Title: The Shepherd's Maturity
Scripture: 1 Timothy 3:6
Speaker: Nate Pickowicz
Well, this morning I want to begin with a parable. There was a sapling growing in a clearing in the woods. Surrounding the sapling were a bunch of small shoots and sprouts.
The sapling would oftentimes look down at the sprouts and think to himself, how small they are and how great I am. And looking around at the tall oak trees in the distance, he would say, I am like the mighty oaks, towering over everything in the forest. But then one day a hurricane swept through the woods and it stripped the sapling of all of its leaves, snapped its branches, and uprooted the slender tree, hurling it across the forest floor.
After the storm, the sapling lay damaged and dying. He couldn't understand why he was toppled over while the mighty oak stood untouched. But soon after, an arborist was taking a stroll through the woods and stumbled onto the toppled little tree.
And with great care, he replanted the tree, watered its roots, and mended its branches, all so that the sapling would have a chance to survive and grow. Let those who have ears to hear understand the parable of the sapling. Of course, the moral of the story is not very difficult.
It's not hard to grasp. And it's going to make a lot more sense as we work through our text this morning. So if you haven't already turned there, please turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3 in your copy of Scripture, 1 Timothy chapter 3. We've been examining 1 Timothy 3 for several weeks now.
We've been looking at the biblical qualifications for church leaders, specifically elders, overseers, keeping in mind that the goal of all Christian ministry is to glorify God by shepherding his people toward Christ. Christ himself is the true shepherd. He's the one who cares for this flock and is ultimately the one who saves the flock.
And yet he calls undershepherds to minister to individual congregations, preaching and teaching his word, instructing in sound doctrine, counseling with care, correcting with grace. In a very real way, the church's shepherds are Christ's representatives, albeit in a very limited capacity. And while the Bible exhorts believers to honor those who serve them, the shepherds themselves must remember that it is not all about them, that we are stewards, we are servants, and we're never to forget our place.
But there's always a temptation to be prideful. To think of ourselves as being so great, so important, so influential, and to possessing such great authority. Yet pastors and elders are called to be humble, to be selfless, to be lowly, because the one who possesses the church is himself humble, gentle, and lowly.
Mark this and know this, every pastor or church leader is replaceable. And just like a conveyor belt, ministry is like this. When one pastor either falls, fails, or finishes, the Lord has the next one ready to take his place and pick right back up where he left off and continue the work.
And yet we want good men to minister to the church. We want godly men. We need humble men.
We need mature men. In fact, the Lord insists on this, which is what we're about to see in 1 Timothy 3, 6. Of course, He desires more than that, which is why we need to consider the whole passage. And so we're going to look back again here for the sixth time at 1 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 7. It is a trustworthy statement.
If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer then must be above approach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity.
But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God and not a new convert so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil? And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. And so as we've been saying, what God desires for all believers, all of you, He requires for pastors and elders. But this qualification specifically in verse 6 is one especially demanded of those who are in spiritual leadership.
Because here's the deal, the church is comprised of all kinds of believers. You have those who are by nature, by age, older and younger, those who are male and those who are female, younger in the faith, older in the faith. There's all varying shapes and sizes and histories and stories.
And here's the thing, everyone's growing together in the Lord, but oftentimes at different speeds and in different ways. We don't all grow together the same way. We can't just grab one another and march ahead in the same way.
All of us are growing toward the Lord in Christlikeness in different ways. And we have to be patient with each other. I remember a pastor saying one of the most difficult things about ministry is waiting for other people to grow.
And that's in any relationship. Whether it's you're talking about your own family, your own kids, those you're in discipleship relationships with, whatever it may be, we all grow at different speeds and in different ways. But by the grace of God, we are who we are.
And it's so important to bear with one another as we grow. But for those who are called to spiritual leadership, there is an expectation that they must possess some measure of spiritual maturity. And so Paul expresses in verse 6 that an inspiring elder, overseer, pastor must not be a new convert.
Not a new convert. This phrase is translated in various ways in different translations. In the ESV, it says not a recent convert.
In the King James from 400 years ago, it's not a novice. You must not be a novice as a believer. The Greek word that's used here is neophytos.
It's where we get the word neophyte. It's a figurative term, but it refers to something that is newly implanted. Newly implanted.
And again, thinking of the image of the tiny sapling, a newly implanted thing, not full grown, not well established, but newly planted organism. Now, with regard to the Christian faith, this refers to how recent a person's conversion is and how long they've been growing in the Lord. Notice it's not a matter of natural age.
