Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. I have trust. You have a desire. to be mature. Growing in your faith.
Serving others, preserving the unity, turning from sin, studying the Word of God, memorizing the Word of God, sharing Christ, displaying Christ. God's goal, Paul's goal, and our goal. is to present everyone mature. in Christ. Welcome to The Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe.
Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life is the most important decision you'll ever make. But the journey doesn't end there. Today, on the verdict, we'll continue in the book of Colossians and discuss why growing and maturing in our faith is so important. Learn how to fulfill your potential as a follower of Christ. Here's Pastor John Monroe with today's message titled, Our Goal is Maturity.
We're continuing our fascinating study of the book of Colossians. Today we're focusing on the last two verses of chapter 1. Where Paul makes it clear that his goal is. is to bring the Christians at Colossi to spiritual maturity. In the contemporary church life, there's a great emphasis on getting people into the building.
But sometimes I wonder if we're more focused on numbers rather than spiritual maturity. This means going deeper. in our study of God's Word. and being faithful in worship and in prayer and serving. God doesn't want you to stay in spiritual infancy.
He wants you to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to love Him more. to serve him with all of your heart. and to demonstrate its love to others. I've given this message, the title: Our Goal is Maturity. I trust.
You, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, have this as your goal. Spiritual. Maturity. Colossians 1 then, verse 28. Yeah.
Him that is Christ. He's talked about Christ and us, the hope of glory. Verse 27, him we proclaim. Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
For this I toil. struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within Mm-hmm. I want to think, first of all, from verse 28, the beginning of 28, the proclamation. The proclamation, the foundation of maturity. The proclamation, the foundation of maturity, Him that is Christ, we proclaim.
Of all the things that Paul could have done. He proclaimed Christ.
Now this verb proclaim is in the present tense. The point is that Paul continually and habitually proclaims the gospel and the word of God. He didn't proclaim a philosophy or even a doctrine, although he certainly taught doctrine. But primarily, his mission, his goal, is to proclaim the person of Christ, certainly not himself. His preaching His life is thoroughly Christ.
centered. Paul's mission in life is to uplift and to exalt Christ. You see, this is the divine cure, the divine antidote for our immaturity, for our shallowness, for our superficiality and our self-centeredness. Christ. This then is the very foundation of Christian maturity.
Christ And Christ alone, Christ above us, behind us, around us, underneath us, that all of life. is Christ. There can be no maturity. without knowing, receiving, loving, obeying. And serving Christ.
I'm saying this evening that your spiritual maturity begins with a living, personal, vibrant, and growing relationship with Christ. When you love God's wonderful Son. When you have the Son in your life, you have... Everything. When you get Christ Whom the Father loves, and whom we as His followers, whom we love, when we get Christ, we get everything.
Look at chapter 2, verse 3. Paul says, In whom that is in Christ. Arhiden All of the treasures of wisdom. and knowledge. You want to be wise?
No Christ. You want to be knowledgeable? No Christ. You want to get your life right? No, Christ.
That when we get Christ right, And when we put Christ first in our life, when He is the first love, the first priority, everything else in life will fall into its rightful place. But if you miss Christ, You miss.
Now this proclamation That Paul talks about here in Colossians 1, verse 28 involves warning. negative and teaching positive. Him we proclaim Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. Again, these participles are in the present tense. Paul proclaims Christ.
How do you do it? He says two main ways: one by warning. And secondly, by teaching everyone with all wisdom. That's how we Help one another. to Christian maturity.
We are to teach and to admonish one another. This word warn or admonish in some translations is a translation of the Greek word nutetao. We Talk of neuthetic counsel. counseling which is to do with the setting of the mind of someone in proper Order. What do we do when we admonish someone, or when we are admonished?
We are corrected. We put the individual right. You see, if we're to be spiritually mature, it is essential that we from time to time are admonished by others. There can be spiritual confusions in their life, misunderstandings, even sin, and these things have to be straightened out. We need to be warned about sin.
We need to be warned about false teaching. We need to be confronted with negative or destructive attitudes and habits which can so easily come into our life. We did. to be warned.
Some people say today That we should only deal with the positives. That's not the way of the Bible. We're told today that people don't like to hear about sin. God doesn't like to hear about sin either, but we have to deal with it. Proclaiming Christ involves warning.
Paul says for a period of three Luke says regarding Paul, for a period of three years, Paul did not cease to admonish each one of the elders in Ephesus with tears. As Paul is bringing these elders in Ephesus to Christian maturity, he admonishes them. Thank God. For those in your life who admonish you. For a godly father.
A brother, a mother. A pastor, a Sunday school teacher, a colleague.
