Last week we began our stewardship series of sermons “Growing Gifts with God” as we looked at making a lasting investment with money for God’s purposes – which is really the spiritual need for giving. And today I would like to turn our attention toward an accompanying one – toward a growing investment – which is faith!

In our text from Job, the author has God asking a few rhetorical questions,

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements – surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?”

You see, the issue here is one of control. Because the obvious answer is that it is God who is in control – and it is God who created and provided all that is. But oh, how some people like to pretend that they are little gods.

Hear the first two verses of our Corinthians text which Betsy Kreuter read for us,

“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

You see, there was a growing controversy in the early church arising from the fact that people were lining up behind different leaders. Some were saying (with great pride – I might add),

“I am of Apollos.”

While others said,

“I am of Paul.”

-and on it went.

Well, as you might imagine, this phenomenon of lining up behind different leaders began to fragment the church in its early development. So Paul, seeking to bring unity to the body of Christ – before it was unknowingly dis-membered by individual human loyalties – says let’s not get hung up on human personalities and who did what – let’s remember who gives the growth. For, as he goes on in verse 7,

“Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth.”

But how like that we are – where egos get in the way – where we want to be right because somebody else has to be wrong – where human nature blocks us from seeing the larger picture – which is God’s perspective.

The early church was facing frustration and stagnation because they were losing sight of the source – namely God – and the recognition that growth comes from God. The church has faced different forms of stagnation in and out of every century – and ours is no exception.

Here are seven steps toward stagnation that sound only all too contemporary in many churches today,

We’ve never done it that way.
We’re not ready for that.
We are doing all right without trying that.
We tried it once before.
We don’t have the money for that.
It’s not our job.
And something like that can’t work.
There’s probably an eighth step – but we’ve never looked for it before.

As Paul, would say, don’t get hung up on the past and what has or hasn’t been done – God will grow you into the future.

That enigmatic poet, e.e. cummings, reminds us,

“The goal of living is to grow, forgetting why, remember how.”

But lets be honest – as individuals – we’ve all had periods in our lives when we have not been growing. Perhaps you are in one of those phases right now – or at least you don’t feel like there is much growing in you at any deep or significant level. If that’s the case for you today, just know that you are not abnormal. I certainly have ordinary, lackluster periods of my life – when little if anything seems to be growing within.

Oh, our society equips us to adapt to the superficial changes around us – but that’s about the extent of it. Sort of like Ellen Boswell who wrote,

“While at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, I took a sociology course in which children’s toys and games were discussed as implements of education. One of the students commented on the fact that his sister had an anatomical doll which ‘developed’ from the body of a young girl to that of a mature woman when one of her arms was rotated. One female classmate asked wistfully, ‘Which arm did he say you turn?’”

Now, we need to make it clear that superficial change – or more specifically – growth simply for the sake of growth is not much different than the ideology of the cancer cell.

The issue is what kind of growth are we really seeking in our life? When it comes to faith – I can tell you that most of the people I know who are truly growing in their faith – are very happy. Joy and happiness are not the goal – they seem to be a common by-product of growing. And when it comes to growing in faith – my experience tells me it cannot be taught – but only caught.

Religion can be taught – the ideas, constructs, dogma and teachings – but faith – that’s a far different matter. Because remember – it is God who gives the growth – not we ourselves.

With children or others within our sphere of influence – if we will care for them with soft and gentle touches – if we will look at them and smile with love and acceptance – if we will listen to them talk before we talk – they will most likely grow. We plant, another waters – but God gives the growth.

We cannot make another person grow – any more than we can force our own spiritual growth. We can only help provide the proper conditions and be open to it. I believe that whenever we are open – God will grow within us.

What is true of biology is also true of faith - if it isn’t growing it’s probably dying. A growing investment of faith is the ultimate hope of Christianity. The dead places in our lives can be given new life – as our faith takes hold in a growing mode. And I am convinced that our growing doesn’t end with this life – but that it continues on right into our next life – the only difference is we will be nearer to God. But that’s for another sermon.

These past weeks have provided some of us the opportunity to get outside and rake leaves. And that experience – which is a real chore on the one hand – puts us in touch with the seasons of nature and the growth process of trees – on the other.

