Formula for Personal Growth

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, February 23rd. How can Christians be sure they are maturing in the Lord? Today's podcast helps you answer that question with a formula for personal growth. What does it take to grow in the Christian life? Some of you have been a Christian for years and years and years. And if I were to ask you, have you really and truly grown in your faith? Are you developing in your faith? Is God doing something exciting in your life?

You'd probably have to say, well, exciting? I'm not sure. And you may ask, well, is there some formula in the scriptures?

The answer is yes. So if you'll turn to James chapter one, James chapter one, a formula for growing in our personal Christian experience. And you'll recall, he says, beginning in verse 22, but prove yourselves doers of the word, not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, that is the law of liberty, the law that liberates us and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.

Now I want you to write this formula down. Instruction plus involvement equals spiritual growth. Instruction plus involvement equals spiritual growth. Now there are two things required for us to grow according to the scripture.

The first one is instruction. And I want us to look to see what God says about it. He says in verse 22, prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. Now instruction was absolutely essential to our being saved. For example, when you became a Christian, it was because somebody gave you some instruction. It may have been very brief instruction that you were a sinner, you could not save yourself, Christ died for your sins, receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, and you will be saved.

That may have been all the instruction you knew. Or it could have been you picked up the Bible and read a passage of scripture and the Holy Spirit used his word to instruct you as to your need of salvation. But all of us had some form of instruction before we were saved. When we look at growing and we think about the Word of God, the Word of God and growing and instruction involves hearing. Now according to this passage of scripture, there are two kinds of hearers. So I want you to look at that passage if you will, and look if you will in verse 22. He says, Now prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. It is one thing to be instructed, it is something else to listen. Now all of us the Bible says falls into one of two categories of hearers.

And he names those categories here and then gives us a description of both of them. Now this is why it's so important. It is not only enough for someone to instruct me, it is how I listen and how I hear what is being said. Being instructed is not sufficient.

It is being disciplined. It is learning to listen. It is listening in the right manner. So he says there are two kinds of listeners. One is a careless hearer.

Now listen to how he describes that person. He says prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. That is these people are deceived. He said these are hearers who are deceived. So a deceived hearer is one who is a careless hearer who believes that just because they heard it, just because they were under the sound of it, that they're growing, they received it, they understand it, they know it, they're experiencing it not necessarily. So he says there are those hearers who are very careless hearers and they are very deceived about what they know and experience and how they're growing. Then he says there's a second kind of careless hearer here. He says but prove yourselves to be doers of the word not merely hearers who delude themselves for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror, goes away and forgets what he has seen. So the second type of careless hearer is the distracted hearer and he describes him as a person who hears and goes away and forgets what he's heard.

There's a third thing he says about this fellow. He says in verse 23, if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a natural man who goes away and forgets and he says in verse 25, he does nothing. He is, listen, he is a deceived hearer, a distracted hearer and a do nothing hearer, entertained yes, forget yes, do nothing about it yes. That is a do nothing hearer. And my friend if you'll think about it, a do nothing hearer is an absolute contradiction to even being a Christian. So he says there are two kinds of hearers. Now the first one is a careless hearer, but then there's the careful hearer.

How does he describe him? Verse 25, but one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. Now once you look at the word he uses here to describe this very careful listener, he says in verse 25, but one who looks intently, that word means to put your mind down upon something that is, we don't want to miss anything that God may be saying to us.

Because God does not speak in riddles and God does not say anything unnecessarily. He speaks the truth. And you see a careful listener has all their spiritual antennas out to see if God has something specific to say to me today.

And if he does, I surely want to hear it. I don't want to miss anything God has to say. Not only does he listen intensely, but he applies it or she applies it personally. It's very important we understand this.

It is one thing for me to hear it. But until I begin to apply the instruction I hear, it is not mine abiding by that is living in it. So the first characteristic of a believer who's going to grow is one who has been instructed and who is being instructed in the Word of God, and who knows how to listen not as a careless listener, but as a very careful listener, listening with intensity to hear what God says to you personally, and then abiding by it.

