Maturity in Jesus

Ballard Campus 9-3-11 Pastor Bill Clem
Tags: Maturity,
1 John 2:12-14
Maturity in Jesus
To the little children with their sins forgiven, to father, to young men who are strong, to children who know the father
He repeats the children, dads and young men twice
God's forgiveness is the freeing grace that lets us escape from the trap of sin with no progress
Jesus is our advocate to help me when I do sin
1 John 1:9 - we get to know freedom because when we confess our sins to Jesus he will clease us from all unrighteousness
Immature faith is just seeing that Jesus has forgiven my sins and that's it
More mature faith realizes that I was forgiven because God is glorified in forgiving me
Just living in the place where I am going from forgiven on Sunday to forgiven the next Sunday is just an immature responce
Pushing through the place where it doesn't feel like a buzz to the place where I press into Jesus is real maturity
Maturity is not:
+Theological Knowledge
+Accuracy
+Life Experience
+Talents or gifting
++God has spread skills/gifts out throughout the whole body of christ so that we would need eachother.

Is my emotional experience getting less and less real, may mean that God could be transitioning me to mroe solid food and greater maturity
Young Men
Over come the evil one
You have over come the evil one because we have Jesus and he has empowered me.
Maybe when John calls young men as strong, he may be refering to our strength in the Holy Spirit
3rd Couterfeit
Teaching a skill, does not indicate siritutual maturity
The Dark Night of the Soul
When God withholds fruit from a christian to build up maturity
Maturity means that we are no longer center stage
Our relationship with Jesus grows over time and he will remind you of all the times he tookcare of you, all the inside jokes and laughing memories that he shares with me from time to time, there is a reason why I randomly burst into laughter on occasion
More mature people sometimes get the opportunity to see an enemy turned into a new baby
More mature people get to disciple other and see them grow in maturity