Personal and Spiritual Maturity

I'd like to talk to you today about maturity. Maturity. What does the word mature mean? I think I know what mature means, so I went to Oxford Dictionary. Mature means fully grown and developed.

Hmm. Well, that doesn't really tell you a lot, does it?

In that, I guess something that was growing is now fully grown and developed. Sort of begs the question, fully grown into what? Because as we look at, say, individuals, people can be fully grown, but not all of them are necessarily what you would hope they would be, or act how you hope they would be. So, perhaps examining the opposite would help us here. Immature. I went to Cambridge Dictionary and it says, not completely developed, but then adds physically, mentally, or emotionally. Not fully developed physically, mentally, or emotionally. You know, a lot of us guys can grow up physically, but stay kids, stay immature. And the world is filled with immature men. Immature meaning emotionally, responsibly, they're still children, upstairs. It's still about something that's just a selfish pursuit, like a child.

Immaturity, then, if we look at it, tends to be a self-quest. It is, be all I can be for me. Do all that I can do. See all that I can see. Have all that I can have. See? And it might involve getting the girl, right? In some cultures, it's having children so that you can have a number that you can pass around as a, I'm great because I have this many kids. It might be, I have this much money for me. I have these many things. I have this thing. It's this size, or it goes this fast, you see? But you see how that that grown-up individual still is just like a child. It's about me and my toys. And I want that, and I'll take that. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 3, it speaks of our day, in which is called dangerous because people didn't grow up. Men and women didn't mature emotionally and responsibly. It says, for men will be lovers of themselves. It's an immature self-focus. Lovers of money for themselves. Boasters of themselves. Proud of themselves. Blasphemers of others. Disobedient to authority. Unthankful, unholy. So we see this immaturity. It's very shallow, isn't it? On all levels. It's very shallow. And Paul speaks here. He says, watch out! This is a dangerous time when people are immature. They're dangerous to others. Today, I'd like to look into this concept of a need for maturity among boys and girls of all ages. We're all boys and girls of all ages. We have a young child or two here. We have some older children here who are sons and daughters of God. And many of us fall in between. But a good question to ask is, how mature am I? How fully grown up am I? Emotionally, responsibly, and also spiritually. How mature am I? It's a good question for us all to ask. I ask this of myself. I merely share it with you today. Once we see perhaps a glimpse of how emotionally and personally mature we have become, we might also then ask how spiritually mature we are at this point. Maturity, it turns out, is a process that we all need to be engaged in our entire life. It never ends. It never ends. And so we need to be engaged in this and make progress towards a full maturity.

Actually, these things are fairly easily tracked. If you look at a couple of common denominators that we'll see, you can actually see where you are along the way. So the title of the sermon today is Maturity, Personal, and Spiritual. A result of immaturity creates a crisis, or crises, for really everyone along with the environment. Do you notice in the world today how these two are in crisis? It all goes as a package. It's the fruit all over the tree. Solomon lived a life of essentially futility, worthlessness, or as the old English term would have been, vanity. It amounted to nothing but a self-quest. And nothing was held back from his self-quest. And he ruined the lives of a thousand women. He essentially ruined his relationship with God. And in the end, he had ruined his own spiritual relationship with God. So we can see in Scripture that immature people are irresponsible and a risk. They're irresponsible to God, to spouse, to family, to neighbors, to civilization as a whole. The focus of an immature person is self. A life about me. What excites me? And advertising plays into this. Oh, you need this exciting. And here's the whatever it is. You should have this. You should experience this excitement. Oh, you should do this. And here it is with a 20% discount. You should feel this. You should feel this. Oh, you should taste this. And here it is dripping in fat. And the more fat you can get in this thing, possibly pushing it over 2,000 calories dripping.

Come in and have this slathering, savory device. You know, delight. Take this device that is so expensive, but it just wonders. Put on this headset and go into a world of just your own. Have personal devices. PFDs. Personal this device. Personal that device. Personal this device. A personal car device. It's all about the person. It's all about the experience.

