The phrase “get saved” reeks of self-righteousness! We are all like drowning children – we cannot save ourselves! That’s why we need a Savior for in the first place! How does one go about “getting saved,” anyway? You can’t! It’s impossible for a person to “get saved,” it is of the Savior’s choosing. He works in certain people – people He knows ahead of time will respond and turn to Him when called.
Also, if you ever come to a point where you doubt your salvation – don’t! You were sealed by God from the Disruption! That means nothing that you do can possibly get you to be “unsaved,” since you did nothing to get “saved” in the first place! The opposite would be by your actions you are saved, and so by your actions, you could also lose your salvation. That would be a works-based doctrine and any church that teaches that you can somehow sin your way out of salvation is poisonous! And pastors, preachers and priests are the ones that are delivering the fatal dose!
It’s been said that if the devil can’t stop you from getting saved, he will try to hinder your walk with God, making you ineffective. One of those ways is to make sure you never reach maturity once you receive the truth. What good is it to have a great foundation if nothing is going to be built on it? It could be a great foundation, but if nothing is built on it, what can it be used for? I will use the popular board game of Monopoly to illustrate. In it, the player wins by rolling dice and landing on squares representing real estate properties, and if available, one can purchase those properties. After purchasing, if another player lands on that property, “rent” is owed to the owner. Let’s suppose that I acquire all of the green and dark blue ones, consisting of Pennsylvania Ave, North Carolina Ave, Pacific Avenue, and of course, the coveted Park Place and Boardwalk. Any seasoned Monopoly player knows that if he/she has this, the game is basically over, especially if s/he has enough money left over to buy houses or hotels. Why? If you don’t know, building real estate (houses and especially hotels) on top of the properties already acquired causes the rent to be raised and the poor players that happen to land on it will be forced to pay it. With an entire section of the board, which in this case, happens to be the most expensive, it is only a matter of time before the other players are forced to sell their own properties or go bankrupt! The foundation is laid, now to get to work building on top of it to bankrupt other players unfortunate enough to land on this “death streak.”
I used this illustration to drive home the point that it is important to build on top of the foundation, which has already been laid for us – Christ! Jesus said in Lk 14:28,
“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’” (NASB, italics mine).
This man was rightfully laughed at, and what’s sad is that many Christians are here – at this stage – actually content with where they are at. The Apostle Paul told the immature believers in Corinth,
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly…According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1Cor 3:1-15, NASB, italics and underline mine).
Paul here was complaining that the Corinthian believers were not mature enough yet (the fact that they were stuck in denominational-ism probably didn’t help) to get to the real “spiritual meat” of what he wanted to tell them. He goes on to say that, while having a firm foundation in Christ is GOOD, it’s just the beginning. That’s right! Salvation isn’t the goal – it’s the starting point! The Catholic Church has this wrong, as they believe that you have to run the race and then at the end, you can qualify to have salvation. I say no! From the moment that you first believe, you are justified by God! The Apostle Paul called these Corinthians “babies.” This wasn’t an insult – it was the truth! People these days are downright comfortable in their current situation, after they “get saved.” That’s not good! Exhibiting childish behavior is acceptable – when you’re a child. But a 25-year-old acting like a 3-year-old is simply pathetic, don’t you think? We would say, “That person needs some serious maturity!” We, all of us, should strive every day to become mature in Christ! I’ll put it to you another way. Christ is the foundation (the Rock) on which to build your house on. Now that we have Christ as our foundation, what are you going to do to build your house? Paul recommends building it with precious metals and stones (which represent good works that honor the Father), rather than wood or hay (representing selfish, dead, useless works). What happens when those things meet fire? The gold, silver and stones become purified and refined by it; the wood, hay and straw burn up, leaving only ash to be scattered by the wind.
He said in his letter to the Ephesian church, “God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13, CEB, italics mine). That’s what it’s about: maturity in Christ. Dan Sheridan said that his child acts like a child – but she’s four! She has an excuse. He says that if she acts that way when she’s 25, there’s a problem! Have you ever seen a person not act their age? It can be quite embarrassing when they start throwing tantrums that you would expect a child to throw! Quite a few world leaders act this way – they can’t handle the responsibility of a nation on their shoulders. As a world, we have had many types of government – from dictatorships to monarchs to republics. All of them eventually fail. All of them become corrupt and turn on the people. It won’t be this way in the Kingdom. Only those that are mature in Christ - these will rule and reign with Him. They qualify to rule. As Paul said, “I have won the race.” In order to win, you have to participate. For everyone is saved, but only a few will show themselves worthy of ruling over “many cities.”
