Engaging the Heart: The Path to Spiritual Maturity
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So he talks about spiritual immaturity's cause and effect, and then he describes what the expectation is for really all Christians here. So that's going to frame our discussion on this text this morning. We're going to look at the cause of spiritual immaturity. We're going to look at the effect of spiritual immaturity, and then the expectation for all Christians. So I'm going to pray, ask God's blessing, and that's going to frame our discussion here over the next few minutes here. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this opportunity that I have to stand in front of people, open the word, and teach. Lord, I pray that I would be very faithful to the text here in front of us. I pray I'd be faithful to your word, and that the things that I say would be true to what your teaching is here. [00:03:25] (47 seconds)
I thought that was a problem, okay? I was like, well, wait a minute here. So isn't that going to be a problem? He's like, well, you know, as I get to it. And now, eventually, as the story goes, about another 15, 20 years later, he does move into this house. But the point is, is that he let this foundation just sit there for years and years and years. That's not what a foundation is for. A foundation isn't meant to just sit there and be by itself. It's actually meant to build upon and be the ground that other things are built upon. But if you just leave it there, then it becomes a problem. Because then, you know, the weather starts beating on it and all sorts of cracks begin to appear, all this. And so there's things that this person had to do to mitigate against this. And so the point is, is that... [00:10:30] (46 seconds)
I'm really looking forward to reading the entire book. The book title is called Strolling Ourselves to Death. Okay? As you can imagine, what the book is about is about the effects that social media has and the effect of technology on us, the negative effect that technology can have on us. I enjoy technology, most Sundays. Okay? All right? I enjoy all the benefits that they bring to us. [00:14:25] (29 seconds)
so that we can be a blessing to other people. That's the point of this, okay? So things like the basic story of the Bible. Could you explain that to someone? If someone says, so what's the Bible about? You know, creation, fall, redemption, repentance, slash faith, return. That's a great way to summarize this. [00:28:17] (15 seconds)
Those are key theological concepts that we, if you are growing in your faith, you should be able to explain those at some point. Now, some of you, you're starting out. And so you're in a place where you're learning these things, and there's nothing to be ashamed of about that. And that's wonderful. So if you're reading this, and you're like, yeah, I don't know about this, and you've been a Christian for a short time, don't feel bad. You're still learning, okay? This is more directed to the people who have been in church a long time, and they've been a Christian for a long time. If we're not mastering some of these things, we're falling into right of what happened here in Hebrews. [00:29:39] (35 seconds)
And I have holiness twice, so apparently it's very important. So holiness, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, goodness. Could you explain these things? And again, my purpose in putting this isn't like to try to put up some arbitrary test in front of you and say, pass or fail, if you could say yes to all those, you're a mature Christian. If you can't, you're an immature. That's not the point of this, okay? The point, though, is just to try to give you some things to get your hands around and say, okay, if I'm a maturing Christian, and we never arrive, but if I'm maturing a Christian, could I be able to at least have these concepts? That's what this author is saying. He's saying, this foundation you should be building upon, but you're not because you're spiritually immature. [00:31:04] (43 seconds)
And it's about giving yourself to Christ more. Okay. So, here's what he says here is that spiritual maturity isn't only possible for all Christians, it's expected. He doesn't say the leaders among you should leave and go on to maturity. He expects every Christian to move on to maturity. That's the expectation. And we see this, like, he mentions a similar thing, or not, he's a different author. Paul mentions this in 1 Corinthians. He says, but I, brother, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you're not ready yet. He's basically saying there that they should be growing. [00:36:11] (44 seconds)
you see they could do all those things you know every one of those things on that list I could write a paper on but that doesn't make me spiritually mature the only hope of spiritual maturity I have is if my affections are in Christ and he is changing my daily life that's spiritual maturity and then we'll be able to explain those things then we can move on so when we stop loving God supremely we stop obeying God daily spiritual maturity leads to this discernment that he talks about here these powers of discernment they're trained by constant practice distinguish good from evil verse 14 there [00:39:42] (50 seconds)
in other words good decisions we make good decisions with our actions that's what spiritual maturity helps us do and the things of this world will grow strangely dim because our affections are in Christ and Christ alone and that will affect our daily life and our actions let me close with this spiritual maturity is our God -empowered responsibility it's our God -empowered responsibility verse 3 of chapter 6 he says and we will do this if God permits at the end of all this of him telling him you need to move on to spiritual maturity that's what we're going to do we're going to leave this immaturity we're going to move on and then he says we're going to do this if God permits so it's both it's something that it's their responsibility to do but it's also something that God has to empower so we work hard at holiness we work hard at obeying but we are also dependent upon God's power in the process of doing that this is where Philippians 2 is helpful work out your own salvation with fear and trembling that's your responsibility work it out and then verse 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and work for his good pleasure we can't do it in our own strength it's our responsibility but we have to lean on God for this so the question is is are we growing in our spiritual maturity and then the other question is how do you measure that [00:40:42] (87 seconds)
