288. Why Do We Become Stagnant in Our Faith, and How Do We Change That?

[00:00:08] Hi friends, welcome to another episode of Making Disciples. My name is Chris, and I am your host. I hope that you're doing well, I hope that life is treating you good, and welcome to the next episode. A couple of heads up, so there's probably going to be a couple more episodes after this one before the summer.

[00:00:29] As some of you listeners have heard in a previous episode, Becky and I are going to be relocating to Birmingham over the summer, where we are heading on a new adventure. I'll tell you more about that in a future episode, because we'd love you to be praying for us as we step out and move, pack up our home, and leave really good friends behind to follow what we think is God's call on our lives for the next season.

[00:00:58] So I'll share more with you about that in the coming weeks, but it does mean there'll be a couple of episodes, and then we'll stop, we'll pause over the summer, and then depending on how things go, re-launch or kind of come back for a new season somewhere in September. I'm not going to commit to being too early in September, because it'll hardly depend on moving and how all of that goes.

[00:01:26] But that's the first bit of news. The second bit of news is I'm super excited because this coming, I think when you hear this, it'll be this coming week, which will be the 2nd of July. We've got a book launch. I've got a book out, and it's a book that took about six years to write. It's been published by CCX, which is the Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication.

[00:01:50] It's based here in London, launched by now the Archbishop of, well, he's definitely in Australia. I can't quite remember the area, but Rick Thorpe, who helped us plant All Hallows Bow in 2010. So he launched something called CCX here in London. It's the Centre for Church Planting and Multiplication, and they're publishing.

[00:02:13] What really is my doctorate, plus some other bits and pieces that I think are really helpful when we think about urban theology? So one of the things I've explored a lot over recent years is the theology of class, working class, and how often they are described in very negative terms. You know, work is a curse. You know, often talk about the curse of work coming from Genesis, and therefore the working class are a curse people

[00:02:42] because they're having to work hard, they're toiling off in the sun. I re-explore that. We explore the idea of place, the urban setting, the inner city, the urban poor, and we explore what actually is a kingdom theology for the inner city. And the book is called A Positive Urban Theology, Finding God in the Grit and the Glory of the City.

[00:03:08] And we've got some lovely endorsements at the front of the book for some great people. I've got Lord Mawson in there, Bishop Mark Tanner, Bishop Esther, Deborah Green, Helen Shannon, Reverend Dr. Andy Braintree, Bishop Lynn Collins, Bishop Rob Wickham, Reverend Cannon Christian Silver Ratman, Reverend Andy Wright, like some great people, great missional people have written some lovely things.

[00:03:38] And then the book just explores, and I'm really pleased with it. They've printed it with a great size font. It's a really nice, easy-to-read font, but the content, therefore, is laid out in a really lovely way as well. Some great images in there and illustrations. I took all of my doodles and turned them into something that's really lovely to look at. So I'm hoping this is kind of a theology book. It's a theology of the urban setting.

[00:04:07] So it's theology, although the opening chapter is a bit of a story of how God led us into urban mission. And then the rest of it then is theology. And there's a whole section in there about church planting and planting churches in the urban areas. So it's not an easy read in that sense. It's not a read, I would say, for absolutely everybody. But it's somebody that wants to read some good theology of the urban setting. Don't you mind if that's really helpful? Well, anyway, it's out this week.

[00:04:37] So I'd love you to pick up a coffee if that is helpful to you. Now, today's episode is a listener's question. And I just thought it was such an interesting one to explore. So the question that's come through is this. I have so many friends who describe themselves as spiritually stuck, stopped growing or stagnant. Why does this happen? Great little question, I thought. Why does this happen? Why do we get spiritually stuck?

[00:05:04] Because I thought that would be a good one for us to explore together today. So that is the topic. It's from you. And again, just to say, listeners, look, I love it when we get questions from you lot, because then I know I'm scratching an itch. I'm answering the question that is on your mind. So absolutely love it when you ask them. So please do keep sending in questions. I think it's a really good way of us making sure we're heading in the right track and we're kind of answering all that is on your heart. So let's dive in as we look at this.