Just because you're older in terms of your age, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're mature in the faith. It really is all about spiritual growth. For example, a 25-year-old believer who's been walking in Christ for 10 years is generally more mature than a 50-year-old person who's only been saved six months.
There's a general principle there. But again, it's all relative. It's all relative.
How new is a new convert? Is it six months? Is it a year? Is it three years? The Bible doesn't say. But certainly mature enough, in this case, to hold fast to their confession, to lead others in the faith, and not to fall into reproach. Interestingly, New Testament scholar Homer Kent makes this observation, and he compares the qualifications in 1 Timothy with the qualifications in Titus.
This is what he writes. The Ephesian church at this time had been in existence at least 12 years, and spiritually mature men could be found. In the case of Crete, where Titus is ministering, such a qualification is not given, because it was apparently a new work, and the ideal could not be insisted upon.
But then he adds this. Today, there is scarcely an excuse for placing a novice in situations of such responsibility, inasmuch as Christianity has spread to an extent that qualified men are more readily available. Certainly, he did not have New England in mind when he wrote this.
However, we see the axiom here. It's a self-evident truth that, yes, there are lots of more mature believers who have been in the faith a long time. And yet, in certain situations, yes, maybe there's a new missional frontier.
I've heard about stories of missionaries going overseas where Christ has never been mentioned, and they convert people, and everybody in the church is brand spanking new. So how do you find leaders? Well, you find the most mature amongst the immature, and you grow them into spiritual maturity, and you lead them into spiritual leadership. In those contexts, yes, you're working with newer believers.
But in most situations, especially in contexts like ours, it is vitally important that church leaders are not new converts. Well, why is this? Is it because he's segregating against newer believers? Not at all. He gives the answer here in the verse.
He says this must not be a new believer, a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. The real issue of concern here that Paul mentions is the issue of conceit. Conceit.
Now, I don't believe that's the only reason not to call a younger or a spiritual novice as a pastor, but it is a greater issue here. This word conceited, the word that's translated here from the Greek, that's typhou, which is referring to being wrapped up in smoke. That's literally what the word is referring to.
We get typhoon somewhere from that derivative as well. The ESV actually catches the meaning by rendering this word as puffed up, puffed up. And in the Bible, this metaphor is used to describe pride.
And we understand that even in our vernacular, that a person who's puffed up and just full of hot air, they're very prideful. We see this word repeated in chapter 6 verse 4, referring to the character of false teachers, as well as in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 4, referring to any ungodly person living in the last days that they are conceited. That's one of the markers that we know today, even among the world around us, is that people are very prideful.
Humility is not a virtue in our culture today, but certainly pride is. Everything is about pride. But humility is really the biblical virtue to be emphasized.
Ancient literature uses this Greek word to describe a person who is impressed with their own knowledge. Ever meet a person like that? They're very smart and they know it, and they're very happy with themselves that they know so much. They're kind of obnoxious, frankly.
I know I'm probably like that sometimes. I don't mean to be. But that's the sense of it, is a person who's very puffed up with themselves.
But the apostle Paul warns about this in 1 Corinthians 8, where he says, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. There's a juxtaposition there. Yes, it's great to be knowledgeable, amen, you must know things, but the knowledge, if you're not careful, can puff you up and make you prideful, where love, the extension of yourself to others to give and to serve, love builds other people up.
But that's the issue here. That is the issue. Men who are puffed up because they've suddenly come to some level of spiritual understanding.
And we see this all the time with younger men in the faith, younger men who are aspiring toward leadership. This especially happens to young men who come into the understanding of Reformed or even Calvinist theology. What are the basic tenets of Calvinism? I'm not going to get into all of it here, but they are essentially the doctrines of grace.
In other words, that God is sovereign over salvation, that because of total depravity that's in our hearts, God elects people to salvation, atones for their sins, calls them to Himself, and then perseveres them to the end. That's essentially what Reformed theology teaches, and I would affirm the doctrines of grace. But there are times, many, many times when a young man will get so fired up about this that all they want to do is go to war with everybody about it.
I remember even when I was in that phase of learning doctrine, there was a man in my men's group, and I thought we were all believed the exact same thing about theology, and I found out that he was not into Reformed theology. He was Arminian, and I just wanted to go and talk about everything with him, and we used to fight all the time just chewing these things through until one day he said to me in a very exasperated way, he said, brother, there are other things I'd like to talk about, and it never even occurred to me. He didn't want to fight about this all the time, and he listed off all these things.
