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Hope Beyond Immaturity Maturity Checkpoints Msg 8_17 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Without a doubt, the process of spiritual growth is long
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  Speaker 1: and often a very painful one. En route to maturity,
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  Speaker 1: we all spill our milk. We say things we shouldn't say,
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  Speaker 1: and at times we do not act our age. No
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  Speaker 1: matter what our age may be, we often don't act
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  Speaker 1: our age. Sometimes we act more like toddlers throwing temper tantrums.
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  Speaker 1: And the tragedy is that we often are unaware that
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  Speaker 1: what we're doing is wrong at the time. Other times
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  Speaker 1: we pout like little children, so self-centered that we simply
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  Speaker 1: don't care that we're misbehaving. Now, we have the knowledge, perhaps,
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  Speaker 1: but we don't have the will to do what's right.
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  Speaker 1: Even those who are spiritually mature, hear me when I
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  Speaker 1: say this, Even the spiritually mature have days when they
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  Speaker 1: take a return trip to the terrible twos. It's not
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  Speaker 1: a pretty sight, but it's reality. Growing up is a
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  Speaker 1: stated objective for all of the members of God's family.
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  Speaker 1: Growing old happens, but growing up isn't automatic. We are
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  Speaker 1: all somewhere in the process of spiritual growth, that hopefully
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  Speaker 1: will continue until our time on earth is done. The
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  Speaker 1: Apostle Peter provides a yardstick for spiritual growth, and it's
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  Speaker 1: very helpful. It's a tangible, objective set of checkpoints we
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  Speaker 1: can all use to measure the levels of our maturity
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  Speaker 1: in different areas. He summarized his comments and set forth
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  Speaker 1: eight marks of maturity in his first letter, I'm referring
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  Speaker 1: to 1 Peter chapter 3, beginning at verse 8. Let
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  Speaker 1: me read the passage for you today. 1 Peter 3,
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  Speaker 1: verses 8 through 12. To sum up, all of you
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  Speaker 1: be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit, not
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  Speaker 1: returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving
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  Speaker 1: a blessing instead, for you were called for the very
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  Speaker 1: purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For the one
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  Speaker 1: who desires life to love and see good days must
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  Speaker 1: keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
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  Speaker 1: He must turn away from evil and do good. He
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  Speaker 1: must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord are toward the righteous. and his ears attend
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  Speaker 1: to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is
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  Speaker 1: against those who do evil. During my most obnoxious years
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  Speaker 1: as a teenager, I remember receiving two pieces of advice,
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  Speaker 1: one of which was rather simple to obey, and the
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  Speaker 1: other one was much more complicated. Both of them didn't
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  Speaker 1: take long to say. The first one was simply, shut up.
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  Speaker 1: And I was able to accomplish that by keeping my
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  Speaker 1: mouth shut, which for some reason I found very difficult
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  Speaker 1: to do on occasion. So I was told that a
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  Speaker 1: number of times during my growing up years. But the
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  Speaker 1: other piece of advice I still receive in various ways,
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  Speaker 1: not only from other individuals, but from the Lord especially,
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  Speaker 1: that is the counsel to grow up. And that's much
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  Speaker 1: more difficult to follow. You can find out if someone
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  Speaker 1: has shut up by simply watching and listening. If they
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  Speaker 1: stop talking, they've obeyed the command. But it's tough to
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  Speaker 1: know if someone has grown up or is growing up,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it? It's difficult to gauge that. How do you
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  Speaker 1: know when someone has grown up? Does it mean that
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  Speaker 1: their hair has started to turn gray? No, that means
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  Speaker 1: they've grown older, but not necessarily grown wiser and grown up.
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  Speaker 1: I was looking at Harold Netland's head a moment ago
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  Speaker 1: while we were, I confess, my eyes were open on occasion,
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  Speaker 1: and he is growing older. There's a spot right here
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  Speaker 1: on his head that's growing larger, and there isn't hair
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  Speaker 1: there at the time, and I I noticed that when
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  Speaker 1: balding begins to take place, not that you're bald, but
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  Speaker 1: when it begins to take place, you're growing older, but
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  Speaker 1: you're not necessarily growing up. I've met people whose hair
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  Speaker 1: is snow white who still are very immature. So showing
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  Speaker 1: signs of age in no way means that one is
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  Speaker 1: showing signs of maturity. To be told to grow up
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  Speaker 1: is easy to say, But it's tough to know how
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  Speaker 1: to fulfill it. And it's even tougher to know if
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  Speaker 1: you're on your way. How do you know that you're
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  Speaker 1: growing up? How do you know and how do I
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  Speaker 1: know that we are more mature this time or at
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  Speaker 1: this time of the year than we were at this
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  Speaker 1: time of the year last year? How do we know
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  Speaker 1: that we are any more mature having lived a year longer?
