Believers maturity is one of our core teaching foundations as a church because it is paramount that we grow and no longer behave as children
So this month of September the Lord shall be speaking to us on the signs of believers maturity.
Scripture Text
“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching.
We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”
Ephesians 4:11-15 NLT
“Beloved ones, don’t remain as immature children in your reasoning. As it relates to evil, be like newborns, but in your thinking be mature adults.”
1 Corinthians 14:20 TPT
What is maturity
having completed natural growth and development
having attained a final or desired state
having achieved a low but stable growth rate
Illustration of maturity
After a sermon on a Sunday on maturity, a young believer approached the preacher and asked
“I truly want to mature as a believer,” the young Christian said. “I want to know God like you talked about, and I want to be used by Him. Will you please tell me what maturity in Christ really means?”
The pastor reached over to a nearby shelf for a blank piece of paper. Holding it up for the young man to see, he said, “It is to sign your name at the bottom of this blank sheet, then throughout your life to let God fill in the blank promissory note as He wants.”
The only way to be a mature Christian is to stop living for yourself and this world and to begin living for Christ and the next world!
How does “Christian maturity” translate into the real world in which we live right now?
And how does maturity as a believer affect how we act, think, respond, move forward, and give as we find our place in God’s kingdom?
Maturity comes as you learn to open yourself to God and ask Him to do what you cannot.
Look at your life as a blank sheet of paper you leave to God to write upon
One of the major signs of maturity will show in what you glory in
1st Sign of Maturity - Who or What should you glory in?
“Thus says the Lord, “Let not the one who is wise and skillful boast in his insight; let not the one who is mighty and powerful boast in his strength; let not the one who is rich boast in his [temporal satisfactions and earthly] abundance;
but let the one who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me [and acknowledges Me and honors Me as God and recognizes without any doubt], that I am the Lord who practices lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight,” says the Lord.”
Jeremiah 9:23-24 AMP
“so then, as it is written [in Scripture], “He who boasts and glories, let him boast and glory in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:31 AMP
A major sign of maturity is when you begin to allow God to take the centre stage of your life. When you surrender all to Him, then whatever achievement you see, you will ascribe the glory to God because you acknowledge Him as your source
Why can’t you boast in self
1. Our vessels are nothing without God
“But we have this precious treasure [the good news about salvation] in [unworthy] earthen vessels [of human frailty], so that the grandeur and surpassing greatness of the power will be [shown to be] from God [His sufficiency] and not from ourselves.”
2 Corinthians 4:7 AMP
2. It is God that chooses not the individual being used
“You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you.”
John 15:16 AMP
“And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified [declared free of the guilt of sin]; and those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity].”
Romans 8:30 AMP
3. And His choice is not dependent on how good you are
“So then God’s choice is not dependent on human will, nor on human effort [the totality of human striving], but on God who shows mercy [to whomever He chooses—it is His sovereign gift].”
Romans 9:16 AMP
“For we are His workmanship [His own masterwork, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set] so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].”
Ephesians 2:10 AMP
4. It is not in man to direct His ways
“O Lord, I know that the path of [life of] a man is not in himself; It is not within [the limited ability of] man [even one at his best] to choose and direct his steps [in life].”
Jeremiah 10:23 AMP
5. Whatever we have is by grace so boast in grace alone
“For what makes a distinction between you and someone else? And what do you have that grace has not given you? And if you received it as a gift, why do you boast as though there is something special about you?”
1 Corinthians 4:7 TPT
“Some find their strength in their weapons and wisdom, but my miracle-deliverance can never be won by men. Our boast is in Yahweh our God, who makes us strong and gives us victory!”
Psalms 20:7 TPT
How do you run away from self-boasting or pride
⁃ Make it a duty to ask for direction and guidance each day Proverbs 3:5-6
⁃ Live a surrendered life consciously and intentionally Romans 12:1-2 Message version
⁃ Be quick to ascribe the glory to Him in all situations especially when people praise you for whatever reason
It is childlike to have ‘it is mine’ attitude
“Beloved ones, don’t remain as immature children in your reasoning. As it relates to evil, be like newborns, but in your thinking be mature adults.”
1 Corinthians 14:20 TPT
God warns seriously on ascribing glory to self and not to Him
“If you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to My name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; yes, I have already turned them to curses because you do not lay it to heart.”
Malachi 2:2 AMPC
Prayer
⁃ Today, Lord I Repent of any pride in my heart that makes me leave God out of my decisions thus making me take the glory that belongs to Him
⁃ Lord I Surrender myself to you today and I begin to ascribe the praises and glory due to Him
Confessions and Declarations of my boast in the Lord
I am a carrier of the glorious treasure of Christ so that His immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not mine
God chose me not because of human will nor according to my effort but because of His mercy and in Him alone will I glory
Some find their strength in their weapons and wisdom, but my miracle-deliverance can never be won by men. My boast is in Yahweh my God, who makes me strong and gives me victory
Please click on the youtube video below to access the full teaching
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