The Key to the Growth of a Believer

Thank God for permitting us to experience the work of the Holy Spirit last Sunday at our Gospel Service! More than 40 new friends attended, of which 8 converted to the Lord. Many others that day were likely also exhorted by the words of the Lord’s servant. May the love of the Heavenly Father come to those who submit to the Holy Spirit and patiently follow our good shepherd Jesus Christ!

Through this sharing, the writer hopes to encourage those friends who are new converts to continue pursuing at our church knowledge of this Lord Jesus Christ who saved and redeemed our souls. Those who believe in Christ (believers) should take note of the following items:

1. After receiving the grace of salvation, believers call each other “brothers and sisters” or “members” because we are all the children of God (Mark 3:35, 1 Thessalonians 1:4). We trust and depend on one saviour: Jesus Christ, know and turn to one true God through one Holy Spirit, form one body of Christ (the church) through one faith and the testimony of one baptism, and hold on to one hope in awaiting the return of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:4-6). We do not refer to ourselves as “church fellows” or “churchians”, since these epithets do not have biblical foundations.

2. Believers must grow through the consumption of spiritual milk. Those who have believed in Jesus Christ are those who have received the Son of God. They have been born from above (reborn), and through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, became the children of God (John 1:12, 3:5). The newly converted are like infants in their spiritual lives. They must consume milk to grow. Our spiritual lives will only grow when we read the Bible and receive the Word of God. The Word of God is called spiritual food. It has abundant life force in reserve (John 6:63). Infants rely daily on milk to grow. The spiritual lives of believers also rely on the Word of God to thrive. New converts do not fully understand the Word of God, because there are many complex and profound parts of the Bible that require the guidance and nurturing of the church’s pastors and others with deeper insight. New believers can join our “Faith-seekers’ and New Believers’ Class” on Sunday to learn the basic principles.

3. Believers must have the determination to turn away from sin, and no longer be slaves of transgressions and the sinful nature (Galatians 5:1, 13). In Old Testament times, God made a covenant with Abram, using the ritual of circumcision to signify his relationship with the chosen people of Israel. When Christ the Son of God came to earth, He used His own body and blood to establish an even more perfect covenant with us, called the New Covenant. Through the relationship of this covenant, we became true Israelites. Now, although we no longer have to perform circumcision of the flesh, we must still rely on the help of the Holy Spirit to rid our bodies of their corrupt behaviours, so that they are no longer controlled by transgressions and the sinful nature. We perform an internal circumcision through the Holy Spirit, excising sin. “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ.” (Colossians 2:11) Many people claim to believe in the Lord, but they do not have the determination to repent and turn away from transgressions. They still revel in the pleasures of sin. How can these people truly be considered as belonging to the Lord?

4. Believers are known as Christians (or People of Christ) because we have the seal of the Holy Spirit. Christians live in submission to the Holy Spirit. Christ means the Anointed One. At the moment we converted, repented our sins and believed in the Lord, God put the Holy Spirit into our hearts as a deposit, testifying that we belong to the Lord (2 Corinthians 1:22). The Holy Spirit is also a deposit guaranteeing our future inheritance from God (Ephesians 1:13-14). “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25) If believers neglect the touching of the Holy Spirit and make light of His guidance, they will lose their peace, and fall into iniquity and struggle.

The writer believes that the foregoing Biblical teachings are very important to both new converts and those who have been believers for many years, for these are requisite attitudes in the growth of the spiritual lives of the children of God.

By: Daniel To

Peace Evangelical Church of Richmond Vancouver

June 25, 2006