Continuing Pastor Obie's message: When you become more spiritually mature, you become more selfless. The mature Christians reflects the image of their heavenly Father and His characteristics, because God is love and one of the characteristics of love is that it is not self-seeking. The Apostle Paul didn’t want the church to be consumed by their own needs and preferences, but to be concerned with the needs and preferences of others, selfless rather than selfish. In Philippians 2:3, Paul writes, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Are you more concerned with the “Me”, myself and I, or in the greater “We” in your life? The Christian matures living by the latter and remains immature by the former. The Number One indicator of church spiritual growth and maturity is a heart for serving others; caring less about the “Me” and more about the “We”. How is this true in your own life today? Take a good look at your time and your finances as an indicator.
The last spiritual growth marker is (4) Knowledge verses Wisdom. Here is the difference between the two. Knowledge is the accumulation of information, data, or facts that you’ve learned or experienced. All Christians are called to grow in knowledge of God our entire lives. But, wisdom is the ability to take that knowledge and apply it in your life in order to reach the maximum possible benefits. Knowledge is knowing what to say, and wisdom is knowing when to say it. Both are good attributes, but wisdom has an element of action in it. Wisdom puts knowledge into action. You put into practice what is being preached. James 1:22-25 tells us, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Christians can seek and fill their heads with biblical truth and spiritual knowledge [which is good’, but if we do not do anything with that knowledge then it is a waste; being intellectually fit, but outwardly in ministry malnourished Christians. Wisdom does not waste knowledge, but put it into practice.
The bible consistently uses planting metaphors. In Jesus’ parable of the Sower, the seed was the Word of God that was broadcast and sown into different soils, which represented the condition of the human hearts receiving it, and in Luke 8:14, the Lord explains that, “as for the seed which fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Matthew 13:22 states, “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. In contrast, in Luke 8:15 Jesus tells us, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” And in Matthew 13:23 “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the Word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” When you read or hear the Word of God and what is being preached, do you cultivate the soil of your heart to receive it, prayerfully mediate upon it, and hold onto it or does it get choked out by the distractions, deceitfulness cares of the world, riches and pleasures of life? Do you put the knowledge gained by the Word of God into active practice with wisdom daily? Are there fruits being manifested in your life?
John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” You are God’s garden, lets him dress the vine of your spirit and soul to grow your faith. The issue in the Corinthians church was that they were simply missing the point. The Apostle Paul states: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.” The clergy of Christ’s church are one, workers for God harvest in ministry. It is God who causes the growth. Care for the garden of your heart by planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding and pruning to help your faith mature and grow healthy in godly knowledge to produce abundant good fruit. As the Owner of the farm and the vinedresser, God loves and cares for His garden (His people, His children – the church).
The Lord want to see healthy growth in His garden; that is you. You are His field and He is planting things in you that He wants to see sprout, grow strong and bear beautiful fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control in your heart). These fruits, when they are manifest in your life and blossom, they will bless both you and the people around you. God is the one who makes things grow., so let’s not get in the way of that spiritual growth or hinder what God wants to bring into our lives, but let’s compliment it. Sin habits hinder the spiritual growth in our lives, so push that hindering sin nature of the flesh aside and walk in the Spirit.
Are you growing? You got to know if you grow because growth is a healthy part of life.
In Christ, Brian
Post #3300
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