• SPIRITUAL
• UN-SPIRITUAL
Every Christian fall into one of these two categories.
HOW DO WE KNOW THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF CHRISTIANS IN THE CHURCH?
Paul makes that distinction when he writes to the church in Galatia.
Look at Galatians 6:1, we read, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
Notice, Paul is telling the Galatian Christians that some in the church needs to assist the weaker Christians who have been overtaken in a fault.
He states that something needs to be done to help those who have been OVERTAKEN IN A FAULT, but he specifies the one who are to do this is those “WHICH ARE SPIRITUAL”.
He is insinuating that the spiritually immature Christians cannot help the weaker Christians because they are in need of assistance themselves.
Illus: For example, a lifeguard is not able to save a drowning man if he himself can not swim Himself.
WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY SOMEONE IS SPIRITUAL?
Illus: Before you can understand SPIRITUAL MATURITY, you have to understand that what is true in the PHYSICAL LIFE is also true in the SPIRITUAL LIFE.
That is everyone who grows old does not necessarily grow up!
We all know people who physically have been able to reach the height of an adult in size, but have not grown EMOTIONALLY, MENTALLY, or SPIRITUALLY.
Illus: It used to be when a person was around 19 to 21 years of age, they began to think, and act likes an adult.
That is different for many today. We are told today some do not begin to mature as an adult until they are around 40 or 50 years of age, and some never do!
Paul wanted the Colossian Christians to grow up so God can use them to help those who have been overtaken in a fault.
Notice, Paul is talking about those who have a FAULT not a SIN!
IS THAT SIGNIFICANT?
Yes!
Let me ask you a question; is there a difference between a sin and a fault?
Yes, there is a difference!!!
Let me explain.
James 5:16 tell us “Confess our faults one to another, and pray one for another…”
It does not say we are to confess our sins one to another.
We confess our sins to God only.
1 John 1:9. 1 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Sin often harms another person, but, ultimately, all sin is against God.
Let me illustrate:
(1) Joseph was being tempted to commit adultery with Potiphar’s wife. In resisting her, he said, "My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"
It is interesting that Joseph did not say that his sin would be against Potiphar. This isn’t to say that Potiphar would be unaffected. But Joseph’s greater loyalty was to God and His laws. It was God he did not want to sin against.
(2) David said something similar after he had sinned with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). When confronted with his sin, David repented in great sorrow, saying to God, "Against You and You only have I sinned" (Psalm 51:4).
He had clearly sinned against Bathsheba and her husband, too, but it was the violation of God’s law that grieved David the most.
Illus: If you rob your neighbor’s house, you have obviously wronged your neighbor, but it is not your neighbor who holds you accountable. It is the higher law you have violated.
The state bears the responsibility to convict and punish you; your neighbor, although affected by your crime, defers to the state.
Spiritual mature Christians can help the UNSPIRITUAL with their fault. BUT only the Lord Jesus can help someone with their SINS!!!
Let’s look at a few things he talked to them about regarding being SPIRITUAL MATURITY.
Look at Colossians 2:6-7, we read, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”
These verses show us how we can become SPIRITUALLY MATURE CHRISTIANS.
I. SAVED BY GRACE
We often hear the song in our churches “Amazing Grace”. We have heard it so much we seldom listen to the words.
Let me share them with you today.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace, my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see
Everyone who goes to heaven will be there not because of what they have done but because of what the Lord Jesus did on Calvary for us.
Illus: The story is told of a man who stood at the pearly Gates asking an angel who is on the other side.
• He said is there any Baptist in there. The angel said No there is no Baptist in there.
• He said is there any Methodist in there. The angel said No there is no Methodist in there.
• He said is there any Presbyterians in there. The angel said No there is no Presbyterians in there.
• The man said who is in there? The angel said only those who have been saved by the grace of God.
Illus: The disciples were in the midst of the stormy sea. Jesus came walking to them on the water. Peter asked Christ to bid him to come and walk on the water too. And he did come and started out his way to Christ on the water, but when he saw the winds and the waves about him, he began to sink...
When Peter was drowning at sea, he did not save himself with his great athletic swimming ability. He simply prayed, "Lord, save me!"
When a person understands there lost condition, and that Christ alone has the power to save them by means of his death, burial, and resurrection, and they call upon the name of the Lord to be saved, God saves them by his GRACE!
None of us is worthy to be there but God was so gracious to shed His grace on us.
Illus: I read of a candidate for ordination into the ministry. He was having an interview with the bishop on the day before the ordination service. Feeling his unworthiness…
• He said, "Bishop, if you knew how unworthy I am to be ordained by you, you would never lay hands on me.
• The dear bishop replied, "If you knew how unworthy I am, you wouldn’t let me do it!"
We’ve got to recognize that in the sight of God we’re, but sinners saved by grace.