That's how you know if you're growing spiritually or not. Don't start with the list of things. Start with your affections. And then you should, as you're growing in your affections, the list will come behind that and be proof of that in some ways. So the author of Hebrews was writing to people who allowed their love for Jesus to cool to the point that they were considering abandoning him. [00:41:59] (28 seconds)
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I thought that was a problem, okay? I was like, well, wait a minute here. So isn't that going to be a problem? He's like, well, you know, as I get to it. And now, eventually, as the story goes, about another 15, 20 years later, he does move into this house. But the point is, is that he let this foundation just sit there for years and years and years. That's not what a foundation is for. A foundation isn't meant to just sit there and be by itself. It's actually meant to build upon and be the ground that other things are built upon. But if you just leave it there, then it becomes a problem. Because then, you know, the weather starts beating on it and all sorts of cracks begin to appear, all this. And so there's things that this person had to do to mitigate against this. And so the point is, is that... [00:10:30] (46 seconds)
I'm really looking forward to reading the entire book. The book title is called Strolling Ourselves to Death. Okay? As you can imagine, what the book is about is about the effects that social media has and the effect of technology on us, the negative effect that technology can have on us. I enjoy technology, most Sundays. Okay? All right? I enjoy all the benefits that they bring to us. [00:14:25] (29 seconds)
so that we can be a blessing to other people. That's the point of this, okay? So things like the basic story of the Bible. Could you explain that to someone? If someone says, so what's the Bible about? You know, creation, fall, redemption, repentance, slash faith, return. That's a great way to summarize this. [00:28:17] (15 seconds)
Those are key theological concepts that we, if you are growing in your faith, you should be able to explain those at some point. Now, some of you, you're starting out. And so you're in a place where you're learning these things, and there's nothing to be ashamed of about that. And that's wonderful. So if you're reading this, and you're like, yeah, I don't know about this, and you've been a Christian for a short time, don't feel bad. You're still learning, okay? This is more directed to the people who have been in church a long time, and they've been a Christian for a long time. If we're not mastering some of these things, we're falling into right of what happened here in Hebrews. [00:29:39] (35 seconds)
And I have holiness twice, so apparently it's very important. So holiness, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, goodness. Could you explain these things? And again, my purpose in putting this isn't like to try to put up some arbitrary test in front of you and say, pass or fail, if you could say yes to all those, you're a mature Christian. If you can't, you're an immature. That's not the point of this, okay? The point, though, is just to try to give you some things to get your hands around and say, okay, if I'm a maturing Christian, and we never arrive, but if I'm maturing a Christian, could I be able to at least have these concepts? That's what this author is saying. He's saying, this foundation you should be building upon, but you're not because you're spiritually immature. [00:31:04] (43 seconds)
And it's about giving yourself to Christ more. Okay. So, here's what he says here is that spiritual maturity isn't only possible for all Christians, it's expected. He doesn't say the leaders among you should leave and go on to maturity. He expects every Christian to move on to maturity. That's the expectation. And we see this, like, he mentions a similar thing, or not, he's a different author. Paul mentions this in 1 Corinthians. He says, but I, brother, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you're not ready yet. He's basically saying there that they should be growing. [00:36:11] (44 seconds)
you see they could do all those things you know every one of those things on that list I could write a paper on but that doesn't make me spiritually mature the only hope of spiritual maturity I have is if my affections are in Christ and he is changing my daily life that's spiritual maturity and then we'll be able to explain those things then we can move on so when we stop loving God supremely we stop obeying God daily spiritual maturity leads to this discernment that he talks about here these powers of discernment they're trained by constant practice distinguish good from evil verse 14 there [00:39:42] (50 seconds)
in other words good decisions we make good decisions with our actions that's what spiritual maturity helps us do and the things of this world will grow strangely dim because our affections are in Christ and Christ alone and that will affect our daily life and our actions let me close with this spiritual maturity is our God -empowered responsibility it's our God -empowered responsibility verse 3 of chapter 6 he says and we will do this if God permits at the end of all this of him telling him you need to move on to spiritual maturity that's what we're going to do we're going to leave this immaturity we're going to move on and then he says we're going to do this if God permits so it's both it's something that it's their responsibility to do but it's also something that God has to empower so we work hard at holiness we work hard at obeying but we are also dependent upon God's power in the process of doing that this is where Philippians 2 is helpful work out your own salvation with fear and trembling that's your responsibility work it out and then verse 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and work for his good pleasure we can't do it in our own strength it's our responsibility but we have to lean on God for this so the question is is are we growing in our spiritual maturity and then the other question is how do you measure that [00:40:42] (87 seconds)
That's how you know if you're growing spiritually or not. Don't start with the list of things. Start with your affections. And then you should, as you're growing in your affections, the list will come behind that and be proof of that in some ways. So the author of Hebrews was writing to people who allowed their love for Jesus to cool to the point that they were considering abandoning him. [00:41:59] (28 seconds)
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