When People Grow Slowly

Bamboo grows fast. Some bamboo-ologists say it grows roughly four inches per day in the right conditions. The fastest growing bamboo reportedly bursted up 35 inches in a day. That’s a growth you can watch. Oak trees are not like that. They grow about twelve inches per year. So, you can see an oak’s growth, but you can’t see it growing, unlike bamboo.

When it comes to a Christian’s growth in christlikeness, many of us are more like the oak than the bamboo. People can see our growth, perhaps. But they can’t usually see us growing.

That slow growth can cause us to ruffle each other’s feathers at times. That Christian friend of ours seems to never be able to grow out of that struggle. It’s been years, and that believer in the church can’t quite get traction in godliness in an area. “Why can’t they just grow out of that stuff?!”

Here are some things to consider as we struggle with slow sanctification.

Before we talk about others, let’s pause. We grow slow in ways too. In this life, not one of us is yet glorified. So, not one of us is perfectly sanctified in every area. Chances are then, we have been a source of feather-ruffling to other believers at some point. Our slow sanctification has pained someone sometime. Others have had to forbear our yet-sanctified areas at some point. And if we asked someone close to us, “In what ways have you had to forbear with me?”, they would likely have a tangible response. Let’s take that posture with us as we walk with others.

Pained by People

The apostle Paul incurred much injury spiritually and physically from people. He pastored many imperfect churches. People—even Christians—were a source of deep pain for him at times. He also endured unspeakable pain at the hands of Jews and Gentiles. He was “beaten times without number” ( 2 Cor. 11:23

). Five times he received the 39 lashes ( 2 Cor. 11:24

). He was pounded with stones and bashed with rods ( 2 Cor. 11:25

). And that’s just the beginning of the list (cf. 2 Cor. 11:23-29

). He never pastored a perfect church. Even the Philippian church had members who struggled with things like disunity, pride, complaining, and hyper-nationalism (cf. Phil. 2:1-5

, 14

; 3:20

; 4:2

). And yet, after suffering at the hands of people all those years, Paul still loved these things called people. How is that possible?! If a cactus stabs you every other day for twenty years, you’re going to no longer like cactuses. And yet Paul could say, even of the Corinthians, “I thank my God always concerning you…” ( 1 Cor. 1:4

), and opened their letter, “Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” ( 1 Cor. 1:3

). How in the world does Paul not say instead, “Wrath and torment to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”?!

The Right Confidence

Paul’s love for people didn’t come from people, per se. It came from God. The apostle Paul was a master shepherd. Here is part of his secret to not growing calloused towards people:

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” ( Phil. 1:6

).

Truths like that equipped him with the love and forbearance that are absolutely necessary to live among people this side of heaven. Paul had a confidence. Not confidence in people. But confidence in God for people. His confidence was rooted in God.

This is the kind of confidence that we must exercise towards one another in the body of Christ. Most of us in the church are oaky in our sanctification. But we have confidence. Not confidence, as in, “Well, I’m confident it’s going to be sunny, or the economy will turn out well.” Biblical confidence is the expectation of a guaranteed result anchored in the unchanging character of God and the unchanging promises of God.

Patience-Inducing Truth

Notice Paul’s patience-inducing confidence he has in Philippians 1:6

. He is confident in the rock-solid sovereignty of God. First, he maintains patience-inducing, love-fueling confidence because of God’s past work of sovereign grace in people. Speaking of regeneration, he says, “He who began a good work in you…”

That perspective is transforming. Paul understood the glorious truth that God, not Paul, began the work of salvation in the Philippian Christians. Yes, Paul was the instrument of their regeneration. No, he was not the source. God begins the work in every Christian. So, God’s sovereign grace in people prevented people’s imperfection from draining Paul’s love for people. So must it be with us. And there is more.

Second, Paul was confident in God’s future work in every believer (“…will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus”). When it comes to salvation, it’s the past work of God that guarantees his future work. Paul was not confident so much in the people as he was in God working in the people. Paul did not trust in Paul to further and finish the sanctification in the regenerate. Neither should we. We trust God.