We could talk about this and this and this and the future and the end, but oh, okay, I guess we can talk about those things too. But there's a temptation here when you're so zealous about this kind of doctrine that you become like a wild animal that belongs in a cage. There's actually a term for this.
It's called cage-stage Calvinism. It's a real thing. I would say Google it, but don't Google it.
Don't even go on there, but that's a thing. You know, a person is so fired up they just belong in a cage. Okay, cool down for a little bit, my goodness, and I think at the root of that, that impulse is really excitement for doctrine and zeal, and when you learn about doctrine, you get excited, you get fired up.
But there's also a large amount of pride associated with that, and I see it all the time. But here's the thing. Good doctrine without godly living only produces graceless hypocrisy.
That's all it ever does, and I tend to believe, and I would hope that you would too, that those who embrace the doctrines of grace, they ought to be the most gracious Christians in the world. If we really believe that all of salvation is of God's grace and has nothing to do with us, God elects, chooses, and saves, then we have nothing to brag about. We should be humble.
We should be grateful. We should be gracious to other people. But here's the problem.
Spiritual pride is catastrophic to ministry. Catastrophic to ministry. Why? Well, there's a couple of pragmatic reasons for this.
Well, number one, it wrongly elevates the man over the ministry. That's a huge problem. It also demonstrates selfishness, which is toxic to fellowship and love.
That's another big problem. It sinfully draws the attention away from the Lord, spiritual pride. That's a huge problem.
But the most troubling consequence of pride is that it invokes the righteous anger and judgment of God. God hates pride. Read Proverbs 6, 17.
It says that one of the things that God hates the most is pride. The word that he uses there is haughty eyes. Haughty eyes is what the verse says.
In other words, a person who thinks that they're great in their own eyes. And they walk around like they're something special. They look down their nose at everybody else around them, and they think that they're so great.
That's what haughty eyes are, prideful eyes. James 4, 6 quotes Proverbs 3 and notes that God is opposed to the proud. If you're proud, God is opposed to you.
And yet, we also know that he gives grace to the humble. He's gracious to those who are humble. He repeats this again in 1 Peter 5 in the context of young men in the church, that God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Of course, the warning in 1 Timothy 3, 6 does not explicitly state God's hatred of pride. Paul never says that here. But when you examine the verse, you recognize it's certainly there.
Certainly there. Again, the danger is that a young believer, a young man pursuing ministry, when he considers leadership, will become puffed up with pride. They get asked to join the elder training class, and they get puffed up with pride.
They get asked to go and teach a lesson or a Bible study or to do something important in the church, whatever it may be. It could be serving communion. It could be leading a ministry.
It could be doing a number of things. They're called to the front just a little bit, and they get very puffed up with pride versus humbled to be considered. They're puffed up with pride, and eventually what happens is that they fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.
This notion of pride coming before the fall, that comes from Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16 warns about this. Specifically, Proverbs 16.5 says, Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.
He's not just talking about spiritual leadership. Anyone, everyone who is proud, their heart is an abomination to the Lord. Assuredly, he will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 16.18, Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. The overarching principle is this. If you are prideful, you will inevitably fall.
It's an axiom. It will happen. Self-evident truth.
Charles Spurgeon has said, Each Christian has a choice between being humble and being humbled. And he says now, to be humble is a sweet thing. But if you do not choose to be humble, you will have to be humbled, which is not at all a desirable thing.
And so the warning is this. If you're not humble, you will be humbled. It's just what it is.
And God has all kinds of creative ways to do that. It happens all the time. When we're prideful, God is very good at humbling us.
He does it to me. He does it in my family. He does it to you all.
He does it to leaders, national leaders. He does it to church leaders. Those who are puffed up with pride, they're eventually humbled.
You can count on it. And 1 Timothy 3, 6 warns about the risk of arrogant pastors falling into condemnation. Now, there is actually two ways to read this phrase in the verse.
Some have seen this as falling into condemnation of the devil, meaning by the devil. That somehow when you fall into this kind of condemnation, when you're prideful and you fall, the devil is judging or slandering you. That you will fall under his slanderous accusation.
