Maturity course 1, Forest Community Church, Autumn 2017

Session 1: Overview

What is maturity?

Maturity is not the same thing as just being old! Some young people are mature for their age; others get old but never grow up.

We can define general maturity as "the good qualities of adults that children lack". We need to specify "good qualities", because adults often acquire some bad qualities along the way, too: cynicism, world-weariness, loss of enthusiasm.

The things we look for in adults, and overlook the lack of in children:

Maturity is gain, not loss. Losing the ability to laugh at farts is not mature. Gaining the ability to laugh at clever jokes is mature.

Aspects of immaturity that we want to leave behind:

How do we react when ...

But what about spiritual maturity? Is it the same?

What does the Bible say about maturity?

I started by finding every mention of "mature" or "maturity" in the Bible (using the New Living Translation). I didn't realise this until I did the search, but all mentions of maturity are in the New Testament.

I also added some passages that mention being "complete" or "perfect" in the sense of mature.

Here is the result -- seventeen verses in all.

Maturity comes from experiencing the love of Christ.

Maturity comes not from human wisdom but from union with Christ.

Maturity cannot be attained by our own effort, but by God's grace.

Unity in faith and knowledge of Jesus brings maturity.

Maturity only comes when we resist the cares and riches of this life.

Maturity involves recognising our own immaturity, and pushing on through it.

Maturity does not arrive all at once, but we continue to grow into it.

Maturity grows through endurance and perseverance.

Maturity involves receiving correction.

The purpose of church ministries is to bring Christians to maturity.

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Maturity brings understanding that lives alongside innocence.

Maturity allows us to understand spiritual wisdom.

Maturity involves a growing understanding of God.

Maturity involves knowing the difference between right and wrong.

Maturity brings stability, and the ability to discern lies.

Maturity is joyful, harmonious and peaceful.

Maturity is knowing Christ.

What we learn from the Bible

A. Where maturity comes from

How God works in us:

How we work towards maturity:

How others help us towards maturity:

B. What maturity gives us

The spiritual disciplines

From A Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster (1978):

Centuries of Christian tradition attest to the value of these, but why? Are these relevant?

The goal of all these practices is to bring us closer to God so we can experience the love of Christ, be united with him, receive God's grace, attain unity in faith and knowledge of Jesus, benefit from the church's ministries, persevere, recognise out own immaturity, resist the cares and riches of this life, accept correction and endure whatever trials come our way.

And so they help us to develop maturity.

Five helpful tools

For the next two sessions, we're going to focus on five habits that we can use to draw closer to God, and so develop maturity.