Spiritual Maturity

Transcript

A good Sabbath to all of you. I hope all of you have had a good week. I thought I’d mention that this past week I took my wife to a movie. Some of you have probably heard of it. It’s entitled Lincoln. Of course, it’s about Abraham Lincoln and it’s produced by Steven Spielberg so it was quite a good movie. I could highly recommend it. But, it was based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s novel, or not novel, but historical novel called Team of Rivals that she published six or seven years ago. Some of you may have read the book. It really has to do with what Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, went through in the last year or so of his life in helping to bring the Civil War to a close and some of the events surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation and other things, but it was quite a stunning movie because it showed amongst other things the concern that Abraham Lincoln had for his country, the love that he had for his country and it showed some very interesting family dynamics that took place, no doubt, during that period of time. But amongst other things, it showed the man’s character and in particular his maturity. You find him amongst other politicians and even his own family at a very crucial time in the history of the United States really showing through the maturity that the man had and he was known for.

You know the whole concept of maturity is something that we value quite a bit. None of us likes to be considered as immature. We probably all have been called that. I think back in my life when I was a lot younger and there were times when I no doubt acted very immature and there were a few times when I was told as a young boy and even as a teenager that I was acting pretty immature. But you know you usually base the assessment of whether somebody is mature or not on the way that they react to situations, the way they react to themselves, to others, to a crisis, to a challenge in their life and it’s far more emotion than it is logic or truth and often we are tabbed as or we’re noted as being immature. You know it happens sometimes when someone criticizes your friends or criticizes you or your opinions. Sometimes it happens when you’re a fan of a sports team. You’re really wanting your team to win and you know they lose and they lose big time and sometimes our reactions can be quite immature. It happens when people even criticize our children. Sometimes we as parents maybe aren’t the most objective when our children have done something wrong and others criticize them.

The point is it goes without saying that all of us want to be considered emotionally mature people. We all want to be considered that. You know one of the best examples in the Bible of showing the contrast is that of the Apostle Peter and many of us know and what we read through the Scriptures and the Gospels that Peter was quite a man of emotion and impulsiveness at least  the way of the Gospel accounts record it. You know he would often challenge the Great Rabbi which he came to understand was the Son of God and that was Jesus. He sometimes challenged Jesus correcting Him when he disagreed. He would occasionally respond or overreact to requests that were made by Christ to him. He even attempted, as I think all of us know, to walk on water only to sink having a stronger opinion, of course, of his faith than he actually had. He made promises of loyalty and conviction later in the ministry of Jesus Christ only to shrink from all of that and fail out of fear. We know the story of the night when Christ was betrayed. We can see that Peter himself showed signs of immaturity when first coming to know Jesus Christ when he was first coming to be called by God. He really was known as an individual that was impulsive and in some ways immature. And yet you see a somewhat different Peter when the book of Acts unfolds and we know that he has spiritually matured and there was a reason for that. Clearly with the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit and the reality of some of the things that Christ had taught he and His disciples we see a Peter that has changed. You know a man that represented the truth as he was taught with conviction as we see in the sermon that he gave that was recorded in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost, a man that dealt with the realities of life in the Roman Empire that he preached in, a man that learned from the experiences that he would have, a man who stood on principle and not just on emotion. He wasn’t devoid of emotion as was true of he and others but he stood more on principle as we see his life unfolding in the pages of the Book of Acts and even his own writings. And a man that focused on giving as a way of life he did set an example of maturity. And when you read from 2 Peter 3, which many of us have, later in his life, later in his ministry we see a man that’s changed, a man that has matured, a man that has become more of full spiritual age.

Well today what I would like to do is to ask all of you a question, it’s a question for you and for me to ask ourselves and that is, “Am I mature?” And more directly, “Am I spiritually mature?” My goal is, of course, to get all of us to think about ourselves in this particular instance. In most sermons that are given we’re not really trying to give preach a sermon to get you to think just about yourself, but in this particular case I think it’s very important for us to take a look at our heart, to take a look at our thoughts, as we go through this topic today.

But what about maturity? How do you know when you see a mature person? Especially as a  Christian from a spiritual perspective. You know human behavior authorities and specialists have come to define maturity a certain way and as I go through this short list of characteristics of mature people, I think all of us will identify with these because they really are, I think, quite true.

You know one of the signs of immaturity is volatile emotion. People that have great emotional swings, people that express themselves in temper tantrums, prolonged pouts and rapidly changing moods, people who get frustrated easily and overreact to perceived criticism. I realize there are people who have to deal with health issues that relate to mood swings but I’m really talking about an individual who has very volatile swings in their emotions.

Another characteristic of immaturity is what is called over-dependence. People who are indecisive, who easily are influenced and avoid responsibility for their own actions and they tend to stay in unpleasant relationships to avoid change and to continue to be dependent upon this other person or people even though it may be an unhealthy relationship. We’ve probably all seen examples of that.

Another sign of immaturity is not being accountable for one’s actions. Not being accountable for one’s actions. Blaming others for one’s problems, criticisms and trials, not taking responsibility for one’s own actions. Again, we’ve seen that. I’ve seen it and have probably done it myself on the basketball court over the years. You know, the old reaction to being called for a foul. You know you look around at everyone else but yourself. Again I’m not suggesting that anybody who questions a foul is immature but it does kind of illustrate the fact that sometimes we want to look at everybody else’s problems and everybody else’s shortcomings and not really take ownership of our own actions.

