I want to speak a message to you this morning entitled, "What spiritual maturity looks like". God has called us to grow in Him and not only are we going to grow in number in this church but I believe that we are growing as the people of God. I Cor 13:11 says, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things".
Father, we thank you this morning for what you're doing here. We thank you Lord that we have the privilege to walk for life, to make a difference in this community and to sow as well into the boys and girls missionary challenge. Lord, we thank you for the lives that are being changed and we thank you Lord that we could give to the Haiti rescue effort and we understand that there's a rebuilding effort. Father, we pray that what we will do and give is making a difference long term. Lord, may this word this morning have its way in us. May we decrease and may you increase, in Jesus name, amen.
Many people look back on their childhood with fondness and we should. How many can think of a couple times during your childhood that you really enjoyed? How many remember sled riding or tubing? How many wiped out really good when you were a kid but you had a good time doing it?
Childhood was a good time, we had fun. But I want to tell you that you could never pay me enough to go back. It's good to grow up and I'm glad I'm an adult, it's a good thing. It's good to grow up because you mature. Maturity is a process of growing, learning, experience and choices. It's something that happens over time. For some there's a moment when you knew that you grew up;
you knew that you crossed over from childhood to adulthood.
There's a time in my life that I look back on where I recognized that my life was going to be different. For some it's a choice or a decision that they made or some event that took place in their life and from that moment on they knew there was no going back. For others that moment of moving from childhood to adulthood really kind of caught them by surprise. They looked back over the past couple months and realized that all of a sudden it had left them behind. For some it hit them in college when they took their first exam and for others it came from a decision and realized their life was never going to be the same again.
Paul mentioned 3 things that changed when he became a man, when he stepped from childhood into adulthood. He said "When I was a child I talked differently, I understood differently and I thought differently but when I became a man my speech changed, my understanding changed and my thinking changed". When he became a man he says he put away childish things. He's not talking about toys and doing silly things like riding a motorcycle, jumping out of airplanes or just being goofy.
Growing up in the Kingdom of God is very much like growing up naturally but it could happen much faster. The Bible says we start out by being born again into the Kingdom of God. When we become a Christian and come into His Kingdom and accept Him as our savior, we are changed completely as we're given that new life. We start out drinking the milk of the word, just the basic things. then the Bible says we begin to grow. There comes a time when we must leave the elementary things behind and move on into the manhood or the womanhood stage.
Hebrews 6:1 says, "Therefore leaving the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God". How many understand that you came to Christ and God forgave you for your sins? There comes a point when you stop fighting all the old sins and stop going back to the old life and you just go after God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Your mouth changes, your mind changes, the way you used to do things changes. You've got to move on.
I love what God is doing in our church; we've moved on from childish things. I love that we're ministering and reaching out to Haiti and we're dealing with lives that are being changed. I love that we're reaching out to those ladies who are thinking about abortion, taking the life of their child. For those that have we have post abortion counseling that we can give them. How many know those aren't childish things anymore?
Spiritual maturity is not some abstract thing. It's just as noticeable as people who are mature or immature. It's fun to watch my boys growing, they're starting to get facial hair, but pretty soon they're not going to shave because they want to but because they have to. They're growing, their voices are changing and it's beautiful to watch. But there are still 50 year olds who never grew up.
I was looking at a man the other day who had been one of the most respectable people you could ever see. He presented himself well, was all dressed up in a suit and had gray hair. When you first looked at the man you thought he was a success. The truth is when you got behind the scenes you understood that he was still very foolish inside. He looked respectable but his life was a mess and his character was lacking. Spiritual maturity is demonstrated through the decisions that we make. When you were a kid you made certain decisions and now that you're an adult you're making better decisions or at least we should be.
Galatians 5:25 says, "If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit". How we walk is a choice; life is filled with decisions every day. The truth is we make many decisions from what we put on our cereal in the morning to how we're going to speak to someone during the day. There were things that I did as a kid and even as a young adult that I would never do today. Praise God! When we're saved, the Spirit of God comes to reside in us and I believe that those who are spirit filled will be spirit led. If you've got the Holy Spirit residing in you, your life and your decisions are going to reflect that the spirit of God lives inside of you. Those who are spirit led will have spirit led results. It's a result of maturity. Those who are mature in this world make decisions according to the maturity that has happened inside of them. It's fun to watch the friends I had when I was in High School and I look at us now at 40 years old and can see the decisions that we've made. It's fun to watch people grow up. You see those kids that you were just fools with and now they're raising children and serving God. Those who are spirit led will have spirit led results. There are many Christians who say they're growing in the Lord but the decisions that they make don't reflect it.
