Maturity In Christ
1 John 2: 12 -14
Intro: A little boy fell out of the bed in his sleep. His father picked him up and put him back in bed. He asked him, "Son, what happened?" The little boy responded, "I fell asleep too close to where I got in."
. I believe that describes too many Christians today...they have fallen asleep too close to where they got in. They are not in danger of falling out of salvation...but they have made no spiritual progress since they were saved.
. They have been saved but have not grown spiritually.
. Our spiritual growth is much like a marriage, when we “fall in love” and get married, we think that’s all there is to it. The longer we are married though, we realize that our love for one another is growing.
. I was talking to someone last Sunday night about this concept of love growing through the years in most marriages.
.Rick warren wrote this about spiritual growth in his book, The Purpose Driven Life.
. “It takes years for us to grow to adulthood, and it takes a full season for fruit to mature and ripen. The same is true for the fruit of the Spirit. The development of Christ like character cannot be rushed. Spiritual growth, like physical growth, takes time.
When you try to ripen fruit quickly, it loses its flavor. In America, tomatoes are usually picked before they are ripe so they won’t bruise during shipping to the stores. Then, before they are sold, these green tomatoes are sprayed with CO2 gas to turn them red instantly. Gassed tomatoes are edible, but they are no match to the flavor of a vine-ripened tomato that is allowed to mature slowly.”
. We are back in 1 John this morning and our scripture highlights the stages of spiritual maturity or spiritual growth.
. 1 John 2: 12-14
. 12I am writing to you who are God’s children because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus.
13I am writing to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young in the faith because you have won your battle with the evil one.
14I have written to you who are God’s children because you know the Father. I have written to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I have written to you who are young in the faith because you are strong. God’s word lives in your hearts and you have won your battle with the evil one.
.John is talking about and highlighting the stages of spiritual growth.
. We are commanded to grow spiritually. The apostle Peter writes in his second letter:
. 8Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
. This is not a suggestion from Peter, it is a command.
. You Must grow.
. In the theological circles this is call sanctification.
. Sanctified means to be set apart and sanctification is the process of being set apart.
. The simple definition is to grow spiritually.
. We all are in different places in this spiritual growth process.
. What John is saying that no matter where you are in your spiritual growth, what I am writing will pertain to you.
. Before we look at these stages, I want to take just a few minutes and cover some misconceptions about spiritual growth.
. The first misconception is:
. Those that are more mature in their faith receive more of God’s Grace.
. Your spiritual maturity has no bearing on whether you receive God’s grace of not.
. At the moment of belief and acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice for your sin, God’s grace is bestowed upon you.
. The grace you receive is the same grace that the most spiritual person in the world has.
. In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul addressed this very issue. In Romans 3 21-26, Paul wrote this.
. 21But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.
22We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
24Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
25For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,
26for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
. God’s grace declares us to be in a right relationship with him.
. No matter where we are in our maturity as Christians.
. Secondly
. Spiritual growth does not affect God’s love for you if you have accepted Jesus as your savior.
.God does not love mature Christians more than less mature Christians.
. This is because his love is not based on merit.
. God’s love for believers is based on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Period.
. Even the apostles had trouble with this.
. Luke records that at the last supper, when they were all reclining around the table, they began to argue about who would be the greatest, who Jesus loved more. Who would be more important.
. Christ’ love for us is unconditional and without favor as to our spiritual maturity. All we must do is believe and receive that love.
. There is one more point that I want to bring out before we look quickly at our scripture.
. Spiritual growth has nothing to do with an apparent ministry success.
. You see people who are always at the church. Always working and doing something for the church. They are committee chair people and leaders of the church. Just because these people are always busy doing things, many times they are as spiritually immature as a new convert. They cover this with business.
. Spiritual growth is a process that we are all involved in if we are believers.
. That Sanctification process that we talked about earlier.
. The process of setting ourselves apart more and more for God and to God.
. The apostle Paul laid out the ultimate goal for spiritual growth and maturity in Philippians 3: 12-14.
. 12I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
13No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
14I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
. Paul says that we are to press on toward the finish.
. To become more mature as we travel through our spiritual life.
. We are to strive to become like Jesus.
. You say we can’t be perfect like Jesus, Maybe not; but that doesn’t mean we don’t try.
.I know we took a long time getting here but let’s look at our scripture again.
Look at verses 12 & 14a again:
. 12I am writing to you who are God’s children because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus.
. 4I have written to you who are God’s children because you know the Father.
. In this John is making clear that he is writing and has written to children of God.
. We have talked about this concept of being God’s children on Wednesday night.
. We are all Gods’ creation but only those who have accepted Jesus Christ are children of God.
. We are adopted into the family of God.
. John says that these words I have written and are going to write are important to you Christian.
. Pay attention.
. All of you are in this place in your spiritual walk.
. You are all children of God.
. Then he goes on to say that whether you are young or mature in your faith, what I am about to write to you is meaningful and will help you grow spiritually.
. Look at verses 13&14b again.
. I am writing to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young in the faith because you have won your battle with the evil one.
. I have written to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I have written to you who are young in the faith because you are strong.
. John is saying that no matter where you are in your walk with the Lord, I have and have had something that is worthwhile for you to learn.
. John says that no matter who you are and where you are in your maturity, there is always more to learn.
. Grow in your faith. Become more Christ like in your life.
. As Paul would say,
“Press forward toward the prize of becoming like Christ”
. John is telling them this because in the next section, he tells them some pretty hard stuff.
. No matter who you are or where you are in your walk with the Lord, you need to hear this.
. We will look at that in a couple of weeks.
. I have talked with many who are what I consider Babes in their faith. They will ask me if I truly believe that once a person accepts the sacrifice that Jesus made for their sins and belive it in their heart that they are saved. I say absolutely.
. They will say then why do I need to worry about all this other stuff. Why do I need to grow spiritually.
. The first reason is because we are commanded to grow closer and closer to God.
. Secondly, When you grow spiritually, you learn that this life is not necessarily about us. It’s about God.
. Our purpose is to Glorify and magnify God.
. When we grow and mature and realize that aspect of our faith, then we can walk through life with a peace that is beyond all understanding as Paul calls it.
. A peace that keeps us calm in the midst of the storms of life.
. When I was younger, I could never understand how she could stay calm and peaceful in all the trials of her life.
. She raised seven boys after all. Many of you know all the issues and problems and stress that can come with that.
. Through all of that, she learned to depend on God because she was much farther along in her spiritual maturity than I was.
. Christian, we must strive to become closer to God.
. I ask you this morning, are you doing that.
. Do you spend time with him in prayer?
. Do you spend time in his word?
. Do you make it a priority to be at church and worship him?
. Do you come to Sunday School to learn and fellowship with other believers?
. Do you come to the Sunday night studies?
. Do you take as many opportunities as you can to draw yourself closer to God?
Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Illustration from sermon central
Sermon outline and parts are from John MacArthurs commentary of the New Testament, 1-3 John
