Today on Answers with Bayless Conley: Thank God for answered prayers. Thank God for divine healing, but, friend,
if you take away all those things, give me Jesus, and I’m going to be fine. He’s all I need. There are many questions you are faced with
every day. We are all searching for answers that will
make a real difference in our lives. It’s hard to imagine that these answers
might be right in front of us. Get ready to discover answers in the Bible
with Bayless Conley. Hello friend, did you know that God’s goal
for you, His ultimate goal for you, for me, for all people is not heaven. I mean that’s part of what He has planned,
But God’s goal for us is spiritual maturity. The goal is to grow; to be conformed into
the image of Jesus. It’s a terrible thing when someone has a
genuine relationship with Christ; they encounter Him, but then they never grow. We are going to be talking about growing in
Him. Get ready. Good to have you with us today. It really is. I want to talk to you about growing into maturity. Did you know that the ultimate goal for the
believer is not just heaven? The ultimate goal for the believer is maturity,
spiritual maturity. When I embrace Jesus as my Lord and Savior,
heaven is my destination. But there’s a process of maturation that
God wants to bring me and wants to bring you on. It’s the thing that God is trying to work
in each and every one of us. And from a natural standpoint, if a child
is not growing and developing, not growing physically, not growing emotionally, not growing
socially or intellectually, it is cause for great concern. And the parents or the guardians of that child
will investigate and do all they can to see if they can remedy the problem. Likewise, when a child of God, when a member
of His family is not growing and progressing, it is a cause for great concern. And we just want to do all we can to help. What we’re going to do today is look at
some attributes of the spiritually immature. We’re going to contrast those with the qualities
of mature believers. And then we want to end by looking quickly
at four things that are essential for our growth in God. Are you ready? Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word,
and we give You our undivided attention right now. We choose to focus on Your Word and lean out
to hear what the Holy Spirit might say to us. Change us today, Lord. Do Your work in us. And may the name of Jesus be glorified. Amen. First Corinthians 3:1–3. It says, And I, brethren, could not speak to you as
to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food;
for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for
you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions
among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? Here, just in verse 3 alone, he shares four
attributes of the spiritually immature. And you might want to mark the words down. He says envy, strife, divisions, and carnal. We’re going to take a look at those. First, there’s envy, wanting what someone
else has, not being happy at someone else’s exaltation, someone else’s position, or
their possessions. You know, little children tend to be very
envious. It seems to be natural with kids. Like, “Well, it’s not fair! I want his toy! His piece of cake is bigger than my piece
of cake! That’s not fair! Hey, she got to stay up late. That’s not fair! Why can’t I stay up late if she gets to
stay up late?” You know, we see it in our kids. But the thing is, is there’s a lot of parallels
between spiritual growth and natural growth. And envy tends to be one of the attributes
of the spiritually immature, as well. You know, we want to aspire to rejoice when
others are lifted up, and others are recognized, rather than being envious of what they have
and what they get. The second word we read here is strife. Immature believers are easily offended. They are quick to take offense and generally
very slow to forgive. The spiritually immature hold things against
those who they perceive have wronged them. And they almost always try and pull others
into their strife to create sides or, as it’s put here, divisions. The Bible says in Hebrews 12 to “pursue
peace, and to be diligent, lest any root of bitterness spring up in you, causing trouble
and defiling many.” When we don’t let go of things, when we
hold onto things, it will grow into bitterness that causes trouble for a lot of people. Strife, envy, divisions. And then the next word we find there is carnal. That means fleshly. Literally, it’s a person that’s ruled
by their feelings instead of being ruled by the Word of God or by the love of God that’s
been poured out in their hearts. Paul, writing to them, he said, “Look. You’re behaving like mere men.” The Amplified Bible says, “You behave like
mere, unchanged men.” Listen to it from The Living Bible. “When you are jealous of one another and
divide up into quarreling groups, doesn’t that prove you’re still babies, wanting
your own way? In fact, you’re acting like people who don’t
belong to the Lord at all.” Now, another way this carnality of the spiritually
immature is evidenced is by the fact that they most generally won’t come to church
unless their favorite preacher is speaking. Look in1 Corinthians 3:4, For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and
another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? He talked to them about the same thing in
the first chapter. He said, “Look. One says, ‘I’m of Paul.’ Another says, ‘I’m of Apollos.’ Another says, ‘I’m of Peter.’” They were dividing up and rallying just around
