Keep the Fire Blazing

A good bonfire is meant to be seen from space. A fire that you can barely see is hardly worth having. The same is true for our spiritual lives. Paul wrote to Timothy and told him to “fan into flame” the gift that he had been given by God (2 Tim. 1:6). Some think this gift may have been Timothy’s ministry itself, a spiritual gifting, or simply the work of the Spirit in Timothy’s life helping him to serve God with a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline.

The phrase “fan into flame” can be translated as “keep constantly blazing” (Wuest). It does not necessarily mean that the fire had gone out or died down, but it points to the fact that Timothy had to work to keep the fire going all of the time. It is an ongoing task. Fires burn out and die unless there are maintained. 

This applies to our spiritual lives as well. What will happen to our flame if we do not attend to the fire? For a regenerated believer, God will never let the fire go out completely—but it may smolder.

Do you ever feel that your spiritual life is smoldering? Sometimes it doesn’t seem to be giving off any heat. Instead of being visible from space, there is hardly a trace of smoke. What do you do?

How does a person attend to a literal fire? 

There is more than one way that a fire can go out. A fire needs fuel. A fire needs oxygen. A fire needs heat. Take away any of those and the fire goes out. The same is true for our spiritual fire.

We need to keep fueling our faith with the Word of God. Our faith needs to feed off the fuel of God’s promises in Scripture. That is why Paul could have hope as he awaited execution in a Roman prison—because his faith was fueled by the “promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:1).  Keep fueling your faith with knowledge of God’s promises and character.  

We need dependence on the Holy Spirit as oxygen. Fuel needs oxygen to ignite. In the same way, the Holy Spirit causes His Words of Scripture to ignite in our hearts. Just as a fire needs both fuel and oxygen, the words of Scripture and the work of the Spirit always go together. Fires burn hot when they get the wind they need. If your spiritual life is smoldering, pray for God’s Spirit to blow on your embers.

We need to keep the fire stirred by Christian work, ministry and service. Maybe your spiritual life is cold because the embers need to be stirred up. Maybe you are dormant because of a lack of activity. Get involved with something. Volunteer. Serve. Speak. Do something and see if it gets the flames going. 

And just as coals burn hotter when close together we need Christian fellowship to keep our fire hot. When coals are spread apart, they get cold. (Heb. 10:24-25)

Don’t douse your fire with buckets of sin. Wet wood doesn’t burn.

I don’t want to get allegorical, but these are some of the things that the Bible calls us to do regardless. The key point is that we need to attend to our spiritual lives constantly. When we don’t keep watch, or when we don’t put forth any effort, the fire will not blaze as it once did.

Don't Be a Baby: Marks of Spiritual Maturing

Jesus taught that we must be born again. We start our Christian lives as spiritual babies but we shouldn’t stay there. But unlike physical growth, spiritual growth does not happen automatically. Too many Christians grow up to be “adult babies.” Paul complained about this with the Christians at Corinth. He wrote, “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready” (1 Cor. 3:1-2; see also Hebrews 5:11-14).

It may not be possible to pinpoint your spiritual age, but I think that there are markers that we can look for. Just as we see certain things happen in the physical growth of a baby, we can also look for certain markers as a baby Christian grows toward maturity. Here are a few:

•      Learn to feed yourself.

Babies need milk to grow, but eventually they need to move on to solid food. A Hebrews 5:14 states, “solid food is for the mature.” But another mark of spiritual growth is being able to feed yourself rather than being spoon fed.  

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” -1 Peter 2:2

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” –2 Timothy 2:15

•      Stop messing yourself.

We expect that babies are going to mess their diapers. In time, however, that should stop. In the same way, new Christians need to stop messing their lives as they did before they knew Christ. None of us reach perfection in this life, but we need to start trying to keep clean.

“For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” -1 Peter 4:3

•      Stop crying when you don’t get your way.

How do you react when things don’t go your own way? Do you pinch a fit or do you see yourself growing in peace, patience, gentleness and self-control?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” –Galatians 5:22-23

•      Stop hitting.

Paul taught that the fighting among the Corinthians Christians was a mark of their immaturity. If we hit—with our fists, our words, or our actions—we are acting like bratty children.  

“infants in Christ . . . for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” -1 Cor. 3:1,3

•      Learn to walk.

The Bible often uses walking as a metaphor for the Christian life. After we become Christians, we need to start living the way that Christians ought to live.

“…walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” –Colossians 1:10

•      Lean to speak.

We need to learn to open our mouths to talk about Jesus Christ and our relationship to him. We need to learn to use our words for good. We need to learn to verbalize our faith and have the confidence to speak and pray in front of others.  

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” –Ephesians 4:29

•      Learn right from wrong.

