Sunday, December 27, 2015 am
GOING ON TO PERFECTION
(40)
Am I Done Yet?
This year we have been examining some attitudes and actions that can
help us go on toward perfection.
As we bring this year to its conclusion, today I want to review
some of what we have addressed and speak about what lies ahead.
For
many, much of this will be a reminder, but for others some of what we
address will be fresh and new.
As Christians, we ought to periodically examine ourselves as to
whether we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).
a.
Our Context that we have
used as our foundation for the past 2 years.
b.
The call to go on to perfection (maturity) implies that we have a
foundation already on which we can build. In 2014 we noted
the need to be reminded of the basics from time to time.
Without a firm grasp of the fundamentals of our faith, we are not
prepared to move beyond these.
This year we have been addressing the need to go on to
perfection. We cannot remain
stagnant and be pleasing to God.
c.
Let each of us
– it is an individual task, yet the results affect us all (cf. Ephesians
4:16)
d.
Go on – implies
action in a positive direction.
Even with a good grasp of the basics, we are not done.
There is the need for further growth.
e.
Perfection – a
term that can mean without any flaw (such as the life Jesus lived) or as
portrayed here, the idea of being complete or reaching maturity.
Col. 3:14, 1 Cor. 2:6, Heb. 5:14 – those of full age.
f.
According to our text –
one who is mature ought to:
i.
Be able to teach others
– to some degree, the goal of each child of God is to share that with
others, at least the fundamentals.
1 Peter 3:15
ii.
Digest “solid food” and
be “skilled” in the word of righteousness
iii.
Be able to discern both
good and evil.
a.
Do you want to be made
well?
Maturity is not going to be achieved if we do not really want it.
We must be willing to deal with that which stands in our way
of perfection. The question
is based upon a text John 5:6 where Jesus asks a man who was a
paralytic, “Do you want to be made well.”
His answer demonstrated an attitude of defeat.
Not all want to be made well.
We CANNOT make excuses!
Excuses often enable us to put off doing what we need to do, but as
Christians we need to overcome that.
b.
Have this mind in you
– Philippians 2:5 tells us, “Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”
What is our mindset? A
mindset is an attitude or disposition.
The New Testament continually emphasizes the mindset of a
Christian.
Romans 12:1-2 – renewing your mind
c.
Make up your mind
(resolve) to grow spiritually.
We addressed this in detail in May as we spoke about spiritual
growth. The Bible calls for
us to desire the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby (1
Pet. 2:2) AND to “grow in
the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter
3:18)
d.
Strive (put forth diligent effort) to reach your full potential
– 2 Tim. 2:15 – be diligent to present yourself approved unto God.
2 Peter 1:5-7 describes how with all diligence we grow.
Let us be reminded that God deserves our very best.
Mediocrity is not acceptable to Him.
Many things suffer when we fail to give our very best to Him.
e.
Learn to trust and love God – we need a proper attitude toward God –
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please Him.
Romans 8:9-11 speaks of the spirit of God dwelling within us.
In July we addressed God working in us.
We noted that God works within us is not denied.
The question is HOW?
We noted that it not something miraculous or mystical, nor does He
micromanage our lives.
Rather He is our influence – He influences us through His word which
reveals to us His grace. He
also works in us through others – brethren building us up (cf. Eph.
4:11-16), and providentially, etc.
i.
Trusting Him -
Believing in God is the easy thing, genuinely trusting Him is far more
challenging. Trust is
when we put it in His hands even when the times are tough and we are not
sure what the outcome will be.
It is actually a result of our maturity.
We have lived for Him and seen Him true to His word. Consider the
example of Abraham willing to offer Isaac (Heb. 11:17-19)
ii.
Loving Him –
Jesus emphasized that we need to love God with all our heart, soul, mind
and strength – Mark 12:30.
We love Him because He first love us – 1 John 4:19
Of course the way we demonstrate this love is though obeying Him – 1
John 5:3, 2:5. This love
will also be manifested in many other ways – including the way we treat
others, the way we give, etc.
THESE qualities are
attributes that both help us move toward perfection, and also are very
much the result of maturity.
a.
Dealing with our sins
and temptations
– to reach maturity, it
is imperative that the Christian understand sin.
The better he knows what sin is, the better he is prepared to
deal with it.
1 John 3:4 tells us that sin is lawlessness (to act without law) whether
we do what is forbidden OR we fail to do what is commanded (James 4:17,
Rom. 14:23 – even acting in doubt can be sin).
Romans 6:23 warns us that the wages of sin is death.
The task of a Christian is to
prepare himself to deal with sin and that means being aware of
temptations in his life (those things that are a weakness to him) and
taking steps to resist them –
i.
By realizing you don’t
have to sin (1 Cor. 10:13, 2 Pet. 2:9)
ii.
Putting on your armor
(Eph. 6:10-18),
iii.
Being alert to them (1
Peter 5:8-9);
iv.
Turning to
God to deal with them (cf. Matt. 6:13) and
v.
Running away (2 Tim.
2:22, 1 Cor. 6:18, etc.) – taking steps, perhaps even drastic steps, to
avoid and overcome.
Finally, in dealing with sin you need to obtain forgiveness –
realize that as a Christian you might sin
from time to time.
When you do, seek forgiveness from God – 1 John 1:9
b.
Prayer in our lives – prayer in the life of a Christian is a spiritual indicator (something
that we can use to gauge our growth as Christians – i.e. how much do we
pray? When do we pray? For what do we pray?)
The mature Christians realizes the imperative to pray often – 1 Thess.
5:17, Ephesians 6:18, Romans 12:12.
He knows that prayer is a privilege for him and the WAY God has
provided for us to approach Him.
