Seeking spiritual maturity
1.
One of
the earliest memories I have of the Bible is found in 1 Cor. 13.
2. I didn’t know what he meant, but I was familiar with Paul’s words in 1
Cor. 13:11.
3.
When
speaking about spiritual gifts Paul said:
4. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child.”
5. The verse concludes with, “now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.”
A POINT WHICH IS FOUND IN THIS VERSE AND
THROUGHOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT IS MATURITY.
A. God wants His people to be grown ups—people who are spiritually mature.
B. In Eph. 4:14 Paul said “that we may be no longer children.”
C. The Ephesians were told the time for spiritual immaturity was past.
D. In 1 Cor. 14:20 Paul told the Corinthians to “have minds of men, not babes.”
E. The people who received the Hebrew letter received similar instructions.
2. In Heb. 5:12-14 the author said,
3. “Ye ought to be teachers.” Instead of being teachers, these people needed to be taught again.
4. They were nursing on spiritual milk.
5. The writer wanted them to be fully developed adults who could study and appreciate deeper truths.
6. At different times we cite Col. 3:16.
7. This verse says, “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
8. There are some folks who do not have much of God’s word in them.
9. What is in the minds and lives of some Christians is not rich and deep; it is shallow and weak.
10. In 1 Pet. 2:2 Peter told his readers to “grow.”
11. As the people of God we must realize that God’s will for our lives is spiritual maturity.
12. Spiritual adulthood is to be our goal, and this is a goal we can attain.
13. Sadly, however, there are members of the church who are not interested in growing up.
A. Several years ago Teresa was teaching a Bible class for young children.
B. A woman who was probably in her 30’s said she needed to be in this class.
C. She didn’t want to teach or help teach.
D. She said she “learned so much” from the stories that were told.
E. This woman had been a Christian for 20 years.
F. She had been converted 20 years prior and she had not weaned herself from spiritual milk.
G. She had refused to grow.
H. If we had a child who said he wanted to suck a bottle for 20 years, we would see a problem.
I. In the church this same type of situation exists and it is often a matter of little concern.
J. From the passages I cited, even the first Christians were sometimes lax about spiritual growth.
14. God’s will is for us to grow o the point where we are men and women.
15. As an example of what is being described we will look at the apostle Peter.
16. TONIGHT I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU AN INTERESTING WORD WHICH IS APPLIED TO PETER.
A. This word is found in the transfiguration.
B. Peter, James, and John witnessed this special event.
C. According to Mt. 17:4, Peter started to talk.
D. He said it was “good to be there” and he said he would build three little booths.
17. The verse which deserves special attention is verse 5 of Mt. 17 – READ.
18. There was a cloud which “overshadowed” Peter.
19. At this time in his life Peter had a lot of learning to do.
20. He got some things wrong.
21. He was speaking but the voice of God said “listen.”
22. Did Peter ever grow into spiritual adulthood? Did he mature?
23. Did he, to use the words of Paul, “put away childish things?”
A. We are now ready for the scripture that was read.
B. Let’s go back to Acts 5.
C. People were sick and desperately wanted to be cured.
D. They were laid in the streets hoping Peter’s shadow would come upon them.
24. The word we want to concentrate on is “overshadow.”
25. Let’s look at Acts 5:15 one more time – READ
26. The word overshadow is identical to the term used in Mt. 17:5.
27. This single word reveals a great lesson.
A. There was a time in Peter’s life when he was overshadowed.
B. He was guilty of speaking out of turn and not listening.
C. He had some maturing to do.
D. By the time of Acts 5, Peter had experienced substantial spiritual growth.
28. He had progressed so far people now wanted to be overshadowed by him.
29. Peter got his act together and became an outstanding member of the kingdom.
30. When we become a member of God’s family we make a commitment.
31. We pledge to work on spiritual maturity.
32. Our goal is to grow up (Eph. 4:15) and get a job in the kingdom.
33. God never intended for His people to have a stagnant faith.
34. This past week I read about a man who was reading the writings of the Puritans.
A. In the past he had tried to read their works but found them dry and boring.
B. He eventually realized the problem was not with them.
C. In his prior attempts he had not matured enough to appreciate their writings.
35. This same problem can exist within the church.
36. FROM THE PASSAGES THAT HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED, WE KNOW THAT PETER WAS SUCCESSFUL IN MAKING SPIRITUAL PROGRESS. HE NEEDED TO MOVE BEYOND WHERE HE WAS WHEN JESUS WAS ON THE EARTH AND HE SUCCEEDED.