That somehow that's going to be your penance, so to speak, is to have Satan accusing or attacking you. Now, I think there's something to that. I think when you're condemned and you have people, not just the devil, but even people around you, even your enemies kind of taunting you in your condemnation, you think you're so great, you trip up and you fall, and all your opponents say, see, look what happened to you, and it's humiliating.
That's certainly true. But there's another view, another side of this, and I think this is actually the more correct view, is that it makes more sense that the person who's falling into condemnation is the condemnation that the devil himself receives. In fact, when it comes to the problem of pride, no one has fallen harder than Satan.
Turn with your Bible to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14. Isaiah is the first major prophet in the Old Testament that we see listed here.
Isaiah's prophecy contains really a number of warnings and judgments against individuals, but also nations. In fact, the first two-thirds of his book is judgments against unrighteousness. But in chapter 14 specifically, Isaiah is issuing a judgment against the king of Babylon.
So he goes after the Babylonians, he attacks the king of Babylon in judgment. But there's something going on here in chapter 14, because hidden inside his words of judgment to the king of Babylon, there's also the Lord's judgment of Satan. And when you read it, you'll see it as well, okay? Chapter 14, Isaiah 14.
Pick it up in verse 12 here. Isaiah 14, 12. Nevertheless, you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.
Those who see you will gaze at you, they will ponder over you saying, is this the man who made the earth tremble? Who shook kingdoms? Who made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities? Who did not allow his prisoners to go home? All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each one in his own tomb. But you have been cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch, clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse. You will not be united with them in burial because you have ruined your country.
You have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever. Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth and fill the face of the world with cities." Sobering judgment, certainly against the king of Babylon. I mean, you can see where the Babylonian king is trembling a little bit at this judgment. But ultimately, this is about Satan.
This is an arrogant diatribe from Satan and then a response from the Lord. Notice in the passage, the first couple of verses here, Satan claims five times that, I will do such and such. I will ascend to God's throne.
I will be higher than God. I will be seated on his throne. I will, I will, I will.
It's arrogant. It's cocky. And this is an arrogant boast and the Lord for this boast cast him down.
In fact, Jesus in Luke 10, 18 recalls, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Jesus was there when it all went down. And as soon as Satan elevated himself, the Lord just slapped him down.
And Jesus recounts, he fell like a lightning bolt out of heaven. I mean, it wasn't just like a gradual, like a leaf falling in the wind. This was like a bullet shooting him out of heaven.
How dare you talk to the most high God this way and cast him below. He couldn't even get a grave. He was so low.
Shocking because Satan was so puffed up with pride and God condemned him for it. And is still condemning him for it. Well, how do we make this connection now between that and 1 Timothy 3, 6? Well, the warning should be clear.
If a man becomes puffed up with pride, he runs the risk of being cast down in condemnation, just like the devil. And so do you want to be judged like the devil? Be prideful. It's very simple.
Think of yourself as being so great. Think highly of yourself. Think low of other people in comparison to yourself.
And that's a warning to would-be pastors and elders. Be very careful about thinking that you're something special. I think about this all the time to check my own heart.
And I'll tell you that the temptation is everywhere. I mean, we're in New England pastoring a growing church. There's an opportunity for a little bit of pride there.
Publishing a book, going on the radio, whatever those things are. There's always lurking at the door. The temptation to think, oh, you're something special.
When in my spirit, I know, no, I'm not. I am just as replaceable as anybody else. God could... God spoke prophecies out of the donkey's mouth.
He doesn't need me. He doesn't need you. So resist pride, not just pastors and elders.
This is a warning to all believers, to all believers. To not think highly of yourself more than you ought to. Be so careful, believers.
Pride will ruin you. It will ruin you. But there's a fail-safe built into Paul's qualification for elders here.
This is actually a kindness. Why he insists on not having new converts as leaders here. Because again, when there's a pastor or a church leader that is prideful and puffed up, the fall is greater.
And when a member of a church, when a person who's growing in the Lord, when they're just working and living in their life here, and they fall into pride, the damage is generally a little bit more minimal. But when you're a church leader, and especially if your ministry is growing and blossoming, I mean, you think about the last 10 years of really prominent pastors that have fallen. How shocking and disorienting that is.
It's easy to look at the prosperity gospel preachers and say, well, they had it coming. But when there's people in our camp, our heroes, our friends who are falling, it is shocking. It is sobering.
Every time a pastoral friend or colleague of mine falls, it sends a shockwave through my whole heart, through my house, through everything. It freaks me out. Because it's a warning sign.
