Skip to content 3. Five Movements Towards Spiritual Maturity - Part 1 Sep 7 · 27 min ...more
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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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0:09 Shall we give the Lord a clap offering, Church? It is a joy and a privilege for us to study God's Word once again. This week, we are going to be focusing on the 5 movements towards spiritual0:21 maturity. Today will be part 1, and the next time we study, it will be part 2. 5 movements towards spiritual maturity. Now what is spiritual maturity?0:32 Many times we look at a person who is very knowledgeable in the scriptures, and we say that person must be spiritually mature. Or we look at somebody who has been a Christian for a long time, and then we0:44 go, that person is spiritually mature. But can I humbly say this? Spiritual maturity is not about the length of time that you have been a Christian or how much knowledge you have accumulated.0:56 Spiritual maturity is to become like Christ, that you are being transformed to be like Christ, that you are conformed to the image of His Son.1:09 Not only that, that you are becoming more and more like Him. That is what the Word of God says, isn't it? That we are being transformed. We are being conformed to the image. In1:21 other words, there is something within us. There is a metamorphosis. There is a transformation that takes place. And that transformation is from the inside out. That God1:31 transforms your aspirations. He transforms your attitudes. He transforms your heart affections. He transforms your actions. Everything1:43 is becoming more and more Christ like. That is why, in our study, as we want to be transformed in our inner life, we want to become spiritually1:55 mature because we want to become like Christ. Hallelujah! When I look back in my own life, as a 20 year old pastor,2:07 I was leading a congregation that was much older than me, and I had to go through a lot of painful process. But in that season of my life, I used to cry out before the2:18 Lord because in the presence of God, my heart was clearly shown. There was a lot of fear. There was a lot of fear for the opinion of2:30 men. There was a lot of fear for conflicts. I wanted to avoid conflicts. There was a lot of, insecurities. There were certain impulses. And when I look2:42 at all these things, I felt, Lord, I need to be transformed. And I'm thankful that in that 20 year old self, God did some work and transformed my life. Now, in my forties,2:54 I come before God, and there are other areas of my life. I still see the impulses. I still see the inadequacies. I still see the insecurities. And God deals with it and He3:05 continually transforms us. The work is not complete until we see Him, the Bible says. That's why you and I, we need to understand the processes, the movements that are3:17 involved in spiritual maturity. Let me give you 5, and then we will study the first 3 today. This was developed by my spiritual father, Rev. Edmund Chan. The first 13:29 is the deep search. Second is the desperate struggle. Third is the absolute surrender. The fourth 1 is the upward service. And the fifth 1, inner3:40 significance. Now let's look at the deep search. There is something more. In other words, people are always craving3:52 for something more. Isn't it? Your lifestyle today is already very good. But are you satisfied? Probably not. You are4:03 hoping for an upgrade. You are hoping for a better quality. You're always there is always a search for something more. And when I look at it deep down in human hearts, there is a4:15 search for security, and there is a search for satisfaction. We are we want to be secure. In other words, we want to save up enough for the rainy day. We look at our net net worth. We4:27 look at our portfolios. We look at our retirement fund. We look at all these things because there's anxieties that grip our heart. What if we don't have enough? We crave for security,4:39 and we look at the and we look at the things of the world, and we think that they are the ones that will give us security. Secondly, we look for satisfaction. You know, people are always looking around and say, if I get4:51 that, I will be satisfied. If I have a relationship, I will be satisfied. If I get out of that relationship, I will be satisfied. If I get a job like that, I will be satisfied. People are looking for satisfaction again5:02 in the wrong places. Last year, we studied the book of Ecclesiastes. The great grand summary of that book is, Everything is vanity. In other words, all the accomplishments,5:15 all the things that he has accumulated in his life, he considered it as vapor. It was meaningless. Listen to me carefully. Nothing5:26 truly satisfies. Only 1 satisfies us. But you know what? That 1, for us to come to that place