Title: Spiritual maturity
Contents
Sermon Day - 060910 Weekday
Text - Psalm 92:12,13
Title - Spiritual Maturity
This text is a beautiful poem that compares the spiritual maturity of the saints to a palm tree and a cedar tree in Lebanon.
The palm tree is a tree that produces many date palm fruits on a single tree, making it a delicious food for many people.
Moreover, it is a holy tree used as a decorative painting in the temple.
In addition, Lebanese cedar is a world-class quality wood, it is said that it grows upright to about 30 meters and has a lifespan of 1,000 years.
It is also a precious tree used as a building material for palaces and temples.
In this way, spiritually mature saints are recognized as great and precious beings in the kingdom of God.
It will also be a beneficial existence that fulfills the role of light and salt to the neighbors.
Now, let's take a look at how we can obtain the fruits of spiritual maturity.
Yehwa - Deacons and elders are also welcome
1. Maturity through the Word of God
In order to achieve the process of maturation or growth, it is possible that the roots must first be firmly established in good soil.
In this way, nutrients are easily supplied from the roots to grow, and external influences can be easily overcome.
As such, the first requirement for the spiritual maturity of the saints is that the faith of the saints must be firmly rooted in the Word of God.
This is what the parable of the sower emphasizes.
Only believers whose soul and faith are firmly rooted in the Word of God, which is the basis of the truth, “become fruitful and multiply, sometimes a hundredfold, sometimes sixty-fold, and sometimes thirty-fold” (Matthew 13:23).
Even though we work harder in worship, prayer, and service than others, we often find members who fall into Satan's temptations and become engrossed in heresy or make big ethical mistakes.
The reason is that the root of that faith is not firmly entrenched in God's word of truth.
A belief without such deep-rooted roots is a ‘pillar of thought’.
Only faith that stands firm in the truth of the gospel has the potential for proper spiritual growth.
Yehwa-Practice Love of Neighbor
A few years ago, he led a revival of the Vineyard Church in Dumpermlin, Scotland, the hometown of Steel King Carnegie. After the meeting, I went to a golf driving range with a local missionary to exercise and then stumbled and fell while going down the stairs. My left ankle was bruised and swollen, and I couldn't walk because of the pain. I ended up going to the emergency room. The doctor said the ligaments were stretched. After receiving emergency treatment, I tried to pay for the treatment, but I refused. I'm sorry that I was injured in an accident when I came to Korea, but I laughed and said, "How am I going to get paid for the treatment?" Turns out, hospital fees were free for anyone in Scotland. He boasted that social welfare was the best in the world. I also learned the surprising fact that people who run businesses for this kind of welfare make a lot of money and go out to pay a lot of tax to each other. The Christian spirit that practiced the faith of our ancestors who shed the blood of martyrdom during the time of Queen Mary and the love of neighbor was brought into our lives.
2. Maturity through service
There are some believers who want to grow spiritually who only focus on the Word and prayer.
I believe that only the knowledge of the Word and the life of fellowship with God through prayer can reach the spiritual realm.
Of course, such an idea is correct, but it is not enough.
The concept of spiritual maturity means that your character and life become like God. In other words, a person who is holy, righteous, and full of love is a spiritually mature person of faith.
Studying the Word and prayer life can make believers sanctified and righteous. However, it should be understood that ‘love’, which is an important measure of maturity, matures as ‘service’ to one’s neighbor.
Therefore, the Bible teaches that knowing God well is spiritual maturity, and the content is not only walking worthy of God, but also teaching that it is a life that bears fruit in every good work.
A member of the church who lives a life of giving and volunteering for neighbors comes to realize the value of ‘love’, which is the foundation of God’s disposition.
The saints who know love are those who know God well, and such saints will have the attributes to resemble God.
A saint who knows the God of love well and resembles him, a saint like him, is a truly mature saint.
In this way, the Word, prayer, and service, which are the key to spiritual maturity, are not separated from each other. It can be said to be the various lights of the various colors of the spiritual life that form a holy life in God's will.
Neither element can be lacking, nor is it unreasonable to emphasize.
Let's remember that correct and harmonious spiritual maturity is possible through such an essential point.