In over 25 years in ministry, I have noticed several areas where spiritual maturity matters most, and so I want to share with you today four areas where people are most likely to not have the spiritual maturity needed to excel. Remember, you can be as mature as you can get physically and as immature as you can be spiritually. The goal of today is not to point a finger and call you a baby, but to help you step into a more mature relationship with God, and as a repercussion, with his people.

1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

One of the greatest problems in modern Christianity is this very verse. So many have entered into adulthood, yet they are still thinking and operating spiritually as a child.

Children long for childish things.
- They are feeling driven
- They throw a tantrum when they don’t get their way
- They are messy
- They cannot effectively care for themselves, constantly needing someone else to sustain them

The unfortunate result is what you might expect when you put a child into an adult situation. Chaos.

The writer gets right to it in Hebrews 5:12-14:
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

There are SO many Bible verses that talk about us maturing in our faith, so the emphasis here today is, again, not condemnation, but encouragement
to step into a deeper level of maturity so God can do in you what he planned since the beginning of creation.

Good question: What am I entertaining that is causing my spiritual growth to be stunted?

While there are so many things that can stunt our growth, today let’s talk about 4 areas where people are most often spiritually immature.

1. Offense
Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. Its offense in the church. It may not kill you physically, but it is deadly to your spirit.

Proverbs 18:19
A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.

Ecclesiastes 7:21-22
Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.

Proverbs 19:11
Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
Interesting wording - glory. In Hebrew: tif-aw-raw. It means boasting in something worthwhile. Other references: children to a father, gray hair to an old man. It is what happens when, out of maturity, you’ve overcome.

Joseph had a reason to be offended. Here's a snapshot of the story:
- His father’s beloved
- His brother hated him
- He dreamed big dreams and kind of ran his mouth about them lol
- The slavery
- His brother plotted to kill him and left him to die in a hole
- Slavers came and took him
- He was falsely accused in Potiphar’s house
- Wrongly imprisoned
- Lied on, taken advantage of, and forgotten by the cupbearer

Joesph had every reason to be offended, but we read this at the passing of his father, Jacob: Genesis 5-:15-21
15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people[b] should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Here’s my point:
- Offending you is their fault.

Luke 17:1
Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!

- Being offended is your fault.
Colossians 3:12-13
12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Being offended is a sign of the end times and of your relationship with God.
Matthew 24:10-12
10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.Offense has the power to force us to draw up battle lines against our own brothers and sisters.When we embrace an offense, we are receiving into our own heart what the enemy through false prophets and lawlessness is spewing into the world.

What is the moral of the story?
Mature Christians refuse to be offended.

People will wrong you. Go talk to them.
People will hurt you. Forgive them.
People will offend you. Don’t take the bait.

You’ve heard this verse: 1 Peter 4:8
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.Here’s where Peter got it from:Prov 10:12 Hatred stirs up conflicts, but love covers all offenses.

Offenses are just stumbling blocks designed to trip you up.

Psalm 119:165
Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.

That leads to the second one:

2. Understanding scripture
How is this a maturity thing? First, if you love God’s law, nothing can make you stumble, as I just read. But second, understanding scripture helps us more deeply understand God.

Here’s the problem:
First, when we don’t know the scripture, we have a hard time knowing God. The Pharisees and Sadducees are a prime example.

Matthew 22:29
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God."

Poor understanding leads to incorrect belief. You can know this logically:
Look back to your last miscommunication with a friend. Because they didn’t understand the whole story, they thought the wrong thing. So knowing the Scripture will immensely help you mature. You start with the easy bits like the Gospel of John and move on the the hard bits like 1 Corinthians 6:9-10:

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."

By the way, even this passage is pointing you towards spiritual maturity in verse 11:
"And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."

But there’s a second part…HOW CAN I LEARN TO UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE!?!?! Easy, four years of undergrad Bible college followed by two years of master’s study, OR You can use your G.P.A.

G - Group
A part of why you come to church is to engage with God’s people to help you mature in faith. Someone in your group might know the answer, b ut even if they don’t, now you have a team of people searching for the truth with you.

P - Prayer
John 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Before you get frustrated at not knowing, just tap into the Holy Spirit to teach you.

A - Ask
Ask your pastor. Ask a church leader. Ask your grandma. Ask Google - but be careful there lol

James 4:2
Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

Hebrews 5:12-14
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

How do you distinguish good from evil? Romans 7 - Pauls says, “I wouldn’t know what good is unless the law, God’s Word, showed me what evil was.” As you read the word, you will mature by seeing how God interacted with humanity in the past.