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  Speaker 1: We know we're older. But how do we know we've
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  Speaker 1: grown up? And is growing up something that God wants
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  Speaker 1: of us? Maybe he just wants us to live in
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  Speaker 1: his family, sort of exist between now and eternity, and
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  Speaker 1: then he's going to take us home. No, on the contrary,
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  Speaker 1: there is a stated goal for all God's children recorded
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  Speaker 1: in the sixth chapter of Hebrews. Maybe you haven't looked
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  Speaker 1: at it for a while, so let me address it
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  Speaker 1: while you watch, while you listen. Now, I think the
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  Speaker 1: chapter break in Hebrews 6 is most unfortunate because the
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  Speaker 1: writer has been talking about growing and learning. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: he has even said in chapter 5 verse 11, he
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  Speaker 1: has a lot of things he wanted to say to
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  Speaker 1: the readers, wanted to write to these readers that were
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  Speaker 1: hard to explain, and he just, it seemed as though
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  Speaker 1: in a moment of frustration, simply said, I'm not going
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  Speaker 1: to worry with it. You become dull of hearing, and
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  Speaker 1: I'm not going to get into it. Verse 11, chapter 5,
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  Speaker 1: concerning Melchizedek, who is mentioned up in verse 10, we
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  Speaker 1: have much to say, and it's hard to explain since
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  Speaker 1: you become dull of hearing. For though by this time
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  Speaker 1: you ought to be teachers, you have need again for
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  Speaker 1: someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles
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  Speaker 1: of God. And you have come to need milk and
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  Speaker 1: not solid food. How interesting that he puts it like that.
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  Speaker 1: You are back on baby food. I've had grocers tell
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  Speaker 1: me that their supply of baby food is depleted more
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  Speaker 1: by the aging than by the infants in their community.
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  Speaker 1: As you get older, you revert back, it seems, to childhood.
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  Speaker 1: And he calls it milk. You have come to need
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  Speaker 1: milk and not solid food. Now, in the physical life,
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  Speaker 1: that may be common, but in the spiritual life, that
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  Speaker 1: is not what God wants. For everyone who partakes only
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  Speaker 1: of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness,
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  Speaker 1: for he is a babe. Solid food is for the mature,
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  Speaker 1: who because of practice have their senses changed trained to
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  Speaker 1: discern good and evil. By the way, that is a
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  Speaker 1: great mark of maturity. You can't get much better than
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  Speaker 1: that in your checkpoints. To discern good and evil takes maturity. Now,
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  Speaker 1: on that context, he goes right into verse 1. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: And in verse 1, he states something that we should
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  Speaker 1: leave and he states next something we should pursue. What
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  Speaker 1: should we leave? Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ,
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  Speaker 1: let us pursue maturity. What are we to leave? We
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  Speaker 1: are to set aside... the elementary matters of the faith.
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  Speaker 1: We are to place them aside so that we set
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  Speaker 1: out on a pursuit of maturity, growing up, not laying
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  Speaker 1: again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of
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  Speaker 1: faith toward God. I think, frankly, he has reference to
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament Signs and sacrifices and types. He's saying
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  Speaker 1: we've gone beyond that. Perhaps in today's terms we could say,
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  Speaker 1: go on beyond the gospel. You have heard the gospel.
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  Speaker 1: You have responded to the gospel. You have believed the gospel.
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  Speaker 1: Now go on. Grow up. Get into areas of teaching
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  Speaker 1: and learning that touch deeply into your life and give
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  Speaker 1: you solid food, give you strength. In fact, I've heard
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  Speaker 1: it rendered leaving the ABCs, of the faith, playing blocks
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  Speaker 1: and drinking milk and being entertained. Leave the things that
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  Speaker 1: characterize infancy and get on with a growing up lifestyle.
