INTRO
THE ROAD TO MATURITY.
So far in this series we have looked at:
* Focusing on our identity as children of the Father (Micah 6) [What does the Lord require?]
* Taking care of ourselves so that we are in a place where we can hear God building us up (1 Kings 19)
* Today we are going to ask questions about suffering.
Is suffering a hindrance to our spiritual growth and development; a nuisance to get out of the way so that we are not held back?
Or is it quite the opposite; a catalyst in the whole process that can assist us on the road to maturity rather than hold us back from it?
POINT
There is an uneasy tension we sometimes find ourselves in between:
* Our expectation in faith of divine healing and deliverance,
* and our experience of pain and sickness that appears to be obstinate in the face of sustained prayer.
It's a tension that could be summed up in a sign outside a church that reads:
'Healing meeting cancelled owing to outbreak of Swine Flu'
POINT
It's a fact that at times we experience remarkable healings as an outcome of the prayer of faith; whilst at other times, after praying every prayer our poor condition of health remains unchanged.
We also tend to run to the extremes of taking the attitude of refusing to give up praying until all disease is eradicated from the world, or being entirely passive whenever we get sick with little expectation of any recovery.
Why our obsession with health and wellbeing?
* It's probably a combination of several things:
* The Optimism that rose out of the Enlightenment.
* The evidence that we can experience vastly better health
* A rediscovery of Spiritual Gifts through the Pentecostal, Charismatic and Renewal movements.
Thesis: The facts remain that we can and do from time to time experience remarkable divine healing. However, no matter how charmed our lives may be there will always be a degree of pain and suffering that God in his providence will not deliver us from.
POINT
In my reading of the New Testament when the subject of suffering is addressed it is in the stories of the healing miracles of Jesus, or the suffering of Jesus himself or the persecution the early Christians were going through.
But questions about suffering that we normally raise don't appear to be directly addressed. It's as though the people at the time didn't question God about suffering as we do. Their struggle was to remain faithful and to persevere through times when it was tough and costly to be a Christian.
So we end up taking the passages of the New Testament that deal with suffering persecution and we apply them to suffering ailments and loss.
It leaves us asking the questions,
* 'Should we as Christians take an aggressive stance against all sickness and pain as something that does not belong in our lives as Christians?'
* Or, 'Should we be more accepting about our illnesses and suffering, and be content not to expect that things will improve much?'
* Or, 'Is healing exclusively a sign gift that is intended to convince people of the truth of the Gospel?'
* Or, 'Is healing a grace gift that we should not be demanding of but grateful for if God, in his sovereignty should grant it to us?'
* And what has any of this to do with my spiritual growth and development as a Christian?
READING -- James 1:1-12
POINT
It's interesting that James, right from the outset, links the endurance of suffering with maturity. And yet at the close of his letter he gives instructions for praying for the sick!
It appears that there is a balance in Scripture that accounts for the fact that the Kingdom of God has come, but that it has not yet come in all its fullness.
James is not alone in this.
Paul writes 2 Corinthians 4:17
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Peter writes: 1 Peter 4:12
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed
Suffering is something we have to contend with. But most of what is written in the New Testament about suffering is in the context of persecution and endurance for the faith.
Apparently they were not as obsessed with health as we have become.
POINT For James the main issue in times of sufferings is not healing or relief, but maturity.
MATURITY
POINT
Age is not an indication of maturity.
Some of us grow old without growing up in our faith.
And handling suffering in the right way can lead to greater maturity and Christlikeness in our nature and our ways.
Key text: James 1:4 'that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything'
The Book of James
The Book of James is about spiritual maturity.
It addresses issues such as:
* spiritual growth to maturity;
* overcoming difficulties;
* handling temptation;
* Being honest with ourselves;
* How we treat others;
* Faith expressed in action;
* Being careful about what we say;
* Making plans for the future;
* Praying with effect
POINT
James wrote to these believers because they had not yet learned to let their troubles work for them rather than against them.
Warren Weirsbe quote:
When life hands you a lemon make lemonade
Turn trials into triumphs
He makes the point that:
Faith is always tested, and that:
* God tests us to bring out the best
* Satan tempts us to bring out the worst
ABOUT MATURITY
MATURING AS A CHRISTIAN IS NOT OPTIONAL
POINT
*God intends that we all mature as Christians.
God has a plan for our lives = that we may all be like Jesus.
QUOTE Eph 4:11-15
Ephes. 4:11-15
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, [12] to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up [13] 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 fulness of Christ.
[14] 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. [15] Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
It is God's number one priority for us -- that we become mature in our faith and be like Jesus.
APPLIC
Some of us will suffer serious illness that will not be healed by prayer
Some of us will go through extremely difficult times that we will not immediately be delivered from.