The consequences of emotional and spiritual immaturity breeds a globally immature society. A society without God, without the responsibility of the laws of God, which are for others, actually, not for oneself, but for others, loving God and loving man. These create a globally immature society. Notice in Isaiah chapter 24, and we'll read verses 4 and 5. Isaiah chapter 24 and verse 4. The earth mourns and fades away. Now stop right there. If you turn on the news today, you'll read this. You'll see this visually. The earth is mourning. It's fading away. You know, it's choked in the air. It's choked in the water. The animals are dying. The people are dying. We have big problems on earth today. The world languishes and fades away. Never has humanity been as sick as it is today as a result of its self-focus for ease, for irresponsibility, for money, for excitement.

The haughty people of the earth language. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants. What little is left you see of, even in the news today, people are going after it to pollute it, to kill it, to eat it, to whatever. Because they have transgressed the laws. Now think of the laws. What are laws for? They're for the good of everyone. They're for the joy, for the peace, for the longevity, for the life. That's what laws are for. But they've transgressed the laws.

I almost challenge you to define what a law is anymore. Pick a law and see if it really is a law. And who is disobeying it and who is advocating disobeying it is often the legal profession or the government. They've changed the ordinance. They've broken the everlasting covenant. They've put away God. And now they're doing something else. So, the Bible does speak of immaturity, but it also speaks of maturity. A person who is grown up. Grown up like Christ.

Grown up as children like God. A grown up son and daughter of God. And God is very responsible. And godliness and God's laws are responsible for everyone. And they're good for everyone. They are life. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 6, let's notice here what Paul speaks of and who he's speaking to. Obviously, there are those who right now cannot hear and cannot see. That does not include you and me. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 6, However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature. Consider that.

We are considered to be mature or grown, responsible emotionally, responsible for others, caring about others, if we are living God's way of life. And so, this is who God speaks to today. Speaking in verse 7, you see, the wisdom of God. But verse 6, We speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. This is the wisdom of God. Living responsibly. Living according to the authority of God, submitting to that authority. Submitting to his laws is responsible. It's mature. It takes a little bit of work, but it's good.

So, maturity, then, is living responsible while promoting responsibility to others.

When we promote responsibility to everything around us, we promote our children to be responsible.

Our fellow church members to be responsible.

Our pets to be responsible. Everything. Our environment to be responsible. We try to be responsible for all things so that everything works together for good. Physically, spiritually, all of it. The consequences are huge. Huge. Let's drop down to verse 7 now. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. The hidden wisdom which God ordained before the age is for our glory. The glory, ultimately, of firstfruits who, when minds and eyes are finally opened, will be able to share this. And it'll be a Garden of Eden-type world in the next age.

Let's go down to verse 10. But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. So we're totally relying on God. This isn't about your salvation. This is about our salvation. And your salvation started when God created the universe and established that there would be some who would be firstfruits, some who would be called, some who would be Christ-like, some who would be leaders in the world tomorrow. And you and I are said right here to know the deep things of God.

We can be responsible. We can be mature. Good personal and spiritual maturity has a common denominator, just like immaturity does. Remember what immaturity was? Me? The common denominator of spiritual maturity and personal maturity is we. And the we is all inclusive. See, there's an immature we, which is my empirical self. I'm sorry, my imperial self, which according to Oxford dictionary means the empire, my empire. See, I can have my empire, my wife, my kid, my dog, my house, my ball team, my property. And oh, I love all of those and my children and my grandchildren. Yours, not so much, but mine. I can have my empire, my imperial self, and that's very selfish and very, by the way, immature. But God loves all, and we are to love our fellow man as much as ourselves. That's mature. That is mature. Being responsible for everyone, including the poor, including the needy, including the immature. We don't write them off. If there's an immature individual, you try to help that individual. They may listen, they may not. There's the creation, the environment of God. We try to be mature with it and help it be mature.

