As you probably know and have probably experienced or heard or maybe you would these this is something that you would say, there's a big trend right now in the United States especially, but it really in the West as well in, in Europe.
But we'll just stick with the U.S. There's a big trend right now towards spirituality. not necessarily Christianity or any formalized religion, but just general spirituality, personal spirituality. write your own script, you know, grow your own spirituality. you may have heard somebody say, or maybe this is something you say, and I understand this. You might say, I'm not religious.
I'm I'm spiritual. And this means different to different people, which is kind of the point. basically, you find what works for you and then you work it. And I'm not being critical because I think to some degree, even those of us who claim a, you know, an official want to be Jesus followers, or maybe you're not Jesus followers, you're sort of a general Christian, or you just kind of believe in God.
But I think regardless of where we are on that, on that continuum, there's something in all of us that kind of finds what works for us. And then we we just kind of work it out. For some people, this is actually a reaction to organized religion or you may say this is similar, that this is this is a response to something to where you feel like you've got to deconstruct and reconstruct your faith framework. A faith framework is basically the framework through which you view all of life.
But if Jesus is part of your thinking all at all about your spirituality or or your faith framework, this is really important and shocking when you follow Jesus through the Gospels.
In other words, if you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, when you follow Jesus through the Gospels, you'll discover that he never invites anyone to participate in spirituality. He he never, ever once encourages anybody to be spiritual or to be more spiritual. In fact, he never even uses that term. He never uses the term spiritual or the term spirituality, which is shocking.
It's like, well, wait a minute, Jesus is a religious figure. Certainly he talked about spirituality. He doesn't. He talks about the Holy Spirit. That's a specific entity. He talked about evil spirits, spirits, which are specific entities. He says that God is spirit, but that's a specific entity. But he doesn't talk about general spiritual ality or invite people into some sort of realm of spirituality.
He actually invites and points his followers in a different direction, a better direction, as we're going to discover a better for you direction and a better for the people around you direction. He didn't point his followers towards spirituality. He insisted on, and you may hate this. He insisted on maturity, and his version of maturity, as we're going to see, actually stands in stark contrast to All About Me spirituality.
It also stands in stark contrast to All About Me Christianity because the ultimate expression of maturity, even the maturity that Jesus points us to, the ultimate expression of maturity is, is, is, you know, even though you may have not have had these words, the ultimate expression of maturity is saying no to me for the sake of we.
Now, we all experience this in middle school and high school. Personally. And where we struggle with this in high school was our parents would say things like, you are the only person you ever think about as yourself. And we would think, who else am I supposed to think about? And then we grew up and realized, oh, I'm like, in a community and things are going to give you a better life because that's growing up. That is maturity. Now, the other place where you might have bumped into this differentiation between spirituality, maturity is also in your home.
If you grew up in a religious home, maybe a Christian home where your parents were spiritual, your mom and dad were spiritual. They were vocal about their faith, even if it wasn't the Christian faith. They were vocal about their faith, vocal about their spirituality. Maybe they had a Bible verse for everything. they had you in church all the time, you know, kind of every time the doors were open.
But in that, in all that spirituality and all those verses and all that church stuff, there was kind of a threat of hypocrisy. They were sort of one way in public, a different way at home. They were unkind. Maybe they were critical, maybe they were judgmental. maybe they were self-righteous, I don't know. And and and and growing up in that environment, you experienced it just this difference because your parents probably considered themselves spiritual.
They would say, oh, we're spiritual. We're a spiritual family. We're a Christian family. And maybe you didn't use this word, but what you sense is they lacked maturity. They lacked others fierceness. They were always right about things, but they didn't always treat people right. They were always right about what they believed in, what you were supposed to believe.
But they didn't always treat you right. And just to be honest, people who do what I do, pastors and church leaders, if we're not careful, we can facilitate this way of thinking as well. Jesus didn't. but we can. In fact, Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for men who camouflage their all about me immaturity with DIY, do it yourself spirituality.
When he caught people kind of creating their own spirituality with its own rules. And this is what you do and this is what you don't do. But they created it in such a way as to serve themselves and it harmed other people. He had no patience for that. He reserved his harshest criticism for that.
And if that's the kind of spirit that spirituality is for you, he would say that is not what my Heavenly Father represents, and that's not what I'm calling people to. Now, speaking of Jesus, here's how Jesus introduces this idea of maturity and he introduced it very early in his ministry. And because it's part of the sermon on the Mount, which is a message that everybody believes, he spoke.
He preached over and over and over and over and various places with various different details. And consequently, it's one of those sermons that by the end of his three years with the disciples, they could probably all quote some version of this, this sermon that we call the sermon on the Mount. And here's here's what Jesus says. This got their attention. He said this, and this is at the end of a long kind of paragraph. He says, therefore, here's the conclusion of what I'm saying. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect, to which we're all like, well, I'm alright.