Someone who is going to help you mature and is going to admonish you, difficult although that is. This is done through preaching, it's done through. Teaching is done through small groups, it's done on one-on-one relationships. But also, Paul, of course, not only warns, he teaches. This is the instruction.
The second aspect of Paul's proclamation: teaching the Bible, biblical doctrine, the truths of the Christian faith are essential for maturity. This has to be done with all wisdom. That's why from this pulpit We have a lot of teaching. Why is that so important? Just to fill people's head with knowledge?
No, to bring them to spiritual. Maturity. So we have biblical teaching. If you want to remain a spiritual baby, Ignore spiritual correction. When someone admonishes you, tell them to get lost.
Don't read the Bible, don't listen to biblical preaching, just listen to storytelling. Go where there's high emotion, but you will remain superficial. and in spiritual Babyhood. Teaching And admonition are essential for spiritual maturity.
So we have, first of all, the proclamation, the foundation of maturity. Secondly, we have the presentation, the goal of maturity. Verse 2. 38 again, Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. First, the proclamation.
The foundation of maturity. Secondly, the presentation, the goal of maturity. God's goal for the Colossians is spiritual maturity. His goal is, notice it, that he will present everyone mature in. Christ.
Maturity is to be the goal of every Christian. Notice three times in the ESV we have the word everyone. In verse 28, Him we proclaim, warning everyone, teaching everyone, that we may present everyone. You see, the false teachers in class said that they had special wisdom for an elite, for an enlightened few. But Paul never buys into that.
Paul's concern is that every believer Each man, each woman, each boy, each girl is brought to spiritual maturity. Do you hear that? That maturity is not just for a special. Yeah. All of the truth of God is to be given to all of the people of God.
Paul's goal is not just to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, he wants the converts to grow in Christ. Spiritual Maturity must be a priority in all of our lives, no exceptions. Immaturity. Mediocrity are not options for you and for me. Our goal.
is Christian. Maturity. This Greek word, which is translated maturity ESV. is used eight times in the New Testament. It's used in Ephesians 4:13, where a person fully grown is contrasted with a child.
A child is not mature. By definition, a child is immature. Do you say, what would be the signs of spiritual maturity? What characterizes a little baby? Self-centeredness.
Our little grandson was with us. Part of yesterday. Trying to play with them? took one of his Little Soft Toys, a dog picked it up, immediately says to me, Granddad, that's mine. Mine.
Mine. Me. An evidence of spiritual maturity. It's when their focus is on others. Where we don't always put ourselves at the center of attention.
where we are thinking of other needs more than ourselves. Where we preserve the unity of the body, where we point others to Christ. Where we know and obey in our lives God's word. where we repudiate false doctrine, where we have spiritual discernment and spiritual stability, and where we become like Jesus Christ. Are you more like the Saviour than you were this time last year?
If so, you're maturing. Paul says in Ephesians 4, 13 that his desire is for the Ephesian church to be brought to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's spiritual maturity. And spiritual maturity doesn't happen all at once, it takes time. It's a group of tourists.
were visiting a very picturesque village and they saw an old man sitting beside a fence. And in a rather patronizing way, these tourists who were visiting many villages and towns said to the old man. Were any great men born in this village? The old man said no. Only babies.
No great men born anywhere. Only babies. No mature people born anywhere, only. babies. You see, there's no shortcut.
to maturity. Quick, slick solutions only lead. to shallowness, immaturity and superficiality. I trust you have a desire. to be mature.
Growing in your faith. Serving others, preserving the unity, turning from sin, studying the Word of God, memorizing the Word of God, sharing Christ, displaying Christ. God's goal, Paul's goal, and our goal. is to present everyone mature. in Christ.
We have the proclamation, then, the foundation of maturity. We have the presentation, the goal of maturity. Finally, we have the power. The energy Verse 29. Paul says, For this I toil.
Struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Paul works hard in his ministry, he labors at his ministry. This word is used for exertion, working to the point of exhaustion. Paul is expending great effort, intense labor, in bringing his converts to maturity in Christ. If you.
I've discipled someone. And they're concerned, whether it's within your own family or someone else, you know, this process. Is very, very hard work. Paul says he was struggling with it, struggling. Translation of the Greek word agonizomai, from which we get our Greek, our English word agonize.
The word was used in an athletic contest. You think of the Olympic skater. struggling for the gold medal. Every Fiber of his or her body with this great goal of winning. It's a struggle, it's an agony.
Striving. For the medal. expending great effort. Tremendous energy. And Paul expends tremendous physical, mental, and spiritual energy in seeking to bring people.
To maturity. He writes in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 27 and 28: In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all of the churches. Particularly if you're in spiritual leadership. You know something. of this helping others To mature in Christ is very hard work.
