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A fellow minister asked me what I thought was the greatest threat to unity in the body of Christ. Without hesitation, I responded, spiritual maturity.
I am absolutely convinced that carnal immaturity is the chief enemy of unity in the church. Immature Christians disrupt and divide churches more than any other factor in the body of Christ. Sin in the church is the fruit of spiritual immaturity. Self-centered, flesh-driven, immature character and conduct within Christ’s ranks keeps the church in a continual state of confusion, conflict, and chaos that Satan applauds. Worst of all, spiritually immature believers, who are hung up on themselves and their needs, hinder our progress in fulfilling the Great Commission to reach multitudes of lost and hurting people outside the four walls of our Christian fellowships (Matthew 28:18-20). According to Webster mature means “having completed natural growth and development, having attained a final or desired state, a state of full development, ripe.” In Ephesians 4:13 Paul speaks of the mature person in Christ. “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” The “mature man” Paul alludes to is the one who is fully developed in his spiritual life. He or she is spiritually ripe, having attained the desired state of being like the Lord Jesus Christ. Ripeness is determined by likeness to Christ.
How interesting it is how you and I think we are mature and everyone else is immature! I mean, come on, you and I get caught in the trap of thinking we are so grown up while others need to grow up. Pretty naïve and arrogant huh? Ø If we think we have arrived and are fully mature in Christ, we need to back up the faith train and think again! Making that statement shows we are not as mature as we think we are!
Please note Paul talks about “the unity of the faith,” and “knowledge of the Son of God.” The desired end of unity of faith and knowledge of Jesus is “a mature man.” That spiritually mature man or woman will measure up to Christ. His fullness (the quality of His perfect life) will be seen in them. Note again, all of us are to strive for, go after, a style of living until we attain/achieve God’s standard of maturity: being like His Son Jesus Christ. Believers are ripe for God when they stand tall, fully developed in the spirit and likeness of Jesus.
May I take the liberty of listing ten characteristics of Christian maturity we should all be striving for? Thank you for your permission!
Proverbs 18:21
I Peter 1:6-9, 4:12-13. Ø Imagine what the body of Christ would look like if we all grew up and practiced these marks of maturity. I vote for it!!!
Ø How is your life measuring up to the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Ø Is there some room in your spirit and heart for maturity? There certainly is in mine. With God’s help through His Word and the Holy Spirit, and the assistance of godly people, I purpose to strive each day to grow up, mature, and be more like the Lord of my life. Let’s grow up folks and win the world to Christ! “For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Hebrews 5:13-14 A Word For Your Week: Make it your life goal to be mature like Jesus Christ Do you ever become impatient with God and His plan for your life?If you answered no, you have another problem...you are not telling the truth!
All of us, including Steve Roll, from time to time, are plagued with impatience with our Christian journey. Patience with the process of walking with the Lord by faith is not the strong suit of most believers. Honestly, you and I want everything our way, on our timetable while we walk with God.
The Bible tells us in Numbers 21:4 “And the people became impatient because of the journey.” Numbers 21:4 On the way to the Promised Land (a promised, prosperous land from God who keeps promises!), God’s chosen people lost their patience. In the context of our verse for this week, Israel spoke against God and their leader Moses (verse 5). Their impatience with the journey caused them to question the Lord and His servant. Time and time again, as you follow their journey, Israel’s impatience caused problems for Moses and reaped negative consequences for the people. Their lack of faith, fear of the future and impatience caused them to wander in the wilderness for forty years until the unbelieving, impatient generation died off. (See Numbers 13-14). The Israelis paid a horrific price for impatience.
We fail to persevere through the process that matures our faith and makes us like Christ. We wimp out when we should hang in there with the Lord’s perfect plan for our life. The perfecting (making whole, complete, mature, lacking nothing) of our faith is a process that requires patience and endurance. No patience…. No perfection. You and I can become impatient with pursuing a college degree, impatient with the dating, engagement and marrying process, impatient with receiving a promotion, impatient with servers in restaurants, impatient with rush hour traffic on the highway, impatient with word processers (like the one I am writing on now!), impatient with healing, restoration, provision or direction etc. We are tempted to become impatient when we experience setbacks, when progress crawls at a snail’s pace, when another Christian’s journey appears to be progressing faster than ours, when the harvest of our labor is less than expected, or when other people wonder why our life isn’t showing more fruitfulness and success. The fact you and I must face with faith is this: Our times are in God’s hands, not ours (Psalm 31:15). Ø Meditate upon, chew on this thought for a moment: Who are you and I to be impatient with God’s plan for our lives? How dare we suggest that our Lord does not know what He is doing because we become impatient with the process? God, and God alone, knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning. So, who am I to dictate the direction and duration of my faith walk with Him? He, not me, planned everyday of my life before even the first day existed (Psalm 139:16). This type of erroneous thinking that I know better than God sounds arrogant and presumptuous, doesn’t it?
Walking by sight instead of faith always creates impatience. Why? Because we do not see what the eye of faith trusts God for. Impatience with our Christian journey says something about the maturity of our faith. Immaturity breeds impatience. Maturity cultivates a consistent patience with God and His plan for our life.
Questions We Need To Answer v Do you trust God with your journey? 100% trust His plan? v Do you believe God is at work when it doesn’t look like it? v Do you trust God’s timing? Do you believe His timing is perfect? v Do you believe you can grow through a slow growth season? Slow growth is not no growth. Slow growth is solid growth. v Do you believe that God has a way of working all things together for your good? v Do others say you are patient with your faith? v Do you rejoice and enjoy the life in Christ journey you are on?