Children need to be taught what is right and what is wrong. Christians need to learn what God says is right and wrong. If we don’t do this, we will listen to the world and keep believing that evil is good and good is evil.

“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” –Hebrews 5:14

•      Learn to get dressed.

There are two parts to this: Getting undressed and getting dressed. Christians are called to “take off” the practices of the old self and to “put on” the practices of the new self.

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator . . . Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” –Colossians 3:9-10,12

•      Take responsibility for yourself.

As kids get older they need to learn responsibility so that one day they can live without Mom packing their lunch every day and reminding them to do their homework. As Christians grow, they need to take responsibility for their own Christian lives. If someone still has to “make” you go to church and read the Bible and to serve, it isn’t looking good for your spiritual maturity!

“ for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” –Ephesians 5:8-10

•      Take responsibility for others.

Not every person is mature enough to babysit or to be a good parent. A sign of even more maturity is that a person not only takes care of his or her own self, but now also takes care of other people. God wants us to move beyond our own needs so that we can help other people to grow toward spiritual maturity.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus”   

–Philippians 2:3-5

•      Be able to reproduce!

Part of physical maturity is being able to reproduce. The same is true spiritually. A mature Christian should be able and willing to explain the message of salvation to another person. God wants to use you to help make new baby Christians!

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations . . .” –Matthew 28:19

•      Learn to make wise decisions.

Eventually kids leave the house. They need to be able to make good decisions on their own. (Although sometimes wisdom means knowing when to ask for advice!) Growing in wisdom means being able apply the right Biblical principles to your situation in life. It means planning long-term for the best goals. It means seeing the difference—not only between right and wrong, but between good, better, and best.  

“ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” –Ephesians 5:15-17

This is a very incomplete list, but these are some of the marks that show that a person is growing toward Christian maturity. 

A God-Centered Discipleship Reading List

These are some of the very best books that I recommend for Christian growth. These books also correspond to areas in the God-Centered Philosophy of Discipleship I developed. Together they form a discipleship curriculum that I commend to believers as a reading plan. 

I have used many boxes of these books for discipleship over the last few years. None of these books are difficult to read. I have used them both with adults and high school students. You could read them in order, or you might want to start with Transforming Grace or Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible.

Glorfy God
The Holiness of God, by R.C. Sproul
Outside of the Bible, this is one of the top three Christians books I have ever read. You will not see God the same way after reading this book. If you get the message of this book you will realize that everything is God-centered. 

Treasuring Christ
When I Don't Desire God, by John Piper
This is one of John Piper's best books for describing how God is glorified when we delight in Him as our highest treasure. This is also an incredibly practical book that helps us to learn how this is if hindered or helped.

Prophet (Teacher)
Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible, by Erwin Lutzer
Treasuring Christ as Prophet means hearing the voice of Scripture as the voice of God. This is a very readable book that will help you have confidence in the Bible as God's own Word. 

Priest (Savior)
Transforming Grace, by Jerry Bridges
This book does an excellent job of clearly explaining that salvation is by grace alone and that the Christian life is based on grace as well. 

King (Lord)
The Joy of Fearing God, by Jerry Bridges
Along with Sproul's The Holiness of God, this is the best book I know of for helping believers stand in awe of God's majesty. This books is deep, and warm, and will cause you to bow the knee to God with reverence and joy. 

Change in Thinking and Actions
How People Change, by Timothy S. Lane & Paul David Tripp
As Christians, we need to learn to be students of the human heart. This book does a very good job of showing how real heart-change takes place. 

The Bible itself is the only book that is essential to read, but excellent non-inspired books can still be a major benefit to your Christian growth. There six books are great ones to start with for a solid, God-centered foundation.

Related: A God-Centered Philosophy of Discipleship

A God-Centered Philosophy of Discipleship

What are we trying to do in people’s lives? It is easy to talk about discipleship without having a clear idea what it is or why we do it.

Several years ago I developed this tool to train ministry teams. My goal was to help us think about the heart of discipleship in a way that is biblical and God-centered. There are hundreds of things that could be said about discipleship but my intent was to create something simple and memorable.

Our ultimate goal is to Glorify God by helping people to Treasure Christ as their Prophet, Priest, and King resulting in a continuous and life-long Change of their Thinking and Actions.

Glorify God 

First and foremost, the ultimate goal of discipleship is to glorify God. This is because the ultimate goal for everything is to glorify God. It is the reason God created us. It is the reason we exist. As Romans 11:26 states, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.”

This is non-negotiable. It is crucial to have a God-centered view of discipleship rather than a man-centered view. We are not the center of the story. Although many great blessings often come as the result of growing in Christ, God is not a tool that we use to get something else that we really want. He is the focus. He deserves it. His glory is worth it.