[00:05:31] I've got many friends who describe themselves as spiritually stuck, stopped growing or stagnant. Why does this happen? Right, yo. Well, let's go. Let's talk about being spookedly stuck. Let's talk about not growing and becoming stagnant. I love the word stagnant. I think there's something that is so true,

[00:06:00] particularly, you know, the longer you've been in the Christian faith, you've heard a lot, you've seen a lot. It's possible to get stagnant. So I thought, why don't we explore that? I think it's a great question. So I would start. Let me give you a bit of an answer. I think one of the answers is this. Discipleship does not stop because we've learned enough. I think our discipleship stops because we have just stopped growing.

[00:06:27] We've stopped maturing and we've stopped growing. And I think I'd love to just challenge us. And it'll come out in the episode. I don't think age has got anything to do with this. I think it's just a choice that we have made to stop growing. And we've probably outsourced our growth to somebody else. Somebody is not teaching you enough. The sermon at church is not good enough. I do get frustrated with people who say,

[00:06:57] you know, the sermons at my church are just not that great. Great. You don't go just to church for a good sermon. You've got to church for community and worship and all of that. As a disciple of Jesus, you have the responsibility to be reading, listening and engaging with good content in the everyday. You can't expect a church to give you enough on a Sunday that keeps you growing. If you really want to flourish as a disciple, you've got to be a self-learner.

[00:07:27] You've got to be looking for content and supportive material, books, podcasts, videos, all this stuff that just keep you growing. And I don't think we've got any excuse anymore with things like YouTube. There's some amazing stuff out there. Lots of great people. Tom Wright has been all over my YouTube feed recently. It seems to just be everywhere talking and unpacking theology. So it's out there and you have a responsibility to go find it. So let's kick this off. And let's start by saying this.

[00:07:57] Have you ever noticed how easy it is to plateau? So easy, isn't it, just to hit a plateau? And I think it happens in everyday areas of our lives. You know, you might be learning the guitar. You've learned a few songs. And then you just, you stop practicing and you stop improving. And it's easy just to get stuck. If, you know, you go into the gym, you might make a bit of progress. You go for six weeks.

[00:08:24] Then you settle into some routine and you just get stuck. Same with your career. Same with our marriage. Same with our fitness levels. It's easy to have momentum and then let that die out. And then you just get stuck. And the same is with our spirituality. We just get stuck. You know, you might still be attending church. You might pray occasionally. You might still believe all the right things. But if you're completely honest with yourself, you're no longer engaging with what you believe.

[00:08:54] You've stopped engaging with faith. And you've stopped allowing it to shape you, challenge you, and move you forward. So the question is, why do Christians plateau? More importantly, how do we keep going and how do we keep growing? So let's just spend a bit of time just recognizing plateau for a moment. I'm just going to take us to Hebrews 5.11 through to 6.3. It's titled, A Warning Against Falling Away.

[00:09:24] And Paul says this. We have much to say about this. But it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. I love that. You're no longer trying to understand. In fact, that by this time you ought to be teachers. You need someone to teach you. You know, you should have matured by now, but you're not. You should be a teacher now, but you're not. You need milk, not solid food.

[00:09:51] Anybody who lives on milk, they're still an infant. It is not acquainted with the teachings about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore, let us move beyond the elementary teachings. You know, let's move away from junior school teachings about Christ and take forward into maturity.

[00:10:19] Not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that led to death and a faith in God. Instruction about cleansing rights and laying on of hands the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so. So we're stuck in junior school teaching and junior school thinking.

[00:10:44] And we've not moved on to what is the substantial ideas of our faith. We've not moved on. And I would argue we've not just moved on in our thinking. We've not moved on in our action. And I would say the passage is surprisingly direct, isn't it? You know, you ought to be teaching others by now. Come on. You're at a point now where you should be the one leading and you're not. You're still drinking milk.

[00:11:12] And, you know, of course, it's like the image of the baby's bottle, isn't it? You're still being fed by baby's bottle. You're still being fed by somebody else. You've not matured. It's time to move on to maturity. You can't get more direct teaching from Paul. Come on, mature. Now, what I often find is the two groups of people that get stagnant are the ones who are, you know, arrogant. And they think they know it all.

[00:11:40] And they'll tell you that they know it all. So they're the ones who think very highly of themselves, but actually are kind of just getting stuck within their own way of thinking. And their arrogance leads to a funny version of the Christian faith. So they're arrogant, but actually they're just not flourishing. They're not alive with their faith. They're stuck.