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  Speaker 1: That's what we're to pursue. Few things are more pathetic
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  Speaker 1: to behold than a person who has known the Lord
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  Speaker 1: for years, but still can't work his way out of
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  Speaker 1: a paper bag doctrinally, Biblically, you've grown old, but you
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  Speaker 1: haven't grown up. Let me ask you something, just very frankly.
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  Speaker 1: Do you feed yourself on the Word of God regularly?
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  Speaker 1: Or must you have the teaching of someone else to
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  Speaker 1: keep growing? Now, I don't decry good teaching. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: that's the reason, that's my job security. There's a need
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  Speaker 1: at all times for someone to instruct us and exhort
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  Speaker 1: us in the things of God. But I don't do
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  Speaker 1: that because you have no way of taking it in
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  Speaker 1: on your own. I do that as a food supplement.
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  Speaker 1: Is all of your food something served by someone else?
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  Speaker 1: Or are you digging into it? Are you cracking open
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  Speaker 1: the scriptures? Are you engaged in a ministry of concerted
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  Speaker 1: and prevailing prayer? Are you personally on your own growth chart?
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  Speaker 1: further along than you were a year ago, two years ago,
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  Speaker 1: five years ago? Are you still needing just milk? Well,
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  Speaker 1: how do I know is a good question. How do
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  Speaker 1: I know I'm growing up? I need some checkpoints along
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  Speaker 1: the way. And it occurred to me when I looked
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  Speaker 1: into this grand, small section in 1 Peter 3 that
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  Speaker 1: what we have here is a is a series of
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  Speaker 1: checkpoints to help me know I'm growing up. I'm getting
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  Speaker 1: on in life. I'm not only growing older, I'm becoming
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  Speaker 1: more mature. Now, once again, verses 8 through 12 fall
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  Speaker 1: within a context of a series of other thoughts that
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  Speaker 1: began way back in chapter 2, verse 11. And the
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  Speaker 1: thought on Peter's mind, as he says in verse 8,
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  Speaker 1: chapter 3, to sum up, his summing up has to
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  Speaker 1: do with a series of thoughts he's been delivering in
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  Speaker 1: his letter regarding submission to authority. Or, as we've mentioned before,
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  Speaker 1: falling in rank under the authority of someone who is
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  Speaker 1: over us, who is in a position of superiority. If
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  Speaker 1: I may use that word. And it goes back to
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  Speaker 1: chapter 2, verse 11. Look at the different categories. In 2.11,
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  Speaker 1: these are Christians living in a secular society. I urge
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  Speaker 1: you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts
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  Speaker 1: which wage war against the soul. Here is the Christian
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  Speaker 1: living in a secular world under the superiority of the
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  Speaker 1: lordship of Christ. Now there's another category. Verse 13. Submit
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  Speaker 1: yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution. So
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  Speaker 1: these are Christian citizens who live under the authority of
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  Speaker 1: the Roman government. He describes them as kings in authority,
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  Speaker 1: governors sent by him for the punishment of evildoers. We
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  Speaker 1: are citizens and we are to live under the authority
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  Speaker 1: of our government, 2.13. In 2.18, he changes the subject
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  Speaker 1: to servants. Servants are to fall in rank under the
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  Speaker 1: authority of masters. Well, the servant could think, well, if
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  Speaker 1: I have a good master, I'll be obedient. He says,
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  Speaker 1: even if you don't have a good master, be submissive
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  Speaker 1: to your masters with all respect, not only to those
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  Speaker 1: who are good and gentle, verse 18, but to those
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  Speaker 1: who are unreasonable. And so far, it's nice and safe.
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  Speaker 1: Everything's fine and dandy. That's all first century stuff till
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  Speaker 1: you get to verse 1, chapter 3. And then wives
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  Speaker 1: are addressed. Wives are told to fall in rank under
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  Speaker 1: the authority of their own husbands. I didn't mention this earlier,
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  Speaker 1: but the word own is very important. I know some
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  Speaker 1: wives who are more in submission to me than they
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  Speaker 1: are to their own husbands. That's not what God commands.