Warning and teaching people is hard work. There are discouragements, there are setbacks, there's immaturity, there's false professions, there's sin, there's doctrinal error, there's shallowness. We see someone beginning to grow, and we're so encouraged, and after a few months, They just wander away, but we are to persevere, we are to labor, we are to strive towards maturity. I look on it this way. If the athlete trains hard, If the scholar studies long into the night, If the building contractor rises early in the morning and works tirelessly all day, surely the Lord's work must be done with great effort.
One of the criticisms made against those of us who are in full-time ministry, such as pastors and missionaries, is that we don't work very hard. And sadly, that is true. among some who are in full-time ministry. May that never be true of any of us. Paul says no, this is hard work.
But notice. He appropriates God's power. Here is a wonderful principle at work. Paul is at work. And God is at work.
For this I toil, struggling with all of his energy, that he powerfully works within me. As Paul works Notice this. The Spirit of God. is powerfully at work in Paul. One commentator asks, Where is God powerfully at work?
The answer: Where Paul toils energetically. See, when we work hard at the task, God The task that God gives to us we receive divine power and divine energy. We don't just sit around and say, God will do it all. Neither do we think God's work depends on all of us, it doesn't. But we are to work hard, and as we work, God works in us.
And through us. I can do all things, says Paul. Through Christ. who strengthens Meeting. You're working with their children.
That's hard work. You've been challenged to share Christ. That's hard work. It's discouraging.
sometimes. What's going to keep us going? Yes, we must work hard. You have to study for that lesson for the children. You want to memorize key verses in sharing the gospel.
But as we work, God is at work in us, and when we are weak, He Is strong. This is the ultimate power, God working in. Yeah. Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever been involved in ministry?
and you realize how inadequate you are. But you've prayed about it. You've worked hard in preparing for it. And you do it perhaps very With great fear and anxiety. And as you do it, you have this wonderful, wonderful experience of knowing that God's hand is on you.
That's a great blessing, isn't it? And you realize that the words that you're saying and what you are communicating or what you are doing. are the words of the Holy Spirit. As we work, God is at work in us. Are you a spiritual baby?
Or are you maturing? In Christ. We've learned this evening that Jesus Christ is central and foundational to spiritual maturity. Keep your eyes on Christ. He is to be our all-in-all.
That's why it's so important to be part of a community of believers like the church where Christ is proclaimed, where we're regularly challenged and taught the Word of God. Are you ready to take the next step? in spiritual maturity.
Some of you need to commit or recommit to being daily in the Word of God. Get back. In the Word of God. Perhaps you're neglecting prayer. Start.
Praying.
Some of you need to commit to coming regularly to church instead of just occasionally when there's nothing else on the agenda. Perhaps you need to be involved in spiritual service, in serving in some way. Perhaps you've never met the challenge of sharing Christ and you're so fearful, or perhaps just lazy or lethargic. May God open your eyes. And so as you serve God, that will create in you a dependence on God, as you look to God and pray to God to use you.
As you communicate the word of God, perhaps in your own home or in your own neighborhood or at your work. That you will have the joy of growing as God works in you. Yes, it's tough. Yes, you're sometimes going to be anxious. Yes, these are stretching experiences.
But these Are the ways that God uses To help us grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be committed to this goal of maturity. I'm told that one of the most popular aquarium fish is the shark. And if you catch a small shark, And confine it in an aquarium, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium you put it in. In such cases, I'm told, sharks can be fully grown.
at six inches long. They look like baby sharks, but in fact they're now Adults. But if you put that same type of shark loose in the ocean, It can grow to a normal length of eight feet. Feet. Are you a six inch?
baby Christian. Swimming around in circles in the same little pool where you've been for the last several years.
So where you are? Isn't it time? to step out in faith. To step out of that little, possibly stagnant, stale routine. And to exercise faith in God.
And to say, Lord, speak to me through this book. Give me a hunger for Christ. Help me to share Christ.
So that you will do all you can to fulfill your potential as a follower of Jesus Christ. And as you do that, I guarantee. that God will surprise you. with his power. and with his grace.
And you will move, as all of us seek to do, from babyhood to maturity, because that's our goal. Maturity. in Christ. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us.
From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at theverdict.org.
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The verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte. We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, We invite you to join us for our Sunday services. For more details about Calvary and our service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? On a scale of one to ten, where would you rate yourself as to spiritual maturity? If you're a new believer, I understand if you're still in the infant stage. But if you've been following Jesus Christ for some time, you should be growing in the Lord. Attend a church where there is a focus on biblical teaching rather than just inspirational messages.
Don't forget to tune in next time as we look at the opening verses of Colossians 2. And see the treasures of wisdom. found in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies.
Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
