THE STAGES OF CHRISTIAN GROWTH
“I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His [Jesus’] name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” (1 John 2:12-14).
The
story of Joseph in the Old Testament has come up a lot in our fellowship
meetings recently. We have talked about
many aspects of his life, including what a perfect example he was of faith,
patience, and integrity. I see also in
Joseph’s story a pattern that we can follow in order to come into spiritual
maturity in Christ. In considering the
various phases of Joseph’s development, I am grieved that the Church has come
so little way on the path to maturity.
In
the first letter of the Apostle John, we read about three main stages of
Christian growth and some things that define each stage. These can help us to identify the levels of
Joseph’s spiritual growth as we track the events of his life. We can break it down like this:
CHILDREN (very young Christians)
These
have come to an understanding that their sins have been forgiven for Jesus’
sake. Because Jesus has taken their sins
upon Himself, and has suffered and paid the penalty for those sins, they are
now free of any guilt associated with those sins. They have also come to know God the Father
through Jesus the Son. They have come
into the knowledge that by seeing the character of the Son they are able to
perceive the character of the Father.
Theirs is the confidence of those who place their trust in a loving heavenly
Father. Jesus said, “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall
in no wise enter therein.” This is
our entry level in our walk with God.
YOUNG MEN
These
have learned to fight the good fight of faith.
They understand that they are engaged in spiritual warfare and have
learned to overcome the wicked one when he comes to tempt and trouble
them. They can do this because they have
become strong in the Lord, learning to trust in His strength rather than their
own willpower. Their strength comes from
the fact that the Word of God abides (lives) within them. Theirs is the power of those who have
believed in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in God’s Word, and have
found it to be “mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds.” They
are “…strong in the Lord, and in the
power of His might.” (Ephesians 6:10).
FATHERS
These
are they who have known Him that is from the beginning. They have come to see the Savior “in the volume of the Book.” From
Genesis to Revelation they recognize the One Who is the Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him
was not anything made that was made. In
Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-4). Through the crucible of suffering and the
anvil of adversity these have developed the wisdom of fathers and the vigilance
of shepherds. Their lives are focused
less inwardly on their own trials and shortcomings and more outwardly to needs
of those around them. They know what it
means to lay down their lives and to follow the Lord.
With
John’s words as a foundation we can now look at Joseph’s life through a fresh
lens. We can understand how his life was
a progression of events meant to forge the image of God into his
character. God’s purpose for Joseph was
ultimately the preservation of souls. Without
him being the appointed man, in the appointed place, at the appointed time,
much of the inhabitants of the world would have starved to death. He couldn’t have been in a position to make
such a difference in the world without accepting the sufferings that were his
lot, and being transformed by them. The
same is true of you and me. Even Jesus
learned obedience through the things that He suffered. Suffering will either make us bitter, or it
will make us better. The choice is
ours. If we choose to go with God, we
can find comfort in the words of Isaiah who said, “But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that
formed thee, O Israel [we are the Israel of God], Fear not: for I have
redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine. When
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt
not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of
Israel, thy Saviour…” (Isaiah 43:1-3).
STAGE I
The
first stage of Joseph’s spiritual journey, which we will call his “Childhood Stage,” begins in Canaan where he lived with his father Jacob, his eleven
brothers, and at least one sister. Jacob
had children with two wives and two concubines, but the one woman that he loved
above the others was Rachel. She was
Joseph’s mother, and died giving birth to his younger brother, Benjamin. Jacob loved the two boys that he had with
Rachel and favored them openly above his other children. There would have been no doubt in Joseph’s mind
that his father loved him dearly. As
evidence of this, Jacob made his son a beautiful multi-colored coat and gave it
to him as a gift. He did not make such a
coat for any of his other children, and this caused resentment and jealousy in
Joseph’s siblings.
The
confidence that Joseph had in his father’s love may have made him somewhat
naïve about his brothers’ intentions. He
was only 17 years old at the time. When
they had an opportunity, they would have killed the lad. Instead, they sold him to slave traders and
then lied to their father about the fate of the boy. Jacob was, of course, grief-stricken.
Joseph’s
early years typify some things that should be true of young Christians as they
begin their walk with God. First, they
should come to the place where they are confident and secure in their heavenly
Father’s love. “For God so loved the world…” God does not wish to condemn us, but only
wishes to save us. He invites us to come
boldly before His throne of grace so that we can obtain mercy and find grace to
help us in our weaknesses. He has
promised us that He will never leave us or forsake us.
Secondly,
God knows how to give good gifts to His children. Like Joseph’s beautiful coat, God bestows
upon us diverse and beautiful gifts through the operation of His Holy
Spirit. These gifts are most often given
to us when we are yet young in the Lord – even before we know how to properly
use them, or the power that is in them.
Thirdly,
God gives us a dream. It may not be a
literal dream like Joseph had, but He will give us a glimpse into what He has
in store for us if we follow Him. Such
an insight is not really for anyone else.
It is just for us. Others will
not understand and only become resentful.
At this point we don’t realize the years of struggle and refining that
it is going to take to mold us into the people who can humbly fulfill such
dreams and bring all the glory to God alone.
Not even Joseph’s parents and family could understand his dreams, but
Jacob was wise enough to reprove his son and yet ponder in his heart the things
that the dreams foretold.
Like
a young prince born to a royal household, we are born again into the household
of God. We have all the power and
privilege of that household, but we don’t understand how to use it or what it
all means for us in the future. We are
fully sons and daughters of God, but we are not fully mature. “Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when He [Jesus] shall
appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John
3:2).