Another sign of immaturity is what’s called stimulation hunger. It’s kind of a strange statement, I know, and when I first read it some years ago I thought, “What in the world is that? What is stimulation hunger?” Well it’s defined as people who want everything now. They see something,  they it and they want it now. A person’s behavior may be superficial, thoughtless and impulsive. An immature person has loyalty that lasts only as long as the relationship seems useful to them. In other words stimulation hunger, or people who reflect that, tend to use other people. In those who have often chaotic finances meaning they will spend first and ask questions later and of course that’s not the way to live our lives. Sometimes we want something and we want it now. One of the best illustrations I've experienced in my own life to that is at least not too critical and that is when hunting. I’ve been hunting for deer as a number of people have and you know when you first start learning how to use a firearm and you’re anxious to harvest an animal, sometimes you’ll get that animal in your sights and you’ll pull the trigger without really take the time to aim and why? Because we’re anxious to get it over with. We’re anxious to get what we want and yet we find that being stimulated by that hunger for wanting things is a sign of immaturity

Another one is self-centeredness. Individuals who are immature are often self-centered and selfish having little regard for others. They are preoccupied with their ideas, with their feelings, with their symptoms. They’re not well. They deeply believe that they are somehow special and demand constant attention, respect and sympathy from other people. Again, these are just a few of the signs of immaturity.

I don’t bring these up, as I said at the outset, for you to be or any of us to be evaluating other people although there’s no doubt as I go through this list, certain individuals or examples come to mind but really for us to take a look at ourselves. The same time some of these human behavior experts will tell you what are characteristics of people who are mature. Mature people have the ability to deal with reality. The immature avoid facing reality, overdue bills, interpersonal problems, indeed any difficulties which demand character and integrity are avoided and even denied by those who are immature. Mature people eagerly face reality knowing the quickest way to solve a problem is to deal with it and deal with it promptly, if possible. A person’s level of maturity can be directly related to the degree to which they face their problems or avoid their problems. Mature people confront their problems and immature people often avoid their problems.

Another characteristic of a mature person is the focus on giving and receiving. You notice as I go through this list, some of these characteristics I think we can start connecting to a very spiritual approach and component. Mature people focus on giving and receiving. A mature person’s sense of personal security permits him or her to consider the needs of others and to give from their personal resources whether it’s money, whether it’s time, whether it’s effort, to enhance the quality of life of others around them. They’re also able to allow others to give to them which is sometimes a bit of difficulty for us. Now sometimes we are humbled by others giving us gifts which maybe is not a bad thing, but sometimes when we are in need, if we are used to in our life having the capacity and the ability to help other people and we go through circumstances in our life maybe due to health or age or other unforeseen events that befall us whereas people need to come to serve and help us sometimes it’s a bit of a struggle for us but as this defines, mature people are able to allow others to give to them balance and maturity go hand in hand. Immaturity though is indicated by being willing to give but unwilling to receive or willing to receive but unwilling to give and the mature person understands the balance and the need at times in one’s life for both.

Another characteristic of a mature person is the ability to learn from experience. And boy when you think about that phrase, it probably causes a lot of us, I know it does cause me to think back over my life over the things that I’ve experienced and ask myself the question, “Have I really learned from the experiences that I’ve been through?” It states here that the ability to face reality and to relate positively to life’s experiences derive from the ability to learn from experience. Immature people do not learn from experience whether the experience is positive or negative. They act as if there’s no relationship between how they act and the consequences that occur to them. They view good or bad experiences as being caused by luck or fate. They do not accept personal responsibility and they often appear to be the victim. But again, the mature person has the ability to learn through those experiences both positive and negative ones.

Another characteristic is the ability to take responsibility for one’s own actions whether they be good or bad mistakes or successes. This person takes responsibility for their decisions and their actions. Now there is the ability to handle frustrations. When things don’t go as anticipated, the immature person stamps his feet or holds their breath and bemoans the fate. The mature person considers using another approach or going another direction and moves on with their life. And boy can we think of times probably in our lives when we’ve faced frustration and reacted in certain ways and as you get older as many of us are, we can think back to a time in our life when we’ve reacted in frustration far less maturely than maybe and hopefully that we do now.

And then the last characteristic I’ll mention about a mature person is the ability to handle hostility or disagreement constructively. When frustrated, the immature person looks for someone to blame. The mature person looks for a solution, tries to understand the cause and looks for a solution. Immature people attack people. Mature people attack the problem. The mature person uses his anger as an energy source and when frustrated redoubles their efforts to find solutions to the problem. And, of course, in finding solutions one has to try to understand what the real causes are. I find listing those characteristics of immature and mature people quite helpful when we consider this broader topic which is what I want to talk about and that is spiritual maturity as it relates to each and every one of us as God’s people.

