Spiritual Maturity #1

A. Years ago there was a song entitled, “Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries.” Is That True? Try telling that to a single parent with two Jobs, lost a job, health, loved one. No one goes through life untouched by hardship, bitter circumstances, heart breaking experience.
Those things are part of life’s learning process. Christians need to understand that. After all, how do you define the Christian life? It is a growing and learning process. And guess what? There are more growing and learning days that there are great, fantastic days. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact it’s a necessary part of life.
a. Growing and learning are healthy and normal. 2 Pet. 3:18; Heb. 5:8. Hardship is an Important part of the Growing Process. Not grow healthy with out it.
(A) People are like rivers. Get crooked by follow path of least resistance. Nothing will straighten
out a river like an obstacle. Dam it up and it will rise to the occasion. Not stop and dry up.
Steadily rises through the rain, mud, wind blows, turbulence.
(1) Sometimes growing, learning is painful, slow. Occasionally down right awful. But that
does not Jesus is not Lord, God is not good, not rule, victory is not ours.
(a) The fact is, life is tough. No Disney Land. When go skiing, it’s not always down hill slopes. You still have to pay for a lift ticket and that’s no fun. No daily miracles that make check book balance, no bed of roses, no bowl of Cherries. Those kind of expectations are not only unrealistic. They are unscriptural and counter productive.
2 COR 4:8?9, “We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” That’s the way it is on Sunday September 15, 2002, That’s real life.
Ok then, how do I get through the afflictions, blasts of life without despairing, giving Up? How do I do that? You Look to God. He will be with you through the good times as well as the difficult times. Reach out to Him and He will get you through the obstacles. He will get you over the dam.
You Learn and Grow from all of life’s experiences. We need to understand what the Christian Life is and is not. Just because you’re a Christian, all your problems are not going to be solved. Don’t fall into that trap. That is Satan’s lie and it’s not True. God never promised that.
But God does promise that you’ll be a new creature, a secure destiny, saved. In fact if you become a Christian, things just might become more difficult because Satan is going to target you as never before. He will not let you go without a fight.
Another thing. Not all your problems are addressed in the Bible. No precise answers to specific problems. There’s a reason for that. There are times when God will force you to walk by faith. You’ll just have to trust God.
But, that’s ok. You are not unspiritual if you’re having problems. All that proves is that you’re human like every body else.
Some of the most spiritual people in the Bible wrestled with serious life problems. The Bible describes Job, Job 1:8, as the most righteous man earth.
Satan attacked him and he lost all he had. Lost his wealth, wife, children and he was able to survive because of his unwavering faith.
Do you know what Christianity is all about? A matter of growing into spiritual maturity. Anyone with children understands that. They have a built in living, Illustration of maturity and growth.

As they grow they become more responsible. Joy to watch them grow and the same is true of God’s family. Start out as spiritual babies. Fragile, Irresponsible. They grow from being infants without strength and discernment into responsible, mature Christians who make wise, spiritual decisions. Process that enables us to grow up in the Lord.
All this growing does not take place over night. It takes time, conscious effort, determination. We grow by instruction and learning experiences. You become a mature Christian by learning God’s Word and then putting it into practice in your everyday life.
HEB 5:11-14. The theme is twofold. Maturity and the lack of maturity. Vs. 11, “Some Christians had become hard of Hearing.” The point of that statement is not, that they had NOT heard --- they HAD heard. They Had NOT OBEYED.
(1) Notice Vs. 12-14. What's the sign of maturity? How do you know you are growing up in the Lord? You begin practicing what you hear. You are making a conscious effort to learn and be something. That’s how you learn to play a piano. You study how to play. Practice what you learned about playing. And you become proficient at it the more you do it.
(2) Christianity is not Instant Oatmeal. Get out the hot water, get all steamed up and suddenly you’re mature and have all the answers to life. There is huge difference between growing OLD in the Lord and growing UP in the Lord.
(1) I had a 56 year old cousin with the mind of a two year old. I know some churches that suffer from that same problem. Been here for 50-70 years. In terms of the mind of Christ are two-year olds.
(2) Just being exposed to Bible truth will not solve your life problems. Having a lot of head knowledge about God will not make you a mature Christian. Must hear and absorb it down deep in your inner life where attitudes are formed and decisions are made. Maturity that comes with measured growth is the only thing that will enable you to be victorious.
(2) God’s Word is not magic potion you keep on the shelf and take down to rub on your sores. It’s not a tonic you take occasionally with a pious promise to God hoping that some how you’ll suddenly know, experience and understand all of God’s truth. = It’s not that easy.
(1) No such thing as instant maturity. No secret formula that produces full grown, mature Christians over night. Christian maturity comes only one way. You grow into it.
(2) You grow into it by daily applying what you hear and by obeying it. Charlotte Stonestreet’s Poem. “Learn Your Way.”
(3) Growing a Christian is sometimes difficult, inconvenient and painful.
(a) Learning to be mature involves all those things. We grow into Christian maturity by
learning and growing up in Christ.
(3) Acts 20:32

Spur - 09/15/02