And there's the eternal kingdom of God. We certainly want to be relating to it in a mature way, both ways. Sure, we want the kingdom to come to me, no, to us, right? Coming to us, we also want to be a blessing to it, don't we? There's a maturity the other way towards the kingdom of God. It's not just about, oh, I want to be in the kingdom. No, I want the kingdom to benefit from my being in it. So, I need to be a responsible, mature individual in the family of God. So, it requires turning around the me and responsibly pursuing the we. How do we do that?

You know, it begins by releasing the grip that we have on me.

You know, Jesus Christ didn't keep the grip so strong with his glorified state in heaven. He said he didn't hold on to that like a thief would your purse.

He let that go so that he could come down like you and me as an embryo and then a baby and then a child and then a human being. He let that go so he could grow up and teach us and then die for us and now have that strong link where he is our vine and we grow from him. We need to do the same thing. We need to release our grip on our... I'm not sure what the name of it is, but you know how you have the awards for the greatest film, I won't name it, but the little golden statue.

Well, you and I each have one of those. We were kind of born with it and we've been polishing it up and as kids we try to shine it and as young, you know, as adolescents we try to impress one another and I have my career and I have my stuff and I have my guy or girl and I'm, you know, and now we have our house and our job and our money. We're just shining this thing up. That's so immature and some boys and girls never get over that. They just build bigger and bigger corporations and gobble up the environment and gobble up the salaries. You know, I heard this week that eight people on earth, eight individuals, and I'll name them for you, have half the world's wealth.

The other half, the other half, often have almost nothing, but to have half the world's wealth means you've got to get it from somebody, don't you? You just don't go pick dollars off a tree as you grow. You have to get it from somebody. We need to be responsible for others. Release the grip on me. Let me show you a good place to start. It's called Philippians chapter 3 and verse 13.

You have to look at this through a little bit different lens. There's two ways of looking at this, and they're both excellent. They're both really excellent, but Philippians chapter 3 and verse 13 says, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended or become perfected. I'm not ready to just step into the kingdom because I'm so perfect, you see. But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are before. When you think about Passover, if you keep your sins, if you say, I really blew it one time, and so therefore I'm guilty of that, then you're denying that Jesus Christ's sacrifice was big enough. I don't know, maybe he had to die twice for that sin. Or maybe he should have been more important than the great God in heaven with our Father. I mean, what are we saying when we say, oh, it's not big enough. I can't give that one up. I'm still guilty of that. See, that would just be blasphemy, really. So it's one thing that's very important to forget those things which are behind. Learn the lesson. That's no longer me. That's attributed to Jesus Christ, and he died for that. So I'm free. In God's eyes, I'm clear. I'm right. I'm sinless when I've repented. Each time I repent. Now I reach forward to those things which are ahead. Okay, so God's very positive. This is wonderful. Now let's look at the flip side of this, which is also very good. Let's forget those things which are behind about me, where my focus remains. See? I did some stuff behind. And what am I still thinking of? I'm still feeling guilty. Me. I'm feeling low. Me. Or what somebody else did to me. Uh-huh. We tote that one along, don't we? Oh, what this other person did to me. I've got to bring that along. See, because my life's all about me. It's all about me, and I could have been better if that person hadn't done this to me. And so I drag this along in life.

He said, look, get rid of the me. Either way, forget those things which are behind. Reach forward to the things which are ahead. I press towards the goal for the upward prize of the upward call of God and Christ Jesus. Therefore, as many as are mature. Ah. You see how the mind off of me is maturity? Get the mind off yourself and get it onto the we. There's a lot of us in the church. There's a lot of us who have needs. There's a lot of us who need encouragement. There's a lot of us who can be encouraged and can be encouraging. Right? Because life is a combination of that. In Matthew 6, verse 33, we're told what mature people will have as a focus. Here's what Jesus said. Shift the focus off of yourself. That's what most of chapter 6 is about. It's all about me. What am I going to eat? That's really good tasting. What am I going to wear that makes me look really, really good? Where am I going to live in a cool house? You know, in the neighborhood or whatever. Hang on. He says Matthew 6, verse 33, but you know, let's do verse 32, for after all these things, the Gentiles seek. In other words, those who are not part of the faith.

