| “LITTLE BY LITTLE, STEP BY STEP” Deuteronomy 7: 17-26; Philippians 3:4b-14 Olivet Covenant Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA © Rev. Linda Jaymes, 5/2/2010 (Fourth in a Series, “Steps to Spiritual Renewal”) |
For the last few weeks we’ve been thinking about some steps we can take toward spiritual renewal. So far we’ve talked
about recognizing our hunger for God and spiritual things, as well as confessing our sins and repenting of those sins, which
means taking action, turning away from them and starting to walk in a new direction, back to God. Today I want to focus on
the nature of that journey back to God, and touch on some of the inward disciplines that will help renew our spirits us along the
way.
We heard this morning in our Old Testament lesson a portion of the story of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land.
Maybe “saga” would be a better word to describe Israel’s lengthy and difficult struggle to get from bondage in Egypt to the
place where they were finally settled in the land of milk and honey. In fact, what I want to suggest is that we can look at this
historical saga as a metaphor for our spiritual life and our journey of faith. And isn’t it all too true that for many of us, our walk
with the Lord isn’t a story, but a saga? Following after Jesus Christ is rarely an easy, straight and direct road. Being human,
we tend to disobey, go astray and lose our way just as much as Israel did en route to the land of Canaan.
In this portion of scripture, Moses, speaking on behalf of God, reminds the people that above all, they need to trust in God’
s power to help them conquer the nations who were already in the Promised Land. God understood Israel’s weaknesses and
their fear, and He promised to help them. They would not have to fight their battles alone. Moses reminded them of all that
God had already done in their lives: all those miracles beginning with their deliverance from Egypt and then God’s ongoing
protection and provision for them during the forty years they wandered in the wilderness. They were now at a crossroads,
hovering on the brink of God’s promised future. It is at this point that Moses reveals God’s plan for the conquest of the
Promised Land.
Interestingly enough, God’s plan was not the usual, overwhelming “wipe out every living soul all at once and conquer”
strategy that so often characterized God’s way of dealing with Israel’s enemies. This time, Israel was told that God would
drive out the nations before them little by little. He explained that if He allowed them to annihilate their enemies all at once, the
land would be too difficult to manage. By allowing some of the enemies to remain for a time, the wildlife would continue to be
suppressed and would not be a danger to the people. God was teaching his people to trust him step by step, and He gave them
only as much responsibility as they could handle at one time.
As I said earlier, we can think of this as a metaphor for the way spiritual renewal and growth happens for most of us,
most of the time. As we begin that journey back to God—our own Promised Land, if you will—our renewal and growth
usually occurs little by little, step by step. Last week we talked about how repentance means change, a change of mind and
heart as well as a change in course and direction. But for most of us, change comes slowly. God knows that for most of us,
that’s the best way to get permanent results. For example, on a physical level, suppose we admit we have a lot of bad habits in
our lives, and we’re really sorry for them and we make a commitment to change them. So we decide to give up smoking and
drinking, go on a diet, go to bed earlier and get more sleep, start working out at the gym five days a week, limit the amount of
TV we watch, stop swearing, yelling at the kids and kicking the cat, and start smiling at our family and everyone else we meet.
Well I can guarantee that unless we are some kind of super hero, if we try and do all of those things at once we will fail
miserably. We probably won’t accomplish any of them. We do much better when we work at making those kinds of changes
one by one, little by little, step by step.
For most of us, the same principle is at work on the spiritual level. As we start moving down the road of faith toward God
and spiritual renewal, we do well to incorporate changes and spiritual disciplines into our lives gradually. As God leads us down
that road to renewal, He usually doesn’t change our character overnight. He leads us through a process, often a lengthy one, to
renew us and make us more like Christ. He will keep working in a particular area of our lives until it is controlled by the Holy
Spirit. Then He will move on to the next one, driving out our “enemies” one at a time. We may eagerly desire renewal and
perfection and maturity in every area of our character, but steady, gradual change and growth is more lasting.