And I'll tell you, I've had friends, friends in ministry who are better men than me that have fallen. And it shakes me to the core. And it's a reminder, be very careful.
Take heed. If you're standing up, be careful. But here's the thing, when a pastor falls, the collateral damage is huge to the church.
Whereas with new believers, when they're struggling, there's opportunities for grace and mercy. You can deal with these things quietly, privately. In other words, don't let a prideful young believer have the opportunity to be considered for ministry and therefore fail in a public way.
If you put a new believer into a position of a pastor or elder, get ready for a fall. I mean, there's a condemnation even wrapped up in that. And it happens all the time.
A guy, he gets saved, reads his Bible a bunch, reads some theology, takes a couple of classes, the church gets excited about him, they thrust him into leadership, and then it could just collapse. Happens all the time. Rather, we are to be encouraging and helping younger believers, helping them along the way.
I think about Galatians 6.1. It strikes specifically more mature believers to bear with younger believers. He says, Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, that includes pride, by the way, if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, the mature, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Each one looking to himself so that you will not too be tempted.
So be careful. Yes, restore the younger believers when they're struggling in their life, when they're struggling with sins or indwelling sins, pride, arrogance, whatever it may be. Restore them gently.
Help them along gently. But don't let yourself get so puffed up and say, oh, these young believers, they're so easily swayed. You fool.
If you think that, you're a fool. You're just as liable to be caught up in that as the next person. And so be careful.
But we need to help one another. We do need to be encouraging to one another and help them along. And when someone else, maybe who is a little bit behind you spiritually in the faith, a few less years than you, when they're struggling, you encourage them.
You say, brother, sister, I've been in your shoes. I know how this goes. And oh, let me pray for, let me help you.
And then take stock of your own life. Again, consider the parable. When the proud little sapling who thinks he's a mighty yoke, when he gets destroyed by the storm, the arborist comes along and he helps mend them so he can continue to grow.
That's our job is to come alongside and help these young ones to put them back together and set them on the path to growing again. Helping each other to do this. We must be like the arborist who mends them and helps them.
And not just walks by and says, you silly little sapling. And yet the newly planted sapling should not be involved in spiritual leadership. They're not the oak, if you will, so to speak.
They're not ready. You're setting them up for failure at that point. Now, so far, we've only really discussed the negative side of this.
There is another side of all of this. While pastors and elders ought not to be new converts, there is an inverse truth that's applicable here. Aspiring elders need to be mature believers.
Again, just like with new convert, mature is a relative term. It's relative because there's no specific benchmarks listed. How do you measure and categorize maturity in the Christian faith? Now, there are many calls for maturity in Scripture.
The apostle Paul had told the Ephesians a couple years earlier in chapter four of his letter to them that the purpose of giving godly pastors and teachers, he says, was for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. Then he says this, to a mature man, to maturity, to the measure of the stature, which belongs to the fullness of Christ. In short, spiritual maturity means a stature of having grown into some measure of Christ likeness.
Maturity is all about becoming more and more like Jesus. That's really what this is. It's where you're attaining to some level of spiritual knowledge.
You know God's word. You know some doctrine. You know how to apply these things.
The Bible should not be a foreign thing to you if you're a mature believer. You're also able to live in unity with other believers. You're not bouncing off each other and fighting all the time.
You know how to bend and be gracious to people. And when someone opposes you or gives offense, you're not quick to take offense. You know how to live in unity with other people.
You're a gracious person living in unity. You're also serving faithfully. Mature people are those who desire to serve the body of Christ and serve and love other people.
You're not a selfish person. Again, these are all just things that are talked about even in just that passage. Whereas according to 1 Corinthians 3, the spiritually immature are considered babes in Christ who are still, he says, fleshly.
Fleshly. Of course, he exhorts them a little bit later. In 1 Corinthians 14 20, he says, brethren, do not be children, babes, in your thinking.
He says, in evil be babes. Don't follow the course of the world and be mature in evil. He says, but rather in your thinking, be mature.
Think about what you're doing. Think about living the Christian life. How to do that in a way that pleases the Lord.
Maturity is biblical thinking that has altered the way that you live and act. Your mind affects your emotions, which affects your will. There's a direct connection there.
