Can You Teach Us to GROW? Philippians 2.1-4

“Can you teach us how to grow in our faith?”

Every once in a while a teacher is asked a question that makes her every fiber pop … this was just such a question.  Hmmm . . .  Similarly, I imagine Jesus smiled when the disciples asked him to teach them to pray.  ‘Now they get it … ah yes, now they get it.’ 

The question ‘can you teach us how to grow?’ was asked by one of the high school athletes I have just begun leading.  As I set to work on the answer, I asked the Lord for direction, for simplicity.  I prayed, and then I was still, and I listened.  Though the voice was not audible, it might as well have been, ‘Just give them Jesus…just give them Me.’   And so I did.  [Jesus – through the study of the Word; Jesus – through prayer]

That Sunday night, I had just 30 red New Testaments to spread among almost a hundred students as I asked them to find John chapter 15.  (Oh, how I loved watching them turn the pages… and yes, I think God himself smiled at the sight)   I set the scene for them—Jesus had just shared the Passover meal with his beloved disciples … they were in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, while crowds streamed by below.  This setting is often referred to as the Last Supper, because Jesus told them that night that he was about to leave them…this was the last meal they would share together before Jesus went to the Cross … after he had washed their dirty feet like a servant would usually do … he told them that one of them was about to betray him … he told them that where he was going they could not come—John 13.33.  He told them of Heaven, that he was going to prepare a place for them, and they should not be troubled.  He promised that when he left them, the Comforter would come … and then he said to them, “Come now; let us leave.”

And so he leads his best friends down, out of town, and into the vineyard, where he uses the grapevine to symbolize believers’ connection with God.  “I am the Vine, you are the branches…apart from Me, you can do nothing…” 

On that Sunday night, when we finished reading the few verses, I asked the students three questions: ‘what are these verses saying?’  Simply, true life comes from being connected to Jesus Christ.  ‘How does that apply to us?’  We must then seek to be connected to him.  ‘How?  Is there any action we should take?’  Get to know him through his Word, get to know him by communicating with him----pray.  ‘Start your day by connecting with the One who made you, the One who knows all about you, the One who loves you.’

And so, before I blow open the first few verses of Philippians chapter two, I invite you to take a look yourself, and ask these same questions:  1)  What are the verses saying?  What is Paul saying?  2)  How do they apply to me?  3)  What, if any, action should I take?

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  Philippians 2.1-4

Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. GO ON… give it a go…what is the passage saying … to you?  ‘Any action you should take?  Talk to your Father about it.  Grow.

Until the morrow~

Grace and Peace,

Christine 

PastorWoman.com

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