We always want to know how to get from one place to another, getting from point “A” to point “B”. During this six-week series we're describing how to get from the point of having no meaningful connection to God to the point where we have a mature relationship with Him (perhaps we should say “maturing relationship” with Him, because the process doesn’t ever end).

Experiencing acceptance by MEETING CHRIST is the first step. We need to let ourselves be found by Him. He wants to accept us as we are, forgiving us if we want Him to. He wants to be our savior.

Having a sense of calling is the next step. We experience this when we make a commitment to FOLLOWING CHRIST. He wants to be the leader of our lives; He needs to be our Lord.

Today we'll focus on discovery. On this journey we need to be willing to take directions, gathering input. We need to be LEARNING FROM CHRIST if we’re going to be His disciples.

Next week we'll focus on transformation. If we’re walking with Christ He’ll influence us, and we won’t remain the same. We must make a commitment to BECOMING LIKE CHRIST.

The last of the five layers of growth is influence. We’re meant to be Christ's hands in this world. We’re supposed to be involved in SERVING WITH CHRIST.

Let's take a closer look at the third level of our journey toward spiritual maturity. Today we’ll explore what it means to be LEARNING FROM CHRIST.

WE NEED SPIRITUAL INPUT
Short Circuit was a cute movie released in 1986 which starred an endearing robot named Unit #5. By some freak accident Unit #5 became conscious and self-aware. He delighted in being alive and had a hunger to learn. He kept saying, “I need more input.” He'd fan the pages of a book, speed-reading it in a matter of seconds. He was new to life, and he knew he had much to learn.

When we let ourselves be found and forgiven by Jesus Christ and we accept His invitation to follow Him (the first two phases of spiritual growth that we've just covered), we enter a life with Christ. We’re alive as we've never been alive before! Unlike Unit #5, we’re more than self-aware: we’re God-aware! In this new life with Christ we need more input from Him.

If we’re going to follow Christ, we must learn all about Him: the way He works, His purposes, and His will for us. We should never be satisfied with what we know or understand. The fact is that we can never know enough!

If we were to take a serious interest in a sport or hobby that we hadn’t previously been involved with, we’d automatically assume that we needed to learn some things about it. We'd realize that we couldn't be satisfied with knowing just a little bit.

When I purchase a complex piece of electronic equipment such as a video camera, I consult the owner's manual. (As a man I don't like to confess to consulting the owner's manual, but I do. I've learned through painful experience that it’s a wise thing for me to do!)

The Bible has been called God's instruction book, and so it is. It could also be described as the manual we’re given by the creator of all life about how our lives are supposed to function. We should be willing to say to the Lord, “I need input; I need more input!”

If we’re going to journey with Christ through life we should be open to taking directions from Him. We need to let Him lead the way, and we’re going to have to be open to His input if that's going to happen! “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

INPUT FOR A MAN NAMED JOHN
We've all found ourselves in frustrating, difficult, painful, or confusing circumstances. I doubt, however, that we’ve had things as difficult as John did. John was known as John the Baptizer; we call him John the Baptist. He was the forerunner of Jesus, pointing Jesus out to people as the Messiah. However, there came a day when John had doubts. He was imprisoned for saying what God wanted him to say as a prophet. In fact, he knew that there was a good chance that he’d be executed, which is what eventually happened to him. Sitting in the dark, damp dungeon, he apparently began to question whether Jesus was indeed the Messiah. He sent a couple of his disciples to ask Jesus point-blank if He really was the Messiah.

Jesus answered, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” (Luke 7:22-23)

Jesus told John's followers to go back and report on what they'd seen Him do and what they'd heard Him preach. John would know that Jesus was asking him to recall all he read in the holy Scriptures (our Old Testament) about what the Messiah was to say and do. Jesus' self-description made obvious allusions to prophecies, particularly those of Isaiah. John's knowledge of the Scriptures should have confirmed to him that Jesus was the Messiah.

This is a great example of how important knowledge can be. John the Baptist was to find confidence and comfort in what he knew about the Messiah from Scripture and from what he knew about Jesus from observation.

You and I probably won't find ourselves in a dungeon, but life's a challenge nonetheless. Trying to live right — trying to live the way our Lord wants us to — is no easy task. We need more than good intentions: we need to know what we should think, do, and say. God hasn’t left us without direction on this journey of life!

It was Jesus' intention that John the Baptist would find help from what he knew. It was good that he knew so much of God's Word! We’d do well to follow John's example. The fact is that we all can still learn a lot about God and His ways!

DIRECTIONS FOR THE JOURNEY
God can give us directions for our journey toward spiritual maturity. There are five general ways that He does it.

Creation: God reveals Himself through creation. This is called general revelation because it’s not specific. “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) We can learn some things about God and His ways from His creation, though this has its limits.