1st Thessalonians 4:1 says, "Finally brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God". Those who will please God will abound and grow and it will be measurable, you can see it. I remember when I was growing up in January during a cold winter and we had just had a bitter cold snowstorm and I had to walk to school everyday. I was about 16 years old and I had a 450 Honda Nighthawk motorcycle. I remember thinking that If I ride my motorcycle I'll get there quicker. My mom had already left for work and there was no one there to stop me. I went into the garage and started that bike up, put on 2 pairs of jeans and 3 layers of shirts, coat, gloves, a hat and helmet and I got on my bike and started on the way to school. How many know that was a dumb thing to do? I thought I'd be able to stay warmer but I was never more cold in all my life. Not only that, I found that I went a whole lot slower because I had to take different ways. Pittsburgh is full of hills and I remember when I got to the top of this one hill, the snowplow had come, the ice had come but it was too cold and the wind was blowing and I started down that hill on a sheet of ice. "When I was a child I thought as a child".
When I was 26 years old we had the snowstorm of a lifetime. It was 1996 and we were headed up to our first interview at a church for senior pastor. We got there and it was snowing like gangbusters. It was 3 hours away from my home in Pittsburgh and we pulled into the parking lot and the snow had just piled up. During the service it snowed 2 ½ feet more. We still had the Sunday evening service and those people in central Pennsylvania are hardy; we had about 50 people show up for church. I preached again and the people were so nice, they asked me to stay in their homes. I've always hated to stay in people's homes, it's so awkward and I'm trying to be their pastor. So I thought I'm going to try and make it home and we started down the mountain road and it was so cold. Me and my wife were praying all the way down, we couldn't even see in front of us. How many know in my 20's I thought like a child? I would never do that again. I would have stayed with the people but the truth is I needed to grow up a little bit.
Ephesians 5:15 says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise". How many know when you start to grow in the Lord you start making better decisions? I was still going to senior pastor people but I needed to grow in the Lord at 26 years of age. I needed to make more mature decisions and the truth is that I make better decisions now. Some Christians make all kinds of immature decisions in their relationships, business deals, in their personal finances but those who grow make decisions based on God's word and God's leading and instructions. Those who are led by the spirit will walk in the spirit and they will walk wisely in every area of life: whether you're buying a car or raising your children, whether you're taking care of your body or taking care of your spouse.
Colossians 1:9-10 says, "For this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God".
Maturity means that if we're spirit led we're going to grow in our knowledge of the Lord. The spiritually mature make decisions based on faith, not feeling. 2nd Corinthians 5:7 says, "We walk by faith, not by sight". How many know you've got to grow in the Lord to be enabled to do that? The truth is the things that you see sometimes will scare the living daylights out of you but when you serve God you know that He's faithful. When you know that you are walking according to what this word says and not by what you see then you can trust God. We make our decisions based on God's word, by trusting what God says and by standing firm in it. "God, I don't care what anything around me looks like, I know what your word says and what your promises are, I know who you are and because of that I will walk by faith".
Those who are mature have mature character that produces fruit. How many know if you find an apple tree then you expect to get apples off of it? Those who say they are Christians should have the fruit that reflects the life of a believer. Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control". Those who are mature do something with their life that's fruitful. They do something that makes a difference in the world around them and their character shows it. They not only have the character of God but they have a life that shows that character, and the fruit is behavior that is marked by godliness. That's what this fruit is: love, joy, peace and behavior that is marked by a life that is filled with the Holy Spirit. This fruit is seen in their life and it's seen in the life of their family. They have the fruit of a life they can be proud of.
How many have ever seen a mature Christian before? They have the fruit of answered prayer, character that shows the life of God in their life and a humble lifestyle. Those who have the fruit of the spirit have touched other people's lives and you can see it with the people they come in contact with. They're making a difference. Some of these people who have the fruit of the spirit have done something with their lives that has made a difference in the world around them. Their life may not be flashy and they may not have made a million dollars but they have had a productive life that makes a difference. That's a life of maturity. I like that country song that says, "A life you can be proud of, a life you can hang your hat on as your chin is held high and the tears fall down, your gut sucked in and your chest pumped out". We should live a life we can be proud of. Those who are spirit filled and spirit led have a life that they're proud of. I'm not talking about the pride of this world but one where they know they've made a difference, one where they know they have carried themselves with the character of God from the lives that they've touched.
Those who have entered into the manhood or womanhood stage refuse to internalize criticism or praise. How many have ever been criticized? I remember growing up, it was hard. I used to get beat up at least once a week and I deserved it. All you've got to do is look at some of my pictures; under the definition of dork was my haircut. The truth is this, criticism used to bother me bad. I used to go home some days after school and really hurt. How many have ever had to help your kids through something like that? I found as I grew in the Lord that I didn't have to internalize criticism and I didn't have to internalize all the praise that people put on me. It is enough in our life to know that God is pleased and that gives us the strength no matter what's happening in our life.