Perhaps you noticed that I said that’s how it is for most of us, most of the time. But I don’t ever want to second guess
God and presume that He can’t work differently in different people. History tells us that sometimes, He does. The story is told
that when evangelist and founder of the Sunday School movement, D.L. Moody, became a Christian, he developed such a
hunger for God's Word, spent so much time reading it, and was so quick to obey it that he became a "menace" to some
believers. His rapid spiritual growth was an embarrassment to certain people who, though they had been saved for years, never
made if very far down the road to renewal and new life. Week after week in the church Moody attended he would share some
new experience he had had with the Lord. Finally, some of the older saints who just couldn't stand feeling humiliated by his
exemplary life went to Moody's uncle and urged him to quiet down his nephew. An outside observer suggested that Moody’s
"robust spiritual health and bounding energy disturbed their napping; he was just too much.” He had made more progress on his
Christian journey in a few years than most folks make in thirty.
Lord knows where we’d be today without D.L. Moody and others like him. But we don’t all move or grow at the same
rate as D.L. Moody, or even the same rate as each other. In fact, that’s not even the goal. What’s important is that once we
get turned around and headed in the right direction, we keep moving. As Will Rogers once said, “even if you're on the right
track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.” But we also need to remember that the Christian life and road to spiritual renewal
isn’t a contest in which we compete against each other, but a marathon race in which we compete against ourselves and the
weaknesses within us, and also against the powers and principalities working against us on the outside. It’s a journey on which
God helps each of us to become more and more like Christ, little by little, step by step—and for some of us that means baby
steps while others grow by big strides.
Writing to the church at Philippi, the Apostle Paul helps to put this concept into perspective. First he reminds believers that
there are some things that are really of no use to us in our attempts to follow Christ and which may actually do more to get in
the way of spiritual renewal. These things are excess baggage, slowing us down. For Paul, they were things like the advantage
of being born into the right family, getting the right education and having such a zeal for the laws and doctrines of his religion
that he was willing to persecute anyone who opposed him. Paul admitted that even the profitable things were nothing in
comparison to knowing Christ.
Please don’t misunderstand what Paul is saying here. He isn’t saying that a solid family background, a good education and
a commitment to our faith traditions are wrong or evil in and of themselves. What he is saying is that our security must not rest
on parentage, opportunity or the outward form of religion but on Jesus Christ and his atoning work on the Cross. Paul
discovered that all too often those other things lead us to embrace a faith that is only an intellectual exercise, instead of bringing
us into an intimate relationship with Christ through the work of his Holy Spirit. That is why Paul says that all those other things
are a loss to us. If they lead us down the wrong road as they did Paul, they are no better than rubbish. They are certainly not
to be our goal in life. The goal is “knowing” Christ and the power of his resurrection. That means having a relationship with
Christ, knowing Him personally and intimately as the Holy Spirit fills us with his resurrection power. The goal is the fellowship
of sharing in Christ’s sufferings, becoming like Him in his death. That means carrying our crosses daily and practicing a costly
discipleship. The goal is to bear a remarkable resemblance to Jesus Christ by the time we get to eternity at the end of the road.
That means that we start moving in the Lord’s direction now. And the reality is that this lifetime process usually occurs one
step at a time.
Even Paul admitted that he had yet to obtain the goal. But he kept moving toward it, pressing onward and upward. After
all, he felt that that was the least he could do, seeing as Christ had already done so much for him. And Paul’s strategy for
getting to the goal was to forget his past way of life and all the things he had done and been that had hurt God and others. And
they were terrible things. He was responsible for the torture and death of many followers of Christ. But Christ had taken hold
of him, forgiven him, and made him a new man with a new purpose and a new lease on life.
