Part 2
‘The gospel momentum series’
Feature
5 mins 27 seconds read
This is an extract from the second of a series of inspirational talks at our summer conference by Simon L, National Director of Pioneers Australia. The Spirit of God is one of four ingredients essential to the momentum of the gospel.
A preacher began, “I have so much to say I hardly know where to start.” A little boy in the front row shouted, “Why don’t you start somewhere near the end!” So it is with this big topic. Where do we start and what do we cover?
Some say the truly spiritual life is for a select few. I’ve heard talks that made me feel as if there is no way I could ever become a truly spiritual person this side of heaven! But the spiritual life is attainable and, indeed, essential as we move forward in mission. First: the Word of God. Second: the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit and the spiritual life.
In 1 Corinthians 2:14-3:4 you discover four kinds of people.
Quite clearly this person is a lost person. Romans 8:9 says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” In other words, if you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you’re not a Christian. And in Jude 19 we read that the natural person does not have the Spirit of God.
About this lost person, Paul makes two statements. First, a natural person does not accept the things of God because they are foolishness to him. It literally means he does not welcome the things of the Spirit of God. He rejects talk about prayer, church, discipleship, the Bible, and so on. This means if you find a lost person who shows any interest in spiritual things, you get on to that person immediately. Because God the Holy Spirit is working in his or her heart. How do we know? Because a natural person does not seek after the things of God.
Second, this person cannot understand certain things because they are spiritual realities. The Greek verb here ginosko can mean to “understand” and it can mean “interacting with, having a relationship with.” The natural man cannot interact with the things of the Spirit of God. Why? Because they are spiritually discerned and he does not have the Spirit.
The spiritual person is a mature Christian. How do we know that? Because he has discernment. The spiritual person discerns all things. She judges or appraises all things. In Hebrews 5:14 we read that, “solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Maturity doesn’t happen overnight. Regular use of discernment is required, and training of any kind takes time. The spiritual person is a mature believer.
Using the past tense, Paul refers to people who were recent converts. Notice he doesn’t rebuke them for not being able to take more than milk when they are babies. After all, when you have recent converts, you give them milk. When Paul came to Corinth there were no Christians. He led them to the Lord, and he gave them milk to drink. Parents realise what that means when they bring their first baby home. They feed them milk. Later they introduce different foods at the right times.
Likewise, you feed new believers the basics: What is the gospel? How does a Christian grow? What does a Christian do when he or she sins? You talk about prayer and Christian fellowship. You feed them milk. New believers are not initially able to bear solid food. There is nothing wrong with that.
Paul describes the evidence for this worldly person. First when he should be able to take deeper truths, he can’t. It’s exactly what we read in Hebrews 5:12-14. Although they should be teachers by now, they need someone to teach them the ABCs (that’s what the word for elementary truths literally means). They had survived on milk for so long, they became carnal, fleshly, so that Paul couldn’t give them the deeper truths. Imagine if a mother never gives her child more than milk as he or she gets older! Now, I hate to say this brothers and sisters, but many churches are filled with carnal Christians. And that’s a challenge for Pioneers as we seek to help churches send workers to the nations. Everything we do relates to the local church – from the sending of workers to the planting of churches to partnering with churches. We can’t be sending immature believers to serve in mission.
The second clear evidence of carnality is the inability to get along with other Christians. You can tell how well a person is walking with God by how well he gets along with God’s people. If he or she can’t get along with God’s people, it’s certain that person is not walking intimately with God. This is a great test for Pioneers because we serve in teams!
If the spiritual person is a mature Christian, then the spiritual life is
nothing more, nothing less, nothing other than the kind of life that
produces spiritual maturity.
It’s that simple. And there are all kinds of implications for Pioneers as we think about the Holy Spirit empowering us as we move forward. Here are just three. The spiritual life is…
No one matures in a hurry! Here’s how the spiritual life works: you just keep walking with Jesus day by day by day and you mature. Remember when you were six years old, you just couldn’t wait to reach 10, double digits. And when you were 10, you couldn’t wait to be 13, a teenager. And then you couldn’t wait to leave secondary school. And then 17 when you could get your full UK driving licence. Then you couldn’t wait to graduate from university. And so it went until you hit 30… and then you wanted everything to slow down! But you just keep growing day by day by day. That’s the spiritual life. Just walk with the Lord Jesus, day by day by day. It’s a gradual development.
Maturity is not only being physically and mentally mature, but emotionally mature. You’ve all met people who are very sharp intellectually, and physically developed, but are immature emotionally. They get angry quickly, they can’t get along with other people, they’re self-centred. They’ve never grown up.
That’s how it is with the spiritual life. It’s a well-balanced life. It includes Bible reading and prayer and evangelism and the Holy Spirit and fellowship and more. Suffering too. Pastor Chuck Swindoll says, “You show me a Christian who has never suffered, and I’ll show you a spiritual wimp!” He’s right. It’s a well-balanced life that leads to spiritual maturity.
“Maturity doesn’t happen overnight. Regular use of discernment is required, and training of any kind takes time. The spiritual person is
a mature believer.”
The Apostle Paul had been a follower of Jesus for 30 years when he wrote Philippians 3:10! It’s a never-ending process. You can never say, “I’m there, I’ve arrived!” And that’s the marvellous spiritual life… for you and for Pioneers. It just keeps going on and on and on with new vistas of the Lord Jesus. Gradual, well-balanced and life-long.
Friends, don’t give up. The spiritual life is simply the kind of life that produces spiritual maturity. That truth is vital for Pioneers because gospel momentum depends on the Spirit of God – He continues to work through people who are growing toward maturity.