You know when you think about it many of the principles that I just went through apply to spiritual maturity as well. The Bible actually says quite a bit about maturity and the Christian. It’s interesting when you look at the Epistles of Paul, the writings of the Apostle Paul, his writings to the church at Corinth really were quite unique and interesting. The book of 1 Corinthians in particular probably says more about maturity versus immaturity than almost any other book in the Bible at least in terms of actual examples because we find the Apostle Paul in writing to the church and the brethren at Corinth in this first letter dealing with issues that they themselves had to deal with and even some constructive observations and criticism that Paul had. Of course all of the things that Paul wrote and shared with them in 1 Corinthians was out of love and concern for them but he was quite direct as we’ll see and the issue of maturity, spiritual maturity versus immaturity, is a topic that he actually addressed quite directly. With that in mind, I’d like you to turn to 1 Corinthians and again see here some of the major issues of spiritual immaturity within the congregation that Paul is striving to deal with. Turn to 1 Corinthians 2. We know that the Apostle Paul in this particular chapter was talking about spiritual understanding amongst other topics of course. He actually talked about how it is that God has given us such a great understanding of His Plan. We find here in 1 Corinthians 2:4. Notice what he says. He’s talking here about his preaching and his speaking. He said:

1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

Many times the Apostle Paul would acknowledge the fact that his preaching may not have in a human sense come across as great power but what he spoke and the authority that he used which was the Scripture was something that really was very powerful. He mentions here again in demonstration of the spirit and of power,

Verse 5-6 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, (Paul was striving to help the brethren in Corinth to not look at these topics and subject of what he was dealing with here of mere human beings, which is the temptation because indeed that is what all of us are. We’re human, we’re flesh and we tend to revert back to that way of thinking, even though we might be converted and have God’s Holy Spirit. He said) That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (Notice verse 6. He said,) Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: (So often we find in the King James Translation the Greek word teleios which actually means “mature” is translated “perfect.” So let’s read it with the word mature replaced here.) Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are mature, yet not the wisdom of this world nor the princes of this world that come to nothing.

So Paul was trying to help them understand that the wisdom of this world, the knowledge that this world’s educational system, and of course the educational system of the first century as well, that that is not really what was the evidence of a mature or a complete person. It was spiritually based and he was trying to help them understand that. I think that’s a great lesson for us to remember in our Christian lives. So often we can tend to compare one’s value and worth based upon their looks, based upon the head knowledge that they have, and yet when God calls us and we come into the church and He grants us repentance and then through our faith in Jesus Christ and repentance and baptism grants us His Holy Spirit, the spiritual understanding that we begin to have and hopefully put into practice in our life was what  really shows and bears the fruits of a spiritually mature or perfect person or teleios as he mentions here in 1 Corinthians 2. If you go to chapter 3, the beginning of chapter 3, over to the next page, he continues on with this thought of coming to the church with really entreating them and knowing that he had actually taught them on a very basic level initially, which is often true when someone is called or when individuals are called, but he says here in verse 1:

1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

So he acknowledges here that initially he had to relate to them as being strictly carnal people. Now we realize that Paul acknowledged even in this particular letter to the Corinthians, that we are carnal and all of us are, and so we know that. We find in the Book of Romans, Paul talked about the struggle that he had as a converted person, that sometimes the things that we know that we should do don’t come that easily, and sometimes some of the thoughts, emotions that we know aren’t correct come all too easily to us. We understood that but he was making the point here about the approach and the way that we think. He said, I could not speak unto you as spiritual. The implication here is that if he strictly spoke to them as if they were very spiritually mature people, they wouldn’t get it.

Verse 2 I have fed you with milk (So he uses this metaphor of a babe being fed with milk and we understand that Paul often used this metaphor of a babe and we’ll find here in 1 Corinthians he used it quite a bit. He said,) I have fed you with milk and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, (It’s referring back to the fact that he actually called them babes in Christ in verse 1) neither yet now are ye able.

So he’s acknowledging that even then they had a ways to go. And in some ways, when you read the first few chapters of 1 Corinthians, you see that there is some constructive criticism and concern that Paul wanted to point out to them. Now knowing the writings of Paul and understanding the character  of the Apostle Paul, we realize that he really loved these people. He was concerned about them. He wanted them to succeed but he also knew that unless he dealt with things squarely, unless he was very open and honest with them, they might not get it and as he says here, you’re still not able to fully get it in terms of the spiritual, deep spiritual understanding of where they should be.

Verse 3 For ye are yet carnal: (Now that phrase is not complimentary. Of course, truth be told, that phrase could be said to any one of us in the church. Now I can say it to all of you. All of you are yet carnal, and so am I. But he was trying to help them understand that look there’s a human element that resides with us even after we’re baptized and we can often revert back to that habit, that pattern of thinking which is spiritually immature even though we may according to the world’s wisdom may think we are very educated and that’s the contrast that he was really trying to help point out. He said) For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

So he went right to the heart of the issue. You all have issues amongst yourselves and this was internal strife. You know people can become divided because some are acting very spiritually mature and others aren’t. It doesn’t mean that everybody is acting spiritually mature but clearly there was a problem within the congregation and while it’s not my purpose today to go through all the issues that Paul was dealing with the brethren at Corinth, it is interesting and important to note that he pointed out to them that they really were spiritually immature. Notice in chapter 13, toward the end of 1 Corinthians, verse 8. Now we know that 1 Corinthians 13 is what is often referred to as the Love Chapter and clearly Paul talks about charity or love, a level of godly love and he explains and shows what it looks like. But notice here that doesn’t come easily either. I mean it’s clearly not something that we have upon baptism. Paul implies here by what we read in 1 Corinthians 13 that godly love is something that is developed and it is one of the components of showing or indicating of somebody’s spiritual  immaturity. Notice in verse 8 though he said charity or love never fails:

1 Corinthians 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. (It’s talking about human knowledge that it’s there and it’s read but it’s relevance will pass in time.)

