shedding light on the true nature of Godly wisdom.
Proverbs 1:7 says "Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge", so running with that, here is what Solomon says occurs in us when our attention is on our Lord.
1.
You'll be bearing fruit.
(Proverbs 12:12, 19:23, 20:13)- Ministering to people can be exhausting, frustrating and slow goings.
Doing "God's work" can often be the most exhausting work one can partake in.
This is because we are laboring for something so far beyond our impact.
By nature, man's finite labor for the infinite is complete vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:14), but Proverbs shows a God who works on the scale of the infinite through the hands of man.
Proverbs 12:12 says "the root of the righteous bears fruit", and the righteous are those in Christ, since only He was righteous.
When you water a tree, you don't water the branches, you water the root.
Christian, water the root of the Gospel in you and it will produce Gospel fruit.
Just like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:6 "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
When you enjoy God and cultivate the abilities he's given you (which come out in full when God is enjoyed) fruit comes in ways only explainable by divine ordination and execution.
Examples: People get saved, relationships get restored, people get needs met, great art/writing is produced, etc.
All by God through you, not by you with God's help.
2.
You'll be repenting of sin.
(Proverbs 15:9, 16:6, 19:25, 21:11)- God is holy.
And since we aren't holy, this causes quite a rift between man and God.
And on the Cross, God dealt with our ungodliness, by making His Holy son unholy as a punishment for our ungodliness, thus making His people holy by the atoning blood of the Holy One, Jesus.
The more we enjoy this and believe this, the more our indwelling sin comes out swinging.
The great war of our life is the spiritual war, where, as Christians, the Holy Spirit (fittingly named) within us is in conflict with our unholy flesh and Satan.
Victory is repentance, or, turning from sin to Jesus.
When we want to know and enjoy Jesus we are confronted by our sin, which does not want that.
But Jesus has given the gift of repentance to us.
This comes from correction, either from within (The Holy Spirit) or Godly community reproving, rebuking or correcting us.
This confronts us with our sin, and when we are enjoying Jesus this instruction will humble us before God and make us go back to Jesus.
Proverbs 17:10 says "a rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool", here we get a picture of a man who has been shown his sin and is broken by how evil it is.
But this man knows that "By steadfast love and faithfulness (sounds like Jesus, huh?) iniquity is atoned for and by fear of the Lord one turns away from evil"(Proverbs 16:6).
This man sees Jesus as the answer and trusting in Jesus as the death sentence of sin.
3.
You'll be in community (Proverbs 18:1, 18:22,17:11, 17:17)- Gospel growth isn't just something that happens in quiet time, it's a community project.
God's people, the church is where Jesus brings us when he saves us.
A healthy Christian is a Christian in community, Solomon says "whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgement.
", saying essentially that it is unwise and narcissistic to be a Christian out of community.
So when Gospel growth happens, it isn't just God working through a single person, but God working through his Church to advance his Church.
God wrote the epistles to collective churches and church leaders for a reason.
The reason is that God means the church to advance, repent and experience Gospel growth.
Solomon also speaks of marriage as a Godly relationship with the spiritual implications of holiness and grace (Proverbs 18:22).
God uses all kinds of community to grow us as Christians, because in the Church of God, as John Donne says "No man is an island".
4.
You'll love Jesus more (Proverbs 15:13, 12:28, 13:12, 12:21)- Misplaced affections lead to so much of the unnecessary depression we experience in this life.
As Christians we have been given "everything needed for life and godliness" in Jesus.
Yet, sin causes us to misplace our affections, worship and find security in things that are not God.
As Mark Driscoll says "we take good things and make them 'God' things".
The problem is that everything that isn't God will ultimately fail you in the end.
But when we, as Christians, believe God, something happens.
We learn to lean on Jesus more, instead of on the stuff that always lets us down, (yet we strangely return to over and over).
This repentance leads to Christ taking center stage in our affections.
That is essentially Gospel Growth summed up.
Solomon shows how this leads to joy when he says "in the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death"(Proverbs 12:28).
Fullness of life is Christ, who is our righteousness, as you believe the Gospel this will lead to affection for Christ.
Because you will realize that this is it, the fulfillment of God's requirements of holiness and the fulfillment of man's joy.
This gospel is what Solomon calls the "desire fulfilled" (Proverbs 13:12) as all other desires are in the end unfulfillable.
This is not complete, as you are probably well aware of.
Nobody loves God with all of our heart, mind and strength, but Jesus did and on the Cross, God credited us as righteous.
So take heart in that good news and from one sinner to another, remember that "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6)
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