0:01 Good afternoon, NCCF church family. So good to see everyone today. I wanted to share a little bit today about growing in spiritual maturity. I am a dad with young kids and one of my great desires for them is that they would grow up from being children to 0:19 finishing their education to getting a job to be able to take care of themselves and to take care of their own families. That's my desire for them as a father. And I believe that our heavenly father feels the same way towards his 0:33 children that he desires that we grow from being spiritual babies to become spiritual adults. And so I want to share a bit today about why it's so important to seek to grow to spiritual maturity and also some practical ways for us to 0:49 see whether or not we're going along that right path or not. So I'd like to start with a passage from Colossians. So if you could turn with me there. Colossians in chapter 1. I wanted to talk about why is this is so important. 1:04 Colossians and chapter 1 verse 28. Colossians 1 verse 28. I'll just read this here. We proclaim him admonishing every man and teaching every man with 1:21 all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ. And the word that I want to focus on is the word present. It's as if Paul is saying that one day we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And there 1:39 Paul is going to take a brother or sister that he's worked with while he was on earth and he's going to present him or her before the Lord. And in that day it will be clear whether or not that person is still a spiritual baby or if 1:53 they are a spiritual adult. And so that's why it's so important because on that day I don't want to look like a spiritual baby. I want to to look like an adult. And the other thing that he says here is why it's so important is in 2:07 the if you look at the living Bible translation it says it's because of what Christ has done for each of us. And I think of it like this. I think of my own uh parents. They done so much for me in in this world. So we used to be 2:21 immigrants that came from China and we grew up and they were we're all very poor family and so they worked very hard to take care of my education uh take care of my fiscal needs and afterwards I was able to get a job and that's how I 2:33 could take care of myself today. But imagine let's say I finished my college education I decide you know what I don't really feel like getting a job I'm just going to stay home and watch TV and eat potato chips. How do you think my 2:48 parents would feel? I think they'd be extremely sad because they did so much for me. And yet at the end of the day, I decided, you know what? I don't want to grow up. I just rather be a baby. And so, in the same way, in that living 3:00 Bible paraphrase, when it says because of what Christ has done for each of us, I think of the same thing. Think of what Jesus has done for us. For example, let's say our church. He's given us a church with other brothers and sisters 3:13 whom we can run this race with. And we're so fortunate because I get emails now and then of people saying, "Hey, I'd like to find a fellowship near me. Can you recommend some place to me?" And there's many times where we've had to 3:26 write back and say, "No, sorry. We don't know of anything near your location." So, for us to have each other, first of all, it's a huge blessing. Um, the second thing I can think of is like in this church, we get to hear the Bible 3:38 being taught to us in a very simple and easy way to understand. I remember before I came to NCF, I used to think that the Bible was extremely complicated and I have to go to school to to understand what the Bible meant. But 3:50 after coming here, I realized, hey, the Bible's something that I can understand. So for someone with a simple mind, I can understand that as well. And I also think about how Jesus has given us a words of correction through this this 4:04 pulpit where whenever we go astray in different ways, we hear a strong word from this pulpit and we're so blessed because of that. And he's even even given us his wonderful promises. For example, the promise of seek ye the 4:18 kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. It's as if Jesus was saying here I'll take care of all your earthly needs, your your food, your your clothing, your shelter. I'll take care of those things, 4:30 but the thing I want you to focus on is the kingdom of God. Focus on spiritual things. So I think of all that Jesus has done and this is just a list of few. What does he want at the end of all these things? I believe that one of the 4:43 things that Jesus desires for us is that we would grow up to become spiritual adults. And that's what's on his heart. [gasps] So the question is what does spiritual maturity look like? Well, one thing I'll say is I'll first of all 4:57 share what it does not look like. And what spiritual maturity is not is gifts and abilities and talents. There may be people who can speak word well and share the word at church or maybe they're very talented and they can help out with 5:13 different ministries in a church. Great. But that's not necessarily a reflection of someone who's mature. For example, the classic example we can think of is the church in in Corenth where in first Corinthians Paul writes to them in 5:27 chapter 1 and says you guys have all the spiritual gifts. You have speech, you have knowledge. Great. You have all these wonderful gifts. But then later in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, Paul says to him, "I can only talk to you as to 5:39 babies." So it's very clear proof that even though someone is very gifted, it's not necessarily an indication that they're mature. And so the question is, well then, what are some ways we can know whether or not we are growing 5:53 towards becoming more and more mature spiritually? And so there's a few practical things that I wanted to share that might be helpful. So the first thing is this. Someone who's growing in spiritual maturity will have a sense of 6:07 responsibility for the things of God. So I'd like to share from Luke chapter 2 from a story of Jesus when he was young. So if you could turn with me to Luke chapter 2. [snorts] So we look at Luke chapter 2 and let's look at verse uh 40. 