And what makes a mature believer? As Don Bast put it,
“Paul distinguishes mature sons of God from God’s other children by the fact they will be “reigning in the kingdom”…Mature sons can be simply defined as,
Those led by the spirit of God these are sons of God (Rom.8:14)…
A circumcised heart in effect is a new heart. This spiritual heart operation can only take place in a new covenant environment, even though it was promised to Israel a long time ago. It is a painful operation, yet necessary for God’s children to mature and be ready to reign in His spiritual kingdom.”
(Source: Secrets of the Kingdom by Don Bast, 2019, pp 128 & 129)
The Apostle Paul was obsessed with the maturity of a believer. It was all over his letters! Over and over he spoke of the mature and the immature believers! It wasn’t enough for him, nor should it be for us, that we are “saved.” When meeting a fellow believer, he usually would ask if they had yet believed on the Lord Jesus, then he would quickly get them baptized into His Name, and then got busy with maturing them in the Lord! Some websites say,
“The apostle Paul wrote that he once reasoned like a child, but he had now put childish ways behind him (1 Cor. 13:11). He was referring to the spiritual maturity process, whereby a believer’s self-centered ideas are replaced by a healthier perspective.
But maturation is just that—a process—so some immature thinking may linger with the Christian. Based on our childhood experiences, we may wrongly believe . . .
Lie #1—God’s love for us depends on how good we are. We act as if our behavior can positively or negatively impact His affection for us. But Scripture tells us that the Lord’s love is constant; it never varies.
Lie #2—Acceptance by others has to do with performance, not who we are. With this mindset, we constantly try to please other people. But we can rest in the truth that God has adopted every believer into His family; we are fully accepted.
Lie #3—Our security rests in social status, material things, or some other worldly prize. This leads to anxiety and manipulation as we attempt to acquire what we lack. The truth is, we’ll experience peace when we realize Christ is our true source of security.”
(Source: https://www.christianity.com/jesus/early-church-history/the-apostle-paul/paul-calls-us-to-move-away-from-lies-to-maturity.html)
“God's overarching goal is to produce men and women who demonstrate the character qualities of Jesus Christ. God does not want a church filled with whiterobed saints. He does not want a church filled with theological authorities or cultured clergyman. He wants a church filled with ordinary men and women who exemplify the extraordinary integrity, temperament, wholeness, compassion, individuality, boldness, righteousness, earnestness, love, forgiveness, selflessness, and faithfulness of Jesus Christ!”
(Source: https://www.raystedman.org/thematic-studies/body-life/the-goal-is-maturity)
“Paul could not tell immature believers much about the new things Jesus revealed to him, because many of them contradicted the Old Testament and would have caused doubt and confusion. How could Paul tell immature Jewish converts that they could eat any meat they wanted, did not have to circumcise their baby boys, or did not have to keep the Sabbath? Those things were a source of conflict through the entire New Testament period. But Paul could teach differently to the mature believers. Believers who had been with Paul for a while and had grown to trust that he was a mighty man of God and that Jesus spoke to him were in a position to believe that Paul had indeed received new information from Jesus, even information that had been a “sacred secret” from the foundation of the world and that was not in the Old Testament. So once a believer was mature, Paul could teach him about the wisdom of God that God had kept in a sacred secret, which is exactly what 1 Corinthians 2:7 says.
Once we see who Paul taught the basics of Christianity to, and who he considered mature and taught information about the sacred secret to, we can see how important it is to take very seriously our commission as “ministers of Christ” and “stewards of the sacred secrets of God” (1 Cor. 4:1 Rotherham). Christian teachers must recognize when people are babies in Christ and need “the milk of the Word,” and they must have a plan for helping them grow in Christ. The goal we must have in our minds is to always be “admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ” (Col. 1:28 NIV84).
We understand that each Christian goes through a growth process as they mature in Christ. Today the New Testament is accepted by Christians as the Word of God, so we can teach things that are written in it to new Christians that Paul could not have taught to new Christians, but the principle Paul used was the same: there are things that build trust in new believers and things that cause questions and doubt. New Christians need the milk of the Word, and teachers are to be skilled in helping Christians grow from a diet of milk to a diet of the meat of the Word.
Every Christian should desire to grow and mature so we can wisely steward the sacred secrets of God (1 Cor. 4:1). Just as a biblical house-manager was responsible to his master for the prosperity and posterity of the household, we are responsible to God to see that we are doing all we can so the sacred secrets of God are taught, understood, and passed down.”
(Source: http://thesowermagazine.com/pauls-different-teachings-to-the-immature-and-mature-believers/)
Remember that Jesus said,
“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt 24:45-51, NASB).
Just as this servant, who was partying and using what belonged to the Master and was mistreating his fellow servants, was cut off and was thrown out to the “outer darkness” a place where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” likewise the lazy servant in Mt 25 will not inherit anything, either. You do indeed reap what you sow.
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