That's what they're seeking. It's immaturity. But your heavenly Father knows what you need. He knows you need those things.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Oh, what is that? Seek maturity. Kingdom of God is love for everyone. It's love for God. It's love for everyone else. It's the raising of everything. It's the perfection of everything. It's the joy. It's the beauty. It's the wonderful life for everyone. Be mature and complete in the first fruits of the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, maturity required, gentleness, goodness, meekness, teachable, humility, faith, trust. Put those together, along with some long suffering moderation in all things.

That's a completeness. That's a mature. You know, it's interesting how the Bible uses food a lot in this regard. It's impossible to look at maturity without finding food involved in Scripture. We can look at Matthew 6.11. Give us this day our daily bread. Right in the model prayer outline. It's right there. Part of being a mature person. Analyze the words real quick. Where's the me? It's not there. Give us, this day, our daily bread. It's a mindset that is moved to a mature.

It also doesn't say, spoon feed me. I don't want to have to do any work. Make sure the food tastes real good. No. Ask a question. How does one acquire food? And how does one become mature? You look at one, you'll find a person who is immature in both. You look at the other, you'll see a person who is mature in both, quite possibly. In other words, personal maturity can involve food. Food can actually reveal an aspect of one's personal maturity level because it's mentioned in Scripture with this in mind. For instance, the Exodus. Remember the Exodus? God gave them manna because there was no food out in the desert, in the wilderness. He gave them manna, but He wanted them to be mature with it. I'm talking about mature. They were to go out and to gather. God gave them manna, but they had to be responsible to go out and gather it, to bake it, to boil it, to prepare it. And on the sixth day of the week, they had to do double. So that on the seventh day of the week, they would have their provisions done. But if you're not careful, you're thinking about the me. It was about the we. Remember? For you and your household, and your wife, and your children, and your servant, and the widow, and the Levite that are within your gates, this is how the food went. This is how responsibility went. God wanted them to be mature. Now, you come down to this modern end-time age, and how do people acquire food today? Just think about it. You know?

Corporations gather, whatever it is they gather. They formulate. They do it according to a certain recipe called profit. And there's two ingredients in profit. One is cost, and the other is shelf life. Most people don't understand this, but the food industry basically revolves around cost and shelf life. So they're going to short you on quality, but they're going to extend the shelf life. If you ever wonder why there's so much salt in food, it's to dehydrate the food so that it has a longer shelf life. It's not there for your heart. BHT, BHA, those things that actually dry out food. They'll put in ingredients that dry out food. If you wonder, if you think, oh healthy, I don't eat white bread, I eat wheat bread. Why white bread? Because it basically will last forever. Because there's no essential oils and nutrients that spoil. Set them out on the counter and see which one rots first. You'll find out. Same with meats, vegetables, the way things are grown. You wonder why wheat was re-engineered back in the 60s. It was to get rid of the proteins and the oils which spoil and replace it with carbohydrates which have a longer shelf life. If you wonder why there's so much white rice in the world, it's because the oil in the hull goes rancid quicker. If you wonder why you have cooking oil like you do, it's because it can't go rancid. It has a longer shelf life. It's engineered, it's boiled, it's formulated in that way. Whereas if you get a natural oil, well, it's going to have a limited shelf life. And so on and so forth. When you go into a restaurant or you order your food or you buy food or you get things that are packaged or whatever, you'll see this long list of ingredients that are there for the manufacturer.

It's interesting here that when others bake, boil, package, and serve, what are the ingredients? An immature person doesn't care. They care about taste and ease.