* When we are less mature we are inclined to ask 'Why?' Why is this happening to me?
* When we are more mature we are inclined to ask 'What?' What am I hearing from my loving heavenly Father as I too suffer in this fallen world? What will God accomplish in my life through this trial?
KNOWLEDGE ALONE DOES NOT LEAD TO MATURITY
POINT
We can know what's in the Bible from cover to cover, but still be spiritual infants.
Because maturity comes about from responding to God's Word, not just reading it or hearing it.
Listen to James:
James 1:22-25
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. [23] Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror [24] and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. [25] But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
APPLIC
Signs of maturity in the Christian faith are being able to listen to, and receive the whole counsel of God, and not just parts of it. When we do this we will be less inclined to become polarized and see ourselves in a particular camp of thought -- justifying our position by the selective use of Scripture -- whether Charismatic or Reformed.
CHALLENGE
How are you receiving this? This is for you and for me, not for someone else. What is your default theological position? Your comfort zone of faith? Recognize the broader truths beyond it.
MATURITY DOES NOT COME EASILY
POINT
The road to maturity is a difficult road to walk.
* Talk to someone who is the only Christian in the family
* Talk to someone who is married to an unsympathetic partner
* Talk to someone whose hopes and dreams in life have not yet been fulfilled
* Talk to someone who has experienced unbearable loss.
Any of these people will provide you with the evidence.
But we CAN make our troubles work for us instead of against us.
POINT One of the great truths in the book of James is that God is more interested in developing our character than making us comfortable.
ANECDOTE -- [In our prayers - We focus almost solely on asking God to take away our pain instead of asking God to accomplish in our lives what he can do only in our unique circumstances]
POINT
Trials are inevitable v2 'whenever you face trials'
(We all go through them)
Trials are unexpected 'face' = peripto = 'to fall into unexpectedly'
(We don't know what is round the corner)
Trials are of many kinds v2
'Many kinds' = 'multi-coloured'
= from a minor inconvenience to a major crisis
Trials have Value as well as difficulty and pain v3
They can be the means by which our faith becomes pure and proved to be genuine.
'testing' = the smelting of gold or silver
[Friedrich Nietzsche 'Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger']
'the testing of your faith develops perseverance'
= 'The ability to remain under pressure'.
Trials, when we make them work for us, form our Christian character
v4 Key verse: 'Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything'.
'Consider it pure joy'????
POINT
That's a bit rich isn't it?
How many of us can identify with that.
But this is not about feelings, it is about evaluation.
= by recognizing that God can take care of this difficulty and bring good out of it.
YEAH BUT
Am I being defeatist? Am I saying that there is no place for prayers for healing either as sign gifts or grace gifts? Of course not!
It is clear from the Scriptures that the disciples were instructed to 'heal the sick'. James himself instructs the sick to call upon the Elders of the Church to pray for the sick. Paul describes the operation of the gift of healing.
But the Scriptures do not teach us that we fall short of the will of God if all our suffering is not lifted.
It's about balance:
* There were some who were healed by Jesus and some who Jesus did not heal
* Timothy was encouraged to stir up the gift that was in him and to take a little wine for a stomach ailment.
* Paul's vision was healed after his conversion, but his thorn in the flesh remained
* Today we receive much healing from medicine and surgery. But this does not mean that medicine has taken over all healing. We should still pray for the sick.
* We should pray expecting people to be healed. But also expect that not everyone will be healed.
* We should pray for people to be relieved of their suffering, but also remember to support one another that we may be helped to mature in our faith in the process.
* We should remember that although the Kingdom of God has already come, it has not yet come in all its fullness.
* We should remember that although we may receive miracles of divine grace from the above we should not expect the fullness of paradise until coming of our Lord.
Health, healing and wholeness are more than the absence of disease. They are also to do with inner change, maturity and the quality of our relationship with God.
* It is right to pursue our inheritance as children of the Father,
* But it is also right to seek to understand and accept the providence of God while our best pursuits have not yet produced the outcome we desire.
* It is right to encourage the sick and the suffering to look to God in faith for healing and deliverance.
* And to mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep whenever our prayers are not answered in the ways we have hoped for.
APPLIED
* We should appreciate the zeal of evangelists who pray for healing as a sign
* And acknowledge the enterprising spirit of those who pray for divine healing for those in need
* We should also value highly the effectiveness of health practitioners
* We should sympathize with those whose suffering has not been lifted and not berate them for their lack of faith
* And remember that suffering has its place in the context of our spiritual growth and development.
* And in whatever we go through we should remember that God is in ultimate control and we are never at the mercy of the Devil.
COMMUNION
We have focused this morning on some of our troubles.
But now as we move towards the close of the service we are going to remember the suffering of our Saviour Jesus Christ as we prepare to break bread together.
Isaiah 53