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  Speaker 1: Submission to me is not as important as submission to
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  Speaker 1: your own husbands, wives. Well, you say that's fine if
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  Speaker 1: I have a good husband, but the passage is written
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  Speaker 1: to those who don't have good husbands. to those who
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  Speaker 1: have husbands who are disobedient to the word. You're in
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  Speaker 1: an unfair situation, and yet he doesn't give you grounds
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  Speaker 1: for getting out of it. Look at verse 7, now
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  Speaker 1: the husbands. Likewise, it's easy to miss that word, isn't it, man?
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  Speaker 1: There is a submission for us as well. I didn't
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  Speaker 1: say it last time when I talked about the husband-wife relationship,
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  Speaker 1: but I needed to. If a husband is fulfilling the
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  Speaker 1: requirements of verse 7, he will have no trouble with
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  Speaker 1: his wife fulfilling the requirements of verses 1 to 6.
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  Speaker 1: Except in very sick cases, rare cases, I have not
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  Speaker 1: seen it fail. Husbands who correctly fulfill their job in
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  Speaker 1: verse 7 will not have trouble with their wives fulfilling
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  Speaker 1: their roles in verses 1 to 6. Now, to sum up,
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  Speaker 1: he kind of brings it all to conclusion. It's kind
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  Speaker 1: of coming down to a funnel. And he describes in
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  Speaker 1: verses 8 through 12 some of the qualities of maturity
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  Speaker 1: that you can check off to see how you're doing.
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  Speaker 1: I was flying, where was it, to Denver most recently.
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  Speaker 1: And I watched from the Ontario California airport, I watched
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  Speaker 1: the pilot as he literally with a clipboard was checking
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  Speaker 1: off certain things that on the plane, outside, and when
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  Speaker 1: he walked in, I'm sure he finished his checking with
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  Speaker 1: the whole list of things. Here was a seasoned pilot.
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  Speaker 1: Here's a man with perhaps thousands, maybe tens of thousands
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  Speaker 1: of hours in the air, still with a clipboard, still
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  Speaker 1: with a pen, and checking off one after another before
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  Speaker 1: the flight. These are checkpoints before the flight. As I
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  Speaker 1: read over verses 8 through 12, I thought this is
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  Speaker 1: a good place to check them off. In fact, I
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  Speaker 1: think of them kind of like stair step, and I
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  Speaker 1: see eight steps in the list of things that are here,
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  Speaker 1: and they're all very objective, and you don't have to
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  Speaker 1: know Greek to understand what they're saying. So let's sum
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  Speaker 1: up a checkpoint or a series of checkpoints for maturity.
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  Speaker 1: Let's see how we're doing as we're on our way
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  Speaker 1: from earth to heaven in this pilgrimage. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: let's put down the word unity. That is what I
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  Speaker 1: see in this word. Let all be harmonious. Harmonious. It
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  Speaker 1: refers to a oneness of heart, a similarity of purpose,
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  Speaker 1: agreement on major points of doctrine. How are you doing there?
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  Speaker 1: Are you a person that promotes harmony? Please remember, it
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  Speaker 1: is not the same as uniformity. Uniformity has to do
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  Speaker 1: with everyone looking alike, thinking alike, dressing alike. It's what
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  Speaker 1: I call a little cracker box mentality where everyone must
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  Speaker 1: agree at every point. Uniformity. It is not the same
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  Speaker 1: as unanimity. 100% agreement across the board. That's not the
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  Speaker 1: word used here. It is not even the same as union,
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  Speaker 1: which means you link arms and affiliate with all the
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  Speaker 1: other ministries around the world. That's not necessarily involved in
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  Speaker 1: the word harmonious. This word has in mind being like-minded,
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  Speaker 1: not allowing petty things to cause division. The great secret
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  Speaker 1: of unity, I have found, is focusing full attention on
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  Speaker 1: the person of Jesus Christ. Agreeing on points related to him,
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  Speaker 1: his message, his kingdom, his model. Okay, first checkpoint. How
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  Speaker 1: are you doing in your maturity in the area of unity?