Taste and ease. It's all about me, you see. Quality. We're not thinking about others. Ingredients, we're not thinking about that. Detriments, not thinking about that. The packaging and the environment impact. Does anybody ever think about that? Sometimes you get this, you hurry and get this thing, and it comes with this much packaging, and you think, are you kidding? I just killed three trees and a dinosaur getting this little thing here. And this packaging is probably going to be around for the next 200 years. But that's okay. It's about me and taste and convenience and effortlessness and variety. Society gets spoon-fed physical food and spiritual food. Think of the spiritual food it gets fed. The holidays, the fantasies, the emotional trivia and junk. It's junk food. Mentally, it's junk food physically. How mature are you in caring for the temple of God's Holy Spirit? This is our body.

It's interesting that society discourages personal responsibility.

It really discourages personal responsibility for your body, for your happiness, for your health. It wants to sell you happiness and health.

Similarly, society's leader wants to guide your nutrition. Let's go back to Genesis chapter 2. Let's go to Genesis chapter 3. We'll just start in Genesis chapter 3 verse 1 because it repeats here. Genesis chapter 3 and in verse 1. See how foods and responsibility play in right from the very beginning.

Think about this. We've got food, we've got responsibility, we have relationship with God, personal responsibility to family, to children and grandchildren, the future of humanity.

All this is at stake with food. And the serpent says here, actually God here told you that if you are in a relationship with him, you're going to have an eternal life in his kingdom and you're going to be part of the God family. But I'm telling you here about some fast food.

The serpent says in verse 4, if you eat of it, you won't die. But notice verse 5, in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open. You'll be like God now. That's fast food. You don't have to go through all that other stuff. You don't have to be responsible and love God and love your fellow man. And you don't have to take responsibility for what we eat. Just eat the fast food. You'll be God immediately. Right? In verse 12, we see this promotion of immaturity, short-term self-concepts, and people comply. And the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave of me the tree and I ate.

Oh, there's lack of responsibility. See, the woman saw that it was good. You know, look at this. Verse 6, so the woman saw that the tree was good for food for me. See? And so she opened it, and she took of that. And it was pleasant to the eyes, a tree desirable to make one wise. And she took of its fruit and ate, and she gave to her husband, and he ate. See how self-focused that is? There's no we, there's no God, there's no my mate, there's no my children and grandchildren, a future of humanity. It's all me. It's all me. And as far as responsibility, then in verse 12, well, you know, this serpent, it's his fault. And then the man says, no, it's the woman you gave me. It's her fault. I'm not taking responsibility here. I'm an irresponsible human being, and it's all about me. So God said, all right, well, it's all about you. Out you go, because this garden is for we. Ephesians chapter 2, in verse 2 and 3, reminds us here of these important elements. Ephesians chapter 2, and in verse 2, it says, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. So here's that same spirit, that same short term, here's your short term happiness and taste and enjoyment and self-fulfillment, in whom we also once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh for me, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind for me, and whereby nature, children of wrath, just as others. So you have this me focus. If we're not real careful, that me focus becomes a detriment to everyone. Consider this, and I'm not talking about anybody here, but just consider this. About one third of all cancers, according to the Canadian Cancer Society, one third of all cancers can be prevented by eating well, by being active, and by maintaining a healthy body weight. See how responsibility and maturity kicks in? Notice this, that in North America, nearly 50% of men will develop cancer.

American Cancer Society. It says, the best information we have suggests a lower cancer risk for people who eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, avoid refined grains and sugars, and stay at a healthy weight. Essentially, avoid UPC codes on what you eat. American Heart Association. Choose mindfully. This is maturity. This is responsibility. Here's what they're telling you. These are not nutritional people, by the way.

These are the ones that tend to run the ones who would operate on you. Choose mindfully. Cook and eat at home. Eat a wide variety of foods to get all the nutrients your body needs. Eat reasonable sized portions. Count calories. This is what people are telling you and me. It's high time to leave the course of this world and take some responsibility to be mature. Here in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 4, But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

Well, that's great. In verse 8, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not of works left anyone should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The good works are loving God, loving your fellow man. And we were called to be the first fruits of performing those things. And as I mentioned to you before, that term grace, there's no definition you'll find of the term grace or the word chorise that means, oh, Jesus died for you, therefore you're saved.