6:27 Luke chapter 2 verse 40. It says about Jesus that the child continue to grow and become strong and some translations say become strong in in spirit. So how did Jesus grow and become strong in in spirit? Well, we don't know too much about the childhood 6:44 of Jesus, but we do have a little story that happens after that verse which gives us a little clue about what he was like when he was a child. And this is the story I think a lot of us know when Jesus and his parents went to uh 6:57 Jerusalem and for the fa Passover. And after the Passover, his parents left, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem for a number of days. What does 12-year-old Jesus do? 12-year-old Jesus is there in the temple learning about the word of 7:13 God. And I love what he says in verse 49. He says to his parents, "Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house?" or some translation says, "Did you not know I had to be about my father's business?" And I love that word 7:26 business. It's like Jesus recognizing that his father has a business or his father's running a company and there's things that need to be done in that business so that it's taken care of. And Jesus could have done all these things 7:37 that he wanted to play in the park, go have ice cream, but he decided, "No, I'm not going to do those things. My priority and my focus are going to be on the things of God." So he had that responsibility even at a very young age. 7:51 And so that's the challenge I want to give to myself and to this church that may we have a sense of responsibility for the things of God. There's nothing wrong with going to the park. There's nothing wrong with enjoying ourselves. 8:02 But really is a matter of priorities. And I love the priority that Jesus had. God's business was number one in his life. So that's the first mark I believe we can practically know. Are we growing in a sense of responsibility for the 8:15 things of God? So the next example I'd like to share from is from Hebrews. You'll turn with me from Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews and chapter 5. So the next example of someone growing 8:32 in maturity is that they can accept a word of correction from the pulpit. Okay. So if you look at Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 13 and 14 here the writer of Hebrews is talking about two types of people infants who just drink milk and 8:51 people who are mature who eat solid foods. So let me read it real quick. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 13 and 14. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness for he is an infant. But 9:06 solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. And so the first type of person is an infant. And an infant just drinks milk. So what is that milk? Well, milk is described a little 9:23 bit later in Hebrews in chapter 6 and it's talking about the elementary teachings of the Christian faith. And so for example, uh repentance, faith towards God, baptisms, those are things that are milk that's for an infant. But 9:36 what is milk? What is milk? What is that meat which um an an adult is eating? Again, that meat is described in verse 13 as a word of righteousness. So it could be a strong word from the pulpit. It could be a strong word of correction. 9:52 But an adult is someone who sees that this is a tough word. It's like meat. I need to chew on it, but I'm going to chew on it because it's it's good for me. And what I've seen is that our reaction towards correction is a good 10:05 indication of what our goals are. Okay, let me say that again. Our reaction towards correction is a good indication of what our goals are. And so, let me share an example. One of my goals in life outside of church is to become a 10:19 better ping pong player. Okay? [sighs and gasps] And I had a chance this year. My dad gave me the gift of taking some ping-pong lessons at this ping-pong club uh that he goes to. So I took the lesson and I went to the coach 10:31 and the coach looked at me play and the first thing he said was when your backhand technique is completely wrong. [laughter] So I was I was a bit shocked. I thought I was playing it the right way my whole life. But he said, "No, your 10:44 your shot is is completely wrong." And you know what my reaction was? I was so happy. I was like, "I'm so thankful you told me. I've played ping pong for years. No one has ever told me my backhand was wrong. But thank you for 10:56 telling me because now you've said that I'm going to get better at ping pong. Now imagine if my goal was something different. Maybe my goal was to say I want to look cool in front of the other people in the ping pong club. I would 11:07 have said to my coach, "Hey man, why did you say that? Don't don't don't say that about my my back end." I wouldn't have accepted his correction. So that's what I mean that what we what our reaction to correction is, it's a good indication of 11:20 what our actual, you know, goal is. And so as we talk about um wanting to become more and more like Christ in the church, sometimes in the church, we do have to hear strong words of correction. And what I want to encourage people is that 11:33 if we become an adult or if we want to become more and more like an adult, then we need to accept those words of correction because those words of correction, it's a word of righteousness. It's meat and that's what helps us to grow and become a more more 11:45 mature spiritually. So that's the second thing. The third thing I want to say is that someone who's growing in maturity will be a peacemaker. And so please turn with me to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 9. Those who are growing in 12:04 maturity will become peacemakers. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 9, it says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." So notice in this verse that it doesn't say they will be called children of God. It says 12:20 they'll become sons of God. And there's a big difference between a son and a child. A son is someone who is is more mature. It's like an adult who's growing up. And a child is well a child. And what Jesus says here is that the one who 12:34 is a peacemaker, those are the type of people who become sons. And what's interesting is that Jesus says something similar later in Matthew 5 and verse 44. He also uses the word sons again. Okay? And so let's look at Matthew 5:44. 12:51 And Jesus says this, [snorts] "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the 13:07 righteous and unrighteous." So you notice in both those two passages in the sermon on the mount, Jesus uses the word son. And both times it's in relation to our relationships with other people. And what I believe Jesus is emphasizing is 13:21 that those who are sons will learn to have a good relationship with other people even if others mistreat them. That's really the the point here. That's what a son is. And I apply it practically like this. I think about the 13:32 workplace or maybe when we're driving down the road. There's often times people who mistreat us whether in the office or maybe someone cuts us off on a road. The question is what is our attitude towards other people when those 13:45 things happen? our attitude and reactions is a good indication of whether we're becoming like sons or we're still like a child. And my encouragement is that when others mistreat us that we should pray for them like Jesus says. And here's a good way I 13:59 believe we can pray for them. We can ask God to bless them. Lord, please bless this person, bless their health, please bless their family, please bless their career, and please bless them so that they would come to know you one day. So 14:11 no matter what people do to us, may that be our reaction. Lord, please bless them. And if we practice this, this is something that will help us to grow towards maturity. Okay. So that's the third thing. A son is a peacemaker. 14:24 So the next um example I'd like to share from Romans chapter 15. Okay. Verse one. Romans chapter 15. Now one of the characteristics of an adult is that an adult is strong. They can carry a lot of things whereas a child can only carry 14:40 very little things. So if we are strong, what should we do? So Romans chapter 15 and verse 1. Romans 15 and verse one it says this. Now we who are strong are to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and 15:00 not just please ourselves. For each of us is to please his neighbor for his good to his edification. So, one of the marks of someone who's growing in maturity is that they don't just think about themselves, but as it says in 15:11 verse two, they are to think about how they can please his neighbor for their good. It's not just themselves anymore, but now they're thinking about other people. And this first verse especially, we who are strong are to bear with those 15:24 who have weaknesses. And the context of this verse is talking about accepting people with different convictions. For example, whether it's meat sacrificed to idol or not, should you eat it? Yes or no? But I believe as a general 15:34 principle, I believe this is something that should be applied in our lives that we who are strong are to bear the weaknesses of others regardless of what that weakness is. And as a father, I definitely think of weaknesses when it 15:47 comes to my my children. We love our children, but we also know that they have weaknesses. And a good indication of whether we're growing in strength or not is how much of our children's weaknesses can we bear. And so I want to 15:59 share a picture here. If you could uh put on the first slide, I want to ask everyone a question. Okay. Who do you think is stronger? Okay. Or who do you think is is better in God's eyes? So on one side you have a picture of a knight. 