Verses 9-10 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect (again the Greek work teleios (or mature) is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. (And then he makes reference again to being a spiritual child or a younger person and now sometimes we read verse 11 and assume that he’s only talking about being a young person of 10 or 12 years old. There’s reason to believe that Paul was referring to a time in his life when he was spiritually immature. He says:

Verse 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, (As an immature Christian. You can find in Thayer’s Lexicon and others that it will actually define this Greek word which is népios which is actually a very small child or an immature Christian. He says when that was the way that I was), I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (Now that, of course, was a process. We didn’t, you know if a person was a young boy, he didn’t become a man in one day. Becoming a man, becoming mature is something that takes time and I think all of us understand that and he was really pointing that out from a spiritual perspective.

Verse 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

So Paul was also drawing this contrast between the way we are now even as Christians, even if we are somewhat spiritually mature compared to what we will be in the future and what we will see and understand in the future. He made that comparison here.

Now in chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians. He makes a statement here which I find quite interesting because he does talk about having a mind of a child or a mindset of a child although let’s not diminish that too much. Even Jesus Christ Himself used the analogy or the example of having the innocence of a small child and how that really does relate to a humble approach in life. But notice what he says here so as not to be misunderstood when he was writing to the brethren at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 14:20. He said:

1 Corinthians 14:20 Brethren, be not children (and it’s the Greek word pathion which means little child or immature) in understanding howbeit malice be you children. (In other words when it comes to being evil that level of innocence and dependence is a good thing but he said) but in understanding be men, (or be mature)

And now remember if you read through all of 1 Corinthians, you see a letter that pointed out some problems, that addressed what to do about them and now toward the end of this letter is reminding the brethren that look, sure there’s a level of innocence that we need to have in dealing with certain circumstances in life but when it comes to understanding and as we’ll see even a little bit later on when he wrote to the Jewish Christians in the book of Hebrews, you know discerning right and wrong is another evidence of a spiritually mature person but when you think about it the kind of instruction that we have here in 1 Corinthians 14 it almost kind of grabs you by the lapel because in a sense he was saying be innocent and childlike when there’s a conflict in terms of attitude but be mature and realistic in other areas of life. In other words he was really trying to tell the people to grow up. Now when you think about that phrase, how many of us have been told by others to grow up. I was told to grow up when I was younger but I’ve probably been told to grow up more since I became an adult simply meaning that sometimes in life we act and react in a very immature way or a very naive way and when someone tells us grow up and really it’s a criticism in some ways of a person not acting in a very mature manner but when you think about the instruction that Paul was giving the church, it kind of reminds me of Dr. Phil. Some of you in the United States know who Dr. Phil is. He’s a psychologist that made it on TV as a personality but he often is very direct with individuals when they need to have something pointed out to them. Paul was that way but when you read through the writings of Paul we see that his motivation was one of real concern for the brethren.

And we also find Jesus Christ talking about maturity to his disciples and we know that when we read which we will do here what Christ had to say to His disciples we see that He Himself defines spiritual maturity in doing so. Notice in Matthew 19. Now there are a number of places where Jesus Christ talked about the importance of being perfect or teleios which means fully grown or mature, but in

Matthew 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

You know this is one of the examples of Christ talking to a young man addressing the question what does it take for me to be perfect, to be right in the eyes of God? And he said, if you want to be mature, if you want to show and reflect maturity, then you should be willing to sell all that you have and give it to others and follow Him, follow Jesus Christ. It really is one of the great mind sets of being spiritually mature.

When we find the Apostle Paul again addressing the topic of maturity in the letter that he wrote to the Philippians. Now turn to Philippians 3 and while you’re turning there I want to at least  remind us of the contrast between the church at Corinth, Paul’s approach to the Corinthians, Paul’s need to point out certain problems and difficulties that they had in the congregations for him versus what he had to say to those at Philippi and the Philippians because in both cases, he does instruct them in maturity, but we find that in the case of the Philippians, he gives  yet another characteristic of spiritual immaturity. Notice in Philippians 3:13.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.

You know I’ve read this like many of you countless times over the years and can only imagine what might have been going through the mind of Paul when he wrote, or had someone else scribe these words to the brethren at Philippi and to know that he had a lot of experiences in his life and what we know of the Apostle Paul we read somewhat in the Book of Acts, some of the things Paul acknowledges in the letters he wrote to the church about his past which was a very checkered past at least as it relates to his relationship with the early church. But as far as Jews were concerned he was quite respected, quite educated and yet Paul obviously did some things to the church members in the early church before God called him that were horrific. We have reason to believe based on what we read in the Book of Acts that Paul really didn’t interact  much with a lot of  the church members in Jerusalem until some time after he was called and converted. He had a reputation that preceded him so to speak and while God did call him and he did repent time had to pass before some people would accept him. Paul understood that and you don’t find the Apostle Paul ringing his hands over that circumstance. We probably don’t know the whole story at this point of what Paul did to the church and the reputation he had in the minds of some but clearly Paul himself had to move on even after he had repented of what he did in his ignorance and deception to the church in persecuting the church in the years preceding Jesus Christ’s calling him on the road to Damascus.