Without prayer, a Christian will quickly become spiritually weak!
We spent a month dealing with our need for personal prayer including
addressing what makes our prayers acceptable to Him includes:
i.
Asking in faith (James
1:5-6)
ii.
Praying according to His
will – not self-serving – Matt. 6:10
iii.
With understanding – 1
Cor. 14:15 – knowing what we are praying for
iv.
With sincerity, humility
and patience.
v.
There also needs to be
an understanding of attitudes that hinder our prayers.
James 5:16 tells us that the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous
man accomplishes much.
c.
Bible study in our lives
– it is also a spiritual indicator. Just
as prayer is the way God has provided for us to communicate with Him,
Bible study is the way He communicates with us.
If a Christian is going to grow
to maturity, spending time in God’s word will be a part of it.
The depth of one’s maturity includes his knowledge of what God
desires of him. There is no
easy way to learn God’s word for oneself.
It requires studying His word.
We spent several lessons addressing this important aspect of our
lives as well.
2 Tim. 2:15 – be diligent (“study”) to present yourself approved to God
by rightly dividing His word.
2 Tim. 3:16-17 – tells us that God’s inspired word is able to make us
complete.
Our text itself implies the need for an established knowledge of His
word.
Peter challenged brethren to “grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2
Peter 3:18)
As with prayer, we need proper attitudes as we study:
i.
Study with faith –
believing it is the word of God
ii.
With reverence –
respecting it as the word of God
iii.
Intending to obey it –
Mat. 28:19-20
iv.
With an open mind and
love for the truth desiring to lean – 1 Peter 2:1-2
- desiring the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby
d.
Giving God our very best in our assemblies
– worship is an important part of serving God.
John 4:24 tells us we need to worship God “in spirit and in
truth.”
The mature Christian realizes its importance and is built up by it.
This past month we have been addressing not just worshipping God,
but seeking to do so with the best of our ability.
Colossians 3:23 - doing whatever we do heartily as to the Lord.
1 Peter 4:10-11 – we are to be good stewards of the manifold
grace of God in whatever we do.
The Bible is clear that He demands our best!
From the sacrifices of the Old Law to our willingness to put Him
first in all that we do.
He deserves our best in our appearance, our attitude and our efforts.
Every act of worship is directed toward God – and it edifies us up in
the process. We have
discussed 1 Corinthians 14 these past several lessons as it calls for us
striving to build each other up as we worship God.
So whether we are leading the congregation in acts of worship or
following the leader – let us strive to give Him our very best!
a.
NO!
We have much left to do.
We can’t quit until our time here is done.
Hebrews 10:38-39 speaks of those who draw back, “My soul has no pleasure
in them.”
1 Corinthians 9:24 – run so that you can receive the crown
Paul in Acts 20:24 spoke of going on to Jerusalem even in the face of
threats, “so that I may finish my
race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to
testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
Jesus in Luke 9:62 dealing with excuses said, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for
the kingdom of God.”
b.
We need to redeem the time (Col. 4:5, Eph. 5:16) – the word “redeeming” in these texts
means to take full advantage of an opportunity.
It is a word that is associated with buying up something – in
this case, the time you have been allotted.
Time is a valuable commodity.
In fact, there is a sense in which everything in this life is
measured in time. You are
paid for your time at work.
The more time one spends learning, the more he is able to do.
When you suffer injury or illness it affects your time (perhaps
the living you are hindered from making by lost time).
Conversely, wasted time results in wasted opportunities.
In both of these passages – Colossians 4:5 is dealing with our
interaction with others (evangelism) and Ephesians 5:16 speaks of make
wise decisions in all that you do – we are to be wise with our time.
c.
As with everything else
we have been given by God, we are stewards of our time as well.
Consider the one talent servant – not only did he not utilize the
resources he was entrusted with, he was called a wicked and lazy
servant. He did NOTHING!
He wasted his time as well as the resources he had.
And for that he was condemned (Matt. 25:18, 26).
Are we wasting our time?
Every day, each of us has the same number of minutes - 1440
minutes to be exact, or 86400 seconds.
Are we being wise stewards with our minutes?
Here is a scenario (fictitious, and disregard the materialistic aspect
of it): Image if those
minutes or seconds were converted to dollars.
Every day when you woke up, you had in your bank account $1440
dollars to spend (or $86,400).
But there is a catch – you have to spend it all that day or you
lose it at the end of the day.
HOW would you use your time that day?
Would you be flippant with it, or would you make sure you use
your time wisely spending what you had at your disposal?
Would you waste the day watching television, or on the internet,
or in some other way? You
know you have to sleep, but how much?
You have to do your job or chores (so that time is already
spent). So how would you use
the rest of your time?
NOW, relate that to the real world.
We HAVE BEEN given by God those precious minutes and seconds.
How are we using them?
NOTE: I use the illustration of seconds because we can do a lot
in a few seconds that can make a difference.
You can say a kind word to someone or seek an opportunity to
study with them. Many little
organizational tasks only take seconds to complete.
d.
Wasted time cannot be bought back. While time for
relaxation and recuperation are good and have a purpose in refreshing
our minds and bodies (and absolutely needed).
They are good for a while, but let us not squander what time we
have been given.
James 4:13-17 teaches us that in making plans, we include God.
Think about that as we utilize our time.
e.
Take it a day at a time – Matt. 6:34 – don’t worry about tomorrow, but deal with the
now!
f.
Is God pleased with how
you use your time?
We have been emphasizing giving Him our best?
Have we been doing that with our time?
g.
We are still here – so we need to remain faithful (Rev. 14:13)
As long as we have breath within us, we still need perfecting!