Sermon for MHBC (22 August 2021). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays. Also available as a podcast here or by searching “Monument Heights Baptist Church” in your favorite podcast app.
This morning I’m going to do something I don’t do often. I’m going to preach a topical sermon. The purpose of this is to explain the rationale of our formation changes beginning this Fall.
Before we get too far, let me define formation. Formation concerns how we are shaped and changed. Paul talks about formation when he writes to the churches in Rome: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:2).
The idea of Christian formation is that we are progressively shaped and formed in every area of our lives to be more like Christ. This comes through knowledge, habits, and practices all under the power of the Holy Spirit. Notice what else Paul says. He warns us. Do not be conformed to the world. Make no mistake about it—we are always being formed and shaped. The question is what mold we are being formed into, what values we are adopting, what loves capture our affections, what practices and habits are becoming natural to us, and what occupies our mind.
The late Christian psychologist Larry Crabb began his book, Finding God, with the following two paragraphs:
George MacDonald once began a sermon by saying, ‘If I cannot persuade you to understand a little more of Jesus Christ, my labor is lost in coming to you. If I cannot help any human heart to draw closer to the living one, my labor is lost.’
He went on to ask, ‘Did the fact ever cross your mind that you are here in this world just to understand the Lord Jesus Christ, and for no other reason?[1]
Christians are a people who look to the future reign of Christ. And it’s the anticipation of that reign that changes every aspect of our life here and now. That’s what Peter is writing about in what could be a theme verse for our formation process. He talks about being diligent to be holy when Christ returns and he warns about being carried away by error. Then he writes to close the letter in 2 Pet 3:18: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
This could easily be a vision and mission statement for a congregation. Let’s look closely at it. First, there’s a command to grow. The opposite of growth is stagnation or death. What happens to a plant that fails to grow? It dies. So the Christian life is one of progressive growth. What sort of growth are we talking about?
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and knowledge. These are the two areas Peter identifies.
Grow in grace. It’s an odd phrase, but I find J. C. Ryle to be immensely practical on this point. He writes, “When I speak of growth in grace I only mean increase in the degree, size, strength, vigour and power of the graces which the Holy Spirit plants in a believer’s heart.” He goes on, “When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this—that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual-mindedness more marked. He feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart. He manifests more of it in his life.”[2] So growth in grace is the distinctive domain of Christian progress as we are formed by the power of the Holy Spirit increasingly into the image of Christ.
Peter also includes growth in knowledge. Formation is not merely intellectual, but it cannot be less than that.
Matthew Henry summarized the knowledge this way, writing: “Follow on to know the Lord. Labour to know him more clearly and more fully, to know more of Christ and to him to better purpose, so as to be more like him and to love him better.”[3]
What we love, we know. It is an intimacy and a fascination. But it is not just mere knowledge. It is knowledge that leads to praise and worship and growth and change. Jesus himself says, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” Knowledge should increase our obedience. This is growth in grace.
This verse captures the idea of formation. We want to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Commentator Michael Green writes, “Knowledge of Christ and knowledge about Christ are, if they keep pace with one another, both the safeguard against heresy and apostasy and also the means of growth in grace. For the more we know Christ, the more we will invoke his grace.”[4]
As we will see, pitfalls abound and to be a faithful church it is necessary to follow this biblical injunction.
With that intro, I want to give you four reasons why these formation changes are necessary. I know there is some fear and anxiety about these things. A small few are, unfortunately, taking advantage of this fear to stoke division within the church. The last we want is a culture of suspicion. So, this morning, I want to give you the “why” of the formation process. You’ve heard about the “what” and the “how” and we’ll discuss that more this afternoon, but this morning, I want to talk about “why.”[5] Comically, you might phrase it as a question: Why am I trying to do this to you? We are doing this because I believe there is a lot at stake as both Peter and Paul have warned and I believe there is tremendous good and joy in this process.
1. Formation is a pastoral obligation.
Whatever modern conceptions of the pastoral office the church has adopted must be set aside. Scripture places much weight on the obligations of pastors. Paul writes to the young Titus: But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine (2:1). To Timothy, he provides a fuller explanation:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
In so many ways, it would be easier to avoid sound doctrine, to perhaps pull a few cute stories off the internet, to share a thought or two on some small portion of Scripture, to collect a paycheck, to leave idolatry unchallenged, and to clock out. To be completely honest, there are days I wish I could do that. I wish I could avoid the conflict and the criticism. I wish I could be loved by everyone.
But under God, I have been called to shepherd his church. I have been called to feed the sheep. I have been called to labor in the Word. I have been called to provide protection even when nobody else sees the dangers. I would be failing my God and you if I did any less.