their favorite preacher. “I like Peter; man, he’s got the best
stories! I mean, he walked and, he talked with Jesus
for three and a half years.” Somebody else said, “Well, I like Paul;
he brings the deep stuff.” Somebody else, “Well, I like Apollos; he’s
got the coolest accent, and he’s so articulate.” That’s what was happening in the Church. In fact, Paul, in the first chapter, said,
“Look, you guys are basically connoisseurs of good preaching, and you come behind in
no gift. You have the gifts of the Spirit in operation,
but, my friend, having the gifts in operation is not a sign of maturity.” The gifts operate out of desire, but maturity;
that is a sign, or rather, unity is a sign of maturity. It’s not being eloquent. It’s not having the gifts operating. Unity is a sign of maturity. Disunity, being fragmented, is a sign of immaturity. Another common symptom of spiritual immaturity
is pride. First Timothy 3, Paul writes to Timothy and
says, “Listen. Don’t put a new convert, don’t put someone
newly come to the faith, in a position of leadership.” He said, “Lest they fall into temptation
and become puffed up with pride, end up in the same condemnation that the devil experienced.” There’s a tendency with those newly come
to the faith to get puffed up in pride, especially if they are given leadership roles right away. The Scripture actually warns against it. It says to be careful about that. I think it’s even more dangerous when a
person has a very charismatic personality, or they’re really gifted. It’s important for us to remember that regardless
of what we have, whatever kind of gifting, whatever kind of magnetic personality it might
be, that everything ultimately has come to us because of the undeserved favor of God. We didn’t work for any of it ourselves. In fact, look at 1 Corinthians 4:6–7. Paul writes, Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively
transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think
beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the
other. For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you
boast as if you had not received it? Friend, everything has come to us as a gift
from God. And then, another I think a common tendency
of the immature is that they can fall into error. They are vulnerable to error. Won’t you to look at or listen to these
verses: Ephesians 4:13–14; NLT. It says, This will continue until we all come to such
unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring
up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every
wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try
to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. It said the spiritually immature; they tend
to be blown about with every new wind of teaching. You know, I was at the ballpark last year,
watching my grandsons play Little League. I’m sitting in the stands, and there’s
a dad there, who is supposed to be watching his little toddler, but he’s watching the
older son play in the game. I guess Mom went to the Snack Shack or something,
and so Dad’s being a typical dad. He’s glued to the game, and the toddler’s
just crawling around in the dirt underneath the stands. And I watched this kid grab a handful of sunflower
seed shells that somebody spit out like three weeks before, and a bunch of dirt, and stuff
it into his mouth. I go, “Hey, Buddy!” He goes, “What?” I said, “Your kid just crammed a bunch of
stuff in his mouth.” He said, “Oh, not again!” He gets down there, and he’s pulling all
these icky sunflower seed shells and now mud out of his kid’s mouth. I remember my own kids, and watched all my
grandkids do it when they were little, you know they’d crawl along the floor, and whatever
they found; it went right into the laboratory, straight into their mouth. If it was a toy, they put it in their mouth. If it was a penny, they put it in their mouth. If it was a dead moth ... right in their mouth. And people newly come to the faith; they are
not yet established in good doctrine. And there’s a tendency for them to go after
everything that sounds good. Listen. You older believers, we have a responsibility
to help guard the younger believers and make sure they become established in sound doctrine,
but it is one of their tendencies, that they’ll tend to go after this and go after that. Now, on the other hand, those that are spiritually
mature, obviously they’re going to be displaying the opposite of these qualities that we’ve
been discussing. They’re not envious. They rejoice when others are blessed, noticed,
awarded, and advanced. In fact, others are a main concern for the
mature, where, with the immature, their main concern is themselves; my needs, my rights,
my time, my feelings, my ministry, my place. But those that are mature in the Lord, they
think of others first. The spiritually mature, also, they are very
hard to offend, and they are very quick to forgive; they refuse to be dragged into petty
quarrels, taking sides, and causing division. In fact, unity is very, very high on the agenda
of people that are grown in Christ. And finally, they are established in the Word
of God. They love it. They feed on it daily. It’s become their final authority in all
things. You know, I was struck recently, reading through
Romans, and reading in the book of Galatians, where Paul talks about law versus grace. And he talks about faith versus works, in
connection with salvation. He does something very interesting, and he
does it repeatedly. He basically brings up a problem, and then
