Growing Up in Christ: Life in the Spirit

God never starts something that he does not intend to finish. Paul begins Ephesians with that kind of foundation, not with behavior first, not with a list of do this and do not do that, but with identity, grace, and what God has already done. The Holy Spirit identifies believers as God’s own, seals them as his people, and stands as the guarantee that the inheritance God promised is not hanging by a thread.

Paul reminds the church that life in the Spirit begins with a hard truth and a holy rescue. Believers were once dead in disobedience and sin, following the desires of the old nature, “but God,” rich in mercy, made them alive with Christ. Salvation is not a reward for good things done, not even good church things, good ministry things, or good service things. Grace saves, and then grace creates believers in Christ Jesus for good works God prepared beforehand.

The Christian life is not lived toward identity, trying to achieve something so God will say, “Now you’re mine.” Life in the Spirit is lived from identity in Christ. The Spirit does not merely save a person from something, he saves that person for something. If the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in a believer, then that life will not stay dead-looking, stagnant, stale, and unchanged.

Ephesians 4 shows what growing up in Jesus looks like. The Holy Spirit leads believers out of immaturity, out of being like children tossed around by every wind, every wave, every clever lie that sounds close enough to truth to be dangerous. The Spirit anchors the heart, sharpens discernment, and gives steadiness when the world says the old truth is outdated.

Paul then moves from a tossed child to a growing body. Christ is the head, and the whole body grows as each part does its own special work. Truth without love becomes harsh, and love without truth becomes hollow, but Spirit-formed people speak truth in love because that is how Jesus speaks. The body is not healthy when each part just does its own thing. The body grows when every part helps the other parts grow.

Paul takes the matter deeper, into the mind. The old mind is futile, darkened, empty, and cut off from the life of God. The Spirit renews thoughts and attitudes through Christ himself, not just by giving new information, but by forming a new way of seeing. That renewal becomes visible in the daily rhythm of Spirit-formed living: put off the old self, be renewed, and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Identity comes before doing. Paul roots the whole life of obedience in what God has already done, not in what believers are trying to prove. Good works matter, but they are fruit, not foundation. When doing becomes the foundation, disappointment, pride, and frustration start shaking the whole structure. Life in the Spirit is lived from identity in Christ, not toward it. [66:41]
• 2. The Spirit anchors unstable hearts. Paul’s picture of children tossed around shows how easily immature faith can be pushed by trends, emotions, pressure, and clever lies. The Holy Spirit does not make believers suspicious of everything, but he does give rootedness in truth. Discernment often begins as that quiet inner witness that says, “that don’t sound right.” A Spirit-formed life becomes less like a roller coaster and more like a rooted life. [84:40]
• 3. Truth must stay tied to love. Paul does not let truth and love get separated. Truth without love becomes a weapon, and love without truth becomes too hollow to heal anybody. Spirit-formed maturity speaks with clarity, but also with gentleness and humility. Christlike people neither water truth down nor use it to tear people down. [97:56]
• 4. Renewal reaches the actual mind. Paul takes growth inside, into thoughts, attitudes, desires, and the patterns that shape a life before any action is seen. The Holy Spirit does not merely clean up behavior on the outside. He changes the way believers see God, themselves, and the world. Real transformation happens where sin hardened the heart and darkness distorted the mind. [105:01]
• 5. Put off, renew, put on. Paul gives a daily rhythm for life in the Spirit: put off the old, be renewed, put on the new. The Spirit empowers the believer, but he does not remove the call to choose. The old self lies, pulls backward, and resists the Spirit, so the new self must be intentionally worn. Progress may be gradual, but it is never pointless. [112:59]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [54:31] - God Finishes What He Starts
• [57:02] - Growing Up in Jesus
• [59:41] - Sealed With the Promised Spirit
• [62:08] - Dead in Sin, Made Alive
• [65:03] - Living From Identity in Christ
• [69:26] - Three Foundations for Spirit Life
• [78:12] - Maturity Takes Time
• [82:38] - Led Out of Immaturity
• [93:53] - A Unified Growing Body
• [103:47] - The Spirit Renews the Mind
• [111:51] - Put Off, Be Renewed, Put On
• [119:13] - Progress Toward Christlikeness
• [120:24] - Made Alive in Christ
• [123:17] - This Week’s Challenge

Bible Reading

Ephesians 4:14-16
“so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” [01:19:24]

Ephesians 1:13-14
“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” [01:00:15]

Ephesians 2:1-10
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” [01:02:08]

Ephesians 4:22-24
“to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” [01:52:02]

Observation questions

1. In Ephesians 1:13-14, what does Paul say happened when believers heard the gospel and believed, and what role does the Holy Spirit have in those verses?
2. In Ephesians 2:1-10, what words or phrases describe life before Christ, and what words or phrases describe what God did for believers through Christ? [01:02:08]
3. In Ephesians 4:14-16, what are the two main pictures Paul uses to describe spiritual growth: one negative and one positive?
4. In Ephesians 4:22-24, what three-part pattern is given for daily Spirit-formed living? [01:52:59]

Interpretation questions

1. If believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit as God’s own and given a guaranteed inheritance, how does that shape the way they should think about assurance, identity, and spiritual growth? [01:09:26]
2. Paul says salvation is by grace and not by works, yet he also says believers are created in Christ Jesus for good works. How do those two truths fit together without canceling each other out? [01:11:22]
3. Paul warns about being like children tossed around by every wind of doctrine. What kinds of voices, pressures, or ideas might do that today, and why are immature believers especially vulnerable to them? [01:24:40]
4. Paul joins truth and love together in one command. Why is it dangerous to separate them, either by speaking truth harshly or by offering love without truth? [01:37:56]

Application questions

1. Identity in Christ comes before doing. Where is there a temptation right now to prove worth to God through activity, service, or being needed, instead of living from what God has already done? [01:06:41]
2. The Spirit leads believers out of being tossed around. What tends to shake spiritual steadiness most easily right now—popular voices, emotions, disappointment, pressure, fear, or something else? What would a more rooted response look like this week? [01:29:46]
3. The whole body grows when each part does its work and helps the other parts grow. Where does there seem to be a clear role to serve, strengthen, or encourage others instead of staying passive or disconnected? [01:41:12]
4. Truth without love becomes harsh, and love without truth becomes hollow. In a current relationship or conversation, which side is the bigger struggle: saying hard truth gently, or refusing to water truth down? [01:39:18]
5. Renewal reaches thoughts and attitudes, not just outward behavior. What repeated mindset, reaction, or inner habit seems most in need of the Spirit’s renewal right now? [01:50:50]
6. “Put off, be renewed, put on” is a daily rhythm. What is one specific old pattern that needs to be put off, and what new way of living needs to be put on in its place? [01:53:03]
7. Life in the Spirit is about progress, not pretending. Where can growth already be seen, even if it still feels gradual, and where is there a need to stop resisting what the Spirit is trying to grow? [01:59:13]