No, there are seven elements of grace we'll get to at some point in the future. And that's one of them. That's a very important one of them. But there's a responsibility that is reciprocal on two sides. And we definitely need to fear God and keep his commandments. We need to respect God. We need to submit to God and keep his commandments, which are maturity, love for him, and love for fellow man. How do you become spiritually mature? Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 2.

1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 2. 1 Peter 2 verse 2 says, As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Here we're back to food again. And as we start out as newborn babes, we must desire and crave, like a baby would scream to the pure milk of the word.

What's the word? Who's the word? Well, it's partly in print, but the word, as we've covered before, is Jesus Christ, the Logos, the Word of God. Revelation chapter 19. When he returns on his thigh was a name, the Word of God. That's who he is. And we will ride in with him on white horses if we are like him. Let's drop down to verse 11 and 12 of 1 Peter chapter 1. Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the life, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles.

That's mature. That when they speak against you as evildoers, they may buy your good works, which they observe glorify God in the day of their visitation. Our good works of personal submission to God, the obedience to his commandments, the loving of others, the helping of others, is the we mentality, the we, us, our mentality, for everyone and everything, just like God so loved the world. He gave his only begotten son. In 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 18, this involves storing up.

We talked about storing up, being responsible for oneself, not just sort of like society that just taken, taken, taken. One day everything's gone. It's like, hey, what do we eat now? What do we do now? You know that they're not responsible, but rather like Joseph, he sees things coming and responsibly stores up. Well, here in 1 Timothy chapter 6 beginning in verse 18, let them do good that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share. There's the we, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may hold, lay hold on eternal life.

Notice the themselves, storing up for themselves plural. We need to help one another. We need to be part of this family, the body, the family of God, doing right, doing the hard things, the responsible things. You know what God does? He blesses that. He gets right behind that. You know, as a sower, as giving out seed, as you're giving out, as you're helping others, the whole point is God can refill your bag.

God helps the sower. He refills the bag. So when we're generous and thoughtful in helping and serving, I'm not talking about giving away money. There's no example in Scripture that I know of anybody giving away money, but rather using money to help other people. God fills that in. And I think you've probably seen that in your own life, as we have in ours.

The ministry is called to be promoters of maturity, personal and spiritual maturity. We promote that in our youth, in our youth programs. We promote that in relationships, marital relationships, to get the me out. That's the cause of all marriage relationships, by the way, is the me, and get the we in. When a husband loves his wife like Christ gave himself for the church, and a wife loves her husband in respects, there you have the we. It's a tight one bond. But whenever you have the me guy who wants the trophy wife chick to make me look better, as the guy goes off to do all the me things and irresponsibly leaves the wife and the kids behind, that's not maturity. And those relationships break apart.

But rather, what we are encouraged to be is growing in maturity. Let's go to Ephesians 4, in verse 11. Now, don't think that just because one is called to the ministry, somehow we're the perfect ones. We know more than everybody else. We are perfect in everything we do.

