Week 6 - FROM IMMATURITY TO MATURITY
CONNECT
What are you thankful for?
What challenge are you facing?
Have there been any answers to prayer?
Pray for each other.
Did anything stand out to you from last week’s follow-up Bible readings?
How did your “I will …” statement from last week go?
How did your sharing goal from last week go?
How’s your memory work coming along?
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV-1984)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he (she) is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!
DISCOVER
Let’s start with a review.
FROM ADAM TO CHRIST - Union with Christ
We were born into Adam. This means that whatever was true of Adam was true of us. But by grace through faith, we have been born again into Christ. This means that whatever is true of Jesus is now true of us. Therefore, we are no longer characterized by Adam’s sin and death but by Christ’s righteousness and life.
FROM DEATH TO LIFE - Regeneration
We were dead in Adam, but now we are alive in Christ. Because we share in Jesus’ resurrected life, we already have eternal life here and now. From our new birth, new heart and the presence of the Holy Spirit, we can stop living for ourselves and start living for Jesus.
FROM GUILTY TO INNOCENT - Justification
On our own, we are guilty sinners, who have rebelled against God’s authority and broken God’s law. We stand condemned and deserve death. Jesus, however, took personal responsibility for both our obedience to God’s law and our disobedience of God’s law. He did this by living the life we should have and dying the death we would have. Now through faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, when God looks at us He sees His Son. And because Jesus is righteous, God sees us as righteous. God has acquitted us of our guilt and declared us innocent in Christ.
FROM ENEMY TO FAMILY - Reconciliation and Adoption
Though we were God’s enemies because of our sinful rebellion, God has reconciled us to Himself as His friends and has adopted us as His very own children through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. He has also given us the Holy Spirit to assure us of His Fatherly love, especially when life is difficult.
FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM - Redemption or Ransoming
We were in bondage to sin, Satan and the fear of dying. Jesus, however, purchased our freedom with His own blood. He personally paid our ransom and we have been redeemed. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36).
And now …
FROM IMMATURITY TO MATURITY - Sanctification
Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.
1 John 2:12-14 (CEB)
12 Little children, I’m writing to you because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus’ name. 13 Parents, I’m writing to you because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning. Young people, I’m writing to you because you have conquered the evil one. 14 Little children, I write to you because you know the Father. Parents, I write to you because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning. Young people, I write to you because you are strong, the word of God remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.
Have someone retell the passage in their own words.
What stands out to you in this passage?
What does this passage say about God (The Father, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit)?
What does this passage say about people, including ourselves?
What does this passage say about the life God invites us to live?
Digging Deeper
Is the Apostle John talking about chronological ages in 1 John 2:12-14 or levels of spiritual maturity?
The Immature
1 John 2:12, 14 (CEB)
12 Little children, I’m writing to you because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus’ name.
14 Little children, I write to you because you know the Father.
What characterizes the immature in the faith?
Do you know these?
Why do some believers experience “arrested development” and never mature past the basics of the faith?
Little children have been born again and know that God is their Father and their sins are forgiven.
The Maturing
1 John 2:13-14 (CEB)
13 Young people, I’m writing to you because you have conquered the evil one.
14 Young people, I write to you because you are strong, the word of God remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.
What characterizes the maturing in the faith?
How are you maturing in these characteristics? Where do you still need to mature?
Young people know that life isn’t just about them, so they take responsibility for themselves and their own spiritual maturity and victory.
The Mature
1 John 2:13-14 (CEB)
13 Parents, I’m writing to you because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning.
14 Parents, I write to you because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning.
What characterizes the mature in the faith?
What is it about KNOWING the one who has existed from the beginning that brings so much maturity?
How has knowing the Eternal One brought maturity into your life?
Why do the mature become parents?
Parents don’t just take responsibility for themselves but for others. They seek to bear new children in the faith and they work hard to see these little children mature into young adulthood and parenthood.
Fully Mature
Colossians 1:28-29 (NIV)
28 [Christ] is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
What is Paul’s goal for everyone?
Why does Paul put so much effort (depending on Christ’s help) into presenting everyone fully mature in Christ?
How much effort are you putting into becoming fully mature in Christ?
What does the level of your effort suggest about how important this goal is to you?
Hebrews 5:11-14 (CEB)
11 We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. 12 Although you should have been teachers by now, you need someone to teach you an introduction to the basics about God’s message. You have come to the place where you need milk instead of solid food. 13 Everyone who lives on milk is not used to the word of righteousness, because they are babies. 14 But solid food is for the mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish between good and evil.
Why is there no room to be lazy when it comes to our spiritual maturity?
Why is teaching others the faith so important to learning the faith for ourselves?
Everyone Discipled / Everyone Discipling
One of the goals of Follow The Way is to prepare you to disciple others. Making a disciple is a relational, biblical and intentional process of helping someone become a disciple of Jesus, mature as a disciple of Jesus and then make disciples of Jesus.
Are you in a discipling relationship with someone? How is it going?
Is God calling you into a discipling relationship with someone? Whom? What’s your next step?
Foundational Truth
Here’s the FOUNDATIONAL TRUTH we discovered today:
When we come to Jesus Christ, we are just infants in the faith. From this beginning of knowing God as our Father and His forgiveness, we grow strong in the Word and so overcome Satan and eventually become parents of other believers. God uses His Word and His Spirit, along with our commitment to grow, to help us become more and more like Christ.
Theologically, this is called Sanctification. Through faith in Jesus, we have been set apart as holy. Then as our faith matures, we progressively become more holy like Jesus. Justification is being declared righteous in Christ. Sanctification is the process of becoming righteous like Christ. We become holy as He is holy because God’s will is for you to be holy (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
LIVE
What truth have you discovered from today’s Bible passage(s) and conversation?
What would stop you from believing and obeying this truth?
How will you live out this truth this coming week? Finish this statement: “I will ….”
Who else needs to hear this truth? How could you share it with them?
When will we meet again?
Who will facilitate that meeting?
Pray for God’s help as you seek to follow Jesus this coming week.
FOLLOW-UP BIBLE READINGS
Here are the Bible passages you are encouraged to read this coming week:
BUDDY SYSTEM
Connect with your buddy this week and ask each other these questions:
How are your readings going?
How’s your “I will …” statement coming along?
How’s your sharing goal coming along?
How can I pray for you?
PRINTABLE PDF
© 2023 Karl House. All rights reserved.