to recognize that there is only 1 thing that5:38 will satisfy us, we need to develop certain things. We need to cultivate that taste. Listen to me carefully. Look at what John Calvin said. He says, in5:50 pursuit of lesser portions, our tastes have dulled. Look at that. We are so easily satisfied. Our taste buds are so weak, so compromised. We have6:02 become numb to our real hungers, filling them with less affair. But when we return to the source, we taste anew. See, we are trying to satisfy ourselves with junk food when God is throwing6:14 us a Michelin star buffet. But yet, we're craving for junk food. That's what he's saying. In other words, we are searching for something in the natural6:25 when God is calling us to the supernatural, to be satisfied with Him. There is a search within, and the search is for God. Alexander McLaren said this,6:38 he says, being and the need to ally ourselves with6:49 eternity. This is what Ecclesiastes chapter 3 also said. When Solomon wrote, he says, There's eternity in the hearts of men. In other words, we are already wired towards eternity7:01 to connect to the eternal being, to connect to our God. There is a search and only He alone can satisfy. But yet, we do not pursue Him. You know why? Because that requires7:13 a cultivated taste. That is why in this house we say, we do not try to be disciples, we train ourselves to be disciples. We have to train7:24 ourselves to seek God, to go in His presence, and to search for Him. Isn't that what we read in a couple of passages7:36 ago, a couple of lessons ago, Psalm 73, the experience of Asap, the worship leader of Israel? He pens in his journal, he says, I saw the prosperity of the wicked, and I was envious7:48 of the arrogant. And as a result, there was a churning within in his heart. And when he had this churning within, what did he do? He was hopeless. He wanted to give8:00 up. But yet, the Bible says, when he entered into the presence of God, everything shifted. See, I want you to listen to me. Everything will shift when you come into the presence of God. That's why recognize this. Your8:11 search is not for a better house or a better life partner or a better pay grade or better home. Your search is actually for God. If you're not satisfied with Him, you will not be satisfied with anything else.8:25 He alone truly satisfies. That is why, as a Christian, we have to come to that place to recognize, What is my search? My search is truly for God. That is why God invites us.8:36 Look at this in Psalm 46 and verse 10. He says: Hallelujah! He invites us to be still. You know what that means to be8:48 still? It means stop striving, stop looking around, stop getting distracted by peripheral things, trivialities, stop looking at things9:00 from the earthly perspective, come to my presence and be still and know that I am God. Hallelujah! What an invitation! I tell you why9:12 we don't do that. We don't do that because it is a cultivated taste. You know, you come home tired from work. Many of you, you come home tired from work. What do you do? You eat your dinner,9:24 you take a shower, and then you go and sit before a TV and vegetate for the next 3 hours, 4 hours. Maybe you go through Korean drama after Korean drama on Netflix. Listen to me9:35 carefully. That is what we do. Why? Because our heart gravitates towards seeking relief. We want a reprieve from our busy life. We want something to vegetate.9:47 Are seeking relief when God is inviting us to His presence to seek rest. Netflix can provide you relief. A holiday can provide you relief. But being in the presence of God,9:59 reading His Scriptures and praying and pouring out your soul and processing the events that have happened in that day and processing it before God and reflecting upon it and asking His help and gaining10:11 wisdom these things will cause you to be rested. Hallelujah! There is a big difference between rest and relief. But it is a cultivated taste. That is why God is saying to us here, If you truly want10:23 to seek rest, be still and know that I am God. So the opposite of being still is to be striving. So stop striving. Stop striving10:35 about buying that house. Stop striving about, Oh, the market is getting this is the right time, I not ready, blah blah blah. All that stuff. Just calm down. Oh, know Him. He is able to satisfy10:46 you. Know Him. He is able to direct you. See, when you are still, you can hear God. And that is the most important thing a believer needs. When you are still, you can10:58 hear the voice of God clearly. That is why, if I can help you with 1 thing tonight, I want you to catch this with me. Cultivate a listening time.11:10 This is why we say spiritual disciplines are important. Carve out time to have silence and solitude before God. Where you come and you are still in the presence of God. You are seeking Him through the