SUNDAY LESSON, 1/10/21
SPIRITUAL MATURITY: GROWING IN CHRIST (1)
selected passages from the book of James
If you ever want to know what it looks like for grown people to act like children, just Google the news feeds over the last few days from Washington DC and you will see it on display from the president on down. No maturity there.
Four different New Testament writers stress the importance of spiritual maturity: the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 3:1-2), the Hebrew writer (Hebrews 5:11-6:1), Peter (1 Peter 2:2), and James. In fact, throughout the book of James we see a concise description of what spiritual maturity looks like. For the next two Sundays I will be delving into the book of James to see how he describes in practical terms what a mature Christian looks like, and learn what we can do to grow daily in the likeness of Christ.
A MATURE CHRISTIAN:
PERSEVERES UNDER PRESSURE
James 1:2-4
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
OBEYS GOD’S WORD
James 1:22-25
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
LOVES ALL PEOPLE
James 2:8-9
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