A. How can we learn from his example?
B. In the physical realm there are signs that a newborn baby is healthy and properly growing.
C. The same is true in the spiritual realm.
D. Based upon what we know about Peter’s life, I want to propose 10 points.
E. These are mainly common sense principles.
F. When we practice these 10 things we are on the right road to spiritual maturity.
G. The following items helped Peter reach the point described in Acts 5.
37. The first item is our guide to and for life.
38. A mark of maturity occurs when someone say, “My entire life will be guided by God’s word.”
39. At the transfiguration Peter was being guided by his own ways and ideas.
40. Instead of waiting for a message from God, he tried to move forward with his own plans.
41. To be a mature saint, we must be committed to basing upon lives on and around the scriptures.
42. Number 2: Listen to the elders.
43. A mark of immaturity among young people is not listening to parental advice.
44. Some of us have seen church members who will not listen to or follow elders.
45. I once heard an elder say he resigned because the flock wouldn’t follow.
46. Heb. 13:17 tells us to obey those who have the rule over us.
47. Mature Christians understand and comply with this instruction.
48. A third sign of maturity is found in how we approach God and His work.
49. In 2 Cor. 8:5 the Bible says “they first gave of themselves.”
50. What do we give to God?
51. Do we first give of ourselves and then our material assets?
52. A mature Christian is accustomed to giving in several different ways.
53. I am not hesitant to applying this to our Wednesday night cleaning sessions.
54. Dusting the pews, taking out the trash, vacuuming…mature saints want to give first of themselves.
A. The fourth indicator is in self sufficiency.
B. When we have a question, do we try to examine it on our own?
C. I am happy to help anyone with any question. My door is always open.
D. If I am always the first source someone seeks out, this does not contribute to spiritual growth.
E. It is good to wrestle with things on our own for a while and see if we can find answers ourselves.
F. If not, or the answers we come up with are not satisfactory, ask for help.
55. The fifth indication is based upon good and evil.
56. How we dress, talk, and act?
57. Do we see some forms of dress, speech, and behavior as evil?
58. If not, we need to grow.
59. If we do see problems, do we strive to avoid them?
A. A sixth hint for maturity is related to the Satan.
B. I have heard Christians blame every trouble they have on the devil.
C. This blame is especially visible in the denominational world.
D. I found that in the denominational world Satan is blamed for almost everything.
E. The devil is responsible for many problems, but we sometimes create our own headaches.
F. Christian maturity causes us to look at circumstances and ask some questions.
G. Does a problem exist because we created it, someone else created it, chance, or Satan?
H. Christian maturity causes the children of God to reflect upon and think about things.
60. A 7th indication of maturity is self discipline.
61. Can we wait for things or must we have something “right now.”
62. The New Testament frequently talks about patience.
63. Christians are told to wait.
64. We wait for the second coming and heaven.
65. Waiting is necessary to form the qualities which make us mature.
66. Patience in dealing with others is a mark of maturity.
67. In thinking about the 8th proof of maturity, the word battle comes to mind.
A. Mature Christians know they are soldiers in the army of God.
B. Mature Christians understand the battle between right and wrong; truth and error.
C. When a Christian is full-grown, he or she will fight and fight properly.
D. There was a time when Peter wanted to fight. He cut off a man’s ear.
E. He was brave but not mature. He had some growing to do.
F. When we mature into the kind of people God wants, we will know how to fight.
G. We will also be good soldiers.
68. For the 9th point I would say forgiveness.
69. This can be a difficult quality.
70. There are times when forgiveness is really put to the test.
71. Christian maturity means that we understand the debt we had which has been completely forgiven.
72. Because a mature Christian understands what Jesus has done, forgiveness is always possible.
73. It may not be easy, but it can be achieved.
74. # 10 – how this lesson began. Love.
75. A mature Christian learns to love all people.
76. It may sound so easy but it can often be so difficult.
77. We meet some folks in our day to day lives who are easy to despise and dislike.
78. Christian maturity helps correct our thinking.
A. God wants us to be a Christian. This is the first step.
B. Have we taken it?
C. After becoming a Christian He wants us to mature. Are we on the road to spiritual adulthood?