“Spiritual Growth and Maturity”

Psalm 92 (NIV)

¹ It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, ² to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, ³ to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. 

⁴ For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.  ⁵ How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts!  ⁶ The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand ⁷ that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.  

⁸ But you, O Lord, are exalted forever. 

⁹ For surely your enemies, O Lord, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers shall be scattered. 
¹⁰ You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; fine oils have been poured upon me.  ¹¹ My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.

¹² The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; ¹³ planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.  ¹⁴ They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, ¹⁵ proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

The Corinth Church wrote a letter asking Paul specific questions:  1) What to do with a man sleeping with his father’s wife?  2) Communion and who gets to eat it?  3) Marriage and whether it is or not a good idea and how should it work?  4) Food sacrifice and idols and should we eat it or not?

Paul responds to the Church’s questions in the form of a letter, read to the congregation.  Paul gets to the heart of the matter concerning the lack of love which is the center of a believer’s life and what a Christian is known for (LOVE).

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NIV)

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  ² If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails.  But where there are prophesies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.  ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  ¹² Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.

The letter must have caused quite a stir.  You can have all kinds of gifts, do miracles, speak prophesy, and not be a Christian.

Paul gives the Corinthians a shameful understanding of love.  He gives them a list of what they are not: kind patient, bearing all things, believing all things… It was meant to humble the Corinthians and drive them to repent to God.

They valued knowledge rather than love and gifts more than people.

Paul calls them babies.  When I was a child, I remember how I thought like a child, reasoned like a child, but I grew up.

I Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, stop thinking like children.  In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

Paul is teaching the Church we all are infants, and we start on milk and are given solid food when we are ready.  And at this point in the Corinthian Church, they are still in the infant stage.

Love grows as the Spirit starts changing us from the inside out when we accept Christ and begin to follow Him.  The Spirit begins to work in our lives, changing the way we think.  God wants us to grow from a spiritual infant to a mature follower of Christ with a depth and width of our love and faith.

The theme today will be centered around the fact we must grow up, the way we grow, and how do we grow.

As a Christian we all start from the beginning no matter what earthly skills that we have acquired.

We need to look at our fellow believers through Christ’s eyes, not the eyes of the world.  We have been spiritual babies at some point in our Christian faith-walk, but God wants us growing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11  So speak encouraging words to one another.  Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind.  I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.

God wants us to be patient with ourselves and others.  We are to reach out in faith in seeking help in our journey.

The way we grow in our faith-walk, it seems, we are like a baby, who has a short attention span.  And because of that babies love the spectacular, the big show, and everything quick.  On the other hand, love is most often a matter of quiet, persistent work over the long haul.

The American Church generally lacks depth of Spiritual knowledge, we lack depth of character, we have lots of held beliefs, but no idea why we hold them.  We are a mile wide and an inch deep.

Spiritual babies tend to think, “If I get power, a spouse, or find security, all things will be good.”  But the truth is, if we have all of these things and no love, our lives will still be empty.  Love is a commitment, not a feeling.  It is a choice to beave in specific ways that honor the ones we love.

Love is cleaning up the mess at 3am that someone else made.  Love is holding them when something has gone terribly wrong.

John Newton Hymn: I asked the Lord that I might grow; in faith and love and every grace; Might more of his salvation know; and seek, more earnestly his face.  Instead of this, he made me feel; the hidden evils of my heart; and let the angry power of hell; assault my soul in every part.  Lord, why is this, I trembling cried; wilt thou pursue thy women to death? ‘Tis in this way, the Lord replied, I answer prayers for grace and faith.

Lord, help me grow in love and grace, make me a great person.  God gives a quiet, less exciting path to take, to be fulfilled in the little things, consistent, over the long haul.  Don’t lose attention, be persistent in prayer, persevere in troubles, keep going, love is patient.

St. Teresa had a miserable life, she said if you viewed her life backwards from Heaven, it will simply seem like a bad night…

Love is not merely a feeling; it’s a commitment.  It is not defined by emotion nearly as much as it is by devotion.  ~ Dave Willis.org:

Mature Christians take what they know of the Gospel and think and apply it into their lives.

The Corinthians knew the Gospel; they were not applying it into their lives.  They were not growing.  It was in their head and not in their heart.

Jesus endured the Cross so that we can be saved, but not to be saved as a child, but to grow in Him.  Growth is not easy, but it is good.  God will use the process of our growth to build His Kingdom.

God bless.  Allow God to mature you to completeness.