So the more that you're learning and growing in the Lord, again, that young believer, that young man who's all excited about doctrine, that's great. Fill up with doctrine, fill up with scripture, but make sure that that's working its way into your convictions, into your constitution, but also into the way that you're living your life. Are you now pouring those things back out? Are you lifting up? Are you graciously sharing with other people? Are you walking in godliness? Are you walking in humility? And there's a difference between being humble and seeming humble.
You know the difference? You know a person who seems humble. You say something kind to them, oh no, not me. And they think very much of themselves, even if they act like they're humble.
But a person who is genuinely humble, they don't think about themselves very much. And that's the whole idea, is not thinking. Again, mature thinking is not thinking that you're so great because you recognize and understand, I'm actually not so great.
I'm a sinner saved by a gracious God who lets me live and lets me serve him. That's a right view of self. But again, this biblical thinking that transforms the way that you live and act, this is a seasoned pattern of godly living.
Because here's the thing, it's so much easier to give you a checklist and say, oh, do these 10 things and you'll be spiritually mature. I know that some of you, I know the note takers here really want the list, right? You really want the top 10. Let me give them to you, ready? Here we go.
And then I'm gonna refute everything, okay? Number one, be saved longer than five years. Read your Bible daily. Pray often.
Come to church. Serve. Give sacrificially.
Evangelize. Teach others. Don't swear.
Don't have any sinful addictions. I can give you the whole list, but here's the thing, and some of you are still writing those down. Here's the thing, you could try to follow those kinds of lists that will not necessarily produce maturity.
Those are some good things, but that doesn't make you mature. Why not? Why not? Because maturity in the faith is an outworking of the Holy Spirit's transformative grace within your heart. It's God growing you organically, spiritually, but organically in Him.
Rather, it's not about the number of years you've been a Christian. That has nothing to do with it, frankly. Rather, it has more to do with how long you've been walking with the Lord through your life and how much you abide in Him.
For example, learning to depend on the Lord through a six-month bout of a serious illness will probably grow you more than many years unscathed. Ever experienced that before? Where you go through this season where you're just in the thick of it? Some of you are there right now. I know several people, several families where it just seems like it's one hit after another.
And you're like, oh man, we're in the hospital again? This thing in our house broke again? We're out of money again? I lost another job, really? You're just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Well, guess what? The Lord uses those seasons where you're in the wine press. He uses those seasons to hyper-produce spiritual maturity in you.
Because you're going to do one of two things. You're either going to run away and freak out and say, that's it, I'm done. I can't do this anymore.
Or you're going to humble yourself and you're going to say, Lord, I don't know what you're doing, but I'm here to grow. Whatever you want, Lord. I just want to do whatever pleases you and I'm trusting you to get me through this season.
And I know you will. And the Lord will grow you in those intense times. For some of you, it's an elongated season.
Some of you are struggling with chronic pain and long-standing afflictions. In some cases, months, or even some of you, years. Some of you, decades.
But guess what? The Lord has given those kinds of things to you as a tool for spiritual maturity. So no one wants to talk about that today. Oh, affliction's bad.
Yeah, of course, affliction's bad. But it is a tool that God will use to produce godliness in you if you cling to Him. And so don't resist when the Lord is bringing you through trials.
And I'm also preaching to myself, by the way. This is a challenge for all of us. A challenge in the midst of trials.
But God can do so much in a short little period of time to grow you spiritually. But on the other hand, a person who hasn't grown much in 20 years of being a Christian, maybe they remain spiritual babes in Christ, they find themselves to be a one-year-old Christian 20 times over. And that happens too.
Yeah, the person's been in church forever and they've heard a couple Bible verses here and there and they've just been around, but they've never really grown in the Lord. That doesn't, again, time doesn't equal maturity. But it really comes down to this.
How much have you been transformed in your thinking and in your living? Have you been transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect? Is that you? How much like Christ are you? Mature Christians are more like Christ because they've surrendered to Him and been changed by Him. They've humbled themselves beneath Him. And they've said, Lord, I don't even know what You're doing, but whatever You're doing, I'm here to obey You.
I'm here to live in You. I want to follow You, whatever the cost. And they submit themselves to the Lord's leading and He leads them.
And He guides them. And they hear His voice and He knows them. And no one can take them out of His hand.
Again, the real issue is how long have you been abiding in Christ? Turn over to John chapter 15. We're considering these analogies today. These agricultural analogies.
I want to stay in the same theme. This passage is very fitting. 15 Jesus is instructing His disciples on how they are to remain close to Him even after He's gone.