I mean, I mean, I can't be perfect compared to anybody else. I'm supposed to be perfect compared to God. But the little Greek word translated perfect in these two places is actually the word Greek word telos, be teleology. Therefore, as your father in heaven is telling us, and what is referring to is not perfection in terms of having no imperfection.
What it refers to is the idea of being complete, or as we're going to see, mature. Then the Apostle Paul comes along. The apostle Paul wrote about half the New Testament, the Apostle Paul took the teaching of Jesus, and he teases it out and he applies it for non-Jewish people, people like us, most of us, Gentiles.
And lo and behold, read all of his letters. The Apostle Paul never calls people to spirituality either. In fact, in first Corinthians, his letter to Christians living in Corinth, he actually chastises the people in that church for their pseudo spirituality because they've kind of created their own idea of, here's what makes a person spiritual. And he called them children.
He says, you're so immature. You need to grow up and quit acting like babies. And they're like, we're not babies. We're so spiritual. It's like, no, you're not. No you're not. You have it all wrong. So again, the apostle Paul, he doesn't call people to spirituality either. He calls them to maturity. And he uses this same Greek word telos. But in our in our English text, it actually is translated in your English Bibles. Mature. Here's here's what he says. I'm going to read you a passage. It's a little bit long. but it's you got to kind of have the whole thing to really get the point of what he's saying. So, I'll read this to you.
Here's what he says again. This is this is a letter that he wrote. This is actually a letter to Christians living in Ephesus. here's what he wrote. He said, Christ gave the church, these people who did specific things in order to build up the church. He gave apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers, and he gave these people these gifts, and he gave the church, these people in order to equip his people, the church people, for works of service.
This is so interesting. He said, God put these people in the church not to do something for themselves, but to equip everybody else to do something for everybody else, because that's what the church is really all about. He goes on, he says, so that or the result is the body of Christ that is a local church. The body of Christ might be built up or grow up.
And then he continues, and this is going to happen until we all reach unity. Unity is maturity. We've talked about unity before, unity in the faith and in the knowledge because knowledge is built over time. It's part of maturity. It takes time and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become, and here's our word. And if all of this happens and everybody participates over time, individually and collectively, we become mature.
Telos. In the Greek text, it actually says, you'll become a grown up man. You'll become a grown up adult. So God gives the local church and he gives people in the church spiritual gifts. Not so you can be more spiritual. God gives individual spiritual gifts so that the church can grow up and become more mature. To which maybe we should ask, well, how mature and what does that look like?
Paul's like, I'm glad you asked. I would love to answer that question. He goes on and he says this attaining that is, over time attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, which is just a fancy way of saying the goal is that the individuals in the church would become, over time, grow up to be like Christ.
Or the word that we used is that we would all grow to be Christ like, not Christ light, Christ like. And then he contrasts this to make sure that we all understand exactly what he's talking about. He goes on and he says this. He says then and then he gets specific. Then we will no longer be babies sucking our thumbs, babies, infants.
And this was one of the things that drove him crazy. All these people in some of these cities, because he he planted churches in some of the most sophisticated, cosmopolitan, educated cities in the first century. And these people were very educated. They're very smart, but they thought they were spiritual. He's like, no, you're not. You're not even supposed to try to be spiritual.
I want you to grow up. I want you to become mature. And you're acting like babies. You're at each other and picking at each other and criticizing each other. And then and and you won't do this. And he's like, come on, we're supposed to be Christlike. And then he he kind of takes a jab at people who do what I do.
He says this, then we will no longer be infants who are easily talked out of things and talked into things. Isn't it easy to convince a child of just about anything? And one of the problems in our nation right now with Christians is watching Christians being talked into things and being talked out of things so easily. Paul would say it's because they're babies.
They never grew up. They can quote things. They learn the books of the Bible, you know, they learn the songs, but they've never matured. He goes on, he says, then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching, every new idea that comes along. It's all the chickens run over to that side, and then they run over, back over to this side.
Now, this is the coolest thing and the newest thing. And Paul's like, good grief, how are we ever going to get this thing off the ground? And now he points at people like me, and by the cunning and craftiness of people and their deceitful scheming, because Paul had experienced people coming along behind him who took bits and pieces of the gospel and bits and pieces of the teaching of Jesus, and they crafted their own kind of worldview, their own spiritual worldview, and confused people and dragged people off into all kinds of crazy directions.
ain. And this happens today because of people who do what I do, because we are the spiritual leaders and I'm the pastor and I'm Reverend Stanley, and you'll never know the Bible as well as I do. Okay? I mean, good luck. Okay. If you don't come and sit in rows and listen to me, how are you ever going to know what God wants?
