Sermon Series
How to Face Our Future! – Part 1
“How to Develop Spiritually Maturity”
Pastor Jerry
Select Verses from the Book of James
————————————- Message Synopsis ————————————-
As we enter this New Year, 2021, our country is hurting. Pandemics, racial inequalities, economical losses, and political division have caused great suffering.
How are we going to face this year? with hope – believing that things will change. Or face the year with a sense of dread?–that nothing will change this year. The choice is ours. To make that choice we will need help! We need God to show us the way. That’s why I am preaching this series of messages on the book of James.
We are called to be salt and light on the earth. But we can’t do that simply by words itself, but with a faith that produces spiritual maturity. It will come thru the grace of God, come thru truth of the Word of God, come thru the teaching of God’s ways for action.
From the beginning of time, the human race has been in a spiritual battle. Today, we have witnessed a falling away from God’s biblical principles. Our nation has been experiencing a spiritual decline. There appears to be no absolutes, no moral standards, no respect for the life of others. In our society anything goes: we call good evil, and evil good. We believe lies and deny the truth. We are selfish with little concern for others.
What happens when the leaders of our nation does not honor God’s commands? What happens when Christians stay silent? Doesn’t this sound like the world we live in today? The light that is needed is one that holds firm to the word of God and confronts sin. That’s why I believe one thing that we can do to change our course is to develop spiritual maturity. We need to humble ourselves before a Holy God. We need to seek His goodness.
If America ceases to be good it will cease to be great.
How are we to be good? How are we to face our future? By developing a Spiritual maturity! Hebrews 6:1, “Let us go on to maturity.” That’s why the purposes of our church at Boones Mill needs to be to help everybody grow spiritually, emotionally, mentally, in every way.
What is spiritual maturity? God says it’s your attitude that determines whether you’re mature or not. God wants you to grow up and have Christ-like qualities. How do you measure spiritual maturity? By comparing yourself to the word of God. In the book of James we have a manual on maturity.
James gives us five goals for developing spiritual maturity.
I. SPIRITUAL MATURITY IS BEING POSITIVE UNDER PRESSURE
James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.”
So, how do you handle trials? The first test of maturity is how do you react to problems? Do you grumble and gripe? Christianity is a life. It’s not a religion as Jesus said, “I’ve come that you might have life. Life means problems, and part of life means solving problems and facing them with the right attitude.
What is your natural attitude, your natural bent when things don’t go right and you’re irritated? Is your life filled with gratitude or grumbling? Are you affirmative or are you angry most of the time?
James (1:12) says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” Are you positive under pressure?
A second goal for developing spiritual maturity:
II. SPIRITUAL MATURITY IS BEING SENSITIVE TO PEOPLE
“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, `Love your neighbor as yourself’ you are doing right.” James 2:8
A spiritually mature person is sensitive to people. He doesn’t just see his own needs, he sees other people’s needs. He understands their hurts. He’s not just interested in himself. God says that love, being interested in others, is a mark of maturity.
James gets very specific. James 2:1-6: Don’t be a snob, don’t look down on people, don’t judge by appearance, don’t insult people, don’t exploit people. A test of spiritual maturity is love: how do you treat other people? Matthew 25, Jesus says, “At that judgment they will stand before the Lord and they’ll say, `I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and in prison and you visited me.’ We’ll say, ‘When, Lord, when did we do that? When were you sick and we visited you? When were you in prison and when were you thirsty and we gave you drink?’ Jesus said, ‘Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto Me.’” It’s interesting to me that in the Matthew 25– judgment — the one thing we’ll be judged for is how we treated other people.
A third goal for developing spiritual maturity:
III. SPIRITUAL MATURITY IS ONE WHO HAS MASTERED HIS MOUTH
James 3:2 “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”
A doctor will say, “Stick out your tongue.” He uses your tongue to check your health. God does that spiritually, too. Loose lips destroy lives. They hurt! We get ourselves into so much trouble at what we say and how we say it. James 3 gives several illustrations. He says that you put a little bit in a horse’s mouth and that little bit can control the direction of the horse. A little rudder on a boat can control the direction of the boat. Your tongue controls your life. Your tongue is a powerful force for good or for evil.
The mark of spiritual maturity is that a person manages his mouth. James 1:26 “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.” I can pray, and read the Bible every day, and go to church and never miss a service, but if I’m a gossip, my religion is worthless. If I spread false claims, my faith is worthless. A test of spiritual maturity is to manage your mouth so that no corrupt communication, no negative talk comes out of your mouth.
“Speak the truth in love” means the right attitude, the right information, the right motive. The Bible is very practical. It doesn’t matter how much you know about the Bible, if your attitude isn’t like Christ’s you’re missing the point.
A fourth goal for developing spiritual maturity:
IV. SPIRITUAL MATURITY IS A PEACEMAKER NOT A TROUBLEMAKER
James 4:1 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” He’s talking about conflict. He says there are inner quarrels and fights and they come from our own inner desires. You want something and you don’t get it. You quarrel and fight and you do not have because you are not of God.
Are you a peacemaker? Are you a troublemaker? Do you like to argue? Do you easily get your feelings hurt if you don’t get your way? Do you hurt other people’s feelings?
The mark of a spiritually mature person is the lack of conflict in his own life. Paul told the Corinthian church, “You guys are a bunch of babies”. They argued about everything. Why is there so much conflict in our world? Why is there conflict in our government, in marriages, between friends, between Christians? Why is there conflict between us and God? Why is there conflict?
James says there are two reasons for conflict. James 4:3 “When you ask you do not receive. But you ask with the wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” The first cause of conflict is selfishness. The other source of conflict is judging others unfairly. All of us are guilty of judging others unfairly. If you do this you will judged that way. You’re always finding fault, always stirring up strife, always spreading false claims. Don’t judge unfairly!
A fifth goal for developing spiritual maturity:
V. SPIRITUAL MATURITY IS BEING PATIENT AND PRAYERFUL
5:7,11 “Be patient then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming… be patient …As you know, we consider blessed those who persevere.” (v16) “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” God says the mark of a mature person is, he is patient and prayerful. Those two go together. They express an attitude of dependence upon God.
To explain patience, James gives the illustration of the farmer. If anybody has to have patience it’s a farmer. He does a lot of waiting. There are no overnight crops. Just like a farmer has to wait, sometimes we have to wait. We have to wait on God in answer to prayer. We have to wait on God for a miracle. Patience is a mark of spiritual maturity. The only way you learn patience is by waiting.
Many times God will say to you, “Not yet.” He doesn’t mean “No”. He just saying, “You’ve got to be patient …and wait, …and pray”.
I will close by giving you a test for your spiritual maturity.
- How do you handle problems?
- Are you sensitive to other people?
- Can you manage your mouth?
- Are you a peacemaker?
- How long can you wait for an answer to prayer without giving up?
How do you rate? Do we have work to do? OK…let’s grow this year with God’s help!