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Overcoming Spiritual Adolescence:
Physically, when we are at one stage of our early life we seem to
always be yearning to reach the next. There is something built into us
that makes us look ahead to more mature days
I took my grandson, Joshua, to the Orlando airport, last week, and
we watched the big planes and Josh was filled with exclamations about
what he was going to do when he "grew up". It would have been downright
unnatural for him to say: I hope to always be playing with toy trucks
and airplanes and never get to drive or fly a real one myself.
I can't imagine an adolescent boy saying: "You know, I really like
this stage of life…this is where I want to stay
- I enjoy the mood swings
- I love the anxieties about changes going on inside of me
- I love the constant negative pressure from my peers
- I love sticking out my chest and not having the slightest idea
what my chest is even hooked to…
- I love rebelling against authority… I hope I can live with my
parents forever.
No man No!!!!
I want to grow up!
I want to become sure of where I'm headed
I want my life to count for something
Down with adolescence!
Premise # 1: We all mature spiritually through a life cycle, as
well, starting with spiritual birth and continuing to spiritual
adulthood.
Premise # 2: We should have, inside us, an inner longing to grow up
spiritually, just like we do in our physical lives.
Premise # 3: Sometimes we get stuck in the process of spiritual
growth. We can spend years at the level of childhood or adolescence
when God's grace is completely available to move us on to adulthood.
The overwhelming theme of the Epistles, starting with Romans right
up through the third chapter of Revelation, is hundreds and hundreds of
verses describing how we can grow up, spiritually and what we will look
like once we become spiritual adults.
Let me give you this sample passage out of Philippians again to show
you what I mean:
Philippians 1:9-11 I pray that your love will overflow more
and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and
understanding. 10 For I want you to understand what really matters, so
that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s
return. 11 May you always be filled with the fruit of righteousness
(NIV))—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus
Christ…for this will bring much glory and praise to God. (NLT)
Just as importantly as this passage, in the Epistles, are hundreds
of verses that describe what spiritual maturity is not!
Now that I drive a big, gas guzzling, $200 per tire, four wheel
drive truck it would be unnatural for my family to be looking for me
and finally find me playing with my old Tonka trucks in the backyard…
(I realize there are all kinds of warped emotional subtleties that go
along with this illustration)
Grown up people exhibit grown up behavior!
My point is… that there are supposed to be distinctly different
behaviors demonstrated by a 40 year old man and a 9 year old boy…. and
there is supposed to be distinctly different behavior between the new
Christian ( or the non-Christian) and someone who has been a believer
for 20 years!
In the passage we just looked at: This is the language of spiritual
adulthood…
- your love will overflow more and more
- you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding
- you should understand what really matters
- you should live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s
return
- may you always be filled with the fruit of righteousness ..the
righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ
- this will bring much glory and praise to God. (your life will
reflect God)
Can a Christian live a life that does not overflow with love? Can we
fail to live pure and blameless lives? Can we miss out on what really
matters… Can our lives not bring glory and praise to God. Could some of
us in this room be living below what God wants for our lives?
Could it be that most of us in this room could stand to bite the
bullet and move further into spiritual maturity and further away from
our former, immature, sinful, lifestyle?
Becoming a spiritual adult means putting aside the character traits
of spiritual immaturity! (repeat)
In fact, Philippians 1 describes an adult Christian life as one who
is filled with the fruit of righteousness ..the righteous
character produced in your life by Jesus Christ.
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Old Pete has been a Christian as long as he can remember… His
Grandma was a praying, Bible believing, church going, woman, and while
he may not be quite as fanatical as her, he still gets to church more
often than not.
Old Pete's faith is something he doesn't talk about much. He
believes that a person's religion, and their politics, are personal
matters and should not be discussed in public. Pete doesn't much
connect his life or lifestyle to his religious views… fact is he hasn't
had much occasion to read the Bible…. what with all those "begats" and
laws it doesn't make very interesting reading.
Pete does find great interest in various websites and movies that
sure aren't boring and while he would never wants to show them to
Grandma…he's sure God understands. After all the human body was God's
creation and God wouldn't make a work of art without expecting it to be
enjoyed.
Pete has developed another vice that he indulges in daily…well,
actually, all day, every day… but it has never gotten to the point of
being an addiction. He has only done these things for the last few
decades because he enjoys them but he could quit today if he wanted to.
Pete lives alone now… he was married, but the old bag was always
suspecting him of running around on her… Truth was he had…a few times…
but if the old lady had taken better care of herself he wouldn't have
been forced to look elsewhere.
She had also nagged him constantly…telling him he was always angry
in telling about something…she'd also accused him of lying…in fact,
others people had mistreated him in the same way… His no-good-boss had
accused him of taking supplies at work… All he had been trying to do
what make up for the pitiful paycheck they gave him.
He'd come to believe that most people were crooks and liars… He
hated kids… they got on his nerves… He despised people of other races.
