The Eternal Benefit of Spiritual Maturity:

Spiritual maturity sets us on a path to realize our destiny, which we were made new in Christ to accomplish (Ephesians 2:8-10). It’s a winding path following a continual process described by Paul in Philippians 3.

In Paul’s process of maturing, he describes an awareness of his value system changing dramatically because of who he now was in Christ:

God has a specific destiny for your life. It is always greater than your capacities and goals.

Results of Living by the Spirit: Those Christians who live by the Spirit display Christ’s selfless love, not by following the law but by having crucified the flesh.

This is the true fruit of liberty—love. We have been set free to live by the Spirit to love with the type of love characterized by the eight characteristics listed in Galatians 5.

Since the law was given to constrain the flesh, there’s no need for the law when we live by the Spirit. When we trusted in Christ, the power of the flesh in our lives was crucified.

“If you’re led by the Spirit, you’ll live by loving one another well. That’s not how you’re treating one another, according to the reports I’ve heard”

True spiritual maturity: Liberated Christians, living by the Spirit, glorify God by their Christ-like love.

It’s the most loathsome bait and switch in church history.

Relentlessly trying to become spiritually mature by listening to the moralists and religious tyrants, we stunt our growth and lose the wonder of following a Savior who said,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Paul’s loving confrontation of the Galatians in 5:7-15 exposes the lie of legalism and invites weary Christians to find the rest for their souls Jesus promised by using their freedom to love one another.

Legalism hinders Christian growth and ruins Christian unity!

Stand in the freedom of grace or wallow in the slavery of works.

The choice is yours. You, not the legalist, decide to submit to their religious nonsense. And when you do, you sever yourself from the real-time benefits of the grace gospel that is yours in Christ Jesus.

More is at stake than you ever imagined. Literally, your sanctification and your impact for the Lord Jesus depend on your decision to either rely on your works or to rely on the Spirit.

The Spirit is compelling you to use your liberty in ways that your faith causes you to become impatient for experiences of true righteousness in this world and the world to come.

The Spirit is compelling you to use your liberty in ways that your faith is expressed through love.

Christ set us free to love and serve others!

Your Christian freedom is not about you but about Christ and others. Bill Thrall says: As we move toward maturity, there are three broad categories of maturing in the Christian life:

1. “Me” centered—healing the needy new believer.

2. “Others” centered—maturing the healing believer.

3. “Christ” centered—releasing the mature believers.

One of the greatest gifts you can give to a young believer is a safe place (opportunity) where they can disclose what is true about the sin that is in them and where they can disclose what is true about the sin that has been done against them to provide a safe place where they do not have to hide anything. (Trueface)

Maturing is a process. When growing yourself or nurturing others, do not push maturity beyond the pace it takes for Christ in us (Christian character) to mature. Right answers do not equate to the right choices.

Christians who live by the “law of liberty” are doing the works you would expect from a follower of Christ. The Spirit is compelling and empowering them to bridle their tongues, care for the powerless (specifically, widows and orphans), and not allow this self-centered world to stain their lives.

Righteousness and spiritual maturity are, and always have been, by grace through faith.

Deliverance from sin and the reception of true righteousness comes only by grace through faith, not by following the Law or any set of religious rules and regulations.

The only way to live the Christian life is by applying the gospel. The Christian life isn’t a life of constantly trying to do better and be better for the God who has already accepted and declared us good enough for Him. The Christian life is a life of falling into our Heavenly Father’s love and living out our transformation as we trust in the good news about His Son and the good news about us.

Over the years, I’ve taught the epistles of Paul to thousands of believers in different contexts—local churches, missions conferences, Bible conferences, leadership conferences—and I’ve discovered that many believers feel uncomfortable with Paul’s radical message of grace.

Some have wondered where Paul got his teachings of salvation by grace, through faith, plus nothing. Was he teaching in reaction to Jewish legalism? Did he become a little sensitive to his persecutions and overreact?

The gospel is indeed radical, but it didn’t come from the Apostle Paul. It came from the lips of the Lord Jesus when He commissioned Paul on the road to Damascus. A lot is at stake. Failure to clearly understand the doctrine of salvation invariably leads to preaching a false or perverted works gospel. God unquestionably saves those who come to Him despite a fuzzy or errant gospel, but that does not make it a good thing or an acceptable error. A healthy life demands a healthy birth, and there is only one way to a healthy new birth—a correct Gospel!

Over the years, I’ve taught the epistles of Paul to thousands of believers in different contexts—local churches, missions conferences, Bible conferences, leadership conferences—and I’ve discovered that many believers feel uncomfortable with Paul’s radical message of grace.

Some have wondered where Paul got his teachings of salvation by grace, through faith, plus nothing. Was he teaching in reaction to Jewish legalism? Did he become a little sensitive to his persecutions and overreact?

The gospel is indeed radical, but it didn’t come from the Apostle Paul. It came from the lips of the Lord Jesus when He commissioned Paul on the road to Damascus. A lot is at stake. Failure to clearly understand the doctrine of salvation invariably leads to preaching a false or perverted works gospel. God unquestionably saves those who come to Him despite a fuzzy or errant gospel, but that does not make it a good thing or an acceptable error. A healthy life demands a healthy birth, and there is only one way to a healthy new birth—a correct Gospel!

Books 6 and 7 record the growth of the church through the missionary efforts of Paul. Paul’s second missionary journey to Cyprus and Asia Minor brings the issue of the relationship between the Law of Israel and the grace of the church to a head. Choosing grace instead of the Law, the early church leaders rightly concluded that the body of Christ was for every tribe, tongue, and nation and that the grace of God was for all who believed. We read of Paul’s Spirit-led passion to take the Gospel to the epicenter of the Gentile world—Rome. His “travel agent” on the road to Rome would be the Lord Jesus, who directs the Apostle of Grace’s steps through persecution, arrests, trials, defense, and ministry. Over six years, from 56 through 62, Christ overrules Paul’s plans repeatedly. Every overruling is an opportunity for ministry that Paul seizes. All the divine interventions add up to an impact the Apostle could never accomplish with his own strengths and strategies.

Against all odds, the church expands west to the Aegean shores of Europe and Asia Minor as the Holy Spirit directs Paul’s steps to prepare people in strategic cities. Next, it extends to the center of the Roman world as Jesus Christ directs Paul to achieve his passion for proclaiming the Gospel to all peoples—including the Jews—through his arrest, trials, defense, and release.

When it’s time to move on, finish strong, and don’t look back!

Book 5 traces the church's growth through the church's missionary efforts in Antioch and under Paul's leadership. Paul’s first missionary journey to Cyprus and Asia Minor brings the issue of the relationship between the Law of Israel and the grace of the church to a head. Choosing grace instead of the Law, the early church leaders rightly concluded that the body of Christ was for every tribe, tongue, and nation, and God's grace was for all who believed.

Against all odds, the church expanded from a Gentile church into the Gentile territories of Asia Minor under Paul’s leadership and preached the message of the grace of Christ rather than the Law of Moses.

The Christian life is lived by grace through faith, not by following the Law.