Growing Into Christ-Likeness (Part 3) 5.10.2025
The meeting of Grace Christian Church. We meet in person and stream services every Sunday at 10:30 AM EST in Manalapan, New Jersey.
“Lesson Three: God’s Part and Your Part in Becoming Like Christ”
This lesson explores the roles of God and the believer in the process of spiritual transformation into Christ-likeness. It emphasizes that God is the initiator and producer of this transformation, beginning His work at salvation and continuing it until the return of Christ (Philippians 1:6). The believer’s role is to actively depend on God as the source, rather than relying on self-effort or independence. Drawing from biblical examples, including Jesus’ dependent life and the vine-branch metaphor (John 15:5), the lesson highlights that transformation occurs through faith in God, not human strength. It addresses common struggles with dependence due to the flesh, worldly influences, and cultural perceptions of weakness, offering practical steps to shift faith from self to God for true spiritual growth.
Key Points
1. God’s Role in Transformation
• Initiator: God begins the transformative work at salvation, as seen in Philippians 1:6a (“He who began a good work in you…”) and John 14:26 (the Holy Spirit teaches and reminds).
• Producer: God completes the work, freeing believers from sin, healing woundedness, supplying needs, granting victory, and transforming lives into Christ-likeness (Philippians 1:6b, Galatians 5:1, Psalm 147:3, Philippians 4:19, 1 Corinthians 15:57, 2 Corinthians 3:18).
• Willing and Determined: God’s commitment to transformation is evident in Philippians 1:6, countering the belief that unwillingness lies with God—rather, it’s often the believer’s reluctance.
2. The Danger of Self-Reliance
• A common false belief is that believers must initiate and produce transformation with God’s help, relying on intellect, willpower, or discipline—likened to climbing a greased rope, leading to frustration or abandonment of faith.
• This self-reliance hinders true growth into Christ-likeness, as transformation depends solely on God.
3. Believer’s Role: Active Dependence
• John 15:5 Insight: Jesus as the Vine and believers as branches illustrates total dependence, with “abide” meaning to rely on, draw from, and cooperate with God as the source (not producer) of fruit.
• Active, Not Passive: Dependence is an active process of trusting God, contrasting with passivity, as seen in Jesus’ life (John 5:19, 5:30, 8:28, 14:10).
• Apart from Me, You Can Do Nothing: Independence from Christ results in no spiritual life, power, victory, or transformation (John 15:5b).
4. Jesus as the Model of Dependence
• Jesus, though fully divine, lived as a man in total dependence on the Father and Holy Spirit, not as the source but as the conduit (Philippians 2:6-7, John 5:19, 5:30, 8:28, 14:10).
• This sets the example for believers to live similarly, relying on God’s life and power.
5. Challenges to Dependence
• Flesh: An attitude of independence resists God (Romans 7:18, 8:7).
• World: Promotes self-sufficiency and equates dependence with weakness.
• Cultural Influence: Reinforces independence, making dependence countercultural.
6. Faith as Dependence
• Definition: Faith is moment-by-moment dependence on God as the source of transformation (2 Corinthians 5:7).
• Object of Faith: True transformation requires faith in God, not self; misplacing faith in oneself leads to no victory, freedom, or healing (Galatians 2:20, Hebrews 12:2).
• Not Self-Produced: Believers receive faith from Christ (Philippians 4:19, Colossians 2:9-10), not generating it themselves.
• Without Feeling: Faith operates without immediate feelings or experiences, trusting God’s work (Hebrews 11:1, Philippians 1:6).
• Steps to Attitude: Faith progresses from intentional steps to a continuous attitude of dependence, like learning to walk (Galatians 5:16).
7. Practical Application
• Believers should meditate on key verses (Philippians 1:6, John 15:5) and engage God to shift from self-reliance to dependence.
• Reflect on personal struggles with dependence and the consequences of independence in life decisions (e.g., marriage, parenting, job).
• The lesson sets the foundation for applying these truths in future growth into Christ-likeness.
This lesson underscores a transformative shift from self-effort to divine reliance, encouraging believers to embrace God’s role while actively participating through faith.