[00:12:03] And then the other group are people who've maybe come to faith, who think that they've learned it all and haven't realized that there's more to come, actually. There's more out there. So one of the reasons why we designed the Disoperative Assessment Tool was to create a tool that allows somebody to assess where they are in their faith and be challenged to see what is their next growth area. So I would argue this is not actually about intelligence because it's not actually about knowing more.

[00:12:33] It's actually about your development and are you developing and growing and maturing? And actually, this isn't about age. Some of the people that I found that are the most arrogant are those who think they are mature because they've got age, but actually they're immature in terms of their faith.

[00:12:56] So their age makes it look like they're mature, but actually there's an immaturity within them. So somebody can have found Jesus for 30 years and the reality is that they've only been discipled for one and they've just repeated it over and over and over those 30 years. They're stuck in the cycle of doing the same thing. And I'd say this is quite uncomfortable, isn't it? Because it's probably quite true for many of us. We're repeating the same thing over and over. We're not actually growing.

[00:13:25] I think we do need to ask ourselves, if we're going to be honest for your questions. I think we need to say, am I still learning? What am I reading? And the last book you read or the last podcast you listened to, are you still learning and growing? Or have you just given up? You've stopped? Do you think that's it? Is God still changing you? So the stuff that you've learned as he actually moved into change?

[00:13:51] And when was the last time following Jesus cost you something? When did it actually cost you? Because you had to do something different. And I just want you to imagine, I'll give you the illustration for a second. I want you to imagine a child who never progressed by year, year two in school. They're just stuck in year two and they're not progressing. They're not maturing. They're not reading anything different. They're just stuck there in year two.

[00:14:17] If that was the case and they're stuck in year two and they're now getting older, physically older, but they're only ever stuck in year two, you would see it within a very short space of time that they're starting to lag behind. And then you actually get to your teenage years and you're still in year two and you're still reading Billy Blue Hat and those kind of books. And there's something here. There's something not right with their reading age. And you'd know immediately there was something wrong.

[00:14:46] Yet spiritually, we often are in a very similar place. And rather than celebrating real mature growth, we just end up celebrating simply surviving, getting through. And I've made it through another year. I'm still here. So we end up celebrating getting through rather than celebrating the change. So why are we plateauing? I think there's four.

[00:15:15] I'm going to give us four reasons why I think we're plateauing. The first reason I think is just simply comfort. Growth doesn't really happen, does it, when we're comfortable. When we're comfortable, that comfort leads to a place where we don't grow and we don't change. And really, the biggest growth areas in our life is when we are in an unsettled place.

[00:15:42] Because we suddenly know we need new information. We need something different. Something's got to change here. But comfort actually leads us to just plateauing. And it often leads to familiarity, which really then just leads us to just going through the motions. And if you look, Jesus is always leading people to a new place. It was never comfort.

[00:16:05] I love in Matthew where Jesus takes the decisive pulse of Caesarea Philippi, which essentially was a lap dancing club of the day. And he challenges them about church planting in this place. And it became growth in them. So comfort is a big problem in plateauing. But also busyness is a problem. And so we become busy doing Christian things. We get busy with work. We get busy with family. But we're not actually getting busy with Jesus.

[00:16:32] And this often leads us to a place of just this stagnation. And in a minute, I'm going to read to us John 15. It's a bit of an antidote. But this problem is if we are not being busy with Jesus, we're getting busy with the world, then we're just going to feed on the world and we're not going to feed on Jesus. And that does lead to stagnation. Let me talk about familiarity for a minute.

[00:17:02] I've already mentioned this already. You might have heard hundreds of sermons over and over and over and over. And you eventually go, I've heard it all. I've heard it all. There's nothing new under the sun. Nobody's going to tell me anything else. And the danger is that scripture loses its power because we've got to go, I've heard it. I know it. I would argue that actually scripture is like a diamond. And as you turn it, light should reflect through it differently every time you turn it. And therefore you see new things every time. The question is, are we turning scripture?

[00:17:29] Or are we just looking at it through the same angle over and over? And because then we just get familiar, we become less expectant. We don't expect God to speak to us through it, assuming that we've already heard it and there's nothing new under the sun. And actually scripture should have depth to it. We should dig deeper and deeper and deeper into it. It's not surface level reading. And the fourth thing I'd say is this pride. I know enough. I've heard enough. I know it.