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  Speaker 1: Being like-minded with other believers in the family of God. Second,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know quite how to put this next one
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  Speaker 1: called sympathetic. You would expect me to write or to
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  Speaker 1: think sympathy, but that's not quite what is conveyed. Let's
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  Speaker 1: put the words mutual interest. Mutual interest. We do get
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  Speaker 1: our word sympathy from this original term, but this word
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  Speaker 1: really means to feel with. It is the absence, get
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  Speaker 1: this now, of competition, envy, jealousy, and comparison. It is
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  Speaker 1: a feeling joy with those who are joyful, feeling pain
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  Speaker 1: with those who are hurting, feeling loss with those who
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  Speaker 1: have lost, feeling honor for those who are being honored.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the members of my family and I recently
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  Speaker 1: saw a film called Cry in the Darkness. It's the
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  Speaker 1: tragic story of a minister and his wife whose baby
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  Speaker 1: in Australia is taken in a campground by a wild dog,
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  Speaker 1: and it is killed by this animal. And the campground
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  Speaker 1: where they're located is full of people who suddenly feel
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  Speaker 1: for this mother who's instantly lost her baby as this
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  Speaker 1: baby is dragged off into the darkness by this dingo.
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  Speaker 1: for this dog. And the heartache that is felt by
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  Speaker 1: one mother after another who imagines what it must be
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  Speaker 1: like to have lost her child. And it's the story
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  Speaker 1: of how she is accused of killing the child and
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  Speaker 1: how that all works out is a very intriguing and
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  Speaker 1: interesting film. Entering into the feeling of the other person,
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  Speaker 1: it's stated no better Then in Romans 12, 15, where
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  Speaker 1: we read, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those
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  Speaker 1: who weep. 16, be of the same mind toward one another.
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  Speaker 1: Share in mutual feelings. I think it's blessed be the
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  Speaker 1: tie that binds, speaks of mutual woes and mutual sadness
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  Speaker 1: and mutual joys. One of the wonderful things about being
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  Speaker 1: involved in church ministry is you have a context in
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  Speaker 1: which you can do that. And you can have that
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  Speaker 1: done with you and for you. You rejoice, there is
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  Speaker 1: a congregation that rejoices with you. That's one of the
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  Speaker 1: wonderful things, by the way, about being in ministry. You
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  Speaker 1: go from a particular church where God has blessed your
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  Speaker 1: efforts and he leads you to another. You don't just
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  Speaker 1: kind of drive into the city and get involved in
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  Speaker 1: an occupation and start a job and and kind of
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  Speaker 1: work your way into the community, you are met with
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  Speaker 1: open arms by a church full of people who welcome
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  Speaker 1: you and receive you in and enter into your life
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  Speaker 1: right away. You're surrounded by a family. Now, a checkpoint
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  Speaker 1: for you. How are you doing in your mutual interest
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  Speaker 1: with other people's feelings? Do you give yourself into the
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  Speaker 1: feelings of others? When they hurt, do you hurt? When
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  Speaker 1: they enjoy life, are you enjoying it with them? When
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  Speaker 1: God blesses them wonderfully, do you applaud that or do
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  Speaker 1: you envy that? Or when they lose, do you feel
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  Speaker 1: the loss with them? Someone has said, maturity begins to
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  Speaker 1: grow when you can sense your concern for others outweighing
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  Speaker 1: your concern for yourself. So good. We've taught our children
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  Speaker 1: through their growing up years that The more selfish they are,
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  Speaker 1: the more immature they are. It's still true today. Easy
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  Speaker 1: to grow up or to grow older and still be selfish.
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  Speaker 1: Now back to 1 Peter. Third, let's put friendship and affection.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Peter 3 verse 8 to sum up. Let there
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  Speaker 1: be unity, mutual interest, And here it is simply rendered brotherly.
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  Speaker 1: The word is Philadelphia, and it means human affection, brotherly love.
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  Speaker 1: It has in mind being an affectionate friend. Coleridge, the poet,
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  Speaker 1: I think it was, said, friendship is a sheltering tree.
