Why You Should GROW UP

(NEGATIVE) SPIRITUAL DEGRADATION/IMMATURITY

STEPS

(POSITIVE) SPIRITUAL

GROWTH/MATURITY

·          Missing the mark by failing to be willing to grow in grace by love for God and man

LOVE

·          Made perfect by love

·          Puffed up; arrogance as in the story, The Emperor With No Clothes

BROTHERLY KINDNESS

·          Though leadership is evident and prominent, sees one self as servant leader

·          Rejects god ordained authority or systems, such as marriage, creation, human conception, or law

·          Seeks to lead by deception

GODLINESS

·          Inward peace and joy supplied by the Spirit of Christ; outward attributes to match the inward

·          Respects the law unless it conflicts with God’s

·          Earns the right to be called a leader

·          Falls under trial

·          Suffering as a result of ones own unrighteous acts or acts of unrighteous associations

PERSEVERENCE

·          Responsible for enduring through trial

·          Suffers for the necessity of righteousness

·          Character may be attacked by evil doers

·          Actions based on sensualities and instinct, like animals react

·          Ungodly and fleshly influences from ones own lusts

SELF CONTROL

·          As liberty sets in, a maturing believer also begins to recognize the responsibilities that come with God’s Grace

·          Reviling the Word as a result of not being willing to get in the Word

·          Subject to the spirit of error as a result of lack of knowledge and understanding

·          Actions can be based on traditionalism: copying what others do or have done in the past

·          Actions can be based on religiousness or legalism: a growing list of “rules” based on what someone else has said or done

·          Accepts false teaching from ones own misinterpretation or someone else’s wrong interpretation

KNOWLEDGE

·          Gain insights as a result of getting in God’s Word and being in His presence.

·          Begins to grow in understanding the Word

·          Begins to see liberties of God’s Grace

·          Knowledge and acceptance of God’s grace brings freedom from legalism

·          Dull of hearing

·          Heard the word, but unwilling to do it

·          Refuses to undergo value transformation

MORAL EXCELLENCE

·          Desire for “the more excellent way” to live

·          The search for “His Excellence” begins – even though one does not know at this point what His Excellence is.

·          A value transformation begins to take shape

·          Don’t want to hear the Word

·          Speaks from instinct and/or ignorance

CONFESSION OF FAITH

·          The “grace” to hear is realized

·          Profession of faith or a desire to be saved

·          Seeks to believe

·          As a newborn babe desires milk, the new believer desires to have God.