STAGE II
The
next stage of Joseph’s development we will call his “Young Man Stage.” This
period includes the persecution and ultimate betrayal that he suffered at the
hands of his brothers, his years in slavery, his fleshly temptation, and his
long imprisonment. According to John’s
three stages, this would be Joseph’s warfare stage. It is during this period that Joseph became
strong and learned to overcome the wicked one.
He learned to trust in the Word that God spoke to his soul, and in the
dreams that God had given him.
For
most, this stage of growth is the most difficult. We don’t learn to overcome the enemy of our
soul overnight. As we seek to know God’s
Word and apply it to our life, letting it abide in us, we gain more and more
power over the enemy. Faith is the
victory that overcomes all things. When
we come to the understanding that the battles are not ours, but God’s, and that
Christ has already overcome everything that we will ever have to face in His
flesh, we will begin to claim that victory as our own and walk in it.
Spiritual
warfare is not like physical warfare, the tactics are completely
different. We are fighting spiritual
principalities and powers that seek to intimidate us, discourage us, and
destroy us in any way they can.
Persecution and temptation are the normal lot of the Christian who seeks
to live a godly life. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12). If
we are not living a godly life, Satan will leave us alone for the most part
because we are not a threat to his kingdom.
He already has us where he wants us.
Unfortunately, the best place for a sinner to hide is often in a
church! Trials and temptations are the
hammer and anvil with which God’s children are bent and shaped to His
will. This is an important part of our
development, and God gives us the ability to persevere and come out
stronger. “…we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God.” (Acts
14:22). This is where we learn to
overcome!
Persecution
teaches us to love our enemies. Working
for others teaches us to be faithful servants. Fleshly temptation teaches us to overcome our
carnal nature. Imprisonment teaches us
that our life is not our own. All of
these things teach us to die to self. We
may not all experience the exact same things as Joseph did in his life; but, if
we continue to follow the Lord, we will experience things that will try us in
all of these areas.
Through
all of these trials, Joseph proved himself faithful to God. He learned firsthand that tribulation works
patience, patience works experience, experience, in turn, works hope, and hope
never leaves us disappointed because God’s love fills our hearts through His
Holy Spirit. It is during this stage of
our Christian growth that we begin to get a real vision of God’s ultimate purpose
for us.
STAGE III
The
final stage of Joseph’s maturity we will call the “Father Stage.” During this
period, Joseph’s gift was becoming finely tuned, and the dreams that he had
while still in Canaan were beginning to be fulfilled. He was still in prison, but the Lord was
using him to interpret the dreams of some of his fellow prisoners. This eventually led to Joseph being set free
from prison and brought before the King of Egypt. There, Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams
which led to his being named second to Pharaoh in the kingdom and given a great
deal of responsibility. John characterizes
those who have achieved this stage of maturity as those who have “known Him that is from the
beginning.” When we can look at the trajectory of our life and begin to
recognize God’s hand in all of it, bringing us to His final purpose, we can then
say that we have entered this stage of our growth. What’s more, when we can be thankful for our difficulties
because of how God has transformed us through them, we will have learned the
valuable lessons that God has been teaching us.
It’s more than that, however - it’s beginning to see God’s overall
purpose for humanity throughout scripture, from Genesis
to Revelation. The more that God opens
our understanding of His Word, the more we will be able to follow the scarlet
thread of redemption that runs all through the Bible.
This
“Father stage” also implies a greater
measure of responsibility. Joseph had
now become a “father” to the
Egyptians in the sense that he was now responsible for their survival. He was now their provider and the one
protecting them from starvation in the future.
In the same way, Joseph had become a “father”
to his family back in Canaan as well as to the whole known world at that
time. They all ended up coming to Egypt
for grain to preserve their lives. It is
in this stage of Christian development that we begin to see how God has honed
our gifts and ministries through adversity so that we can then minister the
life of Jesus to others.
The
picture that scripture paints of Joseph during this period is a far different
picture than we saw when he was 17 and still in Canaan. He was no longer a child in understanding,
but had become a man. His words to his
brothers in Genesis 45 and 50 are some of the most powerful in the Bible. Instead of exhibiting anger and retribution
toward them, he comforted their fears and ministered to their doubts. His words were mature, wise, and gracious
toward those who had intended him such hurt.
He said, “Now therefore be not
grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me
before you to preserve life…And God sent me before you to preserve you a
posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it
was not you that sent me hither, but God: and He hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of
Egypt.” (Genesis 45:5, 6-8). “But as for you, ye thought evil against me;
but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much
people alive.” (Genesis 50:20).
Joseph had become a type and shadow of Jesus the Savior Who gave His life to preserve the life of the
world. This is God’s goal for each of
us. This is what discipleship is all
about.
The
Apostle Paul spoke about this in his letter to the Corinthian Church. He wrote, “We
are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in
despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of
Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we which live are alway
delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our mortal flesh. So
then death worketh in us, but life in you…For which cause we faint not; but
though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For
our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which
are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen
are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-12, 16-18).
In
the end, Joseph was a man full of the peace, love, wisdom and joy of the
Lord. Rebellion never produces peace or
joy. It only works separation from God
our Father. Had Joseph rebelled against
God’s correction at any point he would not have been able to manifest the love
of God toward those he was sent to save.
When we yield our lives to the Father’s will and submit to His training
and discipline, then we find a peace that passes understanding and a life that
is meaningful and filled with purpose.
At any time we can choose to do things our own way and miss God
altogether. King Saul in the Old
Testament is one who took that route. He
was given strict instructions from God through the Prophet Samuel. Rather than obey those instructions, however,
he chose to do things as he thought best.
He was rejected from being King of Israel as a result, and the young man
David was anointed in his place.
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