The United States women’s softball team won the gold medal in Atlanta’s 1996 Olympic Games. They lost only one game. In the fifth inning against Australia, Danielle Tyler hit a home run over the centerfield fence. When she was greeted by a swarm of teammates at home plate, the excitement distracted her and she failed to step on home plate. When all of the yelling subsided, the Australian team quietly appealed to the umpire who dramatically called Tyler out. Rather than scoring a run, Tyler’s blast over the fence netted her team an out. As it ended up, had she stepped on home plate, her team would have won 1-0. Instead, after seven innings of regulation play the game was tied at 0-0. In extra innings, Australia emerged with a 2-1 win and the U.S. team took their only loss of the Olympics. It’s not enough to hit a ball into the seats; you have to touch all of the bases as well.
In the Christian life, God wants us to touch all the bases. After we put our trust in Christ for salvation, God doesn’t want us to stay at the same spiritual level. He expects us to make spiritual progress—to touch all the bases.
Read Colossians 1:24-2:5
“We proclaim [Christ], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ” (Col. 1:28).
“Perfect” = Complete, Mature, Full Grown
“Perfect” does not mean sinless perfection. Curtis Vaughn writes that “perfect” refers to the proper end of one’s existence.
“Everyone” – God’s plan is for every believer to reach spiritual maturity.
Spiritual Maturity = Christlikeness
Christ doesn’t simply want followers; He wants FULLY DEVOTED followers.
ILLUSTRATION: God is not content with us merely joining His family and not maturing. I am happy that my two sons were born, but I would not be happy if they did not mature.
Missionary E. Stanley Jones once asked Gandhi how Christianity could be more acceptable in India. Gandhi’s response was, “I would suggest, first, that all of you Christians…begin to live more like Jesus Christ.”
The goal (mission) of Paul’s ministry was to lead people to trust in Christ and teach them to grow to spiritual maturity. This was Epaphras’s desire for the Colossians. “Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in the will of God, mature and fully assured” (Col. 4:12).
Many verses in Scripture teach that followers of Christ should strive for spiritual maturity:
• “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6).
• “It was [Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 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 fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13).
• “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).
• “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29).
• “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20a).
The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) = SALVATION + SPIRITUAL MATURITY
What does a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ look like?
I. God wants you to become a GENUINE follower of Christ.
A. He wants you to turn from your sin.
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19).
B. He wants you to put your trust in Christ for forgiveness and eternal life.
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
II. God wants you to become a GROWING follower of Christ.
A. He wants you to demonstrate your commitment to Christ by being BAPTIZED.
B. He wants you to show your commitment to other believers by joining the MEMBERSHIP of a church.
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all” (Eph. 4:4-6).
C. He wants you to regularly meet for worship and instruction with other believers.
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another” (Heb. 10:25).
D. He wants you to possess an increasing knowledge of the Bible, which you apply to your life.
“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31).
“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:23 NKJV).
E. He wants you to value and practice PRAYER.
“Pray continually” (1 Thess. 5:17).
“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Eph. 6:18).
F. He wants you to demonstrate LOVE for others.
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another. But this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
“Love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22).
Addressing a national seminar of Southern Baptist leaders, pollster George Gallup said, “We find there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously...The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are remarkable similar in both groups. Eight out of ten Americans consider themselves Christians, Gallup said, yet only about half of them could identify the person who gave the Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still could recall five of the Ten Commandments. Only two in ten said they would be willing to suffer for their faith” (Erwin Lutzer, Pastor to Pastor, p. 76).
III. God wants you to become a GIVING follower of Christ.
A. He wants you to understand your unique personality, abilities, and spiritual gift(s) and be involved in ministry.
“It was [Christ] who gave…some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Eph. 4:11-12).
“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).
B. He wants you to be a generous, joyful GIVER of your God-given resources.
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).
IV. God wants you to become a GOING follower of Christ.
A. He wants you to build authentic RELATIONSHIPS with the unsaved.
B. He wants you to share the life-changing message of Christ with the unsaved.
“[Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few’” (Matt. 9:37).
“You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
The goal of spiritual maturity really never ends. We never get to a point in our lives where we can say, “I have become as spiritually mature as I can be. So now for the rest of my life I’m going to sit back and take it easy.” Listen to what Paul said about this: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things” (Phil. 2:10-15).
ILLUSTRATION: Stairs
CONCLUSION
Leighton Ford said, “God loves us the way we are but He loves us too much to leave us that way.”
Are you satisfied with mediocrity, or do you want to strive for maturity? Do you want to fulfill God’s plan for your life?
GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE
“We proclaim [Christ], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ” (Col. 1:28).
“Perfect” = Complete, Mature, Full Grown. Christ doesn’t simply want followers; He wants ____________________ followers.
I. God wants you to become a ____________________ follower of Christ.
A. He wants you to turn from your sin (Acts 3:19).
B. He wants you to put your trust in Christ for forgiveness and eternal life (Acts 16:31).
II. God wants you to become a ____________________ follower of Christ.
A. He wants you to demonstrate your commitment to Christ by being ____________________ (Matt. 28:19).
B. He wants you to show your commitment to other believers by joining the ____________________ of a church (Eph. 4:4-6).
C. He wants you to regularly meet for worship and instruction with other believers (Heb. 10:25).
D. He wants you to possess an increasing knowledge of the Bible, which you apply to your life (John 8:31; James 1:23).
E. He wants you to value and practice ________________ (Eph. 6:18).
F. He wants you to demonstrate ________________ for others (John 13:34-35; 1 Peter 1:22).
III. God wants you to become a ____________________ follower of Christ.
A. He wants you to understand your unique personality, abilities, and spiritual gift(s) and be involved in ministry (1 Peter 4:10).
B. He wants you to be a generous, joyful _____________ of your God-given resources (2 Cor. 9:7).
IV. God wants you to become a ____________________ follower of Christ.
A. He wants you to build authentic ___________________ with the unsaved.
B. He wants you to share the life-changing message of Christ with the unsaved (Acts 1:8).