You know, it's sort of sort of that, you know, spiritual leader thing. They use spiritual language to manipulate people. They use actually spirituality as a cover for their own personal immaturity. Because and here's the language, because people who do what I do, we have a special anointing by God. So you're you're I mean, God loves you, but then there's me.
I would coach so much baseball, and the parents are like, oh, we're so glad you're the coach. We know we're going to win. I'm like, it doesn't, you know, it just doesn't work that way. Okay. He's going to we're going to get as many rain outs as everybody else.
So anyway, the Apostle Paul is saying, look, if you'll grow up and if you will be mature, and if you won't fall for spirituality and you will seek maturity, you won't be confused. Back to Paul. He says instead that have fallen for all the razzle dazzle and all the spiritual speak, speaking the truth and love speaking the truth in love, we collectively, including me, we collectively.
Well, here it is again. We're going to grow over time. The idea is maturity. We will grow to become, in every respect, the mature body of Christ of Him, Jesus, who is the head, that is Christ, the individually and corporately. Over time we will mature. We will become more like our King. His point is simply this. That is Jesus.
Followers. We are all called to pursue maturity, maturity, not spirituality, which leads me at last to the title and the point of this series. The title of our series is in fact, what our world needs now, and what our world needs now is not more privatized. Grow your own. Make it up your your self. Spirituality.
What the world needs now is Jesus followers who are striving to become more mature. Jesus followers who are growing up into the fullness of Christ. Jesus followers who want to become more Christlike and who are putting in the work in order to become more like Jesus people. To borrow a few phrases from the Apostle Paul, these are right out of his letters to other Christians.
What the world needs now is Christians who put childish ways behind us. What the world needs now is Christians who refuse. These are his words, who refuse to bite and provoke each other, who bites another person. Children do. And in so much of Christianity today in our nation, and I don't know if you follow all these things, and, you know, I don't even like to bring them up. But there's so much of this biting and biting. And Paul says, if you keep this up, you're going to devour the church in your community. And what happens is, and if you're not a Christian or not a Jesus follower, you get this because you stand on the outside and you're like, okay, if that's the way Christians are, I can be like that and sleep in on Sunday so I can be just as nasty and just as critical of other people.
But I sleep in. So why do I want that version of nasty? And then you all go and sit in rows and get some preacher stirring all up, and you go out to be nasty toward other people say, who wants that? And that leads to the next thing Paul says over and over, the world needs Jesus followers whose daily lives win the respect of outsiders.
If we aren't winning the respect, not the belief, if we aren't winning the respect of outsiders, we're doing it wrong. If the church in the United States of America isn't winning the respect, not adherents, not going to join your church not to believe. No. If we're not winning the respect of outsiders, we're not doing it right. And the people who are doing it right are right and what they believe.
But they're immature. They're immature. And Paul says none of that. We're never going to win this. We've lost the plot line. We're never going to we're never going to invite people into the kingdom of God and illustrate the kingdom of God the way it should be illustrated. If we're biting, devour each other, and if we're so ridiculously immature.
So grow up and quit camouflaging your immaturity with your spirituality, with your knowledge, with your routines, with all those things. But what the world needs now, bottom line is men and women who are led by the Holy Spirit, who dwells in each of us to grow us up. What our world needs now is mature Jesus followers who not who all vote the same way, but who are all pursuing the same goal, which is Christ likeness.
So here's what we're gonna do. we are going to unpack what grown up looks like and what grown up acts like and what grown up really acts like.
And while it is a list, he gives us a list. It is not a to do list. We have all two tried and we have all two failed. Okay, it's not a To-Do list. Paul refers to these virtues in these behaviors and these actions and these reactions as fruit. Something produced in and something produced through us by another agent. He calls them, as you probably know, the fruit of the spirit, not the fruit of spirituality. That's not even a thing. The fruit of the Holy Spirit, a specific agent that lives in us, that produces fruit through us, not the fruit or the outcome of our best effort or our discipline, the fruit produced in us through the Holy Spirit.
Basically, it's the outcome or the fruit of our submission to God's Spirit inside of us. It's a whole different thing. It is a process. It takes time and the result isn't more spirituality. The result is maturity. Here's here's how he sets it up.
He says, since this is kind of in the middle of a paragraph, since we talking about Christians, since we live by the spirit. In other words, sense God's Spirit lives inside of you and you've been given new life. Let us keep in step with or in another place, he says. Let us walk in accordance with our walk by the spirit.
But I love this phrase. He says, this isn't super. this isn't like spirituality. This isn’t hocus pocus. This isn't some weird thing. He says, no, it's very simple. You are to keep in step with the promptings of the Holy Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit prompts you. You are to keep in step with the spirit.