A minister is in some foreign class. No. A minister is just like you, a human being with exactly all the same things you have, but a greater responsibility to be a teacher and encourager of spiritual things. And God does provide certain things through the ministry. That's the way He does it. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. And here's what He says, in verse 11. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. For the quipping of the saints, for the work of service, it says of the ministry, but of service, that we all, you see, were promoters of service, for the edifying, the building up of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith. Yes, I grow, you grow, we all grow, as brothers and sisters, to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, to a, notice, perfect man. That word perfect is mature. A mature, complete human being, man and woman, to the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children. See, there no longer be immature. We want to grow in this maturity of we and get rid of the immaturity of the childish me. I've never realized how children develop slowly into the we category. You know, I have grandkids, and grandkids, you get a little extra focus because you don't have to be involved in all the details of their lives. You just kind of look at them, watch them, and have fun with them, and give them a toy or whatever. And next thing you know, they take that toy and they whoop their brother or sister over the head with it. And they don't even care. The brother says crying and screaming like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're like, wow. Or you give them something to eat. It's like, I'll eat mine. I'll eat yours too. What? It's a gradual process that all of us go through if we actually go through the process to get to where we share and we actually are then concerned about someone else for the reason of not getting, I mean, somebody's like, oh, let me give you this. Now, do you like me? What are you going to give me? Well, that's not what we're talking about. It's like Jesus Christ who gave without anything expected in response. Like, what could we give him? Well, we can give Jesus Christ something he wants really, really badly. What is that? A brother and a sister. That's what he wants. A wife.

He really wants us to be with him and share his power and his joy and all of his inheritance from nothing into something. So let's do that for him. Let's be what he wants us to be and what God the Father wants. Let's be children of theirs. Let's be mature. Let's be perfect in that sense of spiritual maturity. The ministry has an essential purpose, then. It's not always liked, but it is always needed. In 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 27, notice what Paul says about this ministry.

1 Corinthians 1 and verse 27.

Him, Jesus Christ, we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect or complete and mature in Christ Jesus. That's a responsibility the ministry has. To present everyone in the flock perfect or mature, loving, outgoing, fully spiritually mature, to Jesus Christ. Paul talks about those ministries who will build with gold, silver, precious stones. Other ministers will build with wood, hay, and stubble. He says, but all of your members are going to be tested by fire. And some, that's the lake of fire, you see, and some will not be in the lake of fire and others will be burnt up. A true shepherd wants all the sheep to be in the kingdom of God and wants to encourage them. Today, it's common, as we know, for others to come in and say, oh, you don't need to be responsible. You don't need to be mature. Let me be mature for you. You know, just follow me or be with me, kind of like a child to its food. Let me gather for you. Let me bake for you. Let me boil and lay up for you. I'll take care of you. You just focus on your imperial self and put me in it, you know, so that I'll be the guru. I'll be the leader. I'll be, I have the special knowledge. I have the special little insight with God. I have the special little group. I have the special name. I have the special feast day. I have the special hour, the special knowledge, the special prophecy, something. You don't need to be responsible. You just need to hang around me and go be irresponsible. Pursue your selfish life. You're in the right group, church, whatever. Knowledge, belief, it's trickery. It's trickery. It builds on immature carnality. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 through 9, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we begin in verse 1.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. This is what Paul's talking to the church at Corinth about. You're too self-focused. It's all about you. And there in Corinth, which was, well, it had every kind of physical, sensual thing, religious thing, you know, personal thing going. And they were very me-focused. He said, I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you are not able to receive it, and even now you're not able. What was the hallmark of these individuals?

They were self-focused. For you are still carnal, for where there are envy. Oh, I want that for me. Strife, give that to me. Divisions among you. Are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? Or I might say children. For when one says, I am of Paul, and the other says, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? You see, when people say, oh, I just want to stay self-focused, I don't want to go through all this conversion process, but I've got the right person, the right guy, the right leader, the right whatever it is. See? The end result of that is to end up knocking on the door and say, hey, Christ, let us in, let us in. He says, I don't know you. See? I don't even know where you're from. You're not from the kingdom of God. Down in verse 5, who then is Paul, and who is Apollos? But ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything. We in the ministry are nothing. We are servants of Jesus Christ to serve and to give, and that's it. We're to point people, not to us, point people to God and to Jesus Christ. And when we're gone, so what? All right? It's about them. It always was going on. Now he who plants and he who waters are one. Ah, see, we're all in this as family, aren't we? And each part of the body has a different role, different function, but none of us are God. None of us ever gave anything or did anything apart from God.