A friend of mine once planted a small tree on her lake property – and fearful that its foliage would block the view from her window she continually trimmed it so that it acted like a bush. This was requiring a great deal of work until one of her sons said to her, “Why don’t you let it grow into a tree? Then its foliage will be above your window and you will have a marvelous view.” She did and it worked. Children often understand a lot more about life, growth and faith – than we ever give them credit for.

You probably know that Japanese dwarf trees have a similar principle. If they were not trimmed regularly they would be as big as any tree. But one other thing is different – the top root is cut – so that the trees must live on the surface roots alone – and hence they only grow to a foot or two in height. That may be a modern parable for our spiritual growth. How many in our time have severed the top root to the deep things in the life of faith and tried to grow on the surface roots alone?

Dag Hammarskjold, past Secretary General to the United Nations – wrote a remarkable book sharing his spiritual insight from the inner journey. And in it is this thought,

“The road to self-knowledge does not pass through faith. But only through the self-knowledge we gain by pursuing the fleeting light in the depth of our being do we reach the point where we can grasp what faith is. How many have been driven into outer darkness by empty talk about faith as something to be rationally comprehended, something ‘true’.”

Faith cannot be taught – but when the larger trees let light in for the smaller ones – all are nurtured.

Returning to our text the Apostle goes on to write,

“The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Each of us is created in the divine image. We each have the seed of God within us. And if we are open to its growth our God seed grows into God. To invest ourselves in that kind of God growth is what faith is all about.

Spiritual growth is usually a gradual process and it is most often progressive. It is from measure to measure – thirty fold, sixty fold and a hundred fold. It is from stage to stage – “first the blade, then the ear, and after that, the full corn in the ear.” And spiritual growth is from day to day. And although we have some extraordinary days in our lives – many are very ordinary and as I said at the beginning – it may feel like not much is growing.

But let’s remember that trees aren’t wasting their time in winter. The ordinary days provide time for reflection and preparation for the extraordinary events that accentuate our growing.

To conclude our Corinthian text for this morning Paul shifts the image from growing to a corollary – which is building,

“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.”

You see, the key is making our investment for growth in Christ. Because Jesus was open to God’s seed in him – and he became the best Jesus he could become.

I love the story about the stereotypical Jewish mother. Having arrived in heaven, Mrs. Ginelli bashfully asked the guardian angel, “Would it be possible for me to have an interview with the Virgin Mary?” The angel was momentarily taken aback but the request was duly forwarded and the Virgin soon graced Mrs. Ginelli with her presence. Mrs. Ginelli gazed long at the radiant figure before she finally said, “Please forgive my curiosity, but I have always wondered how does it feel for you to have a son who is so majestic that ever since his time hundred of millions of people have worshipped him as God?” Replied the Virgin, “Frankly Mrs. Ginelli, we were hoping he would be a doctor.”

No, Jesus became the best Jesus he could become – because by faith he made a growing investment in God. That my friends is our challenge as well. But you know, it’s so easy to seek comfort in life – only growing a little here and there when it’s convenient and doesn’t challenge our comfort zone.

Yet, as Robert Browning once observed,

“My business is not to remain myself, but to make the absolute best of what God made.”

And no one said it would be easy or pain-free – but what a journey that is – to see your life growing into God.

In another month or so, we will celebrate Thanksgiving. And we will remember the pilgrims – our ancestors in the faith. John Robinson was one of those early pilgrims and he put it this way,

“I profess myself always one of them who still desires to learn further or better what the good will of God is.”

That is a growing investment.

Well, in closing I want to turn our attention back to the lesson from Ephesians,

“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”

Our growth within is both modeled by and measured by Christ. Such that, Paul goes on to write,

“We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.”

This verse 14 could offer quite a commentary on our current political campaign and process – but I’ll refrain from digressing,

“But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”

Keeping in mind as Paul reminds us in our other New Testament text – that it is indeed – God who gives the growth!

When we make a financial investment we know we are best off when both the principle and interest are growing. And as we explored last week – when we make a financial pledge to the church we are making a lasting investment in God’s work in the world.

And it is all of our combined gifts – tangible and intangible – working for the ministry of this church which provide for the planting and watering of faith – but friends, let’s never forget – God gives the growth!

The foundation has been laid – and it is Christ Jesus our Lord. And when you make a growing investment in faith on that foundation – you are growing in, with, and toward God!

And that’s an investment you can bank on!

Amen!