[00:17:59] Pride actually becomes a problem for stagnation. When we think we've heard it all and know it all. The greatest barrier to growth is believing we've already arrived. I love that line. One of the greatest barriers to growth is believing that we have already arrived. So comfort, business, familiarity and pride. So the secret of continued growth. I'm going to take us to that John 15 that I've just mentioned. The vine and the branches.

[00:18:26] Jesus says, I am the true vine and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. Well every branch that does not bear fruit he prunes. So that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because the word that I have spoken to you. You remain in me as I remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches.

[00:18:55] If you remain in me and I in you, you'll bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me, my word is remaining in you. Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. This is my father's glory that you bear fruit, showing yourselves to be disciples. Well what is the repeating word there? Remain.

[00:19:25] Remain. Remain. Remain. It's all about remaining isn't it? The key word here is remain. It's not strive. It's not perform. It's remain. Remain. Friends, growth isn't something that's manufactured. It comes from remaining attached to the branch. And then fruit grows because of this connection. If you look at a grape tree, bush, grape bush, a vine, yeah?

[00:19:56] I suppose it is a bush, isn't it? A grape vine. Yeah, there we go. Found the word. Grape vine, not grape tree. Grape vine. And when you look at a grape vine and it's not been pruned, it eventually stops producing in the sense that it's not been pruned. And often prune feels like a harmful thing. But the pruning does actually lead us to growth. And we bear fruit. Those seasons that are difficult are actually pruning seasons for great growth. And we don't like pruning.

[00:20:25] And therefore, we don't see the fruit. So fruit grows because we're connected to the vine, because there has been pruning. And I would argue this is probably one of the most important discipleship principles that we could learn in remaining attached to the vine. And many of us try to become more patient. But Jesus says, you don't have to try. Stay connected to me. Stay connected to me. Remain in the vine, because that's where the fruitfulness comes.

[00:20:54] You don't have to strive, because fruit isn't achieved. Fruit is something that is produced. And this fruit changes everything. Healthy, pruned grape vines produce fruit. Fruit, branches that are remaining attached to the vine produce fruit. If you do not want to be stagnant, then there is something about pruning. And there's something about remaining. Pruning and remaining.

[00:21:24] So the attitude that keeps you growing. I want to just take you to Philippians 3, 12 to 14. I just think this is a lovely verse just to help us think about the attitude towards growing. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal. But I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, do not conform yourself yet to have taken hold of it. Sorry.

[00:21:54] Brothers and sisters, do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining on towards what is ahead. I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. There's an attitude here, isn't there, that Paul has got. And this passage just amazes me.

[00:22:23] He could have said, I've finished growing. This is Paul. I've finished growing. Instead he says, I have not arrived yet. I've not got to the destination. There's still more to go. And friends, if Paul believes there's more, how much more should we believe that there is more? The phrase that stands out to me is this, I press on. And I think when you stop pressing on, when you stop looking for new ways of reading scripture,

[00:22:51] new ways of engaging, digging deeper into the word, you stop pressing on. You stop remaining. And you're ultimately becoming more familiar with something because it's not transforming or shaping you or changing you. And therefore you just get stuck. I would argue that growth is intentional. To keep growing, to keep flourishing and continue to be fruitful. Growth is intentional.

[00:23:20] And nobody has accidentally become a more mature disciple. They've done so because they've pressed on that they've remained and they've decided to lean into, connect with and abide with Jesus and what he's doing. So friends, the question is, what is your attitude towards your faith? Are you taking it for granted? Are you becoming familiar? Are you prideful because you think you know it all? Do you say that you're busy?

[00:23:50] Do you recognize that your life is overly comfortable? All of this is important to help diagnose why you may have got stuck. Look, so what about some practical steps? I think I often talk about head, hands and heart. I'm going to do that now. We need to ask some questions, I think. So head, what is God teaching me? What is the new thing that God is teaching me today? What is it the Lord is saying to you today?

[00:24:20] And if the answer is nothing, then I would say, are you listening to the right thing? Are you reading the right thing? Are you engaging with the right thing? And there is more for you to be able to look for and engage with. But what is God teaching you today? And if the answer is nothing, then I would go back and say, well, God is always teaching something. Why are you not hearing or why are you not understanding that there's something new? What's got you to a place where you think God isn't teaching you anything?