He gives this discourse the night before He goes to the cross. And He uses this horticultural analogy to talk about what it means to remain close to abide in Him. John 15 verses 1 through 11 Jesus says, I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in me that it does not bear fruit He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit He prunes so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches.
He who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.
My Father is glorified by this that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Just as the Father has loved me I have also loved you. Abide in my love.
If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. There's a lot here in this passage but I want to direct you just to a couple of very quick points here.
Again, Jesus is instructing the disciples to abide in Him. In other words, to remain close to Him. It's like when a parent goes out into a crowded store and there's people everywhere and they say, hey, stay close to me.
Little one, come here. Come here, kids. And you want them on your hip.
You want them close to you. That's the idea. Abide in Christ the way that a branch abides in the vine.
And what does abiding consist of? He gives a couple of things here. Verse 7, knowing God's Word. Letting God's Word abide in you.
Yes, you read the Bible, but does the Bible read you? Do you take it into yourself? Into your mind? Into your heart? Do you meditate? Do you chew? Do you learn His Word? Do you think God's thoughts after Him? So verse 7, knowing God's Word. Verse 8, bearing spiritual fruit. Ask yourself, am I fruitful for the Lord? Now, how do you qualify that? There's a million ways to qualify that, but am I bearing fruit for God? Verse 9, am I manifesting love for God? The Father loves the Son.
The Son loves the Father. He says, abide in my love. That you would not only love me and love the Father, but that I would love you.
That we'd have this love together. And that by loving me, you'd also learn to love other people. Do you manifest the love of God? Verse 10, do you obey the Lord? When He says, obey my commands, He's not talking about legalism, Mosaic law.
He's talking about the commands to love one another and to have the fruit of that borne out. To hate sin, to reject wickedness, to love righteousness, to love truth. Do you obey the Lord when He calls you and commands you? Of course, again, there's a dozen spiritual disciplines all wrapped up in this.
But the grand question to consider, once again with spiritual maturity, is this, am I abiding in Christ? Am I living and growing in Him? And yet we see that again, verse 2, part of the maturing process, it's right there in the text. In verse 2, part of maturing is being pruned by the Lord in trials. I remember talking to a pastor, and he said this to me off the record.
He goes, I don't tell my church this. But he says, I don't generally consider a man for eldership unless he's been through the fire a little bit. Whether he's been through a serious illness, whether he's had a death, he's lost a spouse or a child or someone close to him, whether he's been through financial ruin, whether he's been persecuted for the faith.
He says, it's not a hard and fast rule. He goes, but just generally speaking, I don't look at a guy who hasn't ever had anything happen to him. Well, why is that? Well, because pruned men, pruned men tend to be more mature men because they've learned how to stick close to the Lord in times of great trial.
I remember the week that we were presenting the church plant, we were going to a conference in Massachusetts, and we had one vehicle. We drove that, remember that Ford van? Oh, my goodness. Some of you remember that van.
We try to forget the van, right? The thing would just die all the time. Don't get me started on Fords, but whatever. We had this van, and so I drove down to the conference.
This is the week before we're planting the church, and we get there, and my van dies in the parking lot, and the pastor who was with me at the time, we're sitting in my van, we can't get it running, and I just burst into tears, and I couldn't understand. Lord, I mean, I'm about to plant a church. Like, we're going to go do great things.
Why is this happening? It's almost as if he was saying, get ready. This is part of the pruning process. If you're being considered for spiritual leadership, if you desire spiritual leadership of any kind, if you desire to grow in the Lord at all, get your armor on, get ready, because he will prune you.
He will make these very specific decided cuts to pull away dead growth and dead branches off of you so that you can grow even more. He disciplines those he loves and chastens us as beloved children. Ultimately, a church does not need or want a young man who is full of pride, immature and untested.
It's not helpful. That's why 1 Timothy 5.22 warns, do not lay hands on anyone too hastily. When they get all excited, don't just say, here you go, leadership.
Don't do that. You'll retain their sins. You'll be caught up in all the fall when that happens.
Aspiring elders need to be tested to see if they truly demonstrate the fruit of knowledge, steadfastness, obedience, godliness, maturity. Are they growing in the Lord? Again, that's a sliding scale. It's hard to nail that down.
But you know when a person is growing and when they're not growing. It becomes evident. And so we hear the heart of the Apostle Paul in Colossians 1.28. He says, We proclaim Him, Christ, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete, or in other words, mature, teleos in the Greek, mature, complete in Christ.