Forgetting the past is something we need to do so that we can focus on the goal and on the future. History provides a
very extreme illustration of this important principle. When Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Britain with his Roman legions,
he took a bold and decisive step to ensure the success of his military venture. Ordering his men to halt on the edge of the Cliffs
of Dover, he commanded them to look down at the water below. To their amazement, they saw every ship in which they had
crossed the channel engulfed in flames. Caesar had deliberately cut off any possibility of retreat! Now that his soldiers were
unable to return to the continent, there was nothing left for them to do but to advance and conquer! And that is exactly what
they did.
Perhaps there are few things as powerfully renewing to our spirits, minds and bodies than trusting the depth of God’s
forgiveness, forgetting the past and moving on toward the goal. If God has pronounced us forgiven in Jesus Christ, we have
no right to contradict Him. We can believe that Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross was sufficient to burn all our sins away and
leave us pure, clean and renewed. Then we are ready to advance and conquer, as we press onward to the goal to become more
like Christ.
Leaving the past behind, at the foot of the Cross, as Paul did, is a discipline we need to practice regularly, so that we don’t
accumulate heavy baggage which can drag us down and keep us from advancing toward the goal. But Paul also did many other
things to keep on the right road and which helped revive his spirit along the way. Things like singing and praising God while he
was in prison; things like fervent prayer, both privately and with others; things like meditation and taking time to listen to the
voice of the Spirit, who told him where to go and what to do. As Paul pressed on to the goal, he prayed, fasted, worshipped,
listened and waited for God’s direction. And he shared the gospel at every opportunity. But even having done all that, scripture
reminds us that he had not yet been made perfect. He was the first to admit that he often failed miserably. He did things he
didn’t want to and failed to do the things he knew he should. But time and again, he returned to the Lord for forgiveness and
kept moving forward to the goal, little by little, step by step.
That’s what God wants us to do, too. He wants us to start moving and keep moving toward the goal. And as we do, He
will renew us along the way, as He changes us more and more into the likeness of his Son. God has not only given us the free
gift of salvation in Christ, but He has also given us his written word for comfort, encouragement and inspiration. He has given
us his Living Word as our ever-present Guide and Stay, through the Holy Spirit. And He has given us each other to help along
the way. Through ongoing confession, forgiveness and repentance, worship, prayer, praise, meditation, as well as through
mutual care and concern for one another, God has provided for our spiritual renewal as we press on to our eternal goal in Jesus
Christ.
If we are serious about spiritual renewal, then we need to work toward gradually developing and incorporating those
spiritual disciplines in our lives. If we haven’t been faithful in worship attendance, then we need to work on that until God has
given us victory in that area of our spiritual life. Once that discipline is under control, then we need to start working on another
area. We can ask the Lord where the changes need to be made, and work on them one at a time. Maybe it’s a commitment to
regular Bible study and prayer that is needed. Maybe it’s a quiet time of learning to listen to the still, small voice of the Spirit.
Maybe it’s the discipline of proportional giving or tithing. If we will keep pressing on toward the goal, God will be faithful to
renew us and drive out every enemy blocking the way into the Promised Land.
The first disciples left their fishing nets to follow Jesus, with no idea of what they were getting themselves into. One
minister has described their experience by saying, “They got it by installments along the way, and so shall we until, like them,
we can name him Lord and Christ.” Whether we call it “the installment plan” or little by little, step by step, doesn’t really
matter. What matters is that we receive the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life that God offers us in Christ. Once we do
that, what matters is that we don’t just sit there but start moving toward the goal and work at becoming more like Him, just as
Paul and the first disciples did.
That journey to the goal is a saga, a marathon, and the only way to get to the finish is little by little, step by step. The
saga, the journey, the adventure is ever before us, unfolding one day or sometimes only one hour at a time—but always right on
time, exactly according to God’s plan. If we will only start moving, God will help us every step we take. He will renew us by
his Holy Spirit as we put the past behind and exercise the disciplines of worship, prayer, praise, study, meditation and mutual
concern—gifts that God has given us for our nurture and refreshment along the way. With those gifts we can press on
toward the goal, following after Jesus step by step, until the race is run, the journey’s done, the crown is won and we are
settled once and for all in the Promised Land.