There are days when I wish I could just go work at Starbucks. Being criticized for the way I made a latte seems easier to endure than the biting and painful and personal criticisms pastors face. But I made a commitment before God to you (signed as a covenant), and I intend to keep that commitment to the best of my ability. To quote that great theologian Tom Petty, “I won’t back down.”
2. Formation is for the good of the church.
Paul continually prays that the church would grow in knowledge and holiness. Just one example should do from Col 1:9–10:
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to 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.
I want you to know that I pray this prayer for the church at large and for all of our active membership individually.
Paul gives a lengthier explanation in Ephesians 4, where he talks about Christ winning the gifts that benefit the church. Beginning in Eph 4:11, Paul writes:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
For Paul, the pastoral obligation is to equip the saints, to build up the body, so that it matures and is not tossed about by false doctrines. Formation aims for growth. And growth is for the good of the church. It protects the church and fosters the growth of the church.
One of the ways this has historically been done is through catechesis—that is using a catechism. Now, some here this word and they immediately think of some Roman Catholic practice. But the word catechesis simply comes from a Greek word found in the NT that means instruction or training. We see it in Luke 1:4 for example: [Luke writes so] that [his readers] may have certainty concerning the things [they] have been taught.
A catechism is simply a teaching tool in question and answer format and it is hardly exclusive to Roman Catholicism. The fact that we as modern Baptists are so unfamiliar with its sadly illustrates our detachment from our historic roots. Baptists began writing catechisms from their earliest days. On one website, you can find 18 different historic Baptist catechisms reaching back to 1652. The American Baptist Publication Society and the Sunday School Board (which we now know as Lifeway) commissioned John Broadus, the second president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, to write a catechism for Southern Baptists.
The most famous Baptist of all, Charles Spurgeon, wrote a catechism in 1855 for his own congregation. He stated:
I am persuaded that the use of a good Catechism in all our families will be a great safeguard against the increasing errors of the times, and therefore I have compiled this little manual from the Westminster Assembly’s and Baptist Catechisms, for the use of my own church and congregation. Those who use it in their families or classes must labour to explain the sense; but the words should be carefully learned by heart, for they will be understood better as years pass.
My family has been catechizing our children for years. Let me tell you how that works in practice. Several times a week at the end of dinner, we learn and review questions and answers. Let me tell you the fruit we’ve seen.
About two weeks ago, I was reading in my home study while Ansley and Leland were listening to an audiobook in the living room. This audiobook was about Thor the superhero. It made a reference to the gods, and I heard Leland shout the answer to question six of our family catechism: “No, there is only one true God.”
Instruction and training in doctrine prepares the church for the culture.
3. Formation is for your joy.
Do you know how Jesus defines eternal life? John 17:3: And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Again, knowing is not merely intellectual knowledge, but it is not less than that either. Knowing includes intellectual knowledge, but it also has this idea of communion and intimacy. A few verses later, as Jesus is praying for his disciples, he says: But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves (17:13).
Do you see the connection? Knowing God is eternal life. Knowing God is our joy. Earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus says: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (15:11).
Eternal life is not something we experience when we die. It is something that begins the moment we enter into communion with the Triune God. And knowing God intimately, growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, is eternal life.
Stagnant Christianity is antithetical to eternal life. J. C. Ryle noted that “we must be holy, because without holiness on earth we shall never be prepared to enjoy heaven.”[6] Think of life as a training ground for eternity. I’m saddened by the amount of Christians who are satisfied with knowing the bare minimum facts they think are required for salvation. Friends, that is an extremely dangerous position and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Ongoing growth is the evidence of salvation, not baptism, not walking an aisle, and not saying a prayer.
But there is joy in knowing the Lord and this is eternal life and this is what we will do for all of eternity, we will know the Lord, beholding him from one degree of glory to the next (2 Cor 3:18). That leads me to the final point.
4. Formation is for the glory of God.
Everything we do as a congregation must be aimed at the glory of God. Lots of things clamor for our attention. Even good things can become idols. Just think how easy it is to replace worship with things we enjoy. But again, this is a matter of joy, and true joy only comes from bringing glory to God. Idols will always let us down.
This brings us back to the verse we began with in 2 Pet 3:18: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. Notice how Peter ends. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. The Westminster Shorter Catechism captures this so well in its famous first question: “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
Look, we are a church. Do you know what is at stake with our existence on this corner? It is not our reputation. It is not our budget. It is not our facilities. It is the glory of God. His name is at stake. Therefore, everything we do must be aimed at the glory of God. As Paul writes in 1 Cor 10:31: So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
[1] Larry Crabb, Finding God, p. 7
[2] J. C. Ryle, Holiness, p. 83.
[3] Matthew Henry, Commentary, 6:853.
[4] Michael Green, 2 Peter and Jude, p. 175.
[5] See Simon Sinek, Start with Why.
[6] Holiness, p. 42.