So, how is your journey going? Are you plagued with destination disease…or are you enjoying each step of your walk with Christ? Be patient, yes patient, very patient, with God’s process of perfecting your faith and enriching your journey with Jesus.
“In your patience (endurance) possess your souls.” Luke 21:19 (KJV) A Word For Your Week: Be patient with HOPE.
A four-letter word that stirs the heart of every person who has walked on the earth.
For example, God’s chosen people were experiencing extremely challenging times. An oppressive, culture crushing captivity clouded the sunshine of hope for God’s people. Hauled off in chains by the cruel Babylonians, the Israelites found themselves homeless, helpless and hopeless. It looked like the future held little hope for the people of God. Enter Jeremiah with a word from the Lord. A timely, encouraging word about a hopeful future. “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares, the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 Speaking directly to the exiled Jews through His prophet Jeremiah, the Lord declared that He had a plan for His people that included prosperity and success. God’s plan excluded calamity and disaster while insuring them of a hopeful future.
Jeremiah’s hopeful words were just what the doctor ordered. First and foremost, the Jewish people needed reassured that there would be a future life for them. Down-trodden, destitute and desperate, they needed something to hope for, a hope-filled word to hold on to.
How about you? Do you see a hopeful future? Or is your future clouded with hopelessness? Do the daily headlines cause the flame of your hope to flicker? Do you need a fresh, bright ray of hope today?
Hopeless people often feel that God has forgotten them. As they sit on the ash heap of their personal misery, they think God does not have a plan for their lives. Loss of hope leads to discouragement, depression and despair.
THINK ABOUT IT. Is your hope for provision based on a human handout, a benevolent bailout, or do you look to God’s hand to provide for your every need? Is your hope for protection, safety and security based on polished, politically correct rhetoric and governmental agencies? Or do you trust in Almighty God to keep you secure and deliver you from all evil? How about your relationships? Is your hope and expectation of healthy, mutually satisfying relationships based on what man does, or what God can do in people’s hearts?
Christian hope is a “living hope” because of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead! (I Peter 1:3). Born-again believers possess the hope of hopes. Alive in Christ, Christians are destined for heaven! If you are seeking hope, seek the resurrected Savior. You and I are never without help when our hope is in God.
Here are several ways you can have hope for your future. Ø Start your day by confessing your hope in Jesus Christ. Ø Saturate your mind and spirit with Gods’ hope-filled promises. Ø Stop listening to society’s hopeless doomsayers. Ø Surround yourself with hope inspiring people. Ø Believe that God causes all things, including challenging times like these, to work for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Ø Remember God’s faithfulness to you and your family in the past. Ø Regularly thank God for the hope you have in His Son. Ø Expect God to do remarkable things in your life today!
My friend, focus your faith. Look up to the Lord. Hang your hope on Jesus Christ. Re-affirm your hope in Him. Expect God to fulfill His Word to give you a hopeful and prosperous future.
“To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27 “The Lord is my portion says my soul. Therefore, I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.” Lamentations 3:24-25 “My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; my stronghold, I shall not be shaken.” Psalm 62:5-6 “Why are you in despair, Oh my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me: Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” Psalm 42:11 A Word For Your Week: Hope for today and the future is found in faith in Jesus Christ. There are many things in our constantly shifting and changing culture that can move us, making you and me feel insecure.
So, what do we do to not be moved by these and other things that move and shake up so many people? In the God’s Word, the Bible, David has good news for all who want to be immovable in a lost world on the move whose movement is away from God and His Word. “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people, from this time forth and forever.” Psalm 125:1-2
The key to being immovable is trust. Trust in the Lord. When you and I put our faith in the Lord, we are like Mount Zion, God’s Holy City, which cannot be moved. Please note the word is “cannot be moved.” Mount Zion refers to Jerusalem in the Old Testament and “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” in the New Testament (Hebrews 12:22). Metaphorically, Mount Zion is where God resides. Think about it for a moment. Who or what is big or bad enough to move God’s habitation? The answer is…no one nor anything. Mount Zion is rock solid and immovable. In addition to being unmovable, Zion is eternal. It lasts forever and does not change though everything else does.
Wow! Incredible! Blows my tiny little mind! The Lord God Almighty. The Creator of the universe. Our Heavenly Father who raised His only Son from the dead to save all who believe. The Holy One and His heavenly host surrounds everyone who puts their faith in Him. People of faith are immovable because God surrounds and secures them. In the Roll household we have a surround sound system in our family room. When it is in operation mode, the soundtrack from the movie we are watching envelopes our family. When the woofer is on, the sound wraps itself around us and even vibrates the house! We are so absorbed and surrounded by sound, that nothing can move us from watching the movie on the television. The surrounding sound is cool. But being surrounded by God is absolutely awesome!
TRUST IN THE LORD. You and I are immovable when our trust is in God. He surrounds us with His love, care, might, strength, power and protection when we trust in Him. Conversely, we are movable and shakable when we do not trust in Him. Our lives can be shaken up when we look away from the Lord and allow our faith to be shaken.
As a Christian, I choose to not be moved because I choose Christ. If I truly believe what I say I believe, I cannot be moved because Jesus is the immovable rock of my life. He alone is my rock and my salvation (Psalm 62). All the power of hell can come against me to try and move me away from God. But Satan’s feeble, futile attempts to shake me up fail every time because I put my faith in my unshakable, immovable Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“My soul waits in silence for God only, for my hope is in Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken.” Psalm 62:5-6 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.” Matthew 7:24-25 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, IMMOVABLE, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” I Corinthians 15:58 A Word For Your Week: Do not be moved by what moves other people. |
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