16:12 Okay? And this guy's got really shiny armor. He's got a lot of muscles. He's just conquered a city. Really, really tough guy. And then on the other side you have a picture of a father teaching his daughter how to write. And for all 16:26 of you who are parents, you know, one of the most difficult things to do is to teach our children things, to give them a lesson, whether it's a music lesson or a school lesson. It can be very testing on our patients. But I love the father's 16:38 face here. He's very calm. So the question is in God's eyes, which one is better? Who is stronger? Okay. And I'll just read the answer here. This is from Proverbs 16. I'll just read it. This is from Proverbs 16:32. It says, "He who is 16:55 slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who captures the city." In other words, the person who can control his his emotions and control his heart and be patient in situations like this is actually better 17:09 in God's eyes than some muscular man who can conquer an entire city. So, I want to share that as an encouragement, especially to the parents. Often times I've noticed that when our children have different weaknesses that we we see, 17:22 it's easy to ignore it or just toss away by impatience. But I'm also seeing that those are the opportunities for us to grow as Christians to learn to be more patient with them and to learn to become spiritual adults. So childrens are gifts 17:35 for us in many ways. They're gifts because they bring us joy. They bring us so much laughter, but they're also gifts because they teach us what it means to grow in patience. And that's what helps us to grow in maturity. So that's the 17:46 fourth thing and then I'll just one last example. So this is from Philippians okay Philippians chapter 4 sorry Philippians chapter 3 and I would say that a person who's growing in spiritual maturity is one who 18:05 is taking his inner life very very seriously. Okay. And so, Philippians chapter 3 and let's look at verse 15. Philippians 3 and verse 15. Okay. Paul's 18:22 saying here, let us therefore as many as are perfect. Okay? Or in other words, mature. Let us therefore as many as are mature have this attitude. So what is this attitude that Paul is talking about? Well, it's the previous verse. So 18:36 the previous verse in verse 14 reads like this. I press on toward the goal of for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And so the attitude of a mature of a mature person is that they press on. And so that word press on if 18:53 you look at the way it's translated uh in the Bible, you know, the majority of time that word is translated is actually translated as persecute. Okay? That word is actually translated as persecute most of the time. And so for me, it gives me 19:05 a sense for what that word press on means. Imagine if you were to persecute someone, you would chase them. You would pursue them so you could, you know, grab them, right? That's what you would do to persecute someone. And I believe that's 19:15 the type of attitude that Paul had in terms of seeking for uh an inner life that's pleasing to God. He was persecuting or was pressing on like that. And I just think Lord, this this guy this Paul Paul had done so much for 19:30 the church. By this time, he had written scripture. This is towards the end of his life. He had established churches. He had been a blessing to so many people, had done miracles, and yet now he still has the desire to press on. And 19:43 that's a huge challenge to me because one of the things I've noticed in the Christian life is it's very easy to become uh complacent. It's very easy to start taking it easy. Say, "Oh Lord, I'm doing things in your church now. Um I 19:56 can share a church." But Paul wasn't like that. He said, "Despite all the things I do, one of the things I want to do is I want to press on." And what is he pressing on towards? He's pressing on towards the goal for the prize. So he's 20:09 looking for a prize. What is the prize that Paul is looking for? Is the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. In other words, it's his desire is to hear Jesus say to him, Paul, come up higher. Yes, this is a trial that 20:23 you're facing right now, but come up higher. Yes, this is a difficult situation. Come up higher. I want you to graduate from one level to the next level. That's what Paul wants to hear. that's the prize that he he wants to to 20:33 to get. And so it's a challenge to me even as I think about his life um to have the same attitude that the one who's mature is someone who's still pressing on despite all the things that he's done for the Lord in the past. So 20:44 those are again some simple ways I hope and practical ways for us to assess are we really growing towards becoming a mature believer or not. And lastly I just want to end with a I want to end with a promise. Um, is the Lord 20:58 interested in helping us to grow, to become mature believers? I believe so. And I want to share a promise from Isaiah in chapter 44. I'll say this to close. Isaiah 44 and verse 3 and 4. It says here, "For I will pour out water 21:16 on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants." So the Lord's going to give us his Holy Spirit. And what's going to happen when he gives us his 21:27 spirit? It says this, "And they will spring up among the grass like poppplers by streams of water." So, I like that last phrase, poppplers by streams of water. I'm not sure if anyone of you have seen a popppler tree looks what the 21:41 popppler tree looks like. Um, but if you could pull up this image here. Okay, this is a picture of what a popppler tree next to water looks like. It's a very majestic tree. If you Google it, there's some really beautiful pictures 21:51 of tall popppler trees. And my encouragement is that we all start our Christian life like that little tree on the the left hand side. It's just a little a little twig, a little little plant. But God's desire is that we're 22:04 going to become like popular trees, tall trees that are sturdy, that are mature. And that's the promise that God has for us. So I want to say it as an encouragement um that it's mature, being more mature spiritually, something yes, 22:17 we should seek for, but let's also have faith that this is something God wants to do in our lives. And may we all become like these popular trees in NCCF.