And then Paul says, For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. Paul worked himself to the bone to try to cultivate godly character in the people around him. He trained people.
He discipled people. He walked alongside young men in ministry. He prayed for those.
He bound up the broken. He ministered all so he could present the body of Christ, mature and complete in him. That's the goal.
To mature in Christ. To be in him. How do you know if you're in Christ? Well, first of all, have you received new life in Christ? Have you recognized that you have sinned against the Lord? Because some of you, maybe you're here today and you don't know what I'm talking about.
Maybe you've been living your life your own way. You just came in to this church this morning because you were curious or someone told you to come. Maybe you don't know what I'm talking about.
But have you considered, if your life is not pleasing to the Lord, if you've considered that there are sins in your life, that you're doing things your own way with no regard for God whatsoever. God commands godliness and you just do your own thing. Have you ever repented and turned away from those sins? And in doing so, have you put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior? Because Christ came to earth.
God wrapped in a human body. That's the whole point of Christmas is to celebrate the incarnation, the advent of Jesus coming into the world wrapped in a human body to live his life perfectly here without sin and then offer himself up as a righteous, sinless, spotless sacrifice. And his sacrifice is the only one acceptable to God in perfection.
And on the cross, Jesus took on all the guilt, condemnation and shame, all of the weight of our sin onto himself and he died with that sin on him and was buried in the ground and then rose the third day to bring life to all who believe. And here's the thing with the gospel, how do I receive that? The Bible says you do it by faith. And what happens is that as you're believing the gospel, there's something spiritual going on in you.
And it happens all the time. People say, I felt like you were preaching right to me and the Spirit's taking all these words and I'm feeling the conviction and I'm feeling the desire to repent and believe. Yes, you know what that is? That's the ministry of the Holy Spirit working in you because he takes up residence.
He comes into you spiritually and he resides with you in you and causes you to walk in God's ways. And then you begin to live your life not just with Christ, you live your life in Christ. Where to go against God's law is to violate your own new nature now.
You're grieving the Spirit who's living within you, speaking to you, speaking through His Word, speaking through conscience. And so if you're in Christ, if you've put your sins to death, if you've confessed your sins and found life in Christ and are now walking in Christ, continue to live and grow. Abide in Him.
Don't keep on turning away and doing your own thing. Walk in Him by disciplined obedience. Live for Him.
Not only will you grow and you'll be chastened, but you'll learn to be obedient to the Lord and you'll be fruitful. And that fruit will bear more fruit. And then you'll do the things that are pleasing to God, not because it gets you anywhere with Him in salvation.
If you're in Christ, you're in Him and you will be with Him in glory. But rather that your fruitfulness becomes pleasing to the Lord and it becomes your spiritual service of worship. That you love and honor and worship the Lord who gave you life and that your life is acceptable and pleasing to Him.
Isn't that what you want? Isn't that the desire of your heart? I want that. I want that for you. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
To grow in maturity. Believers, be mature. Don't be mature in evil.
Don't learn all the newest ways to be sinful. In your thinking, be childish with sin. But with spiritual insight, with Bible knowledge, with doctrine, with wisdom, with application of truth, be mature.
And you will please the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your lovingkindness given to us in Christ.
Lord, we thank You that it is not us who just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and just conquers the world and grows on our own accord. No, You are the one who grows us. You have given us life.
You grow us in Your image. You promised that He who began a good work and You will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus. You've promised to sanctify us.
You have promised to make us more mature in You. So Lord, I would plead with You to not stop that wonderful work of growing Your people. Becoming more sensitive to Your leading.
To be more obedient to Your Word. To hate our sin and to put it away more and more every day. And to do the things that please You.
And Lord, as we continue to consider those who are qualified to lead pastors and elders and so on. Lord, would You help us to identify men who are growing and who are maturing in the Lord and who are mature and can lead here. Lord, give us wisdom.
Give us patience and grace as we go through this process with these kinds of men. And we thank You, Lord, that You do raise up those who You've called to lead in this church. We're grateful that we get to serve not as rulers here over this church, but as undershepherds who join You in Your work of shepherding this flock.
Lord, we belong to You. By ourselves, we are nothing. We have nothing to boast of.
Everything else is loss in comparison to knowing and serving and loving You. You are preeminent. Help us to know You.
I pray all these things for Your people. In Jesus' name, Amen.