But that isn't all. Because the second part of becoming a growing believer is not only to be instructed, but likewise to become involved. Now listen to what he says in this passage. But prove yourselves, prove yourselves doers of the Word, not merely hearers who delude themselves. If anyone is to hear the Word and not a doer, he's like the fellow who looks and forgets, verse 25. But the one who looks intently and does not forget, but becomes an effective and effectual doer of the Word, the instruction he's received, this man or woman shall be blessed in what they do.

Now, look at this word here. Prove yourselves doers of the Word. The word prove here is an imperative, which means be proving yourself. But in essence, here's what the word means. Be habitually, be habitually living a lifestyle of doing the Word of God.

That's what that means. Be habitually living a lifestyle of doing the Word of God, living out the instruction that you and I hear. Prove yourselves, be habitually, be habitually living out the instruction that you and I have heard. Now, when we think about all that we've heard, and we think about what he says here, when he says be a doer of the Word, notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say the person is going to be blessed who hears. He says the person is going to be blessed who does what he hears, who becomes involved, involved on the basis of the instruction they have received. Now, he didn't say once you've heard it, think about it.

Once you've heard it, consider it. Once you've heard it, pray about it. He says once you've been instructed, he says become a doer of the Word. Now here's the verse you and I quote many times. Jesus Christ is saying yesterday, today, and forever. Now how does that apply to your life and mine?

Here's how it applies. When you and I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, not only were our sins forgiven, but the Bible says the Holy Spirit came into our life, and he came into our life to indwell within us. So that you and I have the life of Christ indwelling us. The Holy Spirit who is within us is indwelling us and Christ. That is Christ's life is within us and the Holy Spirit's responsibility is to live through us the indwelling life of Jesus Christ. Now, if Christ is our life, which he is, what is Jesus going to do? Jesus is going to live out in this society in this day and age, he's going to live out his life.

We just said that Jesus Christ was the same yesterday, today and forever. So that if Jesus Christ was involved in the lives of people in his day and instructing them and getting involved in their hurts, in their heartaches, in their disappointments, in their disillusionments, if he was involved in those days, he is likewise going to become involved in the people around us who are likewise hurting and suffering and who need the help and the strength of Almighty God. You see, the truth is, if I'm going to be a genuine New Testament Christian, not only must I be instructed, but it is the lifestyle of a New Testament Christian to be personally involved in the lives of other people in some form of personal ministry.

What is the next step following instruction? Why does God instruct us in the Word? Listen to what he says in that passage. Not only a hearer of the Word of God, but a doer will be blessed. And you think about this. Does God anywhere in the Bible put any premium on gaining scriptural knowledge?

No. He never says, blessed are they who hear, period. It is blessed are those who hear and abide, those who hear and do, those who hear and become involved. All through the Bible, God is blessing those who obey the Word of God, not simply hear the Word of God. Growth in the spiritual life, some people are very deceived and deluded.

They think they're just growing up a storm because they're gaining more knowledge or hearing more truth. Friends, you can hear it and hear it and hear it. If you don't become involved in somebody's life, if you don't allow the Lord Jesus Christ to squeeze this truth out of you into someone else's life, you are missing the very point for which he has taught you and is instructing you week after week. Involvement must follow instruction for instruction to become a vital part of my life.

And involvement must follow instruction if I'm going to be pleasing in my lifestyle. He says, prove yourselves, that is, make your lifestyle one who not only is being instructed in the things of God, but one who is becoming personally involved through some ministry in the life of someone else, whether it is a child, a single, a young person, a grandmother, grandfather, but involvement is the key. Jesus said, I just do the things that my father sent me to do.

