How Do I Grow Closer to God?

From the message “You Were Meant to Grow” at Citizens Church

Spiritual growth requires proximity to Jesus. Jesus’ invitation to His first disciples was simple: “Follow me.” And in that invitation, we see a framework for how we grow in our faith.

You Were Meant to Grow

A couple of weeks ago, my family came to town to celebrate Citizens Church’s one-year anniversary and my daughter Hannah’s baptism. My parents traveled from Tucson, Arizona, and my dad hadn’t seen our girls in about nine months.

When he saw them, he said what grandparents often say when they haven’t seen their grandkids in a while: “Look how much they’ve grown.”

They’re at that stage of life where they can look completely different in nine months. And I want to talk about that, because you were meant to grow too.

Not taller. You were meant to mature.

You weren’t meant to stay the same. You were meant to grow up and grow out in your faith.

We’ve been walking through the book of Ephesians together, and we’re at the point where Paul begins talking about what it looks like to actually live out our faith. And that requires us to grow.

So the question is: How do we grow in our faith?

To begin, we can look at the way Jesus called His first disciples.

Who Does Jesus Call?

Mark 1:16–20 tells us that Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee when He saw Simon and Andrew casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen.

Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Immediately, they left their nets and followed Him.

Jesus went a little farther and saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee, sitting in their boat mending their nets. He called them too, and they left their father in the boat with the hired servants and followed Jesus.

At first glance, that can seem strange. It looks like a bunch of fishermen just abandoned their boats and followed Jesus. But there’s more happening here.

This is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He hasn’t healed anybody yet. He hasn’t taught all the sermons we know Him for. He has just been baptized, and one of the very first things we see Him do is call His disciples.

And who does He call?

Ordinary people.

If we were building a team to change the world, we would probably be selective. We’d look at skill sets. We’d look at influence. We’d look for people with authority, power, or resources.

Think about the 1995–96 Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan. Scottie Pippen. Dennis Rodman. Steve Kerr. Toni Kukoč. Phil Jackson leading them.

You look at that team and think, How could they not succeed?

That’s how we tend to build teams. We gather talented, gifted people.

But that isn’t what God did.

Jesus showed up at a lake and called fishermen. Fishing was an ordinary job. It would be like walking into Starbucks and saying to a couple of baristas, “Come change the world with me,” or calling teachers, police officers, mechanics, or people working normal jobs and living average lives.

And it wasn’t only their jobs that were ordinary. The men themselves were ordinary too.

Peter was passionate, but he had a habit of speaking before he thought and acting before he considered the consequences. He was all accelerator, all passion, and sometimes a lot of mess.

Andrew was different. He was quieter and calmer. And almost every time we see Andrew in Scripture, he is bringing someone to Jesus: “Come and see Jesus.”

Then there were James and John. They were passionate and sometimes reckless. At one point, they were so angry with a town that they asked Jesus about calling down fire on it.

Jesus called them the sons of thunder, and that wasn’t necessarily a compliment.

These were regular, ordinary guys with normal jobs, average lives, and families at home. One had a big mouth. Another was quiet. Two had tempers.

They were people a lot like us.

And those are the people Jesus called.

Can God Use Ordinary People?

God uses ordinary people, and I think there are two reasons.

First, when God uses us in our weakness and ordinariness, He gets the glory.

You assemble the 1995 Bulls and you expect them to succeed. You assemble a bunch of benchwarmers and they do something incredible, and everybody knows something bigger happened.

These disciples were average. Nobody expected much from them.

And they changed the world.

The second reason God uses ordinary people is because we are ordinary people.

If God could use Peter, if He could use Andrew, James, and John, imagine what He could do through somebody like you.

What Does It Mean to Follow Jesus?

Jesus calls ordinary people, but look at what He calls them to.

He says: “Follow me.”

Our spiritual growth requires proximity to Jesus.

And in this one statement, Jesus gives us a picture of what discipleship looks like.

Be With Jesus

Jesus says, “Follow me.”

The invitation is to come and be in close proximity with Him, to be in relationship with Him.

Become Like Jesus

Then Jesus says, “I will make you become…”

He does not say that the moment you are called a disciple, you instantly become a completely different person. You have a new identity. You have a new purpose. He has a different plan.