So and even considering what he went through in his early ministry, we know that the Apostle Paul at times was quite persecuted not only by the Roman government and of course he was arrested and eventually appealed all the way to Rome but also in some of his travels before those events took place that he had through Asia Minor in which people tried to kill him. Whole groups of people tried to stone him and he was left for dead. So considering at least what we do know about Paul it’s quite amazing for him to give the instruction and the encouragement to these brethren here in Philippians in which he said but this one thing I do he was really relating to them what he’s learned—what’s important, and again he could ring his hands and kind of you know shake his head and woe is me over all the things he’s been through and the difficulties he’s faced but he said but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.

Verse 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (He was letting them know that was out there in front of him. Yes, he had baggage in a sense in his past. He had circumstances that he had been through before God called him and even after God called him but he wanted to keep his eyes set on the future so he encourages the church here in verse 15.

Verse 15 Let us therefore, as many as be (teleios as many as be) perfect, (as it’s translated in the King James or “mature,” as many as be mature) be thus minded.

So once again you find the Apostle Paul telling those at Philippi to think this way and I think all of us know it’s a little bit easier said than done if somebody says think a certain way, but he at least he was trying to help them understand what spiritual maturity looked like and he was trying to encourage them to refocus their lives and to really spiritually grow up but he did it in a manner that showed a lot of love and concern. Paul appreciated the attitude and the mind-set of those at Philippi but he also wanted them to learn from not only their experiences but his as well. He said

Verse 15-16 … be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

So he was basically telling them that mature people are not out to get even with their own past or what has happened to them in the past. They don’t live in the past. Mature people don’t. That’s not to say they don’t learn from the past. Clearly, that’s one of the things that God wants us to do is learn from our mistakes, to learn from what we’ve experienced but to learn those lessons and move forward. How many of us have done that a lot? I thought about this subject of maturity and we know that there’s kind of two components of maturity. There’s things that physically mature and that’s what they look like. Sometimes people look much older than they really are. In the closing moments of the movie that my wife and I went to see this past week, Lincoln, about Abraham Lincoln. At the very end of the movie, one of his team of rivals which the movie was somewhat based upon the political pacts and relationships that he worked with, individuals that sometimes didn’t see things the way that he did but at the end truly did respect him but noticed when they  looked at him he had aged ten years in the previous twelve months simply because of some of the stress and difficulties that he faced as President of the United States going through the waning months of the Civil War.

So sometimes what we look like outwardly can be a very old or aged person so that’s true, we physically mature but then we emotionally or as we’re focused on today spiritually mature. Now I’ve thought about that being the age that I am now, you look back and you realize that you’re getting older and I know that I am. I know that I’m not a teenager anymore. Many of you in the audience know and fully understand that. When you realize you’re slowing down a little bit you obviously look somewhat different and life changes for you physically. You sometimes take a look at yourself and ask okay am I acting, am I thinking as mature as maybe my body is? And sometimes that’s where we’re left wanting. It’s caused me to think quite a bit as I’ve gotten older in life about that and it’s easy for things to physically mature. You just leave them alone or you feed them and they grow. But it’s when it gets out of sync with our emotional or spiritual maturity that sometimes we can run into problems. And again that’s one of the reasons why taking a look at ourselves in terms of whether or not we act or are thinking in a spiritually mature way is a very healthy thing, a very important thing.

When you think about the issue of living in the past you know sometimes people will overly worry and that is a sign of immaturity. Now there have been times in my life that I have been overly worried about things and I’m sure that those are signs of immaturity but sometimes we can worry about things that have already happened that we can’t change. Sometimes we worry about things that we have no control over and will likely never happen. Sometimes we worry about things we have no control over and likely will happen. I mean that sometimes is quite stressful. Or worry about things that are in the future and we don’t know if they’re going to happen. Fear of the unknown. That’s not to suggest that all fear under all circumstances at all times is evidence of gross spiritual immaturity. I’m not suggesting that and I don’t think that God’s Word would suggest that but clearly when we read what we do in Philippians 3 what Paul wrote to the church there he was trying to help them understand there’s a time to learn from what you’ve been through, learn from it and move forward and move on and clearly Paul had to do that. The spiritually mature person will discern the difference in those particular areas.

I’d like you to turn to James as well. James talks about the grown and mature person as well. We find here in James 3 he talks about the tongue, in other words what we talk about, what we talk to others about. He makes an observation here that I think is worth noting as we consider the characteristics of being spiritually mature.