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  Speaker 1: Such a wonderful word picture. Friends are people whose lives
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  Speaker 1: are like branches. And they provide shade. They provide refuge
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  Speaker 1: from the demanding and irritating and searing rays of the
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  Speaker 1: hot sun. You can find comfort by them. You can
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  Speaker 1: find strength near them. They are tree-like in that they
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  Speaker 1: reach out. They bear fruit that provides nourishment and encouragement.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't it interesting that when something occurs in your life
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  Speaker 1: and you're alone, and you feel the need for shelter
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: or for encouragement or help with it, you pick up
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  Speaker 1: a phone and call a friend. You want to connect
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  Speaker 1: with somebody else. Few things are more lonely than going
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: through a sudden test and having no friend to call.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Are you cultivating friends? Are there a few folks that
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: will stand near you I love Jay Kessler's line regarding
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: one of his great goals in life is to wind
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: up with at least eight people who will attend his
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: funeral without checking their watches. I think that's a great line.
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  Speaker 1: They're willing to carry his casket and go through the
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: funeral without once checking their watches. You have eight people
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: that'll do that? Ten or twelve? One or two? Six
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  Speaker 1: or eight? To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: a friendship and an affection. There's a fourth, compassion. It
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: says it right here, kind-hearted. The term is most interesting.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: It has to do with the deep-seated organs of the body.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? The intestines, those organs that
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: are deep within the body, the abdomen of the body.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: It was believed by the Greeks that these organs were
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: the seat of emotions. And he uses a term, Peter does,
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  Speaker 1: for deep-seated feelings within the body. It's used in Hebrews 4.15
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  Speaker 1: for Jesus who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
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  Speaker 1: It's used in Matthew 9, 36, where he's seeing the
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  Speaker 1: multitude is full of tenderness for them because they're like
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  Speaker 1: sheep without a shepherd. He had compassion for them. He
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: was touched deeply. In our high-tech era, it is very
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: easy to become untouched, untouchable. The freeway requires that you
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: keep moving no matter what you see occurring. The pace
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: we live requires that you not take time. You go
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: right on. After all, you read the stories in the
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: morning newspaper of people who stopped to help and they
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: were mugged. And you learn not to do that. Of course,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: there has to be discernment, but Where is the tenderness?
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I think of Hebrews, of Ephesians 4.32. Ephesians 4.32, be
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  Speaker 1: kind to one another, tenderhearted. It's the tender mercies that
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  Speaker 1: are still needed. Well, these are checkpoints. How are you doing? Unity,
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  Speaker 1: mutual interest, friendship, compassion. Number five, humility. And humble in spirit.
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  Speaker 1: It means lowly and bowed down in mind. It is
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  Speaker 1: an internal thing. Internal. It isn't public appearance of humility.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't a show of humility. It isn't looking humble.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: It is being humble in mind. That, again, is tough
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: to find. In our day of self-help and promoting people
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  Speaker 1: to celebrity status, it is very difficult for an individual
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: to maintain humility. If you are blessed and you are gifted,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: you are used by God, it is easy to start
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: believing your own stuff. And he says in this eighth
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  Speaker 1: verse that one of the marks of a mature life
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  Speaker 1: is humility of spirit. I like this, one man says,
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  Speaker 1: maturity is the ability to do a job, whether you're
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: supervised or not, to finish a job once it's started,
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  Speaker 1: to carry money without spending it, and last but not least,
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  Speaker 1: the ability to bear an injustice without wanting to get even.
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  Speaker 1: Those are marks of humility. You don't have to be
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  Speaker 1: supervised to get a job done. What you start, you finish.
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  Speaker 1: You're able to handle the money without spending everything you've got,
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  Speaker 1: and you don't have to always get even or fight back.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: So far, Peter has written about how we think, being
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: like-minded and humble-minded. He's written about how we feel, sympathetic, affectionate,
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  Speaker 1: and compassionate. In the last three, verses 9 and 10,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: He writes first about what we do and then finally
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  Speaker 1: about what we say. Look at verse 9, not returning
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  Speaker 1: evil for evil. So this number six would be forgiveness.
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  Speaker 1: Following humility is a willingness to forgive. And I don't
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  Speaker 1: know of a verse that says it better when forgiveness
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  Speaker 1: is carried out than verse 9. Not returning evil for evil.