pages of11:22 Scripture. You're reading it. You're reflecting it. You're recording what He's saying, and you're responding to Him in prayer. The more you do it, you cultivate a listening point. And the more you hear Him and the more11:32 you obey Him, I tell you what. He will lead you towards satisfaction. Hallelujah! I can share with you stories after stories of how God has been so11:44 good to me in my life. But can I humbly say this, come back to Him and cultivate that taste of being in his presence? Story was told of a grandma that11:56 passed away, and she had 1 grandson, and she left everything she had to the grandson. So the grandma is very wealthy. So Jake, the grandson, was hoping that the grandma would have left him a lot12:08 of dollars, millions of dollars. But on the day arrived, all Jake got from the grandma was a dirty, old, used Bible. And Jake was so frustrated12:20 that he threw the Bible and never looked at it. 5 months have passed and suddenly his house was on fire. The firefighters put their fire out and then they salvaged a few12:32 things. And Jake was able to go in and have a look and suddenly he saw the Bible in the corner, all now fully wet and soiled and half burnt. He took12:43 and have a look at it, and he was flipping through it. And suddenly, something caught his eyes. In the margins, the grandmother has written, If you're reading this, Jake, that means you are12:55 reading your Bible. I have left clues for you to discover 3000000 dollars that I've left for you. But you only have 3 you only have 6 months.13:07 Otherwise, after that, everything will go to charity. And I've left the clues all over the Bible. So read the Bible. Now, Jake can't read the Bible. He can't access that treasure. Why? Because13:19 it's all gone. It's burnt. Listen to me carefully. God is inviting us to really treasure Him and come in His presence and to seek Him. And as we are seeking Him, we will receive the instructions to13:30 find satisfaction, significance, and security in Him. But it is a cultivated taste. The reason why we are not responding to the13:42 call of God like that is because, deep down, the second movement, there is a desperate struggle. What is a desperate struggle? The desperate struggle is we want it all.13:54 We want everything. See, we are so self centered in our lives that God wants to move us from being self centered to becoming God centered. So, in this process, there is14:06 going to be a struggle, and the struggle is between 2 wills. And the struggle is to renounce self will and to embrace God's will. This is a constant struggle a believer will go14:18 through. See, I already established to you spiritual maturity is to will the will of the Father. To come to that place to say, Father, have your way in my midst. Let me walk in your ways. Let me do your14:30 will. Have your way. Let me yield myself willingly. That is spiritual maturity. But how many of you know we struggle to surrender? Why? Why do we struggle to embrace the will of God? You know14:41 why? Because we like to be in control. We feel that if we give control to God, if we yield ourselves to do the will of God, then God will call us to do things that14:53 we don't want to do. Marry the person we don't want to marry, move into the country we don't want to move, or do the work that we don't want to do. Oh, what if he asked me to empty all my bank account and give it to him?15:04 I don't want to do all this. I don't want to lose control of my life. So, therefore, we have this illusion of control. We want to just manage what we got. So, we are self centered. We don't yield ourselves to God.15:16 But can I humbly say this? Spiritual maturity is to be able to come to that place to say, Lord, I recognize that you are pinpointing this particular area in my life and I want to yield myself to15:28 you to will the will of the Father in this area of my life. Hallelujah! Now, over the years we have studied quite a bit about God's will, isn't15:40 it? I did an entire series, it is actually available on YouTube, as a playlist. Knowing God's will. And we talk about how knowing God's will is totally sovereign, gloriously15:51 redemptive, sometimes puzzling, but always perfect. I explained this there. Why is it totally sovereign, gloriously redemptive, sometimes puzzling? The will of God is sometimes16:03 puzzling, but always perfect. Now when it comes to doing the will of the father, doing the will of God, there is a movement there. Firstly, it is to perceive God's will. Secondly, it is to16:15 pursue God's will. Thirdly, it is to prefer God's will. In other words, God brings us through these movements. Firstly, it's to understand the will of God. See, many times we don't do the will of God because we don't16:27 understand it. We don't understand that what God is asking us to give up or give in is so that He can bless