Laying A Solid Foundation For Growth - 1

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Laying A Solid Foundation For Growth - 1</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="21"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id251.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Laying A Solid Foundation For Growth 2"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>“Laying A Solid Foundation For Growth – 1,” Berean Bible Church, January 20, 2002am</B></div> <bR> <div> <I>     </I>“One of the most popular aquarium fish is the shark. If you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium you put it in. Sharks can be six inches long yet fully matured. But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they grow to their normal length of eight feet” (Charles Simpson). The size of the container determines the size of the fish. In the same way, the size of a foundation determines the size of a structure. </div> <div> <I>     </I>We need a solid foundation for our spiritual growth. On what do we build our Christian walk, so that we are growing into maturity? The foundation has to be appropriate to the structure. Consider some examples of wrong and inadequate foundations: “I have to try hard to be good to stay in the family of God.” “I have to impress God and others.” “Who cares whether I grow or not?”  “I can grow on my own, I don’t need anyone else.” “It doesn’t matter what I believe.” Instead, in1 Corinthians 1:1-31, Paul gives three essential elements of a proper foundation for growing in Christ. (1 Corinthians 2 will give the fourth element, God’s wisdom).</div> <div>      The church at Corinth had much growing up to do. Some of their problems included pride; disunity; confusion over spiritual gifts; immorality in the church; legalism; bad theology; lack of love; finally, they were being overly influenced by the cultural conditions of their society. Don’t these sound familiar to what American churches are facing? We have much growing up to do.</div> <bR> <div> <B>1. Reception of Grace – Grace is the starting point for growing in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.</B></div> <div>      Growth and development recognizes the difference between the reality and the ideal, and is moving toward the ideal (vs. 2, saints, holy; vs. 8, guiltless). Paul gives them encouragement about what God wants to do in them.</div> <bR> <div>           A mature, grown-up, yet attractive church is not legalistic, but gracious. Everybody realizes that nobody <I>deserves</I> to be in the family of God. We are only in the family of God because he graciously offered salvation through Jesus’ death in our place.</div> <bR> <div> <B>2. Commitment to Unity – Growing in Christ requires relationship with each other. 1 Corinthians 1:10-17.</B></div> <div>      Some current divisive issues include legalism and liberty, music styles, social elitism or class envy (rich and poor), control - authority. There may be personal issues, an offense between one believer and another.</div> <div>      Following Christ is also joining with other followers of Christ. If you want to grow in Christian life, get serious about relating to other believers – you need them and they need you. Take the next step beyond surface relationship.</div> <div>      Often unity is seen as a response to perfection on the part of others. When others conform to your wishes, <I>then</I> you will be unified. But the Bible calls us to be forbearing (put up with each other). We must be unified despite our imperfections. We must forgive others and they must forgive us. Pursue unity!</div> <bR> <div> <B>3. Practice of Humility – Humility is the appropriate response to grace, and humility is necessary for unity with one another. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.</B></div> <div> A. Vss. 18-25: Christians cannot boast about the message (by the world’s standards). In an entertainment culture, being entertained is the big thing, the message is secondary. The church may have had a scoring section, which would rate the sermon (6.9, 7.1, 5.6, etc.) – it didn’t matter what was said, just how it was said! It is not OK to sacrifice truth in order to impress people with entertaining speech. </div> <div> B. Vss. 26-31: Christians cannot boast in their call to Christ – it wasn’t earned. Don’t allow your faith or your progress to be a source of pride – in reality, it is cause for humility.</div> <bR> <div> <I>     </I>In the course of their conversation at a dinner party, Albert Einstein’s young neighbor asked the white-haired scientist, “What are you actually by profession?”  “I devote myself to the study of physics,” Einstein replied. The girl looked at him in astonishment. “You mean to say you study physics at your age?” she exclaimed. “I finished [my study of physics] a year ago.” (<I>Today in the Word</I>, September 25, 1992). You don’t ever finish your Christian learning. Be a lifelong learner, who builds on the right foundation.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2002, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>