CHRISTIAN GROWTH by Alfred Mallett

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 14, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 40.

CHRISTIAN GROWTH.

By Alfred Mallett

To the Romans Paul wrote: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Rom. 1:16, 17. The apostle realized that the gospel of Christ was, indeed, the power of God unto salvation to him. He knew that from Christ came all the power and strength that he possessed. He had been made to realize by experience that there was no strength in himself. He tells his experience in the seventh chapter of the same epistle, and at the end of it he exclaims: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." This will be the language of all who have felt their weakness, and have taken Christ as a personal Saviour,—the only source from which they can gain strength and power to overcome sin.

Through Christ Paul had boldness to preach the word, and it made no difference how much he was persecuted, he still exalted Him who is mighty to save. And so to the Romans he wrote, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." Why?—"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." Now what is the righteousness of God? We find in Isa. 51:6, 7 that the righteousness of God is the perfect law of God. Those who keep the law of God have the righteousness of God; for it says: "Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law." And David says in Ps. 119:172, "My tongue shall speak of thy word; for all thy commandments are righteousness."

"All unrighteousness is sin" (1 John 5:11), and "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). The gospel of Christ is God's remedy for sin, to bring men into harmony with the law, and to give them power to keep that law. In Eze. 36:27 the promise is given: "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."

But this is wholly a work of faith; for the "righteousness of God" is "revealed from faith to faith"—faith in the beginning and faith in the end; for "the just shall live by faith." "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Heb. 11:6.

All the good deeds a man can do will never save him unless he has faith. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." And the faith we have to-day will not suffice for to-morrow. It must be faith all the time,—"for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith."

The Christian life is a continual growth—from faith to faith, from one step to another. In John 15:1-5 the Saviour has illustrated Christian growth by the vine and its branches.

The branch grows gradually; but it is only by drawing sap from the vine that it can grow. So likewise is it with the Christian; he cannot grow without Christ. It is only by drawing new life daily, hourly, from him that the Christian can grow, and the only way we can draw this life from him is by faith. Says the True Vine, "Without me ye can do nothing." "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." By abiding in him we shall bring forth fruit, and thereby glorify God. But if we are professed Christians and bring forth no fruit, what then?—

"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he [the Father] taketh away. . . . If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." So if we are not growing up into Christ, we are becoming withered, and will at last be cut off. On the other hand, if we abide in him, we shall grow. "Every branch that beareth fruit, he [the Father] purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."

How can we abide in Christ?—By faith, and seeking to do his will, not our own. By dying daily to self, and always remembering the words of the Master, "Without me ye can do nothing."

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." Col. 2:6. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. . . . Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:1-3. How did you receive Christ? Was it not by faith? Then "as ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." Die to the things of this world; set your affections on things above; trust in Jesus fully, and realize that he is indeed all in all to you, as the vine is to the branch. Speak of his wonderful love to you, and say with Paul, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." Exalt Christ, and as you do this, and think of him hanging on the accursed tree for you, your heart will be filled with love for him. You will grow in grace and in the knowledge of him, and Christ says, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."

As said before, the Christian life is a continual growth. The divine admonition is: "Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:17, 18. And again we are told that the righteous man "shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water." Ps. 1:3. A tree planted by the rivers of water will grow and thrive. The word of God is given us that we may grow. We must study that, for it is life to us. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life," says Christ. Through the word he is revealed to us, and the less we study it the less faith we shall have in him.

To the Thessalonians Paul wrote: "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men." 1 Thess. 3:12. Love is the outgrowth of true faith; therefore increasing love is the result of increasing faith. If we would grow, we must look to Christ, for in him is life. We can no more live without Christ than the body can live without the blood. As the blood runs continually through the arteries, so must Christ be ever running through the thoughts; and if we have him dwelling in the heart, we shall go on to perfection; "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Phil. 2:13. Our only work is to submit our wills to his; he will do the rest, and his work will be a perfect work—a work which will gain for us a home in his everlasting and glorious kingdom. "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ." Phil. 1:6.

Paul says: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20. "I am crucified with Christ." Self is dead; the world has no more pleasure for me. I think only of Christ, "who loved me and gave himself for me." Oh, that each one of the professed followers of Christ might have this precious experience, be crucified with Christ, our lives "hid with Christ in God," and then the words of the wise man would be exemplified in us: "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Prov. 4:18.

If our lives are filled with the light of the Sun of Righteousness, we shall shine. "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all;" so if he dwells in us, we shall be light, and in us will be no darkness. God loves us each one as he loves his own Son, and he will care for us if we have placed ourselves in his hands. "Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." Oh, the wonderful love of God! Let us live for him, and "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Brooklyn, N. Y.