And if Jesus Christ living within us is the same yesterday, today and forever, I want to tell you, my friend, there is no way for Jesus Christ to be living in you and me and listen, in you and me and be doing the thing the Father sent him to do unless he is able to express himself through us in involvement. We are here with a purpose in mind. And that purpose is to live out the life of Christ and the life of Jesus Christ is a life of warm hearted, intimate personal involvement in the lives of people who are hurting and who desperately need to know through you, to hear it through you, to feel it through you, to see it in your life that Jesus Christ really does care for them. Now I want you to jot these three things down.

Where does my involvement begin once I'm saved? Number one, loving others. Loving others, the great commandment.

Write that down. Loving others, the great commandment. He says, this commandment I give to you that you love one another and the greatest of commandments that we love the Lord our God with all of our heart and loving others as ourselves. Loving others, that's where involvement begins. Loving someone else. Who is it that you love besides your family?

Who do you really love besides your family? Loving others, the great commandment. Number two, witnessing to others, the great commission. Going into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature.

You may do that with a cup of cold water, Jesus said. Or visit in the jail or visit in the hospital or a fresh loaf of baked bread or a cake or kneeling in prayer with someone who's hurting. First of all, loving others.

We can all begin there. The great commandment. Witnessing to others, sharing our faith, telling them what Jesus Christ has done for us.

The great commission. And thirdly, serving others. The great commitment. Jesus said he came, suffered himself to become a servant, even unto death. He humbled himself to become a servant. The great commitment. Loving others, witnessing to others, serving others.

Listen, if you and I are not going to do those three things, I want to ask you, listen to me carefully. Can you justify being a tremendous recipient of the magnitude of the blessings of almighty God, 24 hours a day? If you are not loving others, witnessing to others and serving others that is becoming involved in someone else's life, not simply getting more and more and more instruction when Jesus Christ wants to live through you his life of love and witness and service.

Let me ask you a question. Are you involved in anybody else's life in those three ways? Loving them, witnessing the truth of the gospel to them, serving them.

Are you involved in anybody's life in that fashion? If you are not, you may be able to quote this Bible from cover to cover, but I'm going to tell you, you've missed the point. The point is not how much knowledge you can gain. The point is how much can God, how much can he exercise through this life of mine in this short span, love, witness and service to other people. Now listen to what he says in this passage.

He says there are two kinds. He says there are those who prove themselves doers of the word. There are those who are simply forgetters of what they hear. But verse 25, but the one who listens carefully, intently and applies it to his or her heart.

And it's not a forgetful hearer but an effective, effective doer of the word, that person is going to be blessed. They're going to grow. Now let me show you how the growing works. Here's what happens. You receive instruction from the Word of God. You apply it to your life and you discover it works. Then you share that with someone else who's hurting and you discover it works for them. Well, if that principle in God's Word works, what about this one, you learn to trust him, you go back and you share it again.

And God gives you a great success. And what happens you go back to the Word, you see those people who are the hungriest, those who are genuinely hungry for truth, those who are genuinely desirous to know who this God is. They're the people who are growing because you see, not only do they want to know, they want to know so they can apply it and share it with someone else. It's in the sharing it becomes real. It's in the sharing my faith grows. It's in the sharing I become a discerner. It's in the sharing I become I become deepened in my spiritual life. It isn't just an instruction. It is instruction plus involvement in somebody's life that provides spiritual growth.

My friend, whether you're 16 or 66, grandmother, grandfather or single or student, it doesn't make any difference. That word applies. There are two kinds of heroes very careless, deceived, distracted, do nothing. Then there's the careful, intently listening, applying it to their own heart and taking the next step, which is so very important that is becoming involved in some body's life, some body's life. Listen, some body's life is going to be different because you've been there in their life. One of these, he says, is going to be greatly blessed of God.

Only one of them, not the one who simply hears instruction, but the one who hears and carries out what they've heard. Thank you for listening to formula for personal growth. If you would like to know more about Charles Stanley or in touch ministries, stop by in touch.org. This podcast is a presentation of in touch ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.