So, what exactly does it mean to glorify God? The next part of this model is meant to help us grasp what this means by saying the same thing with different words.

Treasuring Christ 

But how do we glorify God? Do we do this by building a giant golden statue of Jesus or getting God the most “likes” on a social media site? No. The real way that human beings glorify God is by treasuring Him in their hearts. Whatever our hearts delight in the most is the thing that has the most worth to us. The more our hearts value God’s worth, the more God is glorified in us. As John Piper puts it, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Real discipleship aims at the heart. Real Christian growth is about what we love.

Christ is the focus of our worship, but what do we treasure Christ as? Is it okay to treasure Christ as our magic genie, or perhaps as the ideal humanist role model? As I thought about this, I recalled the three Old Testament offices that Christ fulfilled: Prophet, Priest, and King. I realized that Christian growth will always be deformed unless we treasure Christ in all three of these roles.

Prophet 

The prophet was the mouthpiece of God. The main function of the prophet was not to predict the future. The most important thing about the prophet was that God spoke His message through him. In Deuteronomy 18:18 God tells Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise. In Hebrews 1:1-3 we read that in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son…the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. In John 1:1 Jesus is even called the Word of God.

To treasure Jesus as Prophet means to treasure Him as the one who teaches us what is true. We want to believe what Jesus believed and taught. This especially means that we believe the Bible as God’s Word. Jesus taught that the whole Old Testament was the Word of God (Jn. 10:35) and He told his disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them in all truth (Jn. 14:26). Jesus confirmed the Old Testament and commissioned the New Testament. As followers of Jesus we need to adjust our beliefs to everything God teaches through the Bible.

Let me be clear, we need to believe everything the Bible teaches, not just the “red letters” of Jesus. Printing Jesus’ words in red letters is a modern invention. “All Scripture”—black and red—“is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Priest

In the Old Testament the priests were the ones who made sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. The book of Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus is the final and permanent fulfillment of the office of priest. For example, Hebrews 4:14 states, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” Not only does Jesus present the sacrifice for us, Jesus gave himself as the sacrifice for our sins (Heb. 7:27). He took the wrath that we deserve when He went to the cross in our place.  

Treasuring Jesus as our Priest means treasuring Him as Savior. You are not a true Christian if you do not treasure Jesus Christ as the one who sacrificed Himself to pay the price for your sin and to make you right with God. As Christians, we never outgrow our need for God’s grace. We need to grow in our appreciation for it every day. We also need to realize that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:15-16).

King

In the Old Testament, the king was the one who rules with authority. In the New Testament, Peter declared, “let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah” (Acts 2:36). Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16).

To treasure Jesus as King means to treasure Him as Lord or Master. He is the one who deserves our obedience. He is the one with authority over our lives. He is the one who we must gladly bow the knee to. Jesus is the King and we need to recognize that fact and live like it—all the time. We need to stop living like we are on the throne.  

The problem is that the sinful human heart hates the fact that Jesus is King. That is why some churches neglect Jesus as King. It’s a big turn-off to rebels. It is much easier to fill a church talking about Jesus as a great humanitarian role model than as the Lord to whom we must bow the knee. We need to focus on Jesus as Prophet and Priest and King. If we neglect any of these three roles, discipleship will be unbalanced. 

Change, Thinking, Actions

When a person genuinely treasures Christ as their Prophet, Priest, and King there will be change in their life. Change may be dramatic, but usually it is a gradual process. It will be from the inside out—the way it is supposed to be. Lasting change is change that starts in the heart and flows outward to the rest of life. Romans 12:2 calls us to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The result that God is aiming for is to conform the believer into the image of Jesus Christ (Rm. 8:29). As we treasure Christ as our teacher, Savior, and Master we will grow to become more and more like Him in every way possible.

Please notice that life change is at the end of the process, not the beginning. This is important because, on the contrary, too often it is the main thing that people are after. For example, imagine some parents whose main desire is for their kids to stay off drugs and keep from getting pregnant. These are good things to desire, but it would be a shallow victory if their kids avoided scandalous sins but didn’t have hearts that cared about Jesus.

If you just change the outside, the change is fake and temporary. If you change the inside, the outside will follow. Don’t make the mistake of trying to change behavior without changing hearts. The true goal is not behavior modification, but heart change for the glory of God.

~

There you have it. My guess is that you could now take out a piece of paper and draw this diagram yourself. There is much more that could be said about discipleship, but I hope that this model will help you to think about Christian growth in a way that is (1) God-centered, (2) Heart-targeted, and (3) Biblically-balanced.