Notice, Paul said in verse 6, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.”
HOW DID WE RECEIVE CHRIST?
We received Him by faith.
Notice, Paul told the Colossians that AS THEY HAVE RECEIVED HIM (Christ), THEY SHOULD WALK IN HIM (Christ).
When we received Christ at Salvation:
(1) We trusted in the righteousness of Christ for salvation by faith.
(2) But our faith does not stop there.
We are SAVED BY GRACE but also, we are…
II. KEPT BY GRACE
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Illus: Again, when Peter requested to walk on water and when he saw the boisterous wind and waves, he cried out “Lord save me” He was holding onto the Lord but more important the Lord was holding onto him.
Illus: When Noah was in that great flood God did not drive a peg into the side of the ship and told Noah if he could hang on without falling, he would be saved.
No! Noah placed inside the ark which is a picture of us who are placed in Christ the safest place we can be.
As long as we live on this earth as Christians, we continue to trust in the righteousness of Christ to KEEP US!!!
Illus: Like many Christians I grew up in a church that did not teach we are saved by grace and kept by grace.
I was taught we are saved by faith but after you are saved by grace you can lose your salvation if you did not do this or that!
I had no idea that I was being taught a false doctrine.
Many folks have the mistaken idea that we are saved by grace, and after that it kicks into works.
• There is nothing in this world we can do to ACQUIRE OUR SALVATION or KEEP OUR SALVATION.
• We are SAVED BY GRACE, and we are KEPT BY GRACE!!!
If we could save ourselves after we are saved by grace, it would make us a greater Savior in some cases than Christ.
Let me explain…
Illus: For example, suppose a person lives to be 70 years of age.
At the age of 20 they came to Christ and trusted in the works of Christ on Calvary for salvation.
That is, He saved this individual from twenty years of past sins.
But now after I have been saved now it depends on me for my salvation.
So, for the next fifty years I saved my self by doing good deeds to keep my salvation.
This would make me a greater Savior than the Lord Jesus, because:
• I saved myself doing good deed for fifty years of sin.
• And the Lord only saved me for 20 years of sin.
If we cannot save ourselves from sin initially, how do we expect to save ourselves from sin after the Lord saves us?
If we are going to grow into SPIRITUAL MATURE Christians, we have to understand we are SAVED BY FAITH IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST, AND WE WALK IN THAT SAME RIGHTEOUSNESS AS MATURE CHRISTIANS until the day we die.
Listen:
• We have been saved (Past sins)
• We are being saved (Present sins)
• We eventually will be saved for eternity (Future sins)
But in every case, it is us doing the SINNING, and Him doing the SAVING.
He is the SAVIOR, and we are the SINNERS!
We are saved by grace and kept by grace.
Paul taught this church in Galatia we are saved by grace alone.
Some came behind him teaching these Galatian Christians, but he did not tell you everything you need to know to be a Christian…
• The men must be circumcised
• You have to follow a certain dietary law
If they wanted to be saved.
We have the same today after we preach what the Bible teaches, we are saved by grace alone some come along saying for you to be saved you must…
• You ladies can not wear any makeup
• You ladies must not cut your hair
• You cannot wear any kind of jewelry etc.
Paul was telling them initially we are saved by GRACE AND KEPT BY GRACE!!!
Listen, God is not like some people, He is not going to start something and not finish it.
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
We have looked at us we are…
I. SAVED BY GRACE
II. KEPT BY GRACE
But now let us look at we are we…
III. GROW BY GRACE
Look at Colossians 2:7, Paul told these Colossian Christians they should be, “Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”
Once we are SPIRITUALLY BORN, we are to grow some SPIRITUAL ROOTS.
Look at the word “rooted”; this gives us the picture of a tree.
Roots provide TWO things for a tree:
A. THEY PROVIDE STRENGTH
Illus: A tree may stand in calm weather, but when a storm comes it had better have some deep roots.
We all have seen trees in the midst of a severe hurricane, and the wind is blowing but the tree stands.
Yet, there are other trees that might be ten feet tall that blow over.
WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE?
Simply this, one had deep roots and the other had only surface roots.
All trees originate from seeds.
When a seed germinates, it begins by sprouting a single root. This root is called the radicle, or first root.
The radicle root will grow down into the soil, anchoring the seed.
There are four different kinds of roots.
• Plate root systems
• Sinker root systems
• Heart root systems
• Taproot systems
I do not have time to go into all of these different kinds of roots and how they function, but I do want to talk about the Tap Root System
Illus: Tap root systems work like a fence post. A fence post is much longer than it appears on the surface.
The reason the fence post appears short is because part of it is buried deep underground. Being buried so deep prevents movement in the wind.
A tap root system works the same way.
And while those trees having surface roots could stand in the calm weather, they could not stand in the rough weather.
Have you ever wondered how a person could willingly die for the Lord Jesus?