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  Speaker 1: or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead. For
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: you were called for the very purpose that you might
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  Speaker 1: inherit a blessing. Isn't that a great verse? Look at
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  Speaker 1: the steps in it. Look at the process. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: when there is true forgiveness in the heart, there is
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: a refusal to get back or to get even. You
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  Speaker 1: put it to bed. You give it to God, you
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: come to terms with it with the Lord, you do
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  Speaker 1: your best to make amends with an individual, but you
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  Speaker 1: refuse to get even or to get back. Second is
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  Speaker 1: the restraining of saying something as ugly as was said
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  Speaker 1: to you or about you. Notice how he puts it,
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  Speaker 1: not returning insult for insult. Third is clearly returning good
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  Speaker 1: for evil, where he says giving a blessing instead. doing
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  Speaker 1: something nice in return to someone who has done something
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: ugly to you. And fourth, you were called for that
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: very purpose, keeping in mind that you were called to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: receive such treatment. That's easy to miss that, isn't it?
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: I thought at first I was misreading it, and then
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: I went back to chapter 2, verse 20, and found
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: that's what he says over there. So he must mean it.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Look at 1 Peter 2.20. What credit is there if
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: with patience? But if when you do what is right
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: favor with God. Next verse. Here's the verse. You've been
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: called for this purpose. You've been put on earth for
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: the purpose of taking the brunt without retaliating. You've been
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: called for this purpose. Look at Christ, who suffered for you,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: leaving an example for you to follow his steps. How
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: do I know I'm growing up? When I stop fighting back,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: when I take the chip off my shoulder, when I
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: stop working on my quick sarcastic answer to give back
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: to someone who jabs me with a sarcastic punch. I
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  Speaker 1: know I'm growing up when I can control my tongue,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: and that's number seven. Back to 1 Peter 3, verse 11.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 10, let him who means to love life and
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: see good days, refrain his tongue from evil and his
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: lips from speaking guile. How do I know when I'm
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: growing up? I know it when I'm able to control
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: my tongue. You knew I'd get around to this one,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: didn't you? It seems to be threaded throughout the New Testament.
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  Speaker 1: This verse and the one that follows, these verses are
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: taken from the 34th psalm. Here Peter says, refrain your
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  Speaker 1: tongue from evil. In fact, the word refrain could literally
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: be rendered stop. Stop your tongue. Show me a person
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  Speaker 1: who has learned to refrain from gossip, who can refrain
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: from telling confidential information, who can refrain from passing judgment
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: without knowing the facts, and I'll show you somebody on
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: the grove. Let me say it again. Refrain from gossip.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Refrain from telling confidential information. And refrain from passing judgment
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  Speaker 1: without knowing all the facts. And I'll show you somebody
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  Speaker 1: who's maturing. Don't miss the beginning of verse 10. Let
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  Speaker 1: him who means to love life. Isn't that great? And
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: see good days. You want to really love life? You
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: want to see good days? Get control of your tongue.
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  Speaker 1: Life will be happier for you. It'll even be easier
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: for you. You'll see better days. I remember, was it
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: from jolly old England, where that grave marker is? Beneath
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: this clay, beneath this sod, a lump of clay, lies
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Arabella Young, who on the 21st of May Began to
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: hold her tongue. It takes a while for you to
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: get that, but it'll come about 1030 tonight. Finally, she
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: learned to control her tongue when she passed on. Will
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: it take that? No, it need not take that. Pray
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: about the use of your tongue. Pray that God will
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: put a muzzle on your mouth. When someone says, I'd
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: like you not to share this with anyone, that includes
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: your children. When they share something in confidence, it's in confidence.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: Believe me, I know. I'm a preacher, and I know
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: how tempting it is to take something they say and
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: to use it in an illustration. I've got a friend
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: up in the Northwest who pays his kids a royalty
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: of a dollar every time he uses them in an illustration.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: They're giving him illustrations at times that they're happy for
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: him to use. Turn to Psalm 141. You'll like this.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Psalm 141 puts it so clearly, and from the ancient
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: writings of David. It's a prayer, and a great prayer
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: to begin the day with. Psalm 141.3 says, Set a guard,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: of my lips. I love that. Set a guard, O Lord,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: A mark of maturity is a controlled tongue. Well, how
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: are you doing? Unity, mutual interest, friendship and affection, compassion, humility,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: true forgiveness, a controlled tongue, and one more. Purity and peace,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: verses 11 and 12. Let him turn away from evil
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: and do good. That's purity. Let him seek peace and
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: pursue it. That's peace. For the eyes of the Lord