Related: A God-Centered Discipleship Reading List

Superman v. Superman

The fight scenes in the new Superman movie could have used more creativity. There were basically only two fight moves: (a) ramming the other guy into a building, and (b) throwing the other guy into a building. Don’t get me wrong, the effects in Man of Steel were spectacular, but the older Superman movies had an epic quality that is hard to top. Remember in Superman 2 when Zod makes Superman kneel down to him and take his hand, then Superman crushes it? Brilliant.

Superman 3 was my favorite, but that was because I was 8. I thought the movie was hilarious, but again, that was because I was 8. Thirty years later… not so much. However, even today there is one part of that movie that remains truly epic. More than that, this scene moves me as a Christian. I am not kidding.

What happens is that Superman gets exposed to some synthetic kryptonite, but because the formula is wrong it doesn’t kill him. Instead, it makes Superman turn evil. He turns into a jerk who punches holes in oil tankers, messes up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, gets drunk and hits on sleazy women. Finally, evil Superman lands in a junkyard. He goes through an internal crisis and splits into two halves.

Now, there is Clark Kent, in a suit and tie, who represents his good side and there is five-o’clock-shadow Superman who embodies his evil side. The epic fight begins. Superman fights himself. At first, evil Superman pummels Clark Kent who barely puts up a fight. Finally, Clark Kent starts fighting back, but evil Superman fights dirty. The fight drags on and eventually evil Superman puts unconscious Clark Kent into a metal crusher. We hear him scream, but then he rips through the side of the machine in a rage, grabs evil Superman by the throat and chokes the living daylights out of him until he is dead.

This is what the Christian life is like. There is a battle inside every believer between good and evil. The Bible refers to these two sides as the Spirit and the flesh. For example, Galatians 5:17 states:

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

These two sides are sometimes spoken of as the “old man” and the “new man” (Eph. 4:22-24). In Romans 7:13-25 the Apostle Paul describes this battle in his own heart. You see, when a sinner trusts Christ as his Savior, he becomes something new. God’s Spirit comes inside him and starts to change him from the inside out. The new man is our new true identity, but there is always the old sinful part of us that remains and tries to stay in control. The old man fights dirty. This is a grueling fight that will rage on and on until our dying day.

The problem is that we often don’t put up the fight that we should. We play defense and let the old self take cheap shot after cheap shot. We don’t get aggressive in our fight against sin. We need to remember that the Bible actually calls us to murder the old man. For example, Romans 8:13 and Colossians 3:5 tell us to “put to death” or “mortify” (KJV) the old sinful self. These are violent images.

That’s why I like Superman 3. It is a picture of what I feel going on in my heart. It is a fight. This movie reminds us that there comes a time to stop being kicked around by the old man. There comes a time to get angry, and with God’s help and power, to use all our strength to strangle the daylights out of the old man. 

Adult Baby

You might hate me for this, but here is a disturbing image that should be burned into your mind. Stanley Thorton is a thirty-year old man who was featured on National Geographic's program Taboo. Thorton lives his life as an adult baby. He is bottle-fed, sucks on a pacifier and uses baby talk. He also sleeps in a giant crib, plays with baby toys in a playpen and, yes, wears a diaper.

You can watch the video clip below to see more about this guy. Fair warning: it may be painful to your stomach to see this. Please believe me that I'm showing this to you for a purpose. I'm trying to make a point.

I want people to look at this because I want you to be disturbed. An adult living like this is simply not right. That's why I want this image to be forever burned into your memory.

Now, I want you to imagine that you are given special pair of glasses that allows you to look around and see what people look like spiritually. What would most people look like? What would most people in your church look like? What would you see in a mirror?

If we had these glasses, I'm afraid we would see that America is crawling with adult babies.

There is an appropriate time for someone to be baby Christians. We don't expect babies to be mature right when they are born. Babies need appropriate care. Babies need milk. And, babies make...messes. We shouldn't expect Christians to be spiritually mature the moment they are born again. Also, none of us will ever reach perfection in this life, but we should grow up. It's normal to be a baby for a while, but after a long time, it's disturbing. 

Getting older happens automatically. Becoming spiritually mature does not. 

Paul chided the Corinthians Christians for still being "mere infants" in Christ. He lamented that he still had to give them spiritual milk instead of solid food because they weren't ready for it (1 Cor. 3:1-3). The author to the Hebrews made a similar statement. He wrote: 

"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." -Hebrews 5:11-14

In contrast, Paul wrote that the goal for Christians is to become "mature" and to "no longer be infants" (Eph 4;11-14). So, how are you growing? If you are a young person, what are you doing now so that you won't end up being an adult baby? If you're already a biological adult, what do you look like spiritually? Are you where you think you should be? If not, remember, it's better to have a late start than to stay in the playpen forever.

Let these images haunt you. Please be terrified of being a spiritual adult baby.

Related: 

All Ministry is Adult Ministry

A God-Centered Philosophy of Discipleship