James 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a (mature or) perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

Now this isn’t a sermon about the tongue. That’s a subject that is surely worthy of a sermon to be sure, but he does make the point here that a person shows a level of maturity if they’re able to what he uses the term “bridle the tongue.” It’s not just biting your tongue although sometimes it may require that but somebody who understands that speaking before they think about what they going to say is mature or at least showing signs of maturity and yet those of us who tend to in our lives to speak first and think later and like the example I was using earlier about a person using a rifle to hunt. It’s not ready, shoot, aim. It’s ready, aim, shoot, and we’ve got to get it in that order when it comes to use of the tongue. He makes the point here, James does, that if a person is able to bridle their tongue, they can also bridle their whole body which means they are going to be a person that is more in control of their emotions in all respects, not just their tongue.

You know I’ve thought back in my life rather than just thinking about the examples of others and there have been times and circumstances when I’ve said things that later I regretted. There were times when I reacted in frustration even with my children when they were younger, on a few occasions, and you wish later you didn’t reacted that way and as you get older you begin learning from that experience and not just a matter as they say biting your tongue but the way that you think changes and you realize that sometimes you can do far more damage than good by letting your emotions run away with themselves. In Colossians 4 there’s an example here also of Paul relating to the brethren at Colossae about an individual that actually prayed for their maturity. An interesting concept not just about the maturity that we ourselves want to develop with God’s Spirit and God’s help but realizing that there are other brethren in the church, maybe our own family, that we pray and ask God to grant them the experiences and the lessons learned where they can develop maturity. Notice here in Colossians 4:12 Paul shares this with them. He says:

Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, (so he was  passing on greetings from a fellow member of the church), always labouring fervently for you in prayers.

I think it’s quite instructive how Paul would share with those that he wrote to how he either  himself or other brethren that were with him worked hard in a sense on their knees, or worked hard in prayer praying for them. And it really is inspiring when you think about the fact that Paul was sharing this good news, this encouraging news that this individual prays and prays fervently for all of you and obviously he wanted them to appreciate that and hope that we as members of the church appreciate the fact that others pray for us. I know that those of you who have been ill or sick or gone through some very severe trials and maybe have had other individuals in the church pray for you maybe in the local congregation, maybe just by word of mouth, or maybe in a few cases as we’ve done of recent years, actually shared with much of the whole church and one of our elders in Louisiana wrote to me recently because he’s going through a trial dealing with cancer in his life and how he had heard from so many, many brethren around the world many of which he’s never met and in some cases never heard of, of how encouraging it was to him to know that they cared about him and were praying and beseeching God for him. It’s an important part of our Christian lives.

You find here in this particular instance in Colossians 4, Paul said that Epaphras labored fervently for you in prayers that ye may stand (mature or perfect) and complete in all the will of God. It really is quite an interesting and yet very encouraging approach that a person would pray that a congregation of people would be able to grow and develop to be like Jesus Christ which is really where all of this topic is going and to really consider people not just praying about a particular event, a particular problem, but praying for their spiritual growth. It’s something we can consider not just thinking about ourselves and our growth but about the spiritual maturity and growth of all of our brethren that are in the church.

I want to read from Hebrews 5. Of course we believe the author of the Book of Hebrews to be the Apostle Paul and ask ourselves a question here based on what we read in Hebrews 5 about our spiritual maturity because he really focusses in on some understanding, or lack thereof, and gives us reason to contemplate our own process of thinking as Christians and the way that we process understanding, spiritual understanding, and learn from experiences we’ve been through. Notice here in Hebrews 5:11. Paul says,

Hebrews 5:11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

Again, another case where Paul was letting the church know or letting some of the brethren here know that they hadn’t achieved what they could have and maybe should have by  this point in time in their calling. Now in reading over these words, it may seem to be quite critical, but if we’re looking at this the way that I’d like all of us to and I think the way that God would intend us to. He wants us to take a look at ourselves. He said,

Verse 12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

I want you to think back to the analogy or the metaphor that Paul used about spiritual maturity or immaturity that Paul would often refer to somebody who was spiritually immature as a babe or as a child and somebody who was spiritually mature as an adult or man or using the term “perfect” or teleios which is fully mature. You know when you read verse 12, clearly he’s stating that you haven’t grown, you haven’t matured enough or as much as you should have by now. I don’t remember the first time I read these words of Paul here as recorded in Hebrews 5 but I do know that many times since then I’ve asked myself, well have I grown? Have I come to understand and appreciate and inculcate into my life spiritual lessons I should have based on the experiences that I’ve been through as much as I could have given the time that I’ve been in the church? And I’ll have to honestly say well of course I have, at least as that much is apparent to me. How many of us can say, oh yes I’ve grown just as much as I possibly could? Well we probably all have found ourselves wanting in a sense when we look at our length of time in the church, the experiences that we’ve had, the opportunities that we’ve had but God would want us to learn even from that as he’s striving to do here in writing to the church as recorded here in Hebrews 5.

Verse 13-14 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (Or young or spiritually immature. But notice what he says in verse 14) But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, (He’s really saying here those that are spiritually mature, they’ll understand it. He continues) even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Really, he gives some clear evidence as to what we must do, one of the things we must do, in order to spiritually mature. He says those who are of full age or those who have matured are those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern right and wrong, good and evil. You’ve got to use what you’ve been given. Now this may seem like I’m bringing up another topic but really I’m not but utilizing what we’ve been given is something that’s really core to our calling. You know Jesus Christ made the statement to His disciples on more than one occasion no doubt that “To whom much is given, much will be required,” and God evaluates us that way but as Christians we must utilize what we’ve been given. We must pace ourselves and we must learn from what we go through. God expects us to learn. That’s not to say that once you make a mistake once, you’ll never make it again but if God sees us repeating and repeating and repeating the same mistake that we clearly see was wrong and we’re not growing from it, we’re not learning from it, well then that’s a clear indicator that there’s a problem here and I guess more directly do we see that in our lives?

