ROAD TO MATURITY

Good afternoon! I thank God for this opportunity to be with you, though
initially, I wanted to refuse it. However, I was taught that when opportunity
opens, don’t refuse. It’s an expansion of the ministry. Thus, I responded to this
call.

I want to presume that everyone here has experienced believing in the Lord
Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, thus, has received salvation by faith.

Illustration: When a baby is born into a family, subsequently, he becomes a

member of the family. The baby should not be a baby forever. He needs to be fed
to grow physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially , and spiritually. He needs
to be trained to maturity and handle responsibilities, thus, become useful citizen.
Spiritually, a born again person should grow, and should be fed with the spiritual
food, the Word of God. He should go to maturity to become a productive and
useful Christian.

When a child becomes stubborn, self-willed, etc, he does not give joy to his
parents. However, is he still a member of the family? Though he is a member of
the family, yet his relationship with his parents is not proper.

Spiritually, we don’t stop at salvation. Relationship with God must be

enhanced to give pleasure to His God. Thus, Matthew 28:19-20 says, “ Go ye
therefore and preach the gospel, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father , and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things I have commanded you....” It should not stop at accepting Jesus as Lord
and Savior. That is discipleship ... to develop a deeper relationship with Hod in
His Character, His Word, His life, and His work.

The focus of the lesson that I will share is the faith after salvation. “ To
become a Christian is a great privilege; to live the Christian life is our
responsibility.” Christian life is not a path of roses. It is not a journey on plains,
but there are mountains to climb, rivers to cross. But God assures victory at the
end of the journey. We need to live by faith to move on.
What is faith? Read Hebrews 11:1. Faith is seeing the invisible , the things unseen.
Read 2 Cor. 5:6- Living by sight is opposite of living by faith. We are not to live by
sight, rather, to live by faith.

How do we live by faith? Faith is trusting and putting confidence in God through
His Word. Study His Word regularly. Believe in it. It is firm and perfect. God is
faithful in His promises. Faith is to be tested to find out if we are really trusting
God. Faith, not tested, is not faith at all. Faith that is tested can be trusted.

There are unpleasant moments which are necessary if we are to become

mature believers. And if we want to experience serenity in this turbulent world,
we need to grasp firmly upon the sovereignty of God. God allows disciplines to
come into our life not because He doesn’t love us, but to help us to become more
trustful in Him. God will use it for our ultimate good and for His glory, provided
we really trust and obey. Read Hebrews 12:10.

What are some disciplines?

1. Disturbance- Deut. 32:11

The picture is of eagle fledglings comfortable and safe in their soft and
warm nest. All they need to do is to sit there with their mouths wide open
and the mother eagle does the rest. They could go on like that forever as
far as they are concerned. But one day, the mother eagle seems too crazy.
She starts tearing the nest, tossing it over the side. The little birds are
wondering what’s over their mother. Now when the soft linings of the nests
are torn, only sticks are left, and the young birds feel uncomfortable and
they begin to climb up onto the edge of the nest. They look down below
and their hearts are fluttering. Then the mother bird gives one a push and
the little bird goes flying down to certain death. Imagine, what’s in the
mind of the little bird. “ Oh, she used to love me. She gave me what I
wished. And now, look at this!”
But the mother bird hasn’t forgotten her young one. She swoops
down to where he’s flapping his wings, trying to stay high or aloft. And she
swoops underneath, lifts him up and puts him back on the crag where he
 can try again. Yes, she breaks up the nest to make her fledglings fly but she
stays with them and watches over them.
God, at times , breaks up our nests. He is stirring up our nests
because affluence, comfort and indulgence are not friends of faith. In order
to save us from losing out in our ministry, the Lord graciously intervenes.
The eagle knew by instinct that if she didn’t throw the young ones
out of their nest where it would have to use its wings, it would never be
able to soar onto the sun.
So, God knows at times for us. We are in a warfare. We are engaged
in battle. We’re still soldiers and it doesn’t matter how old we get. We need
to be exercised and ready and fit to fight the battles the Lord calls us to do.

2. Darkness
When we’re facing the discipline of darkness, the clouds seem to
have no rift whatsoever. We feel we’re in a tunnel and you can’t even see a
speck of light at the end. You wonder if the experience will come to an end.
God sometimes allows us to go through these experiences again; it’s
still for our own good. But in the darkness, we can meet God in a way that
would otherwise be impossible. Illustration: Daniel 3:19. Three young men
were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Imagine yourself if you were
the one thrown into the midst of it.( Relate the story and the result of it).
Illustration: Exodus 14:14- my personal experience.
A. God is more delighted when we trust Him in the darkness than when we
trust Him in the light.
B. It’s easy to trust Him in the light when everything is going well but it
brings glory to Him and joy to His heart when we trust Him even in the
darkest experiences.

3. Disappointment
Sometimes what may seem to us to be a terrible disappointment
may be part of God’s plan for something infinitely more wonderful than we
ever dreamed. Bible Illustration: Joseph for 13 successive years everything
 goes wrong for Joseph until at last he was a forgotten slave in a dungeon (
prime of his life). And all that time, he had maintained his purity, had been
true to the Lord; had been walking with God. And that’s the way God
treated him. It doesn’t seem right’ and yet how could Joseph have been a
prime minister of Egypt? How would he come through that if the Lord
hadn’t put him through those experiences to put iron into this soul?
Joseph said to his brethren – “ You meant it for evil but God meant it
for good.” (Gen. 50:20). But it was only when Joseph looked back that he
saw the good, he didn’t see it at the time he was going through those
disappointments. Real Life: Ira Stanphil, Personal- (Jake and co.)

4. Disparity
Ezekiel 18:25- the people of Israel said, “ The way of the Lord is not
equal (right). In essence they were saying, “ God doesn’t treat us fairly.
Many Christians feel this way too.,
Illustration: James and Peter both preaching for the Lord; both got put in
the jail because of their preaching. The Lord allows James to be beheaded
and Peter was taken out of prison to a prayer meeting. How would Mrs.
James react? Or if you were Mrs. James, how would you feel such kind of
situation? Illus. 2- Job- Read Job’s response in 1:21. That’s spiritual
maturity. He accepted the sovereignty of God.

*** When we are passing through testing experiences we have no idea of

the spiritual issues that may be involved. We think of our own suffering or
what we’re going through, but what about the heavenly background?

5. Delay
We’re living in an instant coffee and pudding, in instant everything
age. We like to get things now. But God doesn’t always cooperate.
Illustration: 1. Abraham- God promised him a son.
*** God has His own schedule and He knows what we don’t know. Our
urgency, impetuosity is because of our imperfect knowledge. God’s
leisureliness is the outcome of His control of all the circumstances and His
knowledge of all that is involved.
2. Mary and Martha- death of Lazarus. Jesus was fetched but Jesus stayed
2 days where He was. When He arrived, Lazarus was a corpse and the
sisters were offended. Read John 11:20-21. It must have hurt the Lord that
they didn’t trust Him but at any cost He went to the tomb and called out
Lazarus. John11:43.
3. Joni Erickson Tada