Going On To Maturity

Several people asked me last week about how we can mature as a believer.

Maturity happens when we take the words of Scripture and live them out in our lives;

"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation," 1 Pe 2:2

When we take every problem we have to the Bible to see what we should do about it.

When we encourage ourselves by the promises of God in his word.

When we learn to walk after the Spirit and experience his increasing influence in our lives.

When we learn to pray regularly with adoration, confession, petition, and thanksgiving.

When we venture out in the use of our spiritual gift's in service to God and his people.

"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (to edify or strengthen) until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming." Eph 4:11-14

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Pe 1:5-8

TRANS: Now, we can gain an important insight into Paul's method of bringing about spiritual growth and maturity. He had just confronted the Corinthians with the fact of their immaturity as evidenced by their lack of understanding and the way they acted out their immaturity through quarreling and jealousy. So what he does next is to teach them some principles that when embraced would lead them away from divisiveness. When they embrace the truth that their leaders are only servants of God and not little potentates . . .