I know we’ve all heard the definition of insanity and that’s doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I guess if that’s really considered the true definition of insanity, we’re probably all a bit insane because we’ve all probably done that to one degree or another continued in the same pattern in our lives, maybe by way of weakness and blindness. Maybe by choice and maybe not but the point is the longer we go on that way and expecting things to get better, the more we’re deceiving ourselves and that’s really what Paul is trying to help them to understand here. We need to as mature Christians be able to discern between right and wrong and in order to do that we’ve got to learn from what we go through. And we have to know what right looks like and how it manifests itself in terms of the fruits borne as well as wrong choices and know that it takes growth and maturity in our spiritual lives.

You know one of the words that you could use for the word teleios is actually “ripening.” Most of us know what fruit is and how it tastes when it’s ripened and if you eat fruit that is not ripe, I’ve eaten my share of bananas in my life, and most people in most parts of the world have, and when you eat a banana that’s not ripe, I mean is it filling? Yes, it kind of fills you up. It’s not sweet. It’s really isn’t that satisfying and that’s true with so many fruits and vegetables. When you get it right at the peak is when it has the maximum benefit to be sure. Now, I’m not trying to relegate all of us as Christians to bananas and tomatoes. That’s not my point. But God wants us to ripen and it’s not a matter of time you know with a tomato or a banana, it is an issue of environment and time. For those of us in the church there’s a certain level of choice that we make and whether or not we mature. You know a banana doesn’t sit down and think, “Hmmm, I’m going to stay unripened for another month.” A tomato doesn’t do that, but we as human beings do have a part to play. We have free moral agency in choosing what we do with what we’ve been given and what we know as God’s people. Notice in Ephesians 4. In Ephesians 4 we find the Apostle Paul talking about the subject of the church and the purpose of different roles within the church but he says here he really focusses on the goal that we should have as God’s people.

Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man (which is the Greek word teleios–a mature man), unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

So really he focusses on the ultimate goal of becoming like, maturing to become like Jesus Christ and what an achievement that will be. It’s really quite an amazing thing to be sure when you think about it. We know the goal that we should have about becoming like Jesus Christ. Paul talked about it many times and we know that even in Christ’s teachings He indirectly refers to the fact that we must come to think like Him and He directly refers to the fact that we have to have a spiritual mind. We read about that in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 but clearly this kind of maturity that is referred to by Paul is something that’s a goal of all of ours.

You know for so long people in the church have longed for unity within the Church of God. Again this is not a sermon about church unity. It’s a sermon on spiritual maturity. But when you think about spiritual maturity and some of the fruits of it, one of the things that it is linked to is unity. Unity in the family. Unity in the spiritual family and within the Church of God. You know I’ve been attending church for over 45 years and many of you have probably been attending a lot longer than that but I’ve seen in my experience over the years the church go through many different circumstances, to say the least, and many times have prayed collectively with others and probably on my own at times as well for unity within the church not just within the local congregation, which it applies to that as well, but in the church as a whole. But you know in praying for unity in the church we as God’s people must understand what the cause of unity really is. You know mature Christians are able to provide the atmosphere within which unity can truly be achieved. And you think about a lot of the components of immaturity and maturity that we talked about  earlier in the sermon today and you think about it from the point of view of a relationship between two people whether a husband and wife within a family, within  a group of people, on a team, you start expanding into a larger group, you realize that really this issue of spiritual maturity or maturity itself relates directly to unity, a potential for true unity amongst a group of people and hopefully we can make that connection as we take a look at ourselves and look at the landscape of the church yes but I think more importantly individually.

You know James mentions in James 1:4. I just want to focus on this comment of James. It talks about the importance of patience and I’m going to go back to the example of fruit and vegetables maturing. If you rush eating fruit or vegetable before it’s ripened, it’s not going to be at its peak, probably the flavor as well as maybe even nutrients. When it comes to all of us, you know even within the church as a whole we sometimes want things even within the church quicker than maybe we find them manifesting themselves and I’m not just talking about wanting circumstances to change for an individual in their life but the church as a whole but you find here that James understood as we find others did as well, the importance of patience as it relates to the subject of maturity. He says here in verse 4,

James 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect (or teleios or mature) and entire, wanting nothing.