Let us pray.
1. Last line of the hymn, Teach Me Thy Way. Words & music by B. Mansell Ramsey, 1919.
about recognizing our hunger for God and spiritual things, as well as confessing our sins and repenting of those sins, which
means taking action, turning away from them and starting to walk in a new direction, back to God. Today I want to focus on
the nature of that journey back to God, and touch on some of the inward disciplines that will help renew our spirits us along the
way.
We heard this morning in our Old Testament lesson a portion of the story of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land.
Maybe “saga” would be a better word to describe Israel’s lengthy and difficult struggle to get from bondage in Egypt to the
place where they were finally settled in the land of milk and honey. In fact, what I want to suggest is that we can look at this
historical saga as a metaphor for our spiritual life and our journey of faith. And isn’t it all too true that for many of us, our walk
with the Lord isn’t a story, but a saga? Following after Jesus Christ is rarely an easy, straight and direct road. Being human,
we tend to disobey, go astray and lose our way just as much as Israel did en route to the land of Canaan.
In this portion of scripture, Moses, speaking on behalf of God, reminds the people that above all, they need to trust in God’
s power to help them conquer the nations who were already in the Promised Land. God understood Israel’s weaknesses and
their fear, and He promised to help them. They would not have to fight their battles alone. Moses reminded them of all that
God had already done in their lives: all those miracles beginning with their deliverance from Egypt and then God’s ongoing
protection and provision for them during the forty years they wandered in the wilderness. They were now at a crossroads,
hovering on the brink of God’s promised future. It is at this point that Moses reveals God’s plan for the conquest of the
Promised Land.
Interestingly enough, God’s plan was not the usual, overwhelming “wipe out every living soul all at once and conquer”
strategy that so often characterized God’s way of dealing with Israel’s enemies. This time, Israel was told that God would
drive out the nations before them little by little. He explained that if He allowed them to annihilate their enemies all at once, the
land would be too difficult to manage. By allowing some of the enemies to remain for a time, the wildlife would continue to be
suppressed and would not be a danger to the people. God was teaching his people to trust him step by step, and He gave them
only as much responsibility as they could handle at one time.
As I said earlier, we can think of this as a metaphor for the way spiritual renewal and growth happens for most of us,
most of the time. As we begin that journey back to God—our own Promised Land, if you will—our renewal and growth
usually occurs little by little, step by step. Last week we talked about how repentance means change, a change of mind and
heart as well as a change in course and direction. But for most of us, change comes slowly. God knows that for most of us,
that’s the best way to get permanent results. For example, on a physical level, suppose we admit we have a lot of bad habits in
our lives, and we’re really sorry for them and we make a commitment to change them. So we decide to give up smoking and
drinking, go on a diet, go to bed earlier and get more sleep, start working out at the gym five days a week, limit the amount of
TV we watch, stop swearing, yelling at the kids and kicking the cat, and start smiling at our family and everyone else we meet.
Well I can guarantee that unless we are some kind of super hero, if we try and do all of those things at once we will fail
miserably. We probably won’t accomplish any of them. We do much better when we work at making those kinds of changes
one by one, little by little, step by step.
For most of us, the same principle is at work on the spiritual level. As we start moving down the road of faith toward God
and spiritual renewal, we do well to incorporate changes and spiritual disciplines into our lives gradually. As God leads us down
that road to renewal, He usually doesn’t change our character overnight. He leads us through a process, often a lengthy one, to
renew us and make us more like Christ. He will keep working in a particular area of our lives until it is controlled by the Holy
Spirit. Then He will move on to the next one, driving out our “enemies” one at a time. We may eagerly desire renewal and
perfection and maturity in every area of our character, but steady, gradual change and growth is more lasting.