us with more. Like C. S. Lewis will say that you are playing with16:37 dirty pebbles, and God wants to give you marbles, but you don't want to play with it. You don't wanna exchange your dirty dirty pebbles16:49 for his marbles. You don't want to exchange because you don't know what he has. You don't understand everything. So understanding the will of God is important. Perceive. Pursue meaning that you have to do it. Just17:00 because you know the will of God doesn't mean that you will do the will of God. There is a big distinction between knowing God's will and doing God's will. Isn't it? And the third thing is that we got to prefer17:12 the will of God. What is preferring the will of God? We will come to that place like Jesus. The more and more we are Christ like, the more and more we will come before God and say, Lord, not my will, but Your will. Help17:23 me to prefer Your will. You know, in my own personal journey, I recognized that the Lord had brought me to a place to prefer His will in a lot of areas.17:36 I shared with you earlier when he brought me into this country, I used to struggle. Why did you bring me out of India to this place? Why did you put me in this particular church? Why did you give me this particular17:45 people group that you need to call me to pastor? I used to have all these questions in my soul, and I was wrestling. But God gave me that grace to come and lay it down before Him. And as a result17:57 of that, He has caused me to delight in His will. See, it's 1 thing to do the will of God, another thing to truly delight in the will of God. You come to that place where you18:08 prefer, Lord, I would do Your will because I know Your will is good for me. Hallelujah! John Calvin said this, The human heart has so many crannies where18:20 vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood lurks. It's so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy that it often dupes itself. Many times, we18:32 we want to have God, but we don't want to surrender to him. And that is the key, the struggle that goes within us. That's why there is a hypocrisy in our lives. But I want you to18:44 recognize, if you want to know the will and do the will, you need to be seeking after you need to come before God and to seek Him, cultivate that taste. At the same time, you need to know18:56 that there is 2 struggles within you. There's a struggle between your self will and God's will that you need to come and yield aright. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 15 and 17 says this:19:16 See, we already established that this is the last days, the last leg of the last days. So, don't miss the opportunity. Don't live like fools. Live like a wise man. Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what19:28 the will of God is and do it. You and I, we need to live with wisdom. And the wisdom is, He is coming again soon, so let's get busy doing the will19:40 of the Father. Hallelujah. Why is there a difference between knowing God's will and doing God's will? The difference is because there's 2 conflicting natures within us, isn't it? Romans chapter19:51 7 and verses 18 and verses 19 say but not the ability to carry it out. Paul20:03 says, I want to do the right thing, but I can't do the right thing. Why? Because there is an evil that is also wanting to do evil within me. So look at that. The sin I don't want to do, I end up doing. The good20:15 I want to do, I don't end up doing. The sin I don't want to do, I end up doing. The good I want to do, I don't end up doing. In other words, that's a constant struggle. It's because you and I have these 220:27 natures. So that's why you gotta recognize that in every situation, you gotta come before God and say, Lord, I feel that churning within. I feel that restlessness just like ASAP did. But I20:39 recognize that as you're pinpointing some areas of my life where you are calling me to surrender. You're calling me to give in. You're calling me to let the will of God have rule and reign over my life.20:51 Help me, Lord. Hallelujah. So the moment you recognize that, it move on to the third 1, the absolute surrender. Hallelujah. So it is the deep search,21:03 the desperate struggle, and the absolute surrender. What is the absolute surrender? It is yielding it all. Hallelujah. It is yielding it all. And the 2 things that I want you to highlight is21:15 there is a struggle to surrender and the power to surrender. See, you and I, we recognize that what God is calling us to do as we spiritually mature is to surrender and to say, father, not my will,21:27 but your will be done. You are inviting me to lead a small group. Let Your will be done. I want to respond to it. Father, You are asking me to open my home and invite pre believers so that they21:39 can hear the Gospel. Lord, let me respond. Not my will, but Your will be done. Lord, You're