The Road to Maturity in Christ III

The Road to Maturity in Christ

1 Corinthians 3:1–4

Theme: The Christian journey leads to maturity in the Word, discernment, and righteous decision-making.

Relevance: God designed the Christian life to grow continuously into obedience dominated by His Spirit and will.

Introduction:

During Paul's ministry in Corinth, he tried to feed his spiritual children and help them mature in the Faith. Much like a normal family, everybody helps the new baby grow and mature, so in the family of God we must encourage spiritual maturity. We want to observe this progress in three movements.

Message:

I.   “Walk as Men” (1 Cor. 3:3).

II. “Ye are Yet Carnal” (1 Cor 3:1, 3).

III.  “As Unto Spiritual” (1 Cor. 3:1).

A.   Mature in Christ

                                                   i.     Spiritual refers to saved individuals who are dominated by the Holy Spirt and Obey the Word. This is exactly where the Lord would have us to be, but not many ‘believers’ actually appreciate this kind of commitment. We are basically selfish creatures so we think a large part of ‘maturity’ accommodates our desire for comfort, convenience, and quick fixes.

                                                 ii.     A Christian matures by allowing the Spirit to teach him and direct him by feeding on the Word. True wisdom from God is revealed by the Spirit (1Cor. 2:6–13) to those who are “mature.” This maturity is like a fruit which has developed to completion and perfection; it is ripe. Such believers are fulfilled by their employment by Christ, they are daily listening to the Spirit…they study, memorize, and meditate on Scripture as a means of securing and executing God’s plan. They cherish the idea of God’s Word richly indwelling them and guiding their hearts and minds.

                                               iii.     The usual observation is that "milk" represents the easy things in the Word, while "meat" represents the hard doctrines. But according to Heb 5:10-14, "milk" represents what Jesus Christ did on earth, while "meat" speaks of Christ’s present ministry in heaven. The current heavenly priesthood of Jesus Christ should be explored and relied on, but immaturity will prevent this (Heb. 6:1-3). Christ is ascended, received, enthroned, empowered, reigning, interceding in heaven now, and anticipating his return to earth. The mature Christian not only rejoices in these truths, but they hang on to them as holy comfort from God during harnesses and persecutions. 

B.   Feed on the Word

                                                   i.     Spiritual maturity involves many things. Hebrews 5:11–14 teaches three principles about spiritual maturity as compared with spiritual immaturity:

1.    First, maturity takes time (v. 12). The believers need to be exposed to the truth of the Word and see it modeled in others over time. They rely on others to teach and explain the Bible to them. God will apply it to the individual life.

2.    Second, maturity involves growth in the knowledge of the Word of God (v. 13). Babies in Christ can only handle the simple things of the gospel (1 Pet. 2:2). Spiritual development (or deformity) is directly related to the amount of intake of the Word. These believers can feed themselves from the Bible.

3.    Finally, spiritual maturity involves experience in the use of the Word in discerning between good and bad, or truth and error (vv. 13, 14). This is to be a disciplined exercise in spiritual discernment. Such believers can teach others and engage in spiritual warfare successfully. (W. W. Wiersbe)

                                                 ii.     The Word of God is our spiritual food: milk (1 Peter 2:2), bread (Matt 4:4), meat (Heb 5:11-14), and even honey (Ps 119:103) just as the physical man needs a balanced diet if his body is to be healthy, so the inner man needs a balanced diet of spiritual food. The baby begins with milk, but as he grows and his teeth develop, he needs solid food.

1.    It is not difficult to determine a believer's spiritual maturity, or immaturity, if you discover what kind of “diet” he enjoys.

2.    The immature believer knows little about the present ministry of Christ in heaven. He knows the facts about our Lord's life and ministry on earth, but not the truths about His present ministry in heaven. He lives on "Bible stories" and not Bible doctrines. He has no understanding of 1 Cor 2:6-7. Unfortunately, they are more focused on themselves than the Lord Jesus. (W. W. Wiersbe)

C.   Makes Bible Based Decisions

                                                   i.     In my ministry, I have preached in hundreds of churches and conferences; and I have always been grateful for congregations that wanted to be enlightened and edified, not entertained.

1.    It is important that we preach the Gospel to the lost, but it is also important that we interpret the Gospel to the saved.

2.    The entire New Testament is an interpretation and application of the Gospel. Romans, for example, does not tell us how to be saved - because they were already believers. It explains what was really involved in our salvation. It is an explanation of the "deep things of God" and how they apply to daily life. Sound Bible-based knowledge is key.

                                                 ii.     There is another way to determine maturity; the mature Christian practices love and seeks to get along with others. Children like to disagree and fuss. And children like to identify with heroes, whether sports heroes or Hollywood heroes. The "babes" in Corinth were fighting over which preacher was the greatest - Paul, Apollos, or Peter. It sounded like children on the playground or adults on a “Monday after the big game”! 

Conclusion:

When immature Christians, without spiritual discernment, get into places of leadership in the church, the results will be disastrous. Such compromises regarding commitment levels are a formula for disappointment and disingenuous behavior. More than one brokenhearted pastor has lamented wondering what to do with church officers or significant church members who talk big but live small. Also, sometimes it is the officers who wonder what to do with an immature pastor!

The Christian must drive forward focusing on maturity in the Word, discernment in life, and righteous decision-making pursuant of God’s plan. We will make mistakes and experience serious failures along the way, but you are not the first one. Still…go on with the Lord. It is costly and painful breaking away from ‘fleshly’ carnal living. Staying tune to God’s will gets extremely uncomfortable at times, but we must stay focused on the Lord to sustain us. God literally designed us to grow continuously into a lifestyle of obedience dominated increasingly by His Spirit and will. Many fellow ‘believers’ will not necessarily appreciate this because they desire traditions far more than truth. ‘Comfort’ and ‘happiness’ cannot be a mature Christian’s determining factors.

     1.    Again, some need to be saved today—I mean really 'get the goods' being born again. Stop putting it off and trust Christ as your Savior and Lord now.

     2.    Others need to make the choice to pursue spiritual development and real progress. Stop faking divine advancements; refuse to be like the Pharisees any longer. Study the Word, apply God’s truth, use God-given discernment, and make decisions that reflect God’s rule in your life and ministry.

     3.  Yet others need to keep their eyes fixed on our risen, enthroned, interceding, and soon coming Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. He is your everything and He can meet your every need. Look unto him continually!