And how will we know? How will we know if we're keeping up, if we're in step with the Holy Spirit? He says, well, others are going to notice, but better than that, others are going to be better off.
So Here's what he says. This is the fruit of the spirit through the spirit is. And then he he lists them. But I don't need to show you the list. Because you already know what would be on this list.The fruit of the spirit is exactly what you hope your spouse is. The fruit of the spirit is exactly what you hope your fiance or boyfriend or girlfriend will strive to be.
If you're not a Christian or you walked away from faith and maybe you're thinking about coming back or somebody forced you to watch this, if you're not a Christian, here's here's the thing. I don't know you, but I would imagine the fruit of the spirit. Is actually what you strive to be. And like me, you fail occasionally or often.
Just a quick list. This isn't the full list. Just to kind of get us get our heads. This the fruit of the spirit is you'll be good. You'll be good at and good to. You'll be, you'll be the person. It's like he's just such a great person. She's just, I don't know, just good. The spirit is patient and immediate. Some of you are like, well, I'm out. No, you you need to be filled with the spirit. That's the point. Well, I'm not good at that. Exactly. You're not good at that. You're not. I don't know you. You're not good at any of these, okay? I mean, if the standard, if the standard is the full measure of Christ isn't there, so much we all need to grow up in and mature to, you know?
You know what patience is? Patience is this I care more about you than I do my own progress. Patience is I'm going to choose to walk at your pace because I care more about you than where we're going. You two are more important than my destination. That's Jesus in the Gospels. Patience. Some of you are like my husband, My wife really needs this series. I’m so glad I’m okay to kind. Kind. You know what kindness is? We’ve talked about this kindness. This is so powerful. Kindness is loaning someone else your strength rather than reminding them of their weakness. I’m not going to remind you that you failed. I’m not going to remind you that I reminded you.
I’m just going to pitch in. I’m going to loan you my strength. This is a fruit of the spirit. Is kindness, self-control. See, this changes the world. This this changes in economy, this this changes, perhaps anything that needs to be made better. And then, Paul, in this list, at the end of this lesson, we show you one more in a minute.
He makes the most extraordinary statement. It’s one of the most insightful statements in all the New Testament. He says there is this is amazing. There is no law against any of these. In other words, there’s a law against you can only be so bad before you. They take you to a bad place, right? You can only be so impatient to the point that you’re going to lose a relationship.
You can only be unkind to a certain level before you lose a relationship or get arrested. Paul says, let me talk about the fruit of the spirit. You can’t max them out. You can't overdo them because they are a manifestation of the character of your God and your Savior and your King. Oh, and faithful. See, some of you have are still trying to get over someone being unfaithful.
Some of you are wrestling with you, being unfaithful because the temptation was just too much. Or they just, you know, they just didn't deserve your faithfulness anymore. And your Savior has been faithful to you, regardless of you and in spite of you. And he says, now I want to produce that in you. So imagine. Imagine a family characterized by the fruit of the spirit. You. When a relationship is characterized by the fruit of the spirit, you know what? You don't have any rules in that relationship.
There are no rules because you don't need them. Because if I'm for you and you're for me, well, we don't have to have rules. You don't have to have laws because I'm for you and you're for me, and I'm mature and I'm going to put you first. Imagine a community characterized by those. Imagine a city characterized by this.
Imagine a nation characterized by all of that. If our nation was characterized by the fruit of the spirit, our economy would be on fire forever. The productivity would skyrocket, children would be saved. The world would be a better place. Why do we resist it? This is again when I know this. This is a lot of pushback to this.
I don't understand why everybody wouldn't want to follow Jesus. This is what you want. This is what the world needs. This is what we all, in our own way, strive for. And Paul says, I'm telling you, strive all you want, you'll do pretty good, and you'll do better than others, and you'll have some strengths and weaknesses. But I'm inviting you, he says.
I'm inviting you to invite the Holy Spirit to produce these things through you. And when you bump up against your inability and when we bump up against our insufficiency, that's our cue to hit pause and say, I can't, I can't. I need you before I walk through that door. You got to do something to me before I hit send you.
You got to do something to me before I respond, before I bail out, before I turn it on. Before I turn it on. Like holy Spirit, I. I need you to do through me what I cannot do on my own. And then the world changes. It's why we're here. You know this. Our nation right now is focused on who our world needs.
Now let's be what our world needs now. Last thing. And then, if you're not a Christian, perhaps you have encountered too many spiritual people who reminded you of how wrong you are, but they did not remind you of Jesus. And if that's your experience with us, I'm sorry, and I have been guilty of that. And you need to know that you are not wrong to expect better of us.
And I just hope. I just hope that you will look past some of us to the one in whose image we seek to be conformed, because he is worth your attention.
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