Scripture guarantees that every single regenerate individual will be permanently rid of sin in nature, thought, word, and deed forever ( Rom. 8:30

, 1 John 3:3

). We will never see that this side of heaven. But it will absolutely happen in heaven.

God begins the work of making someone a believer and so God will finish it. God is 100% in finishing what he starts. There will not be one person in history who has been regenerate by God, but will be thereafter lost by God (cf. John 10:27-30

).

Those who God elects and regenerates are as good as glorifed:

“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” ( Rom. 8:29-30

).

This passage is called the “Golden Chain” of salvation. It’s sort of the expanded version of Philippians 1:6

, showing that the saving work which God begins in a sinner, he always finishes. God never orphans those he adopts. God never abandons those he takes in. There will be no half-sculpted Christians on the last day in God’s workshop.

Abandoned Christians?

But what about those who appeared to love Christ for a time, but then walk away? Did God’s sovereign grace fail? Few situations are more painful. But Scripture is clear:

“They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” ( 1 John 2:19

).

It’s the tragic case of soils two and three (cf. Matt. 13:20-22

). Those with no root, God did not plant. God only plants fruit-bearers ( Matt. 13:23

, John 15:2

). He who began a good work in them will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

God’s got all his children. Think of it. The most flawed Christian in the world will one day be blazingly perfect in christlikness. The most frustrating, “why-can’t-they-get-it-together” believer will soon be perfect in every thought, word, and deed.

Unfinished for a Time

So, we need to put the breaks on frustration over people’s slow growth. Think of it this way. The French sculptor, August Rodin, is considered by many as the greatest sculptor in history. He made thousands of bronze and clay sculptures and statues, the most famous of which is probably the Thinker. Imagine if one day a guy visits Rodin’s sculpture workshop. He walks in and sees half-sculpted blocks of clay, stone, and bronze everywhere. Some are just a body with no arms. Some have a body but a square block for a head. Others have only a giant rectangular block for the entire body. The visitor starts getting frustrated. He is worked up. In irritation, he belts out, “What is the problem with you Rodin?! This statue doesn’t have a head! And this one has no arms! And, and this one, why, it’s just a rectangular block! Don’t you know that none of these look like real people?!”

And Rodin looks at the guy with that snarky French look and in his deliciously snide French accent responds, “Zey are not finished. I am still working on zem.” Rodin completed thousands of masterful sculptures. But it took him a bit. That’s just how it is.

When we get frustrated with other church members’ slow growth, perhaps we’re like that unfortunate and misinformed visitor in Rodin’s workshop. God is not finished. He is working on all of us. He has decided that in this life, not one of us will be perfected. Perhaps he has done so for great reasons.

Every sinner God saves begins with no resemblance to Christ. Spiritually, we begin as a rectangular block of stone. But that instant, a glorious thing happens. God has rescued us dumb stone blocks from the world and he begins to form and fashion us into christlikeness. It takes time. Life for believers in the church is like living among a herd of half-sculpted sculptures. Some of us have a square for a head. Others, rectangles as legs. We are missing things. But God is working. And on that day, there will be no half-sculpted Christians in God’s workshop.

Now, does Philippians 1:6

mean we never speak into people’s lives to help them grow? We just sit back and no need to help each other with sanctification? Of course not. That’s unloving. And it violates many commands ( Matt. 18:15

, Gal. 6:1-3

, Eph. 4:11-16

, Heb. 3:13-14

). We have those passages in one pocket and Philippians 1:6

in the other.

But above all, we recall that God is seated on the throne of the universe. He is not rubbing a worry stone in heaven. “The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength; indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved” ( Ps. 93:1

). God’s comprehensive sovereignty is the best medication for anxiety. God’s promise to perfect every Christian he saves is even equally comforting. We will drive ourselves unnecessarily crazy if we recall this among imperfect people. So, let us put confidence in God as it concerns others’ growth. Trust God. Love people. Walk with them. Be patient. Think about how patient he’s been with you. One day, that acorn-Christian will be a towering oak, by God’s grace.