[00:24:50] And often the root of all of that is something about pride. When our hearts are hardened, we are not engaging. We're not listening to him. When our hearts are soft, then we're ready for the new teaching. So head, then your heart. Where is the spirit challenging you right now? Now, the Holy Spirit is challenging us in our internals. Because the Holy Spirit is always challenging us for growth. And when none of us are finished, there's always more.

[00:25:18] There's always more for the Holy Spirit to be speaking into. So where is the spirit challenging you right now? And the third area is the hands. What act of obedience have you actually put into practice? Because one of the issues with stagnation is when we've stopped putting into practice the things that Jesus teaches us about being a disciple on the kingdom of God. So where are you being obedient with your practice of actually doing what Jesus has called you to do?

[00:25:48] So head, what he's got teaching you? Heart. Where is the spirit challenging you? Hands. What act of obedience are you practicing? I would then just throw in one more H, which is habits. Where are your habits? What simple rhythm have you put in place or could you put in place that will help you stay connected with Jesus throughout the whole week? Now, I would argue the 3-2-1 is a really good thing to do. What is your 3-2-1?

[00:26:17] Thank you for asking me, listener. 3-2-1. Read the Bible for three minutes and ask the question, what is the Bible saying to you? What is Jesus saying to you through this passage? And really what changes today because you've read it. So three is read the Bible. Two is prayer. So tell Jesus what's happening in your day. And then maybe go through your diary, pray for people, pray for what's on your mind, all of that kind of stuff.

[00:26:46] And then one is listen. Spend one minute listening to God and asking the question, God, what are you saying to me today? So 3-2-1. Bible, three minutes. Prayer, two minutes. Listen, one minute. And this rhythm, this 3-2-1 rhythm will help you create a habit that keeps you connected to God. So where do we go from here?

[00:27:15] Well, we talked about why we might plateau and we talked about how we might get out of plateauing. The question really is what are you going to do about it? It's not anybody else's responsibility to get you out of being stagnant. It's not anybody else's responsibility to get you growing in your faith again. It's your responsibility. Now, we can do things to help you get unstuck, but you've got to do the work of getting out of the stuck. You've got to do that work.

[00:27:45] And you just think about the Jim illustration. You know, plateau, it's not a failure. Getting stuck isn't a failure. It's actually an invitation. It's an invitation to the next thing. So every follower of Jesus experiences these seasons of plateauing and seasons of growth. We all go through it. There's nothing new here. But we do need to recognize, you know, what is going on in me that means I have got stuck. Why have I got stuck? What's my attitude?

[00:28:14] What do I think about what's happening around me? And actually trying to diagnose it is pretty much essential for us, isn't it? So the question isn't about whether you've plateaued. The question is whether you'll stay where you are. Or that's really the question. Are you going to get stuck where you are? Or actually, are you going to get yourself out of this by engaging with Jesus? Doing things like your 3, 2, 1. So let me just end with just some little thoughts on my mind. So Jesus has never stopped shaping you.

[00:28:44] Jesus has never stopped shaping you. The invitation to follow him doesn't end when you first believed. I'd say this. Discipleship is something that will never complete. It isn't a course that you can do. It's a lifelong apprenticeship. Abiding with Jesus. Being with Jesus. Watching Jesus. And doing what Jesus did. So every day Jesus still says, come follow me.

[00:29:13] The only question is whether we'll keep taking the next step. Are you going to actually do that? And keep moving rather than standing still or going backwards. So I would love to just pray with us as we end. I think it's a great question. Thank you for asking. I have some friends who describe themselves as spiritually stuck, stopped growing or stagnant. Why does this happen?

[00:29:41] I hope some of that has been a little bit helpful to you. Back to the answer. Head. What is God teaching me? Heart. Where is the spirit challenging me? Hands. What act of obedience must I practice? And then habits. What simple rhythm could help me stay connected to Jesus this week? Let me pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are the one that is moving us from stagnation to new life.

[00:30:08] You're moving us from being stuck to moving. Lord, by your Holy Spirit, lead us into that new season where we're not stuck, where we're flourishing and where we're growing. And Lord, would we take responsibility for ourselves? Lord, would we take responsibility to keep our feet moving in the faith? We pray that in the powerful name of Jesus and all the saints said, Amen. Friends, until next time, grace and peace. And I'll see you in the next episode.