THREE THINGS ABOUT SPIRITUAL MATURITY
A Letter from a Pastor #10
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Sunday, September 8, 2024
(1 Corinthians 14:1, NLT) “Let love be your highest goal!”
(1 Corinthians 16, NLT) “On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. … There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me. When Timothy comes, don’t intimidate him. He is doing the Lord’s work, just as I am. Don’t let anyone treat him with contempt. … Now about our brother Apollos—I urged him to visit you with the other believers, but he was not willing to go right now. … Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love. … The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings. Greet each other with a sacred kiss. … If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Our Lord, come! May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.”
Maturity is pressing toward the mark; immaturity is complacency and self-satisfaction. Roberta Hestenes, Leadership Vol 9 #4
1. MATURITY IS PLANNING MY STEWARDSHIP
(1 Corinthians 16:2, NLT) “On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned.”
a. Everything and everyone belongs to the Lord
(Psalm 24:1, NLT) “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”
b. Develop and be grateful for your skillsets
(Proverbs 22:29, Message) “Observe people who are good at their work— skilled workers are always in demand and admired; they don’t take a backseat to anyone.”
c. Avoid debt
(Proverbs 22:7, Message) “The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.”
d. Teach my children stewardship
(Psalm 34:11, NLT) “Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the Lord.”
e. Plan to tell your money what to do
(1 Corinthians 16:2, NLT) “On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned.”
“I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week.” John D. Rockefeller
“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” John Maxwell
“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” Zig Ziglar
f. Define when enough is enough
(Proverbs 30:15-16, NLT) “The leech has two suckers that cry out, “More, more!” There are three things that are never satisfied— no, four that never say, “Enough!”: the grave, the barren womb, the thirsty desert, the blazing fire.”
(1 Timothy 6:6, NIV) “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
“Content people may not have the best of everything, but they make the best of everything.” Dave Ramsey
g. Find another way to keep score
(Luke 12:15, NLT) “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
h. Look around yourself
(John 17:6–7, NLT) “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you,”
i. Get wise counsel
(Psalm 16:7, Message) “The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart.”
j. Look forward to the Lord’s return
(Luke 12:48, NLT) “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.”
“Oh, if we loved our Lord as dogs love their masters, how we should catch the first sound of his Coming, and be waiting, always waiting, and never happy until at last we should see him! Pardon me for using a dog as a picture of what you ought to be; but when you have attained to a state above that, I will find another illustration to explain my meaning.” Charles Spurgeon, Watching for Christ’s Coming, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 39, p 163
2. MATURITY IS KNOWING HOW TO DEFEAT EVIL
(1 Corinthians 16:9, NLT) “There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.”
(1 Corinthians 16:13, NLT) “Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong.”
a. The victory begins in Christ
(1 Corinthians 15:57, NLT) “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Romans 8:37, NLT) “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”
b. The victory takes place within us
(Psalm 1:1–2, NLT) “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.”
c. We are victorious together
(Romans 12:21, NIV) “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
3. MATURITY IS BECOMING HOSPITABLE
(1 Corinthians 16:19, NLT) “The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings.”
(Romans 12:13, GW) “Be hospitable.”
a. Make room for others
(1 Corinthians 16:10, Message) “If Timothy shows up, take good care of him. Make him feel completely at home among you.”
b. Love + Stewardship + Resisting Evil + Hospitality = Christlikeness
(1 Corinthians 16:15, NLT) “You know that Stephanas and his household were the first of the harvest of believers in Greece, and they are spending their lives in service to God’s people. I urge you, dear brothers and sisters,”
(1 Corinthians 14:1, NLT) “Let love be your highest goal!”