This series of articles is written by Dr Peter Masters (https://metropolitantabernacle.org/articles/a-spiritual-growth-check/).
Growth means dependence upon God, communion with Christ, daily engagement in holiness, prayer and proclamation. We cannot select one or two of these but must engage in all. ‘But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen’ (2 Peter 3.18). This well-known command to grow in grace and knowledge was given by Peter as the essential antidote to backsliding and apostasy, the apostle having just written: ‘Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.’ . . . How shall we define growing in grace? It is the ongoing Christian walk of proving the free favour of God in daily forgiveness, answered prayer, help in holiness and progress in service. It includes advancing in obedience to the Lord and communion with him. Here are five vital aspects of growth to monitor.
Christ as Saviour
To grow in the knowledge of Christ as Saviour means that we cast out undisturbed and perhaps secret sin, because we cannot any longer offend the one who went to Calvary for us. It may have gone unconfessed for years, blocking from us the full kindness and power of God.
Has there been, for example, something of the gossip resident in us, or some covetousness? To grow in the knowledge of Christ as Saviour means that we look to him as our continuing Saviour, who enables his people to cast out these sins. We have confessed them and heard in our hearts the voice of the Saviour saying, ‘The Lord has put your sin away.’
Christ as Jesus
To grow in the knowledge of Jesus, the Lord’s personal name, surely refers to a growing sense of communion with him, and a growing love for him. We can use his personal name because we are his and he is ours.
Do we continue to know devotions when we are lost in wonder, love and praise that we know him, and that the Saviour of the world has made himself ours? Have we known liberty in prayer, and in the expressing of love and devotion to him? Have we reflected on his person and ways, while reading the Word, and admired him? Such knowledge of him deepens increasingly, and especially as we catch the spirit of his love for the lost. May we grow in the knowledge of Jesus, that is, of his personal affection for us, and the closeness of that love.
Christ as Messiah
To grow in the knowledge of Christ – the Messiah or anointed one – means to identify more with his entire messianic mission and timetable . . . and soon he will return in power and glory. To grow in the knowledge of Christ, or Messiah, is to understand the whole picture of redemption and to look and work for his return. Do we meditate on the course and completion of his mission, and reflect on the great day of his appearing? Let us seek to know him more and more as Lord, then as Saviour, as Jesus, and as Christ.
This is both a searching and encouraging text, being both simple and rich, and referring to a form of growth which can never inflate the ego, because every aspect is humbling as well as uplifting. As if to mark this, the inspired verse concludes – ‘To him be glory both now and for ever.’
Let us grow, dear friends, no matter how long we may have been on this glorious journey, never standing still, so that we may be strong and much used of the Lord.