Those who are mature do not adjust their life or standards to please their critics. You can criticize me all you want for serving Jesus. You can criticize me for all the decisions I make serving the Lord but it won't matter as long as God is pleased with me. Those who have grown in the Lord continue to have a tender heart but really thick skin and because of that they can love people and they can work through what people say. They have refused to allow negativity to define and determine their life. The truth is this, all of us love a pat on the back and all of us need it. How many are thankful when you come to the house of the Lord someone is around to tell you what a good job you're doing? Those who are mature in the Lord don't let it go to their head. True Christians stay humble and have learned to walk in love even when they're wrong or even when they do everything right. Those who are mature have learned to go to God when they're hurt or in need or when people have hurt them and have allowed God to touch their lives.
Those who have grown up have mouths that reflect it. Those with children understand this. Babies talk baby talk. People say, "Don't talk to your baby like they're a baby" but it's fun to do that. But if they're 4 years old and you're talking to them like that then something's wrong with you. Teenagers talk like teenagers; they know everything about every subject that they know nothing about. "When I was a child I spoke as a child but when you become an adult you mature and put away childish things". Adults speak with knowledge but the mature speak with wisdom. God has called believers to move from the knowledge stage to the wisdom stage.
Ephesians 4:15 says, "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ". Maturity and immaturity is recognizable in the way one communicates. When you are first married you communicate one way but if you're growing in the Lord, the way you communicate with your spouse should change over the years. We should get better at it. Those who are Christians used to struggle with things that would come out of their mouth. It used to be when I was a kid that cussing was a normal part of life but it's not a problem for me now. Are there times that I fail? absolutely. Our speech should change because our life is changed. It is not only understanding the purity of speech but it is about having speech that is pure and helpful. It is knowing when to say things and how to say things.
Those who have matured spiritually also have spiritual understanding therefore their thinking about things is very different than it ever was now that they are an adult. For instance, have you ever noticed how kids and teenagers view guns? They're like a toy so you don't give a kid a real gun. But those who are mature understand guns differently. I own 3 guns, I'm for people owning weapons but I'm also for people being responsible with them. The truth is, as an adult, if you've ever handled one and heard its explosion, if you've ever hunted and seen what a weapon does to a body, if you've ever had to use one professionally whether as an officer of the law or as a soldier, your thinking on the weapon changes. When I was a child, I thought as a child.
Those who are mature now think differently about all areas of life: relationships, money, people, and serving God. The truth is when you first gave your heart to the Lord it meant one thing to you but how many of you still have that fire for God but understand what it means to serve God much deeper? When the newness wears off and you settle into the everyday life of walking in the power of the anointing you can still enjoy life. Those who are mature still know how to enjoy but they also understand the seriousness.
How I think about marriage is different than when I was 20. Marriage is alot better now than when I was 20 and it should be. How I think about serving God has changed than when I was 20 and it should. The fire is still there but the way you deal with people and touch their lives changes. The thought process on spiritual matters in life are much deeper and much more practical. For the Christian our understanding has matured. Instead of seeing trials as a curse from God we see them as an opportunity to grow and mature in the Lord. We can see God at work where in the past we couldn't. Now instead of going immediately to confusion and negativity we begin to serve him with a faith that is born out of the experiences in our lifetime.
1st Corinthians 14:20 says, "Brethren, do not be children in understanding. However in malice be babes but in understanding be mature". We know that faith is developed with the pressure of life and we know from experience that we can trust God. We also know where we can trust ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses. How many have learned a lot about yourself over the last couple of years? The things you're good at and the things you're not good at. Paul said, "When I was a child I thought as a child, I understood as a child, I spoke as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things". I know that there is no victory unless there is something to conquer. I know there is no need for faith unless there is something to hope for. I know that if I will walk in the spirit then my behavior will reflect the life of God and if I do my life will be better for it.
When you were a kid there were times when you thought you were going to do this and do that without ever thinking of the consequences but now as an adult you understand differently. If I do this then that is going to happen and it's just not worth it. That's why some of us have to be in this "biggest loser" thing we're starting next week. Some of us are going to step on that scale and we're going to understand that eating that whole box of donuts just wasn't worth it. The truth is we know what spiritual maturity looks like and we must want it, be committed to it and we must do it.
Some of you in this room just gave your life to the Lord and you can become a man or woman of God quicker than you ever dreamed. I remember when I got into High School I thought it would be forever until I graduated but how many know that 4 years goes by very quickly? Some of you in this room are in the teenage stage and some are in the honeymoon stage with God. Wherever you are, God has called us to grow and I want to encourage you to put away the childish things and serve God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and be that man or woman of God that He's called you to be. How many know it's much better to be a man or woman of God? It's much better to grow up. You couldn't pay me to be a kid again. I had a good time when I was one but I'm having a much better time right now as an adult. I know that there's pressure and trials but I've gotten to do a whole lot more without having to wait on anybody else but God and He is faithful.
