GROWN UP FAITH
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PROTECTION + PERFECTION
I. Introduction
a. Young adults ministry is about bringing young people to maturity in Christ. 67% of young people leave the church when they turn 18 because they don’t have a path to maturity.
b. Growth and maturity is best fostered within community
“Follow me as I follow Christ.”
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Our young people need examples of mature faith. They need examples of what it looks like to walk by faith through all seasons of life. That means they need you. Before we jump into the message tonight, I want to ask you who it is that God has called you to mentor. To teach. To mother or father.
15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
One of the greatest needs in the next generation is fathers and mothers of faith who will lead and help young people mature in their walk with Christ and help them grow their faith to be able to believe God for everything they’re going to need to shape the world they’re living in. It’s crazy out there. They’re going to need faith - mature faith - to do what God has called them to do, and that means they’re going to need others to show them how to use it.
II. What is perfection?
a. Perfection is maturity (Greek - teleios; it’s the status at which we arrive after the process of being tried and tested to become fully developed (James 1:4)
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
b. Perfection is the bringing to completion of a task or Scripture
i. When you stand on the authority of God’s word,
you are perfecting it
ii. It does not necessarily happen instantly; the
word implies completion through work
c. Arriving at perfection means growing up in our faith
and putting aside childish faith (Hebrews 5:11-12; 6:1-
2)
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
i. It’s time to grow past the basics
ii. Age does not produce perfection
iii. Intimacy and humility produce maturity that yields results
III. How do we perfect ourselves?
a. Forget the past and push forward to the future
(Philippians 3:12-15)
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
i. Maturity lies ahead of you, not behind you
ii. Humility reminds us of who we were and how far we’ve come, but doesn’t condemn us or keep us from becoming who we’re meant to be
b. Watch your mouth (James 3:2)
2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.
i. Maturity requires discipline in our words
ii. Speaking flippantly will delay your progress
c. Think grown-up thoughts (1 Corinthians 14:20)
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
i. What you choose to think about
ii. What you do with thoughts that are immature (2 Corinthians 10:5)
5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
d. Ask God for wisdom (James 1:1-5)
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
i. Recognize the need for it
ii. Maturity is not the lack of need; it’s the recognition of our need for Christ and unhindered determination to pursue Him in His fullness at all costs
(Ephesians 4:13)
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
e. Cut the weight (Hebrews 12:1)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
i. What’s keeping you from running at full speed?
ii. Relationships? Habits? Drop them and watch
how much easier it is to pursue Christ.
IV. Results of Maturity
a. The will of God is made clear (Romans 12:1-2)
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
i. When you sacrifice your desires for His, you are brought to maturity in the understanding of His will for you
ii. Your discernment increases in direct correspondence to your maturity
b. You won’t be moved by storms (Ephesians 4:11-14)
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
i. People who get deceived are immature and naïve
ii. When things go wrong, what’s your foundation
(2 Peter 3:17-18)?
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
c. The whole body is better when individual parts mature (Ephesians 4:15-16)
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
d. No fear here! (1 John 4:16-18)
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
i. Love is the muscle-building, growth-inducing, bone-developing secret ingredient to a healthy, mature body of Christ
ii. Fear is vanquished by mature love; the presence of fear indicates immaturity in love