And each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. Believe that. What a person sows, that's what you're going to reap. Each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. Be responsible. Be mature. Grow in spiritual maturity. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 11, when I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Put away the self. Get rid of it. It's got no place. It doesn't help anybody.

Like we read in Ephesians chapter 4. Let's just go back there. Ephesians chapter 4 and read a little bit further.

Ephesians 4, breaking into verse 15. But speaking the truth in love, see? Speaking the truth in love. This is outgoing concern. May grow up into all things into him who is the head Christ. That's what we're growing up into. From whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies. We're not a bunch of takers. We're not a bunch of children wanting the best and most luxurious and whatever for ourselves. No. We are loving. According to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Agape, self-denying, sacrificial, outgoing concern for others.

So maturity is about responsibility for God, the kingdom of God, and those who will be part of the kingdom of God and for what God has made, his very creation. In Jeremiah chapter 17, as we begin to wrap this up, Jeremiah chapter 17, it's interesting that we're pretty familiar with verse 9, but we're not going to read that today. We're going to read the verses that go right before it. Jeremiah 17 verses 5. We'll start with verse 5. First of all, we see the immature side. Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he will be like a shrub in the desert. He will not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in an assault land which is not inhabited. That's what happens when everybody's a taker. But verse 7, Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes. But its leaf will be green. It will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. Why is that? The roots are in God. They're in the Holy Spirit. They're in God through the Holy Spirit. They're responsible in love and joy and peace and long suffering. They're responsible in obedience and submission to God. It's responsibility that lasts through the drought, through the dry season, through the great tribulation, through whatever comes. You know, the whole point behind the Armor of God series that we went through is you be responsible and stand with us. That's what it says. Take up your daily responsibilities and stand with us. Not by yourself. Stand with us. Stand with Jesus Christ on. Stand with God the Father. Stand with the family. Stand with your brothers and sisters. Remember the various components there, including the shield. You have to use this together. Be responsible and stand with us.

In James chapter 1, James chapter 1, this will be our final scripture before we go to the conclusion, which has one more. Always does. James chapter 1 and verse 2.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces should be patient endurance or perseverance. But let perseverance have its perfect work, that you may be mature. The word perfect, Greek telios, mature and complete, lacking nothing. If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally, without reproach, and it will be given him. So we have that source of things that we need to be wise. Remember Paul spoke of that wisdom, the godly wisdom. That is the source of maturity, spiritual and personal maturity. Dropping down to verse 19.

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. What's he saying? Let every man be about we, not about me.

Swift to hear, not about, oh, here's how I talk, here's how I think, here's my opinion. See? So, slowly, slow to wrath. You can only get angry about yourself. You can only get mad if somebody does something that hurts you or your empire. So slow to those kinds of things.

So then, be those things. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, lay aside all the self while the overflow of wickedness, received with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your lives. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Hearers of the word, not doers only. I'm sorry, doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. There's a tendency, and I've been in the church for 67 years, there's a tendency in the church to feel that we're good to go because we have the truth, or we're in the right church, etc. We can hear the word and be very immature. We can skip off and do all these self things and eventually not be the mature children of God ready for the kingdom. But if we're doers of the word, then we're submitting to God and we're keeping His word. We're performing His commandments. You know where it says, what is the whole duty of man? Fear God and keep the commandments. Respect and fear God and love your neighbor as yourself. Remember, in the model of prayer outline, give us this day our daily nourishment. That's taking responsibility, helping us be nourished in a godly way. Let's conclude by reading 7 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 13. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 13.

We'll read through verse 17. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. That's going to happen. Expect it. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Now here's the mature individual, that the person of God may be complete. Same word. Okay? Mature, thoroughly equipped for every good spiritual work. Let's look at our lives, see where the self is, and get rid of that. Take responsibility to be one who gathers, who bakes, who boils, who lays up for us, for the family of God, who serves and who gives, and who succeeds, and enters the kingdom of God that will bring happiness and joy to everyone, and will last forever.