he asks a question, and the question; the same question over and over again: What does
the Scripture say? He talks about this law versus grace. There’s this dilemma, but what does the
Scripture say? He talks about faith versus works, and there’s
this dilemma, but what does the Scripture say? Then he quotes Scripture. He asks this other thing, brings another scenario,
but what does the Scripture say? Then he shares the Scripture. The mature believer, that’s what they do. Regardless of what comes up in their life,
their first default position is, what does the Scripture say? All right, I have a willful child. This girl has an iron will, and she’s four
years old, and she wants to rule the household. How do I correct a willful child? What does the Scripture say? How do I deal with my enemies? I’ve got these opponents at work that just
seem to be trying to take me down. How do I deal with people that have set themselves
up as my enemies? What does the Scripture say? How do I set my priorities in life, I mean,
there are so many voices out there, and so many things calling for my time. What does the Scripture say? How do I love my wife? How do I honor my husband? “What does the Scripture say?” asks the
spiritually mature. How do I express my sexuality in a way that
is in concert with God’s plan? What does the Scripture say? How do I manage my money? What does the Scripture say? Unlike the immature person that’s ruled
by their feelings, by popular opinion, by their emotions, the mature believer is ruled
by the Word of God. That brings us to four things that are essential
for our growth in God. All of us need these four things to grow in
the Lord. And I’m making it pretty simple; this is
actually an acrostic: G-R-O-W. The first thing we need, G: we must be grounded. We have to have a proper foundation or a proper
root system. The building we’re sitting at, the other
buildings here on the campus; we actually were required to sink 465 pilings down into
the earth. They go 35–40 feet down. They are reinforced with rebar. They are tied together by other beams that
go sideways. Four hundred sixty-five of these pillars underground
before we can even pour the pads to put the buildings on. That’s for the foundation. Reason? We live in an earthquake zone. We know that. But the whole point; these buildings sit on
a proper foundation. The foundation determines how high up you
can go, how broad you can build. It’s all determined upon the foundation. All right, here’s our foundation. First Corinthians 3:11, For no other foundation can anyone lay than
that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the foundation. Now, I know He is a healer. I know He is a meeter of needs. I know He is a miracle worker. And thank God for those things, but if you
got in because of any of those things, your relationship better grow beyond that. Those things are secondary. Jesus is primary. You read in the Gospels, multitudes followed
Him. And Jesus turned and looked at them. He said, “You’re just following because
of the loaves and fishes, and because your bellies were filled. Because your need was met supernaturally,
that’s why you’re in.” You read the Gospels; all of those people
fell away. Thank God if He gave you a breakthrough. Thank God if He met a need supernaturally. Thank God for answered prayers. Thank God for divine healing, but, friend,
if you take away all those things, give me Jesus, and I’m going to be fine. He’s all I need. He is the foundation. The apostle Paul said, “For I know Whom
I’ve believed, and I’m confident that He’s able to keep that which I’ve entrusted
to Him, that which I’ve committed to Him against that day.” Friend, I’ve committed to Him my health,
my family, my eternal future. He is the foundation. Friend, if the relationship you have with
Jesus Christ is not the most important relationship in your life, take a good look at yourself. Get that right. Everything’s dependent upon the foundation. Second thing, R: Relationships. God has designed believers like bananas. Bananas are created to grow in a bunch, not
individually. And believers, God’s created us to grow
in a bunch, collectively. Community, it’s one of the vital and foundational
core values of our church. We need one another. We need relationships. I know there are some people that it’s like,
“Well, I just sort of don’t have a one home church. I just sort of go from church to church wherever
the Spirit leads me. You know, the wind of the Spirit blows me
into this church, and I’m there, and I worship with them for a while. Then the wind of the Spirit blows me over
here, and I’m just free, free, free, not tied down anywhere.” Yeah, the wolves have a word for that kind
of a sheep; it’s called lunch. We need the security and the accountability
and the growth that being planted in a local church provides. Friend, the church, the local church, that’s
God’s idea. That’s God’s plan. Listen to these verses. Psalm 92:13–14, Those who are planted in the house of the
Lord. And according to the New Testament, the house
of the Lord is the local church. Those who are planted in the house of the
Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they
shall be fresh and flourishing. “Those that are planted.” You know, they found a 2000-year-old date
seed at Masada in Israel, 2000 years old, this dried up seed. They planted it, and it grew a towering date
palm and produced dates. Two thousand years it was fruitless, but once
it was planted… Some people, that’s all they need; they