Circumstances: God sometimes guides us by opening some doors of opportunity and closing others. While he was on one of his missionary journeys, the apostle Paul had a change of plans forced on him by changing circumstances: “Because the Jews made a plot against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.” (Acts 20:3b) Sometimes when circumstances are beyond our control, God is using those circumstances to guide and control us.

People: God can speak through the example or words of other people. Sometimes He even speaks to us through their wrong actions or words! The words of others that God uses can be encouraging, affirming, or wise counsel; other times they may be criticism that we’re supposed to hear. The apostle Paul wrote about the time he was used by the Lord to speak such words to the apostle Peter: “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.” (Galatians 2:11)

The Holy Spirit: The Lord also gives us input and guides us through the inner prompting of the Holy Spirit. We may feel a tug pulling us a certain way or a sense of being checked that gives us pause about pursuing a certain course of action. We may feel convinced or convicted by the Holy Spirit. It was said of Jesus that He was “led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1)

The Bible: The Bible contains many examples and stories of God's working in this world, much teaching about how to live, and prayers that can be a guide to our own praying: “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Of the five ways that God gives us input, the Bible is the most specific and detailed.

On this journey toward spiritual maturity God provides us with needed direction. We aren't really in control of creation, circumstances, people, or the Holy Spirit, but we are in control of how much we open ourselves up to input from God's Word through our reading and study of it.

DIRECTIONS THAT ARE TRUE
How do we know that the Bible is true and that it really speaks God's Word to us? Let me share with you why I have supreme confidence that the Bible is God's true Word.

Most people would agree that what Jesus taught was true. We have no good reason to doubt the gospel accounts of what Jesus said and did. The authors reported that they wrote with the intention of being historically accurate. Luke wrote, “I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account . . .” (Luke 1:3) The apostle Peter wrote, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16) The New Testament writers were clear in their insistence that they stuck to historical facts when they spoke or wrote about Jesus.

What did they record that Jesus taught about Scripture? First, we have a record that Jesus believed that the Old Testament (which He knew as the Hebrew Scriptures) was God's Word. Each of the three times Jesus was tempted, He said, “It is written.” (Matthew 4:4,7,10) He considered the Hebrew Scriptures to be authoritative.

Second, Jesus said that His own words were from God the Father. On one occasion Jesus prayed to the Father, “For I gave them the words you gave me . . .” (John 17:8a) He also indicated that His followers would be able to accurately recall His words through the Holy Spirit's working. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit “will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26) This authenticates the four gospels as being accurate.

Third, Jesus authenticated the rest of the New Testament that would be written by the apostles. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would build and add to the teaching He had given them: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:12-13)

There's no good reason to doubt the authenticity and truthfulness of the Bible. It offers the best input for direction on the journey toward becoming spiritually mature, becoming all that God intends us to be.

ENROLL IN THE SCHOOL OF DISCIPLESHIP
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! Just a little knowledge about golf won’t make you look like a pro on the golf course; you’ll look like a fool. Just a little knowledge about flying a plane will likely lead to a crash if you choose to pilot the aircraft yourself. Just a little knowledge about anything is almost never as good as having more knowledge about it!

There’s a temptation on the spiritual journey to neglect learning more. We can become satisfied with what we already know and understand. The apostle Paul warned the Christians at Corinth of this: “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.” (1 Corinthians 3:2) Apparently the Christians to whom the author of Hebrews wrote had become complacent about learning and growing: “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food.” (Hebrews 5:12)

Picture a ten-year-old child still drinking milk from a bottle instead of eating solid food; something’s very wrong with that picture! We should be just as shocked and dismayed when we realize that we're not growing in our knowledge and understanding of the Lord.

The journey toward spiritual maturity requires that we be willing to learn! The word “disciple” means “student.” If we want to be disciples of Jesus Christ we must be His students, allowing Him to be our mentor.

This means that we need to take an active role as Jesus’ students. We should be involved in some kind of small group setting where we can have “study buddies” in God's Word. We ought to be reading our Bibles on our own. Pastor Bill Hybels said that we should be “self-feeding.” Too often people complain that they aren't being fed in their churches. Like any child who's outgrown a highchair, we ought to be feeding ourselves!

A good suggestion is to read just one section, under one bold heading (usually less than a chapter's worth) in our Bibles every day. After you read it, ask the Lord to help you see why He had you read that passage that day.

While I was visiting my mother recently I happened to pick up my late father’s Bible. In the back were the usual couple of blank pages — except that they were filled with his notes of favorite verses and comments about various Bible passages. He was a real student of the Word! I want to be the same. If you truly want to move along the road of spiritual maturity, I invite you to seek more and more input from God’s Word!