He hated rich people… and the oil companies…
Oh well… he needed to get ready to go to the church… He had a deacon
meeting today after the service. Probably some foreign, leaching poor
person wanting to bum money instead of getting a real job…
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Now…I didn't, just, make up Old Pete's characteristics out of the
air. I went to the Bible to find a list of characteristics that are
listed as characteristics that do not show spiritual maturity. There
are many such lists…
The list that I used just happens to be in Galatians 5… lumped
together with the Apostle Paul's famous teaching about the Fruit of the
Spirit.
We are often hesitant to gouge a line in the sand and say…on this
side of the line are behaviors that God is happy with and on this side
of the line are behaviors God is not happy with. If you are going to
declare yourself a Christian…then the behaviors on the right side of
the line correspond to God's expectations for you… if you chose to
behave from the list on the left side of the line you are living
outside God's stated expectations.
God has no such hesitation in drawing a vivid line in the sand. In
fact when God repeatedly gouges His vivid line in several different
passages in the Epistles… He seems to be almost brutal about it.
Let me read to you Galatians 5 which is the text passage for our
whole summer series on the Fruit of the Spirit… (It would be so easy at
this point if I could just say…Here are the nine Fruit of the
Spirit…lets try to all do better at living them…
That is not, at all, the way they are presented in the Bible. God
chooses to give us the nine Fruit of the Spirit right in the middle of
one of the most, hard-hitting, in your face, passages in all of
Scripture. This wasn't some editors mistake where the Fruit got in
where they didn't belong… This is the context within which God wants
you to receive the wonderful truth about the Fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-26 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will
not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature
desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary
to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you
do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are
not under law.
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality,
impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord,
jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and
envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before,
that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ
Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (NIV)
Did you see it? Did you see God's line in the sand? You can make a
mental list with a "acts of the sinful nature" column and a "fruit of
the Spirit" column and the line God draws between them is so strong
even an atheist could see it.
Here's the List: Not my list… God's list…
Acts of the Sinful Nature:
1) sexual immorality- any thought or deed outside a marriage
covenant
2) impurity- soiled living you don't want exposed
3) debauchery- readiness for any sinful pleasure
4) idolatry- putting anything in God's
place
5) witchcraft- sorcery, anti-God/anti-Christ focus
6) hatred- hostility; opposite of
love
7) discord/fighting- quarrels/strife/
8) jealousy- desire for what someone else
has
9) fits of rage- uncontrolled temper/emotions
10) selfish ambition- desire for selfish advancement
11) dissensions- opposite of unity/criticizing
12) factions: disliking people who are different
13) envy; embittered desire to take from another
14) drunkenness- control by other than Spirit
15) orgies- unrestrained sinful behavior
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Acts of the Spirit-led Nature
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is:
1) Love
2) Joy
3) Peace
4) Patience
5) Kindness
6) Goodness
7) Faithfulness
8) Gentleness
9) Self-control
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None of us can miss the fact that this is all about replacing the
bad with the good….can we?
-live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the
sinful nature.
God, so much, wants to replace our sinful characteristics with the
Fruit of Righteousness.
- I'll replace your envy with love and goodness
- I'll replace your greed with kindness and self-sacrificial love
- I'll replace your complaining with peace, joy, patience, and
kindness
But, Pastor, criticizing others is part of who I am…I've always done
it. Everyone I know does it as well.
It's part of my nature!
No…It's part of the sinful nature!
Pastor…everyone envies! The whole advertisement industry is built
around the American virtue of envy (wanting what someone else has)
Envy is part of what it means to be human!
No…Envy is part of what it means to be sinful!
But Pastor Sam… Selfishness has been with me since my battles with
my siblings. Selfishness is what motivates me in business! Selfishness
is part of my personality!
Selfishness is not a personality trait… it is a spiritual
deficiency!
The Bible is clear…We do not have to live our lives bound by the
things on the left side of the list.
The suggestion that we cannot leave lust behind does not come from
God.
The excuse that our anger is a product of our genetic makeup is
exactly what satan would script for us.
The belief that selfish advancement is an essential ingredient in
your finding happiness and fulfillment in life comes from the Father of
Selfish
Advancement (He lost by the way!!)
Conclusion:
It is your spiritual birthright to put to death the works of the
sinful nature.
It is your spiritual birthright to be filled with the Spirit of God
and find him to be the controlling factor in your passions and desires.
It is your spiritual birthright to grow a harvest of the fruit of
righteousness in your life that become increasingly evident to all who
come in contact with you.
It is your spiritual birthright to leave the self-centered,
rebellious actions of childhood behind and become the spiritual pillar
you were created to be!
Everything is presently in place for that to happen in your life.
You don't have to wait for a greater filling of the Holy Spirit before
you can begin to grow the Spirit's fruit.
It was Billy Graham who got my attention years ago with this quote:
The question is not: "How much of the Holy Spirit do you have"…
the question is: "How much of you does the Holy Spirit have!"
You… you… you… can become a person whose life is characterized
with the Fruit of the Spirit..
- That is God's plan!
- That is God's promise!
- That is you spiritual birthright!
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