Reconsidering Spiritual Growth

In one of my first jobs, I remember we had a big meeting with the entire staff gathered together. At this time, I was just a college student working my first job, so this meeting felt super out of place for me. I sat down at a table with five adults at the climax of their careers while I was just there to pay my tuition. The meeting went on, and the higher-ups at the company started talking about the direction the company was going and all their future plans. Then they started handing out our box lunches, and the president of the whole operation said, “We are so glad you are all here. We really could not care about each and every one of you more.” At that moment I saw my whole table have the same reaction. They rolled their eyes and muttered, “yeah, right.”

During the lunch that followed, everyone at that table quietly complained about how the executives of the company didn’t care about anyone but themselves. They felt overworked and underappreciated. Personally, I had seen or experienced none of the stress the rest of the table was expressing. However, I noticed something important. No matter how many times the executives said they appreciated the employees, they didn’t believe them. Their words didn’t match their actions, and that's all that mattered to the employees.

This concept is something that has been on my mind for a while now. It’s not super revolutionary, but I have recently begun to think about my faith differently, and this was transformational for me. What you say and what you do can be completely different, and sometimes we don’t even realize it.

As a seminary student, it’s easy to start to say the right things. The truth is, as we learn more, we will continue to say the right things more and more. This isn’t inherently bad; in fact, it’s a good thing. We should be growing in wisdom and learning more about God and ourselves. I have heard this concept referred to as our confessional theology. That is: what we confess to be true. As you learn more, your confessional theology will expand. For example, as a child, you know that there is a God, and you confess that, but as an adult, you learn that the God of the universe is trinity: three persons in perfect unity, so now you confess that to be true.

Some people mistakenly attribute an expanding confessional theology to spiritual growth. However, that is what I want to oppose directly. I want to counter this because it doesn’t matter if you say the right thing if your actions do not show it. I have heard this concept referred to as our functional theology. That is: how our beliefs display in our day-to-day life. The truth is, no one has a perfect marriage between their confessional and functional theologies. We all have gaps where we believe something that is not displayed in our lives. If you’re anything like me, it doesn’t take a lot of introspection to recognize several of these gaps.

Let me give you a few examples of where I often see gaps in those I love. If you ask the regular churchgoer, “Does prayer work?” Or, “Is regular prayer important?” They will almost certainly respond affirmatively. That is what I like to call good confessional theology. Yes! Prayer works, and I would hope that a Christian would affirm that. However, many of us who confess that would be ashamed(1) to vulnerably share what our prayer life looks like. If regular prayer is important, how often do you pray when you have nothing to petition for? How often do you pray when everything is going right in your life?

Another example is evangelism. Your confessional theology would probably say something along the lines of: “Christians should live in this world and show Jesus to others with the intention of making people of this world into brothers and sisters in Christ.” However, does your functional theology have you speaking to any nonbelievers? I see some Christians living their lives in a way where they seem to be trying to interact with as few nonbelievers as possible. Is your functional theology displaying your confessional theology?

This is the grander idea of what I want to suggest. Perhaps spiritual growth is not just learning more about God. Instead, spiritual growth is having what you do reflect what you believe. To use the terminology we have developed so far, I would say this:

Spiritual growth is the process of merging your functional theology with your ever-expanding confessional theology. We need to think about what it takes to facilitate this merge.

Before understanding this, I felt like my spiritual growth was stagnant. I was continually learning more about God, but if that didn’t change my actions, it meant nothing. My previous definition of spiritual growth was just “eliminating sin,” but when put into practice, my daily life became a game of trying to avoid what I deemed sinful.

Now I am able to see sin as gaps between my confessional and functional theology, and I can get to the root of the issue much easier.

That brings me to the final action item I want to share. If what I said is correct, that spiritual growth is a merging of your functional theology with your ever-expanding confessional theology. We need to think about what it takes to facilitate this merge.

First, I urge you not to feel like you need to be perfect at this right away. When this realization struck me, I began to see so many gaps in my daily life. However, I have learned that two things help with the process of merging these two theologies.

1. Spiritual Disciplines - regular practices that can be used to show us the importance of a change in functional theology.

2. Gospel-Centered Community - Christians who are willing to walk alongside you and help you in areas where you are weak. A good gospel-centered community will help you both identify your gaps and work with you towards merging your two theologies.

If you are reading this, I ask you to take some time to consider this in your own life. In your most private moments, how do you function? How does it match how you confess? Pray and ask God to reveal the gap in your theologies. Let’s grow closer to Him.

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1. There should be no shame, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). It’s okay to have not “arrived” in every aspect. Shame is a tool of the enemy, grace is the gift of our God.

*I should note that this concept of confessional and functional theology is not my own, but I explored this through the writings and teaching of Dr. Paul David Tripp. I am simply paraphrasing his definitions and detailing how this concept has affected my life. If you want to read more about this, I suggest reading Tripp.