And James talked as you go further into the book of James, he talked later on in chapter 5, about the importance of the passage of time. You find that’s even true in Paul’s writing in Hebrews 11 when he talks about the development of and the expression of faith in one’s life. You know it would be one thing if we got everything we want every time we asked for it immediately. We get anointed, and immediately we’re healed. We pray to God to help us to find a job when we’ve been doing all we can to find a job and immediately we’re offered the best job of our lives and on it goes. Well, we probably would learn very little and God would learn little about us if we got everything that we asked for immediately upon that request, and we see as we look into the pages of the Bible that time passes if people grow and sure it’s true that we may read about the lives of many of the patriarchs of the Bible in a matter of just a few chapters when in reality that person’s life, whether it be Joseph, Abraham and others they lived every second of that life, every day, every week, every month, every year, we don’t have all the details. But in order for those men and women to have shown the examples of faith and maturity that they did, they had to go through in some cases some pretty interesting experiences and I hope that we in the church today can keep in perspective the work that God has given us to do and then the challenge sometimes we face of doing it whether that be a challenge of resources and numbers or whether it be a challenge of a growing world in a worsening world and yet we have that same job to do. We should not lose hope and lose sight of the fact that there’s another work being done in addition to the proclamation of the Gospel and that’s the work being done in the hearts and minds and lives of each and every one of us as His people and yet those two things work together as they unfold.

You know many in professional counseling and psychology, I’ll kind of go back to that resource for just a moment. They offer suggestions and strategies for a person to grow in their emotional maturity and sometimes what they suggest is actually very, very good. They will suggest working on self-understanding and self-acceptance. I think there’s a truth to that even for a Christian. Practicing unselfish behavior. We’ve read even from the Scripture about that, not dominating other people. Well that’s more of just a statement but you know there’s one bit of consistent advice that you find with those resources out there that try to instruct a person on maturing as a human being and that is and it’s actually a bit of advice that’s spiritual in nature when you think about it and relates to our efforts to grow in spiritual maturity and that is the importance of a person to search for a meaning in life which is bigger than themselves. A search for a meaning in their lives which is bigger than themselves. Now that isn’t necessarily a bit of religious advice but when we consider that statement in light of what we know about God’s truth and His plan, and what we know about  many of the patriarchs who were examples of spiritual maturity, we know how true that really is. Of course it should give a person a perspective in life that is different from those that have no meaning or purpose to their lives. It should provide goals for a person to strive for and to build the character necessary and able to achieve that and it makes life meaningful.

But you know the ultimate test of your sense of meaning in life is this: Does it really enhance and enrich not only our lives but the lives of others and that’s a very Biblically based principle. It’s really not all about us when you think about Jesus Christ and His motivation, when you think about what the Apostle Paul said to the church at Philippi and Philippians 2 about having the mind of Christ and seeing the needs of others above your own, you realize that all of that is advice that can result in mental health being good. Now we don’t come into the church because of mental health problems and yet on the other hand when you think about it the more we begin to understand the Scripture and God’s plan and God’s Spirit, and the way that Jesus Christ thought. We know that it leads to good emotional and mental health which really is a secular way of describing what we know to be when God’s Spirit is involved, spiritual maturity.

You know in a sense when you think about our calling, God makes it very easy for us to grow in spiritual maturity if we avail ourselves of the resources He gives us because He has given us in calling us into the church and helping us to understand the purpose for human existence He’s given meaning to life beyond that which no other human being can have. I’d like you to turn to Hebrews 11 in conclusion. Now this is a well-known verse to be sure. I read it probably more than some think I ought to but it relates to so many principles and is very, very important. Now we know that the eleventh chapter of Hebrews talks about the examples of many patriarchs, male and female, that were great examples of faith and yet when you consider the names of all those individuals named there, and there are others as you read the latter part of Hebrews 11 that Paul himself said there wouldn’t be time or space to name all the names but we know that they went through a lot of things in their lives but notice this. I want to end scripturally on this particular point and relate it back to what many psychologists tell people who want to mature and grow up and that is to have a sense of purpose in their life as something bigger than themselves. Notice what we find here in Hebrews 11 referring to these many men and women that God had called and used over the years.

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith (they were called by God. They responded to that calling. They tried to incorporate with not only with their carnal efforts but coupled with after having received God’s Holy Spirit at some point they incorporated God’s way of thinking into their lives probably in many case made some mistakes and often learned from them and never lost sight of why they were called. And they lived a life that was motivated. They lived a life that was purpose-driven. Notice it says here),

Verse 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

You know when you think about what is said here in Hebrews 11:13, it does speak to many of these components that we’ve talked about today regarding spiritual maturity. People that were able to look forward and not back. People that were able to take accountability for their lives and people who were driven by something, a purpose in life that was much bigger than themselves. There’s no doubt about that fact and I hope that we as God’s people see the importance of maturity. We sometimes don’t relate the term “maturity” with our Christian calling necessarily but when you look at what Paul had to say, what Christ had to say and the example of our elder Brother Jesus Christ, it’s all about spiritually mature and it’s a very important topic.

Brethren, we should know this, that God is working with His people. God has worked with those that He’s called really since the beginning of the creation of man and we know the lives of many of those men and women are recorded in the Scripture but God even today in the twenty-first century continues to work with His people. He has been for years and sometimes it’s with an unseen hand. In other words we don’t always know at any point in time exactly what God might be doing in circumstances He’s allowing and providing in our lives or with the church as a whole. We don’t always see it but we need to be patient. We need to understand the importance of patience learning through our Christian lives so that we can be the seasoned, ripened, mature Christians that God wants us to be. Servants of God that have grown to the crucible of the Christian life and will have come closer to achieving the mind of Jesus Christ Who is the perfect example of spiritual maturity.