But it is a process of formation and becoming something different.

Live With a New Purpose

Then Jesus says, “…fishers of men.”

He is calling them into a completely new purpose for their lives.

The challenge for a lot of Christians is that we try to do the second and third things without the first. We try to become on our own. We try to produce through our own power.

And eventually we get frustrated. We get discouraged. We burn out. We get irritated with ourselves because we can’t move parts of ourselves on our own.

But Jesus begins with: Come follow me.

The disciples spent about three and a half years with Jesus. They sat around campfires with Him. They shared meals. They heard His teaching about the kingdom of God. They watched what it looked like to be full of truth and full of grace.

And being with Jesus changed them.

Why Does Spending Time With Jesus Matter?

Sometimes we think our Christian faith is like taking a cucumber and dipping it into vinegar.

You dip it in. You pull it right back out.

That isn’t a pickle. That’s just a cucumber with a little vinegar on it.

And sometimes that’s what we do with our faith. We have one experience with Jesus and expect everything to change.

But the invitation of Jesus is: Come and be with me.

John uses words like dwell and abide.

The cucumber has to stay in the vinegar. It marinates. It becomes something different.

That is what Jesus invites His disciples into.

Come close. Stay close. Be with Him.

Proximity to Jesus changes us.

You’ve probably seen that in people. You look at somebody’s life and think, Jesus is changing you. You’re growing. There is something different about you.

But that kind of following requires something from us.

What Does It Mean to Surrender to God?

Following Jesus requires surrender. That is what we see in the disciples.

Mark tells us that immediately they left their nets and followed Him. James and John left their father in the boat with the hired servants.

They were leaving more than a hobby. This was their livelihood. This was how they provided for themselves and their families.

There was disappointment. There was risk.

They were surrendering it all because they were called into a bigger vision for their lives: to come and follow Jesus.

That kind of trust is hard.

Sometimes some of the hardest things to trust God with are other people.

When Emily and I began sensing that God was calling us to plant this church, we had a whole list of things we knew we would have to surrender.

Finances. Friendships. We didn’t even know who was going to come.

We wondered, Are You sure, God? We don’t seem like those kinds of people.

We felt a lot more like Peter and Andrew. A little messy. Ordinary.

And the hardest thing for me to trust God with was our children.

They loved the church they were at. They had people who loved them and invested in them. Their youth ministry was exciting and fun.

We weren’t leaving a bad place. We were leaving a good place.

And I struggled with that.

God, what if I’m making the wrong decision? What if they resent the church? I don’t want to go make disciples at the sacrifice of my family.

Godly mentors walked through that with me. They didn’t give me simple answers. They prayed with me. They talked through it with me.

And one of them finally said:

“If God is calling you to this, that’s the only question. Is God calling you? Because if He is, He is going to provide for you and your family through it.”

And over the last few years, I’ve watched God care for our children.

I’ve seen them develop a depth of faith I never could have imagined for teenagers.

Not because I’m an excellent father. I get plenty wrong.

I think it’s simply because we got out of the boat.

We trusted Jesus.

And He cared for us.

What Does It Mean to Get Out of the Boat?

God is still calling ordinary people to come and follow Him.

But following requires surrender.

It requires giving something up.

As long as we insist on choosing our own way, staying in control, and depending on our own will and power, we are asking God to bless our dreams and our plans instead of saying:

I’m getting out of the boat.

And this is about far more than vocation.

Later, we see some of these same disciples fishing again.

The point wasn’t the boat.

The point was their hearts.

The point was surrendering it all to follow Him.

How Do I Grow Closer to Jesus Every Day?

The second practical invitation is really simple:

Spend time with Jesus daily.

Abide.

Marinate in His presence.

Your mama was right when she told you that you become like whatever you’re around.

We are all feeding ourselves something. We are all marinating in something.

We’re becoming like the algorithms that are feeding us. We’re becoming like the company we keep.

And that is why Jesus’ invitation is:

Come and be with me.

Because when you are with Him in close proximity, you become like Him.

You probably know people like that. People who have been around Jesus so much that it shows.

You can see it reflected in their lives.