The reason they could was because they were rooted deep into the Lord Jesus, and nothing could move them.
Look at the Life of Stephen, he had some deep roots.
Look at Acts 7:54-60 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen was rooted and grounded in the Lord Jesus.
Roots are where a tree gets it strength to stand in the midst of a storm.
But roots also -
B. PROVIDE NOURISHMENT
Roots are where a plant gets its NOURISHMENT.
Illus: The Japanese introduced a tree to the world that is called a Bonsai tree. It is measured in inches instead of feet as other trees are measured. It is not allowed to reach anywhere near its full growth potential but instead grows in a stunted miniature form.
The reason for it growing in stunted form is that when it first stuck its head out of the ground as a sapling, the owner pulled it out of the soil and tied off its main tap root and some of its branch feeder roots and then replanted it.
By doing this, its grower deliberately stunted its growth by limiting the roots' ability to spread out and grow deep and take in enough of the soil's nutrients for a normal growth.
This is what Satan wants to do with every Christians. Tie off its main tap roots so it will not get the nutrients it needs for growth.
Look at verse 7 again, we read, “Rooted and BUILT UP IN HIM….”
Look at verse 7 again; we are “BUILT UP IN HIM.”
Illus: The reason we here at the First Baptist CHURCH place such an emphasis on the preaching and teaching of God’s Word is because THIS IS THE ONLY WAY A CHRISTIANS CAN BE BUILT UP IN HIM.
• You will not get to be SPIRITUAL MATURE by building your Christian LIFE on a denominational church
• You will not get to be SPIRITUAL MATURE by worshipping a preacher.
• You will not get to be SPIRITUAL MATURE by building your Christian life on spiritual entertainment
You will only get STRONG SPIRITUAL ROOTS when you daily build your life on Christ.
The better the root system of a tree is, the stronger that tree will become.
The more we are “Built up in Him,” the stronger our “roots” in Him will become.
• This is why every day it is essential that you spend time in prayer and the Word of God.
• This is why every Sunday you should attend a Sunday school class that teaches the Word of God.
• This is why every Sunday you should attend a Church where the Word of God is preached.
To be SPIRITUALLY MATURE, you are going to have to have some SPIRITUAL ROOTS.
Look at verse 7 again, we read, “Stablished in the faith as ye have been taught.”
HOW ARE WE “STABLISHED” IN THE FAITH?
The Bible tells us in verse 7, “…Stablished in the faith, (How?) AS YE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT.”
One of the DISADVANTAGES that some folks in foreign lands have is that they have no PREACHER or TEACHER to teach them the Word of God.
Look at Romans 10:14, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”
This is why we send missionaries to the foreign field where they can have a preacher that will preach and teach the Word of God to them so they can come to know the Lord and then grow spiritually.
But that is not the problem with most folks in America, they have heard the Word of God preached and taught over and over again.
The problem with these folks is the Word of God that would “STABLISH” THEM IN THE FAITH goes in one ear and out the other.
While the Word of God is being preached many times some are…
• Sleeping
• Day dreaming
• Playing with their telephone
• Reading the church bulletin
• Talking to someone next to them.
No wonder they do not grow in the Lord!!!
And because this is the case:
• Our churches are filled with people that are one thing on Sunday but something entirely different on Monday
• They are on fire for the Lord one week and every time the church doors are open, they are there, and the next week it will take the FBI to find them
• They witness to a person one day and they “bless them out” the next day
• They are praying and trusting God one day, and worrying and freeting the next
Notice how Paul said they were to be established in the Lord, “Stablished in the faith AS YE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT.”
Paul was telling the Colossian Christians that they had HEARD IT TAUGHT, BUT NOW IT WAS TIME FOR THE WORD OF GOD TO GET INTO THEIR HEARTS TO ESTABLISH THEM!
Conclusion:
Illus: John Newton said, "I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be. But I can truly say I am not what I once was. By the grace of God I am what I am!"
One of the great needs in the church today is for the church to have SPIRITUAL MATURE CHRISTIANS.
God’s church today is suffering defeat in many ways because there are so few SPIRITUAL CHRISTIANS available for service.
Remember in the book of Acts when the early church had a problem between the Grecian widows and the Hebrew widows?
To solve this problem, Peter said, in Acts 6:3, “Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.”
In other words, do not select just anyone; find men who are SPIRITUAL MATURE enough to meet these standards.
They found such men and the Bible says the problem was solved, and the church continued to grow.
Without a doubt the biggest problem that we have in the church today is that of spiritual maturity.
Second Peter chapter three verse eighteen tells us to: 2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
We have been saved by grace, kept by grace and now the Lord wants us to grow in grace.
I. SAVED BY GRACE
II. KEPT BY GRACE
III. GROW IN GRACE
Amazing Grace - Best Version by Far!
Gary Downey
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