Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment. -John 7:24
Knowing how to reach where the other person hurts is of immense importance. If you set your heart and mind to discover a plan for accomplishing this, two large benefits will be yours.
- You will have permanent tools for helping others. You will know the spiritual trail along which you can lead a brother or sister.
- It will help you to locate that person — and to touch the basic need.
Remember, on occasion we all need assistance from others to regain perspective or to rid ourselves of some speck in the eye.
There Is a Pattern to Christian Growth
When I mention a definite plan for Christian growth, a question usually arises. “We are not to be carbon copies of one another, are we?” No, but there is some sense, some order, to normal spiritual progress. These levels, or steps, of inner development in our life with God are invaluable in checking and stimulating the lives of others. Notice the life-order in the following text:
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain-first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.” (Mark 4:26-28)
Studying this text leads one to see that wherever there is life, there is some plan, or pattern of growth-from seed to full ear. God is a God of order.
If you can with some degree of certainty sit beside a poor derelict on the park bench and, using the so-called ABC steps of evangelism, bring him from hell to heaven, then how much more certain it is that you can be helpful to one who is already a fellow Christian.
While it is true there is only one Savior, it is also true there is great variety in conversion experiences. If ABC steps are legitimate, amid all the variety in personal evangelism, it is fitting that we should discover and use God’s ordered steps for Christian growth as we help one another. Do you know them?
Generally, whatever you know yourself you should be able to share with another person. Years ago, I went through a long period of careful reflection over what had been transpiring in my own spiritual life. Slowly, I came to see that there had been a definite growth pattern.
I might add that it had been “while men slept,” for there had been few, if any, along life’s way who had inquired about my soul’s welfare. I then determined that I would not leave my own children or the believers about me to the same protracted struggles, if I could help it. To my great delight I soon discovered that some of the lessons that had required many years for me to grasp were learned quickly by others when they had a bit of personal direction.
Once I knew where to head, I found it much easier to have a marked effect on other lives, speaking with them from an open Bible.
What Are the ABC Lessons of Edification?
These lessons really indicate levels of spiritual growth. They also may be thought of as a prescribed route over which you would take a son, daughter, or Christian friend whom you would assist spiritually. Finally, this list may serve as an index for discovering where one is bogged down. That is, you can soon determine what lesson is next due.
Here are the lessons for individual development:
- A more serious view of sin
- Our identification with Christ
- The filling of the Holy Spirit
- My place in the local church
- The spiritual warfare
- A life of intercession
Now you will deduce that if a person has not gotten to level 1, but is one of those half-hearted, coasting Christians, there will be hardened indifference. Many of these individuals are very dutiful and active in religious works. There will not be, however, a true responsiveness to the Lord and his fellowship.
Let us go a step further. Suppose one has been brought into this first level of experience through a new working of the Holy Spirit but does not yet see and experience the second truth listed above. What will such a one be like? Will he not be discouraged and depressed?
The second growth lesson involves understanding not only how Christ died for me, but also that I died with him and rose with him. Can you explain the seeming contradiction between Colossians 3:3 and 3:5? How did we die with Christ? In what sense are we still having to put to death? When did verse 3 take place? How does verse 5 take place? Romans 6-8 is the basic passage here, along with other texts as 2 Corinthians 5: 14-21 and Galatians 5.
Suppose, however, even with these truths in the heart, one finds the spiritual life beginning to be a dry, hard pull. Chances are, he or she needs to know that our union with Christ is meant to bring us the benefits of the Holy Spirit’s fullness in our lives. Acts 2:32-33 should be studied and even diagrammed (see fig. 5, in chap. 8 in my book, People Helping People). Note the route the Holy Spirit takes to reach us. Our Representative is now in glory to share this supreme gift with us. Jesus’ great ministry in mediation not only rids us of sin but provides us with the blessed Spirit (see Galatians 3:14). The body has full rights to all that our exalted Head receives on our behalf.
Believers are all baptized by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13), but his filling is not automatic, and therefore we are commanded to exercise our will and avail ourselves of it (Ephesians 5:18). The filling of the Spirit is normal, but I say it is not automatic.
Next, if you discover one who is quite a “specialist” in, and proponent of, the “deeper” Christian life and yet is either somewhat frustrated or a bit too independent in attitude, I would then question whether such a one is a vital part of an assembly of believers. Often such persons have avoided this step in their spiritual pilgrimage.
All men and women need to know what their life-ministry is to be. Scripture teaches that each believer is to exercise the particular spiritual equipment God has given. This is more than natural talent (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12-14; Ephesians 4; 1 Peter 4: 10-11).
Now, a believer might have achieved all the foregoing levels of insights and development and still be erratic, compulsive, and perhaps depressed. Some apparently mature and experienced Christians are very flammable and difficult to predict. At times they seem driven. It could be that they have yielded certain areas to Satan’s control. Perhaps they have little knowledge of how to resist and war against the enemy. This condition is disastrous. Satan has many more designs on us than getting us to “come on and do this bad thing.” Study John 14:30, 2 Corinthians 2:11, and Ephesians 4:27. According to these texts, what is Satan really trying to gain?
Finally, one should develop a life of true intercessory prayer, the sooner the better. Probably the struggles in the earlier progress will spur one to deepen the prayer life. Happy the Christian with a friend who knows how to pray and how to put these spiritual secrets into words. Obviously this has to be done with discretion. But how refreshing and helpful it is to have someone put a hand on your shoulder and point you into a life of prayer.
Every believer desperately needs help from fellow believers in making these lessons a reality in his or her life. Each one of us must pass this way. The counselor himself or herself is no exception.
Taken from “People Helping People — How Every Christian Can Counsel”. To order, click here.