I think about a man named Clark.

Clark was a businessman in San Francisco. He started a high-end men’s clothing business. He was young. He was ambitious. His business grew quickly.

He wasn’t corrupt, but his practices weren’t always the most honorable either.

Then, in his mid-thirties, Clark became a Christian. He heard the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time, and it radically changed his life.

Shortly afterward, his business fell apart.

He didn’t understand why.

Wasn’t following Jesus supposed to fix things?

Eventually, he moved to a small mountain community north of Santa Fe and started another business.

This time it was small.

And this time Clark had learned to be with Jesus.

And it changed him.

He knew business. But now he knew how to do it honorably.

Eventually Clark retired young, in his late fifties.

A lot of people retire and start another business or another career. Maybe they buy a boat, buy some toys, or go on vacation.

But not Clark.

He had spent too many years in the presence of Jesus.

When I met him, I was doing a pastoral residency. Clark was working at the church.

I later found out that he was working full-time hours completely for free.

He cared for widows. He cared for people walking through grief. He sat gently and quietly with broken people and loved them.

Clark taught me how to sit beside someone as they took their last breaths. He taught me how to be present with somebody struggling with addiction and love them in the middle of the destructive sin in their life.

He taught me how to walk through pain and suffering with people who were grieving.

Clark had spent a lifetime in the presence of Jesus.

And it showed.

That’s what I want for us.

I want people to look at your life and say:

You’ve grown. There is something different about you. What is it?

And you can say:

Let me tell you about Jesus.

What If I Don’t Feel Like Spending Time With Jesus?

One of the reasons we often don’t abide in the presence of Christ isn’t that we don’t know how.

Sometimes we just don’t feel like it.

There are times I don’t feel like hanging out with Emily. Sometimes I just want to sit on my phone and let my brain be numb.

But even if I don’t feel like spending intentional time with her, once I do, I realize: This is a lot better than just sitting here staring at my phone.

It’s kind of like going to the gym.

There are plenty of times we don’t feel like working out.

But we get the same results whether we feel like it or not.

That’s how it can be when we’re with Jesus.

Whether you feel like it or not, you can still abide. You can still be present with Him.

Jesus is saying:

Come and be with me.

He came all the way from heaven to earth and died on a cross so that you could be with Him.

And sometimes we struggle to simply be still with Him for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Jesus Is Still Calling Ordinary People

If you’ve never become a follower of Jesus, He is still calling ordinary people.

There is level ground at the cross.

He is calling ordinary people like you to come and be with Him, to be present with Him, and to walk close to Him.

Maybe you are walking through something right now that feels lonely. Maybe something feels overwhelming.

You do not have to go through it alone.

But following Him means getting out of the boat and saying:

I’m here. There’s nothing I’m holding back. I’m giving it all to You.

That is the invitation Jesus gave His first disciples.

And it is the invitation He still gives today:

Come and follow me.

Questions From This Message

In this message, Chad points back to Jesus’ invitation: “Follow me.” Spiritual growth requires proximity to Jesus. The invitation begins with being with Him and spending time in His presence.

Why can I feel spiritually stuck even when I’m trying to grow?

Chad explains that we often try to “become” through our own power without first responding to Jesus’ invitation to be with Him. Trying to produce change on our own can leave us frustrated, discouraged, and burned out.

What does it mean to abide in Jesus?

Chad describes abiding as staying in the presence of Jesus rather than treating faith as a one-time experience. Like the cucumber in his illustration, transformation happens through remaining there and being changed over time.

Does following Jesus require surrender?

Yes. Chad points to the disciples leaving their nets as a picture of surrender. The point was not ultimately the boats themselves. The point was their hearts and their willingness to trust Jesus and follow Him.

How can I spend more time with Jesus?

Chad’s practical invitation is simple: spend time with Jesus daily. Abide in His presence, even on the days you don’t feel like it.

Watch the Full Message

You Were Meant to Grow

Watch the original message from Citizens Church.

Looking for a Church Near Cibolo or Schertz?

Citizens Church gathers Sundays at 10 AM at the Cibolo Family YMCA.

We are a community learning to follow Jesus together, and we’d love to meet you.