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: are upon the righteous. You think he doesn't watch? You
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: think he doesn't care? Listen, his ears attend to their prayer.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: But the face of the Lord is against those who
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: do evil. Take a look at the list, okay? That's
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: quite a list. We're told to grow up. We're told
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: to press on to maturity. How can you know if
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: you're on the right road? Go back over that list.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Do a checkpoint on your life at the end of
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: a week or the end of a month. And by
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: the way, areas of trouble, and we all have them,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: we have weak points along the way. In fact, I
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: don't know of a one that isn't a struggle for
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: me at times in my own life. Then that's what
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: you pray about. See, he says, the eyes of the
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: Lord are upon the righteous. His ears attend to their prayers.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Ask God for strength in these areas. Let me show
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: you a grand verse, 2 Chronicles 16, 9. 2 Chronicles 16, 9.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: throughout the earth that he may strongly support those whose
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: heart is completely his. tucked away in the midst of
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: the chronicles of the Hebrews, is this wonderful statement of promise.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: It's a picture of the roving eyes and ears of
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: our God, to use terms that all of us can understand,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: though he is without eyes and without ears, being spirit.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: He is omnipresent everywhere at the same time, and he
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: is roving this earth, moving to and fro throughout it,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: that he may support those, not simply find us serving him.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: but he may support those whose heart is completely his.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: That's our ultimate goal. To have a heart that is
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: completely his. That'd be wonderful. Back to 1 Peter. Here's
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: a good series of checkpoints. To sum up, as a
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: child of God, let all of us be committed to harmony.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: That is a spirit of unity. Let all of us
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: be engaged in a mutual interest in one another's lives. Third,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: let all of us be engaged in a development of
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: friendship that is marked by earthly affection. This isn't agape love.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: This is human love. Philos, affection. This is what my
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: kids call hugs and kisses love. This is touchable love.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: This is love that is exhibited. It is demonstrative. I've
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: heard people say, well, I love, but I love in
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: my heart. Wouldn't you love to be married to somebody
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: like that? I'm just going to love you in my heart.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: We're not going to touch. I'm just going to love
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: you in my heart. This is touching love. This is
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: affectionate love. Compassion is fourth. To sum up, let us
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: all be kind-hearted. Fifth, let us be marked by humility
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: in spirit, a mind that is set on the other individual.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: I had one more great statement on this. It can
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: be said without qualification that no human being can consider
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: himself mature if he narrows the use of his efforts, talents,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: or means to his own personal advantage. The very concept
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: of maturity rests on the degree of inner growth that
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: is characterized by a yearning within the individual to transcend
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: his self concentration by extending himself into the lives of others.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: In other words, maturity is a stage in his development
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: when to live with himself in a satisfying manner, it
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: becomes imperative for him to give as well as to receive.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: The truly humble person looks for opportunities to give himself
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: or herself, to release. Forgiveness, controlled tongue, purity and peace.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: It's quite a list, isn't it? But I am so
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: glad that that pilot, before we took off, took the
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: time to check off the list. I'm glad he didn't
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: shrug his shoulders when he saw a bulge on one
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: of the tires and say, well, we'll just kind of
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: hope for the best. We hope we make it. I'm
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: glad he didn't ignore inside that cockpit some very important
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: things which he must have checked a thousand times in
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: his career. None of these is new. But all of
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: them need to be returned to again and again and again. Father,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: thank you for the reminder this very day of things
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: that are so much a part of our lives, it
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: seems as though we've come back to familiar territory again.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: We have. How often we have come asking for help
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: in one or more of these areas. You've heard my
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: pleas on many occasions. In this very moment, we thank
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: you for the Lord Jesus Christ, our model and friend,
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: our master, who fulfilled each of these and a thousand
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: others to perfection. Though fully man, Thank you for the
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: hope there is that there is a life to be
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: lived like he lived and in the power in which
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: he lived it. Use these closing moments of worship in
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: our lives to soften our spirits, to bring back to
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: our attention things that need to be addressed. May we
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: come again to the cross and find their complete encouraging satisfaction.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: For Jesus' sake. Amen.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Hope Beyond Immaturity, Maturity Checkpoints, was copyrighted
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: in 1988, 1990, 1996, 2006, and 2010. And the sound
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in 2011 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.