Hopefully you realized this next one that is a huge indicator of immaturity:

3. Jesus, our personal genie
I think immediately of “I Dream of Jeannie” and her head nod. As ludicrous as you might think this is, ask yourself a question:

How often do you get frustrated when God doesn’t do what you want him to do?

I hate to beat a dead horse, but this is how children act! For some reason we are often under the impression that God is going to bend to meet our desires rather than we bend to meet his. God is under no obligation to make your wishes come true. Immature Jason would get really upset about that. It wasn’t enough to make me walk away, but it was enough to make me question him. Mature Jason realizes something huge, however: The only times my dreams have come true and it has been fulfilling is when my dreams matched his.

Spiritual Maturity is not attaining a level where his will matches mine. Spiritual maturity is embracing the opportunity to have my will match his.

2 Timothy 2:1-5
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

This is what a spiritually immature person looks like. They seek a voice that will justify their sin. They seek a culture that will glory in their iniquity. They seek a God who will amend to their passions and lusts. They don’t want a relationship. They want lawlessness. They don’t want a savior. They want a genie.

Psalm 119:133-136
133 Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by evil. 134 Ransom me from the oppression of evil people; then I can obey your commandments. 135 Look upon me with love; teach me your decrees.136 Rivers of tears gush from my eyes because people disobey your instructions.

This is the message in one easy passage!
- I don’t want a genie Jesus, I want you Jesus.
- I don’t want to be offended and oppressed. Rescue me!
- I don’t want you to adjust to me, I will adjust to you.
- I don’t always understand the Word, but Spirit, teach me your decrees.

The better you understand the scripture the more you realize that he isn’t a genie and there are lots of things about us that need to change.

But change never happens unless you do this last thing:

4. Orient your priorities
Until you make the most important thing the most important thing, the most important thing won’t mean anything. Why? Christianity is all or nothing.

Revelation 3:15-16
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

So how should I orient my life?
God, spouse, family, everything else.

I could spend 1 day with you and know what you value the most, and I could do that in two ways: What you talk about, and what you do.

What you talk about
Matthew 12:34
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

What you do
Matthew 7:20
Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

God. NOTHING should ever come between you and God. Nothing. Not even your spouse or kids. Not even your own thoughts and intuition. Not even your heart.

By the way, you heart is a moron. Jeremiah 17:9-10
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

If that last bit scares you, that is evidence that your priorities are messed up. It is evidence that spiritual maturity needs to happen.

Spouse. The only thing that should be between you and your spouse is Jesus. Not your kids. Not the secretary. Not your work. Not your hobby because you need to relax. Not some old flame you just friended on Facebook (You aren’t in high school anymore!) Secrets either. All secrets do is hide things in the dark.

Mature Thought: Ephesians 5:11
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Kids. Your kids need to be behind God and your spouse. They are not the CEO. Little Johnny needs Jesus more than another participation trophy, and besides Jesus, the best thing you can give your kids is a solid marriage.

Kids need to be trained up in the faith, not paid up in Sunday morning league ball. You might think I am being judgmental. What will you think when your kid is 23 and struggling with all manners of issues because they were taught that God wasn’t a priority and that church was “whenever you can make it?” I am not trying to be mean here, I promise, but we have an epidemic in this nation of young people who are so completely lost and I am less inclined to think it is a result of their own decisions and more inclined to think it is the result of parents’ disoriented priorities.

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

If you don’t believe this verse, why believe any of them?

If you want to orient your life, it needs to start with orienting your relationship with Jesus, then your spouse, then your kids, then everyone else. You need to understand it might require you to reach out to a pastor or church leader, some friends, maybe even a therapist. If you say you don’t need any of that, then you just might continue to enjoy the same level of disfunction and spiritual immaturity you are experiencing now.

If you want to see a change, you have to be willing to change, and that might mean change your methods, change your inputs, change your thought patterns, you just might have to change everything.

An immature athlete says I’m tired. A mature one says whatever it takes.

The eternal should always take precedence. What is going to impact your eternity should matter the most.

Matthew 10:28
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

We too often think the only way that can happen is a demon or something. No, it can be something that seems good but that causes you to stray. Too often satan uses what we deem insignificant to derail us.

Why am I being so aggressive about this?
It must be a life or death situation. No it’s worse. It’s an eternal situation.

When we stand before the throne, we’d better be mature! Now if you get saved today and the rapture happens tomorrow, you’re good!

But there are 2 decisions that are the most important:
First, a yes to Jesus.
Second, a yes to growing up.

What do you need to do today to start maturing?
Go all in with Jesus and get saved?
Answer the question “What’s holding me back from growing?”
Maybe you just need to come and bare it all at the altar.

Whatever it is, let today be the day you step forward into maturity

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?