asking me to give towards the cause of the kingdom. Let me do that. Lord, You're asking me to stay where I am in my21:51 workplace. Let me do that. There is a struggle to surrender, but there is also a power to surrender. I want you to recognize this. See, in life, you and I,22:03 we surrender to God. I'm not saying if you're a Christian, you there are areas of your life you're totally surrendered. No. There are some areas we do surrender. Maybe in the area of your relationship, you're more22:14 surrendered. But in the area of your finance, you're not. Maybe in the area of how you use your spare time, you're not surrendered. Maybe you're the how there are some areas of your life where you're not surrendered.22:26 See, many times we have this fallacy, I'm surrendered. Because we are surrendered, we have given some token surrenders. But what I'm calling for and what the Bible calls for is an absolute22:39 surrender. 1 of the core things that you and I, we need to recognize is this. The greatest paradox of Christianity is wanting God but not surrendering to Him. We want Him,22:51 but there are areas of our lives we just keep holding on to. That's why there is such a, there is no integration in our lives. There's such a departmentalization in our lives, compartmentalization in our lives. Some23:03 aspects are given to the Lord, but other aspects we haven't. And that's why we are so fragmented. But if we come back to that place where we say, Lord, my whole life, all of my23:14 life, every aspect of my life, whole of my life, I give to you. The whole of my life for the whole of my life. In other words, all of my life for the rest of my life, I yield to you.23:26 That is a life of integration. That's a life of discipleship. That's a life of absolute surrender. Now, that's what Jesus wants, isn't it? I want you to listen to me. Andrew Murray23:38 said this. He wrote a beautiful book called, Absolute Surrender. If you ever have a chance, read that. But I want to give you this quote. Many believers think that when they receive Jesus, He saves them and then helps23:50 them in times of trouble. Then they all but deny Him as their master. They think they have a right to have their own will and their own way in 1000 different things. They are their own24:02 masters and would never dream of saying, Jesus, I forsake all to follow You. What a beautiful picture! If you are a disciple of Christ, you have got to recognise that you are no24:14 longer your own. You are now bought with a price. Christ owns you. You are like a bond servant. You know the difference between a24:25 slave and a bond slave? A slave is someone who has no freedom. He has been bought, and he he has to he has a master who dictates everything. But you know what? Who's a bond24:37 slave? A bond slave is somebody who has laid down his life. He's free, but he's laid down his life to serve his master willingly. He yields himself. He says, I want to be24:49 your slave. I want to be your servant. I wanna serve you. Even though I have freedom to choose otherwise, I want to serve you, and they are the bondservants. You and I, we are like that. Because we recognize our lives25:01 don't belong to us. We belong to the Master. He died for us. He rescued us. He delivered us. He saved us. He is our rightful owner and therefore we want to please Him, we want to do His will and that is25:13 why we come and surrender ourselves to Him. And what kind of surrender does He expect? He expects an absolute surrender. Look with me in Proverbs25:24 three:five-six. It is a familiar text. Let's read it together.25:40 I want to highlight the 2 things that you find as the key words in this verses. Many times I ask people to do this, they will always choose trust and acknowledge.25:52 Because it says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight. So, the trust and acknowledge is the key words.26:02 But, can I humbly say this? There is a small word that is repeated twice. That is the key word in this passage. What is the small word? It is the word called ALL. Trust26:14 in the Lord with all of your heart. In all of your ways acknowledge Him. Not just in some ways, not just in some areas of your life where you trust26:26 Him, but trust Him with all of your heart. And acknowledge Him in all of your ways. Now, that is the struggle that we have many times because we fail to26:38 understand the plan of God is for you and me to be blessed. Blessed with His presence, blessed with His with promise, blessed and clothed with His favor.26:50 And it comes to us when we willingly yield ourselves and trust Him with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding and acknowledge Him in all our ways so that He can make27:01 our paths straight.
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Paul Jeyachandran
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