just need to get planted, get committed in relationships; get committed to a local house. Those that are planted, planted, planted;
they’re putting roots down in the house of the Lord. They will flourish. They will be fruitful. We need relationships. Then, ‘O,’ stands for obstacles. You need obstacles. You need resistance if you’re going to grow. James 1:2–4 NLT, Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of
any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested,
your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is
fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. My Uncle Mike was a track runner. He’s my only living uncle, my dad’s youngest
brother. He ran at Florida State. He used to practice all the time with the
track team. And on his own, he would just run, run, run. He told me one time; he said, “You know,
whenever we’d come to the hills, I never looked at it as some obstacle to be loathed.” He said, “I looked at it as an opportunity
to grow.” He said, “When I came to the hills,” he
said, “I would run flat out up every single hill, and just cruise down the other side. The rest of the guys, they took it easy up
the hills, but I ran flat out up the hills.” Well, my Uncle Mike, in 1958, ran a 4-minute
and 5-second mile. He held the Florida State record for 16 years,
was never beaten by anyone running the mile. But he looked at those obstacles as an opportunity
for growth. You think about the Church in the book of
Acts. When the Church was persecuted, She grew. And one of the things about opposition, it
will reveal in a hurry, what we are trusting in. If we are trusting in God, we’ll find out
very soon that He is more than enough. He is all that we need. I spoke to a young man after service last
night, and he was pretty emotional, going through a really rough patch. He had been on this great spiritual high,
been in a great season of momentum and progress, and kind of hit the wall. And he shared some of the things going on,
pretty serious things, and he actually started to cry. I told him what I’d like to tell you right
now. I said, “If you will hold steady during
the rough times, during the times when you’re feeling the most opposition, if you’ll do
the things you know to do, stay in the Word, stay on your knees, keep coming to church,
you will do more growing during those seasons than any other time in your life spiritually.” Anybody can shout, “Hallelujah!” when
the sun is shining, and the wind is at your back. But it’s when you’re facing into a stiff
headwind, and it seems like all hell has been turned loose against you, if you will stay
steady then, friend, some things will be worked in you that will be absolutely necessary for
your future, and for the future of others that God’s going to use you to help. Some of you here today, I know, some of you
listening, I know you’re facing great opposition right now. God’s going to grow you during this time. Thank God, sometimes He plucks us out of the
trouble, but many times, He strengthens us and takes us through the trouble. Fact is, He’ll never leave us, and He will
never forsake us. All right, finally, ‘W,’ stands for the
Word. First Peter 2:2, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of
the word, that you may grow thereby. And when it comes to the spiritual growth,
or lack thereof, in a Christian’s life, the main factor is diet. Do they feed on the Word of God? Do they meditate on the Word of God? Now, if you’ve been at Cottonwood since
we started the church 35 years ago, you’ve heard me say it, heard me say it many, many
times. I’m going to say it again right now. You need to have a love affair with your Bible. If Jesus tarries, and I’m still going strong
another 35 years from now, at about 100, I’m still going to be saying it. You get into the Word, and the Word will get
into you. Friend, this is your light in the darkness. This is your spiritual food. This is your strength during difficult times. It is God-breathed. It is filled with life! Read your Word. Spend time. If you don’t have a Bible, get yourself
a Bible. Start reading it. Start feeding on it. Start thinking about it. Ponder the stories of Jesus. Ponder the Scriptures. It will change your life. There’s no growth without it, any more than
you can grow physically if you don’t eat physical food. You cannot grow spiritually if you don’t
feed on the Word. “Desire the pure milk of God’s Word; that
you may grow thereby.” Well friend, I hope that you enjoyed that
and that you stayed with us all the way through the entire message. And I’m going to do something right now
I don’t do really often. You know we take this broadcast around the
world and put it in different languages because we want to bring a living Jesus to a dying
world. And my question is, will you help us be a
part of that? There is no more important thing that we can
be involved in than spreading the gospel. Please pray about supporting what we do in
a financial way as well as praying. God bless you. Hi there, we have a daily email devotional
that I believe can be a great benefit to you. You know, when we take God’s Word in every
day, it helps us become established in the Lord. Make room in your daily schedule for God’s
Word by signing up for Bayless’ devotionals. Available on your phone, tablet, or PC. Take time to sow the seeds of God’s Word
in your life every day with this free email devotional. We’re grateful for the friends and partners
of Answers with Bayless Conley who help make this program possible.