Perhaps you noticed that I said that’s how it is for most of us, most of the time. But I don’t ever want to second guess
God and presume that He can’t work differently in different people. History tells us that sometimes, He does. The story is told
that when evangelist and founder of the Sunday School movement, D.L. Moody, became a Christian, he developed such a
hunger for God's Word, spent so much time reading it, and was so quick to obey it that he became a "menace" to some
believers. His rapid spiritual growth was an embarrassment to certain people who, though they had been saved for years, never
made if very far down the road to renewal and new life. Week after week in the church Moody attended he would share some
new experience he had had with the Lord. Finally, some of the older saints who just couldn't stand feeling humiliated by his
exemplary life went to Moody's uncle and urged him to quiet down his nephew. An outside observer suggested that Moody’s
"robust spiritual health and bounding energy disturbed their napping; he was just too much.” He had made more progress on his
Christian journey in a few years than most folks make in thirty.
Lord knows where we’d be today without D.L. Moody and others like him. But we don’t all move or grow at the same
rate as D.L. Moody, or even the same rate as each other. In fact, that’s not even the goal. What’s important is that once we
get turned around and headed in the right direction, we keep moving. As Will Rogers once said, “even if you're on the right
track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.” But we also need to remember that the Christian life and road to spiritual renewal
isn’t a contest in which we compete against each other, but a marathon race in which we compete against ourselves and the
weaknesses within us, and also against the powers and principalities working against us on the outside. It’s a journey on which
God helps each of us to become more and more like Christ, little by little, step by step—and for some of us that means baby
steps while others grow by big strides.
Writing to the church at Philippi, the Apostle Paul helps to put this concept into perspective. First he reminds believers that
there are some things that are really of no use to us in our attempts to follow Christ and which may actually do more to get in
the way of spiritual renewal. These things are excess baggage, slowing us down. For Paul, they were things like the advantage
of being born into the right family, getting the right education and having such a zeal for the laws and doctrines of his religion
that he was willing to persecute anyone who opposed him. Paul admitted that even the profitable things were nothing in
comparison to knowing Christ.
Please don’t misunderstand what Paul is saying here. He isn’t saying that a solid family background, a good education and
a commitment to our faith traditions are wrong or evil in and of themselves. What he is saying is that our security must not rest
on parentage, opportunity or the outward form of religion but on Jesus Christ and his atoning work on the Cross. Paul
discovered that all too often those other things lead us to embrace a faith that is only an intellectual exercise, instead of bringing
us into an intimate relationship with Christ through the work of his Holy Spirit. That is why Paul says that all those other things
are a loss to us. If they lead us down the wrong road as they did Paul, they are no better than rubbish. They are certainly not
to be our goal in life. The goal is “knowing” Christ and the power of his resurrection. That means having a relationship with
Christ, knowing Him personally and intimately as the Holy Spirit fills us with his resurrection power. The goal is the fellowship
of sharing in Christ’s sufferings, becoming like Him in his death. That means carrying our crosses daily and practicing a costly
discipleship. The goal is to bear a remarkable resemblance to Jesus Christ by the time we get to eternity at the end of the road.
That means that we start moving in the Lord’s direction now. And the reality is that this lifetime process usually occurs one
step at a time.
Even Paul admitted that he had yet to obtain the goal. But he kept moving toward it, pressing onward and upward. After
all, he felt that that was the least he could do, seeing as Christ had already done so much for him. And Paul’s strategy for
getting to the goal was to forget his past way of life and all the things he had done and been that had hurt God and others. And
they were terrible things. He was responsible for the torture and death of many followers of Christ. But Christ had taken hold
of him, forgiven him, and made him a new man with a new purpose and a new lease on life.
Forgetting the past is something we need to do so that we can focus on the goal and on the future. History provides a
very extreme illustration of this important principle. When Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Britain with his Roman legions,
he took a bold and decisive step to ensure the success of his military venture. Ordering his men to halt on the edge of the Cliffs
of Dover, he commanded them to look down at the water below. To their amazement, they saw every ship in which they had
crossed the channel engulfed in flames. Caesar had deliberately cut off any possibility of retreat! Now that his soldiers were
unable to return to the continent, there was nothing left for them to do but to advance and conquer! And that is exactly what
they did.
