Life Stages
As you are all aware, we as a church have been going through a discipleship stages series, looking at each individual stage along the map of someone’s growth journey as a disciple of Jesus. We’ve covered the stages of child, infant, young adult and this week we will look at parent.
As of the week starting 5th May, we will going through a questionnaire in our growth groups that will help map each of us into these different discipleship stages to identify where we are currently on the journey.
The content we have been sharing has come from the book Real-Life Discipleship by Jim Putman. The categories from this book are very help in describing the different stages we should expect at church and how to help each other grow. The categories are also helpful in giving insight into where we each are individually in our walk with God and how to love each other at what ever stage we find ourselves in. The mapping tool is helpful, but it could also lead to discouragement. When you see your results, you may wish you had actually progressed further along. Finding out where you are could raise questions like “What do I have to do to progress” or “Why aren’t I growing more than I thought?”
While the mapping is a useful tool, let me encourage you not to lose sight of the amazing fact that you are even on the discipleship map at all. The map doesn’t start at “infant” - it actually starts at spiritual death. As Paul shares in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come!” For those who have put their faith in Jesus, you are a new creation with new life and the hope of eternity. The old self you once were or could have become, apart from Christ, is gone.
Over time, you will desire Jesus and his ways more and more. Over time, you will resemble your Savior in your thoughts, actions, and even your reputation. Wherever you track now, be encouraged that it is such an amazing gift of grace that you are on this map as a new creation at all!
Paul also encouraged the Philippians in Philippians 1:6, saying, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion”. So wherever you find yourself on the map currently, God has promised to complete His transformative work in you. You may not end up at the “spiritual parent” stage for whatever reason, but God will still perfect you in his new creation.
As Paul instructed the Ephesians in Ephesians 4:22-24, the life of a disciple is a constant “putting off” of the old self and “putting on” the new self. You can see this represented through each discipleship stage - an increasing putting off the old ways and putting on the new person you are in Christ. This is because whatever sinful habits or temptations you once struggled with simply don’t align with who you are now in Christ.
We will have a lifetime of wrestling with temptations, but this wrestle is actually a sign of our new life in Christ! If we were not spiritually alive, we wouldn’t struggle against those old patterns. The more you grow, the more your life will truly glorify God.
So be encouraged by Paul’s prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 - “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Amen.
By Rev. Matt Goodman