Perhaps there are few things as powerfully renewing to our spirits, minds and bodies than trusting the depth of God’s
forgiveness, forgetting the past and moving on toward the goal. If God has pronounced us forgiven in Jesus Christ, we have
no right to contradict Him. We can believe that Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross was sufficient to burn all our sins away and
leave us pure, clean and renewed. Then we are ready to advance and conquer, as we press onward to the goal to become more
like Christ.
Leaving the past behind, at the foot of the Cross, as Paul did, is a discipline we need to practice regularly, so that we don’t
accumulate heavy baggage which can drag us down and keep us from advancing toward the goal. But Paul also did many other
things to keep on the right road and which helped revive his spirit along the way. Things like singing and praising God while he
was in prison; things like fervent prayer, both privately and with others; things like meditation and taking time to listen to the
voice of the Spirit, who told him where to go and what to do. As Paul pressed on to the goal, he prayed, fasted, worshipped,
listened and waited for God’s direction. And he shared the gospel at every opportunity. But even having done all that, scripture
reminds us that he had not yet been made perfect. He was the first to admit that he often failed miserably. He did things he
didn’t want to and failed to do the things he knew he should. But time and again, he returned to the Lord for forgiveness and
kept moving forward to the goal, little by little, step by step.
That’s what God wants us to do, too. He wants us to start moving and keep moving toward the goal. And as we do, He
will renew us along the way, as He changes us more and more into the likeness of his Son. God has not only given us the free
gift of salvation in Christ, but He has also given us his written word for comfort, encouragement and inspiration. He has given
us his Living Word as our ever-present Guide and Stay, through the Holy Spirit. And He has given us each other to help along
the way. Through ongoing confession, forgiveness and repentance, worship, prayer, praise, meditation, as well as through
mutual care and concern for one another, God has provided for our spiritual renewal as we press on to our eternal goal in Jesus
Christ.
If we are serious about spiritual renewal, then we need to work toward gradually developing and incorporating those
spiritual disciplines in our lives. If we haven’t been faithful in worship attendance, then we need to work on that until God has
given us victory in that area of our spiritual life. Once that discipline is under control, then we need to start working on another
area. We can ask the Lord where the changes need to be made, and work on them one at a time. Maybe it’s a commitment to
regular Bible study and prayer that is needed. Maybe it’s a quiet time of learning to listen to the still, small voice of the Spirit.
Maybe it’s the discipline of proportional giving or tithing. If we will keep pressing on toward the goal, God will be faithful to
renew us and drive out every enemy blocking the way into the Promised Land.
The first disciples left their fishing nets to follow Jesus, with no idea of what they were getting themselves into. One
minister has described their experience by saying, “They got it by installments along the way, and so shall we until, like them,
we can name him Lord and Christ.” Whether we call it “the installment plan” or little by little, step by step, doesn’t really
matter. What matters is that we receive the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life that God offers us in Christ. Once we do
that, what matters is that we don’t just sit there but start moving toward the goal and work at becoming more like Him, just as
Paul and the first disciples did.
That journey to the goal is a saga, a marathon, and the only way to get to the finish is little by little, step by step. The
saga, the journey, the adventure is ever before us, unfolding one day or sometimes only one hour at a time—but always right on
time, exactly according to God’s plan. If we will only start moving, God will help us every step we take. He will renew us by
his Holy Spirit as we put the past behind and exercise the disciplines of worship, prayer, praise, study, meditation and mutual
concern—gifts that God has given us for our nurture and refreshment along the way. With those gifts we can press on
toward the goal, following after Jesus step by step, until the race is run, the journey’s done, the crown is won and we are
settled once and for all in the Promised Land.
Let us pray.
1. Last line of the hymn, Teach Me Thy Way. Words & music by B. Mansell Ramsey, 1919.
